2012-07-30 Danger Room scenario 62.06

Kitty took a small break from... everything... the day after they got back from Ukraine, but the day after that she was down in the danger room. She's not left for nearly twelve hours, setting some sort of marathon in the training facility that probably doesn't exist.
Leaning back against a wall, her X-suit is unzipped enough to provide her with a bit cool air since sweat is soaking her hair down to the sides of her face. Running across her neck, water bottle hoisting periodically for a rather lengthy drink.
"Computer, run scenario sixty two point oh six again. Remove protection proticals."
"Password."
"Shadowcat seventy one point seventy seven."
"Acknowledge, Shadowcat. Scenario commences in one minute."
Whenever a person in the danger room removes the safety protocols, Jean gets a notification. This is so she can prep the Med Bay in case someone gets hurt. But a brief scan of the area shows her that it's not Logan or Colossus in there, who are nearly impervious to permanent harm. It's Kitty. Jean drops the paperwork she was perusing and rushes out of the lab, down the hall, and into the control booth to watch. She toggles the comm switch, so as not to spook the girl with a voice in her head. "Miss Pryde, what are you doing? A student shouldn't be able to remove those protocols."
Only Wolverine works out this much... and even he slacks off somewhat. Of course, the safe guards of the Danger Room being deactivated send a silent alert to Beast as well. There's something to be said for backdoors and redundant safe guards. Hank's half in his X-Men costume at the moment. His upper body covered just by a white tank top as he joins Jean in the control booth. He still looks like crap, a blue five o'clock shadow now almost stretching into a six. He glances to Jean as he drops into one of the observation seats. "Want me to shut her down?" Hank glances at the session timer, indicating it to Jean.
Psylocke stretches, sweat glistening on her toned skin. "Kitty, those safety protocols are in place for a reason. I don't think this is a good idea." Betsy has been with Kitty in the Danger Room for some time and even her muscles are starting to fatigue. The pounding in her chest is almost enough to wave away most of her fears. The sound of steel being drawn rings out across the walls, as she squats, stretching the muscles in her thighs.
"Go big or go home, I guess."
Kurt's been slacking off, in comparison to everyone else, apparently. He's been more.. a vision around the Institute, at the lake, in the lounge, rather than beating his head against the Danger Room walls in an attempt to knock everything else out. Rounding a corner, Beast .. and Jean is before him. He offers a wave; he didn't get a message about override, but apparently there's no need at the moment. He's got a towel over his shoulder, and he's in his red and black, ready for the workout now that his mind is a little clearer. 
"Wie gehts?" What's going on?
Kitty glances up at the control box above the entrance and half smile, half frowns, "It wasn't that hard to program in a safety switch override password." Watching the count down clock until the scenario goes life via the holographic projectors. The towel comes up to brush at either side of her face, then whips off so she can toss it down onto the ground out of the way.
"I'm starting to realize I'm not really cut out for these field missions. Too much sitting around and not enough standing up." Nodding to Psylocke, "And no, this wasn't Betsy's idea, she saw me going in and insisted she come along to make sure I was okay, since she couldn't talk me out of it."
Jean ponders a moment, then shakes her head at Hank in the negative. "No, not yet. If it gets hairy in there, with Betsy and Kurt on standby and both of us watching, it should be all right. I think this is something Kitty needs to do." She carefully looks over the sequence, so she can be ready for areas she thinks Kitty might need assistance with. "Until the Ukraine, mass graves and gassing people for how they were born was just something she read in history books. And Kitty reads a lot of history books, Hank. She just had a horrific dose of reality for someone her age, especially someone of the Jewish faith." The telepath is in her usual work clothing of dress pants and a tailored blouse under her lab coat. With a thought it can become her costume if need be.
Beast frowns a bit, leaning over and toggling the com switch. "Kitty, I'm both impressed and disappointed. How am I supposed to grade something like that?" He can't help but offer a bit of a smile to Jean. "That girl's brilliance scares me some days." Ok, so maybe he's not as annoyed as he seemed. "Kitty, that's nonsense. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Your powers make you a vital part of our team." Hank offers a light nod to Jean. "I can only imagine how horrible that must have been for her. Sometimes I forget she's not been doing this as long as us."
As the clock counts down, Psylocke begins going through a breathing regime to still her thoughts, focus her senses, and calm her racing heart. Her eyes closed and her blade limp at her side, she is ready.
As the breathing techniques take on the desired effect her mind focuses to the room around her. Her senses are keen. She can hear the rise and fall of Kitty's breathing next to her. Slowly her right arm swings out wide behind her. As the arc of the blade brings it over her head, her left hand grasps the hilt just under her right. Her eyes flutter open as the countdown sequence reaches 0.
"I am here with you, Kitty," comes out in a barely audible whisper.
"Anyone who is not affected by these missions, Katzschen, is not cut out for the field missions. You.. have the right parts of empathy and ability." Kurt sets his towel down, and nods at Jean in acknoweldgment, though his voice lowers, "Everyone was affected." //Including Logan.// In case it makes Kitty feel any better. 
Setting his towel along the side, Kurt *bamfs* towards the door and steps in, offering a sweeping bow to both Kitty and Betsy. Then, it's to the control room, up to Jean and Hank, that he offers that opening bow before he teleports up to 'perch' on the wall's corner with a flourish. He calls out in a loud voice- "Let the games begin!"
Kitty closes her eyes and stands straight when she sees the countdown clock wasn't cut off upon Hank and Jean's arrival. They're going to let her work through this, let her get out this anger that's threatening to overtake her. Her jaw works slowly as she thinks back to that cold afternoon, the bodies lined up ina ditch just deep enough to accomodate the sheer number of them.
At her sides loose fingers flex into tight fists and her forehead knits into a wrinkled furrow. Sound disappears into the drown of distant voices and the clicking of that clock as it rounds seconds down to zero...
The bare metalic walls take on the appearance of a snow capped forest in the Ukraine. It's not a program that was previously in the catelog, which means she wrote it... or tweeked it from existing scenarios. Not really that hard if you know what you're doing.
Infront of them, the garison is on high alert. The red warning lights whistle and cast it's eerie ambiant glow across the snow.
All around the 'trio' are armed guards with their weapons raised. "Nach unten auf ihre knie. Nun, schnell. Feuer!"
Shadowcat's eyes come open, blurry for the tears as she lashes out at one of the armed guards beside her, wrapping her hand down around the barrel and pushing it towards the snow to swing her fingers straight over the top to stab her index finger and thumb into his throat, curl them into his shirt and pull him forward into her head slamming intot he bridge of his nose.
The game is on.
Jean Grey watches cautiously, grimacing at the scenario chosen. "You need to find a way to shove your anger aside, Kitty. Angry people make mistakes. Your brain is your finest asset, so outthink them."
Beast offers a warm smile to Kurt when he joins them in the observation chamber. "Hello, Kurt." Though his focus rturns quickly to the danger rooms systems... punching up the program that Kitty is running on his screen as well. Beast watches with obvious concern as well. He knows what happens when you find yourself obsessing over things. It's a self destructive path, and one that he himself is on. Hank chimes in as well. "You're the heart of this team, Kitty. We all have our demons, don't let this become yours. And someone hit me if I start getting more 'Yodaesque' or start quoting Dune."
As the mettalic walls shift into that of the Ukranian forest, Betsy explodes into action. Two quick steps bring her into range of a guard screaming commands. The blade descends at a slight angle, the flat of the blade smacking hard against the man's fingers as she rolls it up and around, thrusting forward as she rounds the top of the rotation. The barrel turned out wide as he pulls the trigger. The momentum carrying her in a spin, her elbow collides with the bridge of his nose. Her left hand comes free of the hilt and grasps his collar she pulls him toward her and around. Bringing him in line with the sights of a pair of his nearby comrades just as the begin to unload.
She is moving quick, diving out wide and running hard at her next targets.
Kurt sucks in a breath, and simply.. stares. It takes him a long moment before he 'falls' down upon one of the men with the gun, grasping the shoulders of one of the armed men with his feet and flipping backwards, taking the opponent with him, causing him to fly past him. "If Katzchen is the heart, I would like the liver.. or stomach.." He's on his feet, but it's not long before he *bamfs* out of the way as the guard begins to regain his feet, and attempts to bring his gun up to bear on the blue elf. 
"Halt! Sie wird aufhoren..." //Stop! You will cease...//
"I don't want to beat them.." Kitty says through a quivering jaw, trying to focus.. trying to watch through eyes that are going hazy from tears. One guard goes down, leaving a bloody mark on her forehead as she rolls forward up into a charge. Bullets rip through her and tear up the ground behind her feet stomping into the dirt.
She jumps at the startled gunmen, grabbing their wrists, phases the rest of her body and slams their fists to either side so that they rifles touch smoking hot against bare knuckles causing them to drop the guns and grab for blistering hands.
A tree limb comes up and slams down on between one's shoulders. Tears spilling down from her eyes as she spins and kicks the other right in the mouth as he doubles over with his hand up against his abdomen.
"I'm punishing them.."
Nothing about what she's doing is pretty. It's dirty and unpolished. She's doing things with her powers that she never shown any talent for before. Phasing just 'some' parts of her body in a raw show of control that's completely new.
Her hair flares out around her as she spins, dives.. throwing every ounce of her body into attacks. Crying so hard her eyes have gone read, grinding her teeth as she crouchs over one who is very clearly begging her not to kill him.
Her chin quivers, saliva hanging onto her bottom lip as she kills him a thousand times with her stare. "DID THEY BEG?! DID THEY DIE BEGGING?!"
Jean's hand goes to her heart as tears well in her eyes. She toggles the mic off so Kitty can't hear her cry. "I'm so sorry she had to go through this," she murmurs. She wipes at her eyes and chews on her lower lip.
"I think you're our faith Kurt. And I'm not referring to your beliefs. You're the faith in the best of humanity and ourselves. Or your the cute one, given the whole fuzzy thing. It's hard to choose." Hank is trying to bring some lighthearted commentary to this... mostly because the grimness is just too much even for him. Hank winces just a bit at how brutal kitty is beig. But better that she get it out against holographic enemies than real one. But on the bright side, she is discovering more finesse for her powers. Something that will be a positive thing once she works through this. Hank glances to Jean and gets up from his seat, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm glad I don't have your powers Jean. The temptation to use them to take her pain from here would be too great."
The pair of guards turn quickly to adjust to the darting woman, but she is already on them. Betsy runs the first through with her katana, the force of the blow enough to turn him in a 180. She leaves the blade in the man and comes around with him, grasping the weapon of the second just before he gets a bead on her.
She turns into him, hips low, knees bent, pulling the gun past her in one fluid move, and thrusts her butt into his midsection. She feels him come off the ground, his weight on her back and she heaves straightening her legs to give him some spring. He sails over her and lands with a thud on the ground in front of her. A quick stomp and twist seals the deal.
She reaches forward and grasps the hilt of the katana still buried in the guards gut and pulls it free.
Once again she is on the move, this time back towards Kitty. A trail of dripping blood follows her through the snow as she charges. All low and ninja style.
"I think it's the fuzzy thing.." Kurt is back on his feet, even as his opponent in the form of the guard is rising to his feet in order to bring his weapon to bear against the blue elf. 
"Punishing?" Kurt narrows yellow eyes at Kitty and shakes his head; he understands, he truly does. He's. German. And he's been on the receiving end of angry mobs. More than once. 
But when Psylocke kills? Kurt's voice calls out in anger, "How did that feel, Psylocke?" He teleports up into the corner, and *bamf* again he moves.. and again.. *bamfs*, keeping his opponent from gaining a bead. "Why did you kill?" He's mad.. no.. saddened. Disappointed. 
Glancing at the control room, Kurt gives the pair of adults a long look before he shakes his head.. and *bamf*, he's beside Kitty. 
"Breathe, Katzchen. Breathe. Pray.. and feel your strength.. breathe.. and do not be like them in your hatred. It can consume you.
Kitty leans down over the guard who's staring at her like she's some sort of monster, baring her teeth in a tight pulled sneer. Her yellow gloved hands grabbing at his thick beard, pushing his head back into the snow as she screams and breaks down into hysterical crying. Anguish washing over her expression like water breaking against the beach as the surf rolls back..
The sound of gunfire gone dull as she forgets it all, let's it drown out into a background noise. Bullets hitting the snow to either side of her as guards take shots, get cut down, or punched out and barely misses. All of it is just background to the furious wail. Her throat is raw from screaming, choked off when there's no more oxygen to create it and left as only a croaking sound in her chest as she tries desperately to force more from her lungs.
She looks up at the sound of a voice beside her and grinds her teeth, pounding her fists into the snow beside the guards face, hissing at him causing him to let out a sharp cry of his own. There's no serenity to her, but her mouth is closed, chin quivering... "Killing you wouldn't bring them back... It'd make me just like you. It'd tear me up inside until I was no better than you are... And then you've really beat me.." It hasn't stopped the tears, "Everytime I stop someone from dying, I'm doing it for every life you took for no reason..."
Alligator tears fall from her jaw and splat against the holographic soldiers forehead. "I hope hell is hot you son of a bitches... I hope it hurts..." Grinding her teeth through every word as she squeezes the sides of his jaw. "And I hope the spirits of those people tear you apart until you get there.. I hope their eyes are the last thing you see before you sleep and the only thing you dream.. I wont have your's be mine."
Jean Grey clings to Hank's arms as she cries quietly, watching Kitty go through the worst of the X-Men rites of passage, the choice to be like those who hate them, or be better.
Beast holds Jean tight, his own eyes wet with tears. It's been a long time since he cried. Really cried, for something. But it doesn't take a telepath to feel Kitty's pain. Hank does his best to try to pull Jean into the hug, even turning her chair from the console, trying to shield her view from the pain going on below. Even if he can't manage to look away. "Sometimes I hate that we seem to be competing with the world to see who can steal their innocence first." Hank offers quietly to Jean.
Betsy is awash with adrenaline, actting on instinct. Her reflexes guiding her movements. So caught up in her fatal dance that Kurt's question nearly goes unheard. She lowers her shoulder and plows right into one of the soldiers, a sickening crack resounding from his spine.
The question clicks in her mind and her focus is lost, "I..I.. I do what I must, Kur" her sentence is cut short as the scene of Kitty's anguish plays out in front of her.
And something buds inside of her, some say her heart grew three sizes that day. Nothing is for certain though.
The sound of gunfire brings her from her short-lived reverie. Her blade goes into it's sheathe. The light of her Kinetic Katana bathes her skin in a redish purple hue as it hums to life, 'BRRZZZ."
"Everyone you save. Every day you live your life, und they live theirs.. it is a victory against them, Katzchen. Those who came from the camps from the War knew that, and their families live it. We are blessed in that we can do something about the horrors of today. But never, ever be like them." Kurt's voice is a hoarse whisper; who couldn't be moved by Kitty's anguish? A moment of self-discovery, not unlike the phoenix rising from the ashes.. but this, this is an X-man rising from the visions of horror.. and knowing who she is. And it's a beautiful, and wonderous thing. 
Twisting around, Kurt searches for Betsy, his expression shifting to one of hope- "Psylocke?" Please.. understand.. please. And.. "You do not have to.." and there.. there it is. Perhaps he is the faith of the group, as a smile, an encouraging and proud smile creases his face, his pointed canines showing. "There.."
Shadowcat stands up from her leaning kneel over the soldier and stomps him in the chest... It wont kill him, but there's no way he gets to just walk away from this back to his holographic family to tell them about the X-Man who let him go after the holographic horrors he committed.
The young girl pushes her sleeve across her nose and mouth, drawing all the fluids and leaving her red eyed and... exausted. She takes in a deep breath and glances up at the holographic canopy, "Computer, end scenario."
The Soldiers were rushing at them again, but they quickly flicker and fade away. The tree line becomes steel plates and the hologen lights of the danger room. "Delete scenario Sixty two point oh six. I don't need it anymore."
"Acknowledged Shadowcat."
She's not better, not by a long shot, but she will be. Heading over towards her towel and waterbottle quietly to wipe her face off more completely.
Jean pulls herself together, so Kitty won't see her like this. "Thanks, Hank," she murmurs, giving the scientist a warm smile of gratitude for bolstering her.
Beast smiles and nods. "Hey, what are older brothers for." After all, the O5 are as much a family as a team. Hank leans up and kisses Jean's forehead. "Plus I know you'll be there for me when I need it." He glances toward the scene below in the Danger Room and breathes a sigh of relief. He's still worried about here, but she's taken that first step she needs to heal. "Hit the showers folks."
As the snow lined forest fades away and the mettalic plates of the Danger Room walls take their place, Betsy let's the Kinetic Blade in her hands fade away with a 'BRZZZCK.' Her chest heaves as the gravity of it all hits her. Once again her heart set to pounding in her chest, her mind racing to keep up.
She turns to face Kitty, "Are you ok?" is all she can manage between breaths. Before she knows what is going on she is next to Kitty, her hand on her shoulder, "You are one of the bravest young women I have ever met."
Her emotions catch up to her as a knot gathers in her throat. Turning to Kurt she croaks, "Thank you. For being here, for both of us." Her eyes mist over for a second. ONLY A SECOND.
Kurt exhales in a long, drawn out breath, and his head dips a little, his tail sagging in the moment. He first inclines his head before he offers a broad bow with a flourish. The smile shifts to a gentle, understanding one, and he reaches out to touch Betsy on the arm. His voice is a whisper, "Never forget." The lesson of the day, that they are better than their enemies who would come against them, and those for whom they fight, and defend. "Katzchen.. Betsy.. my door is always open. If you do not walk through it, I will look for you." 
Yellow eyes rise to the control room again, and he *bamfs* up to a corner to perch upon the wall. "I have not yet begun my practice, Beast."
Kitty forces a smile to Kurt and nods, burying her face into her towel to wipe the rest of the snot and other saliva away because that's nasty. Her bag is collected, strap thrown over her shoulder and the towel draped behind it against her unzipped X-suit over a sweat soaked t-shirt.
"I need a nap." It's not really a thank you, but the thought is there. As she passes, she squeezes Betsy's arm and slides out of the danger room without opening the door. Headed towards the changing room for a shower and change. It's been a long day and, while she's gotten over a hump, it's still more hill to climb.
Psylocke looks Kitty in the eye as she passes and nods. Betsy looks out over the Danger Room and a storm rages inside her. Questions, emotions, and doubts, so many doubts roll through her mind. She swallows hard and looks at Kurt on his perch. "I will find you.. When the time is right. Trust me."
Offering a weak smile she heads out of the room to get cleaned up.
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