Val had been silent during the introductions, as well as when the Professor was introducing the training center. When the giant robot attacked, she was also silent but for an entirely different reason. She watched as Alex and Danny went off, with Ali cloaking them but she couldn't cloak the heat signatures as well, Valentina didn't know what good that would do them. She observed Casper as he tried to come up with a plan, and then he mentioned he couldn't replicate something over two pounds.

"Casper, is it possible you could duplicate me in my electric form?" She asked him, curiously. She, in her simplest form, was a lot of energy. Striking something at full energy does a lot of damage, which is why St. Petersburg had a blackout when she first discovered her powers. Since then she's learned how to travel in bits and pieces as to not damage the vessels she uses to travel in but perhaps if he could replicate her even once, she could do some damage with Kimberly's help.

If not though, Val glanced at the door. She didn't know enough about it to know if it would open or if it would deadbolt if she fried it, and she wasn't keen to try in case the latter happened. She could possibly break the observation glass, with Kimberly's help but both that and her first plan requires Kimberly to be able to catch her before she goes into a conduit. Once she's in a conduit, without restricting herself, she would fry the system and that wouldn't be in their best interest at all.

"Kimberly, how fast are you at harnessing electricity?" She asked as she kept her eyes up on the robot, who hadn't done anything for a suspiciously long amount of time and that was starting to worry her. Robots don't usually stop attacking unless they're sentient, or someone who's controlling them is sentient, and has a plan. Their plan would probably be a lot more coherent than their plan at the moment.

---

---

Danny was about to open his mouth to introduce himself when the professors began to speak and introduce themselves. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he turned to listen to what they had to say. Oh well, the others could get to know him later since apparently they were all teammates now. It had came to his attention earlier that people knew who he was already, or that they knew of him because of the steps he's done to improve the well-being of the school. He couldn't help but chuckle at this because if someone told him he was known at his previous school, he would just laugh. He did however take in as many names as he could from his peers who had introduced themselves and the powers they had. They were quite interesting and he couldn't wait to see how they worked. It just reaffirmed what he thought earlier that with the people here, you never know what they were capable of doing. After a brief introduction, Danny dropped his things off in the locker room and proceeded on with the rest of his team.

They soon found themselves following the professors to what they called the Danger Room which actually looked more massive from the inside than it did from the outside. Like a few of the others, he was definitely in awe of what he saw. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through him already which could be felt as a combination of anxiety and excitement. Danny didn't come across as the athletic or active type, but he did well to stay in shape and keep a healthy lifestyle. There were many things people didn't know about the young red haired boy that you wouldn't think were true at first glance. Danny continued to look around at the DR and noticed it was all made of hard metal. Hopefully there were simulations that involved being in the outdoors so he could at least be of some use.

Before the professors could start, an explosion could be seen by the metal doors followed by a huge robotic hand that burst through the ceiling and knocked out Professor Pierce. Danny immediately froze in place as he didn't know what he just saw or if it was real. If it had in fact been real then they had better act fast. The only thing he could think about was if the professor was okay. That robot smacked the hell out of him, warranting the other professor to scream out and tend to him. This was all happening to fast. Before he could even comprehend what was going on, the Native looking boy Alex started spouting out orders to everyone in natural leader fashion. It was just all happening to fast for Danny.

"Wait what? I..Uh..." Before the boy could respond, Alex took off to the professors while Danny just stood there frozen. The other red headed girl Ali looked to be just as flustered as he was at first, but snapped out of it in time to cloak Alex before he made a beeline to the teachers. She had approached Danny and did the same thing to him before sending him off. "Uh. Thank you," he said before turning and sprinting in the same direction as Alex, apparently completely cloaked in the girl's illusion.

When he got to Professor Pierce who was completely out cold, he turned him over and put his finger under his nose to see if he was breathing. He was, but barely. They needed to get him out of here as soon as possible. Danny couldn't help but look up at the giant robot that could be the end of them if they didn't act fast. This couldn't be real could it? It all just seemed to be a bit much. He snapped out of it and put a hand on Professor Everose who had been freaking out the entire time. She probably couldn't see him because of the cloak, but she could probably hear him and feel he was there.

"You have to relax honey. We need to take you guys out of here now. I need help picking up Professor Pierce," he said before trying to hoist the grown man up with all of his body strength. He tried to stick his head under the man's shoulder to hoist him up but he needed someone else to grab him from the other side. "C'mon, he's heavy!" He looked back briefly to see how the others were doing. His other teammates were still trying to figure out what they were going to do themselves. Before leaving the main room in the TC, he did bring a pouch of seeds for him to sprout plants just in case. He had wanted to create kind of a mini jungle inside of the danger room to give them cover and possible use his plants to strike it, but if that robot infrared vision then hiding under some big trees weren't going to do anything. He decided it was worth a shot.

While waiting for Alex or Professor Everose to aid him, he used his free hand to grab the pouch that was in the pocket of his black leggings. He managed to grab a handful of seeds before throwing them out in different directions. Danny's green eyes began to glow as he spoke to the seeds and commanded them to sprout and protect everyone. He motioned his free arm in an upwards fashion as the seeds popped open and vines and weeds began to take over the floor of the Danger Room. It was before long that large trees, bushes , and vines began to sprout up, creating a small forest. "Now my friends," he said speaking to his plants. "Protect us." His plants began to animate themselves as if they were alive. The thorned vines and tree branches extended themselves and tried to block the robot from doing any more damage and to cover his teammates. However his vines were probably no match for that thing. He just hoped his team could work with what they had while he tried to get the professors out of here.

"Damn, that's colorful..." Casper's attention quickly turned towards Danny's druidic powers of nature and growth, seeing how he created vines and vegetation from seeds he had thrown out. At the moment, Casper felt rather useless but at the very least he could run over to Danny and help him get the teachers over to the door. In the process, he could try to find the key to their escape. "No...I can't replicate you in lightning form..." The boy would respond as he turned to Val moments before his attention reverted back to the teachers on the ground.

No means of combat could deal with the robot behemoth at the moment. Ranged combat seemed like the best choice in this situation but none of them had the means to initiate such a feat, though perhaps that girl could, the hyperactive one. Dashing towards Danny, Casper avoided the falling debris crashing down on the floor as the robot continued to move, its enormous appendage wrecking havoc across the room. At least the laser eyes weren't frying anything yet. Once the robot got the beat on them, it was game over. "Here..." Replicating the hatchet, a copy of the weapon built itself into existence in Casper's hand before he tossed the two items towards Alex once he reached Danny and the teachers. "You can probably throw far, right...? Aim for its eyes...Don't know how effective the illusion is against robot eyes..." Getting down to his knees, Casper tried to help Danny in carrying Pierce. The man was heavy to say the least, not to mention Casper's lack of muscles for the task. As it was however, Alex would be much more effective in damaging the robot than he would be in carrying a body. Since this started, everything had been played defensively. The illusion was weaved to protect them from danger and Danny shielded them with his powers, maybe with the edged weapons at his disposal, Alex could turn the offensive on. Speaking of offensive, their best bet was the lightning girl. She could probably damage this robot more so than anyone else. So far Casper had no clue what Connor could do, but it was hopefully something useful right about now.

"I'll help Danny with the teachers..." Casper continued, speaking with Alex. "You should synergise your powers with the others...bring that thing down..." Once Danny and Casper managed to drag the teacher's damaged frames to the door, they could focus on getting it open. Meanwhile, everyone else should focus on fighting the robot. It was the most effective means of survival at the moment.

Kimberly was excited to see things moving along when the Professors began moving everyone. They started to explain what they would be graded on, and how they would be graded. Kimberly nodded with each sentence; she didn't want to do poorly on something so exciting. Basically, work as a team to get the job done. It seemed like there couldn't be an easier task.

As everyone moved, Conner was lost in thought, staring in the palm of his right hand. He wondered if he had what it took to succeed. Everyone else had a power it seemed they could be proud of; what did he have? Nothing more than an ability to boost their powers. He felt he was useless on his own. He wasn't even that physically adept. All he had was his intelligence. Conner sighed mentally, dropped his hand, and faced forward again. Whatever happened, he would just have to do his best. That philosophy hadn't failed him yet, after all.

After dropping off their spare change of clothes in their lockers, they followed the others into what was introduced as "The Danger Room". In Conner's opinion, there didn't seem to be much else that could really describe it. Kimberly was in awe over the sight of the room. Neither of them knew what to think.

Unfortunately, it seemed like there wasn't much time to think. The ceiling suddenly caved in, with a giant metal hand being the cause, which smacked Professor Pierce into the ground. Kimberly screamed in fear and Conner nearly swore in surprise, both of them backing off instinctively. Professor Everose was the next to fall, being shot down by some sort of laser.

Kimberly fell backwards in fear and almost scrambled away, the only thing stopping her was the thought of what would happen to Conner if she were to leave him behind. Conner only stared at the metal face peeking through the hole in the ceiling, frozen in shock. Kimberly got back up onto her feet and placed both hands on his shoulder, saying, "Conner, come on!"

Returning to the present, Conner looked at Kimberly, then finally noticed what the others were doing. Trying to form plans, preparing defenses, working together. Conner looked back at the giant staring through the hole, thinking, If this is a trick, this would be an elaborate one for sure. Then he returned to examine the situation. Their professors were incapacitated, if not dead, the exit seemed to be sealed shut, and all that was there to combat the foe was a ragtag team of mutants who barely knew the first thing about each other. Yet here they were, doing what they could to fight their new foe.

"Don't bother, Valentina, neither of us would know where to aim," Conner said, already shooting the plan to have Kimberly harness Val's copied electricity. Shooting blindly wouldn't do much at the moment, and would simply be a waste of energy. The Eco-Nazi was summoning plants to fight back, although Conner suspected that those would not last long. Conner looked over everyone he could to weigh his options. He could try to synchronize with Danny, but that would probably only serve to slow down the robot even further instead of actually stop it. Alex was an option, but their strength would not compensate for the difference in size. He would like to synchronize with Kimberly, but as of the moment, he didn't see a feasible reason for that at all. Conner toyed with the possible idea of some sort of railgun, but that had never been done before, and they didn't have ammunition to fire anyway.

"For now, we evacuate," Conner finally said. "None of us can hope to take that thing on. Our best bet on survival is to get out of this room." Looking back at the exit, Conner asked, "Can anyone open this door, whether by force or some other method?"

Nathan had been taking everything in when the chaos began. Everything spun out of control in an instant with explosions and downed professors. He didn’t know what to do. Looking around it was clear that he wasn’t alone in that fact as other students stood frozen in fear and uncertainty. He knew damn well that they needed to act...it was just a matter of figuring out what exactly he needed to do. He had never been in a situation quite like this; of course he had experienced his share of traumatic moments, but nothing on this scale. Nathan watched some students run towards their seemingly unconscious teachers as Alex barked orders at them all, though unfortunately his mind wasn’t clear enough to hear exactly it was that Alex told him to do so for a few more second he simply stood frozen fear.

Fear, he knew that word all too well. It had been a motif of his life thus far and quite frankly he had accepted that it was a facet of life that would be there to stay, but he was sick and tired of being afraid all of the time. Again he looked around, he didn’t know anything at all that he could do to help the situation and his base survival instincts were telling him to just get out of the way and find a safe place but he knew that with that door closed there would be no way he could reach safety. Momentarily he pondered a way to get the door open but nothing came to mind and as the storm in his head stirred he looked up at the giant robot, at its terrifying and dangerous eyes. They began to glow a bright red again, becoming brighter and brighter as they charged up for another blast. ‘That’s it!’ He thought to himself as a light bulb turned on and exploded in his head with an idea. He ran straight towards the middle of the room, yelling as loudly as he could at the mechanical giant trying to destroy them all….He had never been so afraid in his life, but he didn’t know what else to do. The robot’s gaze adjusted and followed him forwards, its eyes growing ever brighter, and suddenly Nathan stopped dead in his tracks with his fists clenched at his sides just in time for the robots beam to blast forth from its eyes, firing true and slamming into Nathan center mass. A blinding red light illuminated throughout the entire room as impact was made and the only visible thing in the area where Nathan had been standing was the light of the blast.

A continuous stream of laser shot from those menacing eyes for what felt like an eternity, but a moment later it was over and Nathan was revealed to still be standing in the now crater like ruble where he had stopped. His arms were stretched out and his shirt was almost entirely burned off as he skin smoked and his eyes glowed bright with that same red light as the robots.

“Is that all you’ve got you bastard?” Nathan yelled out breathless, his voice cracking. He knew that there wasn’t anything that he could do to destroy the robot but if he could could keep its focus for long enough and absorb the blasts then maybe...just maybe...he could stall long enough for everyone else to get out and to safety.

It was in that moment that the robot above them began to flicker, then just like that it disappeared. Then the massive hole in the ceiling began to reform, metallic substance that was the entirety of the room began to reshape and move back into place almost as if it was liquid. The rubble began to disappear and even the crater that Nathan had been left standing in began reshape and form itself back into the solid, flat floor. Both Professor Everose and Pierce stand up, the cuts and bruises from their body disappear just like the robot and with a cocky smirk on his face Prof. Pierce looks on at everyone and speaks.

“Like I said before...Welcome to the Danger Room.”

The lights brightened and another voice comes over some kind of intercom, this one though had a thick, British accent.

“Well...That actually went much better than I had anticipated. Professor Pierce perhaps there is some genius behind you mad ideas.” As these words were spoken a spotlight of sorts came on with a loud click, illuminating the observation deck, and much like the robot, the scene of an empty control room flickered and dropped revealing a man wearing a luxurious suit that was dark blue in color looking down over everyone. It was Headmaster Malcolm Ashford. “Good effort students. This was your first test here in my academy, and you did much better than was expected. Though don’t let that go to your heads because if that robot, which is called a Sentinel, had been here in true form, you would have been fighting a losing battle. This experimental training session is just one of the many things that our “Danger Room” can do. You will be spending a lot of time in here over the next few years, but even so this room and the lessons you learn here are only a small part of what your education will consist of. You all came in here today and did your best. It wasn’t the most fluid teamwork, and not everyone came around to action, but these things are expected in your first trial by fire. You did good….next time do better.” The Headmaster smiles at everyone before turning to leave the control room. As he does so the lights in there turn off behind him. ‘It was all a test’ Nathan thought to himself, almost angrily. ‘It was all an illusion’. It was finally starting to sink in just exactly where he was and even more importantly what he was there to become. This wasn’t going to be your average school...It was going to be much, much more interesting.

~Plans never survive first contact with the enemy, accept this truth and prepare to adapt.~ Words of wisdom he tried to follow, broad brush strokes were the best plans at the moment and all things seemed to be going well. He Slowed for a moment at the cry for him to wait and was rewarded with her gift. He had meant for her to make others invisible, but if he was going for the teachers, being invisible would give him seconds needed to assess the situation. Good plan.

Casper pointed out the obvious, but he had said what Alex didn't bother to say. In the chaos, people needed verbal guidance. Spreading out was the best chance, good job Casper.

The teleporter had the right idea, mixing and matching with the others. He was glad she knew her power was electric in nature cause now they all knew. Secrets and lack of information would get them all killed.

Danny was excellent, he followed orders and even had a damn impressive power to back himself up. The speed of plant growth was astonishing, far more than his garden suggested AND he was still able to help getting the professors to safety.

In a moment Casper was back with axes for alex. The first thoughts were to redouble all of his survival supplies and squeeze the kid like a factory. He wondered if he was invisible or not but if Danny was with him, then he would be where the plants are. Good logic.

Kim and Connor were a bit of a disappointment. He was sure the lightning lass would have been all to eager to open up a can of whoop-ass on the robot. Connor had the right idea to try and direct attention to their exit.

Nathanial took a massive blow by running interference as a living distraction, it was a possibility that one would have to fall for many to live, but he was not comfortable with the choice. It would be a good death.

He took the hatchets back and got ready to try and take out its eyes, it was a far longer throw than he was comfortable with, but it was better to fail trying than fail without trying at all.

Then it ended... the test was over. No one was killed, but nathan still bore the painful brunt of the attack. The teachers got up with smiles at their ploy. It was a hard lesson well learned. Looking about at the group, he nodded with satisfaction.

"We did good. All of us. Give us a few weeks, and we will do great. SO, when do we get spandex and code names?"

Wiping the droplets of sweat running down his forehead, Casper couldn't help but chuckle. So it was a test, after all. It was actually expected from the very get go but it was a relief to know that it wasn't just wishful thinking. No one seemed particularly fond of the test, but who would be? They were just face to face with a robot that would have annihilated them. "Yeah...losing battle? No kidding..." There was no way on earth they could beat that thing. All they saw it do was shoot laser from its eyes and smash things with its hand. This Sentinal as it was called probably contained many more surprises and an absolute defense against their powers this early on. Casper didn't see his own powers developing that much, not yet, and they were reliant on an efficient firearm to be useful in combat, but the others would probably grow in power enough to take on these monsters more effectively. As for Casper, there had to be a gun good enough to go up against them. He was in what appeared to be the most advanced place on the planet, they could probably cook something up for him.

Speaking of equipment, Casper's attention had been stolen by Alex who mentioned spandex and codenames. One had to hand it to the guy, he was rather funny. Maybe he'd be happy with a feather in his hair and call it a day. Casper, he preferred a pistol holstered for when it was needed and a long ranged rifle for main use. That was all the spandex he needed. Though, Alex wasn't far out with what he was talking about. If they were going to fight superpowered people and robots, they were going to need some gear to follow it up with. Everyone's suit probably needed to be customized for them, as well. Casper would prefer a stealth suit of sorts, something light and easy to move in that didn't weigh him down and allowed him to remain undetected. Alex seemed to be better suited in some kind of armour, given his close up approach and Danny could wear leaves...not really. Either way, every mutant required a suit specifically designed for them, otherwise what was the point? They needed to be able to perform as well as they possibly could and that was going to be elevated by their equipment. As for codenames, they would be useful if not a bit corny. Saying a person's real name next to their enemies was never a smart idea, so having codenames was going to be rather handy. "Capt'n Native, Flower Power, Drainage Pipe, Hokus Pokus...I think they can all come up with better names..." Well, it was a fun stay but now that the lesson was over, it was time to go and get a change of clothes.

"Nice ride...cya'." As soon as Casper noticed how the door opened behind them, he thought it would be a good idea to get cleaned up and slip into his clothes. The day had after all just started and even though a lot of people probably wanted to go to bed again after what they had just been through, he knew that it wasn't an option. He had to get prepared for the next class, so did everyone else. "Interesting powers...How much shit can Nathan absorb before he goes pop? Don't know if this simulation blasted him with a Sentinel's full strength." As Mr. Ashford said, the group was going to spend a lot of time in the Danger Room which Casper wasn't against, but hopefully next time he had something in his hands which he could use. He hated feeling defenseless, and if that robot was something they'd go up against together, he hated to think about how powerful the other mutants they would fight were going to be. They weren't just everyday bullies who wanted to rough you up a little. Out on the field Casper could actually die if he wasn't prepared and vigilant.

Walking towards the locker room, Casper's mind traveled again. Were the enemies they were going to fight doing the same thing? Was there another school of 'Supervillains'? Casper hadn't heard any specific names concerning the terror attacks orchestrated by some mutant groups, but at the end of the day, they were simply fighting for what they believed in. Casper was going to have to fight these people in an attempt to halt their success of murder and disaster while protecting a species that hated him. He couldn't help but wonder what the others thought about this, about fighting their own kind for the good of mankind. But then, it wasn't just for the good of mankind, was it? It was also to give mutants a good name politically and socially. It didn't take a genius to know that negative emotions are much easier to remember than positive ones, though. No matter how many humans Casper saved, they would probably only remember being attacked by mutants, not saved by them.

Dropping down on a bench in the locker room, Casper slipped out of his t-shirt and breathed out. This entire thing was going to be a rough ride, wasn't it? "Gonna' be around for a while...I might as well try to see where everyone stands and from there, make my own views...I'm still really new to this." Casper continued with cleaning himself and getting completely changed, slipping into his black cargo pants with several pockets throughout their length. The pockets were there mostly for show however as he only used the two at the top. His black and white converse shoes felt a lot more familiar than the training shoes he had been wearing for a while now and the black t-shirt he threw on hugged his thin torso well. The fingerless leather gloves he slid onto his hands were often there and it was rare to see him without them. Their length reached up a short distance across his wrists and were fastened with a pair of clips. Needless to say, the boy wasn't very creative in his choice of colours. All black did tend to give off a few different impressions but he liked black quite a lot, and it was a colour he associated himself with. No, he didn't try to sound dramatic or depressing when stating that. The boy just liked black, it was a colour just like all the others, or rather the absence of colour.

Putting all of his training clothes into the bag he had with him, Casper continued out of the locker room and started towards his dorm where he could drop them off. Hopefully the rest of the day was going to go a bit more smoothly than this had done.

Valentina was absolutely livid. She slipped her ponytail out of her hair and back into her wrist, snapping in in an attempt to calm down. She could feel herself start to dematerialize but she needed to keep it together because otherwise she would blow some fuses.

"If I wanted someone to use my fear to manipulate me, I would have stayed in Russia." She stated, as coolly and calmly as she could at the moment before walking back into the locker rooms. Val changed into her pants and a t shirt with jerky movement before making her way outside. She found a spot of green and sat down, closing her eyes and trying to calm down.

They don't want to coexist with us, Val'a. They want to hurt us, like they did with Mama and Batya. Maybe when they're children they don't but they're brainwashed by the older generations. You cannot be lured by their false words. Valentina tried to bury her brother's words. He was wrong, she knew he was wrong, but still in this moment she couldn't help but remember that moment.

She also remembered her ballet instructor. A kind and patient woman, her mutation was pure healing. She never did any harm and only helped others. Her kindness was rewarded with nothing but blood at Valentina's brother's hand. That was why she was here, why she didn't stay in Russia. She didn't come here to be a hero, she came here to control her powers.

Eventually she calmed down enough to get up and walk around, not back into the school or her dorm but she could move without being sucked into the nearest lightbulb.

Even though the entire battle had been illusionary, perhaps some kind of complicated psychic projection, when that blast hit him in the chest he felt every ounce of the pain as the energy absorbed into his body. It was akin to having his insides burst into flames and he could even feel the energy surging through his eyes. This particular...absorption he guessed...was the largest yet. He wasn't exactly sure how all of this Danger Room stuff worked but he knew that all of it felt entirety real. The pain, the hunger for more, the feeling of still being empty in some way even though this was the most energy he'd ever consumed. In a strange way he thirsted for it, but he forced the sensation down like he always did, which proved more difficult than ever before because despite him feeling that blast it wasn't real...none of it was. Once he saw others leaving the room he gathered himself and followed.

There were two locker rooms, separated by gender, and so they all went into their designated room and after a quick shower, he changed into his clean clothes. Just moments ago his shirt had seemingly burned away in the blast, but that had all been part of the magic trick. His clothes weren't damaged at all other than being covered in sweat. They hadn't been in there for very long, but the sense of danger, the adrenaline, being in the midst of the fray, and feeling that red hot burning from the sentinel's blast was more than enough to get his blood pumping. In fact, it had been an excellent work out in itself.

Nathan slipped on his faded denim jacket over his short sleeved, solid gray shirt and in a way he felt more complete than he had before. The jacket was like a second skin to him and for some reason it nullified a bit of his anxiety when he had it on. Probably because it helped cover some of his scars... 'My scars!' Nathan yelled inside his head. 'Oh God, everyone probably saw them.' He could feel his breathing intensify as anxiety spilled over him like a bucket of ice water. He looked at everyone, and even though he knew it was probably all in his head he felt their judgmental gazes burning through his soul and he began to hear laughter erupting around him. It wasn't the other students laughing at him, no it was someone very specific. 'Mom?' He exclaimed internally before letting his anxiety get the best of him. With his shoes and dirty clothes in hand Nathan let out an almost angry noise and just started running towards the door, slamming it open and desperately making his way outside. The logical part of his brain realized now that his scars had probably been revealed during the battle, but that no one would have had time to examine his dirty little secrets. If anyone had seen them it would've been in the locker room and they probably wouldn't even really notice or judge him for having them. However, it wasn't the logical side of his brain in charge right now...and so he ran.

Just moments after leaving the locker room, Casper saw how Nathan dashed past him and ran out. "What's his problem...?" The guy had just swallowed a nuke ray, it must have hurt like a bitch but that sudden escape wasn't very expected. Casper stopped for a moment, just looking at Nathan as he ran away. It didn't take long before the older boy disappeared from sight but his presence lingered in Casper's mind. "I'm doing that fucking thing again...aren't I?" Casper had a tendency of over analyzing things. He saw Nathan run away after essentially saving the whole group from a hologram and that probably hurt, a lot. Casper also knew that Nathan had social anxiety and the amount of eyes set on him after that stunt were probably too much to handle. He wasn't quite sure how to handle this. Should he go and try to talk with the anxious guy or leave him alone? Going there to talk with him was probably going to open another can of worms that Nate didn't want to be part of. How the hell did people with social anxiety operate? Did they appreciate it when you talked with them, or did they want to be alone? "Fuckin' hell...why are people so complicated? And why do I give a fuck...?" Despite trying to convince himself that he honestly didn't care about others, Casper actually had a soft spot for people. If he truly didn't care about anyone else, this whole X-Men business would have been a no go from the very start, but it wasn't.

He found himself standing there in the hallway for a while, thinking this little situation over as he ran his fingers through his still relatively wet hair. While he tended keep an eye on what was happening in his surroundings, doing so in the boys' locker room wasn't exactly something he was going to victimise himself with. Seeing a bunch of guys naked was rather distracting. Better to just get showered up and leave as quickly as possible with your eyes set on the floor the whole time. "Someone else can talk with him, right...? I mean, Alex tries way too hard to be a hero and Flower Power seems like a good guy..." Continuing his walk, Casper shifted hands on the bag he carried to even out the weight, his eyes still on the floor the whole time. He knew it would eventually come to this, it always did. Casper was a loner but he was also a person who liked to know what was happening around him. Also, given the fact that his mother was a soldier, he had a very serious view of teamwork despite his exterior expressions. It was very rare to see Casper in any kind of excited state as he commonly looked bored, no matter the situation, but when it came to a team he knew he was going to spend a lot of time with, not to mention fight alongside, he was ready to take a step or two he otherwise wouldn't. Nathan had, quite obviously.

"So...say I talk with him, what then? If he opens up to me, which he won't, I'd have to sit through his shit...right? I mean...fuck, it's not like sitting there, nodding my head will help...right?" Sighting softly, Casper reached into his pocket and put his earbuds in, turning on his iPod. "Okay so if he's unstable, it can get us all fuckin' killed on the field, right? No biggie...I mean, social anxiety just fucks with your head and shit and then...we all go pop...fucking hell! Someone's gonna' have to sort that dude out or we're all gonna' pay for it when going up against a-...I'm probably going way too far here..." Turning the volume up on his music, Casper tried to shut the thoughts out of his head but it was with little success. He was certain that the way he was walking was not the way back to his dorm, though. This was the way Nathan had ran. "Look, Casper's being a good boy...he's actually trying..."

With another sigh, he changed the song on his iPod and picked up his pace slightly, his bag swaying back and forth as he walked. "Ya' know Nate...that one chick came all the day from Russia 'cause they probably eat mutants there...that girl's got issues...maybe you two can bond and stuff..." Scratching the back of his head, Casper looked back up, his eyes searching for Nathan with little luck. He ran in this direction and Casper could perhaps catch up to him eventually, maybe. "So...am I doing this for me, or for him? Do I even give a shit, or do I just not want him to be in the way...? C'mon Cassy...try to pretend that you fuckin' care, okay?"

Alison was changing into a different shirt slowly, staring at nothing as if she was in a trance remembering all that had just happened. She felt like she would need some time to process it all and also, decide whether she was simply shocked or damn angry at being manipulated like that. She felt like she should have noticed somehow, Illusions being her area of expertise, and vaguely recalled that the first thing she'd though when it had all started was 'this has got to be a test'. Well, she might want to consider listening to her intuition more often. Alison pretty much felt like her heart had stopped in there more than once, when their teachers had seemed to be hurt so badly, when nothing any of them could think of had worked against that thing, when she'd seen Nathan letting that robot thing hit him. It would have definitely helped if they ahd gotten around to proper introductions before they had been thrown in there to fend for themselves alone.

Okay, so maybe she would decide on being angry. At least as long as she ever managed to stay angry at anyone. So not very long.

She understood that they had been tested. That their capability as a team had been tested, to make sure they would be a good match and didn't work against each other. And in that respect she found they hadn't been all that bad. They had taken care of the injured and they had tried to protect each other. With some training and proper coordination, she was sure they would even manage to work together properly and come up with plans that would involve all their talents and sue them as best as possible. That was, after all, how a team was supposed to be.

She stuffed the shirt into her bag and pulled on the dark-green sweater she had packed, thin, slightly loose and perfectly comfortable for training in. She sighed and grabbed her bag, leaving the room and forcing herself to wake out of that stupor since she was facing the world again as soon as she went through those doors.

Alison had just entered the hallway when she saw, and heard, the door of the boys' changing room get thrown open and loudly banging against the wall. She watched wide-eyed as Nathan stormed outside and blinked for a second, then noticed Casper had seen as well. He seemed to be thinking for a moment, then started following the older boy. She wasn't sure for a second, whether she should do the same or leave it to him, then decided it couldn't hurt if they both tried.

She was fit, so it wasn't hard to catch up to Casper, not wanting to startle him though, she jogged closer and called out from a few feet away. "Casper?" she asked, trying to get his attention. "Casper! Hey, Nathan headed this way, right? He seemed upset..."

When Nathan finally stopped running he was in the courtyard, next to a magnificent fountain. The running water might help to sooth his mind and so he let himself almost fall onto it, leaning on it with his hands and chest. He hadn’t had an attack like that in weeks… Honestly he had hoped all of that was behind him, but things like that just don’t go away; a change of surroundings doesn’t change what you see in the mirror. His mother had been ruining his life since he was seven years old and even from the grave she haunted him. He needed desperately to find a way out of it, out of her grasp.

A moment or two passed as Nathan tried to piece himself back together again. It had always been hard to come back, and this time seemed more difficult than ever, but he could hear footsteps approaching...he knew that he had to be okay. It was far too early for him to be the damaged guy; here he had a chance to be somebody else and he was afraid that he was already ruining that chance. As his pursuers approached he stood and turned towards them, sweat dripping down his forehead. He was surprised to see three students behind him, two of them he recognized from being on his team, the third was a stranger. One was a read headed girl that had introduced herself as Allison. She was stunning. It wasn’t like Nathan hadn’t noticed her before, but this was the first time that he had actually looked at her...at anyone really; he was a pro of avoiding eye contact but that was one of the many thing he was hoping to change here. The other student that he recognized was Casper, who was probably the youngest of everyone he had met so far. The young teen wore mostly black, a phase that Nathan himself had gone through. He remembered for just a second how awful his hair looked dyed black and he smiled a bit, a good sign that he was coming back under control. The third student, a evenly stunning brunette girl that he was sure that he hadn’t seen before at all, but she had come to his aid. ‘Why?’ he asked himself, his smile slipping back into a more neutral expression. They were all just looking at him, waiting for him to explain himself.

“You guys...uh...you didn’t have to run after me. I’m okay. I just had a...moment I guess.” He forced a little chuckle and ran his fingers through his hair as his eyes dropped to the ground; he was never going to be good at looking people in the eyes. “I’m sorry about what happened back there. I’m just dealing with some stuff...I’m sure we all are. I do appreciate you coming after though. That’s not something that I’m used to. I thought we did pretty good in there I guess.” He realized that he was beginning to ramble on, which is the ironic thing; the guy that is used to never speaking doesn’t know when the hell to stop once he gets started. it’s usually pretty awkward...this moment not being the exception. He just looked at them with what he hoped would be perceived as friendly eyes waiting for a response.

---

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Leaving his plants to fight off the robot, Danny turned his concentration to the teachers to get them out of harm's way. It wasn't before long that Casper made his way over to Alex and himself to help move them over to the door. It was a bit of a struggle since neither of the boys, with the exception of Alex, were that strong. After sliding them over, he scratched his head to figure out what he could do to open the door. He turned back to see what the others were doing to stop that thing. Danny didn't know what had came over that boy Nathan, but he decided to distract it by making it target him. The red haired boy just about yelled in shock when the robot shot one of his lasers through his trees and blasted the boy dead on. To his surprise, he looked to be unphased with the exception of his clothes. What in the world could this boy do? If that had been anyone else they would have died. Or so he thought.

Danny jumped from being startled as Professor Pierce and Everose stood to their feet both unharmed. Danny had to remember to close his mouth from shock after everything in the simulator returned to normal as if nothing had happened. It turns out it was just a test which was something he had a suspicion about from the beginning. Soon the headmaster came over the intercom who had been watching from the Control Room from above, and complimented them on their first training session. To be honest, they were just being a bit modest as they didn't know what they were doing for the most part. Half of them stood there frozen while the other half tried to fight but with little effort. Danny had sighed in relief at the whole situation, just wanting to get out and get some fresh air after the whole thing. The boy couldn't help but roll his eyes and chuckle when Alex mentioned something about getting uniforms and codenames.

"And on that note, I'm out," he said laughing to himself. He walked to the locker rooms to change into some other clothes, not bothering to shower since he didn't do anything to warrant breaking a sweat. It wasn't something he liked to do anyway, but that was soon about to change being at this school. He grabbed his bag and walked out of the locker room, noticing a few of the students chasing after Nathan who seemed a bit embarrassed or overwhelmed by what had happened. "Poor thing," is all he could really say as he made his way to the main building. After dropping his things off in his room, he made his way down to the kitchen to fetch himself something to eat.

Since there were not that many students at the facility yet, they could all share a gigantic kitchen with everything you could imagine. With Danny being vegan, he had a whole section of the pantry and refrigerator all to himself. He reached inside of the fridge and grabbed a Vegan chicken wrap and a bottle of water, making his way over to the breakfast nook that looked out into the garden. He grabbed the remote that had been sitting on the table and turned on the kitchen television. He sat and watched the news while eating his wrap, occasionally looking outdoors at the garden.

"Those moments suck, don't they...?" Casper rose his eyebrow a bit as Nathan spoke. This was the point where he asked himself what exactly he had been doing all this time. He wasn't needed here, the other two girls could take care of Nathan. The guy didn't need Casper there as well to add to the crowd. "Wonder if I should piss off...I mean, I'm sure these two are better at cheering someone up than I am..." Casper quite clearly recognised Hokus Pokus but who was that other girl? She was new, wasn't she? Well, it was either that or she belonged to some other team. Casper's group was after all not the only people at the school. It was rather heartwarming to see complete strangers trying to care for each other like this, it really was, but Casper had never been in a situation where his emotional help was needed, or indeed even desired. He had been a loner throughout life not because he was afraid of people or because he didn't know how to talk with them, but because he didn't like them. It was probably only a matter of time before Casper would feel the sting of bad treatment at this school as well, no place was special in that sense. Nathan would probably be at the end of it as well, his social anxiety paving the way for an array of bullies wanting to pound him into the ground to feel better about themselves.

"Hope that doesn't happen but...I guess it's the way of life...right? The weak get picked on all the time, you just have to stand up for yourself and fuck up whoever messes with you...Nathan's probably had a lot of issues, still does...don't know if it's a good idea to train him into a soldier for any cause, really. I mean, the guy's messed up..." Having come to the conclusion that Nathan was indeed alright, or well, as close to it as would have been expected, Casper simply turned around without uttering a single word and started walking away. He honestly didn't want to trust these people more than he had to, but he knew that he would have to keep his stubbornness at the door for this one. They were going to live together for quite a while, weren't they? "It's funny, isn't it...?" Looking up at the clear blue sky as he walked, Casper couldn't help but chuckle softly for himself and shook his head slightly. "Even my fighting style keeps me away from people...I get that not everyone's an asshole but it's really hard to sort out the diamonds from a pile of shit..." A few moments passed before Casper finally ended up at his dorm and unlocked the door before dropping the bag of gym clothes next to his bed.

Laying down, the boy rested his head against the pillow and breathed out, listening to his music as he allowed his mind to rest for a moment. This place was going to be full of surprises and interesting people. It was all about sorting out the good from the bad, wasn't? Placing his hand on his stomach, Casper finally remembered how hungry he actually was. He had skipped breakfast and just headed straight for the Danger Room as soon as he woke from that awful dream of his. Placing his feet on the floor, the boy left his room without any baggage to carry, finally. If he remembered correctly, the kitchen was this way.

Upon stepping into the dining area, he saw Flower Power eating a wrap. Apparently he wasn't the only one who had skipped out on breakfast. Opening the refrigerator, Casper reached inside to grab himself a soda and a sandwich before he dropped down on on a chair next to Danny. He didn't say anything to the other boy, but rather expected him go on about how you shouldn't drink soda with your breakfast and that judgemental stare at Casper eating ham was just moments away, wasn't it? "C'mon Cassy...if you want to make any friends here, maybe you shouldn't think of everyone as a nuisance, huh? Ugh...why would I want friends, anyway? They'll just end up disappointing you...I'll fight alongside them with whatever crew of misfits we are, but I'm not gonna' delude myself into thinking that any of them actually give a fuck." Casper was at a constant struggle with himself. He did in fact like people more than he let on, more than he wanted to. It was easy to say that you didn't give a shit but actually not giving a shit was a bit harder. He whole heartedly didn't expect any kind of loyalty or true friendship from anyone else, however. His expectations for people tended to be way too high and because of that, it had looped all the way back to not expecting anything from anyone. "Hi..." Finally speaking, Casper avoided looking at the other boy but rather had his eyes on his soda the whole time. "There ya' go...you managed to actually be a decent person. You said hi..."

They had caught up quickly with Nathan, mostly becasue he had stopped next to the fountain in the courtyard. Also, the two of them had been joined by another girl. She studied the girl when she came over, nodding at what she said. Yeah, there was something upsetting Nathan, and Ali she was rather sure she knew what had triggered it. It was sort of obvious, she guessed. What the teachers had done, making them believe all that had really happened and having them scramble to fight for their lives and not really accomplishing anything, because they hadn't even gotten around to introducing themselves to each other properly, didn't know the others strengths and weaknesses, that had managed to get even Ali angry. And Alison was seldomly ever really angry.

Alison let him finish talking, then noticed movement beside her. She glanced at Casper as he left, without a word and frowned a little at his back. She guessed he was leaving it to them to handle this, although the fact that he had been willing in the first place that he did care. And that was a good start, considering they were supposed to be a team from now on. A team. Alison had never been part of a team like that. She was nice to people, she ahd a lot of friends and a few very good ones. But this? This was going to be a wholly different business. They had to trust each other with their lives, eventually, had to work together and have each others back. Right now, that all seemedso far away and like it would take some serious hard work. But she had the feeling that they wouldn't be giving up easily.

She turned back to Nathan and smiled at him, noticing his eyes were averted but figuring he was just socially awkward like that. "We did." she affirmed what he had said about them as a team. "I mean, we were all totally overwhelmed and half of us in serious shock, but considering the fact that we only just met, we did a pretty good job taking care of each other." She waited patiently for him to look up, even if it only was a glance. She wanted him to see the warmth in her face, needed him to know she didn't mind if he was a little awkward. "Although you almost gave me a heart attack jumping out to let yourself get hit like that. Really could have used some warning that you would actually survived that." she added, not really sounding scoulding, just concerned. "Is that you power? Absorbing.. energy?" she asked, figuring he might get more comfortable if they didn't immediately start questioning about why he had freaked out enough that he had stormed out of the building.

Alex had stayed behind as the others milled out. It was a lot to absorb at the moment as he tucked his twin tomahawks into his pants, having torn the carpenters loop, that was no illusion. He wasent sure about everything but he was certain of a few things.

"Can you show me more?"

It was just a moment, but it was a good moment. He hadn't been so sure about taking charge, when he said he was like captain america, he had meant speed and strength, not a leader. But when Casper prodded him to act, he took the reigns.

He had been trained to survive, to be self sufficient. The mutant powers are tools, skills to be developed. Even his mutant strength and speed were not there yet.

He remembered the day his powers first manifested, the fear in the boy's eyes, the cruelty and lust on the others, his rage at the injustice. The rush of wind, the crack of thunder, the falling glass, the warm blood. He had broken the sound barrier, he had run over a mile a second, for less than a second. He saved a life.

"I'm not sure if I should ask to be leader right off the bat, one test in. Maybe others are better at this than me. But, I've seen what happens when people wait for others to act, people suffer. Everyone asks 'Why didn't I do something.' Its because of the panic, the urges to do everything and in the end do nothing. Even if I'm not the leader, if some telepath is better or you already got some teacher in mind, I'd like to learn more so maybe I can be the strategist for whoever you pick."

Mr. Pierce just smiled and gave out a rough chuckle.
"The best leaders are the ones who don't want to lead. Danger. Unlock level one through three 'Storm tutor program' for Alexandew Xavier."

Alex winced at his full name, but the wince became wide-eyed as the female leader of the mutants stepped out of the wall. She was wearing the classical training uniform of danger room sessions. This was going to be interesting.

Kimberly was a bit confused to see all the carnage and chaos suddenly disappear, but then relieved to find out that the school was not actually under attack by a giant killer robot, and that the Professors were not actually injured. Instead, it had all been a test to get everyone working together. She wasn't sure what else to think about it, though. Yes, it was great to still be safe and sound, but how well did she do on said test? She wasn't sure. She knew she didn't do much of anything, all because she was too scared to take action. Her first test, and she probably blew it. Still, there was some good feedback from the teachers, so maybe she didn't do as badly as she thought.

Conner certainly had the thought that the Sentinel attack was merely a trick, but wasn't sure whether or not that was actually true until the scenario completely faded away. He was impressed to see just what this place was capable of, realizing that it was not called "The Danger Room" for nothing. Lost in thought, Conner turned his head around to look around the room, wondering what else it was capable of. His gaze fell onto Kimberly, who looked like she was worried about something. Conner placed his hand on Kimberly's shoulder and asked, "Something on your mind?"

Kimberly, brought back to reality, turned to Conner and said, "Oh, um, yeah, no, I'm fine, thanks." with a forced smile on her face.

Conner raised an eyebrow, then pressed the issue, "I've hung around you long enough to know how you think. You worried you didn't do well, huh?"

Kimberly's smile turned a bit more genuine, and she said, "You know me best." Clutching her left arm, Kimberly continued, "When I saw that giant robot, I... got scared. I didn't do anything against it..."

Conner wrapped his arm around Kimberly's shoulders and began to lead them out of the room. "It's to be expected. None of us were prepared, and it was our first time dealing with something like that. We'll do better next time," Conner reassured Kimberly.

"I guess.... but still-" Kimberly said before getting cut off.

"Next time," Conner said more firmly, holding her slightly more tightly.

Kimberly looked up at Conner, then blushed and looked away when she realized how close their faces were. "Uh, yeah, you're right. Thanks, Conner," Kimberly said.

Conner then realized what he was doing, and removed his arm from Kimberly. He cleared his throat, then said, "Let's go get something to eat."

Together, the two made their way to the cafeteria, where they made themselves a pair of sandwiches before sitting down. Conner looked around at the people in the cafeteria, the ones who were going to be their team, wondering if everything would work out alright. His intellectual side said that there would obviously be some bumps along the road in the future, but his optimistic side told him that everything would most likely be alright.