November 15, 2017:
Marcos and Lorna finally get to training.. on level one simulations
The Danger Room
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions: Scott, Jean, Magneto
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
Lorna had told Marcos about the agreement with Scott, how they had four hours a day usage of the Danger room until the trip to Genosha. How Scott would put in the codes to let them pass into the highest security the X-men had—and allow Marcos in without needing a senior member there to unlock the doors. The pre-programmed simulations included sentinels, Magneto, and other various Brotherhood followers that often came with him to name a few.
Lorna had suited up in her latest attempt at modifying her old High school uniform she'd made for the X-men years ago. This time, however, she'd gotten rid of the cloak. The jumpsuit beneath was made of a black, tough, material. Over that, around her chest, abdomen, arms and legs, were large bands of metal armor. She'd created it from scrap bits of various metals (they had littered the apartment in Mutant Town for a few days). All painted green.
Around her chest, lining the plates was a steel grey strip of metal, with clips that attached to a long, leather duster—a decided replacement for the cape as well as important for warmth in Winter.
Yet most importantly, perhaps, was the framing metal plate that was magnetized to her forehead, keeping her tangles of green hair back from her face. It was solid green, dark emerald in hue. And it left her features in shadows if she stood just so. The overall shape, looked vaguely familar.. as if she'd taken the edge, the outline of her father's helmet.
By comparison? The outfit she'd given Eclipse was a simple jumpsuit, old and spare. It had a few spare parts added here or there for protection— but as she had told him. After they'd run a few simulations, Scott had promised he'd see what can be done in terms of nonmetal armor. Which Lorna had insisted on checking over. Not an ounce of metal remained on Marcos.
Lorna shifted her weight upon her booted feet, stretching to test how the armor on her moved. Green eyes flickered to Marcos and she offered a tense smile. "Ready for a simulation?"
*
Marcos was actually pretty excited in the most nerdy way possible! When he heard that he was going to be able to try out the danger room to practice his mutant abilities, he did a few shadowboxing techniques whenever Lorna wasn't looking. It was one of those things that just Marcos look far more adorable. Shoulda seen him when he got the jumpsuit….
His jumpsuit was indeed black and a little shabby, but beggars can't be choosers. He seems to be tighting the cuffs a little bit to be more form fitting and not a hazard. He took a few breaths as he did so, looking at Lorna's outfit. "You look great by the way. Love what you've done with it." a small wink then, but it's very good natured and flirtateous.
Once they actually entered -the- danger room, Marcos just took a moment to look about in that kind of 'whoa' kind of way. "Wow….this place is….wow." he chuckles a bit then. "Alright…this is cool." but then he looks to Lorna when she shifts her foot, and he returns her smile.
"Ready when you are love. Did I say how much I love you today?" a small smile then as light seems to gather around his palms.
*
Lorna laughed lightly at the simple joy and impressed nature that came off Marcos in droves. She smiled, shifting to adjust the collar and how the jacket fit around her shoulders. "I figured Magneto wouldn't take me seriously if I showed up on Genosha in just my leather jacket and jeans. He's got that whole 'classic' thing going. And it's important that I look the part." She glanced around at the room once, and then back to Marcos.
"And I'm glad you like it. I thought you might." She couldn't help but grin back at him, his smile infectious.
"So, what scenario do you think we should run through first?" She arched a green eyebrow. "We have four hours in here and a few days to go at it. We don't need to jump into the deep end of the pool.."
*
Marcos smiles warmly to her, chuckling just faintly "you already look the part. Beautiful as yiu are." He winks then, though when asked about what sinulation to run, Marcos shrugs.
"i have absolutely no idea. Maybe we can start easy and see how i do? Not used to foghting mutants." He shrigs a minute.
"unless you want to see how i perform on your level?"
*
Lorna nodded, and moved to the entry way to type in a few codes and activate the voice commands while they were in there. Someone, usually Jean or Scott would be up top running things, but Scott had set it up so they could get some practice in without a senior member there. "Danger Room Protocol, 00X18C-2 Sub level 1." Her lips twitched as she spoke and stepped back, returning to his side.
"I set it on the easiest setting. We'll try to see how we handle a sentinel or two. It shouldn't be too much. They're dangerous, but it's practice." She murmured.
The lights dimmed and all around them buildings sprung up, some damaged, some less so. The sky above was cloudy, and overcast. The sounds of distant gun fire echoed around them and Lorna backed away toward a fallen chunk of rubble, gesturing for Marcos to do the same.
*
Marcos almost looks impressed with how Lorna says tge access code without flaw. "That was hot" he says with a laugh after, but when she talks sentinels, he nods a few times, getting more serious "sounds good."
Then tge sky turns dark and cloudy, and burning buildings rise. He can smell brimstone from probably explosions and the like, blowing his mind to the realism of this room. When Lorna moves for cover, Marcos is already on track, moving to one not far from her, crouching low to look around it to see if he can find the sentinels.
"any specific plan aside from turning them into scrap metal?"
*
Lorna arched a brow aloft at Marcos' comment, and she shook her head. "Really? I'm feeling so objectified right now." She teased, grinning. Her hand up as she waited for the sentinel to appear..
"Plan? Aim for the joints. They're not going to be made of metal if they're on Genosha. Not with my father there. But I might be able to shut down the systems temporarily with an electromagnetic pulse. That or—" She broke off as a chunk of building went flying and landed near them. A sentinel standing tall above them. The robotic voice ground out a string of comments about detecting mutants. The eyes lit up and it lifted a hand, and shot off a blast.
"Move!" Lorna shouted as she dove forward. Her hands thrown out at her sides as she lifted up a car that was half destroyed and chucked it at the robot.
*
Marcos shrugged at Lorna "sorry! couldn't help it." he grins then a moment at her, perhaps a little wink as well as she told him about the joints. light seemed to gather about his hand, giving it a subtle glow as he waited for those giant monstrosities to arrive, and when that chunk of a building landed near them, Marcos dove with Lorna almost immediately.
"Joints, got it!" he replies, and when she threw that mostly-wrecked car at the sentinal, Marcos fired a beam of light from his hand as if to superheat the car to give it some smashing power against the sentinel. But once that was done, regardless of effect, Marcos tried to pick Lorna back to her feet. "Come on lets go! we won't beat it in the open."
He says that rather tactfully. Seems he learned something from videos or just common knowledge of Sentinels. He fires another beam of light at the Sentinels eyes as if to try to blind it.
*
Lorna was up on her feet before Marcos could rise, "I'm good, go!"
She could handle a sentinel, she knew she could. But she was holding back, watching Marcos, seeing what he would do and how he reacted. She was in the air before he got to her to help her back to her feet. Another blast from the robot followed as she dodged, drawing its fire and attention away from Marcos below. She flew higher into the air, her hair whipping about her in the magnetic current as she reached for scraps of metal and threw them at the robot. It was slowed, but then again… this was only a level one simulation..
*
Marcos was already on the move once Lorna said she was good and already in the air. Since she had it's attention, Marcos tried to double back, moving around it so he had a clear shot at it's joints. After a few deep breaths and a 'you can do this Marcos' to himself, he would lift his hands, attempting to blast a ray of pure solar energy into the back of the Sentinel's knee to try to bring it down to size!
*
Lorna watched, dodging the blast that was shot her way. The sentinel was making large, stomping steps toward her, and she zipped backwards again. She was fast, and while she knew the ones in Genosha wouldn't be this simple, this slow.. it was enough to get her heart thumping again. The thrill of battle once more bumping in her veins. She couldn't help lifting up a piece of fallen steel bars from a building and chucking it at the robot's head, wrapping the steel around it's sensors.
Of course, then there was Marcos. With the time she'd brought him, the robot went down with a huge crash. It's mid-step becoming a misstep as he got it in the back of a knee.
She whooped, and with a wave of her hands, crushed the head of the robot between the huge steel beams. Slowly, she floated back down as the simulation dinged a happy 'complete' and the images of fallen buildings faded away to nothing. "Good shot." She grinned, moving toward Marcos.
*
Marcos sees that he knocked it down and he takes a breath. "Whew….that was intense." he says with a small chuckle. but then again…GIANT FREAKING ROBOTS THAT SHOOT LASERS registers as intense to Marcos. But he does smile to Lorna at her compliment and when she approached him close enough, he'd pull her close for a passionate kiss.
After, he pulls away slowly. "That was fun. and amazing, even better because I did it with you…I feel like I can actually…-learn- to use my powers here. Putting them to the test instead of against common thugs." he says with a big smile, his hands moving to hold hers.
"Thank you for this…you have no idea what all this means to me." he smiles big and warm, eyes never leaving hers.
*
Lorna seemed to be surprised when he pulled her close to kiss, and in fact, for once she pulled back early. "Hey, we're on camera. Okay? None of that." She elbowed him lightly, still smiling faintly. Still, there was some unnamed emotion in her gaze and it conjured something akin to worry in her stance. Even if the smile remained.
"Yeah, you did good for a first time running through. If you want we can try another simulation and keep at it. I don't think we should do a survival goal just yet, but a few more solo, lower level sims might be worth it for today. We've got time." Was she keeping the training wheels on because it was Marcos? Was she holding back on purpose? Maybe. Likely. She was worried about him and bringing him to Genosha.
Even more though, was the guilt. She knew he would do well with the X-men. Would learn and grow and develop his powers beyond what he could do on the streets… But she couldn't, wouldn't move back into the mansion. Her jaw tightened briefly and she swallowed a lump in her throat.
*
Marcos chuckles when she pulls away from him and even scolds him a bit. He does look in her eyes though. "Hey, hey, I know I know….you're just my lady and my heart. I can show affection." he winks then with a big smile. He noticed her worried look in her eye, though he listened to her words.
"Sure, that sounds good. and thank you, your used to this, so I'll follow your recommendation. Then after, we could go get dinner?" he asks her out shamelessly. Though he can see the guilt and worry in her eye, and a hand comes up to caress her hair.
"Hey….what's wrong?"
*
Lorna shook her head slightly, "You're impossible. Yeah, dinner sounds good." She breathed, a hint of laughter in her voice as she turned to pick another simulation of some kind of another. Still, Marcos was there, picking up on how she felt as well as if he were an empath. He just knew her that well. And not for the first time, Lorna cursed mentally over it.
"I… it's nothing. I.. you.." She grimaced, it was very obviously not 'nothing'.
"You could be here full time and training if not for me. If I moved back here or rejoined the team and got a job out here. You'd be able to come here. You'd get the training you need." She exhaled a frustrated breath.
"Look, lets.. not get into this here, okay? I'd rather not give Scott and Jean and whoever else watching the training sessions to get the drama."
*
Marcos approaches her when she moves over to the console, his hand reaching for hers to hold it as she spoke. "Lorna…talk to me." he says, knowing her thoughts almost as well as the back of his hand. They'd been together for so long, and they've gotten so close, he doesnt know why, but he -knows- when something's wrong.
He stands there a moment, looking her in the eyes as she shares his heart with him, and he just squeezes her hand affectionately. He looks like he'll speak, but then Lorna denies talking about it further while they're there. "Alright…we'll talk about this alright? Your feelings matter too, not just mine." he smiles then, sticking close to her now.
"So, lets have some fun." he smiles, always the optimist.
*
Lorna hesitated, knowing that Marcos was more than willing to have the discussion then and there, cameras or not. But she wasn't, and that was going to be a dead end—when he relented, it was as sure a sign that the young man knew her better than anyone else. Lorna (and the rest of her family) was terribly stubborn when she set her mind to something.
Stil, a nod happened and she shrugged, moving to type in the next set of codes. She wasn't helping Marcos get better by throwing him in the kiddy pool. It wouldn't prepare him, not fast enough for their trip that weekend. The days ticked away in Lorna's mind and she frowned. Her fingers hesitating over the code.
The temptation to put in the codes for the highest levels she'd handled on her own was strong. Even if it had been years since she'd trained that rigorously. Her powers had only gotten stronger as she'd aged after all… Green eyes flickered toward Marcos and she let her hand fall back from the higher code keys. He could be seriously hurt, and she didn't want that. Didn't want to explain how'd she had been reckless and gotten her boyfriend injured in training.
"We can go for another few rounds of level ones. We can try some armed guards or something. Maybe a few mutants too." She murmured.