"Watch out!"

"For what?! The entire damn room is filled with the stupid things!"

He admitted to himself that Scott was right and decided to shut up and keep running. What were the two male members of the X-men running from you ask? Small, fast, and highly durable robots in the shape of a four-legged beetle that could shoot weak lasers from each of their eyes. All four of them. 

Far more annoying than dangerous, it still stung quite a bit to get hit by them and neither of the boys wanted to subject themselves to such misery, sadly it seemed like they weren't given much of a choice as dozen of the thing crawled all around the Danger Room, currently simulating the streets of downtown New York.

It was their routine battle training, and although the programing of the Danger Room ensured their safety, a bit of pain has always been a good motivator for improvement.

Unfortunately, there was only so much space within the Danger Room even with all the high tech tricks it used to make it seem far larger than it was and they met a dead end. Soon the scurrying critters surrounded them.

"... Can you buy me like... 6, no 3 minutes?"

"Heh, do I really have a choice?"

"Not unless you want that pretty face of yours to be kissing the ground in the next 5 seconds."

Their banter was cut short as the familiar sound of lasers charging was heard. Scott quickly got to work by pulling down his Ruby Quartz sunglasses, a gift from Hank McCoy aka Beast one of the professor's acquaintances. The brilliant man had worked together with the professor and Scott to find a method to help him control his mutant ability and they discovered that the substance somehow was immune to his red beams via resonant frequency with his power and psychic field which controlled his powers and the super-concentrated kinetic beams that used his eyeballs as a portal and his sight as a focusing point... Or something.

Confusing right? They lost him after the third sentence about extra dimension mumbo jumbo and something about absorbing ambient energy.

The point was that the glasses helped him not blow the fuck out of whatever he was looking at and that was all either of them needed to know. Well, blow up unintentionally at least. Said young mutant seemed to be having a hell of a time roaming his eyeballs all across the street and blasting the mini robot army to hell. Andrew thought so anyway, he couldn't quite make out if Scott was screaming or laughing over the noise and constant explosions.

Too bad they were made of sturdier stuff and soon crawled back, this time receiving cover fire from the back.

Two pitch-black tendrils grew out of Andrew's lower back before thickening into the size of tree trunks, full of large bulging veins and sharp claws. He gave up on the whole "let's try not to look scary" thing a long time ago after Jean and Scott got used to his bizarre body morphings. His arms elongated with his hand and fingers turning into deadly claws with a gleaming edge, each finger now transformed into 6-inch long bone blades.

Nothing like having a horror movie night every Friday to desensitize young impressionable children to their flesh-eating monster of a friend and his weird bullshit and body horror.

While Scott was busy playing Rambo with the enemy, Andrew managed to break through the wall on the other side of the alley they were in, quickly spreading tendrils to surround the interior of the building he accomplished his goal with time to spare before his previously given deadline.

"Scott, get your skinny ass over here!"

Said boy didn't even have the energy to give him a response besides a small grunt as he ran out from his hiding spot behind a wrecked Van and sprinted over, a quick headcount showed 27 of the robots hot on his tail.

Thankfully that seemed to be the last of them as he couldn't see any more closing in. He shifted his form into a large horse-sized rat with large feathery wings as he rushed outside the building towards his partner. It wasn't a pretty sight to be sure, but it was also incredibly fast and agile.

It was the best he could do since he refused to eat someone's cat or dog, and horses were illegal to consume in the U.S... He needed to make a reminder to check out some places to buy exotic meats. Was shark or hawk available on the market..? He could use something for underwater fights, and a faster bird besides pidgeon would be great.

"I hope you have a plan, or else we're both screwed."

"Of course I do, just trust me and hold on tight!"

He decided not to mention the fact that his plan was also just as likely to screw them over, and picked up the pace a bit. Within moments they were both in the bathroom of the three-story home on the ground floor. He morphed back into human form as he slammed the door shut and locked it.

"... Seriously? This was your plan? Hide in someone's bathroom?!"

"Yuppp!" He made sure to really emphasize and pop the P at the end and he could swear that he was practically able to sense Cyclop's blood pressure rising. The little dude was way too tense for such a young kid, seriously he needed to take a chill pill and learn to have some fun. Andrew felt like he was the perfect person for the job of teaching him how. Just as the other boy looked ready to explode on a rant about the viral teen's stupidity he decided to stop teasing him.

"Oh, ye of little faith, just trust me and watch."

Thankfully his amazing track record seemed to convince the brown-haired boy to stand down and watch how things unfold in his master plan. Well, that or more likely he had given up and decided to just resign himself to his fate considering they were screwed regardless of if he wasted energy shouting or not. He liked to think it was the former, but chances are it was the latter.

It didn't matter because he would prove it with his actions in about another 10 seconds once the robots were all inside.

And just like clockwork, once the last little bugger was inside the black coating of Biomass Andrew had spread inside the house suddenly squirmed before the entire building shook. He made a large cocoon cover himself and Cyclops, and right as it finished enclosing them both the house collapsed on top of them and crushed everything inside underneath tons of rubble.

Houses tended to do that when all of its support pillars and wooden beams gets suddenly eaten through funny enough It lasted for less than five minutes before all the rumbling stopped and the debris settled. Crushed robots and bricks scattered around the two teens as the inky shell protecting them slowly retreated within Andrew.

"Nice."

That was all Scott could say after witnessing the aftermath, suddenly the rumble and smoke disappeared as the Level was considered complete and both left to get a shower. The soot and tears on their clothes were all too real unlike the simulated environment so they had to get cleaned up. Xavier had introduced them to the Danger Room as it was so appropriately named after Scott got settled in and ever since they've been having bi-weekly training sessions there right before lunchtime. Today they were grouped up into 2 to get some practice with different team dynamics.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

It has been almost a year ever since they found him, and he has started to open up to their strange little family. He still has regular therapy sessions with the Professor and spent every evening wandering the streets looking for his brother, but he seemed far more relax and at peace with himself.

13, well now 14, year olds really shouldn't have to deal with having PTSD or survivor's guilt. At least he was getting the best care possible by the world's best telepath so he was well on his way to recovery.

It'd be quite problematic if the only member of their team who had any skills in flying the jet couldn't handle the real thing because of his trauma. God knows Andrew and Jean couldn't fly for shit, although to be fair since Jean could use telekinesis to fly she didn't have much to worry about in the future... He shuddered at the poor mental image of himself trying to keep up with the Blackbird Jet in the future as an overgrown pigeon.

No thanks.

Technically he didn't need to actually shower, he could easily consume and break down any dirt or dust on himself and his "clothes" were actually just his Biomass shifted into an outfit, and boy if that wasn't such a bizarre sensation and concept- literally wearing your own skin, but it was great training for his shapeshifting and disguise powers.

It kinda... Grew on him.

Andrew let out a small chuckle at the terrible joke as he simply enjoyed the sensation of hot water running down his body. By the time steam had filled the room and he felt he had run up the water bill enough he left, a new bright red shirt and blue jeans as his outfit for the day. He wondered if he could be considered a pervert now since he was basically being an exhibitionist.

"Good evening, Andrew. I saw the training session in the Danger Room just now, nicely done. A most clever execution of planning and using the environment to your advantage, my boy."

Startled, the boy jumped with a hand clutching his chest. He didn't know how an old man in a wheelchair managed to sneak up on him when he had enhanced senses, but he really hoped that said old man didn't manage to pick up on his stupid idle thoughts. That would've been awkward enough for him to die. The Professor merely raised a single eyebrow at his reaction.

"Oh, ah, thanks! It was pretty spontaneous so I wasn't sure if it was going to work, to be honest. The Danger Room just seems to be getting harder and harder every time, ya know? Even though I've been doing the same level too, the same tactics don't seem to work, man whatever program you've been running has been kicking our butts."

The man seemed to lose his good-humored smile for a moment, his face going blank as he digested what Andrew just said. The biomorphic boy didn't say anything either and just stood there, but after a few minutes, it was getting increasingly tense and awkward for him.

"Um, Professor? You ok there?"

His voice seemed to snap the Professor out of whatever funk he was in as he cleared his throat. Must be an old people's thing.

"Yes? Yes. I'm perfectly fine, dear boy. I was just... Lost in thoughts. You need not concern yourself with it, go on and have fun. Jean and Ororo should be complete with their sessions any moment now."

"Alrighty then, cya later Professor."

After bidding the man goodbye he sat in the Control Room above the Danger Room for a few minutes observing his friends' progress.

They were in a jungle instead of the cityscape he and Scott were in, and Jean was projecting a dome around the both of them buy time for Storm. It didn't take long before the skies darkened and, honest to God, fricking Lightning rained down onto the robots!

To reiterate, they were not actually in a jungle but inside of a sealed room in a mansion in New York. And Storm made a fricking thunderstorm. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

Back when he was in his world he simply thought of it was a pretty cool power, versatile, but not much of a match for telekinesis or shooting death rays from your eyes. Now, in this new one, after a year of competing academically with little miss perfect Jean Grey and tutored by the Genius Xavier? After being held onto an, in his opinion, unreasonable standard with people supporting and expecting the best of him?

Well, he still wasn't all that smart, Jean already overtook him despite his advantage of being 3 years mentally older and needing far less rest, but he now knew enough to understand how utterly dangerous and powerful Storm's power actually was.

To put it into simple perspective, a volcano blowing the fuck up would be enough to mildly change the climate, Storm could literally do that while sitting on a beach chair and sipping on mojitos from 10 miles way if she felt like it, and she was still learning and growing herself every day.

He was pretty sure if Storm turned evil she could kick the ass of everyone in the X-men besides phoenix force Jean if she played smart and neutralized Charles.

As he analyzed his friend's power he noticed that one of the robots had actually burrowed ground to reach pass the shield Jean placed, but it was for naught as even caught off guard as she was a simple wave of her hand turned the thing into a crumbled ball which was promptly shot into the face of another of its companion with all the force of a cannon.

Unlike the boys who had struggled and ran from the incredibly sturdy and numerous robots, the girls didn't break a sweat and completely bulldozed through the obstacles. It was a bit disheartening, but damn if it wasn't hot.

He had a thing for strong women, especially so if they could kick his ass it seems, and with the way the rain-drenched their body... Whew.

His eyes lingered maybe a touch longer than necessary be he soon snapped out of it and met the two outside the doors with towels.

"Thank you, Andrew."

"Awesome, thanks Andy!"

Storm manifested a hot breeze to circulate around her and Jean, warming them up and acting as a blow dryer for their long hair. They were both wearing their official Xmen suit which was thankfully waterproof and was he ever thankful for the incredibly well-tailored fit that emphasized people's curves and muscles.

He didn't know who made them but he wanted to send them a gift basket. Virus or not it seems he was still prone to his "teenage hormones".

"Say, where's Scott?"

"I don't know, I think he went to hit the hay when I went for a shower. Today's session was really rough on him."

Jean gave a thought hum before she bid the two goodbyes to check up on the other boy and maybe catch up on some light reading. While Storm was finishing drying her body to avoid leaving puddles around the mansion Andrew fidgeted with his keychain, a copy of the one from his old world, mini Kirby in a chef's hat, all that he made from his Biomass. It helped to calm down his nerves and building anxiety.

"So, um, Ororo..." His throat felt drier than the Gobi Desert, but he took a deep breath before spewing it all out. "Do you, I mean if you don't mind, that is" He felt fucking pathetic as Ororo merely looked at him with confusion and amusement. This wasn't the first time he stumbled his way through a conversation nor the first time he tried to ask her out, but it hurt his pride how he couldn't even do something as simple as this.

Some would-be savior of the world and aspiring hero he turned out to be, too scared to even ask out his crush for the past half-year on a simple date. 

Cmon, be a man, Andrew!

"Yes..?"

"Would yo- If it's possib.. Er. I mean. Wanna catch a movie with me?"

His voice was weak and small and he felt as if he was a foot shorter than he was. It only took her a handful of seconds to reply, but it felt like each was a small eternity in and of itself.

"I would love too. What movie are we watching?"

Yes... Yes. Yes! She said Yes! Hell yeah! 

He felt like he just won the Lottery of Life as they went to the nearby theater. He contemplated asking the Professor to get him another fake I.D so that he could "legally" drive. Taking the bus and train on your first date was majorly lame even he knew that. He did enjoy feeling a bit smug at the envious, in his mind, look some people were giving him, no lie. He was with a queen and they knew it. 

Ironically enough they were watching a superhero movie. Steel which was about some military scientist who decided to turn himself into RoboCop and fight crime using a shitty version of Iron man's suit. The dude was black too and he couldn't help but think about Cyborg from Teen Titans.

It was alright, the CGI was kinda bad but the acting was good, although the robots kind of turned him off from the movie since he was just getting his ass whooped by some a shy of an hour ago. Well, maybe he wasn't being fair to it since Ororo seemed to enjoy it greatly and he spent most of the movie stealing glances at her.

Afterward, they went to enjoy only the finest of New York Cruisine. Chilli Cheese dogs, large fries, and a fruit smoothie.

Ororo got something healthier from the sandwich shop, which he couldn't pronounce for his life, and some hippie sounding items. He took another glance through the menu to find what it was again.

THE GODDESS - OUR SIGNATURE DISH

Our supreme Ginger Nama Shoyu Sauce nurturing carrots, beets, broccoli, kale, & tofu or sprouted legumes, gracing short-grain brown rice. Recommended Sides: egg, garlic, squash, avocado, tamari almonds. Recommended Sides: egg, garlic, squash, avocado, tamari almonds

It was kind of hard to care about eating "healthy" food when junk food tastes so much better and that he literally could not develop high cholesterol or anything, so what was the point? Everything he eats just gets broken down, all the same, he was pretty sure he could directly Consume a tree if he felt like it.

They spent their time discussing the movie and some idle chatter. It somehow turned into a conversation about hobbies and plants, which was how he found himself in the back of the mansion helping Ororo plant some Tulips and other flowers. His pants were completely covered in dirt. It was hot with the sun glaring overhead, and he was pretty sure his hands and face were covered in manure which was a code name for Cow poop which smelled something fierce, but he felt like he was on cloud 9.