Adara nervously waited outside of the heavily-armored danger room door. Despite all the reassurances Xavier gave her about this being "an utterly painless, non-lethal first assessment of ability and caliber", she still felt a bit on edge. So what if she couldn't get more than a skinned knee? Everyone was WATCHING her, dammit! She paced about, flexing her hands. Unnoticed, tiny sparks occasionally shot out from her fingertips, extinguishing themselves harmlessly on the cold steel of the corridor.
"Anytime you're ready, Xavier!" she called.
Xavier's voice issued from an intercom right next to the door. "All is in readiness, Adara. Treat this as an obstacle course. Your only task is to touch the target on the far end with some part of your body, or with something you're currently in contact with. You have five minutes, and you'll be let known how much time you have left. Begin."
The little red light on the door turned green, and the doors slid into either side of the round doorway. The Danger Room was a large space, about the size of an open warehouse, with an observation/control booth up at the far end. Even from her vantage, Adara could see Kurt, Ororo, Scott, and Logan watching from the control booth, along with Xavier. Fifteen or twenty feet off the ground, affixed to the wall on the far end of the room, was a red and white bull's-eye. She hoped she'd be able to reach up that far. She took a deep breath and jogged into the "empty" room, just waiting for the floor to drop away.
Despite everything she'd heard and expected, the first obstacle still took her by surprise. Tentacles, as if from some robotic octopus, shot out of the floor to either side of her and whipped around her.
(response. These tentacles are powered by myomer fibers; strands of memory metal which contract and expand with suitable application of current)
Her first instinct was to panic, and Adara struggled like an animal in a steel trap. She screamed like a cougar on a midnight hunt as she fought to free herself. If Kurt thought he had seen the worst of her power before, that day in the river had been nothing. If that had been like a plasma ball, this was like the 4th of July. Her electricity kicked in fully, and she burnt her way through the tentacles, singing her hair in the process. Suddenly she was very thankful her uniform was fireproof.
Unheard, high above her in the observation booth, the comments were already beginning.
"Whoa! Not bad!" Wolverine laughed.
"Yes, she's powerful, but I hope she starts pacing herself, or she's going to drop before she gets halfway across the room," Xavier mumbled.
"Isn't that what you said about me?" Kurt asked, grinning.
The tentacles flopped to the ground, some partially melted, others simply limp as string. Adara ran forward, kicking the remaining tentacles out of the way before she tripped on them. Trapdoors opened under her footsteps as she was pushing off from the floor; she barely cleared them in time. Suddenly a four foot square section of floor in front of her fell away just as she was putting her foot down, threatening to send her head-first into a pit.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" screamed Adara, followed by a string of cusswords that would have made Kurt cross himself twice. She jerked her foot out, panting and gritting her teeth. She spun around spastically looking in all directions for the next booby trap. She flipped off those behind the windows without meaning to, out of a primitive, spontaneous reaction.
She's got a temper like yours, Wolverine," Ororo noted. "I'm not used to someone giving me the bird."
"She'll need to control that temper," Scott added coldly. "That was a completely inappropriate reaction."
Xavier put up his hand. "Give her the benefit of the doubt, Scott. We'll worry about her temper later." He pressed a button and activated the intercom. "Four minutes left, Adara."
She'd spend an entire minute already? How time flies when your having fun. She started running again, but this time she could tell where the trapdoors were and when they were about to open.
"She's figured out the trapdoor sequencing," Xavier said, nodding. "Good. Now for the magnets."
A huge pile of what seemed to be ball bearings came speeding towards Adara. She changed direction, but the balls followed her as if she was the world's biggest magnet. And when they suddenly picked up speed the closer they got, she realized that's exactly what she was to them. They leapt on her and encased her in a shifting metal suit. Though she could move and breathe, the bearings weighed her down so much that she couldn't so much as walk.
Trying not to panic, Adara got ahold of herself and decided to try something. She spun around, and activated her electricity. She kept spinning, reversing the magnetic forces with her own repelling force until the annoying bee-bee-like things released their hold and hit the walls. Many of them clung to the metal portions.
When she stopped spinning, she realized three things. One, she wasn't the least bit dizzy, despite her rotational speed. That was good. Two, in repelling the metal bits, some she affected so much that they fired out like bullets. That was even better. But, three, now there was a twenty-foot tall metal wall in front of her. It didn't reach up to the ceiling, but it spread from wall-to-wall. It was a lot higher than she could jump, too slick and sheer to climb, and there wasn't a rope in sight.
Adara wasn't running out of ideas so much as she was getting tired. She knew what she had to do to scale this wall and get over the gap. It was whip out the electric field again and FLOAT over it. But she was draining fast and just made it far enough to hang by her fingernails. Struggling, she pulled herself up with her elbows and knees and lay on the top like a napping panther in a tree. Boy, did she feel stupid!
As she lay there, contemplating which move to make, she saw the still clinging bee-bees. Adara had enough energy left to call the balls toward the hole and make a bridge out of it. Sticking to the wall from the electricity, she climbed down and kept her own power generating out from her just enough to where the "bridge" kept its place and didn't re-attach to her. She was close to the target now, right on her right side. Using the last of her energy, she rolled over just enough to touch it with the tips of her fingers.
A buzzer sounded and the target retracted from the wall.
"That's all she wrote, kiddo!" Logan's voice called. "Take five."
With a sigh, Adara slid off the wall and slumped on the floor. She wasn't so much out of breath as she was plain exhausted. She also didn't want to sound like a stupid, eager kid saying, "Did I make it? Did I make it? Huh? Huh?" She said not a word as she walked thankfully out of the room and met the group up in the sound booth. "I'm sorry I flipped you off." she apologized sheepishly.
Scott looked non-plussed, but it was always hard to gauge his reactions with that visor. Logan blinked at her, then slowly reached into a pocket and brought out a ten dollar bill. Kurt smiled smugly, leaned against the wall, and rubbed his fingers together in front of Logan's face until the man placed the ten in his hand. A flush rose to Adara's face as she realized she was the object of some bet between the two of them.
"Just what was that about?" she demanded. She spun to Logan. "Didn't you think I'd make it?"
"No," Logan mumbled. "I just thought you wouldn't remember flipping us off, that's all."
"Anytime you're ready, Xavier!" she called.
Xavier's voice issued from an intercom right next to the door. "All is in readiness, Adara. Treat this as an obstacle course. Your only task is to touch the target on the far end with some part of your body, or with something you're currently in contact with. You have five minutes, and you'll be let known how much time you have left. Begin."
The little red light on the door turned green, and the doors slid into either side of the round doorway. The Danger Room was a large space, about the size of an open warehouse, with an observation/control booth up at the far end. Even from her vantage, Adara could see Kurt, Ororo, Scott, and Logan watching from the control booth, along with Xavier. Fifteen or twenty feet off the ground, affixed to the wall on the far end of the room, was a red and white bull's-eye. She hoped she'd be able to reach up that far. She took a deep breath and jogged into the "empty" room, just waiting for the floor to drop away.
Despite everything she'd heard and expected, the first obstacle still took her by surprise. Tentacles, as if from some robotic octopus, shot out of the floor to either side of her and whipped around her.
(response. These tentacles are powered by myomer fibers; strands of memory metal which contract and expand with suitable application of current)
Her first instinct was to panic, and Adara struggled like an animal in a steel trap. She screamed like a cougar on a midnight hunt as she fought to free herself. If Kurt thought he had seen the worst of her power before, that day in the river had been nothing. If that had been like a plasma ball, this was like the 4th of July. Her electricity kicked in fully, and she burnt her way through the tentacles, singing her hair in the process. Suddenly she was very thankful her uniform was fireproof.
Unheard, high above her in the observation booth, the comments were already beginning.
"Whoa! Not bad!" Wolverine laughed.
"Yes, she's powerful, but I hope she starts pacing herself, or she's going to drop before she gets halfway across the room," Xavier mumbled.
"Isn't that what you said about me?" Kurt asked, grinning.
The tentacles flopped to the ground, some partially melted, others simply limp as string. Adara ran forward, kicking the remaining tentacles out of the way before she tripped on them. Trapdoors opened under her footsteps as she was pushing off from the floor; she barely cleared them in time. Suddenly a four foot square section of floor in front of her fell away just as she was putting her foot down, threatening to send her head-first into a pit.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" screamed Adara, followed by a string of cusswords that would have made Kurt cross himself twice. She jerked her foot out, panting and gritting her teeth. She spun around spastically looking in all directions for the next booby trap. She flipped off those behind the windows without meaning to, out of a primitive, spontaneous reaction.
She's got a temper like yours, Wolverine," Ororo noted. "I'm not used to someone giving me the bird."
"She'll need to control that temper," Scott added coldly. "That was a completely inappropriate reaction."
Xavier put up his hand. "Give her the benefit of the doubt, Scott. We'll worry about her temper later." He pressed a button and activated the intercom. "Four minutes left, Adara."
She'd spend an entire minute already? How time flies when your having fun. She started running again, but this time she could tell where the trapdoors were and when they were about to open.
"She's figured out the trapdoor sequencing," Xavier said, nodding. "Good. Now for the magnets."
A huge pile of what seemed to be ball bearings came speeding towards Adara. She changed direction, but the balls followed her as if she was the world's biggest magnet. And when they suddenly picked up speed the closer they got, she realized that's exactly what she was to them. They leapt on her and encased her in a shifting metal suit. Though she could move and breathe, the bearings weighed her down so much that she couldn't so much as walk.
Trying not to panic, Adara got ahold of herself and decided to try something. She spun around, and activated her electricity. She kept spinning, reversing the magnetic forces with her own repelling force until the annoying bee-bee-like things released their hold and hit the walls. Many of them clung to the metal portions.
When she stopped spinning, she realized three things. One, she wasn't the least bit dizzy, despite her rotational speed. That was good. Two, in repelling the metal bits, some she affected so much that they fired out like bullets. That was even better. But, three, now there was a twenty-foot tall metal wall in front of her. It didn't reach up to the ceiling, but it spread from wall-to-wall. It was a lot higher than she could jump, too slick and sheer to climb, and there wasn't a rope in sight.
Adara wasn't running out of ideas so much as she was getting tired. She knew what she had to do to scale this wall and get over the gap. It was whip out the electric field again and FLOAT over it. But she was draining fast and just made it far enough to hang by her fingernails. Struggling, she pulled herself up with her elbows and knees and lay on the top like a napping panther in a tree. Boy, did she feel stupid!
As she lay there, contemplating which move to make, she saw the still clinging bee-bees. Adara had enough energy left to call the balls toward the hole and make a bridge out of it. Sticking to the wall from the electricity, she climbed down and kept her own power generating out from her just enough to where the "bridge" kept its place and didn't re-attach to her. She was close to the target now, right on her right side. Using the last of her energy, she rolled over just enough to touch it with the tips of her fingers.
A buzzer sounded and the target retracted from the wall.
"That's all she wrote, kiddo!" Logan's voice called. "Take five."
With a sigh, Adara slid off the wall and slumped on the floor. She wasn't so much out of breath as she was plain exhausted. She also didn't want to sound like a stupid, eager kid saying, "Did I make it? Did I make it? Huh? Huh?" She said not a word as she walked thankfully out of the room and met the group up in the sound booth. "I'm sorry I flipped you off." she apologized sheepishly.
Scott looked non-plussed, but it was always hard to gauge his reactions with that visor. Logan blinked at her, then slowly reached into a pocket and brought out a ten dollar bill. Kurt smiled smugly, leaned against the wall, and rubbed his fingers together in front of Logan's face until the man placed the ten in his hand. A flush rose to Adara's face as she realized she was the object of some bet between the two of them.
"Just what was that about?" she demanded. She spun to Logan. "Didn't you think I'd make it?"
"No," Logan mumbled. "I just thought you wouldn't remember flipping us off, that's all."