Sam was an extremely hard man to track down but Luke had finally settled on a plan that he knew would work while also giving them both something to laugh about down the road. A mysterious envelope had been left in Sam's room near the time when many mansion residents had told Luke that he often came home from his patrols with the NYPD. The note was cryptic but friendly enough that it wouldn't make Sam think he was going to be attacked or anything.

~~It's been a long time Sam. We've been through a lot both together and separately but I think that it's time for a meeting. The DR is up and running with one of our favorite programs and I look forward to seeing you there.

Signed,

An Old Friend~~

*********************************************

"I'll have to ask him how things are going with the NYPD." Luke muttered to himself as he finished entering the information into the Danger Room computer, "I have been gone way to long."

With the final push of just a few more keys the once empty room changed into a huge New York city scape. It was obviously night time as the sky was dark and the building were all brightly lit. In the distance the skyline was getting darker as clouds approached filled with rain and lightning. The very air was filled with tension and strangely enough the very city was silent. As though ever person in the world was holding their breath and waiting for what was about to happen.

Walking out of the control room, Luke reached back and pulled up his hood with visor. Though he was in the costume of Wraith he still felt like himself. If his time away in Europe had done anything, it had helped him to truly mesh himself. No longer did he feel like a man that had to live with two different identities. Instead he was just a man that could choose how he wanted teh world to see him. He controlled the power of perception and that was what mattered.

Springing off the stairs that led up to the control room he landed lightly on a roof top and went to stand in the shadows as he waited for his guest to arrive. At the very least it would be good to fight side by side with Sam once again.

"It's been far to long."

The sun had taken a heavy toll on Fade's energy and she yawned, sprawled out on the Mansion grass. The days were getting so hot and the energy seemed to drip from her skin in the liquid form of sweat. It was time to get up and do something, she was getting out of shape with all of this heat. In fact, she hadn't made a visit to the Danger Room since Romania, or at least she hadn't gone to the Danger Room for a Danger Simulation. Stretching, she pulled herself to her feet and looked up at the Mansion. After climbing up the Mansion for so long, she knew exactly what room she lived in. Phasing her claws through the wall, she began to climb up until she reached her room, after much more time than usual. Peeking through the window to make sure, she phased through the wall and walked into her room. The air conditioning blasted her face with an amazing breezy feeling and she stretched again.

After a quick cold splash of water in her face, she changed into some work out clothes. Blue sweatpants and a white cami complimented her blue eyes for a moment, but only until they changed green and started up their gradual journey through the color wheel. On her way out, she pulled on her pumas and walked down the hall way. Her lack of working out required her to warm up before this Danger Room routine and she started to climb up the wall, still moving in the same direction when she climbed to the ceiling and hung upside-down. Lazily, she let her hands dangle down and continued to walk on the ceiling until she reached the stairs.

Pulling herself up, she grabbed onto the ceiling with her hands and let go with her feet, flipping down. The rest of the walk included more climbing, stretching, and rolling around. When she reached the Danger Room, it was already set up. There was a city, a very rainy city. While Fade was pretty darn good at making herself invisible, water always had a nasty way of making it nearly inpossible to stay that way, still she needed to train on that one. If she was in the city, why not wear her outfit? Plus, if there was a boy in there, she would most certainly not wish to go in while wearing a white cami in the rain...

When she had changed into her tight leather outfit with red stitching, she entered herself into the program and entered the simulation. While she was still under shelter, she turned invisible and looked around, squinting her eyes to see if she could see anyone. There. She could see the outline of someonen and she jumped off the ledge and onto the next building. While her jump was a little short, which she wanted, she clawed onto the building and climbed up the rest, more warming up. The next roof, she just jumped on, catching herself with her claws on top of the roof, warm ups were over.

Approaching the figure in the rain, she recognized who it was. One of the few people invisibility could never work on, Luke was blind. Still, she remained invisible for whatever else was out there, she would have the upper hand on the enemies. "You out here alone?" she asked, knowing perfectly well Luke could take care of himself. She was just curious if she was right by staying invisible. Some people enjoyed fighting each other in the Danger Room while others enjoyed Team Work. Maybe she had just walked in on a battle with another Resident and she was about to get attacked, though she hoped not.

It was a long day for Sam but luckily patrol was over and a small flock of car jackers were now in holding awaiting trial then hopefully jail. Now all he had left to do was contact a few parents whose kids got into a fight (to help out the headmistress), check and double check some new resident information, then create a few new danger room scenarios for Gawain/Maya, Kat, Twyla and a handful of his other students, not to mention a handful of other stuff he had to complete. No if he was lucky he would get to bed around two in the morning after completing a majority of his work if not all of it.

First thing was first however, he had to change and to do that he had to go to his room. Upon approaching his door he heard his dog whining on the other side. Opening the door and greeting his dog with a smile a pat and a hug Sam sent his massive dog trotting down the hall to find his way out side. Brushing off his chest that was now covered in dog hair he looked to the cat on his bed who lazily meowed and curled up in a ball and continued with her catnap. Smiling to his cat he took a step forward and stepped on an envelope.

”What’s this?” Sam asked bending down and picking up the envelope. Reading the message and looking up and out the window Sam had a confused look on his face not really sure who to expect. Who was an old friend? So many people came and went from the mansion some friends and others not so much. Immediately he ruled out the ones that weren’t his friends and thought a bit on who was around once that was his friend. Luke was his first guess, but then again Luke was blind and couldn’t write, then again he did see Luke drive at one point… could be Seraph… he shrugged his shoulders not really thinking that it was a woman.

He looked at the clock and decided that if he did go to the Danger Room he would end up getting to bed around three or four… another night with no sleep meant for a slower and less productive day… but then again…

Five minutes passed and Sam walked down the metallic hallway towards the danger room with a pair of his older tennis shoes and basketball shorts and his raggedy AC/DC shirt. Scratching the black eye patch on the left side of his face he contemplated who exactly it could be that was the one behind the letter. Again he shrugged figuring that he would figure out as soon as he entered the room.

Upon entering the room the smell of rain flooded his sense of smell as a few raindrops landed upon his brow. It was the city that much was obvious, walking in more the temperature dropped a few more degrees in his immediate area to make sure no one would get the drop on him. Looking around the possibility of it being a very familiar friend became more and more clear, if it was who he thought it was… he’d be doing then just fending off some hoodlums.

Luke had been standing, leaning up against a wall for approximately ten or so minutes when the Danger Room doors opened. Not bothering to turn around he simply extended his sonar, sweeping the area to see if it was who he was expecting.

"Tight leather clothing, shoulder length hair, definite female form... that is most certainly not Sam." Luke observed to himself as he monitored the person coming closer. He knew that he had met her before but after being away for a year, names of acquaintances didn't spring to his lips like they once hand. Thinking carefully he thought back, finally attaching a name to the figure as her voice broke through his concentration.

"For the moment I am, Fade." Luke replied with a slight chuckle, "It's been a long time. Sam should be joining us shortly, but you're welcome to say for the festivities."

Luke didn't really know what Fade's abilities were, other than the obvious claws. He had never heard anyone speaking about her abilities and since he didn't see the same way as anyone else, he really had no idea about her little disappearing trick.

The wind was getting stronger and Luke could tell by the rumbling in the air that the storm was moving closer. If Sam took to much longer than he was actually going to have to pause the simulation in order to wait for him. But just as those thoughts were moving through his mind the Danger Room doors opened one more time.

"Speak of the devil... he's here."

stepping out of the shadows Luke stood still, simply waiting for Sam to see him. This was a battle situation so there would be no excited waving or calling out. "We've got a group of two or three weather manipulators that have teamed up to destroy the city." Luke commented to Fade as he waited for Sam to head their direction, "One controls rain, one controls wind, and one controls lightening. Should be fun."

Luke happened to be one of the few that Fade could not sneak up on. That reminded her, she was looking to develop her invisibility to extend even to sonar, maybe he could help her work on that. She still needed to work on mechanics and such, but with this phasing, she was getting much better at staying undetected. To everyone except Luke. "It has been a long time, it's good to see you back though," she smiled. After her disappearance from the Mansion, she learned not to ask people why they left, there were just some things people needed to deal with away from the Mansion and it was none of her business. She was just happy he returned home safe.

He mentioned that Sam would be joining. Well, then there is going to be some sort of fighting, she mentally bubbled with excitement. Hopefully, not against each other, she was not sure how she'd fair against the two male X-Men, but against some programs in the Danger Room, this would be quite fun. "Oh he is? I would love to stay," she said, at an undereducated loss for the definition of 'festivities'. If it meant kicking some a**, then it was alright in her book. The wind was blowing hard and for a young woman, it was a little too hard. Her hair whipped around and she could feel her feet wanting to take a step back to steady herself. In order to keep herself standing upright, she phased her body, allowing the wind to simply pass through it, it would be hard to keep this up though if they started moving, she had to be solid for some things.

Luke announced Sam's arrival and Fade turned her attention to the Danger Room doors. Of course Luke would have noticed a change like that so quickly, she could not even imagine how more advanced his other senses were. After filling her in on the mutants they would be facing, Fade groaned. Great! Just great! Wind was complicated since she could not see it. Of course, she could phase her body through big gusts, but it would require a hit first since she cannot see the wind coming at her. Then there was rain, a real damper ((hehehehe)) to her invisibility. Again, she would have to work some on phasing through the rain, but puddles always gave her away. And then there was lightening, another complicated power. She could phase through a giant bolt of lightening, but little tiny ones attacking from all sides were harder to keep up with. A smirk quickly took the place of her slightly disappointed lips. At least she could work on developing her powers instead of just using them, it was the perfect simulation. "I think it will be fun, nice choice in the program," she said, concluding that she would be exhausted after this.

Red, a familiar costume hero stood there ahead of him talking and explaining the rules to someone and what they were going up against. He took a few steps forward and a few raindrops turned to snowflakes as his control over the temperature forced the air around him to remain cool so it would be easier see everything around him, including people that didn’t plan on being seen.

It was Luke all right, the voice checked out and no one else would be in a red suit like that. He smirked slightly and focused on the figure that wasn’t Luke, it was a woman’s the shape her body heat gave off proved it. Not making an attempt to guess who it was Sam ran through the rain towards Luke, his feet splashing through a few puddles causing them to freeze over as soon as his foot left the puddle (a side effect of his heat sensing). Not really focusing on anything behind him Sam picked up the pace towards Luke waving his hand implementing a false sense of security.

It had been a while since he had last seen Luke and when Sam’s friends left without much of a warning other than a ‘I’ll be back’ or something of the like, well Sam didn’t handle it to well. Sure he knew that things in life came up but still a phone call here or there couldn’t have hurt. Getting closer to Luke, his hand lowered and his voice called out giving Sam’s true intentions away as he lowered his frame and impacted Luke in a tackle. ”The hell is wrong with you!” Sam asked getting up and brushing a few specks of mud off his forearm, ”No phone call saying “Hey I’ll be in town soon” or a “Coming home” just show up and give me a letter…”

Reaching over and lowering his hand towards his friend (to help him up) who he tackled a few seconds ago Sam smiled and turned off his heat tracking sense losing the image of the invisible woman in the room. No doubt someone who was invited to have some fun with the scenario Luke created. The chill he was giving out would have faded and if any other raindrops turned to snow around them they reverted back to water.

”Could have used ya when you were gone man, several occasions I needed some advice…” Sam said turning his good eye towards where the woman used to be, ”I take it we are going to have a bit of help for this?” he asked Luke before taking a look around the city that he created.

"I think it'll be fun." Luke replied with a slight smile, "It's been way to long since I fought beside my friends in either the danger room or the outside world. It's a good time to flex my muscles agains as they say."

Turning away from the woman, Luke focused his attention on his approaching friend. If someone had asked him who his best friend here at mansion was before he left town, he would have had to pick Sam. Sure, Raina had been his love and best female friend, but Sam was the best guy friend he could have asked for. True to a fault people would have described him but Luke wouldn't have it any other way.

Lost in his reverie, Luke failed to notice Sam's quickening pace or the tensing of his muscles that might have saved him from an impact. As he flew backwards with Sam's shoulder planted in his chest it was a good reminder that you could never let your guard down.

"Sorry... I will say you have been a hard man to track down." Luke said through a few coughs as he worked to get his breath back. Grabbing Sam's hand he allowed himself to be pulled up before grabbing the other man in a quick friendly hug.

"Well, now that I'm back I expect you to tell me everything I missed out on. We'll go out for drinks or something, but for now..." Luke's breath was back and it was time to focus on what they were about to face. Sure, battling like this was a little bit cheeseball but it was also good experience and battlefield trust was one of the strongest that could ever be formed.

"Fade wandered it and so I invited her to join us. Did you hear the rundown I gave her on our opponents?" Luke asked as the wind began to blow even more strongly. The enemy mutants were drawing closer and the battle was only moments away. If they were going to plan a strategy it had to be done now.

When Luke had finished explaining everything, Fade heard something approaching. At first, it was slow and she turned to face whatever was coming, but she recognized it rather quickly. What woman could forget the face of that ice manipulator? She had forgotten that she was invisible, but she thought he could sense her due to her body terminature. Still, she stayed invisible as he came closer, but it was apparrent where his focus was, directly on Luke. From what she could remember before Luke left, he was usually with Raina or Sam, so it seemed that this friendship was pretty strong.

So strong that it took a good tackle to convey how much Sam missed Luke. She watched the two fly out of eye level and onto the ground and listened passively to their catch up talks. It was best not to interrupt two best friends sharing their frustrations on how they haven't seen each other in a while. Sam faced her, yup, he could see her somehow. She really needed to have training sessions with each of them so she could work on being invisible to all of the senses. She was so close to it, even practiced with Chris in the river, water was never her forte but she was getting better at it. She just needed more practice.

Smiling, she turned visible. "What's the point of being invisible when most mutants have other senses to detect me?" she sort of frowned and shrugged. With more training, she could be completely invisible, to every single sense, on a human, mutant, or machine. Luke mentioned that she was asked to join and it sounded even more fun now that Sam was involved. Two macho men and one skittery little stealthy woman against some crazy weather mutants in a dreary city. It seemed like she either needed to work on her stealth some in this rain or she needed to work on her offense, it was a tough decision.

"Game plan wise, uh, weather is a little tricky with my power. I can stay invisible but the rain can outline me. Then I can stay in a phased state, but that's a little tricky too. Not to mention lightening and wind. I can try to sneak up on them or at least find their location without being detected but I don't think I can keep it up for too long, in the actual battle, I'll probably need to just use phasing and my talons, never mind the invisibility," she sighed. It seemed like she would be working on both.

His blind friend needed a second to catch his breath, which was good meant he got the message. A message that was then returned in a friendly hug one that Sam allowed and returned with a smile, ”Drinks sound good though I stress the plural form… a lot happened.” Sam tapped the side of his left head where the patch started something Luke probably wouldn't be able to see and something he decided might be needed to be discussed for another time. Now Luke had set up a game and Sam was ready to play.

Nodding his head to Luke he looked over to Jenny who appeared a few seconds later, ”Yeah I heard,” he said as he gave Jenny a wave and a flirtatious smile just to see if he had the same effect he did at the dance, ”It's more fun for those of us with the power to detect those who don't want to be found.” Sam said nodding his head.

When she said she was giving up on the idea of going invisible Sam shook his head, ”Aww Jenny, no go invisible, just because we can see you doesn't mean they can't,” he said with a smirk before he looked to Luke, ”Take the lead, Luke” he paused as the weather mutants were now in view and closing, ”You need some practice, your probably rusty!” just as he said this the lightning mutant probably the one Sam would have the most trouble with forced his hands together charging a ball of blue preparing to fire his first bolt.

"Multiple drinks... check." Luke confirmed before noticing Sam tapping his face. Was there something there he should notice? Focusing his sonar on just the ice-man, Luke suddenly found the eye patch and immediately a stream of questions flooded his mind. What had happened? Could he have stopped it if he'd just been there? Firmly pushing them aside, Luke turned his focus back on the situation at hand as well as the young woman that would be helping. Catching up and drinks were later... training was now.

"Oh, I think the invisibility works better than you realize." Luke commented with a slight smile, "And if you have the ability to phase through solid objects then you should be able to disappear from my sonar easy enough. You'll just have to work on staying in a phase state for extended periods of time."

Thankfully Fade was on his side because Luke really didn't want to think about the idea of an enemy that could hide from him completely. Sure he wasn't the most powerful member of the X-Men, far from it actually, but his strength came from being able to track opponents in situations when not many others could. It gave him a place on the team as a good counter-intelligence operative but as much as he tried to put himself in front line combat that really wasn't where he fit. Sure, he could battle criminals but fighting other mutants? That was a little much for someone with his particular abilities.

Turning back toward the approaching enemy, Luke extended his sonar to its maximum range so he could monitor what was going on. "Rusty?" He said with mock indignation, "I'll just have to demonstrate how rusty I am!"

Rain-woman was hanging back, apparently just trying to keep the situation nice and slippery. Wind-man was actually hovering in the air, apparently using his abilities to give himself flight as he approached the battle while Mr. Lightening was already charging up his hands for the first attacks.

"Stay out of the puddles if at all possible since they'll only make the electricity worse." Luke said as he began to move toward the edge of the building that they were standing on, "Sam, you should be able to reach the airborne enemy while I keep the shocker busy. Fade, maybe you can slip around to the rain lady and shut her down before she makes the conditions to unbearable."

Not bothering to wait for a response Luke took a running leap off of the building, somersaulting through the air before catching onto a flagpole that jutted out from the neighboring building. As he swung around the pole and released himself toward a nearby fire escape he couldn't help but smile. THIS was where he belonged. Fighting along side his friends in the city he called home.

Finally landing on the street, Luke took cover behind a parked car as the very first of what promised to be many lightening balls flew past. Moving out of cover, Luke moved along a zigzag route, darting from hiding spot to hiding spot. It took time but steadily he was moving closer to the lightening mutant. The battle was about to get heated.

Sam turned to give her a little grin and it pricked at her cheeks. Why did all of the cute ones have to be taken? She flexed her cheek bones slightly to stop from smiling too wide, but there was a little playful smirk in the corner of her lips. "Guess I'll have to work on that some. Soon you won't even be able to tell when I'm around, just need some practice," she teased, hoping she could actually get it down pat quickly. It would probably be easier to hide from Sam than from Luke, but she wanted to be able to hide from both. Her own true success story. Sneaking up on the boys.

Luke suggested a good idea, staying in a phased state. She would definitely need to work on that some more, but maybe that would turn off her heat signature as well, or maybe not... Well, she wasn't a doctor, she had no idea how to control her body parts with her power to keep her completely - the battle had begun. The quickness of it nearly jolted her eyes out of their sockets. The three weather mutants approached. Two male, one female. Obvious attack: Fade goes for the female. The woman was in the back, relying on her powers rather than force. She would make a good enough target.

"Already on it," she nodded, cracking her knuckles. She knew what to do. Water on the ground usually meant that she could be tracked with puddle tracks, every where she walked, there would be tiny pitter patters from her feet. Luke took off towards the group and Fade took a running start towards the roof edge. When she leapt off, she was not aiming straight ahead. In fact, she dropped a level. Phasing through the wall, she landed on the level directly underneath the roof. She could hear the sounds of running and the sounds of heavy rain on the roof above, but she kept moving.

Running quickly, she ran to the other side of the dimly lit hall. The lights inside were flickering on and off, most likely results from the lightening mutant. When she reached the other wall, she turned invisible and threw her hand out behind her before phasing through the wall. The claws on her outstretched hand caught the wall and kept her from falling out of the building. Swinging from the redirected motion energy, she caught the wall with her other hand and steadied herself. The rain pelted her hard, but she needed to be solid to climb.

When she reached the top, she found herself nearly thirty feet behind the rain mutant. Jolts of lightening were striking everywhere, but most were focused ahead to the visible attack. Taking a deep breath, Fade pulled herself up to her feet, but got down on her hands and feet, spreading her body like a beetle scuttering across the floor. She began to creap around, using the distribution of her body weight to cover any splashes in the puddles she stepped in. A rogue lightening bolt from the mutant ahead backfired, headed directly for Fade, but she focused her body on phasing and allowed it to only slightly tickle through her body.

When the coast was clear, she moved forward again, ready to attack. When she was only two or so feet away from the rain mutant, she jumped to her feet. The sound from the splash caused the woman at the back to turn around quickly, but Fade had anticipated her to turn around, in fact, she was hoping the rain girl would fall for it. Balling up her fist, Fade threw the punch into the girl's stomach. Since she was never too great with force or strength, she phased her hand through the woman and pulled back, just trying to slow her down instead of cause too much harm. The girl let out a loud yet girlish scream and the rain turned into hail.

Nodding his head Sam smiled and agreed with Luke’s command, the match up for everyone was perfect, not only did he pin them up against tough opponents but he also made sure no one was to far out of their league. Sam had the range so the wind guy was an obvious choice, in theory Sam could strike him from a distance something Luke and Jenny couldn’t do to well. The rain woman well, she was perfect for Jenny simply because if she did intend to get close to her she’d have to stay focused on her mutation and seeing as she was one of the few stealth members of the team it was perfect practice.

While he was thinking over his strategy on how to confront his dance partner Luke and Jenny both bounded off after their opponents leaving Sam on the roof to remain stationary as the man who was currently flying was coming closer and closer to the icemancer. The rain that the woman was producing to help aid her team did more harm than good, normally he had to pull the moisture from the air but when there was so much it became rain? It was child’s play to Sam one of the first things he had been able to do when his powers first manifested when he was well a child.

The rain parted momentarily when the wind man raised his hand and flung it down, a quick sound and Sam tucked and rolled to the side in the rain, he looked to where he was standing for a moment to see a large gash in the roof, air blade? He smirked slightly and pictured Ghost and her control over the same element as this man, what had he seen her do before? Vacuum was one he was familiar with first hand, making note to not let the wind manipulator within hands reach of him Sam turned some of the falling water into ice and pulled it onto his body forming his ice armor.

Another slash of his arm and this time Sam rolled forward the gash missing him and imprinting it’s self in the concrete again, ”Forgot how strong you make some of these guys!” Sam said calling out to Luke figuring he set the difficulty setting to pretty high, after all they were all seasoned in combat so it was natural that this would be more difficult than a simulation his students often had to undergo.

Before he was ready to attack the rain quickly turned to hail and Sam chuckled slightly, Jenny was making this easier and easier for him. With a wave of his hand a few of the ice pellets solidified and sharpened to a point and changed their direction towards the man flying around trying to keep some distance from Sam.

While slow, Luke was making steady progress toward his target when the rain suddenly changed to hail. Thankfully they were still small but for someone that didn't control ice they were still painful.

"Forgot how strong you make some of these guys!" Luke heard Sam call out through the sound of the hail and wind. Grinning slightly under his mask Luke didn't bother to shout a reply of his own. Wasn't it interesting that Sam had been the one worried about Luke being rusty but now he was the one commenting on how difficult the opponents were.

Suddenly Luke felt more than saw yet another bolt of lighting fly past his position. Leaping to his feet he suddenly charged out from cover but even as he took the first few steps he knew he had made the wrong decision. The first bolt had been a feint to draw him out and the electric-mancer held another charge in his right hand. Before Luke could do anything the energy was flying his direction, sizzling hail and atmosphere as it came at him. Reacting completely on instinct Luke released a sonic blast of his own while dropping into a crouch. The pressure of sound pushing molecule against molecule created a solid wall that the bolt slammed into, dispersing in a flash of light and sparks that was reminiscent of fireworks.

Climbing back to his feet Luke once again charged forward but then without warning his pace slowed as he noticed a strange feeling all around him. His hair was starting to stand on end and the air felt charged.

"Gotcha." The man said with cold satisfaction as the clouds above them released a bolt of cloud-to-ground lightening. This time it was all Luke could do to dive to the side and void the blast. Right where he had been standing the pavement was now liquefied from the amount of heat and power that had been applied to it.

"Maybe I went a little overboard this time!" Luke yelled up to Sam as he tried to slow his heart rate down to a more manageable level from his shelter behind the last parked car he would be able to hide behind. "Now... how do I get closer?" Luke pondered as the lightening flashed overhead, the very heavens seems to cry their outrage at his narrow escape.

As the woman fell back, a loud bang followed by a bright light reminded Fade that Luke and Sam were also in this battle and she glanced over momentarily to see how they were doing. They were doing fine. It was hard to tell who was winning just yet but they weren't hurt. She turned back to the girl, but the rain mutant was already back on her feet. Her dark blue eyes fixed on where Fade had punched her from, tiny droplets of water seemed to rain upwards, giving away Fade's position as each drop slithered up her body. Once her position was detected, all of the rain in the surrounding areas ceased and began pelting the redhead in one spot.

The rain quickly turned to a rush of water and Fade took a giant breath before phasing through the initial blast. The rain woman created a tube of water, attempting to keep Fade inside, even hardening the outside of the tube to ice as she began turning the entire tube to ice. Occassionally, Fade would phase an arm out, but the sudden fill of water where he body should be informed the rain mutant that Fade was trying to escape and she made the tube wider, catching her still. Unable to breathe, she turned solid and splashed around, trying to get out as her body began to slow, freezing inside the tube.

When the tube had completely frozen over, Fade waited a second, ignoring the tingling on her face from lack of air. Since the ice had become so dense, no one could see through to find the space of Fade that had been trapped, which was exactly her plan. Luke had made these pretty tough, but she could escape. Phasing through the bottom, she slipped out of the ice sculpture and onto the floor underneath the roof, taking a minute to catch her breath. Wheezing frantically, she grabbed her chest and steadied herself, rubbing her hands together to regain heat. She would need a hot bath after tonight. Hair dripping and teeth chattering, she jumped up, grabbing the ceiling with her claws. While still invisible, she phased only her face up to find the rain mutant circling the tube of ice, trying to see her captive.

When she was directly over Fade's face, the redhead jumped up, swinging a punch at the girl's face. Only a girl can hit a girl. The rain mutant fell back with a yelp and Fade jumped to the other side of her, pushing her in a different location. Squirming around to fight back, the rain mutant did not see the edge of the building and Fade pushed her off. Immediately following the woman's fall, Fade jumped down as well, wrapping her hands around the woman's legs before phasing her feet into the wall. It had to be done quickly but slowly. Too fast and her torso would rip off from her legs. Too slow and the program would assume them both dead and act to save Fade. Luckily, she was able to pull it off and caught her feet on the building. The sudden jerk of force sent both mutants hurdling towards the building, but Fade phased through, still holding on.

While her face phased through, her arms were caught on the outside and she felt a jerk back to the other side of the wall. "I've gotcha! Surrender!" she called down to the mutant in her hands. The woman did not respond, nor did she try to steady herself, she just slowly swayed from Fade's grip. Jenny had forgotten that the woman couldn't phase through the wall, she must have hit her face on the building and been knocked unconcious. That would have been a good thing if Fade did not have to pull her back up to the roof top! Even though the danger room would end the rain woman's program if she were to fall off a building, if this were an actual battle, Fade could not let her just die, so she treated her like a real mutant and tried to figure out a way to pull her back up and not fall herself.

The wind mutant turned and the wind around him turned into a bubble preventing Sam’s shards of ice and the hail drops to attack him. Narrowing his eyes Sam ran forward a few steps and jumped off the building towards the windmancer the rain ceased but the moisture in the air was still enough to keep him going without much of a problem. Hands outstretched Sam managed to grab the flying mutant around the ankle and there he hung, it was funny all it took was one second of a distraction and it changed everything in the game.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a flash of light and a large cylinder of ice, wondering how the other two were doing he too became distracted and that was all the wind manipulator needed to launch Sam from his leg and throw him into a miniature tornado of wind that quickly spun him about into the side of the building he was on a few seconds ago. The ice armor around his back cracked slightly and the wall became indented slightly.

Sam gasped still disoriented and now out of breath and fell to the ground which was still surrounded in water thanks to the rain mutant. Before he hit however the water turned to ice and rose to catch Sam in a giant hand of ice and with a quick thud he was up righting himself glad that the rain mutant had did as much ground work as she did. Once he was up righted Sam focused on his heat sensor forcing more and more air around him to become colder and colder making all those with a body temperature around him to light up like a Christmas tree. Luke was off in the distance with his partner not to far from him something he directed his eye towards and noticed he was hiding behind a car, luckily for Sam they weren’t that far off from where he was.

The lightning mutant was charging for another attack and Sam’s hand raised and some water turned to several balls of ice and was launched towards Luke’s electric friend, ”Maybe,” Sam said attempting to distract sparky long enough for Luke to make a move, however before he could see if anything he did actually helped or hindered Luke’s movements his attention was brought back quickly to his windy friend causing all his attention both his normal vision and his heat sensor to be focused on the quickly oncoming foe, ”Your welcome!” Sam said quickly as he jumped from the hand of ice he was still located on as his dance partner waltzed right through the ice sculpture.

The ice shattered and was flung into several different directions as Sam tucked and rolled onto the pavement. Again he up righted himself and turned quickly to respond to the threat that was approaching him faster and faster. Throwing his hands up and down he focused on the water creating various pillars and spikes for the air elemental to either slow or stop him.