Read Online The Ultimate X-Men by Unknown Author - Free Book Online Page B

the only way to keep ourselves sharp for real missions, and he’s right. But, damn, did my shoulder hurt! Remy apologized, even though we both knew we’re supposed to give it our all in the Danger Room. And the Beast was even kind enough to reset my shoulder, which didn’t make it hurt any less, but at least I could move it around some. Then I went back to my room to nurse my arm and my pride. I wouldn’t have minded a bit of time to myself.
    No such luck.
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    “Guthrie!”
    I could hear my girlfriend hollering all the way from the other end of the East Wing. For a pretty little thing of five feet four or so, there was a danged good reason even aside from her mutant powers that she took the code name Meltdown. Even when she wasn’t trying, she was goin’ critical. And this time, she was trying.
    She burst into my room without knocking. “Where the hell have you been? I do hope you realize that you just stood me up for lunch!”
    I slapped my head with my hand. “Tabitha, honey, I’m sorry. I forgot. But we weren’t goin’ out for lunch or anything ...”
    “That’s not the point, Sam! We hardly get to see each other as it is without you forgetting little things like ‘meet me in the commissary at two.’ How hard is that to remember? ?!
    I caught on quickly that there wasn’t no way I could blast myself out of this particular doghouse. “Tab, I’m sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind and—
    “Yeah, Sambo, I’ll just bet you do. I see you looking at the other women on your team. You think I don’t notice you and Psylocke making eyes at each other in the Danger Room?”
    And I thought I could only get blindsided in the Danger Room. “What?”
    “I’ve got eyes behind these shades, Guthrie. Don’t you dare try putting anything over on me. And don’t think I didn’t notice that you were watching every move that she made, that tramp ...”
    Now, I know a lot about Tabitha. I know how she needs
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    a lot of attention, ’cause she’s real insecure and all that— problems with her dad and all. I also know that our relationship’s taken a few hits by my getting promoted to the X-Men and her staying behind in X-Force. We go on different missions most of the time and just can’t see each other as much as we’d like to. But this just wasn’t a good day to address it. And she obviously wasn’t in the mood to listen—or even to stop talking!
    My shoulder ached something fierce, my head throbbed from the morning’s events, and it got harder and harder to listen to Tabitha’s ruckus. Now, I don’t like to speak ill of anybody, least of all my girlfriend, but, well. . . she got irritating. Too irritating. So irritating that I found myself getting up, grabbing her by the shoulders, and forcibly placing her on the other side of my door. Then I slammed it right in her face.
    Of course, I used my bad arm, which made me even madder. Bad enough I’d failed my family and embarrassed myself in front of the other X-Men. But I wasn’t about to stand there and listen to Tabitha’s paranoid rants. I can only coddle her so much, you know? Sometimes I needed understanding. This was one of those times and I just couldn’t deal with Tabitha’s crazy accusations today.
    I’ll never understand us. Meltdown ’n’ I’ve fought side-by-side against aliens, forces of nature, cold-blooded killers—you name it. We’ve been through more together than most couples dream of. But one little domestic squabble and both of us just go to pieces.
    Well, I could hardly figure out what to do with myself after that. I wanted to just take off through the ceiling, blasting through floor after floor of the mansion and out into
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    the sky. ’Course, I stifled that urge pretty quickly. I like to think of myself as a strong man—heck, I’m a mutant, after all. But that don’t seem to mean much in the face of family troubles, girlfriend troubles, and dislocating your shoulder, all in the space