| Fools and Summers Rush In | |||||
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| What: Nate and Scott in Danger Room training. | |||||
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As if hanging out with your son from a future, alternate dimension was not odd enough. The mother is a future, alternate dimension version of the gal you got dumped by last year.
Good times.
But as it is with anything else, Scott is trying to make the best of it for the betterment of the team. Genetically, Nate may be his son, but realistically the young man can be a great boon to the team. And , if there's one thing that overrides everything else for Scott Summers, it's what's best for the team.
As if hanging out with your son from a future, alternate dimension was not odd enough. The mother is a future, alternate dimension version of the gal you got dumped by last year.
Good times.
But as it is with anything else, Scott is trying to make the best of it for the betterment of the team. Genetically, Nate may be his son, but realistically the young man can be a great boon to the team. And , if there's one thing that overrides everything else for Scott Summers, it's what's best for the team.
Scott has taken the initiative to offer up a Danger Room Session for Nate. Cagey as always, he didn't inform the young man of the details, but as the environs around them shift into darkness, the pair find themselves on a cliff overlooking a large valley. In the middle of the valley is a military installation. A nuclear facility, in fullness. Their mission is to find the warhead and dispose or disarm it.
It could be worse. He could be hanging out with his father from an alternate timeline after his own world got blown up. There is also an alternate timeline sister involved, and probably an older version of himself around. Life is fun when you are a Summers or a Grey. Twice as fun when you are both! Still, Nate is very curious about this Danger Room place. He has caught all kinds of stray thoughts by students and even some teachers about it. "What the hell... This is incredibly realistic, I can even kinda feel the minds of the people there."
Cyclops nods to Nate. "I'll give the creators your regards." His voice is cool and simplistic, as it normally is during both Danger Room training scenarios and missions. He rarely breaks character.
"The battle plans state the warhead is attached to a missile underneath the main bunker. You can see by the roof, even from here, that it opens in a circular fashion, most likely to allow the missile to launch. The base is littered with soldiers. We must be careful."
And just like that, Cyclops begins walking down a small trail that leads down the facade of the cliff towards the base.
"Just normal human soldiers? What kind of weapons can we expect?" Nate looks at the trail and frowns. But alright, Cyclops is leading and he can... fly there, wreck everything and get the warhead? It is tempting, but he is also curious about the kind of plan Scott has in mind. "I might be able to make them overlook us. I mean... if the program allows for that."
"The program allows for that, for certain. Any helpful ideas you have, we can try. I usually give more freedom to the trainees in here than I would the battle field. What do you have in mind?" asks Cyclops, still plodding along quietly. He's wearing dark fatigues but has forgone the hood look Nate might or might not be familiar with.
Nate smirks. "Fly up, charge in, grab the warhead and leave with it. If they don't have Setinels or power armor they are not a real threat for me. I could try to sneak in too, but I would only if we are supposed to leave the place intact and the people unharmed. What about you?"
"It's as good a plan as any," admits Cyclops. "I'd been partial to the sneaking, but if you think you can do it, I encourage you to try. Give me time to get down there, though," he smiles. "Someone had better be your backup."
Nate crackles his knuckles and grins, "hey, most of the time I have to be careful with property damage and not killing, I know the rules. Cutting loose is going to be a nice change. Still want to know what you would do, though. Your power is not exactly subtle."
"Honestly, I utilize my training more than my power. Don't trust your powers alone. When they are taken away, you'll have nothing left." It'll take Scott a good 15-20 minutes to get down the hill and off towards the fence of the installation, it seems. He motors along quietly, seemingly at ease.
Nate shrugs, then considers a minute. "Same thing Forge would have said," he decides. But this is just an exercise, right? Sneak in, steal the bomb, try to leave in a stolen truck without drawing too much attention... that would take most of the afternoon. He follows the older man, considering the whole deal. "So, the goal is just to retrieve and neutralize the warhead or are there more..." he waves a hand, "more considerations? Such as quickness, use of mutant powers, less property damage and all that."
Cyclops shakes his head, "The directive is pretty clear. As always, we want to minimize the loss of life, but this is a wartime scenario." Cyclops chuckles as he looks over his shoulders, "What more considerations are you hoping for?"
"Just wanted to know the rules," replies Nate with another half-grin. "If it is war, there are few considerations, if any. Now, lets see about that cover." He flies up, and probable get seen, since he is glowing brightly golden comet. About half a mile up, he changes direction and dives against the facility. His telekinetic shield is protecting him full force, and he breaks the sound barrier on his way down. Even reinforced concrete walls several meter thick stand little chance. |"Do we know where the bomb is or do I have to read some minds?"| Now he asks that.
There's an Elvis song entitled Fools Rush In, and although Nate is not really a fool, in this case he certainly rushes in. As he burrows into the battlefield, he'll immediately feel the piercing pain of millions, upon millions of minds inside his brain, tearing at the bonds of his sanity. The feeling is overwhelming, as if the very grey matter in his cranium was about to spill out of his ears. Through the middle of it all is another sound, a piercing, shrill, high pitched screeching.
Nate won't be able to hear Cyclops' response.
See, this is cheating. Nate asked about the weapons the enemy could have and all. But yeah, 'expect the unexpected' and 'war has no rules'. He knows the drill. Things like brain mines and other anti-psionic weapons were known in his homeworld. But by the time Nate became a freedom fighter almost no one bothered, since virtually all the telepaths had already been killed by Apocalypse's agents, so this is a novel kind of pain for him. When he feels the psychic attack, his mind-shields clamp down, thick like battleship armor. And yet not the kind of defenses Xavier or Jean could raise (and more quickly). Nate's shields have weak points and the screeching pain still hits him hard.
However, Nate is pretty tough, and used to keep going even through he is seriously injured. He corrects his trajectory only to head towards the source of the attack, betting he can hit it before it knocks him out.
Flying towards the source is so very difficult when there are millions upon millions of sources. Time begins to get hazy, and the sheer volume of the voices in Nate's mind will likely cause him to be very disoriented. Eventually, however, his mind will begin to adapt and once it does, he can hear Cyclops' on the radio. "Nate-Nate-do you read me?" Gunfire echoes throughout the military base. "I think I have a bead on the machine that is causing all of the disturbances in frequency."
At some point Nate does crash through the building walls. Unfortunately he is in a poor condition to cause much damage. Where the hell is the source of all this?! He is lashing blindly with his powers, and the Danger Room readings of his power are going to be rather interesting, and not in a good way. Listening to Scott's voice through the radio, he tries to concentrate. "Where? Where it is?" He shouts. "Damn thing! Rrrrgh!"
The air screams with a SCREECH-HISSS and red flash of optic blast as a piece of machinery, before unseen, is wrecked into a billion shards of metal and electrical wiring. How long has it been? 10 minutes? 20 minutes? There's no way to know for sure, but long enough apparently for Cyclops to get down from the mountain and into the base. Still, the sound of gunfire is everywhere.
"I think I've lost them for now, but with you falling from the sky they'll be here soon. We're not far from the warhead. It's just a few 100 yards to the north outside this building." Cyclops reaches down, trying to help Nate up.
It has been a hell of time longer than healthy for sure. Nate is still conscious, but bleeding from his nose and ears, and his eyes are also bloodshot. The mother of all headaches beats against his skull, and he barely grunts in assent when Scotts gets to him, stumbling on the way of the bomb.
Cyclops opens the exit door slowly, bracing Nate against his body and lifting the other man with one arm. He pulls Nate down with him behind a crate just as a small platoon of military men pass by in a heated jog. Yelling and confusion abound, which Cyclops takes as a good sign.
"How you doin, champ?" Cyclops whispers after the threat is gone. "You got enough in you to get to that silo with me?"
"Yeah, I am fine," replies Nate. Which is a pretty hilarious statement considering how he looks right now. "Lets get that thing," he is starting to feel those fake-minds around him again, but even just pushing them away gently is about as fun as chewing glass.
Cyclops nods. He peers over the crates and looks at the confused battlefield. "As soon as I see a good time, we're gonna make a break for it." There are precious few more moments of rest before he nods, "Let's go." He lifts Nate up and begins to shuffle him along, trying to gauge how much of his power Nate can use on his own. They trudge along in the gravel, kicking pebbles and stones all over the place as they try to get to their target.
Nate's golden aura has faded, and with it his forcefield, but his left eye still pulses with light. "Did you program that thing or is something the computer does automatically?" Idle curiosity, really. It is not as if he is planning to punch Scott in the face as soon as he is able!
"Little of both. Hank helps with the overall computer programming. I just input the powers and the levels and it randomizes," Cyclops says, grunting as he pulls Nate along. Finally, they get to the bunker, but it is naturally locked. Scott wheels the dial on the edge of his visor, and gives a small quick blast at one of the doors, blowing the door handle straight through. A violent kick later and the door is open.
Damnit. It was 'randomized' (whatever that means. So no punching. Nate manages to stand on his own when Cyclops kicks to the door. "Wait, let me check if there are soldiers inside first," he grunts, doing a quick scan around and relying the information to Scott.
Because of the commotion outside, all of the soldiers have left to go fight whatever bogeyman is out in the hills. It seems that Cyclops and his diversion tactics have done the trick. Inside a large hole in the ground shows a large missile underneath. Above, it's clear that the roof opens when the missile is ready to strike.
Cyclops props Nate against tone of the railings and slips down into the shaft of the silo.
"After I get this thing disarmed, you think you can take it up and out of here?" Cyclops asks as he pulls open a panel and gets to work.
"Sure," replies Nate, cleaning off some blood from his face with the sleeve. "No one here, good." He looks up, considering if he is strong enough to open the roof now. "Wait, can you dissemble the missile in just a few minutes? Maybe we should just make it unable to fly anywhere."
Cyclops nods up at him, "Yeah, these old soviet models are pretty easy to disable. Just takes a..." A small optic blast makes a precise cut. "slice here and there. And we'll be out. I can get the roof, I just can't lift the damn thing. Can you take care of that part?"
Nate eyes the nuke, then tests his power. Not much left, but enough to lift a few tons for a few minutes, probably. "Gonna be a bumpy ride, lets hope they don't have ground-to-air missiles or anything like that." He hovers up, jaw clenched as he tears the warhead from the rest of the missile.
Cyclops nods, "I"m sure by the time you get high enough, they won't have enough time to react." A grin comes across his face as he contemplates his own exit strategy. "See you on the other side."
"Then I better try to do this quickly," comments Nate grimly. As soon as Scott opens the roof, he is heading straight up, and then to try to put a mountain or two between the nuclear facility and himself. Assuming it will end the simulation.
There's one last step that Cyclops needs to complete, once Nate passes the clearing. He's gotta get himself out alive. But the screaming of an engine blast announces the arrival of his taxi cab. He climbs up out of the silo and runs to a ladder. He scales it, skipping two rungs at a time. When he finally gets to the top of the bunker, there, floating in the breeze, is the Blackbird. Once Cyclops runs up the ramp, the room begins to fade from view, replaced by the metallic surrounds of the Danger Room.
Nate sits on the warhead a few 'miles' away. Waiting for the program to end and trying to ignore the headache his recklessness has produced. At least the next time he is not going to underestimate the Danger Room.
Once everything is back to normal, Cyclops trots over by Nate to check how he's doing. "Hey there. You rebounded well. Mission accomplished. How you feeling?"
Nate manages to stand up, "nnngh, I need some painkiller, otherwise... alright. So this is a typical session? Small wonder half the students seem to hate this place and the others can't wait to get back."
Scott chuckles and nods, "Well, I ramped the difficulty up to 7.5, so that might have something to do with it." Scott slaps him on the side of the back and rights himself.
Nate laughs, winces. No laughing for a while. "What is the usual difficulty for the X-Men training scenarios?" Curious to know how capable they are, since the ones he has seen do not seem as tough as he expected. Rogue must be his age, for instance.
"Four." Cyclops says as he makes his way towards a panel that reveals itself to be a towel rack. He also grabs a bottle of water and flips it to his 'son.'
Nate snorts. Well, maybe not so bad. He is pretty sure he could have 'died' if Scott had not stopped the psychic machine there. But then again Scott knows how the programs work pretty well. "Anyone runs the simulations at ten?" He accepts the bottle happily, some cool water would feel good.
"Logan thinks he does, but I usually turn it down to an 8.5." Scott shrugs his shoulders. "Get some advil for that head of yours. We'll hit up the Danger Room again tomorrow." And with that, he heads into the locker room, eager to get changed and to begin preparing for tomorrow's classes.