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Danny pretty much kept to himself during breakfast as everyone was talking and mingling with one another. It seemed that everyone here had their little cliques meanwhile the red head was best friends with his plants, sadly enough. He continued to eat his pancakes slowly as he observed the table he was sitting at. No one really annoyed him in particular but the group of people he shared a space with were rather odd and out there which is something others have probably said about him. It was a place full of mutants so these types of personalities were not really a surprise. It was just something he wasn't really used to. Danny just hoped he could fit in one day as much as he wanted to. Out of his side eye, he noticed Allison who he sat diagonally from him catch a pancake that she more than likely 'saw' coming. It must have been both a blessing and a curse to see things before they happened. Danny wasn't sure if he wanted to know anything the future foretold as he probably would see something he didn't want to. He was the type of person to live life day by day and go with the flow.

Danny could already feel himself grow full from the plethora of breakfast items that were stacked along the center of the table. Thankfully there was variety and had options for Danny and those that had a similar lifestyle. He was pretty sure he was the only one that steered clear of animal products which didn't really make him uncomfortable like it would most vegans. Surprisingly, that was something he didn't push on people as veganism isn't a lifestyle that's so easy. It took commitment and discipline to maintain which Danny didn't have struggles with since he wasn't that much of a meat eater prior. However keeping this place eco-friendly was something he made people were a part of as it benefits everyone.

The boy soon put up his plate and proceeded to join the others who were going to the Danger Room for a quick session. He did pretty average and wasn't the best or worse. It all depended on the type of simulation and where it was located. He found that he struggled in places that lacked vegetation in which he learned to take plant seeds with him just in case. Hopefully which ever team he was on could vibe well and get the task done. But one thing was for sure. He hoped his future husband was going to be in the training room with Gambit. He needed his daily dose of eye candy that the other guys in the house can't exactly help with.

Darren Grey

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Interacting with people.
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Darren finished his plate, as he heard everyone’s disappointment that he didn’t get smacked by a breakfast item. Which didn’t do much to make Darren feel better. “If either of you want to see what someone getting smacked by a pancake looks like I’d be happy to throw one at you.” Darren joked back after he finished his plate and leaned back in his seat, twirling his fork in his hand like a drummer twirled their drumstick.

As everyone started to file out and get ready for action Will had to leave a little sooner, since when it came to danger room training sessions he needed to change into clothes that allow him to use his powers. He had in a past session gone with normal clothes but inflating in clothes just... never ends well. Well depending on how you want to look at seeing someone’s clothes get ripped off of them.

As Darren stretched his arms out head down for the first real action of the school year, William came up next to him and was continuing to try and apologize for it. Darren though gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Hey man relax, all’s well that ends well and all that.” Darren reminded William as his roommate asked about the room. Darren remembered that the new kid hasn’t been down there yet. He himself could remember seeing the remaining third of the house he had not seen at first. Needless to say that room was an amazing experience. “Well... I mean I don’t know how to explain it since I’m not sure if you’d believe me.” Darren noted scratching the back of his head awkwardly. “I mean like in the context we both live in a house with other people with big extraordinary abilities.” He added upon realization.

“It is cool though, I think you’ll have a blast down there. I know I get a kick out of the place.” Darren said, subconsciously cracking his knuckles.

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Interacting with @Hillan@DrewVonAwesome@BlackSam3091. Mentioned others

Allison, on her way to the Danger Room session, stayed behind Lucas, Heidi, and Ryan as the trio walked together. She felt a twinge of jealousy, knowing how Lucas and Heidi felt about each other and how easy it seemed for them. All she managed to do was joke around with Ryan, who despite his and her best efforts, seemed to be awkward around each other.

Allison looked back at Darren, who got a lot of gruff from everyone, and she hated that. She knew that he was a jerk at the beginning, but from what she's been able to see since joining the school, he's made his best efforts to change that around. He may joke around occasionally, but who doesn't? She hoped that eventually the others would see him as the nice guy she knows he is.

Before she could catch up to him, Ryan held back as she caught up with him, "Hi. Thanks for da shades." he said in that rich accent he had. Allison could feel her cheeks glowing red, he always had that effect on her. "Oh..heh....you're welcome! Anytime.." she stated back. If anything, this just proved how awkward she was around him. Why was it so hard to be like Hollie or Heidi or even Danny, for that matter, around the guy she liked? She hoped that soon, they may be able to have an actual conversation and get to know one another more deeply.

As they walked, Allison looked back quickly to see the William's talking to each other. The younger William, the cause of the near pancake incident, seemed unphased by the fact he almost embarrassed Darren, whereas the other William, who she called Will, was doing his best to calm the youth. Allison gave a light smile as she saw the masked man. He was another soul she should take the time to get to know better. He was always cordial, but she couldn't help but feel he held back something.

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~ H E I D I K E L L E R ~

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Heidi brightened up as Lucas called her by her alias, dabbing the corner of his mouth with a napkin as he did so. Such classiness, it was difficult not to like the guy. She then replied his question of whether she enjoyed returning to classes after a whole summer of nothing much, really. The girl had spent the summer practising her gymnastics and martial arts while relaxing with a couple of action movies and classical baroque music. "I'm pretty excited, summer had been nothing but the same old boring stuff." The years in the states had been kind to her and Heidi was gradually acclimatising to the culture of the country, though it would still take far longer for her natural German accent to be gone completely. At the very least, it was now alot less pronounced than it once was, making her speech alot more understandable to those she spoke to. The girl then perked up excitedly as Luke proposed a date by going for a ride with the horses out to the lake, and catch the sunset at the same time. Her eyes positively sparkled as she answered him with much gusto. "Oh! I would love that very much!"

The whole pancake incident at the dining table was indeed a comical sight, and it taking quite a bit of restraint for Heidi to not zap at the flying pancake just to see who the remnants would explode on. She giggled lightly as she imagined the incident playing out in her head. A short while later, they approached the end of breakfast as plates began to be cleared out. As Luke announced the upcoming programme they would be heading to next, he stood up. Her attention was briefly drawn elsewhere, and when it returned, she saw that her plate was gone, with Luke returning from the collection bin. She gave him a beaming smile accompanied by a thankful nod. As the pair of boys began to walk off, she began to catch up, with either boys flanking her on each of her sides. Danger Room was next, it seemed.

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September 2016. Morning.
Xavier's Institute.

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A couple hours later...

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Llavi scarfed down the last of his pancakes, enjoying the chatter around him. There was life in these halls, and--if Professor Frost was right-- it was something he could learn to connect with. There's was a calming effect to being surrounded by others like him, even if they didn't all intersect harmoniously. The excited energy, hopeful spirits. It had been too long since he had been in a place filled with life.

He mulled over his time here. Originally, he'd been focused solely on not killing himself. But it didn't take long, after he learned to exercise and taper the flow of his Ichor, for him to treat the source of the stuff as another reflex, a muscle to be honed and refined. But there was something to this --this life of an X-Men. Past just learning to control his abilities, he could use them to promote peace and equality. And maybe--if he was honest--help his home village one day. It was a peaceful pipe dream as he watched the pancaked fiasco unfold around him with a lazed eye.

Before he knew it, Llavi was cleaning off his plate and finally letting the excitement of the new semester bubble in him. The Danger Room was coming up and it would be a treat to see just what the instructors would cook up for them all this time around. Llavi exited the dining hall, mind on the upcoming semester. It was with a calm and purposeful gait that he headed to the Danger Room.

"Hey Yavi," Llavi was caught off guard by the sound of his name, by someone who sounded like a student. And even better yet, the correct pronunciation. He was surprised to see William Iriving before him.

"Ah William!" Llavi responded with a smile. Though he didn't know him that well, Llavi respected well...the respect that William had for everyone around him. The control, the constant flow of restraint. Llavi wasn't so sure he could exhibit the same depth of resolve.

"How's it going? Looking forward to the Danger Room session?"

Llavi was surprised at the small chuckle that left him as he continued to walk. He followed it up with a soft shrug. "Like a fish who knows he is about to bite a hook. It shines with its metallic allure, but soon I know I'll be dragged in a world where every breath shall be a challenge." He let his voice trail off before giving another wide grin, "So yes, very much so. You?"

Darren Grey

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Interacting with Luke @Lord Wraith and Llavi @Stein
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Slipping away from Will when they arrived to the basement, Darren went to change in his X gear. Black with blue trim with its slits to allow for more room with the inflating. Slipping on the head covering piece and putting on the goggles so the straps would be under the head piece. It had the same kind of design cues as Ryan’s but with blue instead of red and without the jacket, or throwing knives for that matter.

When he met up with the others Darren was a bit miffed about... well everything to be honest. Not only were they suppose to take down the damn Juggarnaut, but he had Luke and Llavi to work with. Two people who didn’t like him. Once again his feeling about the year sucking was off to a flying start. As he watched the holograms slowly shift the metal walls into the streets of New York City (something Darren still wasn’t used too). Darren paused thinking about things himself. “Well first things first Llavi’s uh... ichor right?” Darren asked aloud, he had practiced trying to say Llavi’s name over the summer off and on just because he felt like he had to just get it right.

“If I can figure out a way to drop some force down on him with my balloon form that might do the trick. Luke you could use your lights to distract him, and Llavi you can slow him down....” Darren looked around frantically as he stopped for a moment, hearing Juggarnaut say [i]that[i/] phrase. He had a feeling Beast put it in specifically in gist when he programmed this. Poor big guy was never going to live saying that aloud down. Well okay probably not a ‘poor guy’ but still.

Llavi donned the jacket of his X-Men training gear, the tight yet flexible and deceptively sturdy material fitted to his form. A quick stretch and shake completed his ritual of getting into gear before he made his way with the remaining students into the Danger Room. The cavernous display of human marvel and innovation--or more accurately and importantly, mutant marvel and innovation-- never ceased to catch a tinge of Llavi's breath on first glance. His imagination would have never led him to such reaches, and he appreciated the technological beauty for all it was.

Hell, he loved everything about the Danger Room. The complete exertion of mind and body, the progression and finesse it helped develop. It was truly a wonderful experience.

Except for the team pairings.

Llavi held a slight clench to his jaw during any pairing. This is where it got awkward a lot of the time. For the most part, he didn't care who he was paired with, so long as they performed well. But Llavi hadn't had the pleasure (or displeasure) of working with either before. He knew of Luke's strategic strengths so wasn't overly displeased. However, it was like they were one night lovers on the morning after, the three of standing at an arm's length with cut eyes. Llavi rolled his eyes and took a few quick steps toward Luke, closing the gap until he was rather close.

"I can assure you, I do not smell bad," Llavi told him as they entered their simulation room.

He looked over at Darren, raising an eyebrow at the fellow. He hadn't necessarily interacted with the male much since his initial impression of him. That and a rumor of Llavi somehow being the reason the boy had stuck himself to a wall had turned Llavi off to him for the most part. "And I will try not to stick you to anything, yeah?"

As the room changed around him, Llavi addressed Luke again. "I have ideas, but I think maybe you should hold the reigns. You've been here and trained for a few years more. If you can devise a way to take his attention from where he is stepping and get him close, I can come in." As he spoke, he concentrated briefly activating his ability. The warmth in his stomach grew as his powers began to spread through his system.

"And 'first things first,' my Ichor will do more than slow him down. I plan to to halt him."

"Try not to get too grossed out," he warned. He knew he would have to put in a sizable amount of effort, thank Oya for the breakfast. Best to get it flowing now. His hands jutted out, the now present feeling of flowing blood was met with the presence of a heavier substance now flowing through his veins to his Hot Spots. Other recruits typically wore gloves but not Llavi due to the nature of his powers. His vision darkened as the Ichor, Oya's Blood, welled from his right eye and down his cheek. His hands darkened as he pooled the Ihcor and built it up inside of him.

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~ H E I D I K E L L E R ~

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Heidi was fully dressed in her X-Suit, a body-fitting black jumpsuit accented in orange, accompanied by a utility belt and a pair of combat boots. The X-logo was a prominent sight on both the suit and the belt, and the girl was probably one of the few, if not only that did not wear gloves, due to the fact that most materials suitable for making sure were poor conductors of electricity which would definitely work against her abilities instead of helping her. The group of students soon filed into the Danger Room where Gambit was beginning to prep them on their mission for today. As the teams were announced, and as she noticed that Luke was not in the same team as her, Heidi couldn't help but return his look of disappointed with an equally dejected look. She then shambled over to her team mates, Nathan and William. The girl had nothing against those two, it's just that she'd rather be with the boy that was her crush is all.

Ryan's father introduced them to their mission, which was to be a time challenge simulation in New York City, with the sole goal of stopping Cain Marko, also better known as the Juggernaut in his tracks. According to good ol' Gambit here, this was supposed to be easy. Heidi could help but stifle a snort that almost made its way out of her mouth. As the respective teams made their way into the rooms, determined of beating each other, she too joined her team mates in the room made out of many small metal squares. One thing she always realised was how life-like the simulation seemed to her, which was she guessed, was the point of the whole simulation in the first place, to simulate real life. As her gaze fell upon the giant hulking figure that stood several metres in front of them, Heidi began formulating strategies in her mind.

The large helmet the mutant wore was made out of metal, and most metals were great conductors of electricity, which would definitely work towards her advantage, when you take note of her abilities. Aiming the focal point of the helmet as a focal point should give him a good ol' shocking of his own. If that fails, Heidi could always opt to give an attempt on the electro-magnetism side of things, controlling the magnetic fields around his helmet. With a couple of ideas forming up in her head, a smug, contented smile appeared onto her face.

When Llavi assured Darren he wouldn’t stick the Aussie to anything. Darren only gave him a look that was the visual form of saying “Oh har-de-har-har...”. Still Darren saw that they might of been given a solid set up as all three of them hopefully could set up a clean combo of distracting the big guy, slow and/or stop him in his tracks, and finally drop a big knock out bomb on him.

Of course Darren also realized that if he can’t knock out Juggarnaut in his balloon form. They’re going to be in serious shit.

Still a sudden incoming of debris from Juggarnaut immediately brought Darren out of his thought process and Darren started frantically looking around for a means to get to a rooftop that will suffice. Suddenly an apartment complex nearby got his attention. On the side of it in an alleyway was the fire escape. Which would suffice nicely. “Okay so... just try to keep him in front of this building and I think we should get this done right? Right... yeah go team.” Darren noted pointing out the nearby apartment building. He wasn’t sure how the other two felt about the plan and his half-hearted cheer maybe showed his own worries a bit too loudly and proudly.

Not waiting for the others to agree on the plan since time was of the essences. Darren ran across the street which got Juggarnaut’s attention. Who grabbed a nearby car like it was a box of tissues and threw it directly at Darren. He saw it coming, and since the car was coming too fast for Darren to inflate and deflect it, he instead jumped out of the way landing with a thud onto the sidewalk and sliding into the alleyway. “Oh yeah just deal with giant walking steroids guy, get some laughs, what could possibly go wrong?” Darren muttered to himself as he rolled his eyes and got to one knee for a moment. There was something about all this that felt like a weird long term joke. An Australian, who got the power to inflate like a balloon, trapped in some VR simulation of fighting one of the most frighteningly power things on the planet Earth that wasn’t green or made out of rocks.

It was moments like this that made Darren wonder if God was mocking him or not.

Still Darren had business to get too and getting back to his feet he looked up at the apartment complex and the fire escape he was going up. After a quick look back Darren hopped up and after a moment was able to pull the first step ladder down to start what was going to be a long and physically demanding run. Still, if Darren was going to be in this weird ass situation called his life now. He sure as hell wasn’t going to not go out swinging. Not when his chance at some redemption, maybe even self-confidence, was possibly a good number of stories up there.

T H E X A V I E R I N S T I T U T E - T H E D A N G E R R O O M 4:27



He didn't have much time to think as an upended trash can came his way. An Ichor-coated arm met the trash can as Llavi swatted it away and turned to Luke. "I will kill him myself when this simulation is over," he told him, side-stepping to avoid another piece of flung debris. "But we have got to move."

Their chances didn't seem good to Llavi, but submission was not an option he entertained. "Can you create an opening for me? Something to pause this?" Llavi planted his feet and delivered a swift blow to incoming mailbox, deflecting it. "I'm going to see if I can't get the luchador to come our way a little."

"Oh yeah, keep him in front of this building and all that." Luke muttered with an annoyed tone as he watched the Inflating Boy run up a wire escape. "He probably doesn't even have the guts to jump. Not that he's short guts..." Luke added with a mumble.

"_{None of this will stop the friggin' Juggernaut anyways...}" Luke muttered as he placed both hands out in front of him. A flash of light exploded from his hands as he attempted to draw the Juggernaut's attention away from Llavi. The hulking man barreled forward, temporarily blinded as he smashed through a lamp post.

"C'mon!" Luke taunted as he fired another blinding blast.

"So, we should just sit and twiddle our thumbs around because things got tough?," Llavi shot back as he ventured forward. He was almost too late to shield his eyes from the resulting explosion of light. Even being farther away, he didn't want to take any chances. As the Juggernaut swerved to hit the light pole, momentarily disoriented, Llavi darted forward a few meters, putting a little distance betweting a little distance between him and Luke. His Ichor began to well again, flowing up his arms as he planted his feet.

Llavi extended his hands parallel (sp?) to the ground, letting the Ichor from his Hot Spots and gravity do the work as he concentrated on the rapid secretion of his Oya's Blood. The Ichor halted in midair, collecting and gathering. He kept an eye on Luke and the Juggernaut, praying for just a bit more time. They didn't have much.

There weren't the best team for this match up, Luke knew it, Llavi knew and Darren hopefully knew it as well. Luke had studied the X-Men's history, he knew that the Juggernaut could only be defeated by either magic or psionics. Both the team was rather lacking on. So the best they could hope for was 'Participation Marks'.

Gambit was a dick.

Focussing a blast of laser from his hands, Luke struck Cain's helmet attempting to knock it off. At the very least, Llavi or Darren could suffocate him. Losing himself in looking around, Luke looked up to see the Juggernaut suddenly on top of him as the giant sent him flying through the simulated streets of New York.

As Luke sailed past him Llavi cursed himself for focusing on the Ick Ball before him. He launched it now, seeing it as the perfect opportunity. Winding back his fist, The Ichor coated his fist once more, then another, greating a small glove of sorts. He directed a 3-Hit combo at the sphere, stopping the first two just shy of the thing and using the third and most powerful punch to send it toward the Juggernaut as a deceptively fast speed. He man had just enough time to turn around and put his arms of to shield himself. The ball exploded on impact covering the Juggernaut in the black tar-like substance. Llavi glanced back to where Luke had been flung. He had to buy them some time.

External sentient control of his Ichor became more challenging the further it was from his body, but Llavi pushed his limit, focusing on the Juggernauts face. It was a simple command really, but it wore on Llavi. The ichor hardened around the Juggernaut's face, the bits of Ichor on the mask also pooling to the eyes. The Juggernaut thrashed around more, his sight completely hindered for the time being. Llavi turned and darted for Luke, helping him up.

"We may not be able to win, but let's at least go out with grace. I'm sorry I could not stop him before he was on you," Llavi apologized.

- Darren Grey -

The winds felt faster and more harsh as Darren started to get to the roof. Where he felt out of breath and the chill of the winds really start to sting against his skin. The plan started to really become difficult to feel confident as he was having to really hustle to get to the roof. All the while he knew Luke and Llavi were probably pissed at him. The more and more he kept going he couldn’t blame them for it. He was mad at himself for all this.

Finally though he got over to the ledge of the rooftop and when he looked down even the giant Juggernaut looked like an ant from where he was. Darren’s body felt tense beyond description when he realized just how stupid he was for thinking this would work. Still he had to prove himself, prove he knew what he was doing and that he wasn’t just the over privileged punk they still saw him as. Suddenly though he looked down again and realized that Luke was down and Llavi was trying to help him up, all while Juggernaut was coming after them like a serial killer in a horror movie. “Shit....” Darren had to gulp as he knew he couldn’t wait. Quickly he let his feet dangle off the edge of the rooftop’s edge, and with a push off from his toes was suddenly airborne and falling fast.

In mid air Darren quickly opened his mouth and let all the incoming air rush in. Filling him up fast as he got bigger and bigger to the point where he felt his skin sting a little. He knew he went fast and hard but if the plan was going to work he had to do it, over do it even. Still he came in directly on top of Juggernaut and landed hard square on the monstrous villain’s cranium.

Darren felt his body contort and suddenly become stinging with pain all over as his already taut skin got pulled and mangled from the contortion against Juggernaut’s head. Suddenly though Darren was launched off of Juggernaut’s head like a rocket. Sailing over Llavi and Luke as his body was rapidly deflated from him knocking the air out of himself. Only for him to slam hard into the side of a dumpster, with a sound emitting from it like a shotgun blast. Even though Darren’s skin was extremely durable he still felt like his insides got smashed and rattled hard from the impact. All he could hope for was that the plan worked and Juggernaut was knocked out.

When Darren looked up, praying quietly that it worked. All he saw was Juggernaut stumbled back a bit, shaking his head slightly before coming back after them. Darren groaned for a second realizing everything he had hoped for was just plain ruined.

Still though Juggernaut was coming after his teammates and even in all the pain. His skin ached, his lungs hurt, he had a hard time breathing. Still he fought like hell to get back up. If he couldn’t win the fight he had to at least still try to help. Even though by this point it was nothing but sheer adrenaline keeping him moving as Darren felt like he was going to fall over in a heap at any moment.

Fumbling to his feet, Darren clinched at his own stomach as he got next to Llavi. Getting next to Llavi to help his teammate up to his feet. Even though Darren could barely stand himself. “Okay I’ll admit that was so fucking stupid I’m sorry I’m...” Darren couldn’t talk as he suddenly coughed hard. Almost on the verge of tears as he was embarrassed, in incredible pain, and pissed all at the same time.

Team Awesomesauce: Part 1

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`Will didn’t have a fancy custom suit, being his first time in the Danger Room and all. As such he had just donned the trousers, jacket and boots but didn’t bother with the gloves. He wasn’t entirely sure he if he could wear gloves and use his abilities or not but he wasn’t going to test the theory during his first chance to prove himself. He smiled as he was put into a team with Hollie and Allison, especially when there was mention of reward. Surely with someone who could make predictions they had this.

Even if that guy WAS the Juggernaut.

Walking into the room suddenly the scene changed, shaking his head slightly at the disorientation. This room was really cool, he took it in for a couple of moments. “This is my first time here sooo…. Any ideas would be appreciated guys.”

Allison, having been at the school for only a couple months in the spring, knew the Danger Room relatively well. She donned her X-suit, which consisted of a dark red top with yellow tights and yellow boots. She also grabbed her red gloves and her yellow hooded robe as they entered their designated area for the Danger Room.

She took a few calming breaths, these simulations always made her nervous. She didn’t have a combative powerset like most of the others had. She couldn’t form wind like Will, turn her body to crystal like Hollie, she couldn’t bend plants to her will, sprout claws, or charge herself up.

She can predict the future.

To others, that may be something incredible, but when facing an opponent like Juggernaut, it didn’t do much.

She looked over at Will and decided she better buck up. “I would suggest not going in guns blazing, as it were. Let’s control the situation as best we can and use our powers correctly. And also, trust me and Hollie, we’ll have your back if you have ours.” She gave him a warm smile as she waited for Hollie to say her peace before they got started.

The rest of breakfast was uneventful, at least according to Hollie. She was a bit late to join the others as they made their way down to the Danger Room. Seeing as Hollie has been here for a few years now, she was quite use to it to the point where she was quite experienced. She broke off from the others and suited up at her locker. Her X-suit was in two parts: a black leather jacket and a pair of matching pants. The suit was almost entirely black save for the gold trim on various parts of her suit.

Once suited up, she joined the others in the Danger Room. Begrudgingly, they were separated into groups and Hollie did not like to see Nathan among her group. Instead, she got Allison and the new kid, Will, or whatever he’d like to be called. Hollie sighed and rolled her eyes as soon as she made the realization. In her eyes, those two were liabilities depending on scenario and sure enough, the groups would be facing Juggernaut, who was pretty much a tank.

Hollie looked back to her team as the room washed over in the familiar sight of New York. She was pretty use to it, but at times she felt disorientated by it. She took stock of her team as the program finished loading. Great… Allison wasn’t really worth much in this encounter and the new kid was an unknown quantity but his likely youthful inexperience would hamper, not improve their odds. “Ugh… First day back and It is too early for this…” Hollie complained aloud to her teammates as she rubbed her eyes. She was still a bit groggy from last night and after a long summer, she wasn’t exactly top of her form.

But there wasn’t much use in complaining about it now. Almost in an a blink of an eye, Hollie’s form was quickly covered in head-to-toe in her quartz-like crystals. The rapid growth of that stuff crunched like stepping on broken glass and once it was done, she looked like a full female sculpture made out of quartz. Not quite clean-cut as marble but the jagged edges of her form made it look like she was a crystal monster born out of fantasy.

Hollie turned back to her teammates, returning Allison’s smile with a nod as her face was completely covered. “Yea. We’ll be fine.” Hollie’s reply was distorted by the crystal making it sound like she were a knight in armor. Hollie wasn’t entirely sure if they could fair well in this simulation, but she took Gambit’s word on dialing back the difficulty. Even then, Hollie wasn’t too hopeful. “Probably best if you two keep your distance. For obvious reasons.” Her experience was kicking in as she started giving orders, which was more like advice. “I’ll be fine in close but help how you can.” Hollie’s briefing was short but it was better that way as Juggernaut appeared ready to make his move. “Oh! Also I’m going to need something to charge myself. If you guys can find something, it’ll help me out a lot.” Hollie suggested as stepped forth and placed herself in between her comrades and their opponent.

Juggernaut must have interpreted that as a challenge. He bent his head down, his stone looking helmet leading the man as he charged forth. The ground shook with each step and his speed began increasing exponentially. Ugh... Here we go…

Hollie flung out her hands and shot out large sharp shards of crystals that grew from her hands. As expected, they pelted Juggernaut with no effect. As the big man approached, Hollie flicked one of her hands up and a large crystal spire grew from the pavement right in front of Juggernaut but he made short work of her spire, smashing through sending the tower crumbling. Hollie would do this once more in an attempt to slow the man down before diving out of the way in a near miss as he continued charging past her…

Team Awesomesauce: Part 2

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Will jumped into the air and propelled himself out of the way of the charging Goliath. “Holy Hannah, I do not want to get hit by him.” He spun himself around landing on the ground, landing watching as the Juggernaut kept on running. Seeing that behind him was clear he had an idea. Stretching both of his arms in front of him towards the Juggernaut he concentrated on the air surrounding his opponent, mainly around his feet.

Grasping it he pulled as hard as he could trying to topple the giant, air rushing past either side of him gusting down the street. Will grunted as he pulled back with as much effort as he could possibly muster and while he did appear to have slowed his opponent down he didn’t stop. The worst of it being is that Will didn’t know how long he could keep this up, he had controlled air currents before but never with such ferocity. Part of him had hoped that doing this would have solved the problem and that would have been that, job done.

Will had to shout over the sound of the rushing wind. “Hey guys! I slowed him down but I can’t keep this up for long! Any ideas?” Sweat began to accumulate on his forehead as he clenched his fists putting all of the strength he could muster into the tunnel of wind that ran from Juggernaut, to him and then behind. The odd piece of light debris around them, caught on the edge of the tunnel was blown down the street.

Allison saw Hollie try to hold the man back with little to no avail. Will used his wind powers to hold him back, and despite being able to slow the charging man down, he still wasn’t stopping. Allison grew concerned, she wondered why they were paired up of all people. Their combination of abilities didn’t seem like the best to stop Juggernaut.

Allison had to try though. She entered her state and saw the scene in front of her. First, she noticed that Hollie had formed her crystal constructs, in order for that to happen, she needed to absorb energy. Juggernaut seemed to exude energy as he charged, so Allison decided Hollie needed to draw it from him, but how?

Allison played out the scenarios in her head, each one ended with someone getting hit, but one particular scene could work. However, she would have to be bait.

She called out to Hollie, “You need to drain the energy from him while Will holds him back. I’m going to distract him and try to slow him down. When he’s stopped, go for the drain. Do it for as long as you can, but stop if you notice him fighting back, I don’t want you hurt. After that, if this works, you should be able to make a crystal cage surrounding him, one he shouldn’t be able to break so easily. After that, it’s up to Will to form a wind tunnel down the chute and hopefully knock this guy out.”

Before Hollie could share her approval or disapproval, Allison was already making her way towards the point she saw in her vision. This had to work. “Hey, Iron Ugly. If you want to charge at anyone, I’m right here!” She called to the beastly man. He stomped his feet and charged ahead at her. Will was able to slow him down some, but her Danger Sense was kicking in at full gear.

As the man charged near her, she looked for a solution. She admitted she didn’t look at this point for her before, she wanted to make sure she knew how to take the man down. She saw the multitude of options play out, but one stood out to her. “Will, let him go when I tell you!” She yelled. As she positioned herself she nodded, “Ok, now!”

Will was skeptical about the plan, but then again he wasn’t going to argue with anyone who could see the future and lots of different variations on how to tackle situations. So he was going to do exactly as he was told, in the hopes that she knew what she was doing. Letting go of the air, the tunnel dropped and he panted a little bit due to the exertion however readied himself for whatever was next. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to do but this was the first time he did it so he’d find out soon enough.

As Will let the man go, Juggernaut propelled at a greater speed than before, plummeting towards her even faster, Allison quickly dove out of the way, but caught the brunt end of his charge as it knocked her over, however it was done, Juggernaut wasn’t expecting to charge at that speed and the man rolled around and hit the concrete wall behind her. Allison rubbed her hip, where she got hit, and looked over to Hollie, “Hollie, drain him now! Will, get ready!”

Team Awesomesauce: Part 3

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It was nice to see that the youngest of their team wasn’t completely helpless, but still, Hollie couldn’t help but notice the amount of exertion that Will was doing. Clearly, he couldn’t do that forever.

Hollie returned to her feet and was delighted to hear that Allison finally weighing in. Her suggestion seemed to make sense but in practice, Hollie wasn’t sure. “Tch. Don’t get yourself stepped on.” She said with an air of sarcasm. It was probably the fact that she was being ordered by someone younger or something that she sounded a bit ungrateful for the suggested plan.

Hollie turned and watched her teammate wander off to a certain point and call out to their opponent. Of course the thick-headed mutant took the bait and charged. Slightly impressed, Hollie watched Allison dodge the charging giant with some success, even managing to get the lead-headed baffoon to run into a wall. That was Hollie’s cue.

Hollie charged the giant without a word and leapt into crater in the wall where Juggernaut had just previously smashed into. She managed to grab the giant around his throat and she squeezed him tightly. As an insurance policy, she rapidly grew a crystal from her body and surrounded the two of them in that crater, creating a sort of quartz cocoon.

When the giant realized he was trapped he began bashing his back against the crystal wall that prevented his escape. Unfortunately for Hollie, she sat in between the two and was smashed between a brutal giant and her own crystal cocoon, but she endured in order to hang on for longer.

If Juggernaut was getting tired from Hollie’s draining touch, he sure wasn’t showing it. It didn’t take long before Hollie could hear the crystal behind her cracking and breaking. Then with one final heave, Juggernaut burst through the wall, sending shards of the wall flying in all directions, with Hollie still on his back. She clung on for a second longer before kicking off from his back and landing on her back a distance away. She wasn’t done with him yet, however.

She could feel the crystal lattice surging with power and by extension, herself, as the energy flowed into her. She flung out her hands towards Juggernaut and smashed them together. Two large crystal crags suddenly and violently emerged from the concrete of the street and surrounded the giant, leaving a small opening for Will’s wind tunnel.

Will watched in awe as Hollie more or less threw herself at the Juggernaut, he was standing ready to intervene. He knew the part he had to play, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to jump in to stop someone else from being hurt. Even if that person was made from crystal that was pretty damn hard to break. Still, instinct had to be fought against. The ‘heroes gut’ as his mum liked to talk about in reference to his father.

Upon formation of the crystal Will let go of a breath he didn’t even know he was holding, hands behind him he swing them around on front of him sending what would essentially equate to a wall of pure wind into the tunnel that Hollie had just formed. Putting everything he had into it, thankfully pushing was a little easier than pulling so he could put more into it… at the cost of not being able to maintain the effort for long. Falling down onto his knees after almost a minute panting.

“Did we get him?”

Allison walked over to the crystal formation, “I don’t know...let’s see.” Once Hollie took down her crystal formation, Juggernaut laid there, collapsed on the ground. Nervous, Allison checked the hulking man out. Juggernaut wasn’t known for being a faker, or a trickster, he was more full force. “Hollie, can you see if you can put some crystal handcuffs on him or something. I think we got him down though.”

Hollie watched as the plan appeared to proceed without a hitch. Will's gale force wind ripped through the tunnel and spun violently inside the crystal cage Hollie had placed their opponent in. Once Will was gassed, he dropped his wind and everything fell quiet for a moment as the tense air of uncertainty washed over them. With some reluctance, Hollie waved her hand across her crystal cage and the crystal began eroding away to a finite dust. The tension was palpable as it slowly cleared from the top down to the bottom but judging from the motionless body at the center, it became clear that the three were the victors.

"Mm... Of course." Hollie replied to Allison's request, sounding a bit in awe and taken back by their easy and painless success. Hollie waved her hand over Juggernaut's collapsed form causing a crystal cast to form over the entirety of Juggernaut's body, save for his head. It was at this point, Hollie actually considered herself impressed. No, not by herself, she always knew she was good, but by her teammates. Will was no pushover, though "beginner's luck" came to mind, and Hollie had clearly underestimated Allison's role. Turns out seeing the exactly how they would be Juggernaut was a pretty significant advantage.

The crystal around Hollie's face peeled away as her face came into view. "Wow. I can't believe we did it..." Hollie paused as removed her gaze from Juggernaut and looked to her teammates. ".. You guys did well." Hollie's expression brightened giving her teammates a faint smile. She wasn't exactly the nicest but at the moment, she didn't have anything negative to say about the two who stood in front of her. Hollie turned away and waited until they were pulled out of the simulation before withdrawing her crystal armor.

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_{Interacting with: Read this shit and find out, you filthy animals}

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T H E D I N I N G R O O M - T H E X A V I E R I N S T I T U T E

William hadn't really known what to expect from Llavi. As previously mentioned he didn't know the older boy well, nor was there much known about him around the mansion, other than that he had an almost unpronounceable name and a disposition against 'TV gringos'. Sparse details, and it would be fair to say that they didn't really paint a three dimensional picture of a human being. Still, the lilting poetry of Llavi's speech surprised the Outsider. Pleasantly surprised him. That, coupled with the Spaniard's easy going manner warmed William to him all the more. He felt himself relaxing.

“Can't say I'm the biggest fan of our 'physical education', but really, what's the worst that could happen?”

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T H E D A N G E R R O O M - T H E X A V I E R I N S T I T U T E

As far as 'worst things' go, a charging, murderously pissed off Juggernaught, ranked pretty high up the list. The fact that he was just a hard light construction didn't seem to make things any easier. If anything he seemed to be acting extra aggressive to compensate.

William's palms felt sweaty, his bladder full and his stomach was doing loops as he stood frozen in place.

“I'M GONNA BREAK YOU IN HALF!”

The big guy screamed as he pounded towards William, Nate and Heidi. At least he didn't say that other thing that he's so fond of spouting. 1900lbs of sheer, muscle bound fury stampeded on, a nuclear bomb shaped like a man, locked on a and dead-set on his destruction. The Outsider managed a torn glance towards his allies. Nate, usually so calm and in control in these situations, seemed just as paralysed by fear as himself while Heidi was grinning like a madwoman who was privvy to a joke that no one else had heard. Maybe she'd figured out a way to deal with the man mountain baying for their blood. If she had then it didn't seem like she was set on sharing, mores the pity.

“RRRRRAAAAARGHHH!”

Juggernaut was uncomfortably close and getting closer, and he was just standing their like a brain dead fool. Move, damn it! Before he quite realized what he was doing William was moving, striking a counter-charge against their enemy. If Cain Marko was intimated by his pint-sized, masked foe then he didn't show it.

Mere feet separated the two combatants when Juggernaut threw the first blow, a massive right cross angled down towards William, the power behind it enough to shatter a skyscraper, so more than enough to turn the Outsider's insides to jelly if it connected. Conscious thought gave way to training-honed reflexes as the masked mutant leapt into the air, over the Juggernaut's meaty fist, then used the villain's outstretched arm as a pommel horse to vault up and over the giant's domed helmet. Marko grunted in confusion as his quarry twisted out of view. William landed lightly behind him, dropped to his haunches, and tried to sweep kick the gargantuan fiends legs out from underneath him. It went as well as could be expected, Juggernaut barely feeling the blow and William bruising his shin. The bigger man roared in annoyance, pivoted on his heel, and raised one big boot skywards, thinking to crush Outsider like a cockroach. The masked teen only just managed to roll out of the way, wincing at the sound of shattering concrete. If he'd been a second slower that might have been his skull.

This really isn't going well. Nate and Heidi need to get into the game. . . and I need a strategy beyond just not being squashed.

The answer to defeating Juggernaut was simple in concept, but devilish in implementation. The big man was laughably vulnerable to psionic attacks, and Nate was the schools resident telepath, meaning their team had the major advantage. However to actually hit Marko with a psychic whammy one had to first deprive him of his massive domed helmet that protected him from such attacks. Unfortunately removing the helmet was a task of opening three clasps that attached it to his armour, unbelievably easier said than done when Juggernaut was in a 'hitting things' mood.

“Nate, Heidi, we need to get that helmet off him.” William shouted, keen to get shake his team of their lethargy, and get them all working off the same page. Unfortunately that shout seemed to tick Mark off again, who prepared himself to charge William once again. The Outsider gulped down his apprehension before readying himself to meet the attack.

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T E A M T H R E E

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Within a blink of an eye, Danny and the others were thrusted into a New York simulation that was so real you could literally have a conversation with someone and feel as if it was legit. To this day the Danger Room never ceased to amaze him with its stunning technology. The moment was soon taken from him as he noticed the gigantic Juggernaut in the middle of the street who was hungry for blood. He looked over at Ryan who had nodded into the direction of the flower shop that was just a few feet away. Without having to ask, he immediately bolted towards the haven for mother nature. He felt comfortable flexable in his X suit that had a green trim on it for obvious reasons.

Juggernaut came charging at Ryan, the Half-Cajun stood his ground, he wasn't scared, he had heard the tales of the battles against this hulking mutant many times before, and this was merely a part of the real deals power. His eyes started glowing in a burning red hue, and soon so did his hands, putting them up just in time to generate the forcefield that would stop the juggernauts charge.

"Guess we're gonna find out the answer to the ancient question!"

When the unstoppable hit the shield, the shield starting quaking, Ryan grunted, but the mutant fell on his ass on the floor, startled by being knocked off course. The boy's hands were shaking from the energy his powers had just absorbed, and the barely visible field turned into a tangible wall.

Cain got back onto his feet and started hitting the wall furiously, each connecting strike emited a red glow from the man's fists into the forcefield - it was feeding off of his fury. The wall got stronger with every punch, yet, Ryan was growing weaker, his hands shaking and his legs starting to give out, he sat down on one knee, holding the wall up was not the problem - the problem was keeping all of that kinetic energy inside of the wall.

"Help!" The Cajun grunted.

Once Danny was at his destination, he stood firmly into place and began to concentrate on the plants who now belonged to him at the moment. As he held his hands out, the flowers began to grow at an alarming rate to where they were reproducing into the streets of New York. Green vines, plant leaves, and flowers began to grow along the pavement, street poles and even took over the cars. They soon began to scale along buildings and traffic signs until the point they were all submerged into a mini jungle. The should even the playing field for them.

Noticing that Ryan was beginning to struggle keeping the gigantic mutant at bay with his shields, Danny had to act quickly. With someone as big as Juggernaut, beating him with pure brute force was almost impossible. One had to stop him by sneaky alternative methods. The red head had studied this man before and knew he had an accelerated healing rate so in order to stop him, he had to stop breathing to keep from healing. And Danny knew just the herb to do so.

Just to give Ryan some time to recuperate, Danny manipulated some vines that were on traffic poles to launch at Juggernaut by the arms and legs. They wrapped around him like powerful pythons and constricted around him to render the man immobile at least for a little while. The vines were stronger than bamboo but he knew it still wasn't enough to keep the mutant at bay. And he still needed time to conjure up the Dumbcane plant.

As the vines erupted around the Juggernaut, Ryan grunted, the behemoth would soon break freek. His shield was too unstable to keep up. He pushed off of the leg he was sitting on, towards Cain, changing the curve of the shield to curve around the larger mutant as it exploded in a powerful kinetic explosion, shattering windows and destroying the pavement around him, sending Ryan flying fifteen or so meters - and Cain flying two or three in opposite directions, destroying the behemoth's clothing and cracking his trademark helmet. The shock of being tossed around like that gave the two the breathing room necessary to readjust their plans.

Ryan skidded on the asphalt, despite his natural agility and training it didn't help him catch his fall at all. He leaned against the side of a building, his ears ringing and his head hurting. Splendid, give yourself a concussion.

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T E A M T H R E E

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Penelope had frozen, like she often did when thrust into the Danger Room. She didn't like the first word used in its nomenclature; she liked the intense realism of the simulation even less. If the Danger Room could be this real...it brought to mind an old theory about computer programs. If we could simulate life to a near-perfect degree, it was guaranteed our own life was the same. Penelope smirked. Oh yes, she'd done a lot of reading since she came here from the back-waters of Nowhere, Massachusets.

Ryan's cry for help shook her out of it. His forcefields were holding Juggernaut back - only possible because of the sim's toned down nature - and there was a dubious wobble beginning to emerge in the psionic barrier...Danny had vacated with haste towards the closest source of plant-life he could find (a rather convenient florists) and Penelope had enough time to register how good an idea evacuating seemed to be before the barrier exploded under the sheer levels of energy it held, potential turning rapidly into kinetic and imparting itself upon everything in the near-vicinity - Penelope included. She slammed into the wall behind her, rubble and dust billowing out of the dent she made. She growled, and burst out of the hole she made, hunched over and flesh rippling.

Penelope's fingertips split at the end as small bony talons forced their way out from under the skin, barbs of similar construction starting to protrude all over her arms as her eyes turned black, pupils overtaking most of the sclera to afford her better vision; with claws and dark eyes she took off, sprinting toward the downed Juggernaut, who stumbled under her impact as he got back to his feet. Penelope was on him, clambering around his massive frame, using her barbs to latch to his flesh and causing injuries wherever she went; she'd met plenty of dicks in her youth who'd recoiled from her acerbic personality and taunted her as Penny Dreadful - now, with her X-Gene, she revelled in the nickname. She could be Dreadful if she wanted to be. And right now, with her mouth growing at the corners until it split her face ear-to-ear, vicious fangs erupting from her gums, she wanted to be Dreadful. Penny Dreadful reared back, opening her maw as wide as it would let her, and clamped down on Juggernaut's neck, tearing flesh, veins, and arteries. That ought to put a stint in his activities for a good minute or two. The edges of her maw curled upwards in a smile as her arms slashed away and her mouth spilled blood;
god knows what she looked like to her teammates right now.

Ryan's ears stopped ringing as he regained sight and his balance came back - he thought, as he stumbled to the ground onto his knees and vomited. Shaking his head and wiping barf from his face, he turned to look at Juggernaut - whom Penelope was currently chewing on. All right, so, I did get hit a lot harder than I thought. He mumbled to himself. Juggernaut caught one of Penny's legs and threw her aside, off of him, he had a lot of surface wouds on his neck and head, blood running down his face. "Jesus Christ" Ryan erupted, climbing back onto his feet, holding his still quaking head.

I think I got enough juice to hold him in place for a few seconds. You about ready?" Ryan asked Danny.

Like Danny had predicted, the vines that held onto Juggernaut were not strong enough and it took minimal effort for him to break out of his restraints. However as if faith decided to intervene, another teammate decided to jump in and give it a shot, giving Danny some extra time to think.

"About time," Danny said to himself referring to Penelope. She was quite vicious by the looks of the marks that Cain were left after he swatted her away. When Ryan had came to, he wasted no time telling him a coarse of action. "Yeah I'm ready. A few seconds is all I need. Just make a dome over him so I can grow a poisonous plant inside for him to be trapped with. All he needs to do is inhale the spores and he bites the dust."

Ryan Nodded, turning towards Marko

"Penny! Get out of there!" He shouted, as he nodded for Danny to grow the plant within the dome. Said and done, the bubble formed around Marko, he tried to fight, he punched it and Ryan struggled, but he kept the wall up till the toxic spores did it's work and the unconscious body of the Behemoth laid on the simulation floor, as the simulation powered down.


It seemed as the simulation powered down just in time as Gambit and Drake entered the room abruptly. Danny took a moment to catch his breath only to be told they were going to be sent on a real mission to rescue their fellow teammates. This was one of the reasons why he needed to work out a little more. Just after this simulation he was tired and wanted to rest. Now they were going to be thrusted into a real life situation that he may not even be ready for. Regardless, his fellow X-Men were in trouble and they were the only ones that could get them back.

Without wasting any time, Danny boarded the sleek black jet with the rest of his team where they were greeted by Piotr. The butterflies in his stomach began to flutter about as he saw the man that he had grown fond of since attending the academy. Not only did he have a major infatuation with him, but he looked up to him as Colossus was also LGBT. It seemed that his thought of being tired diminished when the giant Russian began to speak.

"I'm going to get so distracted," he said to himself as he settled into his seat, fastening the seat belt over him. He looked over at the protein bars and grabbed one to read the ingredients. He rolled his eyes and tossed it aside as most of the ingredients were not vegan so he would have to replenish himself when they got back.