From: fuzzy@athena.mit.edu (Dark Fuzzy Rules OK!)
Subject: NEW MUTANTS: Kid Dynamo Chapter 10, Part 1
Followup-To: rec.arts.comics.xbooks
Summary: "Double Dare"
Keywords: Mutants, Magneto, Marvel
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 14:30:41 GMT

	A reminder: past chapters of Kid Dynamo are now available by
ftp from ocf.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/Kid_Dynamo, thanks to
the kind efforts of David Goldfarb.

	With this chapter, we start the final arc of the story.  I'd
suggest that you start rereading The Fall of the Mutants in
anticipation of some of the stuff coming down the pike for Jessica and
company...

	-connie.


Kid Dynamo Chapter 10, part 1:
    "Double Dare"
    by Connie Hirsch
 
    Our Story So Far:  Jessica Pierce is a teenage telekinetic fireproof
 mutant runaway who has taken shelter at Xavier's School For Gifted
 Youngsters, despite her considerable misgivings about the headmaster,
 Magneto. The leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants in his long-ago days had
 tampered with her mother's fire powers, which subsequently went berserk and
 killed her.
    Last chapter, Jessica and Magneto had a conversation that both of them
 had been avoiding: talking about the fact that Magneto is actually Jessica's
 natural father. He insists he never knew of her existence until now; she
 disbelieves that he had nothing to do with the death of her mother. He vows
 to find the cause; Jessica indicates she hasn't made up her mind as to
 whether she'll stay at the school....
 
    * * *
 
    "Douglas, I trust you have a good explanation for that... outfit," said
 Magneto to Doug, who had just clumped into the Danger Room Control Center.
  I had to turn my head or I might have laughed out loud at the look on the
 Master of Magnetism's face. That was a bad idea if I wanted to sober up;
 Doug looked like a one man band, with weapons substituting for the musical
 instruments.
       My classmate just smiled.  "Oh, no problem," he said.  "The New
 Mutants are allowed to incorporate optional equipment into their uniforms,
 correct?"
       "Yes," said Magneto.  "You are expected to clear said equipment with
 the headmaster -- assuming you _are_ wearing a uniform underneath all that."
       "So, here I am, clearing," Doug said.  "And I do have a uniform --
 well, parts -- underneath the Kevlar body armor."  He slapped his thigh, one
 of the few surfaces that was unencumbered with equipment. It made an audible
 "thunk."  "I even made up a list," he added, handing over several pages of
 printout.
    "My session's next?"  I said, taking the opportunity to get out of my
 seat.  I'd been taking my turn helping to monitor Amara's training session,
 which had left me alone with Magneto.  He was as politely friendly as ever
 and it was getting on my nerves.
    "Your first group session, next," he said.  "You will want to speak
 with the rest of your teammates first, in the Ready Room.  I will use the
 next fifteen minutes to review Douglas's list of equipment.  Please remind
 the other students we will begin promptly."
    As I closed the door behind me, I could hear him rustle Doug's list and
 say,  "Night vision _goggles_?"
    
    * * *
    
    Downstairs in the Ready Room, the kids were gathering.  "Did he try to
 give you a pep talk?" Dani said.  She was spraddled on the floor, stretching
 her muscles to warm up for the session.  I sat down next to her and joined
 in.  I'll say this for the killer bee uniforms: they were flexible as
 anything, even if they did look a little retarded.
    "No, he acting like this were any other session," I said.  "I think
 Doug distracted him." 
    "Well, it _is_ like any other," Dani said, as she touched her head to
 her knee.  "We do this all the time, so there's nothing to worry about."
    "I know," I said.  "It's just the thought of you guys -- attacking me."
    "Better us than anyone else," she said.  "You have to try using your
 powers for real sometime.  Safer if it's _us_, in the Danger Room."
    "Don't worry, we'll only hurt you a little," said Illyana.  My other
 "opponents" came into the room, accompanied by Mist dressed in her
 Valkyrie's armor.  She was still training by herself, but she watched the
 group sessions with avid interest.  At least someone was eager to fight.
    We didn't talk much, just warmed up.  It would be a simple game as
 sessions went: "King of the Mountain" -- with me in the featured role of
 _Monarque du Jour_.   All the New Mutants were going to try to knock me off
 my perch.
    Magneto had sat us down and made us review possible defenses,
 strategies and illegal moves.  Illegal moves were actions that could be
 immediately fatal.  Kind of comforting to know that telekinetically tearing
 someone's head off was right out.
    Otherwise, we could try anything we wanted.  I had to hold my position
 -- a platform in the middle of the Danger Room for fifteen minutes or until
 all of my attackers were disabled.  If I wanted, I could just keep up a
 force field against all comers.  Not very sporting, but that's what I
 intended to try.
    Magneto must have either finished Doug's equipment review or suspended
 it; we got the request on the intercom to enter the Danger Room precisely at
 9:30 am.  Mist went upstairs to watch the proceedings from the Control
 Center with Doug and Big M. 
    "Positions please," said Magneto's amplified voice.  The Danger Room
 was in a standard configuration: a jagged floor with various protrusions and
 objects handy for throwing.  I sprang into the air and somersaulted lightly
 onto my official perch; Sam blasted his way across the room while the others
 scrambled for positions.
    "All ready," Dani called out.
    "Very good," Magneto said.  "You may begin in 5 seconds. 4... 3... 2...
 1... begin."
    I snapped my field up.  I'd had heavy practice the week before; now I
 extended it to encompass a ten foot radius sphere that protected me, the
 platform, its pylon and the area around it.
    I don't know why I expected everybody to freeze and consider what to
 do; the kids had had plenty of time to plan how to defeat me.  Sam led off
 the festivities by blasting himself straight at me; on the other side Amara
 started throwing lava blasts at me.  Both attacks bounced off my shield.
  Sam did a flip and bore in for another pass.
    Meanwhile the others were creeping up on me. It seemed the attacks I'd
 received so far were more on the order of diversions while other attacks
 were readied.
    I tried to locate all my teammates and count heads.  With the uneven
 flooring there was plenty of cover.  Rahne, Dani, Warlock, Roberto, I'd
 nearly found them all when there was a slight sound behind me on the
 platform.  Even as Illyana started to push me in the small of my back,  I
 used a karate elbow thrust to her diaphragm, driving all the air from her
 lungs and her person off the platform.
    Her push would have knocked me off too, if it were not for my TK.  I
 caught myself, grabbed her before she hit the floor and tossed her gently
 towards the big net on other side of the room.  I saw her disappear in a
 circle of light just before she hit.
    Right then Sam came whizzing in on an interception course.  I'd let my
 force field drop while I took care of Illyana.  I ducked, and deflected him
 upward, bringing my shield up just in time --  Amara's lava blasts
 splattering harmlessly against it.
    Time to try something besides purely defensive moves.  Amara's was by
 far the most annoying attack.  True the heat wouldn't have hurt me, but
 there was more than enough force in those blasts to knock me down.  I
 slammed the hill of lava she stood upon, knocking it out from under her.
  She went flying.  Amara wasn't susceptible to many attacks in her lava form;
 I didn't have to worry that the landing would hurt much.
    My next target was going to be Sam.  I waited until he came blasting at
 me again.  He was hard to hold in this blast mode; the biological field he
 generated made him "slippery," but I could get around it by grabbing him
 from the inside out, my usual mode, no "mental fists" for this little psi.
    When I had him it was child's play to locate his beating heart and
 trace the great artery that leads upward and splits off into the carotids.
  Once there I very gently compressed them so that the blood supply to his
 brain was shut off.  It took less time to do than to say; but I took care to
 double-check my work as the health of my friend was in my figurative hands. 
 Gently I clamped down on those arteries; and gently Sam fainted, his blast
 going out as he abruptly lost consciousness.
    I caught him and put him down out of the way.  He had only fainted,
 after all; just as in a natural faint the blood supply to his brain had
 temporarily shut down, and he would make a completely normal recovery from
 it.
    Roberto was bouncing large rocks off my shield during all this, for all
 the good it did him.
    Suddenly it felt like steel cables were wrapping around my body.  "Get
 her, Warlock!" I heard Illyana cry behind me.   She must have 'ported
 Warlock in.
    I might as well have been wrestling a giant Chinese finger puzzle.  I
 was getting more stuck every moment.  _Think_!  I told myself, though it was
 increasingly hard to get a breath as he wrapped me tighter.
    I could have torn him to pieces, of course.  And unlike my other
 classmates, he might even survive treatment like that, but it would hurt and
 the harmlessness was by no means certain.
    I was fast running out of breath when I figured out my next move.  I
 generated a second force shield, starting less than a millimeter from my
 skin, just underneath Warlock's grip.  If there's anything I'm good at with
 my TK, it's knowing where my skin begins!
    Then, very slowly, I began expanding the force shield.  First, just
 around my chest, and neck, letting me breathe again.  Then I began a steady,
 irresistible expansion, about an inch every second.  Warlock found himself
 stretching to accommodate the growing volume of the bubble.  "Give it up,
 'Lock!" I said as the bubble reached more than a yard in diameter.
    I kept expanding my inner force shield, squeezing Illyana off the
 platform. She yelped as she fell and 'ported before she hit the floor.
 Warlock reformed into a more normal body shape and as he did so I tossed him
 in Bobby's direction.
    "Is that the best you can do?" I said.
    "Nothin' up my sleeve," Illyana said, bouncing atop one of the nearby
 ledges left by Amara's power.  "Presto!"  She gestured.  I looked down and
 noticed one of her stepping disks forming beneath my feet.
    "Oh no, you don't!"  I cried as I lifted away from it.  Out of the
 corner of my eye I could see Illyana frowning with effort -- the disk lifted
 off the pedestal and followed me up.  I dodged and it dodged -- Illyana did
 her best to follow me, but I could stop, reverse thrust,  and make 90 degree
 turns far better than she could.  It kept me moving and away from my
 pedestal.  I could see Rahne and Dani making a dash towards the goal.  I
 knocked them off their feet with a TK swipe, though Illyana nearly caught me
 with her stepping disk while I did it.  Better do something about the source
 of my troubles, I decided.  I "grabbed" the junior sorceress, making her
 spin wildly in the air.  My pursuing disk halted, vanished, as Illyana could
 not maintain her concentration.
    I knocked her out the same way I'd done Sam, diverting only enough of
 my attention to get me back on the pedestal, force field up again.
    I checked the clock above the control room window, where the time was
 ticking away.  Only 9 minutes had elapsed though it felt like many more.
    Six minutes to go; what else could they pull on me?  I could see the
 remnants of the team -- Dani, Rahne, Amara, Warlock and Bobby, crouching
 together at the far end of the room.  The medbots had cleared Sam and
 Illyana out of the running when they fell unconscious.
    Amara began her lava barrage again.  Something was different about the
 blasts this time; they went through my force field as if it weren't there at
 all.  The blasts weren't too painful -- like getting hit with a bucket of
 warm mud -- but the stuff clung. 
    And sizzled.  Abruptly I could smell cooked meat.  It's an
 unforgettable smell, burned human flesh, not unlike scorched bacon, only
 sweeter and more obscene.
    I looked down: the stuff was clinging to me like napalm, and burning.
  It occurred to me that Illyana must have swiped at me with her magic
 spell-destroying sword and removed my ability to absorb heat.
    I held up my hands.  My fingers had burned down to charred stubs.  I
 could see white bones in the blackened, sizzling flesh that was left of my
 palms.  Curiously, there was no pain, no feeling.
    I screamed, felt warm, prickly vomit rising in the back of my throat
 and tried to fly away.  I must have hit the ceiling or fainted.
    
    * * *
    
    The next thing I remember is the smell of ammonia making my nose buzz
 unpleasantly.  I choked and tried to sit up, but somebody turned me over on
 my side.  "Yeah, keep her on her side, I don't want her aspirating vomit,"
 Doug said.  "Stay calm, Jessica, everything is hunky-dory."
    I swear I didn't feel queasy until he said the "v" word, but abruptly I
 was sick.  Roberto was helpfully holding a garbage pail under my head.
  There wasn't much to bring up; I hadn't eaten any breakfast before our big
 workout.
    Magneto came over.  I could see Dani lying on a gurney on the Danger
 Room floor a few feet away.  "You gave us a scare," he said to me.  "Can you
 tell us what happened?"
    I held out my hands -- my perfectly fine unburned hands.  I was
 completely unharmed.  I stared in utter amazement.  "I was burning," I said.
  "Amara's lava was burning me alive."
    Magneto raised an eyebrow, turned and looked at Dani.  "The instruments
 say you were using your power but we saw nothing," he said.  "The
 spirit-forms are usually visible to all present, but none of us saw
 anything. Yet here you are both affected by the experience."
    "I -- I don't know," I said.  I felt pretty shaky.  "It was so damn
 real."
    Dani seemed to be having the dry heaves.  Sam got the thankless job of
 holding the bucket for her.  The look of concern on his face was almost
 comical.
    "It should have hurt, I suppose," I said.  "My hands were all burned
 but there was no pain -- it's supposed to hurt when you're burned, right?"
    Sharon came in carrying a carafe of water and some cups.  "Just rinse,
 at first," she said, handing one to me.  I was grateful to get the bitter
 taste out of my mouth.  To tell the truth, I no longer felt ill at all -- it
 had passed as quickly as it  had come on.
    Magneto packed Dani and me off to the infirmary, where we were
 deposited, uniforms and all, onto adjoining beds.  "What happened?" Magneto
 said.
    Dani looked over at me, troubled.  "I never had that happen before,"
 she said.  "I got -- stuck.  Couldn't stop it -- and I was experiencing it
 right along with Jess."
    "We know Jessica has a natural mind-shield," he said.  "It would seem
 your power could bypass it, at least in the initial phase.  Some sort of
 synergistic resonance between your power and her mind may have been set in
 motion."  He sighed.  "I do wish you had tried for her deepest desire, for
 Jessica's first taste of your power."
    "I did," Dani said.  "I wasn't _trying_ to trigger her fears.
 Sometimes, when emotions are running high, I just don't have any control
 over what comes out.  Shit," she said, burying her face in her hands, "I'm
 going to have nightmares for a week."
    I looked at my hands again, remembering what my mother's had looked
 like as her power had attacked her own flesh.  
    "I wish Elisabeth were here,"  Magneto said.  "I greatly desire to hear
 her evaluation of the interaction of Jessica's shield and Danielle's power."
    He got up.  "We shall postpone the team evaluation for an hour, to
 ensure you are fully recovered.  In the meantime, we will press on with our
 normal schedule," he said.  "No need to treat this unlike any other training
 mishap."
    He turned and saw the rest of the team clustered in the doorway.  "If
 you would, young ladies and gentlemen," he said.  "I believe next on our
 schedule is Douglas's solo run?"  He turned and nodded to us from the
 doorway.  I could hear the kids cutting up in relief as they went down the
 hall. They were kidding Doug about his impending run.
    "I didn't expect it to be so real," I said to Dani.  "I never doubted
 what was happening to me for a second."
    Dani crossed her legs on the bed, cradled her chin on her palms.
  "That's why it works so well," she said.  "Some people have strong enough
 wills that they can disbelieve it, but most can't."
    "It was perfect... dream logic," I said.  "You know -- like being able
 to fly in your dreams."
    Dani giggled.  "I'm sorry -- but you _can_ fly, so it _would_ make
 sense to you."
    "Not when everyone else can fly, too," I said.  "And nobody else thinks
 its funny if you can.  That's what I mean, dream logic -- everything made
 perfect sense."
    "Yeah, Illyana _mustz- have hit you with her sword when you weren't
 looking so your bodyfield wasn't working," Dani said.
    I looked at her.  "How did you know that?" I said, feeling violated.
    "I swear, it's the funniest thing," she said.  "I could feel everything
 you were feeling, as you were feeling it.   Like the way I can sense Rahne's
 thoughts when she's in wolf-form, only more intense."
    "I'm not real sure I'm happy about this," I said.  "I've never had
 anyone in my head, before --"
    "It was _all_ surface, really. Only the top of our consciousness, not
 the real personal stuff," Dani said, blushing.  "It's a _hell_ of a power
 sometimes," she added, looking away.  "Pulling up all kinds of personal
 things.  It can be so -- humiliating. I mean, like one time I hit a guard
 with his greatest desire -- turned out he wanted to be dressed up in a big
 diaper with this huge fat woman who--"
    "I get the picture," I said quickly.  My turn to blush.  "It's
 embarrassing to be defeated.  But to add insult to injury--"
    "Yeah," she said.  "For the most part, now, I can work it to be the
 greatest desire -- but sometimes it still backfires.  When I first got my
 power, that happened all the time."
    "It must have driven you almost crazy," I said.
    "And everyone around me," she said ruefully.
    "It's okay," I said.  "I know you didn't mean to hurt me."
    "Just to defeat you," she said.  "Jess, learning to fight like this
 doesn't always help us, personally.  Makes us better able to survive, yes,
 but I sometimes wonder about the end product, y'know?"
    Something crystallized for me as she spoke.  "But if we don't survive,
 we'll never get a chance to live, right?"  I said.  "I'm closer to agreeing
 with Professor X than ever, just now."
    "If this is what it takes to make you see the worth of learning your
 power enough to really protect yourself, I'll be content with what I did
 today," said Dani.
    "I'm not sure," I said, "that it's really that great a thing -- but --"
    She held out a hand and I took it.  "Sorry," she said, and I smiled.
  We clasped hands for a only a minute; it was kind of hokey and embarrassing.
  I found myself looking away.
    Dani took a deep breath.  "Well," she said, "Doug's having his first
 real solo run and we're missing all the fun.  I feel like checking out of
 the infirmary and checking out the action, how about you?"
    In answer, I lifted myself off the bed, somersaulting lazily and slowly
 in the air until I came down in an artistic one point landing in front of
 her bed, finishing with deep curtsy.  "_Apres vous, Mademoiselle_," I said.
    
    * * *
    
    
    "It's Maggie's own fault," said Illyana.  "He _always_ underestimates
 Doug."
    Doug was in the last stages of a Danger Room blowout. It hadn't come
 close to really testing him; Magneto hadn't truly believed that Doug could
 do what he said he could.  I found Doug's comprehensive know-it-all ability
 pretty unbelievable myself.
    I'd thought Doug would have tripped himself up with too much equipment,
 but he'd stowed it in surprisingly strange ways where he could get at it
 without it getting in the way.  One second he was tossing throwing stars,
 the next he was using some rope to trip up one of the "enemy" robots Magneto
 had sent after him.
    We were watching in the Ready Room.  I was almost regretting I wasn't
 up in the Control Center with Magneto so I could see the expression on his
 face.
    A cheer went up as Doug reached the Kill Button, finishing his run.
  The response startled me, though the kids had been making enthusiastic
 comments all along.  There must be something to this team spirit business, I
 thought.
    The debriefing was sheer anticlimax, both for my run and for Doug's.
  Illyana was singled out as the most valuable player; she had kept me
 hopping.  Magneto commented that if I had been less hesitant about knocking
 out my teammates I'd have finished successfully.  
    With Doug he was less critical; Magneto was obviously still not
 convinced of Doug's capabilities.  Big M made noises about upping the
 difficulty level; Doug offered to help with the programming.  Magneto raised
 an eyebrow.
    We had time for showers before lunch.  Magneto was due for a Hellfire
 club meeting at 1:00 PM, so we had a "free" afternoon where we would take
 turns tutoring each other.  A week after our return from Asgard, we were
 still making up for the absence.  Mr. Headmasterman had only set his
 schedule back a little.
    I was feeling unaccountably cheerful all through the noon meal.  I'd
 just experienced my greatest fear; what it had done was make me feel
 liberated.  I was not altogether surprised my personal _bete noir_ had
 related to my mother's death.  But I had _survived_ and now, I felt I could
 get on with other things.
    While I was lost in my reverie, the kids started talking about the
 morning's runs.  Doug's solo run earned a lot of enthusiastic comment. 
    "No way it touches Jessica's first run," said Doug, laughing.  "At
 least I didn't destroy the room!" 
    Hard to believe it was barely three weeks ago.  "I didn't mean to --" I
 started to say. 
    "Didn't know her mind was loaded," Doug said, and there was general
 merriment. 
    Determined not to be the only butt of jokes, I cast about for something
 to deflect the laughter back towards Doug.  I remembered the joshing that
 had followed my first excursion.  "You know, with your change in powers,
 have you considered changing your codename?"  I asked sweetly.  "I don't
 think 'Cypher' quite fits anymore.  How about,"  I paused for effect,
 "'Data'?"
    "Oh, I'm not that wooden," Doug said. 
    "Yeah," said Sam.  "Cain't hardly imagine Brent Spiner with that big a
 smile.  Maybe something a little more accurate -- how's about 'The Living
 Encyclopedia?'" 
    Illyana giggled.  "'Stand back, Evil-doers'!" she declaimed.  "'For I,
 the Living Encyclopedia shall answer all your questions'!" 
    "That'll sure strike fear in all their hearts," I said. 
    "Or -- 'the Ultimate Librarian'," said Illyana. 
    "Give it all away, why don't you?" said Doug. 
    "Quiz Master?" said Dani.  "Or, how about 'The Answer Man'?" 
    "I -- ah, I thought of that one already," said Doug, slightly flushed.
 "But I thought 'the Mutant Answer Man' sounded better." 
    Illyana mimed sticking her finger down her throat, with appropriate
 sound effects. 
    "Well, you come up with something better," Doug said. 
    "How about 'Elephant Man'?" said Sam, "-- because you never forget?" 
    Doug rolled his eyes. 
    "You're all daft," said Rahne.  "If you great ninnies were left to
 think of your own names you'd make all your enemies die laughing." 
    "That's the idea," said Sam.  "First strike, y'know." 
    Amara was trying to keep a straight face and not succeeding.  "It is
 preferable to defeat one's enemies as expeditiously as possible," she said.
 "However, when it is at the expense of one's dignity is it truly ideal?" 
    "Good question," said Doug. 
    "No, Ah don't think 'Good Question' is good a'tall," said Sam with a
 straight face. 
    Doug made a quick recovery.  "Sure it is," he said.  "The villains say,
 'Who is it?' and I say 'Good Question'!" 
    Rahne snorted.  Bobby said, "How about 'Mystery Man,' because it is a
 mystery where you learned all your abilities?" 
    "How about 'Jack-of-All-Trades'?"  said Doug. 
    "Not bad, but too long," said Dani.  "S'pose we could shorten it to
 'Jack' when we were in a hurry." 
    "I got it," said Illyana, snapping her fingers.  "'Smarty Pants'." 
    Doug mimed sticking his finger down his throat with even more dramatic
 sound effects. 
    "Needs a little refinement," I said, feeling a grin spreading across my
 face.  "How about 'Mr. Know-It-All'?" 
    "'Nothing up my sleeve,'" said Doug.  "'Presto!'"  He did something
 complicated with his hand and produced a bunch of silk flowers.  We
 dissolved into general laughter, even Mist and Warlock, who hadn't
 particularly followed our suggestions. 
    When we had quieted down, Doug said, "Well -- thanks for the
 suggestions.  I know you all meant well.  Actually, I like 'Cypher' -- it's
 short and it isn't particularly revealing.  No need to advertise what my
 abilities really are. I'm apt to get more respect if I stay mysterious."  He
 trailed off with a smile.  "On the other hand, I'll keep a couple of those
 names in mind -- I'm particularly fond of 'The Living Encyclopedia.'  That
 would certainly give bad guys, uh, pause." 
    "You _nuts_," Tom said from the lunchroom doorway, grin on his face.
  He shook his head and looked back into the corridor.  "You ready for
 dessert?" There was a chorus of assent and he nodded to Sharon, who came in
 bearing a sheet cake that said "Congrats Jessica & Doug." 
    "For your Danger Room baptisms," said Sharon.  Tom had a bunch of
 dessert plates and quickly helped distribute slices. 
    I realized there was a big grin on my face.  "Now you can say you're a
 part of the team," Sam said softly next to me, "if'n you want to." 
    "You know I haven't decided," I whispered back to him.  Doug was making
 a mock pompous speech thanking all the little people, so nobody was paying
 attention to us. 
    "That's okay," Sam said.  "Cain't hurt to say that you're welcome." 
    "You arranged the cake, didn't you?" I said. 
    "Figured we all could use a little congratulations," he said.  "Just
 ain't life when you go from one crisis to another.  Got to take time out to
 live." 
    "Whatever I decide," I said to him, "I'm not sorry that I came here,
 okay?" 
    "Good to hear," he said. 
    After lunch we scattered to our various tasks: tutoring, studying, and
 doing lab work.  It was my turn to help Mist with her studies.  Magneto had
 put her on an ambitious, intensive course of learning English and we all
 took turns drilling her.  She'd come amazingly far in just a week. 
    I remembered when I was little and Noemi had taught me French and
 German; she'd used flash cards which we'd made by cutting out pictures from
 magazines and printing the words in crayon.  I'd gone hi-tech, using Doug's
 library of clip art images and the laser printer to choose some new words to
 cover. 
    If a week in Asgard hadn't taught me how much we take for granted in
 20th Century society, watching Mist cope with our ways certainly would have.
  She wasn't fazed by electric lights; she thought stoves and refrigerators
 and washing machines were neat; but what she really took the most joy in
 were tape players and recordings.  She found TV dull after the first rush of
 amazement; there were so many cultural references and she didn't understand
 the language well enough to get the few she did know. 
    What Mist loved to do was listen to music; especially classical.
  Bobby, it turned out, had a vast collection of CD's, and Sam had offered his
 somewhat more modest collection of jazz and rock.  Even Magneto had lent
 some of his classical tapes. 
    Not that she only listened to the classics, but once again, her lacks
 in English and the culture were a barrier.  I guess they're right when they
 say classical music is universal. 
    Mist was as eager as ever when we sat down.  "You must now explain to
 me some about you -- your history," she said.  Her accent was Scandinavian
 enough so that we could safely pass her off as being from some suitably
 unidentified country in that area. 
    "History?" I said.  "You mean, the history of America?"  I happened to
 have a flash card with a map on it ("A for America"), so I held it up. 
    "No -- no, the history of you," she said. 
    "My life story?" I said. 
    "The story of you -- your life," she said.  "Dani has told me your
 mother was a -- much known villain, no?" 
    "Not very famous in America," I said.  "She only operated in Europe." 
    After I explained what "operated" meant -- and then what banks were --
 Mist found the concept of paper money intriguing though the Valkyries
 occasionally used letters of credit -- we went down to the mission complex's
 computers and I called up some of the news tapes.  Professor X had collected
 all the newsreel footage of mutants he could gather.  And then digitized all
 of it, a truly staggering amount.
    Noemi had never been exactly shy around cameras.  There was footage of
 her in the Paris student riots in 1968, burning a pile of banknotes and
 stocks before a crowd of stunned onlookers in Manchester, England, and some
 shaky footage of part of a running battle with some of the Baader-Meinhof
 gang in West Berlin in 1978.  I'd been nearby during the fighting, although
 none of the bad guys had known I was there.  I was amazed to see myself
 caught in one of the shots of bystanders running away -- the amateur
 cameraman had nearly dropped his camera as he too had scrambled out of the
 way.
    I pointed myself out to Mist.  "You did -- color? -- your hair, then?" 
 she said.  "Why do you not color your hair now?"
    "Good question!" I said.  "I just haven't had a chance to do it."  I
 didn't really know why I hadn't -- I had all the dye I needed, and I'd had
 enough free time in the week since we'd come back from Asgard.
    "I like," said Mist.  "You look as your father."
    "That's what I'm afraid of," I said.
    "You are afraid to look as your father?" Mist said.  Another case of
 tripping over colloquial English, so I explained what that little phrase
 meant.  Even as I was talking, I was wondering just _what_ I was saying by
 letting my hair stay its natural white color.    Magneto and I looked
 altogether too much alike; the resemblance frankly horrified me.
    "Do you have more pictures of Magneto?" Mist said.  That gave me
 something to do, so I called up all of Professor X's collection.  Magneto
 had habitually destroyed every camera that he came across, so there wasn't
 much footage for such an extensive career.  Still, some had survived for
 various reasons, footage of him attacking New York with the forces of
 Atlantis behind him, security cameras catching him destroying an Australian
 aerospace base; the broadcast he had made when he attempted to take over the
 world using his earthquake machine; Mutant Alpha on the White House lawn.
    Explaining the situations took longer than showing the clips; less than
 ten minutes of footage for a thirty year career.  I stopped and backed up
 whenever an unfamiliar word or idea came up; even though I tried to keep my
 vocabulary simple there was plenty that had to be explained.
    We finished up with footage from Danger Room workouts that Magneto had
 participated in since he'd joined Xavier's community.
    
    To be continued in Chapter 10, Part Two of "Double Dare"
    
    This story (c) 1992 Connie Hirsch
    The New Mutants, Magneto, the Hellions, Loki, the Hellfire Club, the
 Horsemen of the Apocalpse, and all constituent characters (c) 1992 Marvel
 Comics Group.  
    This story is not for sale and is not to be distributed without
 permission of the author.


--
**(Connie Hirsch  still: fuzzy@athena.mit.edu no longer: chirsch@lotus.com)**
        Oh life is a glorious cycle of song/ A medley of extemporanea       
   And love is a thing that can never go wrong/ And I am Marie of Roumania.    
						-Dorothy Parker