"Jean’s going to help you explore your telepathic abilities and see if they can be extended to the more traditional uses" Scott’s starting to remind me of the basic training instructor at the camp. The guy could drone on for hours about what could be summed up in two words. You suck. At least Scott wasn’t so negative. Just verbose. Essentially, since I got caught goofing around, they’re gonna make me work it off. And get some training out of it.

"We’re gonna start this out pretty easy, First we’re gonna see how you do in a combat situation" Oh I love combat. Really, Doesn’t bring back any bad memories. Well, I gotta do this some time. I wonder if Scott realizes I’m only listening to about half of what he says. "Just Jean, Wolverine" yea real easy "and myself. The object is to hand tag each of us before we hand tag you. Any questions? Good lets get going. You have a two minute head start." I still had my mouth open to find out how long this is supposed to take. Well, to late for that now.

***

Well, I faded into the background, I’m getting better at that, and headed out across the field to the deserted town off in the not to distant distance. I shed the jean over-shirt, tied it around my waist for future use and was very grateful for the tank top I had on underneath. And for the shorts I had opted for instead of sweats. I was in pretty good shape considering the last few months and was barely breathing once I got to the streets. It was kinda like the paintball fighting areas you see advertised on TV. It was a deserted town with a few streets and the occasional upside-down car for affect. The building looked pretty solid, even though all the windows had been knocked out. I knew the others would be on my tail as soon as Wolverine started sniffing out a trial. Scott wouldn’t be that hard to catch I figured and I’ll try to take him out first. Jean I wasn’t too sure of. I could block out all mental recognition of me, but Jean was a powerful telepath and might pick up on the total lack of mental noise as I blocked out. I could try plain old fashioned sneak attack. Wolverine was a different story all together. He could smell me out. Has done it before. He could follow me and once I attack, my concentration moves from defense to offense and I don’t fade very well. Well, they should be getting here pretty soon. Great, Jean’s flying. Have to find a way to get her down.

By this time I was in the second floor of one of the buildings, having wandered around and doubled back a few times trying to mess up Logan. Cyke was out front and Jeans was doing an overhead recon. They couldn’t stick together and scan the whole town so they’d have to split up eventually. After looking around the main street, Wolverine went into one of the side streets, and Jean and Cyke started checking out the buildings. Together.

Damn. I could get one, but the other would see me and I would be easy pickings. I didn’t have much on me, thinking they were just gonna have me running laps or something. I had my jean shirt, a pocket multi-tool, and basic instinct. Looking around the room I was In, there wasn’t much on hand. Some twine, and some piles of boxes. I wonder…

***

Scott quickly scanned the room as they entered the door. There was no sign of Charity but that didn’t mean anything. He’d seen the surveillance tapes of when she went sneaking around. People would walk around her to avoid her, but still wouldn’t see her or even realize they had moved to avoid her in the first place. Looking at the dust on the floor there where a few scuff marks, but nothing definite and there were mice running around the place. Jean was just ahead of him, trying to scan for a blank space where there should be static. At least that’s the best she could describe it to him. Turning around, she gave a brief shake of her head and they moved on to the next room.

That one was also empty and they started up the stairs. There was a slight rattle of what sounded like boxes being gently leaned against. Immediately on alert, Scott and his wife hurried up the stairs. The rattle had come from what sounded like one room, but in the dust on the floor there was what looked like a slight foot print leading into another. Looking at his wife, Scott held up a hand, and waved her into the one room and followed her in. No sense in making this too easy for her.

***

Okay, they’re not as stupid as they look. I could try a direct approach, try to get them both before they get me. Jean didn’t seem to be picking me up so I guess I’m not so easy to find. But, I preferred to do things right and getting tagged in the first bit wasn’t my style. Not to mention the noise might attract Wolverine and I didn’t want to tackle all three at the same time. Jean was probably faster than me, but she also goes through the doors first scanning. Ambush?

***

Well, the room the noise came from was as empty as they could tell, time to try the one with the foot print. Jean headed for the door, but before she got there, she held up a hand, and a small grin formed on her lips. There was a void in the astral plane, and it was right beside the door, on the other side. Clever, Jean hadn’t sensed anything until now, but that just meant she had to be close to pick up on where Charity was hiding. Glancing back at Scott, she pointed to the door, with a slight nod. Scott returned her grin and they edged up to the door.

***

They should be coming out any second now. Wait a second. I don’t think they were moving any more. That wasn’t good. that definitely wasn’t good. Moving a foot away from the door, I started to look through the doorway. Nothing there. That meant they were either beside the door, or out the window. Neither of which were any good for me and the one potentially bad. I took off down the hall and flew down the stairs. I wonder if I mask noise as well as sight and psi. Since they weren’t following me immediately, I hoped I did.

***

Scott, sneaking up to the one side o the door, Jean, sneaking up to the other side, pointing to Scott's side to indicate that’s were Charity should be. All of a sudden. "Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud."

"I think she figured us out."

"Yup."

***

Okay, this game of cat and mouse had been going on for about two hours. I had almost gotten Cyclops, but he managed to twist away before I got a hand on him. And then HE almost got me. Man, these guys were slippery. I have been carefully avoiding Wolverine, keeping an eye out for Jean, and trying to ambush Scott. Time to get serious. Time to get devious.

***

Scott and Jean had pretty much gone over the town twice now, There where a few encounters, but so far, no one had caught anyone. They where just about to enter on of the buildings when there was a loud crash, followed by some serious cursing.

"The stupid pain in the ass, bloody stupid stairs, oh SHIT!!"

Apparently Charity had fallen down the stairs. Hurrying over to the sound of the cursing, they rounded the corner to see Charity, on her but, a very disgruntled look on her face, rubbing her ankle.

"Well, you might as well come on over, I’m not gonna win this thing on this bloody. Can you give me a hand up you two, I think I twisted this real good." It did was already starting to swell, the sock bulging over what looked like a bad sprain. "Here I was gonna show you guys what I was made off, and all I did was land flat on my bloody ass."

Jean hurried over, and Scott was right beside her. They were right beside her, Jean with her mouth open to offer conciliation, when they both felt a hand slapped on their legs.

"Suckers!" And Charity faded out.

***

Logan had headed over to the ruckus, just to see what was going on. He was almost there when he saw both Scott and Jean taken out. Charity was sitting on the floor grinning before she faded out. Nice move, if a little underhanded. But playing directly on both those two’s weakness, compassion. Logan wasn’t known for compassion. Wouldn’t have worked on him. He’d have tagged her just to be safe, even if she was really hurt. Oh well. It would be fun to bug Scott over this though.

Now though, he had a good idea of where she was and with the other two out of the way, it was time to get serious.

***

Oh crap, Wolverine’s coming. That was not part of the plan, I thought he was further away. Taking the rag I had wound around my ankle under the sock for believability, I stood up and ran. I’d hope to be away from here before he showed up. Well, time to create some distance. Running through a couple of buildings I’d already been through and crossing back, I ended up back where I was. Not the smartest thing, but it was hopefully unexpected. I had no idea where Wolverine was. This was not good.

***

Following the scent through a couple of buildings, round about and back again, Logan found he was heading back to the stairs where Charity had faked her fall. Why was she heading there?

***

Well, I was here, it was almost 2, and I was getting hungry. Time to settle this. I had been all over this place setting things up earlier, he shouldn’t be able to pinpoint me. Let’s see if I could ambush him.

***

Walking into the building, Logan realized why she had come in here. She’d already been there, and had crawled over the entire building probably setting things up. After going through the building and finding her trail pretty much ending in the building, he started to grin. This was like her. It was well past lunch, and she really hated missing lunch. She’d stop in the middle of a sparring session to go get something to eat. All this meant it was time for a confrontation.

***

Man, I was getting hungry. Here I was watching Logan scour the building from top to bottom and all I could think about was the fact I was really getting hungry. Trying to calm my breathing and make as little sound as possible, I just about died of mortification when my stomach growled. Loud. Oh Shit, here he comes.

***

Yup, that sounded like Charity’s stomach, over near the wall. Staining all his senses, he still couldn’t find a trace of her. Other than the stomach grumble.

***

Sliding along the walls, I tried to get behind him, but he kept anticipating me. It looked mostly like lucky guesses cause he was still very wary. But then, I’d only sparred with him and sparring is a whole different kettle of fish. Finally getting behind him I started to creep up on him, I just might get him after all. If he hadn’t dropped down, and spun a sweeping kick at ankle height promptly tripping me, and dumping me on my hip. That hurt.

"Figured you’d had enough. How about lunch?"

I’ll admit it, I’m not the best loser. Actually, that’s the reason I never got involved in anything competitive. I think it showed on my face too, cause Logan just broke into rough laugh at my expression, and offered me hand up.

"I almost got you, you know." I had to salvage some pride.

"Okay, think that if ya want." I grabbed his hand, got up and started to dust myself off.

"I just let you think you had me all the time." We both headed out of the now blank walled Danger Room.

"If that makes you feel better." He was patronizing me.

"Well it does. Now I’m gonna go get some lunch and gloat over Scott."

***

"Well, yesterday you did pretty good. Today, we’re gonna make it harder on you. We’re all going against you." Scott waved a hand at the people behind him. "This time the scenario is an active city, downtown. And discretion is the key. Pretty much the same rules as yesterday" He was starting to babble on again. And I wasn’t too impressed about going up against so many. Bishop, Gambit, Rogue, Iceman, Jean, Beast, Wolverine, and we can’t forget Cyclops. I was in deep shit. But I was also better prepared this time. "If a hand touches you, you’re out. Charity, to make things a little more fair, you have a ten minute head start."

***

Stepping into the Danger room, I ended up in the middle of a moderately busy street surrounded by tall buildings. Of course I was in the actual middle of a street and had a car heading directly at me. After hightailing it to the side walk I faded out, took out a bottle of perfume I had decided to wear and started spraying anyone I came into contact with. I got some weird looks, but it should help confuse the trail a bit. I rarely wore perfume, but for today, I decided I wanted to smell nice. And make sure everyone else smelled nice too. Like I said this time I was better prepared. Heading down the street, I entered one of the high rises and started wandering around the walkway system. This city had a fairly good connection system for pedestrians. I made my way to a mall and started to plan.

I had a bunch of miscellaneous goodies in my bag, that I had managed to collect and a few things I borrowed. Never underestimate the power of duct tape. I had a set of lock picks from Remy, an image inducer borrowed off of Beast, my multi-tool with it’s assorted gadgets and a few other bits and pieces of wire, twine, fishing line and some other stuffs. And I promised myself, I’d return them as soon as this session was over and maybe mention that I’d borrowed them in the first place.

Beast would be using an Image inducer himself and I have no Idea what he would look like. Gambit’s kinetic sense makes him hard to sneak up on, Bishop is just one tough nut, ditto for Wolverine, although the perfume might confuse him a bit. Rogue, would be hard to corner, I should get her into a corridor, where she can’t maneuver all that much. I have never seen Bobby in a fight, so he’s a bit of a wild card. Scott, shouldn’t be too hard, but he can be quite wily. Jean, I couldn’t sneak up on, and I’d have to rush her. Well, time to hide in plain view.

***

The team entered the crowded mall as a group. It had taken them about half an hour to get this far. Faster than I thought. Well, I carefully unshielded my thoughts, concentrating on the new shirt that I wanted to get and then turned on the image inducer. Jean will have to come out first, along with Gambit. Hopefully I could get them when they’re apart from the main part of the group. Since Jean wasn’t zeroing in on my unshielded thoughts, I figured I was right. She was looking for a void, not the ordinary thoughts of a person shopping. I had to be careful, because she was still familiar with my thoughts and could easily pick up on the trick. So far so good.

I browsed around the mall, keeping an eye on the group. They were starting to break up. Jean paired with Bishop, heading up to the second floor, Iceman with Rogue checked out the one side, Cyclops was sticking with Wolverine and checking out the other and Gambit with Beast (at least I think it was Beast, he was the only one unaccounted for) were taking the elevator to the third floor, where I was looking out over the crowds below. Okay, Gambit and Beast first then. Heading over to a clothing store, I started browsing in the guise of a tall, leggy blond with just enough clothing to prevent getting arrested. I think Gambit might take the bait. Of course this wasn’t exactly real, but I’d seen him flirt with a mannequin.

Well, the two of them started to look around the crowd, trying to look for people avoiding an empty space and started to walk right by the store I was in. Grabbing a little black dress, I grabbed Gambit by the arm and then squealed as he reared back and got ready to attack. Well, he saw the long legs, short skirt and halter top and relaxed a fraction.

Raising my voice a few pitches, I stammered out "I-I just wanted to ask your opinion" Discretion was supposed to be the key and part of the intent was to not attract attention. Lets hope I can get Beast close enough to tag. Officially, Gambit was already out. He just didn’t know that yet.

"Well cherie, wha’ can Remy help you wid?" He had relaxed some more and was starting to let the charm ooze.

"Gambit, I really don’t think this is the time to be helping the damsel in distress, even if she has a pretty figure." The youngish man beside Gambit confirmed my guess. Only Hank talks like that.

"Wow, you really think I have a good figure?" I could do the dumb blond routine with the best of them. I started to turn around to give them both the full view and then batted my eyes at Beast.

"Yes, ma’am, you have a very good figure," Just one step closer and I could get Beast too. "However, we are both looking for a friend of ours and we should really get going." He stepped forward to grab Remy’s arm.

"Oh just a minute though" And I placed a hand on Beast arm, turned off the image inducer winked at both of them and faded into the back ground. I have never heard Hank swear like that. Two down, six to go.

***

I’d lost track of Scott and Wolverine, I could still see Jean and Bishop on the main floor, checking out the food court and Rogue and Iceman should still be one floor below me. I’ll take Invulnerable and Popsicles for 200 Alex. Lets see what Icicleman can do.

Turning the image inducer back on, as a fine boned brunette, in business attire, I headed to the escalators and went to scout out the second floor. When people started to thin out, I didn’t have to worry so much about people avoiding the blank spot that is me and I turned the inducer off to conserve the juice for later. Carefully scanning the second floor, I couldn’t see them.

***

"Bobby, ya’re a genius." Rogue peered intently at the surveillance screen, watch Charity scanning the second floor. "But how do we find her when we leave here?"

"What, didn’t you bring a com badge with you? One stays in here, and the other goes and tags her. Simple."

"In tha’ case, ya can go and tag her, Ah watched her last time she was in here. Of course tha’s somthin’ like sendin’ a lamb out afta a ‘gator."

"Hey I resent that. Just for that, you can go get her." Bobby stepped over the now unconscious guard to take a peak at the bank of screens. "Wait a sec, why do we have to go after her. What’s wrong with letting the other’s get her. Same thing just more people."

"Bobby, tha’s mean."

"Ya, and you saw how she got Scott and Jean yesterday. I say, all’s fair."

"Ya got a point there." Activating her com badge, Rogue explained the plan to Jean and then to Scott. Once everyone tied in their com badges together, the hunt began in earnest.

***

I still couldn’t find them on the second floor and headed down a floor, to the main level. I had a bad feeling about that. I guess I’ll get them later. Time to try and get Jean out of the picture. Taking Bishop out would help too.

***

"Okay she’s on the main floor now. Bishop, you and Jean are the closest. She’s over by the Radio Shack, checking out the food court. Try coming up behind her…"

***

Well, Jean’s there, but where’s Bishop. I hope they haven’t mixed up the groups. That would make things a bit more difficult. Okay, her backs to me, and if I’m lucky, I should be able to sneak up on her. But then I started to get the feeling that someone was staring holes into my back. Flipping around I saw Bishop about two feet behind me, blindly reaching forward to grab me. Oh dear.

"Bishop, back up, she’s onto you" An ever so slightly tinny voice whispered from Bishops badge.

How the hell did they know where I was? Crouching down and rolling forward, I knocked him off his feet, slapped his back and took off running, ducking into the nearest store. Some sort of sports wear store.

Pausing to catch my breath and think things through, I glanced around and stared straight into the small black lens of a surveillance camera. Damn, I forgot about those. Fading out makes me practically invisible to a person, but since it’s psi related, electronics pick me up. Well, reaching into my back pack, I’d manage to hang onto, I took out a pair of wire clippers and clipped the wire. They already knew I was there, but no sense in making things too easy. Well, since they could spot me on the surveillance, I suppose I could use that to my advantage. Then I probably should have let them think I hadn’t figured it out yet, but I could still make it work. Making my way to the back of the store, I left by the employees entrance that lead into a long corridor. Three down, Five to go.

Finding an emergency exit, I left the mall. Out on the street, I faded back in, turned the inducer back on and headed the front of the mall. Jean and maybe Wolverine and Cyclops should be right behind me, but it would take a few minutes for Rogue and Bobby to catch up. Taking off the over-shirt I almost always wore, I tied it to the bike of a courier and then gave myself another good squirt of perfume.

Getting to the main doors, I was just in time to see Wolverine and Cyclops quickly walking into the store I had just left. Stepping into the mall, I walked briskly like any woman on her lunch break, walked over to the tables in the food court, sat down, took out a sandwich I had brought with me, and sat, munching down waiting for Bobby and Rogue to show up. Wish I thought to bring a communicator with me. At least then I’d have some idea what they where up to. Of course I could grab one off my next victim.

After a few minutes, Rogue popped her head out of the security office and then both she and Iceman walked out of the room and started down the hall towards the exit.

***

Wolverine sniffed around; the scent split off here. One heading off down the street, the other heading back into the mall. The one heading in the mall was stronger like it was just sprayed on, the one heading down the street was more faint and underneath it there was the individual smell that was Charity. Glancing at Scott and Jean, he nodded down the street and the hunt was back on.

***

Getting up from my table, I quickly stuffed the half sandwich into its wrapper and back into the pack. Slinging it over my shoulder, I took out after them. Jogging lightly, I came up behind them, placed a hand on each of their respective shoulders, then turned the inducer off. You know Bobby can swear a blue streak with the best of them. He must have been listening to Wolverine. Well, Rogue took it good naturally, we both knew that this was my specialty, sneaking up on people. We also knew that if it ever came to a one on one, I’d be a pile of pulp in about two minutes flat.

"By the way, I’m borrowing this." I snagged Bobby’s com badge, promptly faded out, and headed out to the street opposite to the one I had lead the others to. Five down, three to go.

***

About four hours later, I still hadn’t gotten any closer to taking down the last three. They were playing it smart. Once Rogue called in and let them know I borrowed Bobby’s communicator, they hadn’t used them much. Oh well, at least I could tell if they where planning anything really mean. It was back to the cat and mouse game of yesterday. I had already finished off the sandwich, the batteries in the inducer were getting low and it was about four in the afternoon; we’d started at around ten this morning. I was getting sick of this. And I was missing Law and Order on TV.

Sitting in the middle of a park, I was faded out and just taking a breather, trying to figure out where the others had ended up. I lost them about an hour ago so had been wondering around trying to confuse things, and to see if I could spot them. I’d finally given up, and sat down.

After a few minutes, I stated to relax and enjoy the scenery. After six hours of being on constant guard, I guess I’d slipped because all of a sudden there was a hand on my shoulder, I jumped up and slammed into Jean who was right behind me. Scott was beaming (not literally) and Wolverine just grinned. Jean was rubbing her nose, where my head had connected with her face.

"You scared the living snot out of me. How did you find me? I’ve been looking for you guys for the last hour."

Jean, still rubbing her nose, gave me a dirty look, "You were still pretty much faded out, but your concentration slipped for a few minutes. After that, I just looked for a void. Not to bad, until you jumped up."

"If yer gonna take a break, try placin’ a wall at yer back. Makes it harder to sneak up on ya." Logan looked rather pleased with himself. It wasn’t nearly as close this time. Of course I had more people against me this time.