Amara was standing before a plate of melted and warped metal. Behind her, Alison tightened the nozzle on a garden hose.
"You're getting more accurate," Alison ran a hand over the cooled plate. "But your precision still needs work. If you launch in little bits like this, you can hurt people around you."
"I'm glad I'm not, you know, blowing up anymore," Amara looked at her arms, "But if you haven't seen any volcanoes recently, they're not exactly very controlled."
"It helps in our case that you're a very small volcano. And that we have a few other miniature natural disasters to train alongside. Illyana, you're up."
Illyana stepped into the Danger Room and nodded politely.
"I trust you know which of your spells will be suitable for sparring?" Dazzler raised a gentle barrier of light around the two girls.
"Of course," Illyana drew her Soulsword. "I'll play defense."
"Thanks again for the company, Illyana," Amara said quietly.
"It's nice to have some myself. I can't avoid people forever. Plus, my usual training partners are working with Class X this week."
Illyana rolled her eyes. "Probably having a great time without me."
"We're gonna die in here, Bobby!"
Sam and Roberto were cowering behind the bar of an old fashioned saloon.
"Just remember, it's all a simulation," Roberto attempted to calm his friend.
"I know that, but I don't know if she knows that!" Sam pointed out the saloon doors towards the lean silhouette stalking towards them.
"I'm not sure this lesson is meant to traumatize the Advanced Class," Mercury suggested as she watched Laura approach the saloon from the rooftops.
"You need to think like a bad guy, Cess," Wolverine grinned under her mask. "We're the veteran warriors defending our turf from the young guns. We have to show off a little."
"Do you have to be so good at playing a bad guy, then?"
"I'm the best I am at what I-"
Laura was cut off by a burst of heat surging through the doorway and colliding with her chest. The dark haired girl flew several feet backwards and landed on her back.
"Voy a matarte," she muttered, her rage building.
"Laura! Are you okay?" Cecily shouted.
"I will be," Laura unsheathed her claws, a set of 'safety pads' holographically materializing over each.
"I'm coming down," Mercury called out. But then she caught a glint of light in the window below.
Sam Guthrie blasted through the wall of the saloon, hurtling towards her like a bullet. She went limp, allowing her body to collapse into a silver pool as Sam rocketed past. Reforming, she saw him land then prepare for another run.
"Hold that thought," she told Laura.
"I never did ask Xavier why he had a Wild West ghost town programmed in here," Scott muttered as he looked inside a barrel absentmindedly.
He and Kitty were searching for Polaris on the outskirts of the dusty settlement.
"Maybe he just thought it was fun," Kitty adjusted the brim of the hat she found in one of the stores.
"The Danger Room isn't about fun. It's about preparing for any scenario. But this one is a stretch, I'll admit. Do you think time travel might be real?"
They continued down the road towards the railroad station. The Danger Room's computers could manage just about everything, save for the dirt thoroughfare. They left no footprints, and their shoes remained clean.
"Scott," Kitty said after a while. "Remember that day Storm came back, we were up in my room having a meeting?"
"Mmhm," Scott said. He checked in a window for signs of activity.
"Well, I was thinking, we didn't get to finish because of all the drama. So seeing as we're both here, and not doing anything."
"Sorry, no time for small talk right now," Cyclops pointed to the sky.
Bad timing, dragon, Kitty thought.
Lockheed came down from his reconnaissance flight and gave a determined honk towards the town gate.
"She's out there," Kitty translated. "In the cemetery."
Hisako, I just got a psychic message from Cecily. I'm heading over to back up her and Laura. You good?
"Just finishing up here, Rachel" Hisako replied, watching another student get booted from the simulation. The Advanced Class was good, but they didn't have much to compensate for her Psionic Armor.
She caught a glimpse of someone climbing up a drain pipe to the roof of the tannery across the street. It was Storm. Armor saw an opportunity.
"On second thought, I've just sighted a high value target."
I really gotta add one of these to my uniform," Chris said to himself. He was salivating over a display of duster jackets hanging in the window of an outfitter's shop.
The sound of wings broke his train of thought. Warren Worthington was floating over head, a pair of large angelic wings on his back, two smaller wings on his waist.
"Hey. It's Triage, right?"
"Yeah," Chris replied. Just his luck.
"I like it. I can't wait until I get to pick my codename," he gave an imaginative grin.
"We're supposed to fight, you know," Chris grew impatient with the winged boy.
"I know. Just making conversation."
"You already talk too much," Chris whispered, pulling his goggles on.
"I understand that Remmy is… forward," Jonathan said gingerly. He wasn't sure which was more unnerving, talking about teen romance or talking about it with the Cuckoos.
"And he'll definitely be talked to about his behavior. But you can't solve all your problems with mind control."
Rahne looked around uncomfortably.
"You… can actually undo what you did, right? He keeps clucking like a hen every two minutes."
"He'll only do that when he thinks of girls that way again," Mindee said.
"It's not our fault he does it so much," Celeste smirked.
Thunderbird looked at Wolfsbane pleadingly.
"A little help, here?"
"Actually," Rahne said, noticing Illyana and Amara heading down the hall. "I think you're really nailing it. I need to catch up with you later."
The sound of a barrel impacting the roof indicated that Storm had lost the element of surprise. She saw Hisako picking up another barrel to lob her way.
"Hello Miss Munroe. Fancy meeting you here."
"Miss Ichiki. Your instructors tell me you have great promise. Now is your chance to impress me."
"I won't go easy on you just because you don't have your powers."
"Neither will I," Ororo grinned wickedly.
The town cemetery was in advanced disrepair. Headstones were worn smooth by exposure to the elements, and dead bushes sprouted from between the cracks of the rough stone path.
"You waiting for us, Polaris?" Cyclops announced as he spotted her.
"Pretty much. Nice hat, Pryde."
Lorna was wearing a black ten-gallon of her own, leaned against a wall of the old burial site.
"There wasn't much metal in the Old West," Kitty prepared herself. "You sure you're up for this?"
"I'll live."
"Let's stay close," Kitty whispered. "She'll be using projectiles, I can phase us through them."
"No," Scott shook his head. "She'll be looking for an opportunity to take us both out at once. You run ahead and flank."
"But my phasing-"
"There's no time, Shadowcat," Cyclops snapped.
"Sure, flank, whatever. No time," Kitty said as she ran off.
Polaris opened a saddle bag and produced two double-barrelled shotguns. With a twist of her fingers she sheared the metal barrels from the stock and split them into eight long, rough-hewn blades.
"I've been waiting to get in the ring with you guys," she smiled. "Let's see what happens!"
"No fair," Bobby rubbed his head.
"We didn't know telepathy was allowed," Sam
"We don't get to pick our mutations," Rachel said, helping Sam up. "Otherwise I might just stick to flying like you."
"It's not just flying," Laura said. "Way more force then a scrawny kid like him should be able to hit with."
"Hey!" Sam whined. "I'm practically the same age as you."
Laura ignored him.
"You don't just fly, you launch. Could have some fun applications."
Cecily stretched her neck up over the roof.
"It should just be Polaris and Storm left, right?"
"I didn't see Warren on my route," Rachel closed her eyes and opened her mind.
"If he's still out there, I'm sure Hisako found him," Laura smirked.
"Actually," Rachel opened her eyes again, "Chris found him. And he's having a bit of trouble."
"Trouble? He's fighting a bird with a stick," Laura said. "We'd better move fast."
Chris flew through a digital building and landed at Armor's feet.
"Hey Hisako," he said sheepishly.
"Chris what are you doing here?"
"I live here?"
"I mean, I'm kinda busy here," Hisako dodged back from Storm's chop. "This lady is insane."
"I have been fighting for longer than you have been alive, child!" Ororo planted herself with her feet. "I have learned from the masters on on three continents!"
"But can you do this?" Armor shouted. She expanded her armor out until it was nearly twice Storm's size.
"Oh, hey Hisako," Warren's voice floated into the scene. His wings and eyes were glowing gold.
"Me and Chris were just having a chat."
_Cerebro Files [Cyclops]
_Civilian Name: Scott Summers
_Mutant Ability: Optical Force Projection
_Part of my very first group of students, Scott demonstrated remarkable talent for coordinating his peers into a unified force. Last year we made it official, and appointed the 16 year old boy field leader. He still has much to learn, and Storm fears that the role will impact his ability to interact on even footing with the others, but I have faith.
[ADMN_X/0710-1998]
_Both of us are perhaps impartial in updating this file. I owe a lot to Scott. He gave my life direction after leaving the Hellfire Club behind. Both of us were out of the picture for many years when Essex Corp held us in cryogenic storage to harvest our mutant genes. The effects gave us a new lease on life, of a sort. Mr. Foley has analyzed our blood since arriving at the school, and found that we are the same age biologically as we were seven years ago, when Sinister first got his claws on us.
[ADMN_F/0501-2024]
{File Locked for Editing by ADMN_R}