Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

Audrey woke up with a smile on her face, because today was the day her brother would come visit.

She tried to get up with a stretch, her eyes shut tight in bliss, when she felt herself hitting something. A foot, hanging from the bunk bed above hers.

Audrey pushed it off with a soft grunt, ”Get your smelly feet off my face.”

A head suddenly phased through the bed, and her best friend Kitty pouted, ”My feet aren’t smelly.”

Audrey made her back off with a snap of her fingers, which created golden sparks. Professor Grey would probably blanch at the wanton use of their powers, but what she did not know could not hurt her.

After phasing back through her bed, Kitty climbed off her bed with an agility Audrey felt jealous of, and she said with a grin, ”Alright, Sparky, hurry up if you don’t want to be late for Professor Logan’s class.”

Audrey’s grin returned as she quickly clothed herself. Usually, Audrey would have complained, and rather loudly at that, about placing combat training so early in the morning, but she was just too happy to care today. Besides, it reminded her of Mason.

Because combat training with Professor Logan forbade the use of power, something she usually resented, in normal terms, this meant martial training. Thinking of this did make Audrey wonder who would win between her brother and Professor Logan.

With a small screech, one that Audrey had come to find cute, a cat-sized purple dragon landed on Kitty’s shoulder, barking at Audrey. She rolled her eyes and wiggled her fingers, creating more golden sparks that made the little dragon laugh.

”Cut it with the light already!”

Audrey zeroed in on a still form in another bed, spitting back, ”Get up, you log! Everyone left already!”

The only response she got was some groans and a muffled insult, but she ignored her and left with Kitty for breakfast. As the last arrivals, they would normally only get the leftovers, but neither of them cared because what they liked best was not that popular. For Audrey, it was an English breakfast, with bacon and eggs as well as a sausage. There was always some left, hence her general apathy towards the early bird.

On the downside, it did leave them with no free time as they immediately went to the lockers right after breakfast. Speaking of which, Audrey put on her specialized suit in glee, feeling proud every time she wore it.

Normally, most students at the school wore the classic yellow and black costume, which the founding X-Men all wore in their debuts. At first, it had felt like an honor to wear it, but Audrey had quickly grown bored of it.

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So she had requested a custom design, and although it had taken some convincing, she had gotten it in the end. She had decided to change the yellow for a bright gold, the color of her power. Kitty thought it was the same color, but her friend had been cursed with a lack of taste. Quite deadly, in Audrey’s opinion.

Anyway, Audrey had made the extremities of all four limbs that golden color, alongside an X on her chest and a symbol on her back. A star, because that felt fitting with her power. The rest of the costume was black.

It was shiny, it was fabulous, and it easily caught the eye, which was exactly the effect she sought. Her powers demanded it, although she would have chosen to be the centerpiece of any scene anyway.

Kitty was much more basic, as befits her utter lack of taste. She wore the typical X-Men costume. Audrey had tried to help, but the older girl was a lost cause.

By the time everyone had arrived, including that log called Alison, Professor Logan started his lesson. Although their professor was about the same height as them, he stood out because he was the only one in civilian clothes, with an old leather jacket and army trousers.Professor Logan did not need height for authority. The training ground was utterly silent as Professor Logan grunted, ”Mornin’, kids. As usual, we’ll start with warm-up. Three laps around the mansion, and no use of your powers.”

For some reason, Audrey felt her Professor’s gaze land on her with that last comment. It wasn’t her fault if her power was so awesome it could be applied in different classes.

Professor Logan was a man who led by example, so as soon as he gave the instructions, he started jogging, and without him needing to say a single more word, the students fell in line, following.

Seeing Kitty rapidly gaining distance on her, and most of all, that bitch Alison, Audrey upped the cadence, but she quickly came to regret that, as while she kept up with their teacher and the top students of the class for a while, by the end of the first lap Audrey had considerably slowed down and even then was wheezing, regretting her decision.

She felt the urge to tap into her power, to turn this into something easy and catch up with the rest. But she did not do it. If she did, the others lagging behind with her would no doubt tattle on her, but even if they had not been there, she would not have done it.

Not just because their teacher would be disappointed with her, but also because she owed it to herself to not rely on her power for every little thing. It was a great power, and Audrey understood that she was one of the few X-Men who was wholeheartedly in love with her power, not regretting the fact that she was a mutant for even a single second.

It was because her circumstances were far better than essentially all of her schoolmates’. Her power was a powerful one, but she could also hide it if she wanted to, with no way for others to spot it. Her family had also not batted an eye at the fact that she was a mutant, taking it in stride and not judging her for it for even a moment.

To Audrey, this should have been a given, but when she heard the stories of other mutants, especially from those who went through the ‘Time-slip’, she knew she was lucky. Professor Scott, for example, the very first student Professor Xavier took in, had nearly been lynched by a mob before the Professor took him in.

Since Audrey had the perfect circumstances, then she owed it to them and to herself to be the best version of herself she could be, because she had a luck so many other mutants lacked.

Fueled by this conviction, Audrey stopped whining internally and completed the three laps.

When she was finished and joined the others, Alison snarked, ”Took you long enough, Quickshot.”

Audrey would have usually fired something back, but she ignored her instead, partly because she was too tired to think of a comeback, which only made Alison madder. And she could not do anything about it either under the watch of Professor Logan.

Stopping next to Kitty, Audrey rested with her hands on her knees as she rasped, ”That’s not a warm-up, that’s torture.”

Kitty rolled her eyes, chiding, ”If you hadn’t sprinted from the start, it would have felt like any regular warm-up. Look at Professor Logan, he has his whole skeleton encased in Adamantium, and he hasn’t shed a sweat.”

Audrey had just wanted to complain for the sake of it, she knew she was the one to blame, so she shut her mouth. Still, Kitty helpfully patted her back, adding in a teasing tone, ”You’re getting better. Maybe someday you’ll become stronger than that fabled brother of yours.”

Audrey furiously blushed at that, immediately regretting confiding in Kitty yesterday night. She had been too excited about her brother visiting and had let it slip out.