2013.08.25 - A Game of Tag

The headmistress called for a training session that day with two of her select students, Hope Summers and Keith O' Neil. Keith had only just joined the school, and Hope closer to the school's grand opening.

She called them both to the training room, which looked pulled out of a Matrix movie. It was a simple white room with no corners, but enhanced technology hidden underneath the panels. Emma stood in front of them with her arms crossed in front of her chest, and wearing a simple ruffled silver blouse and white slacks.

"Welcome Hope, Keith. I thought we all could benefit from a bit of one on one training today. I assume you two have not met?"

The cheshire cat was still surprised he had even gotten into the school, mostly because of the talk of 'elite' and 'exceptional' at the opening. He didn' consider himself particularly exceptional, except for the cat thing and the 'full of chaos magic' thing. He had done some unusual things- put away the Joker and Two-Face, but that was something he put down to dumb luck and scraping with barely an inch of his life.

He was curious about the training, though. He was still getting used to balancing his class schedule with his role as a registered BSA vigilante and going back to the apartment to spend time with his fiance... who was also en route to be registered. His life was pretty crazy.

"Er... not as such, no, Miss Frost. We sort of saw each other across the room during the open house. Hi, Hope." He didn't introduce himself, since Emma had already mentioned his name.

And as Hope arrives, she's /not/ in her school uniform. Nor is she in any school sanctioned or provided workout clothes. Instead she's in the odd green and yellow outfit she more or less had on the first time Emma encountered her, way back at the museum.

But still, as she enters, she doesn't appear to be disturbed or surprised by the rooms odd appearance. Instead, there isn't any real reaction besides a slight nod at the headmistress in greeting, until after introductions are made. It's only then that the redheaded girl nods at the cat boy, as a smile crosses her face.

"Unfortunately, I don't think we've crossed paths since then." is said before she even moves over to try and shake his hand.

"As she said, I'm Hope."

Emma does take a look at Hope's outfit and walks around her in a circle. The color scheme was odd, yes but she liked the simplicity of the design and immediately began brainstorming, "I like your outfit Hope. Functional. I think next week I'll have a training uniform made, I can't have my students training in short skirts and ties now can I? Now onto important business."

She returns to face the both of her students, "I've invited the two of you here for a simple training exercise."

Emma walks towards one of the panels and presses a few buttons, two holsters are ejected, "I'll assume you two have heard of the game, 'Tag?'

Keith shakes Hope's hand, and looks at the holsters. "Yes, I'm familiar with it... is this like laser tag?"

To be honest, considering what her outfit is made of, and more importantly when it was made, odds are Hope is going to try and stay with her own outfit even when the 'official' training outfits come in. Why?

Well, besides the fact that she's so comfortable in this one that it's like a second skin to her, it technologically is a bit ahead of the time. Or in her mind it is. Odds are Hank Pym, Tony Stark, Lex Luthor, Reed Richards, or any number of other 'brains' could design and build something on par with it. And odds are if they could build it, Emma could buy it. Heck, not that Hope knows it but Xaviers Institute students get their own outfits on par with it.

But that's all besides the point.

"Tag... I sort of remember that game from back before the bugs.... That is if it's the same game..."

Emma smiled at the two students, and took note of Hope's thoughts. Good thing she had Tony Stark on staff at the institute anyway. She let out a soft chuckle, "Let's just say it's inspired by tag."

She reaches out and hands a holster to each student. It's a small thin black and silver device, with a blue small button about an inch wide that reaches just over the spine. The straps are adjustable for a comfortable fit, "The premise is simple. Whichever one of you presses your competitor's button three times is the winner. I will be in the control room and might throw in a few surprises if I get bored."

She points towards the roof of the room, where a glass control room is being lowered from the ceiling, "Any questions?"

Keith hmms, trying to come up with any possible questions... but the exercise seemed pretty straightforward. He didn't quite know what abilities Hope had, so he was going to play it cautiously at first. "Not that I can think of, Miss Frost..."

Under other circumstances Hope might find this exercise a bit 'too easy'. But considering the obvious powers that Vorpal has, she can't exactly be sure what he might also be able to pull off. On top of that, when you consider that the only mutant Hope is one hundred percent sure she can grab powers from due to range is Emma a.k.a. A Telepath with an additional power that might not exactly cover the button as well...

"No holds barred, no powers, or different rules all together?" is asked if only because Keith doesn't ask any questions.

"Powers are of course allowed. Your enemy will always be waiting to stab you in the back, so you must prepare your own defenses and attacks. And of course should one of you try to hurt the other knowingly you will not like the consequences. Put on your harnesses."

A sliding door opened and a few moments later Emma was inside of the glass operating room, checking a few things. Once they looked ready to go her voice appeared in their heads, "Begin."

Once Keith had his harness on, he waited for the 'go' from Emma before jumping upwards and levitating off the floor, putting some distance between himself and Hope, but not doing anything other than that- a defensive move, to see how Hope would go after him. It would teach him what her toolset was... and how he might be able to compensate for it.

Hope wastes no time putting her harness on, even as she looks directly at Keith, her gaze unwavering. Somehow she doesn't even have to look at what she's putting on to get it on, and get it on the right way the first time.

And yet, as Keith backs off at the word 'begin', Hope tilts her head ever slightly to the side, before she slowly starts to step to the side, slowly circling towards the catboy, while she also lowers her center of gravity and even brings her hands up in a move that is almost martial arts like. Just not any form of martial arts from this timeframe.

At the same time, she does start to reach out for a set of powers she can mimic...

Emma rests her elbows on the control surface and laces her fingers together. She watches the two students intently. Neither went immediately for the offensive, but they both were still deciphering one another's abilities. Emma wondered what might happen if Hope leeched off of Keith's unique gifts.

Keith narrows his eyes for a moment... so they were both waiting to see what the other would do.

Briefly, he had an idea, but that would show his hand too soon. Instead, he floated backwards some more and judged the distance. From her stance, he judged that she was trained in some sort of close combat, so teleporting in was out of the question....

Or... was it?

The young man thought for a second, and an idea sparked. He just had to make it work right. Quickly, he generated a layer of illusion over his own self--- but nothing changes. It is still the same floating Keith, with the only difference being that he has an illusion of himself on top.

This is the point where he summons up his invisibility, leaving the illusory Keith where he is floating... and then he tries to go for the psyche-out, making the illusion 'blink' out as if he had teleported, and appear right to Hope's side, where the holster was. With a cheeky grin, the illusion moves in to try and touch the button--- of course, it wouldn't be able to actually press the button, since it is an illusion, but that was part of his idea.

Unless Keith has up and suddenly become a Mutant, Hope unfortunately wouldn't get anything from him, no matter how hard she tried.

Emma on the other hand is a little easier. She can reach out and copy a fellow mutant without much effort at all. Plus it's a power set she has a little experience with. In fact, just a moment or two before the illusion 'blinks' the telepathy is 'online', thus giving the redhead some idea of what's true and what's not.

Thus in turn, there's at best an initial half step as the girl starts to move away from the illusion, before she stops, and tries to focus, and shut out the voices of the city so she can locate just where Keith really is...

All while she continues to circle and remains in her en guard stance.

Keith's illusions are a little different from the standard illusionist. Let's face it the kid's a freak, and all of his powers have that trademark topsy-turvy quality to them. Keith's illusions are infused with his Willpower, which makes it a little difficult to distinguish the illusion from the real McCoy at first. Of course, someone mimicking Emma's telepathy would have the toolset to notice what was merely a manifestation and what was the source itself.

When Hope doesn't react to the illusion the way he expected, Keith realizes the jig is up. Time to change tactics... she might be able to see through his illusions by some means, he did not know how, so that rendered their use as decoys useless.

But they still could be used to other purposes.

" Good job, Hope..." comes the voice from a large Cheshire grin not too far away from her, floating in midair. Hey, she hadn't been fooled by the illusion, that deserved some praise.

bBut then the grin exploded into what could best be described as spiraling patterns of light, as the illusion expanded to cover the entire area. Swirling light, illusory smoke and darkness and swirling patterns. Keith was trying to recreate the haunted house Vortex effect that one finds in Haunted houses all across the country. A combination of strobes, swirling and lights to attempt to cause dizziness. If he had to get close to her, he needed her as off-balance as he could without hurting his school-mate... and let's face it, Keith was a sucker for carnivals.

Keith's illusions are a little different from the standard illusionist. Let's face it the kid's a freak, and all of his powers have that trademark topsy-turvy quality to them. Keith's illusions are infused with his Willpower, which makes it a little difficult to distinguish the illusion from the real McCoy at first. Of course, someone mimicking Emma's telepathy would have the toolset to notice what was merely a manifestation and what was the source itself.

When Hope doesn't react to the illusion the way he expected, Keith realizes the jig is up. Time to change tactics... she might be able to see through his illusions by some means, he did not know how, so that rendered their use as decoys useless.

But they still could be used to other purposes.

" Good job, Hope..." comes the voice from a large Cheshire grin not too far away from her, floating in midair. Hey, she hadn't been fooled by the illusion, that deserved some praise.

bBut then the grin exploded into what could best be described as spiraling patterns of light, as the illusion expanded to cover the entire area. Swirling light, illusory smoke and darkness and swirling patterns. Keith was trying to recreate the haunted house Vortex effect that one finds in Haunted houses all across the country. A combination of strobes, swirling and lights to attempt to cause dizziness. If he had to get close to her, he needed her as off-balance as he could without hurting his school-mate... and let's face it, Keith was a sucker for carnivals.

For some reason, the praise doesn't even get a reaction from Hope. She just keeps moving.

Or at least she does, until the darkness envelopes the area. That causes her to stop. Then that bright flash of light, full of strobes and swirls happens...

And Hope, or at least her form where it appears that Hope is...

Stumbles. She quickly catches herself, her eyes closing for the moment as she physically gets her guard back up. Even then, her 'voice' can be heard, after a manner of speaking. Depending on what sort of conditioning and shields Vorpal has against telepathy, the voice may sound like it's coming from behind him, or like it's echoing from every direction at once...

Unfortunately there is a chance of some bleed through as well, for if there isn't some shielding here, students and staffs in other parts of the building might 'hear' that as well.

Keith narrows his eyes and quickly looks behind him. And then around... and around... and the voice seems to be coming from everywhere at once.

Oh gods. She had to be a telepath. He hated telepaths.

If Emma was scanning his thoughts, he might see the memory attached to that paticular aversion-- two robbers, one of them a telepath, and the encounter ended with the telepath seeing through his illusions and Keith's arm being eaten away by mutant acid. If Jocelyn hadn't been there...

Alright, change of tactics, then. The feline goes visible and lands on the ground, crouching low as if to prepare for a leap...

Emma had no problem keeping Hope's "thoughts" to the room alone. There was no need for the novice to confuse students that might be nearby. She found her two student's defenses amusing. Each was being very thoughtful in their processes.

And as soon as Keith goes visible, Hope smiles. That is before she changes tactics as well. For as soon as she opens her eyes, she starts to glance around. And then as she /thinks/ she sees him, she starts to rush directly at him....

Only as she charges, she starts to 'diamond up' as her form is covered by a crystal clear but very, very solid shell...

Huh, that was interesting, she was dashing straight for him? Okay, maybe she wanted to try some mano a man---wait! She was sparkly and shiny and... oh crap, that could not be good! Time to reveal his second hand-

As Hope dashed towards him, Keith crouches low and summons a glowing, purple ramp that rises from her feet and over him, hoping to use her momentum to launch her over him instead of getting steamrolled by the diamond express!

Steamrolled isn't exactly what the redhead has in mind. But she just keeps running even as that ramp appears, her 'plan' changing on the fly. Sure as she reaches that last step, she jumps, carrying her well over Vorpal, but still...

She doesn't let the diamond form fade away. Not even as she crashes into the ground. Internally she considers herself lucky that she landed on her feet. But still...

Still, as she lands on the ground, she spins, before she starts to run again, only this time instead of towards her opponent, she starts to try and circle around him yet again...

Emma touched the microphone, since in this form Hope was not able to hear her mentally, "Now now children, isn't tag fun? Let's raise the ante a bit, whoever wins gets an extra free period tomorrow."

A free period? darn, now things were getting serious. He had an idea, but he had to make it work. He quickly summoned up a 15-foot high circular wall around him, as if to play fort and hide out. The top, however, was open. Which is how Keith hopes to play a little... he quickly becomes invisible, leaving a double of himself behind, crouched low surrounded by walls, and Sidesteps upwards, landing on top of the open wall entrance, and then kicking off to float a little higher.

That diamond body looked like it could punch through a wall. He wanted to see if it could!

Considering the... Odd abilities that Keith has shown, Hope is giving him points for being the one with the most offensive potential here. After all, short of her lashing out with some sort of no holds barred psychic scream that she isn't exactly sure how to do... One that she isn't sure what it'd do to her, let alone to him....

Well, there's a reason why that idea is discarded as soon as the redhead thinks of it.

And yet as the Headmistress announces that 'reward', the timelost girl frowns ever so slightly. To be honest, an extra free period doesn't tempt her as much as it would others. On the other hand, even if this is 'just' a test, she can't afford to loose...

Hence why as Hope runs, the diamond form fades away. Sure she runs /around/ that wall, but not in diamond form. Instead...

Instead, there's just a scream. not a loud one. Just a low, constant, telepathic one. One that sounds /almost/ like it's coming from somewhere else in the chamber. It's never in the same place for more than a second or two before it suddenly sounds like it's coming from somewhere else, but still...

Emma watches and waits. She takes down a few notes to remember about both of the students for later study.

Keith winces, trying to cover his ears... but the sound isn't coming from a physical source, he realizes. As he loses focus because of the attack, he becomes visible, floating high in the air.

He had to do something, that sound was driving him crazy. Very soon, he would start having migraines... and if he had migraines...

Improvising, he latches onto the sound of the scream inside his mind... and brings it out as an aural illusion, making it as ever-present to the ears as the scream is barreling his mind. God, he hated telepathy. He piped as much energy as he could into the illusion, hoping to make it as horribly shrill as he could do it. His levitation was faltering, sowly coming downwards...

And that second scream causes Hope to falter. To stumble. And while she doesn't exactly fall, she does end up catching herself and at the last moment and is forced to slow down.

In theory, switching to diamond mode again might help block that out. Or it might not. She can't tell unless she tries.

In theory there might be /another/ mutant in range with powers that might work better. Like a speedster. But then again, there might not be.

But to do either of those things in the end would mean that she has to drop the telepathy. And that...

That is not something she wants to do. Not at the moment. Not as she glances about for a frantic moment, while trying to keep up that telepathic barrage. Especially not as Keith appears to become visible, and starts to come down towards the ground. Hence why the teenaged mutant tries to force herself to stumble towards him, despite the pain and discomfort that she's dealing with as she just fights to keep up her assault and more importantly the focus required for it...

The sound... the sound was unbearable. He couldn't stand it any longer, it felt as if his head was being split in twain...

And just as that happens, the migraine emerges, and Keith's illusion power shatters. He won't be able to make any more illusions until the migraine is gone. The only way he can get the screaming to stop... was to concede defeat. He couldn't fight telepaths. The cat raises his wrist and presses his own button, admitting defeat.

And before Hope can even get close enough to try to press that button...

The screaming stops. Not the screaming she created, but still...

Still, as she manages to see what Keith does just to end things, she 'lets go' of Emmas powers, thus causing the scream she created to stop as well. That is before she reaches over and hits her own button...

Even if it is too late.

And yet, even as she does that, there is a dark glare as the redhead glances around, more than likely towards the control booth.

"Happy now?!?"

Emma made her way from the booth as the lighting returned to the stark white room. A few moments later she returned to standing before them, with a hand on her hip, "Very, actually. I was able to see an excellent display of abilities of two of my prize students. Well done. In battle it is easy for both sides to lose. Remember this as well."

She leans down and helps them both back up, "Keith. I want you to report to my office tomorrow. You are not in trouble, but I want to have a private chat, it is better to know your weakness then be only beholden to them."

She gave him a small reassuring smile and then turned to Hope, "And you darling. You did excellent as well. But telepathy is like a very sharp knife. Very easy to cut yourself with. Since you don't gain the experience of those around you, you need to simplify. Or choose what best suits your needs. But that's what training is for."

Keith rubs his forehead, that migraine was going to bug him for a bit. "Yes Miss Frost,"

He had thought, briefly, how to end the scream... the way he would have done it with a villain- materializing a blunt object over the telepath's head and letting it go. But Hope was a classmate and not an actual threat, so he had of course not done it. "I'll be there in the morning."

There's /almost/ a growl at Emma as she back on down. To be honest, while part of Hope does agree with her, part of her...

"He gets the extra free period." is said as she motions towards the 'Catboy'.

"This wasn't a fair fight for him. Or for me. Fine. I get that. I get that your training us to not deal with fair fights. I get that. I never had a fair fight in my life. The odds were always stacked against me and the people I knew. But if you want to make it a true challenge, give me a gun or two, or make sure there's a bunch of mutants nearby so my choices don't suck. That way I don't have to use the one thing I know I can grab, despite not really knowing how to use it /well/, simply because if I /DON'T/ use it I've got no chance at all."

Then there's a glance, and a wince at Keith.

"You did good. Sorry. But I can't afford to loose. Ever. But once you started to show what you could do... I just couldn't take any chances. If I had any other options, I would of taken them."

Of course, with that said, Hope awaits any reaction from Emma. If there isn't one, she'll turn to leave. All though as she leaves, she'll yet again be trying /not/ to think of certain things. Things she can't allow herself to think of anywhere near the school.

Emma smiles and crosses her arms in front of her chest, "This is training. You only want it on the field? Do you want me to give you a gun, have you kill all of your enemies? Even a soldier trains, and more than just their trigger finger."

She lets out a laugh, "And you think there will always be more mutants nearby? I'm afraid not. Hope, I would like to see you in my office tomorrow as well so we can discuss this at length. I think we all learned quite a bit today."

She turned and headed towards the opening exit, "And you /both/ have the free period off."