Neutral Zone

[Matthew Craft]

Warren and his team are first to appear in the Neutral Zone. Given that the simulation has been running for a matter of minutes, Matthew finds it surprising that they made it there that fast.

For now he crouches and waits. Waits for his area, harmless to him, to deal with the three mutants. The deafening Boom! makes him jump as he searches for a place to hide, planing a surprise attack. A piece of shrapnel from one of the destroyed turrets collides with his arm, but with his immunity to all Danger Room-generated obstacles in the Neutral Zone, the particle simply just phases through him. He almost skids to a stop to observe the effect, but Daniel’s voice pushes him back to reality.

"Perhaps one of us should stay here, watching?" He asks, dodging off towards Warren and his team.

“Sure, whatever...” Matthew says, watching his teammate run off. Warren’s bitter, painful cry a few moments later puts a firm stop to his camping strategy. Instinct tells him to run in direction of the shout and help in whatever way possible, and he makes it about half way there when Tobias, the moody time-kid, and his sister pop out of the Red Zone’s gate.

To make matters worse, Ms. Monroe knocks Daniel a good solid punch. It was something Matthew didn’t expect a teacher to do, but there his partner was, on the ground and bleeding.

“Hey!” He snaps, somewhat angrily. I’m so going to get detention for that, part of him mutters. The other part finally settles into the combat-oriented mood just about everyone else is already in, making him the last in the area ready to fight. But his fight isn’t with Ms. Monroe, she’s already engaged with Daniel, and there’s no way Matthew’s about to take on his sister. He’d like the survive the next week, thank you very much.

His body and mind jump at the chance to finally use his mutation for something besides warming a cold cup of tea in the morning. The energy is enough to make his fists clench and his adrenaline start to run. The biological stimulants coursed through his veins and surged to his core, which happily began pushing radiation to his fingertips. Matthew dashes off to subdue Warren and Nikk, leaving his angry teacher and his partner to duel it out.

Noting that Warren’s nearly reached the Blue Zone’s gate, small amount of raw biological radiation pools into the palm of his hand. He’s careful not to release too much, no need to go off radiating his teachers and classmates. Tossing the energy ahead with a sideways throw, Matthew watches as the pale green globule streams toward the Blue gate. He can sense as the radiation grows increasing unstable and notes with satisfaction as it erupts in a tiny, warm shockwave. The blast sends up a thick cloud of dust and dirt, obscuring the area in a haze, but does little else. He’s sure it’s startling enough to stop his opponents, enabling him to get in their way before they can escape.

Catching them in the Neutral Zone would be ideal. The moment they escaped into one of the coloured zones, their powers would be available for fair use again. That was not something Matthew was inclined to experience. Putting himself between the gate and Warren and Nikk, he readies himself for a physical fight.

[Warren Worthington III]

Warren is aware of Matthew’s approach as he bolts towards the Blue Gate, but isn’t too worried… the kid is strong enough to put him out of commission if it turns into a wrestling match out here, but Warren’s pretty sure he’s fast enough to keep that from happening even without flight. With a little luck, he’ll even be able to lure Matthew away from the Gate while the lock cycles and give his team a chance to disengage the Neutral Zone.

Still, no sense getting overconfi—whoa! Matthew’s radiation-pulse isn’t a surprise, and unlike Blackburn’s powers it displaces the air it travels through, so Warren has no difficulty tracking it… it’s obvious almost before he fires it that it isn’t going to get anywhere near him, and when it explodes gently a dozen meters ahead of him it doesn’t seem to do anything but raise a cloud of dust.

But Warren has already underestimated his opponents twice today and his experience with Blackburn has shaken his confidence. So rather than charge through what seems to be a harmless dust-cloud to get to the Gate on the other side, he slows down and sidles around it, carefully watching for a trick. And by the time he realizes that that was the trick, and that he fell for it, Matthew has already cut off his path to the Gate. Lord… I just got bluffed by a fifteen-year-old. I may never live this down.

He only hesitates for a moment, though; one thing he’s learned from both boardroom and field experience is that it’s almost always possible to recover from a flub if you do something quick and unexpected. He remembers his basketball game with Matthew… the boy had been easy to fake out then, but Warren suspects he’s expecting a fake-out now. OK, then… two can play at the bluff game. Let’s see if I can use those expectations against you.

He catches Matthew’s eye with a predatory I’ve-got-you-just-where-I-want-you smile and charges right at him, flaring his wings up to full extension just like he had before diving under Matthew legs during their basketball game, keeping his eyes on the ground beneath the boy’s legs as if he was about to do it again.

As the distance between them closes he looks over Matthew’s shoulder and, unconvincingly, shouts "OK, now!" just before bringing his wings in tight against his body, again as if he were preparing for a dive, but instead leaps as high as he can.

Hope this works! If Matthew responds the way Warren anticipates, he’ll recognize the my-friend’s-right-behind-you ploy as a distraction and attempt to grab Warren as he attempts to dive through his legs again… which, hopefully, will let Warren high-jump right over him as he reaches down. Granted, Matthew is astonishingly tall… on the other hand, Warren’s inhumanly light skeleton lets him jump astonishingly high, even without benefit of flight. It’s a gamble, but not a ridiculous one.

[Bobby Drake]

Oh... um... so it seems Matthew and I have both gotten our colors and gates confused. For clarity -- Warren is NOT running towards his own gate (Blue, Fantasy), he's running towards the next gate over (Green, Scifi). Ditto for what Matthew is guarding. We got all confuzzled in our posts. All of the above is happening outside the Green Scifi gate.

[Ororo Munroe]

The smacking sound that Storm’s gloved fist makes upon contact with Danny’s jaw rings out across the room. He falls to the ground, and for a moment she fears her reaction was out of proportion to the offense. Somehow, I’m certain NASSP wouldn’t like it…

However, Warren’s anguished scream as Danny’s telepathic intrusion fails reassures her that it was the right thing to do. If she hadn’t been in the middle of a melee, Ororo suspects she’d be standing, gaping at Danny’s actions. Completely out of line. We’ll be having a talk about this. Rogue certainly didn’t prance around the Institute playing ‘flatliners’, and there was no excuse for Danny not realizing his powers could be dangerous when used in certain ways.

His quick recovery from her attack surprises Ororo. She’d been about to follow Warren and Nikk out of the area. Even more worrying was the cruel look in Danny’s eyes. Perhaps it’s best to disengage and deal with this later. Then, a horrible smirk spreads across the younger boy’s features, as if it all was some kind of joke.

> Sorry...

If inflicting pain on Warren purposefully wasn’t bad enough, Danny’s lack of remorse only served to incense her further. Storm’s eyes begin glowing, and she begins striding towards Danny. Simultaneously, she feels his inexperienced mental probe latching onto her powers. Go ahead. You won’t be needing them in a few seconds.

Out of the corner of her eye, Storm can see Warren and Nikk engaging Matthew. This is time for teamwork, not retribution. No one was really in doubt who would win a one-on-one fight between herself and Danny. Even copying her powers, Danny would be at a disadvantage, since she was immune to electrical energy. She'd simply flatten him. As much as she wanted to put him on the floor for his actions, it wasn’t the time or place. She’d be perfectly within her right to do so, within the exercise… but it wouldn’t be right, and she suspected Warren wouldn’t like it much either. In any case, his telepathic link was only line-of-sight.

And perhaps he’d learn more from a less violent approach. Storm’s eyes return to normal. “Daniel, I expect you in my office hours at 2PM sharp. We have to have a talk.” Her voice is as hard as steel, and she spins on a foot and sprints for the melee going on outside the Green Zone.

[Toni Craft]

“Pssst...” Toni hisses, poking Tobias in the shoulder as she closes the painted door on a rather disgruntled John. She watches as her brother takes off after Warren and sexy Russian dude #2, while Daniel dukes it out with a furious Ororo across the way. “Since Fly-boy and his team is havin' a go of it out here, how’s about we go raid the angel’s nest?” She asks, motioning to the blue gate on the other side of the Neutral Zone.

She sets off, no answer from Tobias needed. She is the leader of their team after all. No sooner does her foot hit the floor, three steps from their gate, then the ground beneath her caves under her weight and she’s left to drop.

Only she only drops a matter of feet, thanks to her quick reflexes and the fact that she still had another foot firmly planted on the ground. “Ooooowwwww....” she groans, trying to grab the edges of the hole, which soon reveals itself to be a weight triggered trap door. The fall could have been perilous, but her grounded leg had managed to catch her long enough to support herself with her hands. Unfortunately, Toni’s now half dangling into a seemingly bottomless pit, stretched across said pit, with her leg jarred into a more-than-uncomfortable position. And I’ve got the worst wedgie of my life.

She’s about to haul herself out and grant a little bit of relief to her strained leg when an ominous creaking from above stops her cold. “Uh oh...” Dangling about fifteen feet above her head is a large, chained, menacing black weight. There’s no indication of the object's mass, but Toni’s sure it’s heavy enough to send her plunging if it so happens to fall. “Tobi? Tobias? Clockwork-dude?!” She asks, fingers scrambling to get a better grip on the pit’s edge so as to pull herself out. But the more support she puts onto her hands, the more the weight squeaks. The frightening screech eventually stops, but is quickly replaced by a jolting crunch as the weight suddenly drops six inches.

“Now would be a really great fucking time to help!” Toni snaps, half angrily, half desperately. She really doesn’t want to get booted from the game so soon after it’s started. Toying with the idea of armouring up and using the added strength to vault out of the hole only reminds herself that this is a power-free zone. So she’d have to wait on her partner to get her out, remove the weight from the picture, or more preferably, both.

Hank, I’m gonna filet you when I get out of this...and I’ve still got the world’s biggest wedgie.

[Tobias Smith]

Tobias realizes that maybe, JUST maybe he misjudged Psychobi-...Ms. Craft. The mutual messing with Pyro, the nicknames for other people in the Institute, and just the general smart-assery he's seen of her in the past....10-15 minutes of knowing her. As such, when she brushes past him, falls, and about to be crushed, he's obligated to help...that, plus she called him Tobias instead of ONLY Tobi. That, is enough in his opinion.

Showing the slightest bit of concern on his face, he notes the large weight which seems to lower when she tries to get out, and the rather uncomfortable position Toni appears to be in. He swears quite a number of times, and looks around to see SOMETHING that would help. He would like to just stop time and pull her out, but that would be a disqualification. Another bit of swearing, and he decides his only option is to pull her out as fast as possible. He nearly bolts to get in front of her, and grabs her wrists.

He notices her weight immediately.

"Jesus fucking Christ! Heavy enough!?" He strains to pull her out, and is making minor progress when he notes that the terrifying squeak of the weight. He swears again, and tries to pull as hard as possible. Thankfully his boots keep him from skidding, while he uses all of his strength. That, was when he notes something in front of him. A miniature hole in the wall opens, and Tobias can hear something...spinning. His eyes narrow, as he remembers every spy movie he has ever seen. As if on cue, a saw blade shoots out directly toward him, and time seems to slow. Not due to any power, but the pure adrenaline that was now coursing through his system.

He is not sure how, but he suddenly feels Toni's weight coming, the saw blade hurtling to wards him, and the massive chained thing beginning to fall. With a final show of strength, he manages to pull her out and immediately fall back wards, unintentionally pulling Toni on top of him as the blade soars above his and her heads, and the weight plummets to the hole.

Then Toni falls on him, and he instantly has his breath knocked out of him as he attempts to breath and speak, "Off......me........cant....breath......lose.....weight.....dammit....!"

[Tempero]

>“Daniel, I expect you in my office hours at 2PM sharp. We have to have a talk.”

Everything goes just perfectly fine until she says that. The voice, the look, and the words themselves immediately snap his attention short, cut off his use of powers, and at the same time distract him better than any punch, or even battering ram, could have. It is a chiding voice. It tells him that he is in trouble.

Remarkably, even though he is at the very verge of getting out of his teens, this is the very first time he has gotten into trouble. It is not that he was always allowed everything- it is just that he has never been out of line, never crossed some border of disobedience that would provoke a chide. And this all comes from one of the few people who have given their best to help him out with his problems (and succeeded in very large quantities).

It is disturbing, and, even more, it crushes the boy's spirit for the continuation of the game utterly and completely. And only then, almost a minute or two after the real event, Warren's shrieks of pain come to his mind with full power. He realizes that he has caused massive amounts of pain come to someone he considers a friend. Hell, he doesn't usually even think of causing pain to those he does not like. And somehow, perhaps due to his contact with Ororo's and Warren's thoughts shortly after they saw his expression, he sees it himself in retrospect.

2PM sharp. he thinks, echoing Storm's words as she marches off and the world continues working its chaotic execution of Dr. McCoy's fun exercise, and Daniel is only vaguely aware of someone calling his codename, perhaps. He looks up to see Matthew battling Warren, Tobias being squeezed to death by an unexpected Toni-factor, and the rest being engaged in some sort of battle with either the zone or some of the others.

After a few seconds, he tries partaking back in the action, but it does not simply work. He was in the game before, now he can't possibly even think of some adequate techniques. And he does not even dare look at Warren, or even the slightest of hints of white feathers.

Perhaps it would be best if he just removes himself from the game? He is not having fun any more (and not the usual "not having fun while in the end it was all fun and games, but the anger was in-character" way of not having fun in these things, and most definitely it is not meant to be that his sadism is not satisfied, because he does not have one of those), and so he turns around a few times, watching closely for something he could use. Unfortunately, he is right now uninteresting, and the Danger Room itself cannot hurt him. Finally, he lays eyes on Tobias. If I strain myself with his power hard enough, I will be knocked unconscious, right? I am not used to the pressure... and so he quickly finds a link to the boy's mind, and this time not even communicating anything, finding the mutation's center, and then copying it onto himself.

He stops time soon enough, and then just walks around and runs a bit before he starts feeling the strain. Tobias manages five minutes with it, which means that, due increased control, Daniel will manage six or so.

And so, six and a half minutes go by and he finally starts forcing himself to stay in this state, until, at last, he falls unconscious for a few moments, but just enough to be pushed out of the temporal stasis, and just enough to be removed from the simulation. Also, he manages to wake up just soon enough to go back to his room, and not have to deal with anyone after the whole thing is over.

The room does not provide much comfort, and so he walks out into the courtyard with his mp3 player, clambering up to a tree, and trying as hell not to think about tomorrow.

((Danny's out of the thread))

[Nikkolas Blagetovich]

What in the Hell? We went from the nice castle, trees, and elves to this Hell hole. What the.. Danny's whole mind-power-steal-copy thing seemed wear off on Warren when Ms. Munroe went and decked him. Served him right torturing Warren in such a manner. But, there were worse things now in the Neutral Zone then grenades and firing trash cans. Danny's other team mate, Matt, was charging him and Warren, who were dashing towards an exit out of this zone. Nikk wasn't sure what Zone they were heading too, but it had to be better then this.

As Nikk was running, he watched as green energy exploded ahead of him and made a dust cloud. Wow, this kid has really bad aim. He had no idea that it was a trick until he watched Warren dodge the dust cloud. If Warren wasn't going to run through it, neither was he. He followed his captain around the cloud, only to come head to head with the one they were running from. He mumbled under his breath in Russian; they seemed to be trapped, and this boy looked like he had a few more tricks up his sleeve.

He stopped, watching Warren sprint at Matt and jump attempt over him. Should he run in an attempt to get the gate mechanism to start opening, should he just stay put, or try to help Warren in his attempt to out witt Matt? He thought for a second, and thought it best to stay put, encase Warren did have a plan for him, but he was ready to sprint at any moment.

[Rogue]

(Entering from Yellow Zone...)

Despite the fact that she’s invulnerable, not at risk at all from them (not to mention that they’re simulations, and not a real risk because of that) and should technically not have even felt the spiders through the leather of the uniform she wore, Rogue’s near-certain the spiders are crawling all over her once she’s through the door, and she straightens, carefully looking herself over and brushing at places cobwebs have attached themselves to her, and trying not to look at all freaked and panicky.

Mostly that works okay, until the point where she dislodges a spider from her wet hair (she’s almost vaguely surprised, somehow, that the wet from the rain carried over into this zone – Hank’s done really good with this), and sort of jumps as it tumbles onto her shoulder, down her arm, and onto the ground, and she steps on it and there’s the disgusted-flustered shudder, and a gloved hand brushes over her hair again a few times, making double-triple-sure she’s free of the things this time, and even once she’s ‘sure’, she’s a little jumpy, keeps imagining she can feel them crawling on her…

But she looks around the Neutral Zone and ignores that sensation – and once she starts looking around, she sort of forgets about the spiders, watching the others running around and fighting and everything…

”Looks like a party…” she mumbles to herself, sort of surprised, somehow, that they’re all out there already... But, really, it makes sense that they would be, since the object of the game is to hurry…

…Hurry, right. Green eyes flick across the zone, lock onto the blue gate, and she heads off that way at a run, figuring Laurie’s going to do the same – and notes, as she gets a little closer, that they’re not the only ones heading for the Blue Zone – Toni and Tobias are near there, dealing with some sort of pitfall obstacle…

Rogue slows her pace a little, eyeing the floor warily for any differences in the panels, not really sure if she’d notice or not if there was a difference before she fell through the floor or however it works. They all look the same to her…

[Matthew Craft]

He’d finally gotten into the whole combat state of mind, and just moments after that happens, the automated Danger Room rings out loud and clear.

“Tempero has been eliminated.”

“What?” He mumbles, looking to where he had last seen his partner. Warren’s movement causes his eyes to snap back, just in time to catch the strange, almost vicious look on his opponent’s face.

He charges at him, wings out and attention on the ground. Matthew briefly remembers their basketball game several months ago, where a similar move had been pulled. If he recalled correctly, Warren had ended up scoring a point by sliding through his legs. Fine, that went over once, but would he know that I’d be expecting it?

Unfortunately, Matthew gets his head around the situation a split second too late.

“Ok, now!” Tensing, Matthew whirls around to fend of the attacker from the rear, fists ready for self-defence. Embarrassingly, his alleged assailant is revealed to be only air. The entire attack had been an impressive strategic maneuver on Warren’s part.

“Crap.” He mutters, turning around to find Warren well out of reach, dashing through the Green Gate, with Ms. Monroe and Nikk hot on his heels. “Double crap.”

His sister complains of a wedgie after half-falling through a trap door, but Clockwork does his part and pulls her free before a large weight can fall on her. The result is a crushed and gasping goth, but Matthew pays little attention. Instead, he bides his time and waits for another team to waltz into his arena.

Not taking on the Red Team is a personal choice that most would frown at, but he figures that Dr. McCoy would understand why attacking his own, semi-crazed sister would be a bad idea. He’d wait until Toni got separated from Tobias and then challenge the latter, or take on John when he decided to show up. Either way it would involve not getting pummeled by the iron maiden...at least, not until after the exercise.

Thankfully, Rogue is a welcome distraction, making avoiding his sister much easier. But then again...Rogue’s on Laurie’s team...and Matthew doesn’t take too kindly to the idea of hurting Laurie in any way, shape, or form. To do so may result in their strained relationship to become increasingly tense, something that Matthew’s willing to avoid, no matter the cost.

He’s left to stall, unwilling to advance on his sister in fear of her guaranteed rage, and hesitant to attack Laurie’s team, in fear of pushing her away farther.

[Toni Craft]

She’s half scrambling to save her hide, and half-trying to pull her absurdly tight kevlar uniform out from between her butt cheeks. “Last time I go commando in the Danger Room.”

Fortunately, picking the wee, dark Tobias wasn’t a total waste, because the next thing she knows, he’s doing his best to haul her out of the hole.

"Jesus fucking Christ! Heavy enough!?" She glares at her teammate while managing to hook her booted toe on the edge of the hole.

“Now is not the time to be commenting on a lady’s weight.” Toni grinds out, straining to hold herself up while not setting off the winch mechanism that’s currently holding the weight above her head.

But her weight and the weight dangling above aren’t their only problems. Just as she’s finally starting to feel her body being hoisted upwards, a section of the wall slides away, revealing several saw blades. “Hank, you really need to start watchin’ some Star Trek or something. Honestly, you’re so old school. Where are the lasers? The evil alien torture beams? The hot dudes in leather thongs trying to kill us? I want hunky thong men, dammit!”

Fortunately, with Tobias hauling on her arm relentlessly and her carefully placed toe, Toni soon finds that she’s flying out of the hole. The bzzzzish of a saw blade fills her right ear, and she feels something nick her ankle.

"Off......me........cant....breath......lose.....weight.....dammit....!" Tobias sqwacks beneath her.

“Victory kiss for the kid that saved my hide!” She announces happily, giving her teammate an enthusiastic kiss before rolling off. “Damn...and I just had these things dry cleaned too...” Toni grumbles, poking a finger through the hole in the leather where a saw blade had caught her across the ankle. Fortunately, her tough iron skin hadn’t even been scratched.

She hauls herself to her feet, wary of any other traps. “Wuh-oh...I say my dear Clockwork, looks like we’ve got some company. And not of the friendly types either. Methinks it's time to go...” Toni tugs Tobias up, whether he’s caught his breath or not, and then dashes off toward the Blue Zone again, narrowly avoiding an array of spikes that launch themselves from the ground.

[Laurie Collins]

[[Matty- Laurie actually dropped into the neutral zone a moment before Rogue, but we’ll just say he didn’t notice for reasons herein]]

Laurie completely misses her teammate’s entrance into the neutral zone as about a second after her feet touch the ground she’s knocked off of them again when a floor tile whizzes out from under her left foot. Luckily she falls forward onto more floor instead of backwards onto…whatever is concealed under the floor which she prefers not to think about. Also on the list of things not to think about is whether or not it’s going to hurt when she gets ‘killed’ because after seeing the neutral zone and everyone else in action she doesn’t think she has a hope of surviving this game very long.

Okay negative thoughts later, pathetic, worm-like stomach crawling to avoid bullets and such towards the blue gate now she thinks and starts said worm-like movements. She realizes, after she crawls around behind Matthew with no reaction on his part, that by sacrificing dignity in a way no one else seems to be willing to she’s gone undetected by most of the other players. Just as she’s congratulating herself on this, however, she hears an ominous clunk…wooosh from behind her and freezes, hoping that if she pretends not to hear it whatever it is will go away. When the sounds show no sign of just going away and she finally does look behind her, however, it’s only for a moment before she’s on her feet and sprinting away because the trashcans she crawled by earlier are suddenly gliding quietly towards her with some things that looks suspiciously like gun barrels sticking out of them. I really don’t want to get shot, I really don’t want to get shot, why am I doing this ohmyGod

She’s been running while looking back over her shoulder and so just barely avoids plowing into Matthew’s back, veering suddenly when she sees it and drawing in air for a sigh of relief--

--and expelling it in a reflexive shriek as she realizes she’s run right into the path of some nasty looking circular saw blades the wall has just launched.

[Matthew Craft]

Despite being immune to everything in the Neutral Zone, the sound of gunfire still sends a chill down Matthew’s spine. Whirling to see who has set off the turrets, he barely catches a glimpse of blond hair before it disappears behind him.

“Laurie! Wait, don’t go over--” But he knows that she probably wouldn’t acknowledge his warning until too late.

Lunging forward, using his abnormally long stride to close the distance in an instant, Matthew grabs her arm and hauls her back. He uses his own body to block the barrage of gunfire, the virtual bullets bouncing off harmlessly.

Bssszzzzzt... Right, that was what he was trying to warn her about. It was the same section of the zone where his sister had experienced the trap door and the saw blades, both of which, Matthew notes, have been reset. Fortunately it seems as though the trap door had been rigged especially for Toni, as Laurie’s weight doesn’t seem to set it off again. But the saw blades were already revealed and spinning.

“Uh oh...”

Bssszzzzttthhhwack!

The first of three blades is met with a fist, sending it wobbling and flying off in Rogue’s direction. The second hits Matthew in the shoulder, but glances off, inoffensive. But the third is targeted slightly lower. Laurie’s head is the target as it’s launched from it’s wall-slot. “Down!”

Placing a protective hand on her head, hoping that his arm would fend off the blade if he’s not fast enough, Matthew squats and pulls Laurie down with him.

The deafening and frightening buzz quickly fades after the saw succeeds in lodging itself in the opposite wall. “You okay?” Matthew asks, breathing a little hard. He looks down at Laurie and checks frantically to see if her head is still attached, brushing a mat of blond strands out of the way in the process.

[Laurie Collins]

For maybe the first time since she turned twelve Laurie isn’t worried about emitting pheromones in an emotional situation because she doubts, in the corner of her mind that has room for such dispassionate things as observation and doubt, that even her pheromones could keep up with her right now. She’d frozen, letting herself go limp and be dragged to the ground out of pure shock at the rescue, for most of the past minute but as soon as Matthew starts brushing at her hair she launches herself backwards like the touch sent an electrical bolt into her, skidding about awkwardly on the floor as she tries to avoid any traps and feeling her mouth opening and closing in a moment of incoherency.

“You!” she finally manages in a squeaking voice whose emotion even she can’t quite decipher, “You...you can’t do that! You’re not on my team!” and then she claps both her hands over her mouth and looks horrified. That’s the first thing I’ve said to him since the music room and it was yelling at him! This wasn’t supposed to happen, I was supposed to get up the courage to apologize and rationally explain that I wanted to at least try and... why did he have to do that? Why does he always have to go and do the exact last thing I'm prepared for? Which brings her right back to indignation and she pushes herself to her feet, hands on her hips, and barrels on- “And now I’m yelling at you which is not what I want to be doing! I had plans and these, these-“ she flails her hands wildly, heedless of the bullets and saws and other Danger Room simulated threats whizzing about her, “these words because I am good at words sometimes, some times that are not now because now I am yelling at you with these stupid words instead of the good words I was going to use and…yelling! I never yell! Or talk this much! And trust me I’m trying to stop but since you killed the the plan, I am plan-less and word-less so all that leaves is yelling and being the worst team captain ever because I am yelling instead of playing this game and…and…this!” and with that she leans down slightly from where she’s been standing to kiss him full on the mouth (or perhaps the gesture more aspires to a kiss, a fierce sort of lip-thrusting motion that only remembers what a first-real-kiss is supposed to be at the last second and so manages to convey both frustration and hesitancy in the moment it lasts) before pulling away, looking first dazed and then completely terrified.

“I-“ she starts, not sure where on earth she's heading with this sentence after that, and then abruptly yelps and flickers out of existence as one of the simulated bullets hits her on the back of her head. Later it will occur to her to wonder if maybe she managed to stand there as a clear target for so long because Hank was enjoying watching the dramatics more than any virtual student-squishing, but for now she merely turns and flees from the Danger Room into the hallway as a computerized voice echoes:

“Yellow team captain eliminated. New yellow team captain: Marie D'Ancanto.”

[Matthew Craft]

Matthew is beyond relieved to see that Laurie’s alright after his sudden attempt at rescue, but when she whirls around and starts talking at him, he feels his stomach jump into his throat again.

“You...you can’t do that! You’re not on my team!”

“I--” How is he supposed to explain his actions? I’m horribly overprotective and I couldn’t stand the thought of you getting beaned by a saw blade? He doesn’t think that’s going to go over very well, especially with Laurie wanting her distance.

Unfortunately, Matthew doesn’t get the chance to sort out his thoughts, let alone explain things to her before she’s ranting and yelling. Like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming freight train, he stares wide-eyed at her as she shouts at him about her ruined plan and her usual good use of words. He’s beyond scared at this point, trembling lightly as he succumbs to her superiority in the situation.

As he’s getting ready to let a simple ‘Sorry...’ peep out, his mind suddenly goes blank when Laurie abruptly stops yelling and kisses him. “Mmmph?” His eyes are about two inches past wide and he’s struggling to stop himself from falling over.

Just as he’s about to have a breakthrough and finally comprehend what was going on with the yelling and the kissing and such, Laurie pulls away, backs up, and then disappears. Literally disappears.

“Yellow team captain eliminated. New yellow team captain: Marie D'Ancanto.” Only vaguely does he realize that something has happened to Laurie and that the Danger Room has booted her from the room.

In a mild state of shock, Matthew finally looses his balance and teeters backwards, sitting on the ground and staring like a confused deer who’s wondering why he didn’t get his guts splattered all over the railway. Chewing on his thumbnail numbly, he looks up at the ceiling.

“Sorry, Dr. McCoy. I don’t think we’re gonna win anymore.”