"Jeez!  Take it easy Zoe!"

ZIP!  WUMPH!

            The yellow ball whizzed out of my hand and smacked into Cassidy's mit.  Hard.

ZIP!  WUMPH!

            I said nothing as I caught the ball and hurled another pitch her direction.

ZIP!  WUMPH!

            "Fine, but if you blow out your arm before Monday's game don't blame me," Cassidy called from behind her mask.  That stopped me mid-windmill.  I was throwing harder than I should be.  Hadn't warmed up either.  In fact, I wasn't even scheduled to work out today, but I just had to blow off some steam.  "C'mon, just go through your cool down and we'll get out of here."

            "Okay, fine."

            "Thank goodness.  Thought you were going to break my hand," she said, removing her mask and moving closer to me.  Her long, black hair stuck out from the static of her helmet cap.   I started going through the gentle cool down motions.  "So, you want to talk about what happened?"

            "Not really," I replied quickly.  Cassidy was just trying to help.  I knew that.  She was my rock; both my catcher and my best friend.  She was the level headed one, the easy tempered one.  The one who kept me from being stupid and rash.  Me, I was the loose cannon of the friendship.  I had the quick temper, the do-or-die attitude.  Together, we were an unbeatable team. 

Separate, we could barely function.

            "You're going to tell me eventually.  So why don't you do it now.  That way I'll only have to ice my once this week," she kidded me.  I smiled, despite myself.

            "Bombed another physics exam," I finally admitted.

            "How bad?"

            "54%"

            "Ouch!"

            "Gee, thanks for the encouragement," I muttered.

            "No.  Ouch, that hurt.  I'm five feet away and your hurling fastballs in a cool down.  Tha-," she started to complain.  But the lights in the gym began to flicker.

            "Crap!  Not again," I muttered.  Our school is about as old a dirt.  That includes the electrical system.  It was about 7, so the custodians were all gone.  Didn't matter, I'd grown up in this school.  I marched into the storage closet and pried open the fuse box.  Began jiggling the wires.  I … I wasn't paying attention though.  I put my hand over an open circuit and another exposed wire.  I saw what happened next as if it were in slow motion.

            I saw the sparks flying as the charge ran up my fingers and through my arm.  But there was no pain, only the sensation of the current changing direction.  I felt it run back down my arm, out of my body.  And I saw as it launched from my fingers.  A concise bolt aimed directly at the fuse box.  Then everything went black.

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Disclaimer: I own Zoe, I own Cassidy, I own Audrey, I own 646.  I also own anyone not bearing a Marvel copyright logo on their a**.  I don't own the X-Men (unfortunately) and am not making a profit by using them in this story.  Don't sue and we all get to keep on living happily ever after  :)