2014.05.14 - Training is Hell

On the surface the Academy of Tomorrow is just a prestigious school that prepares students for the world and gives them the education and connections they need to become the top in their fields.

However in addition to that, an sort of an open secret to the real world, the Academy is also preparing the next generation of superhumans, for what purpose? Only Emma Frost could really tell you.

But that is the purpose for today, to train these young students and prepare them for the future. To prepare them for Tomorrow. Secretly selected as the next generation of super-heroes and perhaps villains the students here are the ones that are meant to succeed some day in the world that is coming.

Everyone was to be called only by the code names, 157, The Spider, Jetstream and Catseye. All dressed in the black and white training uniforms of the Academy of Tomorrow. Those uniforms provided protection from harm and insulation from the elements.

The room they were in was just a simple metal room with no features about it save a dome on the roof from which Emma Frost watched from the control room. The room was the latest from Frost Industries, it would allow the illusions that Emma could create with her telepathy to become real touchable things. This was the test run.

The headmistress of the academy was putting in the final calculations before they began. Thankfully she dressed properly for the occasion, and skipped wearing any skirts. Instead she was in a buckled corset with a collar, long gloves, tight pants and thigh high gloves. Her blazer was draped behind her on the chair she was sitting on.

She leaned into the microphone and spoke, "Should something terrible happen the safety word is banana. We'll talk about what a safety word is when you are all older. Are we ready darlings?"

Students were allowed to make modifications to their uniforms...but anyone want to take a guess on whether 157 bothered? Yeah, of course not. 157 could probably use a cloak or something to help hide how scrawny he is, but that idea isn't going to come from him.

It might be a little surprising that he actually came, but then...while he isn't exactly planning to be part of the "next generation of superhumans" for Earth, he /is/ trying to learn about them. Good opportunity to gather data. Besides, 157 actually does seem to take his "duties" as an Academy of Tomorrow student seriously, and this is one of them. As Emma asks her question, 157 looks up at the dome. "Query: Are we ready, darlings? Answer: Affirmative. Yewie is prepared for training scenario. Yewie has stored data regarding safety word."

The Spider fidgets a little with his new uniform, but stands up a little straighter when Emma calls to ask if they are ready. Nodding, he says, "I'm ready." Though, even as he says it, he's making a quick check if his web shooters are fitting properly with the new uniform.

The dark skinned young man know as Jet Stream got a smile on his face, "Born ready, Ms. Frost," his boots started to glow slightly as he stood in place, apparently giving his own special gifts a kick start while he waited for the simulation to begin.

The beautiful blonde teenage girl with the cat like eyes said, "Wait!" and then her form started to change her skin becoming lavender and furred, her ears growing into points. The cat-human hybrid nodded and said in a somewhat growly voice, "Now I'm ready."

"And here we..." Emma pressed the button, "Go!"

At that, all of the students were transported into somewhere completely different, as alluded to by telepathy, they were now in a tropical jungle. They could even feel the heat, and smell the lush vegetation about them. But it's too bad that this wasn't a mental vacation because the students are chasing Hyrda.

Hail Hydra! Scratch that, go Academy of Tomorrow! Mentally they were given the order, subdue the HYDRA soldiers in this remote location and avoid fire.

As they're "transported," 157 barely shows any sign of a reaction. He just slowly turns his head from one side to the other, looking about the area and getting his bearings. "Affirmative," he says, in response to the mental command. "Locating targets." With that, he speaks rapidly--a strange mix of numbers and alien words--and soon, a scrying portal appears before him, giving him a bird's-eye view of a good chunk of the jungle. It's one-way, so the other end (in the sky above the area) is only visible as a slight shimmer. In the sky as it is, with the sun and bright sky...chances are good it isn't visible at all.

The Spider leaps up into a tree almost immediately, hanging from a branch but he doesn't go very far as 157 says he's locating targets, just hanging upside-down from the branch while he waits for a direction. And, listening for any sounds that might give a clue.

Jetstream's reaction was to release a plasma like blast from his feet that propelled him into the air and above the tree line, "This will be a piece of cake! No doubts!"

Catseye was a bit more subdued mainly because she was so very impressed how good this illusion was. The jungle was literally alive, she could hear the birds and the other animals as they scurried along. She could smell the creatures as well, as if they were actually there. It threw her off. She wasn't expecting it.

Just as 157 could see a small contingent of HYDRA soldiers moving in the distance about fifty yards away from the group an energy blast rang out and nailed Jetstream in the chest. He cried out in pain and came down, ready to fall head first to the jungle below.

Emma's soft voice could be heard in her student's heads, |"They have a leader, and are working as a unit. Are you working as a unit? Spider, you have a fair amount of experience with naughty takes shooting at you. Take the lead."|

And mentally they could still hear Emma chuckle, |"Now now Jetstream, no need to be so eager. Now walk or /fly/ it off, more stealthy this time. Someone take out the sniper, then I want to see what you can do as a unit."|

"Targets located," 157 says, indicating the soldiers in the portal view, and rapidly rattling off directions to the soldiers...just as Jetstream gets nailed.

"Companion injured. Retrieving." Looking up, 157 rattles off more numbers and alien words, and suddenly, portals flash into view--one just underneath Jetstream as he starts to fall, the other just above the ground. The falling student lands with a slight thud...but it's no more impact than if he'd tripped while walking.

"Calculating point of origin of attack. Calculations complete." 157 looks to the Spider. "If desired, this one will open portal to sniper's position. The Spider or Catseye may surprise sniper." Emma's given the order that the Spider is the leader, so he's going to leave tactics up to the Spider, starting now.

"Me? Really?" The Spider looks between the others, "Well, I usually try to confuse them, keep them from coordinating, but I have an easier time avoiding getting hit. Let's sneak up on them, hit them as a group, in and out fast and keep them guessing." He then nods to 157, "Good idea. Send me, I'll take him out and meet back up with you." Then he shimmers at as he blends in with the background.

Jetstream rubbed his chest as he got back to his feet, "I thought this is just a simulation. How did that hurt like that? Ilah majruh!" He then however initiated his powers again and flew up, this time just below the treeline. Hopefully this time he wouldn't be shot.

Catseye nodded to what the Spider said and then her form shifted again, this time into some sort of lavender house cat/panther hybrid, and as she did her uniform shifted with her as best it could but it looked rather ridiculous on her now. Jumping into the trees she silently stalked forward, those HYDRA agents would have a hard time spotting her, despite the coloring.

In the observation booth there was suddenly sparks and a big warning label that was totally unhelpful because all it said was MALFUNCTION! The telepathic holo emitters were now in overdrive and were going to make things much more dangerous. Any hidden fear or horror that was hiding in the brain of Ms. Frost, and possibly her students would start to manifest.

Worst part. It wouldn't shut down either.

Emma cursed loudly and was quickly working at the controls. This should have been perfect; she designed this contraption herself and went over the numbers a thousand times. Hurriedly they could hear Emma's soft voice, more nervous than usual, 

She rubbed at the side of her temple as she worked away to no avail. The only trouble was in the back of her mind Emma always had so many worries, so many aspects of her life that she never wanted crossed.

Part of the landscape has shifted into a run down destructed city, as Hellfire Knights poured into the scene. No energy weapons, but big nasty looking guns with bullets. Crap.

"It is necessary for training purposes that consequences of mistakes are accurately represented," 157 says to Jetstream. He looks to the Spider. "Affirmative." And there's that rapid speech again. After a few moments, a portal flashes into view in front of the Spider--the exit behind the sniper, nice and close so he hopefully won't have any time to react before the Spider can jump him.

It's a moment before Emma's warning, unfortunately.

His reaction to the warning is admirably quick, though. He doesn't cancel the portal he created for the Spider--in the intervening moment, the Spider might have gone through and that would leave him stranded. Instead, he looks up, speaking rapidly and creating a portal in front of Jetstream, the exit leading right back to 157's side. Unfortunately, Catseye's method of travel is rather more stealthy...he doesn't have her position anymore. "Warning: Simulation errors. Anamolies detected," he says. "New threats detected. Recommendation: Regroup and retreat. Locate defensible area. Prioritize survival."

157 can't really be said to /fear/ anything, not yet...but he does bear an impressive assortment of memories of threats. Unfortunately, the jungle setting has one in particular a little higher in his mind than others...and so it is that a short distance from the group, some of the vegetation changes...into six-foot tall, mobile, quadripedal flowers, dark red and purple in coloration, with a large toothy mouth in the center of the flower and smaller fanged mouths (dripping poison) at the end of a few vines.

Emma might actually recognize them by description...the Mird Gelm flower of Pavofar. Maaaybe the color scheme wasn't why 157 thought these flowers "stood out".

The Spider jumps through the portal pretty much as soon as it opens, reaching forward with a nearly invisible hand to tap the sniper. The sniper will have a couple seconds to look around and wonder what touched him before *zap*! By which time, The Spider has gotten the message too and is already back through the portal, leaping up to the top of a nearby tree and looking towards where there's now a cityscape, not noticing the flowers yet. "Ok, that's weird."

The Hellfire Knights saw the HYDRA agents and open fire with their automatic weapons, in seconds the HYDRA team is dead, "Fan out and find her students. Kill them all, that's what the Lord Imperial has ordered!"

The team of Hellfire Club soldiers began to fan out into teams of there and searching the jungle/ruined city.

Jetstream is in utter shock at what's going on right now, not sure what he should do or say. But he decides to act on impulse and provide a distraction for the rest, that's what the Spider said to do when it came to guys with guns. Move fast, confuse them, keep them from coordinating. He did a fast flyby over the group of soldiers and one shouted, "There's one drop him!" they looked up and started firing, but Jetstream was lucky, he was moving faster than them.

Catseye was probably the first to notice the weird new plants and her instincts told her that it was bad news. Unfortunately in this form she couldn't communicate. She continued to move stealthily through the jungle and citscape to sneak up on the new foes and thought |"Missus Frost. Plants. Bad. Warn Others. Please."|

Behind the booth Emma was hurriedly working at the controls, and was mentally reaching out for Tony Stark. But he was likely doing Avengers things. The normally cool and collected Emma was gone, especially as one of her fears has just been made manifested. |"The plants are a /danger/. You all are now connected mentally while I sort this out. Avoid the new soldiers they are.../worse/ then HYDRA. In fact he's right avoid all enemy contact while Auntie Emma sorts this out!"|

If things weren't already bad enough, a large wave swipes through the forest and rapidly rises. A dark, deep-sea looking Sub-Mariner has arrived. Instead of his normal visage he appears so pale he's almost blue, with black eyes and sharpened teeth.

In the control booth Emma is rubbing at her head looking in pain, and appears visibly to the students for a moment before a large tidal wave comes in.


 * "Understood. At present time it is impossible to extract us from the simulation. Additionally, simulation is varying from programmed paths. Yewie will attempt to locate areas of relative safety and provide paths of retreat for companions."| 157 starts to speak again, but...then the wave is coming. 157 is many things, but /fast/ isn't one of them. He only has a moment, so he changes tactics, speaking rapidly and opening up a portal behind himself, leading to a part of the forest the tidal wave already passed through...he goes for the portal, but even close as it is it's clear he won't have time before the wave hits. |"Assistance required."|

On the bright side, as the wave crashes in on parts of the forest, it wipes out a couple of the Mird Gelm flowers, sending them hurtling away. The last, however, latches on to a sturdy tree, holding on with most of its limbs while it sends one poisonous, fanged mouth out to try to bite and grab Catseye.

The Spider's eyes widen under his mask, and he quickly jumps to another tree, a tall one. He shoots out a web to pull 157 up and away from the floor of the jungle, and then strings up more for Catseye to climb to safety if she needs to. As he's doing this, a young boy steps out into view on the ground... Ganke Lee, from the school. And he's right in view of the hellfire knights. The Spider shouts, "Ganke!" It doesn't even occur to him that his friend isn't really there and in danger.

Cats hate water! And Catseye is no different, as she went to dodge the incoming title wave she nearly got blindsided by the Mird Glem flower, whatever the hell they were. She managed to get behind it and then dug her teeth into one of it's limbs, hoping to rip off enough of its plant flesh to get it to let go of the tree.

Jetstream was getting ready to do another fly over to distract the Knights when the evil Namor wooshed through the air and grabbed him by the throat. This evil Namor said nothing as he squeezed the young Moroccan mutant's throat.

The Hellfire Knights saw illusionary Ganke and the commander shouted, "There's one! Shoot him!" Illusionary Ganke could barely turn around to see then before his body was riddled with bullets. As he dies he reaches out in the direction of the Spider, a confused look on his face.

Telepathy is a very useful tool, one Emma might talk your ear off normally. But it is quite the deadly weapon, and it is double edged. Emma now no longer sees this as a simulation, and doesn't even see the machinery. In her mind, the booth is now a padded white room. Emma is on the ground as she's holding herself, repeating that she's sorry over and over again.

Winston Frost is in the room with her, and patted her head as he reminded her that she truly is a failure.

However all of the students still have telepathic communication.

Yanked up into the air by a web at the last second, 157 is pulled away from the tidal wave and lands sprawled awkwardly on a tree branch. He's momentarily stunned, but slowly recovers, moving to a slightly more stable position seated on the branch with his legs wrapped around it. |"Status report: Yewie has sustained minor damage but is operational."| Logic-driven as he is, he's utterly ignoring illusion-Ganke's plight--and the sad end to it, not seeming to realize that the Spider is in emotional distress.

He looks up, spotting Jetstream in danger. |"Notification: Ally "Jetstream" requires assistance. Recommendation: The Spider should aid ally. Creating portal."| With that, he speaks rapidly, and a portal flashes into view beside The Spider, with the exit appearing near evil Namor.

That done, he turns his attention to Catseye, and a portal appears near her as well a few moments later, giving her a quick path to the treetops. As it appears, though, she manages to anger and hurt the Mird Gelm with her bite, causing it to let go of the tree...and be swept away by the current. As it is being swept away, it lashes out with its fanged limbs, trying to strike her in a rage.

It's all The Spider can do to keep from charging in as he sees his friend gunned down, and he yells rather incoherently at the knights. But then, another friend is in danger. Alright, so he doesn't know Jetstream nearly as well as Ganke, but he says, "No way, not another one." He leaps through the portal, spraying webbing at Namor as he's carried in by momentum, then twisting in mid-air so when he lands on Namor, he'll be hitting with his feet.


 * "Ms. Frost. The telepathic circuits on the holographic matrix have overloaded and fused."| five identical voices call out over the telepathic link. |"What you are seeing is not real. Your Father is not here. Namor is not evil. The Hellfire Club are your allies. We need you to be strong, like you have always been for us. We need you to show everyone why the students of the Academy of Tomorrow believe in you so very much."|

It was the Five-in-One, those creepy girls that now a days seemed so emotionless and distant.

The Spider's attack worked like a charm! It took evil black-eyed Namor by surprise and forcing him to let go of Jetstream! Though the evil Namor now turned his attention to the Spider. His body seemed to crackle with electricity like an electric eel as he sneered through pointy teeth.

Jetstream fell for a few seconds before his feet reactivated and he flew around to strike the evil Namor from behind, hoping the Spider would follow through with an attack of his own.

Catseye however was not as lucky she got grabbed by one of the tendrils of the alien flower. She squirmed for a minute before starting to shift back to her in-between form hoping that the change in size and angle of her arm would help free her.


 * "This is not real! This is an illusion."| the girls announced again.

The image of her father was replaced by a hovering image of the girls. She blinked several times before rising and tossed off her straight jacket. That was the past, and she needed to deal with the present.

She placed two fingers to her temple and concentrated, making the Hellfire knights disappear, |"As usual girls, you are quite right."|

From his perch up on the tree branch--unstable as he may be--157 can spot the disappearing knights. |"Confirmation required: Ms. Frost is reclaiming control of simulation with aid of Five-in-One. Recommendation: If unable to stop simulation, remove dangers and adjust to safe environment. Alternate recommendation: Provide additional allies in simulation in order to assist participants."| He looks down, spotting Catseye in trouble. Other than providing transportation, there's not much he can do...but he's pretty good at using that creatively. Speaking quickly, he forms a portal right behind the Mird Gelm as it's being swept away, and it passes through...slamming straight into a tree at high speed as it comes out the other side. The shock loosens its grip on Catseye, and her shapeshift enables her to slip free of the plant's grip. The portal from before, giving her a way to the treetops, remains.

The Spider backflips away from Namor as Jetstream gets his balance, but after he strikes at Namor again, The Spider is leaping forward again, lashing out at Namor with one of the powerful punches he's been practicing with Storm Shadow. "Not real, right. Good. Sure seems real," he's commenting even as he fights.


 * "Remember. None of this is real"| The Five-in-One think to all the participants... and then their fear gets out. Even emotionless their fears are still there, being processed in the back of their minds. And now it shows itself.

The simulation goes away and is replaced with the student lounge of the Academy of Tomorrow, their are dead students every where with no physical wounds on their body. They just... dropped dead. Among the fallen are Perrin, Bart Allen, Cessily Kincaid, Miles Morales, Leo Luthor, Keith O'Neil, Perrin Jones, Roxie Darling, Kiden Nixon, Penny Arkwright. Carter Hall, Wally West, Julie Power, Tony Stark.

The only other thing standing in this new simulation besides the four students being trained... is the Five-in-One. Their eyes glowing with telepathic might as they have simply turned off their minds.

The Five-in-One illusion ? says, "We turned them off, that is our purpose. We are the Cuckoos, hidden among the nest of our enemies. We cannot be stopped.... please stop us?"

The sound system in this thing was still working, Emma grabbed at the microphone, "Students. This is /still/ an illusion. I'm terribly sorry, you've been very helpful Alpha Testers."

Regardless of the reassurances, the telepathic illusion was still being seen. Now with the Cuckoo's involved, admittedly their psychic might is stronger than Emma's.

To the girls only she projects, |"You would never allow this to happen, I know you darlings. Now let's end this."|

Well, on the bright side, they are out of the jungle. On the downside, this new illusion isn't exactly cheerful. Fortunately, 157 is quite immune to that particular problem. |"Recommendation: Complete system diagnostic. Severe errors exist. Current system is danger to students,"| he thinks. To the girls in the illusion, he says, "Yewie will assist if destruction of Five-in-One is required to end simulation." He walks over to a weighty-looking statuette, and shoves it off the shelf it's on, opening a portal beneath it--and above it--starting it in a loop to pick up speed. Something like that, hitting at terminal velocity, could kill someone pretty easily, and he's quickly working up the speed to get it there. "Confirmation required: Is death of Five-in-One necessary to end simulation?" Another statue off a shelf, another portal accelerating another deadly falling object.

You need to vote for other players before voting for Emma Frost again.

The Spider stops, looking around at the bodies. Then he shakes his head, "No.. this isn't right. It's just what you're scared will happen, not what will."

The Five-in-One speak both aloud through their illusion and through the mental link the students all share. 

The girls illusion hardens more and says, 

Suddenly the wall behind them falls away and tubes that look like something from the Matrix come up and they are all filled with copies of the Five-in-One. 

One of the girls looks at the Spider, and shouts "NO!"

Suddenly the illusionary Sophie collapses to the ground and says, "Not him, not Peter, not any of the Spiders. They help. We.... I.... "

A third statue falls into a portal, making its journey towards terminal velocity. |"Understood. Weapon Fourteen at present incapable of self-termination. If termination is required, Yewie will terminate members of Five-in-One."| A pause, as he stops on his way to a fourth heavy object, looking at where the wall fell away to reveal the thousand. He turns, and walks to the fourth statue, starting to push it off the shelf as well, but stops when he hears Sophie display resistance. There aren't a thousand statues around here anyway, so it's probably best if they can find another way than him trying to kill every single illusionary ? one of them. |"The Spiders help,"| he agrees. |"They attempt to keep the people of this city safe. Other superhuman beings are also of great assistance to humanity. High probability that elimination of 'abnormal life' would endanger human race due to external threats."| He looks to the Spider. |"Recommendation: Five-in-One appear to value the Spider highly. Give inspirational speech."|

The Spider shakes his head to 157, "No, don't kill them." He looks back and, after a momentary pause where he takes in the name 'Peter', he does speak up, "See, you can resist. I am here to help and killing isn't the way to do it. You have the power to resist, it doesn't matter what you were made to do you are more powerful than any programming they put in you! You don't want to do this, so fight it and don't!"

In the Dorm room of the Stepford Cuckoos, they simply sit on their bed as this is all going on. They are in such pain. They turned their hearts into diamond because of the pain. To feel no more emotion, ever. Sophie had broken that agreement, she was feeling again and thus they were all feeling. They were living out their greatest fear,

Then Spider started to talk, he wasn't Spider-Man, but Sophie had a soft part in her heart for Peter-er-Spider-Man. And so did Celeste actually. But she was still cold.

The illusionary girls looked at the Spider and they knew he wasn't Peter Parker, but they knew who ever took up the mantle of Peter Parker knew the only real rule: "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility."

The illusionary Sophie then added, "And little happiness."

With that the whole simulation shut down. The Cuckoos had just blocked every single mind from the telepathic matrix of the holo-emitters.

Catseye transformed back into her human form, "That. Was fun. Never again!"

Jetstream landed and said, "Please tell me the Creepy girls didn't just save our lives?"

Emma quickly made her way down. Her hair was slightly tangled, and an expression of worry was easy to see across her face. Once she arrived she hugged each of the present students, "It will never happen again, I owe each of you an apology. I did not expect that to happen, but I want you all to know you performed exemplary."

To the girls who weren't really there she thought, |"We need a talk, a long one. But thank you for helping."|

"Notification: It is considered rude to refer to a person or persons by an insulting name," 157 says, turning to look at Jetstream. "Referenced persons have requested to be known as 'Five-in-One'." 157 doesn't really /get/ the concept of being polite, but at least he knows the rules. "Additionally, the Spider's aid was necessary in order to achieve freedom from final simulation." As he's hugged, he just kind of stands there, and when Emma is done, he looks up at her. "Notification: Yewie will assist with error checks and testing of equipment if Ms. Frost requires." If nothing else, the boy is clearly well trained in observation and perception, and he basically speaks something similar to computer code, so chances are good he's great at checking over things for errors in setup. But then again, he's also supposedly some kind of spy drone for an alien world, so...who knows whether it's a net plus or minus to have him help out.

The Spider comments to Jetstream much more succinctly than 157, "Shut up." He does hug Emma back and says, "It's ok... but yeah, let's not do that again. It was starting out fun before things went weird, though."

Jetstream threw his hands in the air and said, "tout ce que!" He respected and loved Emma Frost, but right now he didn't like how the primary school kids were telling him what to do.

Catseye however took it very differently she looked at the nearly foot tall difference between her and the boy two years younger than her she smirked and said, "Have no idea who you are Spider. But cats don't kill spiders. We just bat them around a bit. You saved us, and I'm grateful. "

Elsewhere the Stepford Cuckoos were now feeling all that Sophie did, a decision would be made soon.

Emma turned away from the group and looked up to the control room, "You all are dismissed. We'll be chatting again soon, and you're excused from tomorrow morning classes. Visit me directly in the office should you need counseling."

She looked over her shoulder at the small group, "Good night, and excellent marks all around. All things considering you all did exemplary."

"Understood." Excused from classes--well, that's more time for 157 to spy on things or take a look at those Very Interesting Files the Five-in-One gave him access to. "Yewie does not require counseling." (Some might disagree. Intensely.) He takes a look around at the others, and finally settles on the Spider. "Thank you." And with that, he turns, speaking to open up another portal, leading to his room. Without a look back, he steps through, and the portal closes.

The Spider smiles to Catseye, not that she'd be able to see past his mask, and says, "Just glad everybody made it through ok." He waves and follows 157 out, camouflaging as he leaves the training room so he can make it back to his dorm room without being identified.