2013.04.02 - Yes, this is a test.

The setting is familiar, perhaps too close to home for those involved in training simulation.
It's New York, but not the nice, shiny, and gleaming parts with skyscrapers and those who frequent financial institutions, making riches, and leading charmed lives. Instead, our heroes are deep within the fringes of the inner-city, on the outskirts of the outskirts. Phoenix, Wolverine, and Cyclops are in Mutant Town.
One side finds a group of angry protestors. To say they want the annihilation of the mutant race would be perhaps bold, but not entirely untruthful. To their backs are a group of mutants who have about had it with these sorts of organized events taking place in their refuge. People on both sides are yelling and screaming, and the situation is reaching a fever pitch.
Phoenix, Wolverine, and Cyclops find themselves right in the middle.
Training with the X-Men isn't something that Wolverine takes as seriously as some in the team, a lot of the time. He doesn't need anyone to teach him to use his mutant powers, or to fight; now and then, a reminder about teamwork doesn't go amiss, but he didn't /always/ work alone. Then again, Logan doesn't always remember that bit. As it stands, the Danger Room is more of a playground, a way to experiment and acclimate to his fellows and enjoy the rigors of combat without the same stakes that come into play in the field-- usually, that part is something he's pretty enthusiastic about.
When the surroundings distort and forge a new reality, though, the Canuck's stubble-bordered mouth drops into a frown; a big frown. "Couldn't of been killbots." He mutters under his breath. Were he alone in the situation? Wolverine would probably be interjecting himself more obviously, gesturing and hollering and trying to get some attention and semblance of order. He's hardly the most equipped for -that- of those present, though (TEAM PLAYER!).
Instead, Wolverine stands his ground, apart from a subtle shift to put him closer to the others, alert eyes shifting along the opposing groups, scanning for weapons or signs of trouble... and ready to pounce should someone try either.. or strike at the trio suddenly at the center of it all.
Jean grits her teeth, her jaw setting into a hard line as the simulation came into being around her, her eyes taking in the sight of the crowds. For all the real world application situations like this had, there were times in her life she just wanted to telekinetically choke out a ninja or something. She was dressed in her latest uniform - she had a tendency to change them once or twice a year. This one was a black turtleneck design, made of a thick, rubbery material that would both absorb blows and keep her warm while flying, festooned with a golden belt and golden 'x' in the centre of her chest, black pants and boots of similar material covering her legs.
Without much further ado, however, she dips her head, closes her eyes, and reaches out with her mind - she would have established this mind link before arriving, ideally, but they didn't have the travel time in the X-Jet beforehand. Scott and Logan both would feel the telepathic touch of Jean's mind, before she twists it into a link of sorts, connecting the three of them and enabling silent, instantaneous communication. <<Testing, one two,>> she 'says', letting her eyes open again as she bites her lower lip.
Cyclops too is wearing a new uniform. Since Mureybet, he's shed the complete cover look and replaced it with a dark blue tunic and matching patch set, with more compartments than his earlier outfit. <<Who came up with it is irrelevant at this point, Jeannie. We're in character.>> It's his, and any cursory scan of his brain will relay that information to Jean. Perhaps silly given what happened in Genosha and the general chilling of the mutant hatred fires. Nevertheless, it would be so Scott to make sure they did not lose this sort of training scenario. Expect the unexpected and all that.
The X-man reaches his hand out to brace one particularly rambunctious protester who is busy screaming in his face. "MUTANT SCUM!" and other nasty language is shouted in Scott's face, but he remains cool. Unfortunately, he never seeks the strike coming from his left. His body unfortunately blocks the vision of both Logan and Jean too, and no one sees the blow until it cracks upon Cyclops' face, sending him staggering.
After that, all hell breaks loose. The two groups charge and begin battling all around. What's happening is unclear, but it's clear the groups need to be separated somehow.
Wolverine's costume is split along classic lines in dual-toned grey and black, though he pauses to reach up and remove the mask covering his features. It's not the sort of time being a feral-cowled, red-eyed avenger does him a lot of good. A human face on the other hand could be at least a touch of help. He's on the man moving in on Cyclops in the same instant the punch is thrown, moving as it's prepared. He likely spares Scott some of the impact-- but only some.
The outstretched arm is leveraged at elbow, then locked at the shoulder, and the offender not so much wrestled as abruptly slammed to the ground, the deceptively heavy, diminutive mutant coming down atop him. Wolverine shifts his hold on the way down, knee to the small of the assailant's back as his other arm wraps into a tight sleeper choke, cutting off bloodflow for those precious moments; as all hell breaks loose around him.
"Shit." Not that Logan's surprised. "We gotta seperate these clowns." Master of the Obvious that that may be, "Split the street?" All he's got, at the moment, is the ability to move swiftly, one from the other, downing if not disabling several of the violent demonstrators that stray too close. At the least, it should give Cyclops and Phoenix a moment to execute a broader solution unharassed.
"Always took a lot to keep those things up any..." she begins, when she spies the human swinging at the edge of her vision. With her senses open like this, she would normally be able to catch a flash of dark intent before the punch hit her - a disadvantage with these simulicrums. The punch hammers into the side of the back of her head, sending lights throughout her mind - the mind link shivers for a moment, becoming a touch more tenuous - but Jean was quick to direct a telekinetic bolt out of her shoulder towards the attacker, knocking him back into the crowd of humans as she twists - making the decision to put her back towards the mutants.
Cyclops has taken a punch before, so he's scurried back up to his feet despite the pain just under his eye. Logan looks to be taking care of the guy who punched him, so his attention turns elsewhere, and indeed, just in time. A bum-rushing skinhead is burrowing his way towards Scott and looking to bury him in a football style tackle.
Cyclops takes a half step to the side and uses some of his judo training to use the attacker's weight and momentum against him. He reaches up to grab the attackers hair and drives him down into the ground. As he rights himself, two more grab each of his arms, looking to take him down, but Cyclops is still calm enough to talk shop with Jean <<Start small and branch out. Any help is help. Find cover or fly straight up to avoid hits while you're concentrating.>>
It's been a long time since Scott has met Logan and it feels like even longer. At first, Scott was adamant that he'd try to control the beast, to direct him and help utilize his talents to help the team. If old self could talk to new self, the latter would relay that much of those efforts were downright stupid in the long run. Logan does as Logan does, and trying to guide him usually just holds him back. The commander gives no such directives to Logan.
Meanwhile, the scene continues to burrow into madness. Punches are thrown, and mutants are starting to power up their abilities, intent on using them if need be to protect themselves and loved ones.
There's a frown as too many move in around them to keep up with, and as Logan sweeps one rioter to the unforgiving ground, another lashes out at Jean. There's a flash of teeth as the feral mutant snaps a gaze back over his shoulders, his fist slamming forward into the face of another man who rushes in as Logan is 'distracted'. Luckily, these simulations still make plenty of tells for his own, more physical senses. He growls at the situation more than anyone involved in it, in particular, eyes snapping to either side of the street, |"Use the rubble."| The dust, the rocks, the cracked street and sidewalks and alleyways.
No shortage of detritus along the roadside and bordering the ramshackle, aging derelicts and shanties. |"Funnel 'em to me."| If Jean can make a choke point, leave the mob one clear path with which to advance? Well. The image is clear even before Wolverine wades back in, intent on being the proverbial gatekeeper to full-scale invasion. |"If nobody can convince the other mutants to stand down, we're gonna have bigger problems real soon."|
An aluminum bat rings off Logan's skull as he wades into the fray, the most notable of several hits he takes lashing out at one of the men who holds Cyclops-- and any number of others that quickly surge in to fill the space, even without being herded. A stern, adamantium-weighted blow to the ribs is all he spares for the former, clearly expecting Cyke to be able to look after himself (at least for the most part?). The man with the dented bat goes down next, the feral mutant seemingly satisfied to make himself the most prominent thing on the battlefield, launching back in -at- the gathered humans itching for a fight.
He'll give them a fight.
Jean's eyes first go to Scott - between the flickering ocean of telepathy sensations flooding her at the moment, and the chaos in front of her eyes, it was difficult to split her attention. Difficult, but for her - not impossible. And not something she never trained for. Eyes misted with excess energy as it bleeds from her nervous system, Jean grits her teeth, setting her mind to the task at hand.
Multitasking was her speciality.
She takes advice from both men - lifting herself off of the ground with an effortless push of her mind, hovering over the crowd - making herself a target, she knew. Again, those barriers flicker into being - this time, she was less concerned about trapping one group or another. From her new vantage point, she got a brief overview of the terrain - and she was strategically making barriers to create a choke point at Logan's position.
Gritting her teeth, she gives a signal of <</Scott/>>, a wordless sound of mental desperation. <<Can you speak to the mutants?>>. In case he was busy, though, she starts reaching out - starts the slightly longish process of expanding their link - well, making a seperate one to touch the minds of all the brawling mutants, her hovering coming to a slow stop.
She was a sitting duck.
Logan's attack frees up one of Cyclops' arms, and that's all he needs. He collapses to the ground and lies for a moment on his back, immediately bringing both feet up to catch the man underneath the arm. From there he twists and rips, freeing himself from the man and also sort of catapulting him away from his position.
And just like that, almost as if one of the mutants heard his thoughts, a hydrokinetic's hand turns to water and begins to invade his opponents face, mouth, and soon lungs with high powered water. That's the first, but there will be more.
"Dumb. Bastards.... Go. Home." Terse, broken words are punctuated by the impacts of fists, knees, and feet, most of them Wolverine's. Also, no shortage of blunt and edged implements, most of them thankfully improvised, and none of them Wolverine's. So far. Blood runs down Logan's features, even as the wounds themselves knit neatly and swiftly as he's cut, the blows to the cranium about the only thing slowing him down, as of yet. He still gives as good as he gets, and then some, collecting a small pile of groaning or unconscious men at his feet: he's doing them a /favor/.
If one group doesn't hightail it soon? Well, it's going to get ugly(er) indeed. |"Can do this all night..."| the clear pain notwithstanding, he's scarcely exaggerating, |"But I think the other mutants got other ideas."| With surprising agility, the Canucklehead vaults over the next in line, and then abruptly flips that man end over end back into his fellows, scattering and slowing several down with the makeshift projectile. |"Well then don't /talk/ to 'em, Cyke. Make it clear we ain't here to help 'em slaughter these dumbshits!!"|
Logan may be terrifying, but for flashy and intimidating? Both his allies have him trumped, in a situation like this.
Jean was avoiding speaking through her link at the moment, as she establishes it mind by mind. It was taking her a half minute or so, but the speed in which she was connecting minds together was rapid - what made it worse was that - while they gave little life signals, it was... well, she could tell she was connecting to a computer, and not 'real' minds. And finally, finally, she breathes out a sigh, opening her eyes. With a final note, she dampens the link to Logan and Scott both - so that she does not send, only receive. And what she sends was a single, solitary word, 'shouted' as much as things could be, through the mind.
And just then, when things seem their worst, Jean's mental blast cuts like a sharp scissors through paper. Immediately, both sides go motionless. It's not clear outwardly to Logan or Cyclops if it is just her recommendation that they cease and desist, or if she just sort of kind of forces them to cease and desist. In any event, the move works. Everyone stops right where they are.
After a split second, the surroundings begin to fade and are replaced by the hyper-technology of the Danger Room shell. "MISSION: COMPLETE" says the disembodied female voice as it echoes throughout the room.
Cyclops opens his mouth as he looks to Logan, about to say something, but thinks better of it. Instead, he winces a bit on the left side of his face, testing out whether or not he'll have a bruise. He's not sure, but guesses he will.
"Good work, guys," he says simply. He gives them each a nod, in turn.
One minute, he's knee deep in an angry mob-- which is something that really shouldn't be as familiar to anyone as it is to Logan, but hey-- the next, the holographic projections shift and shimmer, and then dissipate, leaving that broad expanse of expressionless metal, and the observation deck above. A gloved hand half wipes, half smears some half-dried blood from his face, and Wolverine rises back to his suitably unimpressive height.
"Somehow I think we'd still have a job an' a half getting those clowns to go home." Skepticism or not, there's a glance somewhere between wary and straight up impressed that passes upwards towards the redhead. "You've been workin' out." He notes, somewhere between frank observation and mildly baiting tease, complete with a momentary smirk.
"Show like that deserves a drink, either way." Logan starts to pad towards the Danger Room exit, apparently intent on that drink regardless who else may think it's a good idea.
And in a moment - Professor X was a psychic, so he likely designed the simulation to be accessible by other psychics in ways Jean could hardly fathom, and Jean lost her 'connection' with the crowd at large. She didn't lose it so much as... it narrowed from hundreds of false minds to just one 'larger' mind, and the feeling was... odd. She just dropped it. Bringing up a hand to rub her forehead, she favors Scott with a smile at first, inclining her head to him. "Not so bad, Slim," she says, lowering herself to the floor finally, and turning her attention to Logan.
"Yeah - I didn't think the simulation would stop there," she says, giving Logan a halfway smirk, tilting her head to the side a bit there. "All I did was stun them for a minute, maybe let them think about what they were doing - you might have to bash a few more skulls to get them to disperse - but it was a good first step," she says, her own smirk rising to her lips at that baiting tease.
"I could use one - chase this headache away a bit. You coming, Scott?" she asks him, inviting him - although she was certain he'd say no.
Scott shakes his head, "No, you two go ahead. I'm not in much a mood for drinking, to be honest. Have fun. I'll catch up with you later."
Category:Log