It took Sarah a long moment to place what it was that Laura had said. Laura was quoting someone clearly and the quotation was quite apt. Sarah smiled as she realized that Laura was referring to Sarah's recent experience swinging from the gibbet.

"Damn girl," Sarah replied, laughing, "You are much smarter than what the gossip in the mansion says you are. Still, I wouldn't worry about them. You can imagine what they say about me!"

Sarah reached for her hip, to wear her spyglass would normally be and cursed quietly under her breath. If she were wearing her pirating costume it would have been there, inserted by the Danger Room's program. She placed a hand to her bosom, feeling nothing but the leather bustier and bare flesh that was her harem style costume for Assallya Kressair. Not being in her pirate costume also meant that her four pistols weren't there either. All she had was the holographic jambiya dagger from before. Her pirate costume was probably down in the captain's cabin.

"I vastly prefer having my own real costume," Sarah added, "It's probably down below in my cabin. You should have a pistol on you somewhere too. At least you're supposed to start with one. Your claws won't work on your opponents here. What we need now is someone we can loot so you can take all their stuff."

Shading her eyes, leaning over the railing and peering towards the horizon with one bare foot cocked up behind her she looked for a ship to engage cannonade and board.

"All right quarter master," she said to Laura behind her, "holler the following. 'Loose tops, royals, mains and then say something to encourage the holographic sailors below. Then you'll see the pirates go to the base of the masts and loosen the ropes which unfurls the sails."

Zagan said
"Name is Smith, Jax Smith. Nice to meet you Magnus. Thank you - that is....understandable, but before this; I would appreciate some food, I would just like a bed, room mate or not, Is there a gym or something in this place? Holding tank? I can tell you my powers - I am very strong, I can fly and my eyes allow me to see in a sort of slow motion."

Magnus helped him to his feet, clearly feeling the strength the other possessed, he'd make a good front line fighter, flight also makes him a good scout. "You like sushi? I made some before you got the welcoming committee, if we are lucky there might be some left. I'll spare you my shortcut so i can show you around." Truth be told, the fight he walked in on made him realize how unequipped he was by leaving his gear down below to get scanned, he would feel better stopping by his room to grab a bag.
"First thing first, you are in the womens dormitories, that is one reason you made such a stir, second, the one with brown hair smelled someone new but the alarms didn't go off for an intruder, so she probably thought you had disabled the alarms and snuck in like an assassin or something. She's a bit tight wound, military brat doing push-ups at five instead of playing with dolls and the like."

He lead the new guy down the hallway of he ladies dorms to the descending staircase that showed the main foyer then up the opposing stairs to the mens dorms. Even in a relaxed walk, Magnus made hardly as sound as he moved, each foot raised and lowered on the caret without shuffle as his arms swung just away from his body so that his fabric didn't rustle. His tail swung in time with his walking to ease the weight being distributed.

"Each dorm as two floors, bottom floor of one bed rooms and top floor of two beds. Single beds are given to senior students and those whose powers are deemed unfit for shared space, mostly those with energy blasts or super strength, last thing you need is a nightmare going wrong and taking out a whole wall or the ceiling above you. That is why you need to spend a day in the scanners. You may have wings and strength now, but what if we put you in a room with someone who boosts your powers and you find out you can now call bugs, we wake up to beehives, ants nests and termites all trying to get a piece of you or you grow extra arms with an exoskeleton. Don't worry, it comes with an x-box and a whole wall is one screen. One sec."

At the end of the hall was Magnus room, he disappeared in a soft *BAMF* in front of his own door, there was a click and the door swung open. The room was dark as could be with a blacked out window. If Jax's compound eyes percived the ultraviolet then a true black light would illuminate much of the standard pagan bedroom with bookcases set into the wall and no bed to be seen. Thick rolls of incense and herbs hung in the air with the taste of brimstone cutting through while trance music's drumming beat like a heart. If Magnus could be seen, he slipped out of his sweats to slip on some black silky pajamas and strap on his thigh holster with a few tools tossed inside.

"Lets go see the rest of the place, If we're lucky Leon didn't eat all the fish. Leon's a cat-guy looks like a tiger. Kitchen to grab some food then off to the tank, after your time in there I'll show you where the Gym is."

Jax took the offered hand and stood up, taking in magnus for the first time, blue, lithe and that tail looked like it could be quite the weapon in a fight.

"I have spent the best part of one and a half months eating out dumpsters so anything not from a dumpster sounds like paradise, I kind of lost any pickyness I had about food a while ago Magnus." his tour guide then mentioned about not taking his shortcut, which Jax could only assume had something to do with his powers, and the dragonfly boy was grateful for it. "That sounds like a good thing, I wouldn't want to get lost around here." As Jax spoke he looked around taking it all in.

Jax just listened while Magnus mentioned why the two girls had attacked him like that, which he responded: "Alarms? In a place like this isint there a kid who can detect people or something?" After all the things he had seen, it wouldn't surprise him, and he chuckled at the last comment about the brown-haired girl.

by this time they had reached the foyer, Jax looked around at the grandeur and magnificence of it. "Bit much all this surely?" Magnus had gone on to explain how the dorms were set up, that how those with certain powers had to have their own rooms because of their instability, as they reached the bottom of the stairs Jax noticed that his companion wasnt making any noise at all, which slightly put Jax on guard as his mind flashed 'Assassin' but he tried to relax as Magnus had not made a move to attack.

They had stopped outside one of the many doors in what Jax could only assume were the boys dorms and with a bamf, a cloud of brimstone smoke Magnus had vanished again, but seconds later the door opened in to a blacked out room, Jax could see around the room at bookcase, the strange lack of bed for a bedroom and the many other items that littered and decorated the room, as soon as Jax could see what he was doing he looked away as he changed in to his night ware.

the blue boy had finished and had spoke to him. "Sounds like a plan" was all Jax said in response but slightly shook his head as he was told about a cat-guy, but followed Magnus all the same.

---

(John)
John eased on to his reinforced bed and sleep quickly claimed the earth mover, he tossed and turned as his dreams began to form within his mind, it was a normalish dream for him, dreams of a normal life with out powers, this dream was taking place at a school - John was in class with some of the other 'human' looking students from the mansion, but the fire alarm rang out and the students began to make their way out, John leaving last making sure that the others got out safely, for a moment the door that opened into the hall had closed and so he went to open it, but instead fell from a window into an arena like place, not somewhere John had ever been - the place smelled of death, blood decorated most of the area, as he fell, he could tell that this was not a place no one should of had to be.

He crashed into the floor, and it took a moment to get up. He looked at himself to see himself changed, his arms and all he could see did not look human anymore, it was almost as if he had been carved out of a rock - his arms ragged and rough, he finished examining this version of himself as two girls had walked into the arena - his mind racing to only one thing: They are going to fight to the death. looking at both of them, one of them almost looked like Discharge....

Else where in the mansion in one of the dorm rooms near John's another boy was awake, smiling as he concentrated twisting the dreams of those near him...

Truthfully Laura didn't have to imagine what they said about her. Her or Sarah. Rumors spread through little cliques in the Mansion like any other gathering of people coming into the world, but it's pretty hard to hide such a thing from a person with supernatural senses. Still, even if she could hear it she never listened - to rumors about her or anyone else.

"I can see why you would..." Laura said softly, obviously uncomfortable about being portrayed in a dress - real or not. She made a quick search for said pistol, finding it wedged against her back via leather belt. The things weren't too accurate at range, but she was fairly certain she could figure out how to make use of it in close quarters.

Without much more provocation Laura hopped up onto the railing, rope in hand for balance, and drew her rapier. "Yes, Captain...LOOSE THE TOPS, ROYALS AND MAINS!" She shouted with a vigor clearly unseen, a genetic predisposition for barking orders. Laura paused for a moment, scanning her brain for something potentially inspiring, "TO A GLORIOUS VICTORY OR DEATH AS A FREE SOUL WE SAIL!"

The sailors leaped into action, shouting cheers in unison as they moved like one perfectly greased gear. For a moment she allowed herself to forget she was an X-Man and in that moment she completely understood the whole 'role playing'...thing. She didn't have to admit she was enjoying this one, dress or no, but it was clearly written across the 'quarter master's' entire demeanor. If she let herself drift any more, she might swear she could feel the heat of the sun bearing down on that pale skin, heating up her onyx-colored hair and warming her typically cold bones.

Sarah had to admit, this was another aspect of the Danger Room that she liked. In reality there was little chance that the men would follow the commands of a woman on deck. While yes, there had been a couple of lady pirates. She had looked up Mary Read and Anne Bonny and while fascinating they were the exception to the rule. Additionally, you'd think they'd have noticed that Sarah wasn't in her pirate garb and instead looked like an escaped slave from a Turkish harem and questioned their orders. The NPC's were definitely of limited intellect.

Laura's cry was rather surprising and Sarah blushed to think that she had flinched at the suddenness of her exultant exuberance. The girl truly was getting it. In fact, her bloodthirsty nature was probably more into this scenario than she was.

Stepping sideways, Sarah stood before the ship's wheel and stood on her toes as she leaned in against it and twisted the wheel.

"Spanker a starboard," Sarah next ordered and after her order was relayed she pointed towards the spar over her head that was on a pivot. Immediately several pirates moved around the aft castle, tying off ropes to fix the sail in a new position.

"Watch the spanker," Sarah advised as the pirates tied the spar down in a new position, "It's important. The wind bounces off the tight sail and fills the sheets. That way if the wind is coming from the side it can still fill the sails. Generally, you don't even have to give the orders on your own ship, just turn the wheel and let them do their thing. The computer generated quartermaster will give those orders. After a while you can't help but lean how it all works."

Turning back to face Laura, Sarah vacated the position behind the wheel and leaned her lower back against the railing at the fore of the aft castle. Propped up on her elbows she stretched out her legs and let her golden hair spill out over her shoulders.

"I think I see a schooner on the horizon. It's relatively easy prey. See if you can bring it to heel so that we can board her. Afterwards, you can captain her and I can be an admiral! At least, I think that's what you're called when you have more than one ship."

Real Aya could do nothing but watch as her dream self, bobbed and weaved, ducking kicks, blocking punches, and dodging lethal (to her) bursts of water. Despite merging her consciousness into her dream body, Real Aya could do nothing but watch, the outcome already in her mind. Dream Aya's thoughts flowed into her, sparking memories she hadn't thought about in a long, long time. Painful ones. And despite Aya's attempts, her emotions were starting to get to her...

(Dream) Aya had never seen anything like this. Ariel was coming at her with a ferocity no other mutant here dared attempt. When they learned their opponent was THE Aya, their wills were broken. But, despite how hard she was coming at her, (D) Aya couldn't bring herself to fight back. Seeing her chance as Ariel stumbled, Aya quickly grabbed her shoulders and twisted her arms behind her. "Why! Why are you doing this Aer. I thought... I thought you loved me" she asked, her eyes tearing up. But Ariel just glared hard at her.... and laughed "Don't be stupid. You were just great in bed" Stunned, (D) Aya's grip slackened, and Ariel took her chance, breaking Aya's hold and punching her in the face, dazing her long enough to begin her assault.

Over and over, Ariel wailed on her, attacking every single point of Aya's body she could reach, her blood splattering on the ground. Pulling all her physical strength and slamming her fist into Aya's gut, dropping her to her knees. As Aya looked up into her eyes, she could've sworn she saw Ariel... flinch? But as quickly as it came, her face hardened again. "I'm so disappointed in you. I thought for sure the legendary Discharge would put up more of a fight. Honestly, I don't know why I even bothered requesting this fight" And with that she turned on her heel and began walking away. "W-wait... You... requested a fight with me? But... but Ariel... I... I don't..." "D-DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" she had stopped dead, shouting those last words. Crawling a little closer, Aya reached for her beloved "Please... I'm your... Ayame...". Turning her head just enough, Ariel's shoulders began to shake with rage. "No. You're just... just... JUST MUTANT 24242012!!!!!!! she bellowed, turning back around, and releasing a torrent of water, so powerful, it slammed Aya into the wall, creating a crater ten feet in diameter. And with that, it was Ariel's turn to drop to her knees.

"Well" came a voice over the intercom "It seems we have a winner. I'm sorry for the disappointing performance 24242012 gave. Clearly she wasn't as willing as I'd hoped. Ladies... Gentlemen. Please collect your win-" but he was cut off as a large burst of electricity shot out of the crater and slammed into Ariel, lifting her off her feet and throwing her back several feet. "Hahahaha!!! I guess I spoke too soon. Ladies and Gentlemen... NOW we have a fight. And I can guarantee. It will be delicious" the voice ecstatically proclaimed, as a battered Aya stepped out from the rubble, her eyes aglow with sheer power. Power... and hatred. "Alright, Bitch. Let's see if you can take it just as well on the battlefield as you did last night" Aya grinned maliciously, before igniting both her hands in the blue power of Zeus.

Charging ridiculously fast, Ariel barely had time to get to her feet before Aya was returning her previous assault tenfold. All her rage, sorrow, and heartbreak being poured into each electrified blow. Grabbing her throat, Aya shocked her with enough voltage to cause severe pain, but still keep her conscious, before going back to good ol' fisticuffs. Her final blow knocked Ariel away, but the hydro mutant managed to recover and fired a stream of water at Aya, but this time, she was ready. Unleashing a javelin of electricity at the center, it evaporated much of the water instantly, creating a smokescreen of fog. Using this to her advantage, Aya snuck around behind Ariel, and drove another javelin right into her spinal cord. Immediately, the woman lost all feeling in her legs as they collapsed into jelly. Slowly circling around her disabled prey, Aya relished every moment, aching to see the fear she instilled in her opponent. But instead she saw... nothing. No ounce of emotion. It... was unsettling. It was disturbing. Come on! Feel dammit... Feel... FEEL!!! "FEAR ME!!!" she screamed grabbing the prey by the throat. Still nothing. No... not nothing... a calm peace. "Grrrrrrr... fine... have it your way". Lifting her right arm, Aya charged it with as much electricity as she could, until her arm began to disintegrate into electricity itself. And then thrust in into her foe's stomach, until she could clench her spine.

"WOOO-HOOOO!!!! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! A SPECTACULAR FINISH!!! I expected nothing less from our greatest mutant. Alright, now it's official. Collect your winnings on the way out and please throw away your trash. Remember to recycle!" the voice over the intercom was practically dripping with glee. But Aya didn't care. She was back to her normal, gentle self. Staring down at Ar... Mutant 52794389 as she took her final breaths on the earth. But something wasn't right. She had a gentle smile on her face. And it seemed she was trying to say something. Against her better judgement, Aya leaned down to listen... and her heart went cold as ice. "P-please don't h-hate me... m-my love... I... I did w-what I-I had to... to k-keep you... safe. Now... you can... get... the an... ti... dote. I'm s-so s-sorry... I love you... now... and forever". And those were the last words of Ariel.

"Oh, dear. It seems my little secret is out" Came a voice from behind Aya. It was the director. A man in his late forties, with sharp, grey hair and piercing, calculating... cruel eyes. "Secret... what secret?" Aya asked, her brain refusing to co-operate. "Oh, can't you figure it out? No? Fine. Allow me to hit your tiny brain with some exposition. Don't overload now. You were getting sloppy. And the audience didn't like that. They felt, as we did, that you had spent enough time with your little toy. So we came up with an idea. What better way to eliminate this particular thorn... than to have you do it. But of course, you'd never hurt your precious little Ariel" his face contorted into a sneer "So we told her you had been poisoned. And the only way to get the antidote was to kill her. She was all to eager to agree. Apparently she decided to make you hate her" he looked down at Ariel lifeless corpse "Very effective strategy... I'll have to remember that one. Oh, right. Here you go, as promised. The antidote" he tossed a small bottle of pills at Aya, who caught them with no problem. But looking at the label.... "Um, sir...? These are just sugar pills" she stated. Sure enough, the bottle contained only placebos "Ping Pong! You are correct. Poor Ariel... I can't believe she actually thought we'd take the risk of killing our faaaaaaaaaavorite performer. I guess she died for nothing! Hahaha" Cackling, he made his way back to the lookout, leaving Aya to fully understand everything that just took place.

But the broken girl he left one the floor wasn't quite as broken as he hoped. Slowly her mind was consumed by one thought 'Kill... Kill them all... Kill everyone... KILL EVERYONE!!!!!'. And as that phrase circled in her mind, the lights started to blink. Up in the control room, a technician monitoring Aya's vitals began to become concerned. Quickly he called the director "Um, sir. You should come see this. 2424's energy output is increasing. I've tried to shut her down... but her collar won't respond. It's... sir, it's dead. I think... I think she might have drained it's juice. I'm trying, but the back-up battery is dead too... Oh, my god... Sir, her output is increasing exponentially" Suddenly, all the lights went out. The only illumination came from the tendrils of electricity, being siphoned from the lights and going into Aya's body, and her eyes. Glowing and crackling fiercely. Soon her entire body began to glow "My god. She's draining the generators! CUT HER OFF!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN'T? AND THE BACK-UPS TOO? If she drains that much... SIR, GET OUT OFF HERE! IF THIS KEEPS UP, SHE'LL GO-" he never got the chance to finish as a bolt shot out the control pad and fried his neurons. The same thing happened to everyone else who was near an electrical source. In no time at all, 50% of the staff was dead... and soon... the rest followed. The doomed technician's prediction came true. That much energy was to great for Aya's body... and she exploded with the force of a ten-ton bomb, utterly decimating the facility, and vaporizing everyone in it...

Iceman: “OK Jest it is all set up, we just need you do make a strike.”

Before the group of mutants was a stretch of ice resembling a lane one would see in a bowling alley. At the far end was a set of ice made pins which were ready for anything to come its way. The ice shone brightly in the rather dark sky, the mutant had lost track of time since they bumped into the new mutant known as Jest, she had been here awhile and was mainly active at the late and early hours of day for reasons no one knew. Amara, Tabitha, Bobby, Illyana, Alison, Neena, Samuel, Jubilee and Roberto were present. They all watched as they saw Jest begin to form a ball of energy, at first there was no colour to it, it was just a plain look to it but after a moment it began to go blue as the size increased.

They all watched as it became the size of a bowling ball, each of them seeing her handle such a task with easy though remember her saying she had never tried anything bigger then that before. Soon she found herself staring down the lane to where the pins were, she lined her shot because that was one of her skills. The other mutants waited, excitement filled the air as there would be a big bang if there was a strike. Each of them soon started to say her name in unison, each time getting a little louder.

The collective group: “Jest……. Jest…….. Jest…….Jest…..Jest….Jest…Jest..Jest.Jest…”

It felt like they were at a football game or something as she soon let the ball go as she had her sight locked down on the pins. The ball of energy rolled quickly down the icy lane and traveled towards the pins; with each second it gained more and more momentum until finally the ball of energy hit the pins, exploding on impact and shattering the pins and the far end of the lane into small shards of ice. The group then went mad over it as the ice filled the skies as it fell back down to the ground, it was quite the sight.

The excitement level was high at this point causing Jubilee to fire some fireworks off to show her excitement. This in turn set the others off as Iceman started to create something with Boom-Boom just creating and throwing her energy attacks in the air and watching them blow.

Multi-Man had just appeared and seeing the excitement joined in as he yelled various things out to them.

Multi-Man: “No, not again. Why didn’t anyone tell me this was going on?”

Sunspot: “we couldn't find you man.”

Soon the random excitement became something more as the group soon found themselves forming into two groups. Iceman had set up more ice lanes and some more pins; he was not going to play but set up the pins if knocked down or create new ones if destroyed. Jest or April Fools which was another name for her stood watching, her mask covering her face so no one could see her facial expression, only her stance gave them any idea of what she was feeling though it was a false feeling as her arms were crossed which normally showed one was annoyed or offended.

Soon the sound of loud laughs filled the air, the sound of pins being knocked over and the sound of frozen balls rolling across the icy lane. This game would not last like this as soon there powers would become a factor because it was always like this and Beast as well as a few of the older X-men tried to control them in not using their powers but always failed because it would happen, the damage would be in the mid to high range. At this point Jest had moved on, she wanted to see who else was up, maybe make them smile or annoy them depending if they were the serious type or not. To the mansion she headed, maybe someone needed the company.

John's attention snapped to the two combatants start to rip into each other, but one of them appeared to be more hesitant and after a moment it clicked, the one not fighting had a striking resemblance to Discharge, and this was confirmed shortly after as she shot a blast of electricity, knowing who the girl was John tried shouting to them to stop, but not a peep escaped his earthy lips, his voice robbed.

More then one way to get things done John thought to himself as he squared himself up and focused his mind as he tried to erect a flood barrier as a torrent of water rocketed towards Aya, But once more nothing happened, a second attempt - this time to restrain Hydra-girl and just like the first time - a big fat nothing happened. This only left one course of action, he moved towards the middle of the attacks, with his body made of earth the water and electrical attacks would not be fatal to him, but like everything else, nothing happened and the attacks phased through him (or did he phase through the attacks?) and the fight resumed - as much as he wanted to look away, close off his hearing, to turn away, but something compelled him to take in the fight, at one point it seemed as if Aya had lost, but the revelation that the fighters were once lovers and that hydra-girl seemed to have only used her for a good time in the sack snapped something in Aya as the latter began to fight back and eventually overpower the former.

the fight horrified John that Aya had to go through all this, and it was only once Hydra-girl died did it dawn on Aya, the survivor that this had all been a horrible set up designed to break up the two lovers because the horrid humans felt that Aya was slipping. At that news Aya lit up as arcs of lightning shot too her as she began to absorb power - and in the pit of his stomach John knew this would not end well, but what ever happened - he would try and help Aya with what ever issues she had...

'Well... that's that, I guess' Aya thought, as she was surrounded in white. The nightmare was over. God, she couldn't wait to get up and put these damn memories behind her. Having to relive the most horrific night of her life at least once a week was starting to get to her. It was getting harder and harder to hide it from her teammates and classmates. It just kept grinding on her mind, like sandpaper, slowly shaving away her sanity. Honestly, Aya didn't know how much longer she could last like this. And she couldn't go to the professor. What would he think, seeing everything she had done, and to be perfectly honest, enjoyed before she came here. God it was... wait... why wasn't she awake, yet? She always woke up right here. "What is..." but before Aya could finish, the white vanished, replaced with the smoking crater that was once the facility. "My God. Did I do all this? Why don't I remember?"

Before she could take a step, a crackling filled the air. Looking towards the sound, she found it came from the epicenter. Where she blew up. Electricity had begun to pool together, creating a vaguely human-like shape. In no time at all, Dream Aya was standing there, naked as a babe, and looking utterly confused and dejected. Something was clenched in her hands. Staining her memory, Real Aya finally remembered. It was Ariel's dog tags. They had been warped, charred, and cracked, until they resembled a black heart with a break in the middle. (R) Aya couldn't believe she had forgotten about something so important to her. Struggling to walk, (D) Aya slowly made her way out the crater, slipping over the blackened walls and various debris.

Finally making it to the top, she looked around, clearly not recognizing where she was. (R) Aya was similarly confused. She couldn't figure out why she didn't remember anything of this. 'Maybe it's not real?' No, that can't be it. She'd seen the wreckage from aerial photographs and this was exactly like it. It was almost like... there was a block. Like something had happened she didn't WANT to remember. (R) Aya was suddenly filled with a sense of utter dread as she tried to will herself awake, but of course, nothing happened. (D) Aya just kept walking. Cocking her head slightly to the right, she started walking toward an upturned van, vanishing from sight behind it. Suddenly, (R) Aya heard an anguished scream. Despite not wanting to, she had to know what was behind there. Each step felt weighed down. Like her shoes were full of lead, and after an eternity, she was there. Taking a look, she immediately regretted it.

Sitting there on the ground was (D) Aya, cradling a young girl of maybe fifteen in her arms. Or at least... the girl's top half. (R) Aya recognized her instantly. She had named her Mika. And Aya had taken care of her ever since she could remember. The girl had even taken to calling her sister. Wet, hot tears began to pour down her face, along with the burning from her power. But she didn't care. For all this time, Aya avoided responsibility for Ariel's death by saying that it was the Director's fault. He pushed her to fight and kill her love. But Mika? Mika died because of Aya. Aya wasn't forced to destroy the facility. She chose to selfishly absorb to much power to try and die. And because of it... because of her, her little sister was dead. She couldn't take it anymore. Dropping to her knees, Aya grabbed her head in agony. "I'm a monster. I'm a monster. I'm a monster. I'm a monster!". Lifting her head to the skies, she released a primal, soul-ripping scream of agony and defeat...

... which continued as she rose ramrod straight in her bed, drenched in sweat. Her powers were going haywire and destroyed the bulbs in her room. Looking around in terror, she quickly stumbled out of bed, her legs refusing to work and causing her to crash into her desk, knocking everything to floor. Ignoring that she gasped for breath and tried again, this time tumbling into her dresser and dragging the whole damn thing down. Running her back to the wall, she curled up, hyper-ventilating and trying to stop shooting of sparks. A wave of nausea ran over her and she crawled to the bathroom, puking twice on the way. She emptied her stomach once more in the toilet, before she shakily stood up. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she saw she was a wreck. But most striking. Where previously there were thin, hardly noticeable burn tracks, were now large, angry, inch thick burns down her cheek. She looked like some kind of demon. There was no way in hell those were healing. It was almost laughable

"The flesh reflects the monster within..." Aya mumbled, her eyes falling on the tub. As flashbacks of those two corpses, along with all the others she had accumulated over the years, ran through her mind, Ayame made her decision. And she filled that tub. It didn't take more than a minute. Taking a deep breath, she plunged her hands in, and was immediately electrocuted. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!" She cried, as her brain forced her flesh out. Dropping to her knees, she was shaking like crazy, her hands almost as ugly as her face, but it wasn't enough. She was too drained for something simple. So she picked herself up, and prepared to dunk her whole body in, when the door burst open and she was yanked away from the tub "STOP IT!! LET ME GO!! I WANT TO DIE!!!" she screamed, trying to fight her restrainer, but she wouldn't let go...

(Yup. I'm ending it here. So... who saved Aya's life? That's up to you guys. I don't care, so long as it's a girl. Oh, and it's up to you whether or not her powers were causing any other lights and electronics to malfunction. I look forward to seeing who gets to save the day! ^_^)

Laura gave the air a few practice slashes with the rapier, to test the length and heft. Her emerald eyes locked hawk-like onto the aforementioned schooner, boarding strategies ticked off one by one in her head. The calculated processes slipping away and continued on as she glanced back to the Cap-- Sarah.

"I will do my best," she stated with a curt nod, replacing the rapier carefully into its sheath. She would have felt more comfortable with a dagger, but somehow the sword instilled a sense of adventure rather than the comfort of a shorter blade. Like a lithe little spider she pulled herself up the netting on the aft mast, at least part of the way. It was a bit of an odd sensation knowing that, truly, she was floating in mid-air on something that weighed virtually nothing, but the tactile sensation was nearly flawless.

Laura let herself forget, for the moment, that she was in the danger room. Her heart embraced the whimsy and urged her to climb on just a short way. She could see the schooner almost clearly from there, no need for a telescope. Her expression was that of concentration, hard eyes locked on the target ahead.

With little warning she changed her hand position the rope, grasping the side awkwardly before swinging around and hurling herself back to the center of the Poop deck. Her little display of athleticism was clearly unneeded, but it made her feel good. In no small fashion she realized that's what this whole thing was about. Feeling good. And training, of course, but for now the anticipation of the hunt was on her. Training could wait.

She gave an awkward nod to Sarah, as if apologizing for her little stunt - a "sorry, but I'm not sorry" sort of gesture. "How do you repair the damage to your ship?" She queried with due curiosity. One would assume you'd have to sail the thing into a port, but this was a different animal altogether, perhaps there was another way to do it from the sea? It wasn't really appealing to sail a ship full of cannon holes simulation or not. Not that it would dictate her strategy too much.

A cautious hand graced one spoke of the wheel and her heart beat slightly faster as if there was truly something on the line. "Thank you for showing this all to me, Ms. Covenry ," she glanced back at her teammate, feeling almost odd for remembering to say so while gearing up to steal a ship and masquerading as a pirate.

Assuming that Sarah meant for her to pilot the ship in stepping away Laura grasped the wheel firmly, staring to guide the ship towards the perilously hopeless schooner in the distance. Her plan, which may have been needlessly complicated, was to come around to the starboard of the other ship- or at least feign doing so. At the last moment she would cross the other ship's wake and give them a full blast of firepower from the rear, provided the canons could fire in order rather than all at once...
In the chaos of all that, she decided, that would be the perfect time to sidle up next to her and finish off the remaining crew.

"We are going to come around on the starboard, fire at the rear for as little damage to your ship as possible, and then peel to their port and finish off the...scoundrels," Laura summated with her eyes still locked on their prey and, subsequently, her first ship.

"Don't worry, you will get turned around anyways, everyone does. Its a dormitory college for people from thirteen to thirty. So you've been on a bad streak for six weeks, did you mutate two months ago or longer?"

Locking the door on the inside, he pulled it closed with a click as his silk sighed while he lead the way. It felt good to have the familiar weight on his thigh, a security to not rely on just his powers to protect him. Jax alone proved that eternal vigilance was the only save answer, just like in his home realm where the mutants were hunted down like dogs.

"The one most likely to detect you was the professor, and clearly he did. He may have disabled the defenses or set them to your signature, but setting the alarms without informing the rest of us seems risky. There are others, sure, but most often they don't need the schooling like most here if being aware of other mutants is your only power. I've heard it described as having that sixth sense, they have an aura, or there is a persistent sensation in their presence."

Back down the dorms hall, he made the same lack of noise with rote muscle movements as he almost loped to the main hall and turned again now away from either hall before. Passing the library, one of the many the classrooms, and following the familiar path to the kitchen. he stopped and pulled Jax to the side as some kids came flying down the hall, literally.

"Adding to the confusion of this place, every room but dorms has two entrances to prevent anyone from ever getting trapped. The library has top line computers, no macs or apples, each one is made here using their own software thought up by the residential geniuses but lots of folk here have a thing for the feel of a real book in hand. Classes are handled on a loose merit system with each class meeting about once a week to discuss things before being given the next week sets of assignments. You are never hard to find study groups here. If you have heard of the x-men already on the news or what not, any student team member has to keep a 4.0 in order to be a candidate for the missions, just like sports in regular high school."

Finally they arrived in the kitchen, he looked around for a mental roll call to give the proper introductions. Thankfully most of the sushi was still there to be enjoyed as he served up a plate of a dozen pieces to offer the bugboy. He served up a plate for himself with ginger and wasabi to begin eating as he talked.

"Kitchen is 24 hours, food is color coded for vegetarian, vegan, kosher and halal. Eavery single thing in the kitchen is to be washed before and after each use to prevent allergic reactions. Breakfast is at eight, lunch at noon, afternoon snack at 4 and dinner at 8. Otherwise its open grazing as long as you clean your mess as you go."

"Everyone. This is Jax, new face. Jax, this is...""

Laura appeared to be really getting into this aspect of what Sarah called training. After all, who knew if there was time travel, airships or who knew what in their future? Maybe sailing and swashbuckling would end up useful someday; Who knew? Well, Sarah supposed there probably was a mutant out there that could answer that question but she certainly didn't. Inside she was a bit disappointed with having Laura at the wheel. It would have been interesting to see her leaping from a mast spar down onto someone or some other insane feat of aerial acrobatics.

"Powder the guns me buckos," she said softly to one of the artificial crewmen, this time not hollering, "but softly. Gundeck only. Prepare to fire as she bears. Pass the word."

That would, unfortunately, lessen their firepower but the worried looking figures that had emerged on aftcastle of the schooner were looking about their vessel with a spyglass and discussing with some animation what they should do about the vessel behind.. Turning back to Laura as the crewman walked away to carry out his orders, Sarah nodded gently over her shoulder towards the men atop the distant forecastle.

"We're being glassed." she said casually, "I rather imagine they're pissing themselves or... whatever it is that artificial holographic constructs do... "

Then, from out of nowhere, Sarah giggled, idly tracing the leather thongs that strained to hold her harem outfit closed at the front.

"I tried flashing my boobs at them once when I was going after a larger ship. They didn't notice. Apparently whoever designed the program didn't take that into account in the programming."

Asha had awoken from her light slumber on the sandy shore of the lake to a weird flashing light. Well, it was more like flickering. What was that? It had ruined her dreamless sleep. Something she hadn't reveling in in such a long time. In her jeans and shirt, which had been under her black clothes, she floated up in the air sleepily, rubbing her eyes. Looking up at the window that was flashing, she frowned. What were they doing? If they were having a rave, they were doing it wrong. She should know. She was her own personal rave every time she got excited.

Flying over to the window, she hovered in front of it for a moment. That girl... Aya? This didn't look good at all. Hesitating she shook her head, drifting backwards. No. Aya was in trouble. She had to help now! Putting her hands in front of her, light blasted through the window, the UV rays soaked in from the starlight scorching the sides from where her blast had left a nice sized hole. Oops... Too much maybe? Well, it was just the window.

She shot into the room and hovered over a haywire Aya who was stumbling about. Her power was zipping about uncontrollably, glass breaking and things all thrown about. There was sparking light everywhere and Asha put her arms up. It didn't burn, those sparks of electricity, but they felt more like being hit by switches. Where was Aya? The bathroom! Shooting into the room Asha gasped as Aya tried to electrocute herself, screaming at her to leave her alone.

"Like hell moron!" she shouted right back, with a force that shocked even Asha herself. Grabbing the other girl around her waist, she dragged her backwards, flying out of the room, right back out of the hole she had shot in the other girl's bedroom. Shooting up into the sky, leaving a streak of shimmering colors and stardust, she held onto the girl with surprising ease. It was like hold a gallon of milk in both arms. Only slightly uncomfortable, but bearable.

Hovering over the manor she shook the screaming girl. "Aya, look!" she shouted at her, "Look at me and stop screaming!" Asha's glimmering face, dancing with sparkling soft colors just beneath her skin, her eyes were a mirada of rainbow light. Her usual quiet voice was clearer than crystal, stern and striking in its musical tone. "What do you think you were about to do, huh?" her voice turned more gentle, but kept it's odd clarity, "Do you think that is anyway to deal with things? I don't know what you are upset about, but I can tell you that almost everyone here has felt your pain."

"But dying doesn't cure anything," she flew a bit higher, the rush of wind getting colder and stronger as it passed by them in hard currents, "It only causes grief to everyone else around you. I could drop you into the lake right below us and help you destroy yourself, but then what?" She took a breath in and gave Aya a good glare, which looked unusual on her face. "You'd never get a chance to fix anything," she said softly, "To help yourself by learning how to control you power." She finally did wince though, "Speaking of, could you maybe stop with the shooting electricity? It stings a bit, even for someone who is power by UV light..."

Jax
"Turned around?" Strange phrase Jax thought as the blue tailed boy walked back to him and locked his room. Talk soon turned to how long Jax had lived with his mutation as Magnus picked up on how long he had been living rough.

"It has been a lot longer then two months, it took six weeks to get here, I had to train myself to be able to use my wings for long periods of time; The strength came first - that was the hardest to master, there is no off key to it, learning to temper it was hard - there was a while when I was putting holes in walls, doors and floors, breaking mugs and all sorts, during that the wings came, that was a painful experience as I tried to hide them and out of shame so I did not use them and then lastly my eyes mutated, it was then I could no longer live where I did and the dreams of this place started - training to regain the strength in my wings took time, then after a while I began to make my journey here - having to fly by night, sleep by day."

After he finished Magnus had mentioned about the Professors actions both in detecting him and disarming the alarms; "So His power is mutant detection or mind game stuff - is that how he knew my name?"

Magnus mentioned that not all mutants lived at the mansion as some powers were passive things such as being able to locate other mutants, which in Jax's mind made sense.

As they continued to move through the boys dorms, the lack of noise which accompanied Magnus' movements still had Jax on edge a bit, with his wings involuntarily twitched once or twice. A short while they had passed the library Magnus yanked Jax into a classroom - but saw there was a reason, a small horde of younger students came rushing past, and with it came another explanation which involved a brief of what could be found in the library:

"Adding to the confusion of this place, every room but dorms has two entrances to prevent anyone from ever getting trapped. The library has top line computers, no macs or apples, each one is made here using their own software thought up by the residential geniuses but lots of folk here have a thing for the feel of a real book in hand. Classes are handled on a loose merit system with each class meeting about once a week to discuss things before being given the next week sets of assignments. You are never hard to find study groups here. If you have heard of the x-men already on the news or what not, any student team member has to keep a 4.0 in order to be a candidate for the missions, just like sports in regular high school."

"X-men?" Jax responded "Arnt they a vigilante group of thugs?"

They arrived at the kitchen, with Magnus being a gracious host told him the basic rules and etiquette. With that Magnus turned and introduced Jax to - an empty kitchen...

There was a plate of sushi which had been prepared a while ago, but to Jax it was almost like heaven as it had not been sat in a bin for who knows how long, he took two pieces and devoured them quickly. "Compliments to the chef!"

---

John

Everything went white, the earth mover thought that this was the end of the nightmare Aya was having and that he would wake up, but this was not the case by a long shot as the white faded and another scene resolved itself to where a strange electrical phenomena which soon settled and resolved itself as a naked Aya holding something, but it had been distorted and twisted by the sort of power Aya was giving off, but his attention didn't last on the charred bit of whatever in her hand as the bigger picture was that there was a (not totally unattractive) naked girl who wore an expression of pain and sorrow on her face, it took a time for the naked Aya to stand up and walk out of the creator stumbling on debris as she went.

In the corner of his eye John saw another ghostly figure floating a short distance away - the Aya who was actually dreaming this but she did not notice the earth movers presence.

A scream ripped though the air, making John shudder at what could of happened to cause such pain and as much as he didnt want to look, something dragged him towards where the dream aya had gone.

Finally the dream aya had made her way out of the creator but she had not walked very far before she had stopped, knelt down and clutched a half body, slightly charred, possibly another fighter in this place of death and hell.

With that John woke up with a start as he was thrown from the bed on to the (luckily) reinforced ground floor room, he shook and shuddered, triggering his power slightly as a small aftershock type earthquake rocked the mansion, but soon stopped as John mastered himself again, standing up, John began to pace, wondering what he should do after witnessing the what could only be some of the horrific things Aya had been through.

Coming to the conclusion that for the time being he would keep what he had seen to himself but he would do his best to watch over the girl, be a friend for her...

Jax found himself being passed by what appeared to be an infant now more than a year old that had half kicked off its blankets. He lay back in a small floating egg of sorts that moved at a walking pace, bobbing slightly as he made his way through the school. The baby peered at Jax as they passed one another. Behind him, a large young man, nearing seven feet, walked by wearing a wide visor that looked much like those the X-Man Cyclops wore and bore hands that looked quite grey, almost like they were made of stone.

"What chu lookin at?" the baby said in a deep baritone that would have better served a plumber from Brooklyn. His small electronic collar blinked green in time with each syllable, as if it were speaking on the baby's behalf.

"I'm sorry Face," the larger one continued, as if they were continuing a conversation that Jax had only just come across, "I forgot to put on my glasses before brushing my teeth."

"Yeah, except now you ain't got no hands so who's gonna do crap for us?"

"Come on... It won't last forever." the grey handed boy stated as they started to go around the corner and their voices faded with distance, "Just got to let it wear off after all."

Laura took in every little gesture and the pieces of slang. She'd never been that good with slang, but perhaps it wasn't too late to start. Besides, she figured, pirate slang was way more fun than your garden variety American slang.

The wind carried them closer and closer to the smaller ship, Laura's grip in the holographic wheel tightened with anticipation - she noted her heartbeat's slight increase. Being a leader wasn't something she was that accustomed to, though she had grown into the role in simply being one of the senior X-Men, but...perhaps that was why this sort of simulation could help her training.

It's true, she was gifted with a mind for war and strategy - gifted being a very strong word in that scenario - but she always felt more comfortable receiving orders. Understandably so, she thought to herself. This little pirate simulation could help her gain some manner of confidence in leading, a pensive smile drew across her lips around the same time Sarah mentioned flashing the holographs.

"Hrm..." She thought to herself, looking down at her own set for a moment before looking back at Sarah, "If they did not pause for your breasts, they certainly would not pause for mine." She pondered what a breast-noticing algorithm may even begin to look like in coding before tilting her head, somewhat lost in thought. This lead to a brief inner-discussion about the potential merits of breasts in combat and assassination in general before leading her to another question.

"Sarah, why do you dress in such a way if it does not hold a tactical advantage?" Her voice was free of judgment and filled with genuine curiosity. Who was she to tell the woman what she should and shouldn't wear? Besides Sarah was obviously comfortable enough with herself and, truly, didn't seem to be embarrassed by Laura seeing her 'hanging out'.

There wasn't anything to be embarrassed about anyway, X thought to herself as she began the first part of her little plan - coming around on the starboard side of the other ship before swinging around.

"Oh... believe me," Sarah answered, considering Laura's question and biding for time, "It does. Just not here."

There was so much more to it Where to begin? The blond mutant considered what to reveal and what not to. One thing that was certain was that Laura kept secrets. She was trained to do so. That made things different than with some of the other students. She'd told Bamf, errr... Magnus, a little bit of it but she didn't trust even him. He was far too playful and free spirited, too much like herself. Unlike Laura, Sarah knew she was something of a gossip and couldn't be trusted.

"That's probably because I was made this way by someone, a telepath with power that almost matched Xavier's," Sarah explained, "Before him I was rather timid and ordinary. I read fantasy books and hid myself away from the world. My own power gave me nightmares and those nightmares spawned shadows on my bedroom wall that spawned more nightmares. I didn't use curlers, wear makeup and I wore baggy clothes.

Sarah stepped away from the railing and spun on her bare feet, keeping to her toes and pirouetted, letting the ebon silks she wore floated around her limbs and the waves of golden hair spilled out with the force of her spin. She then leaned back against the rail for she realized that, having moved away from the railing that Laura was forced to choose between looking at her and the ship they were preying upon.

"Then he came along and rewrote my brain. He made me...." Sarah continued and then paused, trying to figure out how to euphemize what she was going to say, "Oh, who am I trying to kid. He made me his slut- and made me totally obedient as well. I was practically his slave. The professor fixed a lot of the damage in my head but I found I liked some aspects of what he'd done to me. For one, I'm a hell of a lot braver. I'd never do the things I do back then but then there are the drawbacks. I still like being tied up and being submissive and I have to resist that all the time-"

Sarah noted that the ship had grown quite close. It wouldn't be long now before everything went to hell. Which was the good part she had to admit. The cannonades, the boarding and then, of course, killing the captain and taking the ship for yourself.

"-and I think you're about to do your thing." Sarah noted and withdrew slightly to allow Laura a moment to concentrate.

Aya was thrashing and flailing like crazy against whoever it was that had pulled her away from her destiny. She screamed her head off at the bastard that was holding her tightly, not paying a lick of attention to where the hell she was. It was only when her foe spoke that Aya paused in her rage for a minute and turned her head, then she squirmed her whole body around. She recognized the girl. It was that glow-stick chick she met earlier. So astounded was she that the meek little runt had interfered that Aya barely caught what she was saying. But it had started to sink in. Slowly. And Aya's shoulders started to shake with rage "How dare you. HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!!! YOU HAVE NO CLUE THE THINGS I'VE BEEN THROUGH! You say the others have been through incidents just as bad! You naive bitch! What could you have POSSIBLY been through, huh? Let me guess, people thought your skin was ugly? Fuck off. I would KILL for a backstory as weak as that! Don't you dare! Don't you fucking DARE..." and she suddenly stopped mid-rant.

For about 10 seconds she just stared intently, hard concentration swimming through her eyes, looking almost like she was rewinding a tape for a certain easter egg. Then her shoulders started shaking again, but this time from something else "Ha... hah... hahaha... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!" She had begun laughing like a maniac, a crazed look coming over her eyes. Like a spiral into madness "FIX THIS?!?! You think... I wanna fix... Hahaha! There IS no fixing this! You can't fix the past, Sweetheart, but you can learn from it, right? If someone presents a significant threat to the welfare of others... You kill them. Correct? Hel-looo? The death penalty. Lord knows, I've earned it a hundred times over. No, seriously, I've killed enough people to legally earn a hundred death penalties. I can control my powers, just fine. I don't think I need THAT lecture from a 24-hour night light" She waved her hand dismissively, then looked down. "You know, I think I have to question YOUR sanity, Princess. Did you seriously fly a suicidal, psychopathic, perpetual electric generator high over a large natural body of the substance that can kill her almost instantly if she completely submerged in it for longer than ten seconds, just to chastise her on trying to commit suicide by submerging herself in that same liquid in her bathtub? I-I gotta tell ya, not a great plan. And people say I'm nuts"

Quicker that Asha could blink, Aya's face was suddenly two centimeters from her own, a dark blush staining her cheeks, and her index finger placed under her chin. Any outsider would totally get the wrong idea. "You do realize, I can taser you by touch alone, and cause us both to plummet to our deaths if I so choose" Aya whispered in a husky voice "Oooh, the thought alone gets me sooo... mmmmm" She licked her lips, a small charge traveling up her finger... and suddenly she had a different look in her eyes. "Oh, dear. I'm terribly sorry. I'm hope I haven't offended you" She said in the sweetest voice you ever heard. Backing away, Aya smiled sweetly at Asha "Thank you for stopping me back there. I don't know what I was thinking. I owe you my life. If there is ever anything you need, please let me know, okay Ms. Asha?" Aya said, giving her rescuer a hug "But um, do you think we could come down now? I'm starting to get cold. After all..." she looked down, her whole face lighting up like a christmas tree, as she whispered "I am kind of naked..."

Asha had tried reason, and obviously this girl was in too much of a rage to see any of it. She was not surprised that the barely sane girl had done something to warrant a legal retribution as harsh as the death penalty. But then again most of the X-Men were like that too. She thought she was special just because she was a little off her rocker and had a bad past?

"Cry me a river, you big baby," she huffed, tilting her head to the side shooting them further up into the sky, where she could absorb more starlight. She hoped the cold made the other girl tremble and shiver her way back into sanity. "As IF you're the only one with a bad past stained in blood. Just because you can zap people doesn't make you any different from the rest of us at school." She twisted them in the air.

Her shimmering eyes slide coldly down to the other girl, looking at her laughing for only a moment. Gods she was tempted to roll her eyes. Leave it to Asha to try to help a crazy person. She let out a small huff. Now how would be the best way to bring her out of this loco coco talk? "I meant fix your brain, but whatever," she muttered under her breath, "Like you're so damn special just because you're wacked and have done wacking. As if the older, and even some of the younger, X-Men aren't in the same frigging boat, Sparky." She did crack a small smile at being called a nightlight though. She wasn't totally devoid of a sense of humor.

"Yes, I seriously flew a suicidal, psychopathic, perpetual electric generator up into the sky, but that was with the intention of killing you unless you got a grip," she smirked drily, "However from this height, the cold air and fall alone could do the job there, Sparks." She couldn't believe she was actually starting to find this all a bit humorous. But this was the first good thing in her life and Ms Electricity here wasn't going to ruin it. That dark spot in her heart would not allow it. And if Zingy here did happen to slip from her grip, people would think it suicide anyway. Just look at her room. Asha wondered if she was really this desperate to save a spot in her new home. Wasn't she usually a passivist? Yet when this girl argued for death, that part of her mind still locked up and tortured in darkness just wanted to comply.

She didn't flinch when Aya clawed her way up and put her face close to hers. In fact he face looked a bit dead pan. It was an expression she had long been in control of. Thank you Daddy Dearest. She tilted her head to the side and stared right back at the raving girl. "You do realize you'd be the only one to die," she shot right back, the ghost of smirk on her lips, "UV ray chick, right here. I'd just be charged up like a battery, since we are no longer over the lake. Take a look for yourself, Sparks." Looking down they were much higher than before. Much, much higher. It was only Asha's radiating heat and Sparky's natural electric warmth that was keeping either of them alive. The wind had made they drift farther from the manor too. They were over the vast landscape of trees now.

Raising a brow, she tilted her head to the side. "Of course, I might die," she shrugged, "I haven't tried this kind of death yet...." Looking back at the other girl with an almost bored expression, she shrugged a bit. "I'm starting to think you're always offensive, dear," she looked back at the other girl warily, wondering what she was trying to pull now. Looking down at the other girl, she found she was indeed naked. Just like how every other girl looked naked too... Why was she hoping that Aya looked more interesting when naked? Maybe because she was starting to think that there was no way she and Aya were going to get along? Or was it more like one of those freinemy things? Friend-enemy? Asha honestly didn't know. The other girl switched flips so often, it was sort of hard to tell what was going on in her head. And why were her hands still tingling to just drop her?

Weird. Whatever. She was getting something a kin to sunburnt from this Electric Slide already. "Hold on," she hesitated but looked forwards, "Or don't. You'll get down either way." She smirked but gripped the girl tighter and shot forward through the biting cold air. Maybe the cold would shock her out of this weirdness. It could do them both some good, if that was the case. Like a shooting star she crossed over the sky with Miss Sparks in her unusually strong grip, sailing through the sky back over to the mansion. With a dry smirk, she shot straight down, like a hawk doing a suicide dive. But once they got a few yards from the roof of the school she stopped midair. She had to tighten her grip on Aya's body though, since the laws of physic were still at play.

Landing in the courtyard of the manor, not really caring who saw, she set the naked girl down and set herself on the ground as well. Her ever changing hair still floated up around her head though. She looked just as innocent as she had before. Asha was a bit odd, much like most of them were. But what happened in the sky could stay in the sky, if Aya had enough sense about her. But then again everyone sort of saw her as coocoo for coco puffs anyway...

Laura had read Sarah's file, but in her 28 years she learned how dissociated a file could be with the reality of a situation. It resonated in an odd way with her own history, but instead of reliving the trials as she might have in some years past, she simply listened to her teammate's story. They were really, in some ways, different sides of the same coin. No less tragic was Sarah's and...fortunate to the same bitter sweetness.

Sarah's movements were the only real things around her, her scent, the sound of her movements, it all made it so easy to simply track with her hypersenses that Laura didn't exactly need to follow her, but she deigned to. It wasn't an easy thing she'd just shared and she'd learned that, without meaning to, she could be quite cold. X didn't want that to be the case here and so she followed Sarah with those unintentionally intense emerald eyes of hers.

The schooner had begun to flee in the opposite direction as she thought they might, noticing this in her peripheral she continued to execute her plan, attention split between two completely different things. "Thank you for sharing this with me," Laura said, knowing full and well the kind of trust it might take to share such a delicate thing. "I think we may be more similar than I previously realized," X remarked as she held her eyes on Sarah for a long moment before the cannon fire ripped through the air.

"You are correct!" She shouted in response to Sarah's observation, the waves of cannon fire punctuating her unusually placid demeanor. In turning back to face the action she re-immersed herself in this world with a new vigor. Well, a new anger was closer to the truth. Perhaps it wasn't all that new though.

The deck of the schooner was awash with splintered planks and fallen sailors, but plenty more seemed to pour from the bottom of the ship. That pleased her. She made another glance at Sarah, something similar in her eyes to the way that Wolverine looked at his teammates. Something like unexplainable devotion from a thing that shouldn't have existed, a thing meant only to kill. A loyal tin soldier waiting to be melted and molded into some other, more useful shape.

An odd smile crossed her lips for an instant before she blinked and re-focused on the coming slaughter.

"BOARD!" She nearly screamed, her voice projecting out like a weapon. Not that it needed to, Sarah had proved that. It made X feel more powerful, even if she was much more prone to a stealth approach.

Laura was a flash of yellow before the ropes had completely secured the other ship. She pushed off the railing of Ebon Raptor and landed with speed and purpose on the ship that was soon to be hers. There were four sailors on the other side, none of which looked to be the captain. She found it odd even as she drew her flintlock free, drawing her rapier hilt-down with her left hand. In a move purely meant for show, she arced the blade up in front of her, releasing it and letting it spin as she tossed her pistol to the other hand.

X caught her blade with the right, blade pointing proper-like in time to parry a sloppy dagger thrust. She riposted the blade and continued into a spin, backhanding the first assailant with her gun-hand. The weight of her strike sent him careening across the deck, but his dagger fell to her feet. Mid-spin, even as the sailor was still falling she fired her pistol into the particularly broad chest of a dark skinned, imposing figure wielding a large axe. X halted her spin by slamming her left foot down just behind the dagger before she simply released the firearm. In an attempt to retrieve the dagger, she scooped the tip of her boot against it and flicked it upwards. To no avail, the blade caught on her dress and clanged on the deck imperceptibly against the roar of men.

A particularly toothless grin greeted her failure and she took a moment to be aggravated that while they couldn't recognize breasts, apparently they could recognize clumsy swordplay. To that she replied with her sword, giving him another wide smile across his throat. She kicked his digital corpse down the stairs with a feral growl, barely dodging a cutlass that was meant to rend her heart in twain.

Laura caught the sword-arm and pulled him in close, forgetting for an instant that her claws wouldn't work here. Neither would her sword at this distance. The sailor's fist kissed her face with a force that would've likely lifted a lesser person right off their feet. It only served to make her angry. She flipped his muscular arm over and followed him to the ground. He attempted to restrain her with both arms, but she wiggled free, hefted her foot into the air and brought her heel down straight into his testicles.

She noted, for realism's sake of course, that there should've been a sloppy, wet noise with that sort of force. Regardless, the blow registered on whatever pain scale was in place and he went immediately limp beneath her. X rolled off, scooped up her failure with one hand and retriever her barely bloody rapier with the other.

X stared into the chaos, looking for the one target that actually mattered. Not that she would mind slaying the entire ship if she had to, but strategically...she'd like to carve her new ship up as little as possible.