School Spirit (Part Seven)

By the time I got back to my room, I was spent, both physically and mentally. It hadn't been a very easy day, but the life of a bonafide superhero wasn't supposed to be. It was what I had signed up for bumps, bruises, and all.

When I entered, Saberwolf perked up from where he had been relaxing and watching my TV.

"What's up, Wolf?" I greeted wearily, walking right through the room into my bathroom. It was there that I began the slow, agonizing process of peeling my uniform off.

"Bellamy," Wolf replied, acknowledging my presence, "Your performance was very surprising today."

I let out a grunt as I checked my self over in the mirror. There were bruises everywhere, and my back was an angry red, which was very impressive because my skin was brown. I was going to be sleeping face down for a little while, "It was everybody else doing their thing too. If the score me and Hisako had was all we had, we would be out of the running right now."

I could hear the soft sound of Wolf's hydraulics as he moved around, "I was not talking about just that. I expected that due to your ongoing problem with the Danger Room - your accusations of it gaining sentience - you would have refrained from stepping foot inside."

I didn't know what he was talking about, at least not at first. After thinking about it for a moment I felt a pop at the back of my head, like a joint loosening in my brain. From there, it all came roaring back.

I had been in the Danger Room. I had fought in the Danger Room. How had I not pitched some sort of bitch-fit about it, either before, during, or after? I had known what the competition would be since the opening ceremony. There was no way I would have let that go.

Wolf was more attentive to the human condition than I had expected, "What is the matter?" He asked.

"Nothing," I tried to insist. I failed.

Wolf walked over and looked me over. The red lights of his eye panels scanned me several times, just so he could make sure of what he was making an observation on, "Your jaw is clenched, your muscles have tightened, and your heart rate has increased. You are lying."

If he was that perceptive, maybe I could use that intelligence of his to help me out? It was worth a shot. It wasn't like there was anyone else I could go to who would listen to me, "Wolf, you're smart."

"-Smarter than you, yes."

Sometimes I got the feeling that Wolf didn't like me, despite the amount of time he spent with me, "..." I stared at him, trying to make him feel awkward, until I realized that as much as he tried to learn, it wasn't going to be that easy to teach him about human discomfort, "...I'm sorry, do you want me to pat you on the back? You know, since you don't have the hands to do it yourself?" An A.I. with an ego. What a world, "I was about to ask for advice."

"My apologies. You were saying?"

Good. At least he was willing to lend an ear and maybe help me out. It was all a man could ask for from another person, "If you were sure that someone did something to your brain, and you were certain they could do it again with a thought, but you didn't want to let it slide, how would you go about dealing with that?" I asked.

"Practically speaking, I would not," Wolf responded. It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it wasn't as if he didn't have his reasons, "The truly skilled warrior chooses his battles wisely. If you are suspicious of someone meddling with your mind, how would you prevent such a thing from happening a second time?"

He was right. While there were a handful of telepaths walking around the school, there was only one with the talent to slip something into my brain without me noticing anything and with the motivations to do so. Confronting her would just end up with me looking ridiculous, because what could I do to Emma freaking Frost?

It sucked, but going up to her and calling her on it wasn't going to do anything for me. She didn't seem to strike me as the kind of person who cared about what she herself had done if she felt she was right about doing it. She definitely didn't seem to be the type who cared about public opinion.

I walked out of the bathroom, not in the mood to shower just yet due to our discussion, and flopped on the bed. I was at the end of my rope, "Wolf, I'm tired of this. I want to do something," I told my mechanical confidant, "Do you think shutting down the Danger Room is possible?"

Not forever. Just long enough to take it off of the table until Miss Pryde and I could finish with the replacement for the central computer.

Wolf was willing to conspire alongside me. Probably out of boredom. It had to have beaten just sitting around waiting for something to happen and observing a bunch of high school kids, "It depends. I believe the easiest way to do so would be to separate the room from whatever power source it uses."

Yeah. Way to put all of that tactical analysis and critical thinking to use. If we screwed the power, it would take longer than a few hours to fix it. Especially if they wouldn't know it happened until right when they started firing things up for the final day of competitions. It was either that, or put every kid competing in Field Day at risk tomorrow.

The format of the competition was a practical exercise for all teams. The only place that could contain such a thing without something getting destroyed on campus was the Danger Room, and they would use the room's functions to make it all work.

Fuck that.

I looked at the clock. It was only four o'clock in the afternoon. I had to wait until much later before I tried to go and do my thing.