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Summary: Cale and Bridget test out their abilities in the Danger Room.
Log Title: Welcome to the Danger Room
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Danger Room
A product of Shi'ar technology, the room generates apparently solid, realistic imagery by manipulation high-resolution force fields and holograms. The walls and floor appear as a steel room until a program is turned on. Overhanging the room in the center is a control Room managing the room's mechanisms to oversee the exercise while ensuring the subject's safety.
Hildegarde is not dressed in her usual feminine manner. She is instead wearing what appears to be a black leather outfit with camouflage panels. Her gloves and boots have metal plates on them, the clang from each boot ringing out loudly in the hall as she walks. The woman is doing something with a computer tablet as she moves, speaking to a girl she has in tow. "As you can see, we're a bit more than your average school. Down here we train the students to perfect their abilities so that they are not a danger to themselves or those around them."
Hildegarde presses a panel next to a door and the room beyond is revealed. "This is 'Danger Room'. I assure you that you are in…Relatively little danger, however. I will be up in the control room overseeing the exercise. Basically we want to see what you are capable of, that way we know how much training you require, how much of a risk your ability causes to yourself and others, and which team we can place you on for group training." The woman smiles at the girl, "Do you have any questions?"
Bridget looks around the room and frowns, "This is the danger room? There’s nothing here. It's just a big room with nothing inside it. Maybe you should rename it the boring room." She looks at the woman showing her around, "I’ll give my best but I don't see what I can do here." The pink and black skull that follows her around floating in the air fly around the room looking around as if looking for the danger in the room.
Cale is a good student, and as such, he dutifully shows up in the Danger Room - he's got a better idea of what it is, after asking around a little bit, than Bridget perhaps does. He's actually wearing an unstable molecule suit (his uniform), which resembles a cyclist's outfit except for it being black instead of outrageous colors. He happens to be barefoot, as well; that's the easiest way to use his powers and well, he doesn't really like shoes much anyway. "Right, Miss Hilde… I'm ready whenever. I think. Maybe."
Hildegarde laughs. She had thought the same thing when she first saw the Danger Room herself. She has been receiving training from some of the other professors recently so that she could run a few small training sessions. After that incident at the Embassy the other day the woman figures she will be running a few in the near future. "Yes, I am aware that this room may look slightly…Unimpressive." She watches the skull fly around the room. "This room is a sort of…Well it's hard to explain I guess. There are force-fields and holograms involved. It creates the-" She stops as Cale arrives. "Ah! Cale, good of you to join us. I'm not sure if you've met Miss Bridget yet." She waves a hand toward the girl.
Hildegarde walks over to the wall and presses a few buttons, causing a massive brick to appear in the middle of the room. "There we go, see? This brick isn't really here…But it still ACTS as though it is. So, it takes up space, it appears solid." She knocks on the side of it to demonstrate. "It really…Well it has the properties as though it weighs five tons." She bends down and lifts the massive construct with relative ease, hurling it at the far wall where it cracks into several pieces and falls to the ground. "It's a little hard to explain for someone like me. If you want a technical explanation find Forge or Hank."
Bridget blinks at the brick and blinks again as Hilde picks it up so easy. The Skulls quickly return to Bridget and float in front of her facing the teacher. The black one speaks or what might be speech to everyone but Bridget it would sound like a Halloween sound track filled with screams and other spooky sounds. Bridget frowns at the skull, "That is rude Ebony. I will not have that type of langue. Now go and say your sorry." The skulls jaw drops and he looks at Brdget and then the teacher. It slowly floats over and speaks again in the same scream and then floats back to Bridget.
"Eh, I heard it was actually alien technology or something… for sure nothing /conventional/ could do that…" Cale peers at the block, poking it momentarily with his finger before looking over at Bridget, seeming… well, perturbed by the skulls. Maybe even a little frightened? Yeah, frightened would be a good word. He shuffles away from them, a couple steps. "I don't think we have," he bites his lip. He'd remember something like terrifying flying skulls from the later levels in Doom. The feminine boy gives Bridget a small wave, offering, "I'm Cale," with an internally thought 'Please don't let your skulls bite me!'
Hilde makes a comically confused face at the skulls as they speak, pulling out her tablet again and filling something out quickly. When Bridget tells the skull to 'apologise' the woman makes a few more notes. This is followed by an "OooooKay. And yes, Cale is right. Aliens. I have no idea how to explain HOW it works. It just does. "I'll start things out very slow. The Danger Room is capable of all sorts of things. Right now I just want to get an idea of what you can do, but I have to be up there." She points at the control room. "I wanted Cale to be here so you wouldn't be alone. And after the Dingo incident…Well I think maybe we should all be more prepared for situations like that. Do either of you have questions?"
Bridget blinks at the cute boy in the room and then looks at the skulls, "They are harmless unless they think I am in danger." She smile and pets both the pink and black skull, "Their names are Ebony and Amour." She giggles some, "They’re my best friends." The skulls rubs against the hands like a cat would and almost purr. She then looks at the teacher, "Um okay but I can't throw huge bricks and stuff."
"Uh, I can't actually get hurt in here… can I?" Cale looks a little bit nervous, folding his arms across his stomach. He was told this is like a big video game, or would be; but it sure looks real enough to him. "I guess that's sorta the whole point," he realizes, looking up at the control room. "Let's get this started, then, I guess! I do need more practice…" That much is rather apparent.
Hildegarde makes a 'so so' sign with one of her hands. "Well…You COULD be hurt in here. But…Well you'd have to try. I can shut off the system before you are able to be harmed. Just don't drop from the ceiling and expect to be ok." The woman nods and turns to head upstairs. About five minutes later there is a voice coming from the speaker system. "Alright. I'm starting the exercise now."
The room shimmers for a moment before turning for all intents and purposes into a forest with massive trees. "Now Bridget, the manifestations won't look human, but assume that your abilities will work on them the same as though they were." A few seconds later there is a distant howling noise. A glance around will show the two teens that there are six wolves surrounding them currently.
Bridget looks around the woods, "Wow this is cool." She then looks up at the voice, "Okay." She hears the howl and frowns some, "Oh good." The skulls seem to be on alert. She moves to a tree and press her back to it. She frowns at the wolves, "Well this is not fun." She looks at the skulls, "Ebony Amour lets drive them back. Use your fireballs." Both skulls lets out a haunting howl and both pick out a wolf each and purple and blue fireballs fire from there mouths
"Wolves," squeaks Cale, backing up from them slightly and bumping into Bridget as he does so, only to realize, SKULLS OH GOD. He lets out another terrified sounding, "Eep. Sorry!" Still… This is so not his thing. Panicking a little, he lashes out at one of the trees with his long tongue, pulling himself up into it and turning the color of the bark; this time, his clothes match his skin and also change color, rendering him… well, not invisible, but quite hard to see. Did he just, literally, throw Skull-Girl to the wolves? Well, at least she looks more capable than him…
The one wolf hit by Amour seems to take strong interest in another wolf nearby. That wolf was unfortunately hit my Ebony. Ebony's wolf attacks the other and both vanish in a blur of green mesh. Three of the other four move in on Bridget, one of them charging at the girl. The fourth seems to know that Cale is in the trees somewhere. It is running around one of the trunks sniffing the air.
Bridget blinks at the bump form her team mate and then his tongue. She frowns, "Hey what about me?" She then sees the wolf coming after her and eeps. The skulls both instantly and charge the wolf after Bridget. The pink one slams into it and the black one bites it with it's long fangs and shakes hard trying to rip a chunk out of the wolf.
As far as Cale knows, wolves can't really climb trees. So he ignores the one that's after him - it's pretty much out of the picture… The other three that are surrounding Bridget, however; one of those is snatched by his long tongue again out of nowhere, the tentacle-like appendage shoots for the wolf's neck, wrapping around it tightly if successful; it's then yanked away from Bridget and lifted into the air, where it comes down to slam against the other wolf that's after her (that is, the one that her skulls aren't taking care of). The tongue slips back into the shadows after that's done.
The wolf being attacked by the skulls tries to fight them off for a short while. The other two are successfully taken out by Cale. After a nasty bite from one of the skulls the initial wolf also vanishes in a green haze. Hilde's voice floats down from above. "Very good. Let's up the ante."
The wolf at the base of the tree vanishes and the forest begins to dissipate. The tree Cale is on shrinks until he is back on the ground as the room changes its appearance. This time they are in what appears to be a castle. The floor and walls are made of stone. There is a large wooden table in the middle, and a great chair with a fireplace behind it. After a moment a clanking noise can be heard. Five suits of armor come in through a door at the end of the chamber. "And watch your backs." There is suddenly a woman in the chair by the fireplace. She raises a hand toward Cale and a fireball is launched at him.
Bridget looks around as the trees vanish and then the castle appears, "What it's not over?" She then backs away as the armor appears. The skulls are quickly between her and the suits. That's when the voice of the woman appears and Bridget turns and sees the fireball, "Okay that's not normal." Not that any of this is. She frowns some, "Okay guys go for the helmets" The Skulls once more let out that wail and charge forward this time head butting the knights in the head.
"Gah!" Cale squawks; is that even a thing that could happen? He's so surprised by it that he doesn't try and dodge it until the last second, such that it slams into his shoulder, painfully searing it. He grabs his shoulder, yowling, as he runs, diving beneath the table; his skin once again takes on the characteristics of those around it, but it's pretty obvious he's under there.
One of the suits of armor bats a skull away with a shield. The other has his helmet knocked off but keeps advancing. It appears that those suits are hollow. They seem to be focused on Bridget for now. Three of the suits stop moving as Cale is hit by the fireball.
Hilde calls down from above. "Sorry about that Cale, let me reduce the attack power on that woman." The woman shoots another fireball at the table, causing it to catch on fire. "You're going to need to do more than just hide. Pretend this is real. If you hide down there forever, Bridgit will be overrun and then they'll come for you."
Bridget smiles seeing the suits are not men so that makes the next part easier. She calls out Cale, "Get ready to attack the woman! Amour hit the woman with a fireball." the pink skull moves off from the suits and start to shot fireballs at the woman. She looks at Ebony, "Ebony Ram them in the chest lets make them fall apart and hit them from behind." The black skull swings around and rams on in the back. Bridget now backs away from the suits.
Cale nods, grimacing… but he looks over at Bridget and the suits of armor, and then back at the woman. Hilde IS right; and suits of armor don't move on their own, without magic, right? And the woman seems to be magical… so, wiping his mouth (is there a way to get it to /not/ be a slimy mess while using his powers?) he peers out, tongue slinging out and snagging around the woman's ankle; he then yanks back hard, retracting it, while standing up and slamming the burning table up on its end like a large shield (that happens to be on fire) for her to slam against, sucking his tongue in at the last second to keep it from getting burned. He may look pretty small and weak, but he's actually fairly strong, so lifting it is not a big issue.
The woman is distracted by the small skull shooting things at her. She holds up a hand toward it and its fireballs seem to be blocked by some sort of force-field. The woman creates another fireball but does not get a chance to launch it, as this is when she is slammed into the table by Cale.
The headless suit of armor is struck in the back with a resounding clang. Its chest and arms fall to the ground, leaving its stomach and legs moving around aimlessly. One of the three that was hanging back moves forward and goes back to back with the remaining suit, not allowing the black skull to sneak up on them. As soon as the sorceress is taken out, the suits fall apart to the ground.
"Alright. What do you guys think? One more? Or do you want to call it a night and discuss what we learned?
Bridget looks at her skulls, "Okay what you two think?" The pink shakes head no and the black one shakes his head yes." Bridget sighs, "Thanks guys." She looks at her partner, "Can you handle another one sweety?"
Cale just sort of stands there, panting and rubbing at his shoulder, "Another? Are you crazy? That was intense. We barely won that one!" he murmurs, looking down; stunned to find that his shoulder hasn't actually been burned; it just darn well feels like it! "I don't know if I can handle another." He totally could; but is just kinda being, well, himself… lacking confidence. "I don't know though… I guess… maybe… okay, we can do one more," he laces his fingers together, stretching his arms out tall above his head and retying his ponytail.
Hilde's voice calls down from above once more. "Ok, we'll do one more. One opponent this time, but don't let your guard down. You'll need to work together for this one. If you want to stop just yell out 'Stop' and I'll turn off the exercise."
The castle turns into a computerized green wire mesh before transforming once more. This time the students are standing in a small marble temple at the top of a very tall mountain. There is a blinding light and then standing in the middle of the temple is…Professor Hildegarde. But it is not the professor. This woman is dressed like some sort of Viking warrior maiden. She has a helmet with wings on it and a white toga sort of cloth with gold armor over it. 'Hilde' bows to the two students and holds out her hand, a long spear materializing there. After a moment the woman charges and hurls the spear toward Bridgit, dashing at Cale to smack him with a buckler.
Bridget Epps and ducks covering her head with her arms. The skulls charge forward and knock the spear away. Once Bridget is safe the skulls wail and change at the woman. Each seems mad and shooting purple and blue fireballs at her.
Once again, Cale doesn't react fast enough and is hit by the initial attack; the shield bash catching him off balance and sending him sprawling as the woman hits him like a Mack truck. Hilde wasn't kidding earlier when she told him about breaking things on /accident/ if this illusion is anything like the real woman. Still, as he falls to the ground he reaches out and grabs at one of her ankles; extremities being a nice thing to grab with the tongue 'cause people don't typically expect such a strong amount of force to be applied there in such a way. With that, he yanks, simply intending to throw /her/ off balance so he can get to his feet; though the better part of his body doesn't seem to feel like responding all that fast and his actions are a little sluggish.
The woman turns suddenly after knocking down Cale, raising a hand to the two skulls. There is a thin wall that appears to be made of light blocking the fireballs from the skulls from hitting the woman. Cale's tongue does cause the woman to lose balance for a moment. 'Hildegarde' falls backward, her light wall vanishing. She manages to roll out of the way before any of the skull's fire can hit her, grabbing the thrown spear and coming up to her feet again to swing it at one of the skulls like a baseball bat.
he skulls are like tank armor so the spear would just bounce off or break over them with no real effect. The Black skull bits into her forearm as the pink one gets in her face and shots a fireball. Bridget move over to Cale and kneels by him, "You okay?"
The spear broken, the woman tries to grab the skull biting her and pull it off. The tongue around the neck causes the woman to begin to topple backward. She puts her feet down hard and tries to pull free of the tongue, managing to do so only to trip over the remains of the spear and topple off the edge of the temple. Vanishing down the mountain side." The room turns green again and the temple vanishes, leaving the teens sitting in an empty danger room. "Excellent work."
Hilde's voice comes down from above again. "Now, each of those scenarios was a specific type of battle. We had the pack of wolves, the sorceress, and the Valkyrie." The wolves, sorceress, and Valkyrie appear around the teens, though these holograms do not move at all. They appear to be just for visual aid. "Can you tell me a scenario that you might face in the real world that would match each type of opponent?"
The skulls are between the groups and Bridget fireballs formed in there mouths ready to fire. Bridget her self steps back when they reappear. Once they don't move She reaches out and pets the skulls and they seem to relax some. She thinks about it, "well wolves are if we ever lost in the woods. Magic is well magic is real and incase we have to fight a witch or something. and the last is incase we have to face you?"
"Well," Cale ponders, once again finding himself uninjured despite every sensation of /being/ so while the simulation was running… "I mean obviously you're going to run into people a lot more often than wolves these days, but that's not altogether different from a crowd situation like what happened to us a few days ago. Except, there were a LOT more people," he pauses, "The other two," he says, flopping down on his back on the shiny floor, "Well. The woman with the fireball is kind of like someone with a gun; like if you walked into a room like in a gangster movie and it was a setup. The last, I feel like since it was you, and you're a mutant, that it was like if we had to face another mutant; someone a lot stronger than us physically.
There is a gentle laugh from above at Bridgit's answer. "Well I suppose it could be to prepare you for the real thing, but that last opponent doesn't exactly share my abilities. I just threw my face on there to see if I could throw you guys off. But Cale was almost exactly right."
The wolves turn into a small crowd of angry looking people. "The wolves symbolize a crowd of generally unpowered individuals. The Valkyrie…" It turns into a woman made of diamond. "Symbolizes a powerful single target, like Envy. And the third could symbolize someone with a gun, but I would consider that person a controller more than anything." It turns into Dingo, the suits turn into dogs made of sand. "Some opponents can create constructs to fight in their place, but if you focus on the controller and take him or her out, whatever they create will lose power as well."
"Now I want you two to remember that this is an EXERCISE. Just because you defeated the sorceress and the Valkyrie does NOT mean that you should feel confident enough to take on Dingo or Envy in a fight. This was just a series of tests to see what level Bridgit's abilities are at, and to give you a general idea of how to deal with each scenario if you happen to be presented with it. Does anybody have any questions?”
Bridget frowns some, "I would never let my skulls to bite people like I let them with the wolves." She shakes her head and sits next to Cale and smiles at him, "Your powers are neat. Where do you keep that tongue when it's not sticking out?"
"Oh, none I guess," Cale replies to Hilde, glancing over at Bridget afterwards, "Um… er… I don't… really know. It just sorta, you know, does its own thing, until I want it to do something. It's like a normal tongue. Except stretchy, or something…" the boy sits up, crossing his legs Indian style. "I dunno, anyway. It's kinda weird, I think. It's embarrassing. I guess I'd have to let someone test it or something to figure out exactly how it works."
All of the projections in the room vanish and Hilde stops talking from the speakers. A few minutes later the door to the room opens and the woman steps in. "Alright. Well I think we can call it a day. Shall we head back to the main floors?"
