Teamwork (Pre-game)

[Ororo Munroe]

Storm continues to watch the team choices with interest. It seemed that most of the captains were looking at their choices strategically, which pleased her. It was something she’d been hoping for in designing the exercise. We’ll have to discuss this in class. Ororo ran a small class on battle tactics, and recently they’d been talking about creative power usage, especially in conjunction with other team members. Perhaps they’d get some visual footage to replay, depending on how the next hour or so went.

> ”We’re late”

Ororo bites back a peeved reply. Is everyone’s watch broken here? Is is that hard to show up when someone requests you to? “I’m glad you were able to find the Danger Room, Mr. Allerdyce.” For Rogue, she simply has a nod. The younger girl would probably be mortified at being called out in front of everyone, and she suspected John had more to do with their tardiness. More relevant, perhaps, was that Rogue hadn’t excused their bad behavior with a breezy quip.

Hm. This throws off our team balance, doesn’t it? What should we do about that? Ororo thinks for a moment. Ah… that might work.

“Here are my thoughts. Fourteen people is going to leave two teams with four instead of three. How about the final two individuals are considered ‘freelance’ and aren’t on a team? Their mission is to work with the Danger Room elements and hamper everyone else as much as possible. Is that okay with everyone?” Ororo folds her arms across her chest. “If there aren’t any complaints… your final pick, Warren?”

[Tempero]

Daniel's body slowly switches to autopilot (Which consists out of, not in the least bit surprisingly, standing in a relaxed manner and smiling friendlily at anyone who just might so happen to look at him) as his mind wanders off with the same speed into some sort of ethereal haze, thinking only half-way about the selections. He wonders of all the sorts of mutations there are going to be present in this game, and does not really pay attention to all the little social intricacies that go on, even though he most definitely can almost feel the general sense of awkward, hidden secrets that are really simply unsaid words that yearn to be spoken.

So he drifts even further, up to a point where he is almost comatose, and it all simply falls down and breaks apart as John and Rogue enter. If he was able of almost feeling the awkwardness coming from Matt and Laurie, the Rogue (Who is a rather nice person but just perhaps a bit insecure, he thinks)- Bob (Who's a really cool guy and a good friend [even though he might just not consider you one Daniel's mind adds], but still lacks perhaps one or two notches of good judgment [coming from someone who wasn't able to sleep indoors])- and John (Who is simply a maniacal, homicidal psychopath who doesn't really understand anything beyond the need to hurt...at least in Daniel's humble opinion consisting out of a few by-passing glances and a few overheard words) situation comes right into his face, throws him on the floor, and starts banging his head on it in the intensity in which it is there. Incidentally,

>”Fuck me, this place looks a hell of a lot bigger when I’m on my back and you’re pounding me into the floor, huh?”

the words simply seem to be one of the things people such as John might be would say because they didn't exactly think before they said anything, not really...or were meant to hurt. So Daniel looks over at Bob, and the...icy exterior doesn't tell him anything, but Josh's hand on his shoulder says a whole lot, and he decides to simply not partake in this little private war. He amuses himself, though, in trying to figure out what kind of role would each of them have. Bob might as well be the soldier who gets betrayed five-times-over, and Rogue would simply be the once-or-twice-over changed-my-mind girl. John? He is like a double-double-spy, ping-pong ball, Rubik's-cube-type of changing person.

And then he realizes that now they have two extra. And then Ms. Munroe announces that two of the unchosen would work along with the danger room. Daniel's brow quirks at this. That should be interesting. It can come as a sort of conciliatory prize for those who do not get picked. One of those will most likely be me, so I might as well try to figure out how to make their job all the more hard. he thinks, lacking in any, even remote, sense of self-confidence when it comes to scenarios like this, and that sparks the little match of doubt that will soon turn into a raging forest fire if not handled. Why did I even apply for this? After all, it's not like I really know anyone here good enough to use them as a reason, ans surely none of them really consider me anything other than just being there, right? And I can't really do anything if I do not have someone to borrow powers from...and that is almost always a strain since people are mostly reluctant to just give their powers off to anyone...damn...damn...damn... and on and on the soliloquy goes, where it stops nobody knows.

[Nikkolas Blagetovich]

“If there aren’t any complaints… your final pick, Warren?”

Nikk just stood there as everything went down. He was taken back by the actual size of the room rather then the whole game thing that was going down. This is one big damn room. He thought this over, and over, and over like a broken record until Storm said something about a final pick. Nikk snapped back to attention, noticing that many of his peers were chosen, and there he was, still unpicked.

I guess this is the job of the new kid, being picked last. Nikk didn't really care that he was last, he kind of expected it. He was the new kid and it came with the territory. He looked over to who was left. There was some boy that he didn't recognize and then there was Danny, his roomie. He turned his attention back up to Warren, trying to loose the nervous look off of his face. He took a deep breath, smiled, and just continued to wait.

[Warren Worthington III]

> Only if you want to. I mean, it’s something you need to want to do. I know you’re not exactly on the best of terms with them.

Over the months of experiencing Josh’s telepathy, Warren has discovered that telepathic communication – even when it’s “shaped” like speech – is a lot less ambiguous than actual speech. Referents have a way of tagging along with the message, if he’s sufficiently receptive to them. And Warren has turned being receptive to telepathy into a fine art.

Usually that’s an advantage… and sometimes it’s a downright thrill… but in this particular case Warren almost wishes they’d been talking normally, so he could pretend to think Josh was questioning his desire to add the back seat of the Rolls to The List, rather than his desire to visit his family, a subject he tries not to think about too much.

Oh well. My own fault for bringing the subject up, I guess. No, I’m not. And… honestly, no, I really don’t want to. But I’m going to have to, sooner or later. No sense in putting it off any further than I already have. And he’d feel a lot better doing it with Josh by his side (even without considering the Rolls), but bringing friends home had never ended well for him, and he doesn’t imagine that bringing his nationally televised mutant soldier boyfriend home will end any better. I’d understand if you wanted to stay out of it, though. It probably won’t be pretty.

> …Toby despises… split them up… deal with her…like a top… throw into her path….

That last message is surprisingly garbled, and Warren sends back a puzzled thought before realizing with some embarrassment that it hadn’t been addressed to him at all. Oh! Sorry, I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. Didn’t get anything important. We probably should stop crosstalking for this exercise, though... wouldn’t want it to happen again, right?

He can’t help but be pleased at the way their mental rapport grows stronger practically every day, though. Intellectually he realizes it’s just another skill, like aerial maneuverability or juggling, but emotionally it’s like some kind of experimental validation that they were meant to be together… not to mention enormously useful, given Warren’s travel schedule and Josh’s upcoming move.

None of which, he realizes, is germane to this particular exercise, and he wrenches his attention back from contemplating the many uses of their mental rapport to strategic analysis of team selections… which suddenly becomes more important when Allerdyce and Rogue suddenly appear and get selected almost immediately. (Though not, Warren notices, before Allerdyce takes the opportunity to show off for Drake. He sighs at that, wondering how hard it will be to pick up the pieces when that particular soap opera inevitably blows up… again.)

Anyway, the change of rules and Josh’s selection leave Warren actually having to make a choice, which he hadn’t expected to, and he exhales slowly as he considers the remaining candidates. Matthew, Blackburn, and Rasputin… hrm. They were all powerful and useful in different ways, and while he was still a bit nervous around Rasputin Warren was pretty sure he could work well with any of them. The question was, who would fit best with his team strategy?

Eliminating Matthew from consideration is easy – landbound and too heavy to carry easily. His physical powers would be handy, but not indispensable, and his radiative abilities essentially duplicated Storm’s lightning-bolts, and he wasn’t comfortable using them anyway.

Blackburn’s a potentially invaluable asset… and he can fly, at least in principle… It’s very tempting, especially considering how much not being selected will probably depress the boy. But the thought of two people simultaneously shaping wind-patterns in the Danger Room makes Warren wince, and the poor kid “borrowing” Warren’s abnormally fragile skeletal structure is even worse.

Which leaves Rasputin. Which seems more and more like the right choice as Warren considers it. He’s already demonstrated his unusual susceptibility to Rasputin’s telepathic manipulation, which would put his team at a relative disadvantage if the Russian became a free agent… and between the Josh/Jake team, Laurie’s mental influences, and whatever Hank has cobbled together they’ll probably need telepathic backup anyway.

And putting his teacher hat on for a moment, Warren suspects that Blackburn teaming up with Matthew to work with the Danger Room could be enormously valuable for both of them… though they were both friendly, Blackburn sometimes preternaturally so, neither of them seemed to make friends very easily and he suspects they would get along. Plus with Blackburn helping Matthew control his radiation powers, and duplicating his physical strength and endurance, they would be a lot more effective together than separately – always a good confidence-builder, which it seemed both of them could use.

Of course, a more effective hostile force isn’t great news for Warren, granted… but Matthew and Blackburn would be going after all 4 teams equally, and evasive maneuvers against a land-bound enemy is a relative strength of his team. It would give him a relative advantage.

At least, that’s the plan. And we all know about battle plans and enemy contact...

"Rasputin."

[N.P.C]

Beast

As soon as Warren makes the last pick, the Danger Room’s holographics activate, and the fourteen players find themselves in a crowded waiting room.

“At last!” booms Hank’s voice from the loudspeakers. “I beg your collective indulgences while I refresh your memories on your operational parameters…” He is surprisingly intelligible as he reiterates the rules of the game.

“One last-minute modification, however… because Mssrs. Blackburn and Craft are on my team now, they have carte blanche to use their exceptional abilities in the Neutral Zone as well as the four player zones, and are granted immunity to all Danger-Room-generated threats. Conversely, unlike the other teams they can be elimintated from play by direct player action. Is all of that clear?”

He doesn’t exactly wait for questions before going on, calling out the teams in the overblown style of a World Wrestling Federation announcer.

“The newly created Beast Team, Tempero and Warhead, will start out in the Neutral Zone. Boys, if the other four teams are eliminated from play before any team collects all four flags, we win, and I take you both out for the most sumptuous repast of your young lives.” With a holographic ripple, Danny and Matt disappear from the “selection room” and re-appear in the Neutral Zone.

“Yellow Team Captain is our own wondrous Wallflower, leading the lamentably uncodenamed Dr. Storm and the redoubtable Rogue!” They vanish as well, although in Susan’s case it’s not obvious.

“Blue Team Captain is the aerodynamic Angel, leading non-doctor Storm and the ex-Soviet psychic Rasputin! ” Oddly, the waiting room doesn’t seem any less crowded despite having now eight fewer people in it… it seems to shrink subtly with each departure, while nobody is looking.

“Red Team Captain is the formidable Fortress, leading Clockwork and Pyro! ”

“Green Team Captain is the irrepressible Impulse, leading the identically initialed Iceman and, er… say, what is your code name, Jake? It’s not in the database -- oh my stars and garters -- is this really your first time in the Danger Room? My, my. ”

The waiting room, now empty, vanishes, leaving all five teams in their starting zones.

(( OOC: OK then! Really sorry about all the team-selecting confusion, I hope there aren’t any hard feelings about it OOC. The five teams should post their arrivals in their home-zone threads; after that the action is entirely up to you! No strict posting order, though as always avoid g’modding other players. Have fun with it!

Oh, and sorry to Toby and John, I just couldn’t come up with any alliterative modifiers for you guys. ))