Crossroads [OPEN]

[Deleted]

S E E R
> > vanessa tucker

As soon as she heard about the supposedly aptly named Danger Room, Vanessa's curiosity was piqued. After getting settled into a routine around Xavier's Institute, with her duties as a teacher's aid and a mentor to the younger members of the mansion, Vanessa sought out someone to give her an introduction to the Danger Room.

Ms. Parker, the teacher that taught the chemistry class that Vanessa had been assigned to aid for the semester, had been willing to show Vanessa the ins and outs of the Danger Room. Ms. Parker was stern and serious, being downright detailed about why the place was called the Danger Room, and Vanessa took all of Ms. Parker's warnings and details to heart. As an aid, Vanessa had her own set of codes to use in order to set up Danger Room practice sessions, but her codes were for the lower leveled settings. Only full-fledged teachers had the advanced codes.

Which made sense, Vanessa supposed, as she gazed at all the buttons, knobs, and options around the overhanging control center. She grinned to herself as she inserted her code and set up a very basic practice simulation. Amazed, she watched as the holographic technology -- inherited from an alien species, she was told -- transformed the Danger Room's sleek stage into a deserted cityscape.

Vanessa took a deep breath and paused a moment to activate her own powers. Her physical body wavered until it was a floating spirit, intangible and translucent, capable of passing through the control room's floor and down to the middle of the cityscape. She was in a crossroads, the middle of a block of skyscrapers.

It was there that she waited for the Danger Room to present her with some opposition, and she wasn't disappointed.

From out of nowhere, some obvious thugs came rushing at her, and Vanessa watched impassively as they ran right through her. She levitated and disappeared in her own rhythm, a smirk curling on her face as the thugs collided with each other and the obstacles that appeared on the cityscape line.

Vanessa mused on how she should learn some basic self-defense moves. It wouldn't do for her to just stand there and remain intangible in true battles.

[Apollo de Costa]

A p o l l o { s h i e l d} D e C o s t a
>> ftm >> mutant >> 21 >> teachers' aide

Wondering if Fate was determined to make him interact with people, Apollo sighed as he came upon the Danger Room - or, to be specific, the scrolling words on the door that said 'In Session'. There wasn't supposed to be a class in there, he knew - curious as to the strength of the room, he'd looked up the times that had been set for groups of students in order to come check it out on his own. It seemed someone had beaten him to it - ot he'd gotten the times mixed up. Curious - and a little worried; what if some of the students had snuck in? - the aide typed his code into the door, which slid open for him with another warning that the room was in use.

Rolling his eyes at the slight exessiveness, he took the quick walk into the control room instead of the Danger Room itself. If there was a problem, that was the place he could get the full picture of it-- and if it was just a teacher getting a work-out in, then he could leave, none the worse for wear. What he found was neither; instead, he cast eyes on Vanessa. He knew her vaguely, in that they worked together and had to deal with the sometimes-rowdy students. She had always seemed polite, if a little bit pointed. It wasn't a bad thing; and right now, he could see that she was indeed firmly capable of taking care of herself. Or, rather, letting her enemies do the heavy lifting for her. Apollo grinned; he could appreciate her cleverness in letting the 'bad guys' knock themselves out.

Apollo was still curious as to where they had come from. Or, for that matter, where any of the landscape had come from - a dilapidated town wasn't what he had expected to see. Tapping his fingers against the side of the control panel, the aid decided to wait til Vanessa was done - then interrogate her. She clearly knew a bit more about it - he couldn't see surprise in her face, just a clear sense of victory

[Deleted]

S E E R
> > vanessa tucker

It wasn't too long before Vanessa began to get a touch bored of the practice simulation. Wisely, she had only set the session for a quick fifteen minutes, just to loosen her muscles and get a feel of what the Danger Room could do.

The last thug that the simulation had decided to throw at her was the largest of the lot, and Vanessa had a few minutes of dancing around the cityscape in order to best evaluate how to defeat him. She disappeared, keeping her mouth in a tight line to keep from giggling at how ridiculously confused the fictitious thug seemed. The pair had entered what looked like a side alley, allowing Vanessa to find an old lead pipe for a weapon. Once the thug's back was turned, Vanessa grabbed the pipe and smashed it over the thug's head. The thug crumbled to the ground and flickered out of sight.

"Simulation complete," the robotic voice said as the cityscape faded away. Vanessa glanced around, marveling at how the large dome could become virtually any setting with the technology that controlled the room. Once she got her bearings, Vanessa floated back up into the control room.

She raised an eyebrow to find that she had, apparently, had an audience. Wavering back into view and becoming a solid mass once more, Vanessa smiled and dryly asked Apollo, "Enjoy the show?"

[Apollo de Costa]

A p o l l o { s h i e l d} D e C o s t a
>> ftm >> mutant >> 21 >> teachers' aide

He probably should have left after it became clear that it wasn't a student who had been using the training room, but Apollo was impressed. It hadn't taken long for Vanessa to get into the rhythm of the simulated fight, and she could hold her own - even if 'her own' seemed to be making the bad guys knock themselves out. Still - Apollo wasn't exactly a one-man fighting team, either. He could admire his fellow teachers' aid using her wits on the thugs - and brute force, too. He winced when she whacked the baddie with her pipe; Vanessa had strength behind her swing, corporeal or not.

Having been intently watching for other thugs to pop out of somewhere, Apollo jumped a little when the landscape faded - ruins and an empty maze of buildings vanished, leaving sleek metal panels behind. Awed, he didn't notice Vanessa disappearing til she was in the control room, turning solid like a reverse-mirage. His nerves already up, Apollo jerked himself around, relaxing only slightly when he saw who it was. Had it been creepy that he had watched her fight without Vanessa's knowledge? Yeah, he mentally winced at himself. Probably had been, reason or no reason.

"Ah - Vanessa! Hey. Uh, I just - came in to practise and I didn't think any of the students had permission to be in here, and..." he scrubbed a hand over his forehead. "Just wanted to make sure you were alright." Apollo grinned, ducking his head a little. "And you were pretty great." He gestured with one hand to the control panels, the other hand sliding into his pocket. "This stuff is crazy, huh? I didn't know it could do anything like that city you were in.", he continued, running his fingertips across a keyboard, lightly. He was no great shakes at computers, but whatever the school used for the Danger Room was more than enough to awe the man.

[Deleted]

S E E R
> > vanessa tucker

Vanessa's crooked smile widened into a grin as Apollo stuttered out a wayward apology. "You're correct," she said. "Students don't have permission to be in here without a teacher... Or one of us. Good thing I'm not a student."

She nodded politely when her fellow teacher's aid complimented her victory against the simulation. "Thank you. It was on a low setting, just to test myself and what the Danger Room could do for an exercise."

Apollo gestured to the control panel and all of its knobs and buttons. "I think it's amazing," she said lowly, her eyes gazing at all the options the Danger Room had. "To think that we have access to this technology... I would never have begun to fathom the idea that such mechanics like this existed.

"How long have you been here?" Vanessa asked Apollo, moving over to stand next to him, leaning against the edge of the control panel. "I know the Danger Room itself has been around since the original X-Men existed. According to the history of this place, it's been revamped with more advanced technology since then, of course, but I'm sure it was just as impressive back then as it is now."

[Apollo de Costa]

A p o l l o { s h i e l d} D e C o s t a
>> ftm >> mutant >> 21 >> teachers' aide

He grinned back, still embarrassed but becoming less so as she joked with him. She also didn't seem to be mad that he'd been acting kind of creepy, which was a good save, he supposed. Good for him, at least; she'd have had every right to ask why he'd still stuck around.

As she mentioned it was on low, he studied the mass of buttons and levels and everything else the control panel held and shook his head, laughing weakly. "Yikes. Glad it was on low, then - I wouldn't want to mess with any of these settings.", the teachers' aid admitted. "I'd probably set something on fire." He wondered if that was actually possible, given the safety caps on the Danger Room itself, and figured it probably was - with all of the things the X-Men had done, had stopped, a little bit of fire was probably not going to stop one of them.

"Uh, up here? Just a couple of minutes.", Apollo replied, shifting to make room for Vanessa. He nodded as she spoke, wondering how she knew so much of the history of the place. How long had she been here? he wondered. "At least they have it all fixed up now." he said, running a hand along a gleaming chrome edge. Where had they found these bits and pieces? it had probably taken years to figure out how everything worked, how to use it - not to mention repairing it, inevitably.

[Deleted]

S E E R
> > vanessa tucker

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was settings for some pyrotechnic displays," Vanessa said when Apollo mentioned the possibility of setting the place on fire. "I would love to see this at full power. Imagine the extensive worlds the holographic technology could display, or the strength of the setting that you could pit yourself against. Even if I become a full-fledged teacher here, I doubt I would get that kind of power. I imagine only the headmaster and administrators of this place have those codes..."

She sighed almost disappointedly at the thought, but she smirked when Apollo answered her next question.

"No, not just here in the control room," she said. "I meant how long have you been here at the Xavier Institute. I was curious if you knew more about the Danger Room's history than me. Ms. Parker gave me some details when she first showed me this place, like about the Shi'ar and their hard-light holographics upgrading this place, but there must be more stories about the Danger Room."