Grif's first impression of gaining superpowers from the experiment was underwhelming at best as the past twentysomething minutes, since he woke up from the medically-induced coma, went by like a breeze. First, he remembers waking feeling strangely energized yet nauseous, like that one time he was stuffed with nothing but junk food after a day-long splurge if he could best describe the sensation.

Director Fury then enters the room accompanied by two other agents before briefing us of a practice mission into a virtual reality simulation, aptly dubbed the 'Framework', where our objective was to neutralize a bioterrorist attack and secure a group of hostages. Sounds easy enough? Only catch was that we were set up against the Brother of Mutants and and rescue the X-Men on top of that.

As the headsets were passed around, Grif quickly took his and slipped it onto his head, maybe he was acting in haste but frankly he just needed to get outside even if he wouldn't technically move from his bed. Almost seemed as if he was sick from spending however long he did indoors, it was strange, considering he never once had a claustrophobic episode before. Whatever it was, he wanted out.

Grif opened his eyes, finding Sami and himself on the top floor of some lab building, looking like the typical office space, with no sign of the other agents. He was sure that he put the headset as soon as he received his but only after he saw Abercrombie and Johnson do the same, which begs the question about their whereabouts. Perhaps one of the bugs, earlier mentioned by Agent Fitz during the mission brief, is to blame? Still, if the situation posed any real danger he was more than sure that the Director would have ordered the both of them to be pulled out of the simulation. With that being said, his mind crystallizes into strict, military discipline - assessing the environment and prioritizing the mission objective's completion.

Moving from his spot behind some unused desks and cubicles, he peeks around the corner to get a better idea of his surroundings. A group of six people was tied up from across the building floor but other than that Grif couldn't make out much. He ducks back behind cover and left constrained to his position, having hardly any known factors to act upon and not to mention the complete lack of awareness about his own powers. Glancing down at his own two hands, Grif briefly mulls over what they could be. Flight? Telekinesis? Precognition? Optic Blasts? He couldn't tell from what he had to go off of, he certainly didn't feel any different other than the lingering nausea.

He glances back at Sami another Operations agent he quickly befriended upon meeting, the two having trained with and sparred against each other, and spent quite a lot of downtime together. A solid partner to have for the mission ahead, "Sami, you good? We might've just experienced some of the bugs firsthand, can't say for sure." Grif asked him as he draws his one-handed battle axe out from its sheath by his side, "I spot a group of six tied up across from us, most likely our hostages. Do you have a grasp on what your powers are? I haven't got a clue about mine yet." Up against the Brotherhood of Mutants he'd very much like their chances with some semblance of an idea of what their powers were than as they were now.

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"Millennials, they just get everything handed to them..." Jim joked, finally getting up from his seat. He went over to Marygold and extended his hand, before he turned completely to stone. He looked similar to the Thing - or a less shiny Colossus. "Agent Kennedy, hope we haven't gotten off to too much of a rocky start here." He flashed her a grin, before his body shifted back to normal and he winked at Mary.

"Nice to meet you," she said with a smile, shaking his hand. "Honestly, I'm used to the bad puns from other people over the years," she added, shaking her head.

Jim shrugged. Fitz-Simmons had gone over to the corner, doing some diagnostics on the equipment running the Framework. Although they had one hour in the simulation, it wouldn't cut off then. The simulation would only end when the agents either failed the mission beyond repair, succeeded at their task, or simply gave up. Chloe was making her rounds around the room, making sure that everyone was still showing steady vitals - though a few of the heart rate monitors had picked up from stress. "It's what's kept me sane - ever since I became whatever this is," he said with a chuckle, his hand now turning to stone.

"When I first got my powers, it was 2 years before I went to the mansion. I was not allowed to set foot on any sort of grassy surface, or dirt. I was basically stuck on cement because otherwise if I walked on the ground there would be a trail of flowers bursting into bloom behind me... Not everyone likes having their powers, or can control them completely, just depends. Some members of the X-Men have slight problems controlling their powers still, even if they've had them for years," she said simply, looking at him.

"Covert ops, Eastern Europe. Ever heard of Mount Wundagore - near Serbia?" Jim asked her. "They had some experimental tech...Science goes over my head, but I should've died. Instead, I could give the Rock a run for his money these days." He chuckled and gave her a smile, pulling a pack of gum out of his pocket and offering her a piece. "But instead I try to clean up Fury's messes for him and avoid his bullshit...Like putting these people through this? It's madness. At least I can try to make the transition easier for them....Can you imagine if some random person was in charge of helping them? It'd be a fucking nightmare."

"Yeah, probably... A lot of people still can't control their powers at the mansion. One guy, Lance, he kind of turns into a free laser light show when he loses his temper, or his emotions get out of control. Having someone else here that knows about powers probably will help them out."

Jim couldn't help but grin hearing that. "Sorry, that's uh...That's my nephew's name."

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Team Glitches (@Peridot@17th Day):

So far, there was no sign of the others for Griff or Sami, leaving them on their own on the top floor of the building. It was entirely possible that the rest of the team didn't even know they were there. The glitch could've made it so they didn't even register on Agent Reed's tablet - only a computer expert would really be able to determine the extent of it, of course, and anyone skilled with computers just so happened to be on Team Reed or Team Abercrombie. But by no means are these two agents truly alone. The relative silence was broken by a radio going off. "Quicksilver - we've got enhanced hostiles coming in. They're S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Do you need reinforcements?"

If Griff or Sami glanced around the corner one more time, they'd finally be able to get a good glimpse at the hostages. Roughly half a dozen X-Men members were tied up against the wall. One of them would look familiar to Griff - and Sami ought to recognize her, as they share a godfather. "...What did you do to me..." she mumbled, her skin incredibly pale and she was sweating at the same time. It was as if she had been drugged.

"No need," he replied in the radio, before looking at Guin Stark, the only (known) daughter of Tony Stark and the heiress to Stark Industries. "Don't worry, nothing major, just kind of something to keep you living, so don't worry too much about it," Quicksilver said with a slight smirk.

Of course, she wasn't the only one that seemed out of it. Oshea Jackson, another speedster, was gravely injured and partially slumped over as he sat next to Allison Andrews. Ayita Dyrkin had been knocked unconscious and Damon Fawkes had severe burns covering his body. "Why'd you betray us..." Guin murmured, feeling like she was going to throw up and she had a massive fever. She was sitting next to Marygold Isley, the badly battered leader of the X-Men.

"Well, you aren't going to end up dead from this virus thingy, so that's the plus side of this."

Mary was kind of out of it. She had been hit pretty hard over the head, and at the very least had several ribs cracked. Coughing slightly, a little bit of blood coming from her mouth, she tried to focus on what was going on around her, but she was finding it to be really hard. There was blood coming from her head, and she closed her eyes to stop the world from spinning. She didn't know really what to do in this situation, and she wasn't going to be much help to the others either.

Carolina slowly opened her eyes and lets out a slight groan in pain her head felt like it was going to explode, she looked around seeing the other members of the X-Men. She could hear Guin and Pietro talking to one another, she knew she shouldn't have trusted Quicksilver at all. "We trusted you Piet." Carolina had a black eye and a gash on the side of her head. "I guess you are still like your pops."

Allison kept a hand on Oshea, worried the speedster was not going to make it if they continued, but she kept as stoic a face as she could muster. Falling into this obvious trap hurt more than the injuries on her body. "It's not too late, you can fix this! Those people don't have to die!" Appealing to hopefully whatever kind nature Pietro had left in him, Allison could barely stand.

Team Abercrombie (@FantasyChic@ihinka@McHaggis@BlueSky44@Nallore):

Unfortunately, the songs on the cassette tape will remain a mystery - unless one of you just happened to be carrying around a tape player. But from the note written on it, it's a safe bet that it'll contain at least Billy Joel's hit Uptown Girl. As you head for the staircase a few doors down, you'll find another piece of the puzzle. It's an empty syringe and unfortunately, the label has been scrubbed off. There's no telling what it used to contain or who it was administered to - perhaps Agent Bautista could tell, but she's off in a different group.

And while Quicksilver and the hostages are on the fourth floor, your team (of course) doesn't know this. As you exit onto the second floor to begin sweeping and securing the upper floors one by one, you'll realize it looks like an ordinary office area. There are computers all around at several cubicles. There's even cute little drawings parents have pinned up from their children, to give them a burst of positivity in order to get through the day.

Oh, and then there's this man - Victor Creed, better known as Sabretooth. Your team has been spotted due to its large size and relatively noisy approach up the staircase. Sabretooth doesn't give you a moment to react before he's charged and grabbed one of your teammates - Agent Hale - and thrown him across the room. The telepath hits the wall but he's lucky. Sabretooth has been known to kill his opponents without remorse - Hale is just battered and bruised at the moment.

Sabretooth lets out another roar. Question is - which member of your team will he attack next?

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The radio Bautista had grabbed would go off once more, relaying the following message - "Quicksilver - we've got enhanced hostiles coming in. They're S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Do you need reinforcements?" Hearing that message sent a small chill down Novikova's spine. She doubted that a speedster would ever need reinforcements. And as she heard Quicksilver's reply that none were needed, she began to be filled with a huge sense of dread. She had a bad feeling about this. She picked at her nails slightly as she thought.

She wasn't an expert in computers, but she had had to take plenty of courses in computer engineering at Sci-Tech. For this program to function properly, it wasn't as simple as Fury saying "I want this and this, damn it, make it happen" to Agents Fitz and Stark. With such an in depth program as the Framework, it had to be performing advanced probability functions. Novikova felt as if she was on the cusp of understanding something intrinsic about the Framework, when the Operations and Communications agents began to engage the hostiles.

Laine was already down for the count, and Wonderland was gagging on foam from a fire extinguisher. Lizzie managed to spit out the foam and she was glaring and smiling at the same time, looking a bit crazed as she leapt forward. But instead of going for Valencia, the one who attacked her, she grabbed Agent Rivera by the wrist and held onto her tightly. "Go to sleep, babe," Lizzie whispered. Rivera dropped to the ground a moment later, hallucinating profusely. Lizzie then glanced at the others.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you." She then smirked and suddenly, no one would be able to see anyone else. Lizzie's power over illusions allowed her to create one where everyone seemed to vanish. Novikova looked around, her eyes wide. She took off her glasses, wondering if that would let her see, but nope. She still couldn't see anyone. In fact, only Niah would be able to see through the illusion if she chose to enhance her sight.

"It's an illusion, isn't it?" Novikova asked tentatively, looking around but she still couldn't see anyone.

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They followed the route into the side-building and through the wreckage left by someone before them. Arcturus didn't dwell on the blood, and was only vaguely interested in the cassette tape. Whoever came this way before had good taste in old technology; it was just a shame he didn't have his Walkman with him, not that it seemed to be anything but a mixtape. Nikolova took it with her, which was her own prerogative, but Arcturus couldn't help but thinking it was a waste of space.

He had more important things to worry about. Whispers of HYDRA in his ears from afar. Someone was thinking about HYDRA. He wasn't entirely surprised –– it was a topic that constantly found itself at the forefront of his own mind –– but what he heard didn't sound like the, 'ooh, those bastards' or 'I wonder what they're up to' or anything along those lines. The words almost seemed reverent. Whatever mental signature it was attached to, Arcturus couldn't be sure. It didn't sound like someone he knew.

They carried on down towards the stairs, and that was where they found actual evidence.

The syringe was a different matter entirely. When he found it, he inspected it without touching, both due to memories of high school warnings about not touching used syringes kicking in and an unwillingness to contaminate it, on the off chance that they stumbled across the equipment to analyse it. Though there was little to be seen on the outer surface that betrayed its purpose, it was worth bringing with them. Part of the mission parameters was to find a way of preventing the virus, and who could say whether this contained it, or something like it? "I'm no scientist, but we should probably take that with us." The last part was directed to Nikolova or Sparks, given their background in Sci-Tech, but he didn't fancy stuffing it in one of his own pockets. That would just be unsanitary.

As they moved up to the second floor and surveyed the standard office environment, Arcturus stopped in his tracks. Stared, for a heartbeat, unable to process any thought beyond, 'Oh, fuck.' Positioned at the fringes of the team as they cleared the stairwell and entered into the offices, he hardly expected to come face-to-face with the first mutant threat of the day. Less man than animal, like his moniker suggested, Sabertooth had seized him before he ever had time to get out of the way. A white-hot flash of pain seared through his arm as he was tossed bodily into the wall, hitting it shoulder first. He remained in place for a moment, still as could be, to blink the haze of pain from his eyes before there could be a follow-up assault. How on earth would his power help with that?

That would bruise. He looked down at his forearm where the impact had scraped the surface of the skin, and though it was only a minor scrape, an ache settled in. It felt real, this Framework. Maybe this was karma for doubting it in the first place.

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Sami had taken a lot longer to wake up than the rest of the recruits who had survived the experiment. Whether it was due to his subconscious mind halting him from tasting what seemed like the innards of a vacuum cleaner in his mouth, or if the tests had taken too much of a toll... or even just because he was lazy and got as many winks in as he could - Sami was the last to wake up, and even then, it was an arduous process. His body felt somewhat weak and shivery, as though he'd just fought off an aggressive flu and was slowly recovering. Worse still, his head felt like it had been filled with rocks, with strange sensations fluttering across his mind. Gazing blearily at Nick Fury, Sami couldn't even summon a witty word before putting the framework equipment on, desperate to spend less time in his aching physical body.

As it happened, the framework did alleviate some of his groggy symptoms. His aches and pains were gone, but as he peered around, so were the majority of the other Agents.

"I've been better." Sami responded to Grif with a weak grin, glad to see he wasn't totally alone. He didn't mind going down the lone wolf route, but God only knew what could pop up in this simulation now that that speedy bastard had played around with it. The strange sensations in his head were still swirling around him, but he could ignore them long enough to follow Grif's gaze around the corner. Ducking silently as he heard the radio go off, Sami clocked one of the Brotherhood. "Speak of the fuckin devil." He thought, recognising him as Quicksilver. By his feet were a handful of the X-Men, looking pretty pale and pathetic, the majority of them wounded. Did they have to administer first aid in the framework? He understood they had to keep them alive, but shit, he wasn't giving a computer mouth to mouth.

Once again, the sensation in his head came to his attention, and all of a sudden, fell into place like one of his puzzles. It was a peculiar feeling, one he couldn't quite understand... but it answered Grif's second question.

"Well, goddamn." He whispered, making sure the sound wouldn't travel towards Quicksilver and the hostages. "I can tell... or feel? Powers. Of other people." There was a large amount of power in the vicinity, most likely from the other Agents that had popped up elsewhere in the map. "I'm getting super speed from that asshole. Someone has got... future sight? And telekinesis." He paused, looking at Grif. The guy didn't know what his powers were, so they likely hadn't manifested. Or he didn't get any... Sami couldn't recall if survival but no powers was even a possibility of the program. "There's something else, but it's like... quiet, I guess? Could be yourself, you just haven't switched it on yet or something." That explanation was all he could offer with a shrug of confusion. Sami didn't quite understand this power yet, but he was sure to be annoyed if that was all he got. Finding out what shit other people had was not worth the potential death sentence he had nearly received.

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Z followed her team as they made their way to the upper floors. She was trying to stay vigil as they were climbing steps, her batons to the ready. Nik was a few steps behind Arc when he indicated a syringe and spoke up to herself and Tess.

"I'm no scientist, but we should probably take that with us."

Z approached the man and the syringe he was indicating. The label was scrubbed off and the thing was obviously empty. The explosives engineer picked it up by the sides of the plunger with two fingers, careful not to disturb any fingerprint possibly left on the top of the plunger. Niah would be so proud of me! Z thought as she carefully handled the piece of evidence whishing she had a pair of latex gloves with her. "You're right." Nik said to Arc. "We should take this with us." She nodded as she gently lowered her head to sniff the syringe trying to discern any familiar chemical scent from it. When she got nothing, Z brought the syringe back down and stared at it. "Whatever was in here, I don't think I've encountered something like it before." Nik extended her hand, syringe in it, towards Tess. "Can you make something out of it?" Z knew Tess had a little bit more medical experience than herself.

As Nik handed off the syringe to Tess, the group made their way to the second floor and entered a space filled with office cubicles, decorated by the usual office paraphernalia. The group managed to discern nothing more as Victor Creed completely blindsided them, charging at the group, swiping Arc into a wall with barely an effort. Z couldn't help but follow Arc's flight towards the wall. She winced as his body impacted the hard surface and slumped down motionless for a second. Her stupor was shattered as she saw her teammate move. Thank the gods he's alive! As soon as the thought hit her, Z realized how bleeding dangerous that attack would have been, had they not been in a simulated environment. We have to do better, damn it! Her eyes flashed with anger and she directed them at Sabretooth as the fucking giant of a man roared savagely at them. Two can play that game! Nik thought, and gathering her breath, let her voice loose.

Nothing!

As if trapped in a nightmare you want to scream your way out of, but only managing to moan feebly, Z's vocal cords refused to produce any sound whatsoever. She shut her mouth flabbergasted. There was no time to stay there in stunned shock however. Considering Creed's abilities, if they wanted to neutralize him, they needed to do so fast before his healing factor had the time to kick in. Z had hoped to stun the beast with her roar, banking on his super sensitive hearing, but failing miserably there she tried to refocus her mind.

Her anger was swirling within her still, but now it was marred by her failure to deploy her Concussive Roar. She needed a new strategy quickly. But no matter how she tried to clear her mind and achieve that familiar calmness from moments ago Nik just could not reach that level of tranquility required to contain her rage. However hard Z tried, she just could not discern any vulnerable points on Creed's body she could exploit. Damn it all to bloody hell! I'll just have to go for the obvious ones then. Nik gripped her batons until the knuckles of her hands turned white with the effort. Without so much as a sound she lunged for Sabretooth going for his crotch. The plan was to drop him to his knees so that she could go for his temples. The bloody bugger was a mountain compared to her slight 5'3 frame. And factoring in all his mutant abilities. A one on one with him was probably a stupid idea, but what other choice did they have?!

Unfortunately for Z Creed saw her coming and sidestepped her attempt to make him sing soprano. He swiped at her with his claws and it was by blind luck only that Nik managed to dodge the attack. She went ass over tit in one of the cubicles, banging her head hard as she rolled away from danger. "Bloody, fucking tosser!!!" Z groaned, the colorful expletives would have probably surprised the people who knew her well and not as one of the potty mouth persuasion. The explosives engineer stood up on one knee and desperately tried to regain control of her anger. It would only be a detriment if it controlled her and not the other way around. Z took a deep breath. Focused her gaze on Creed. Breathed in deeply once more, releasing the death grip she had on her batons. Another cleansing breath and her mind settled. Her muscles relaxed. Nik felt her vocal cords unclench and her rage flow unhinged and yet channeled within her.

She was ready for the second round!

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It was going well or actually it wasn't. At first Val felt that things might be looking slightly up, but that Wonderland woman quickly got rid of the extinguisher she was choking on and spit it out. Now that was bad luck if Valencia ever saw one. She so loathed not having a gun right now. She would have shot the woman ten times in the leg by now had she had a gun, but she didn't so it was melee prep. She had to fight her wih punches and kicks, but she also realized right away she had a extinguisher she can whack her with. Yeah that was going to work.

Sadly the woman didn't target her," Shit!" She roared, but it was already too late. She passed by them and took care of the portal user. How on earth did they let it happen just like that? Val was both furious and confused at it, but nothing to be done about it.

Then things got worse as they fell prey to the illusions. SHe looked around, but couldn't see anyone. They were trapped inthe illusion. Cursing in her mind she scratched at her left hand with her nails to the point of bleeding, but hte illusion wasn't leaving which meant that pain was not going to get rid of it. That was not good, but hten she noticed she was bleeding a lot." Dafaq?" She cursed and tightly pressed the wound with her right hand. How on earth did she scratch a vein dammit!

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Cassandra watched as Valencia went for a fire extinguisher and used it on Wonderland, wondering why exactly she chose to use one but it seemed to actually work. Then Cass watched helplessly as she went straight for Agent Riviera, using her power on the new agent and watched her now turn into a blabbering mess on the floor. Cassandra didn't fight against her when she was in the real mission, but she knew that Ayita ended up killing the mutant in that mission. "Be careful she does not touch you." Cassandra stated, as she then started to notice her vision going dark as well as everyone else in her team.

Cassandra couldn't help but groan when she couldn't see a thing except for her own hands in front of her, she aimed where Wonderland was before. And tried to fire only for the ICER to completely malfunction in her hand, as several components broke apart before her only leaving the ICER as a giant paperweight in her hands. Cassandra tossed the now useless gun aside onto the floor hearing it clattering on the ground. She then decided to opt out for her knife and quickly drew it out in her hand twirling it slightly in her hand as she kept her ears peeled for any sort of noise. "Bautista try and use your ability." Cassandra said as she remained very still.

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Maria continued to follow alongside the others and headed up the flight of stairs to the next floor, as she then stopped and noticed the empty syringe that was on the ground. She knelt down next to Zoya and looked at it, Maria had absolutely no clue what it was used for maybe a test sample of the virus or something else? Maria didn't know but she let Zoya take it and then handed it over towards Tess and took a few steps back and dusted herself off somewhat. Maria then continued on her journey towards the next floor, she noticed that they were pretty loud on their way up which wasn't a good sign either.

Then she could hear a bloody roar as Sabertooth suddenly came into the fray and tossed Hale easily like a ragdoll to the nearest wall, Maria quickly backed up towards Hale in a way to shield him from Sabertooth. Maria watched Zoya try her hand and use her ability on Sabertooth. Which didn't even happen, only hearing a slight squeak from her and then she went in to try and fight the mutant in hand to hand combat, or at least kick him in the nuts. Only to have her nearly get hit, Maria remembered taking Teige's ability before heading in and tried to use it on the closest object. Only for it to not even work, Maria tried harder but it never happened which made her groan even more. "Damn it!" Maria muttered to herself, before looking over towards Tinley. "Hey try using your jedi mind control trick thingy on him."

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Sparky watched as the others attempted to harm Sabretooth, but noticed that they weren't having any luck trying to even hit him. When Nikolova pointed out to her that she was hovering, she immediately had touched down back onto the ground, and right now she was looking at their opponent, and she was definitely not liking the odds. She decided to try and send sparks flying at him, but they were so weak that Sabretooth didn't even seem to realize that she had hit him at all. Static electricity was probably what he felt, if anything, from that zap.

She took a deep breath, trying to remain calm as she looked at the situation. That was the second time she had used her powers, and the second time that they had failed her. Well, third time's the charm right? Keep trying if you fail, so she decided to try and hit him one more time. This time, a bolt of electricity shot out from her fingertips, hitting Sabretooth and knocking him down. Sure, he wasn't unconscious or anything, still able to try and kill him, but hey, at least she hit him with an actual attack this time.

Everyone was gone, but she could hear everyone. Another glitch? Her power? No, this was Wonderland. It had to be. She focused on her vision, but instead of things snapping into place her taste buds went into overdrive. Some grit from the concrete was there and it had several flavors to it. Niah knew she was tasting the chemicals. In exchange, she lost sensation on her skin. Her hand went reflexively up to touch her necklace and while she knew by the pressure that her hand was against her chest right where the necklace would be she couldn't feel it's familiar orb.

However, Niah could see everyone else again. She gave a small puff of thanks and reached out to grab Agent Reed who she had been close to before everything went dark. "It worked Agent Reed. I can see." She wasn't going to explain how it worked. She didn't feel like making a fool of herself for failing to focus on her sight yet again. Agent Reed's eyes seemed to focus. Niah smiled at her and reached for the next nearest person. She kept an eye on Wonderland ready to warn anyone outside of her own reach that they were in danger.

Her hand touched an Agent she had seen around but didn't know very well. Niah thought her name was Johnson, but she wasn't certain. "Agent you're bleeding hold on." Niah pulled her pocket knife out and cut at her shirt to get a strip of cloth hoping to wrap it around the woman's arm to keep her from bleeding out.

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Tinley acknowledged her team before they moved forward and upward. They had a mission to do and side things, such as the tape, made no impression on her. She wanted to succeed at this. She needed to if only to prove to herself and Fury that she was meant to be here.

So when they got to the next floor and saw none other than Sabretooth. Before she could even finish saying "Of Fu-" he charged, knocking Agent Hale around. Her team rushed into action (a moment she felt actually proud of), but so far nothing was felling the beast and he seemed to get angrier with each attempt.

Tinley had only a brief moment before she was the next to be attacked. How did she handle this? Did she rush into action like the others, using whatever hand-to-hand combat skills she possessed in hopes of stopping him? It seemed unlikely she would be able to, given the size and strength of him. So what else did she have?

And then it hit her. She had mind control! It was untested, and she had only done it once, but she had to try. So she focused her attention on the man-beast and entered his mind. It was, unsurprisingly, easy. Once in, she issued her command. "You will stop fighting us. You will apologize to those you attacked. And you will tell us what to expect along these upper floors. Once done, you will sit like a good boy and not move until the authorities arrive to arrest you."

Grif murmurs to himself, "I haven't switched it on yet?..." He noted that the lingering effects were gone, for the most part, surprisingly feeling rejuvenated; the feeling didn't look like it would let up any time soon. He looks back down at his two hands, some sort of sensation he couldn't exactly put to words began gathering at his palms, it almost seemed tingly as if– his eyes closed shut on reflex as a bright light flashed in front of his face. Slowly blinking his eyes, he watched as from his hands a radiant glow was given off, not wanting to give away their position Grif quickly clenched his fists and dug them into his pockets, dropping his battle axe at his feet.

"Well, shiiiit." Sami whispered, wincing as the light flashed and danced at Grif's hands. Sami himself was still working out his own powers, so he couldn't quite focus as to whether or not this was the latent power he had sensed seconds ago, or simply an entirely different one. Besides that, it seemed to be useful. As a distraction, maybe? Could it even be used as a weapon? From what it seemed, it was glowing brighter than phosphorus... which made for a painful interaction with one's retinas.

"Yeah, I guess I'm some sort of human flashlight, an human torch if you will." Grif hastily goes over the situation in his head: multiple hostages with all seven in serious conditions, one Pietro Maximoff as an enemy combatant with super-speed, Sami with his hand-to-hand skills and his sidearm, and himself with the ability to shine light out of his hands. A plan in the makings begins to form inside his military-honed mind, attempting to come up with some sort of stratagem that'd take down a speedster like Quicksilver with as little loss as possible. An idea hits him, being one of those moments in cartoons when a light bulb goes off above a character's head.

"Sami, I've got a plan that has a surefire way of dealing with the speedster. So here's how it is..."

It took less than a few minutes for him to explain the plan to his fellow Operations agent, and even less them to get into their positions. The newly-discovered photokinetic sneaks around the pile of unused desks and cubicles before making his way to Quicksilver, who currently had his back turned away from him, as silently as possible. Before long he was now only two feet away, having gone unnoticed yet, his hands slowly start reaching for Pietro and it seemed as if his improvised plan just might have worked. What happened next seemed like a blur, and it might have just been that in his eyes. One moment he was behind the mutant's back, the next he found himself lifted up by the throat in said mutant's grasp.

"Wow, you really are dumb. You can't very easily sneak up on a speedster you idiot."

Grif only had moments to register those words as he struggled against Quicksilver's grip before a sudden jolt of pain tore through the left side of his chest, he immediately gasps for air but finds none with the speedster's clasp around his windpipe. The adrenaline rushing through his veins helped focus his waning consciousness on the plan, for now, his hands shakingly raised to the mutant speedster's face. See, a flashbang might not have the explosive kick to do any real damage but by producing a flash of light of around 7 million candela, it more than guarantees temporarily blinding anyone looking its way. Grif gathers up the same sensation he had felt earlier on his hands and recreate the radiant flash, this time multiplied by a factor of ten. Pulling through the pain, he managed to gather up what little power he had and let it loose, all under a second.

However, the brief milliseconds it took, might have just been hours to someone with superhuman reflexes like Quicksilver, having moved out of his hands' direction and avoided the blinding flash of light altogether. Instead, Grif's impromptu 'flashbang' move sped across the room in an instant and caught one of the hostages in the face; an unconscious Ayita is startled awake by the blinding glare in her eyes. The plan having gone to hell all under a minute, he stumbles to the ground in immense pain with three broken ribs, struggling to pull himself together.

"Aw, this bitch..." Hiding or even keeping his voice down at this point was pointless. Grif's sneak attack had failed, and after beating the shit out of him, Pietro had already clocked Sami. Reacting faster than he or even Pietro perhaps may have expected, Sami's gun was drawn, raised, and trigger squeezed before Quicksilver even had time to rush him. Unfortunately the bullets landed harmlessly in the back wall, the speedster having moved away in plenty of time before they had connected. Now Sami just had to try and shoot him again... as if it would even be possible with this over-powered asshole.

"Any kinda help would be much appreciated, guys." He called out to the hostages, gun still drawn and circling steadily, scanning the room for any sign of Pietro. Sure, they looked beaten up and were missing out on their powers, but surely they could distract the speedy bastard just a little bit?

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"Really? What are the odds of that?" Mary said with a shrug. Lance was a somewhat common name, so the odds weren't that poor, but still, it was a little weird to her.

Jim shrugged. "Not sure. I'm bad at math. More of Fitz-Simmon's area."

"Well, it doesn't really matter. The name isn't totally uncommon, so it might just be a coincidence. So, what powers are we dealing with? Would help to know that."

He pulled out his clipboard, figuring that they'd go bed by bed. "Agent Reed first," he explained, going over to the Supervising Officer. "Dermal armor and season manipulation - she's a mutant." There was evidence that a bit of her IV catheter had actually become stuck in Cassandra's skin, but thankfully S.H.I.E.L.D. had designed it to degrade in the body harmlessly just for this sort of situation.

"She can rot for all I care... Not much you can really do to control or block the season thing anyway... Whose next?"

Jim raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing there's a story there..." He then moved onto the next bed, looking at Agent Bautista. She reminded him a lot of Agent Reed's younger sister, Carolina. "Agent Bautista here is another mutant. She got sense enhancement - where she hyper focuses on one and loses another - and psychometry."

"Senses thing is pretty easy to deal with, psychometry, try not to focus on one thing, though wearing gloves or something so she isn't constantly focusing on one object or being directly making contact with it would probably help. Next?" Mary said as she placed a pair of gloves next to Niah, ignoring the part about the story between her and Cassandra.

"Agent Nikolova," Jim introduced, moving on to the next one. "Another mutant....Jesus, it's like Fury made his own X-Men team...Anyways, she has something they're calling tranquil fury and then a concussive roar."

"I feel like that is out of jealousy for me not having the X-Men do the dirty work for him anymore. Tranquil Fury she should be able to control, concussive roar should be fine as long as she doesn't raise her voice too much, next?"

Jim couldn't help but chuckle at that. A lot of people tended to try and deify Fury - but he was a human being, just like everyone else. He had his flaws. And one of them Jim had seen a lot of recently - such as his pettiness. He didn't doubt at all that Fury would specifically leak the rumor that Quicksilver was in love with Iron Man in such a manner that it would get back to Quicksilver within the week. "Agent Abercombie - our first non-mutant," he added with a chuckle. "Get this, she's inhuman with the power of...this is mildly terrifying which is why I have to make myself laugh while I say it...mind control."

"You can't do much about mind control, though any sort of device that can block a telepath should be able to block her powers," she said simply.

"Yeah, just hoping that villainy and mind control don't really go hand in hand....Agent Kelley, mutate, telekinesis," Jim then said, looking at the large Scottish man sprawled out on the bed. "They used gamma radiation on him, like they wanted to make the Hulk..." Jim sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry it's just...this entire project is messed up."

"Yeah, I know that it is... Telekinesis, telepathic block like a telepath should stop their powers, needs to make sure not to lose control of their emotions before they learn to control it..."

Jim nodded. A lot of this was just general advice - he wasn't sure how many of them they'd actually have to distribute items to at this rate. However, that was likely for the best. The less special aids needed, the better. "Rivera is inhuman as well, with the ability of portal teleportation."

"Pretty self explanatory... Doesn't really require much in order to be able to do that, so nothing to worry about there."

"Hale here is a mutate with telepathy - and I'm guessing you'll say something about devices that can block a telepath," he said with a slight smile. "Or maybe noise canceling headphones or something..."

"A lot of people have made devices to block telepaths, Magneto's helmet instantly comes to mind, others actually just have strong natural mental defenses to defend against those sort of people..."

Jim couldn't help but grimace when she mentioned Magneto. He was hardly a fan of the Master of Magnetism. It seemed like no matter what anyone did, Magneto was always slipping through the cracks, managing to restart his gang of thugs, and then bring new levels of terror to the world. There were some days when he wondered why Magneto hadn't just been given a death sentence, rather than a prison stay, whenever he was brought into custody. He had similar thoughts about Magneto's children - all of them more psychotic than the last. "Novikova," Jim began, nodding at the silver haired girl. "She's another mutant, with dimensional energy perception and earth manipulation."

"Figured someone would have something involving sight..." Mary said as she pulled out a pair of what looked to be black sunglasses with red lenses. "I raided a bunch of the old stuff we had. One of Cyclops' old pairs, if it can block his optic beams, bet it can block her powers," she said as she set them down next to Novikova, "The other powers shouldn't be that big of an issue."

He shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, kid," he admitted, as he walked over to the next bed."Agent Smith here, she has life-force and power absorption. Another mutant. She reminds me a lot of...what was the name...Rogue, right? From the old team of X-Men?"

"Yeah, a lot like Rogue actually, though without the super strength and flight that she permanently zapped... Anyway, pair of gloves should do the trick," she said, pulling another pair of gloves out and setting them down next to her.

"And maybe a note to avoid Carol Danvers," Jim said with a laugh. They were almost done going through everyone and they stopped next in front of the appropriately named Agent Sparks. "If you guessed she's a mutant, you'd be correct. Sparky here has flight and electricity manipulation."

"Sparky is a good nickname for her, fitting if those are her powers. Flight might take a little bit to get a hang of, but these," she said, pulling out a pair of gloves made from a somewhat rubber material, but definitely weren't your standard rubber gloves, "Should prevent her from accidentally zapping anyone until she can control it."

"She's also an electrical engineer," Jim couldn't help but laugh, as they reached the second to last bed. "Agent Johnson, inhuman, density manipulation - from what we can tell, it only applies to herself and not other objects...But who knows how long that'll last, right?"

"Well, not much you can do about that one, that power is pretty simple and self-explanatory," she said simply.

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Team Glitches (@Peridot@17th Day):

Guin Stark's eyes finally managed to focus as her fever broke and she started to shift, feeling around to see if there was anything to break her bonds. Her hand curled around a ballpoint pen that one of the workers must have dropped and not cared enough to grab. Glancing around, she realized that none of her fellow hostages would be fighting Quicksilver anytime soon. They all had been hit with inhibitors, preventing them from using their powers. "Pietro, you don't need to do this..." she said hoarsely. She knew that they wouldn't be able to distract Pietro - and even if it looked like he didn't see them, he easily could have just moved too quickly for them to observe and spotted them. "Come on, we can listen to Toto together again..."

Sami would pick up the following powers currently. Any previous powers he detected aren't coming through, unless noted on this list:

• Super Speed - Extremely dangerous and powerful, almost at max potential
• Chlorokinesis - Extremely dangerous and powerful, well developed, always holds back
• Pyrokinesis, Cryokinesis, and Thermokinesis - Raw power, not much development
• Astral Projection, Astral Suggestion, Possession - Powerful, highly skilled

Pietro stared at Guin for a moment, before he froze, his body did a slight glitch almost, freezing and skipping for a moment, before it was back to normal. "What song?"

She hesitated for a moment, as if the Framework was calculating the odds behind which song she'd suggest. The entire room seemed to be glitching slightly, as people were suddenly going out of phase and out the window, it rapidly changed from day to night to day again. If Sami and Griff were waiting for a distraction, this would be it. "...The Turning Point?" Guin whispered.

"Sou--ike f-n" he responded, his body was still glitching out, his voice was started to glitch as well.

Mary was still somewhat out of it, but she was managing to focus somewhat, it wasn't helping much though. She noticed that Guin seemed to be able to distract Pietro somewhat, which was probably a good thing. The others there seemed to be there to help, though they clearly couldn't hit anything at all, though to be fair, it was hard to hit a speedster.

Allison appeared to still be out of it, but with the glitches happening, Allison picked her head up and stared at the two SHIELD agents who failed spectacularly. As she did so, her head turned at an awkward angle that probably would have broken a real person's neck had she been real. As she spoke, her voice was a mix of the real Allison's voice plus a computerized tone. "You have `20` minutes before the virus is unleashed. Failure is not an option." After that, Allison's head slumped forward, as if she were asleep.

Carolina sat there, she appeared to be glitching a bit as well occasionally her body would flicker or twitch uncontrollable as if she was demonically possessed for a moment before it would stop. "W- could -ave fun -ike old times again." Carolina's voice was glitching out as well, she would look at both Sami and Griff as well as Pietro.

Team Abercrombie (@FantasyChic@ihinka@McHaggis@BlueSky44@Nallore):

Up until Tinley's bout of mind control, only Sparky had managed to get a decent hit on Sabretooth. His hair (fur?) was standing up as if he had stuck his hand in an electrical socket - which he very well might have done. He was about to get up and go on the attack again, when he suddenly stilled, sprawled out on the ground. "Pfft. Ya bastards. I'm sorry for attackin' ya or whatever." He then growled, as if he was trying to fight giving Tinley more information but he couldn't. "And ain't ya the authorities?"he grumbled. "Hostages are on the top floor. Quicksilver defected back to us, he's guardin' 'em." He then sat up and glared at Tinley.

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Novikova's eyes widened, seeing blood dripping onto the floor from out of nowhere. It was pooling and clinging to Agent Johnson's arm, allowing everyone to see a rough outline of it. Lizzie's illusion must not have grandfathered in the blood. And currently, only Agents Reed, Bautista, and Johnson were free from it. Agent Bautista would manage to get together a pretty good bandage for Agent Johnson, but unfortunately, Agent Johnson had already lost too much blood.

Novikova yelped as suddenly, there was a dead body on the ground. "...Thank god this is a simulation..." she muttered, looking at the fallen Agent Johnson. In the real world, Agent Johnson would wake up in the medical bay all of the sudden, completely fine. Agent Kennedy and Marygold Isley were in the room, while Agent Ridgeway looked over at Johnson and shook her head. "Fury wants to talk to you," she said bluntly.

Lizzie couldn't help but laugh. "That was a dumb way to die, now wasn't it, baby?" she whispered. "Too bad Witchy isn't here to join in..."

Novikova focused again, trying to see where the others were but she couldn't. Rivera was still knocked out on the ground still, though she was stirring slightly, so she might wake up soon. At any rate, Novikova is the only member of the team that currently cannot see, as even Kelley regained his sight. She turned her head and remembered a show she used to watch - Avatar: the Last Airbender. She reached out and felt the pressure from Lizzie in the ground. It was in the same general direction as her highly irritating voice.

"I really hope you're rotting in the real world at the Raft," Novikova said bluntly, before she stomped her foot and the ground around Lizzie shot up, slamming the small Brotherhood member into the ceiling and knocking her out. Novikova was suddenly able to see again and she let out a breath. "....Virus, then?" she said to her companions, looking around.

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"God damn..." Johnson cursed as she was pulled out of the Framework. She looked around, barely phased at first from the fact. Then she looked at the people with her around there and the others still into the Framework. She listened to them then also burst out into laughter." Yeah on the scale of 1 to 10 in the ways to die I give it 8! It was amazing." She confirmed and got off the table, still laughing about it. Certainly gave her a new experience she never had before too." Alright, going to him now. This is going to be fun."

She nimbly jumped off the bed and did a quick stretching to check if everything was fine before starting to head towards the exit." Well wish me luck. Heh." She added with a smile as she exited the lab to find Fury. Sure enough he was waiting in the hallway. Was he going to be angry because she was pulled out so quick or angry because of her stupid way to die. Not that it mattered because she had a rather good excuse on this. She highly doubted in normal circumstances she would have died from that movie. After all there was simply not enough blood circulation in the wrist for a wound to kill her normally unless she had thin blood and it never stopped bleeding or something. Maybe it was a Framework glitch maybe something else entirely. Or maybe her mind just fried for whatever reason there who knows.

"Agent Johnson reporting in." She stated as she walked to Fury, her expression mixture of calm and pleased.

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Z had managed to bring her rage under control and was ready for round two when her teammates jumped into the fray each of them with what they got in terms of abilities and skills. The Olympian tried out whatever power she had on Creed, but as it would appear to no effect. Nik gritted her teeth and was about to lunch herself at the man-beast anew when Tess stepped forward and threw some sparks in Sabretooth’s direction, but the bleeding animal didn't even realize he'd been hit. Z could empathize with Tess. Her own powers had failed her twice in short succession in her attempts to subdue Victor Creed. When Tess would not give up and tried a second time to hit Sabretooth with her powers, Z grinned. Good on you, Tess! Don't give up. Light the tosser up like a Christmas tree!

Just as Nik was thinking that, Tess managed to hit Sabretooth with enough voltage to knock him on his arse. Z could not help but feel a bit affected by the sight of Tess, the straight girl she was secretly crushing on, bring down this huge beast of a man. "Nicely done!" She cheered Tess' effort, face slightly flushed. Again she made to stand from her crouch and attempt to neutralize Creed, when Tinley stepped in and ordered the man to stand down with an authority only she could pull off. Z could not help but grin. Even if deep down inside she felt a tiny bit sorry for Sabretooth. She still remembered the unpleasant feeling of trying to stop her own hand from punching her in the face. Nik had to admit, however, that she much preferred that power of Tinley's utilized against their enemies.

With Creed momentarily neutralized Z stood up from her crouching position and approached Tinley and the huge lug of a man. "Way to put us all to shame, princess!" Nik applauded, all sarcasm stripped from her words and her pet name for Tinley. "What say we pat this big boy down in case he's got something important on him." Z growled in the direction of Creed. Her head still throbbing with the crack she'd received while evading Sabretooth’s attack. Nik's hands began her search, but with every inch of clothed flash she was patting down, her being filled with disgust and irritation, until eventually she stepped back. Her face a study of revulsion. God, I want to kick him in the bollocks! Z thought grinding her teeth. "Maybe someone else should search him." Nik pointed her chin at the seated lumbering man. "I don't think I can be near him and not want to bust his nuts!" Her lip curled in disgust and anger.

As Sabretooth began spouting useful information at Tinley's orders, Z approached Arc. She wanted to check on him, see if there was no serious injury. Halfway through she realized the futility of such concerns considering they were in the Framework. Still she felt compelled to do so by her training and the way she was as a person. She crouched down to the man and halted his attempt to stand up. "Stay still a bit. Let me look you over." Z grabbed Arc's wrist, checking his pulse. "Niah would never forgive me if I let her best friend die." Nik chuckled. "Even if only in the Framework." As the explosives engineer did an as complete as the situation allowed examination of Arc, she found him to be bruised and battered, but thankfully no worse for wear.

"We're lucky this was the Framework." Z said as she helped Arc up. "Who knows if this was real life how badly that attack could have ended. But... it doesn't seem like there's anything broken so you'll live." Nik looked at where they were. "Well... so the speak." She shook her head and went off to search the office area for clues or anything else they could use. If they were up against Quicksilver they needed a solid plan with at least a couple of contingencies if they were to neutralize him and secure the hostages. As Z was going from booth to booth, scanning desks and personal spaces, she remembered the cassette tape she'd picked up on the entrance of the building. She took it out of her pocket and examined it again. The name 'Pietro' in the signature popped up even clearer now. It would seem I was right and this was either his or made by him to give to someone. I wonder if we could use it somehow to distract him. Z looked about. I don't suppose I can find a tape player anywhere on this floor?! Nik thought it was a long shot at best but started opening drawers just the same.

She'd almost given up when one of the last drawers revealed the coveted item. "Well I'll be... What were the odds?!" Nik wrestled the tape into the player, nearly muted the volume and hit 'play'. Hearing Billy Joel's Uptown Girl the explosives engineer grinned, as it was one of her favorite songs. She contained the urge to sing along with the tape recorder. It was neither the time, nor the place. Who knew that bloody git had such good taste in music. Shame! Nik pressed 'stop' on the record player and rejoined her team mates.

"Did the furball give any specifics?" Z asked. "We'll need them if we want to deal with Quicksilver and save the hostages. Speedsters are ridiculously OP!" Nik grumbled. "I have something I believe we could use as a distraction. And if we can get Victor here to cooperate, maybe we do have a slight chance of doing this." Z once again demonstrated the tape and explained how she believed it was either Pietro's or he'd made it for someone. "If we can play the tape over an intercom system or something to distract him somehow." Her gaze flickered towards Arc as the Communications alumnus. "...and enlist the aid of Mr. Creed here." Nik finished and shrugged uncertain. "I know this is the Framework and we can rest assured we won't die if the worst comes to pass, but I for one don't like leaning on that particular crutch. I say we prepare for this as if our lives and the lives of the hostages depended on it and forget we can't really die if we fuck up. After all... Isn't the drive to survive what often fuels ingenuity." Realizing how cheesy she'd sounded Z flushed profusely even with her olive complexion and fell in a stunned silence.

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Cassandra turned her head when she felt someone grab onto her, then she heard Agent Bautista's voice and sighed for a moment as she started to calm down. She could get a glimpse of something darker and liquidy looking as well, as she then realized that it was also blood someone had gotten injured, and then noticed the body. Cass closed her eyes for a moment letting out a slight sigh someone had already died in the mission on her team. Luckily it was just a simulation Agent Johnson was alive and well still in the real world that is anyway, then Agent Novikova used her power and easily knocked out Wonderland using her earth manipulation powers. "Great job you two." Cassandra said complimenting Agents Novikova and Bautista/

Agent Rivera was still out due to Wonderland's powers, two agents were down so far looking at the remaining members of her team, Kelley was still fine along with Novikova and Bautista. "We need to keep moving." Cassandra took out her tablet and pulled out a map of the building that they were in. Cassandra and Kelley both knelt down and helped Rivera up and then looked at the two women and motioned for them to follow her. "The lower levels are this way." Cassandra said as she started to head down the hallway.

Eventually she found the area that would lead to a stairwell and both Kelley and Cassandra carefully started to make their way down the stairs. "Keep close and stay alert in case any other Brotherhood members show up." Cassandra went back as she thought to the actual mission she planned on not losing any other agents for the rest of the mission.

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Maria watched as Sparks sent lightening directly at Sabertooth watching the mutant get knocked down on his ass, and then Abercrombie using her mind control on Sabertooth. Which instantly shut down Sabertooth pretty quickly, Maria started to relax now and sighed slightly so far everyone was alive and well. And then Sabertooth revealed that Quicksilver was on the top floor with the hostages, Maria started to approach Tinley and looked at her for a moment as Z went to tend to Hale. Maria did feel pretty bad for Hale getting attacked first by Sabertooth. "You okay there?" Maria asked Arcturus, looking at her friendly little rivalry mate. Once Z finished inspecting him she started to explore the cubicles that surrounded the rest of the floor.

"I think Agent Reed said that theres a security station back on the first floor, maybe that has a sound system in it?" Maria suggested, and then looked over at Tinley. "But if we are facing against Quicksilver we may need all the hands we can get." Maria then started to think for a bit. "If I can make hand contact with him, I can try and take his powers." Maria offered, looking at Z seeing her, she didn't know much of Quicksilver but it may have some personal attachment to him. "Maybe we can use the tape player to our advantage as well, the tape probably has sentimental value to him, and maybe we can play it?"

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"Just minor injuries," Arcturus said, though did not protest as Nikolova gave his wounds a once-over. Even if Sabertooth had given him something more life-threatening than scrapes and bruises, he'd probably say the same thing. For now, as he could still push himself up off the ground and his mental faculties were seemingly intact, there was no reason to delay. "I suppose this is what happens when you put a nerd on the frontlines."

He shot a weak grin at Maria's concern (and bit back his instinctive sarcastic response, which was something along the lines of 'You do care!') before turning to the elephant in the room. Mind control was rather terrifying to see in person, even against someone who was trying to kill them and was the sole cause of his mild discomfort.

"It would perhaps be wise to avoid planning in front of the enemy, even when he's been... neutralised. It's bad practice." Arcturus rubbed his chin in contemplation, already moving to check the office PCs quickly –– more absent-minded than any real attempt to search for information. Whatever they had, if anything, would take too long to turn over. After some hesitation, he opened his mind and formed sentences out of a jumble of thoughts, projecting them outwards from himself to the others. Even if they replied out loud, it was safer to reveal only part of their operation.

Besides, it gave him a flimsy excuse to further test the limits of his powers.

Controlling the security room could be helpful to clearer view of what's up ahead in the building. CCTV, fire alarms, automatic locking systems––I don't know what they've got, but they must have something, he offered, ignoring the disconcerting sensation of using such an unnatural method of communication for more than just a few words. Although I'm not sure I believe in the power of music to take out someone who can kill us all in the blink of an eye. Regardless, we're running out of time. I can backtrack to security, play the tape, procure you a possible escape route from the fourth floor, et cetera... Though if I run into any guards while I'm alone, it may be game over; I could use someone to accompany me.

Still, that sounded like the best option for someone like him now that they had secured the second floor. High risk, high reward. Or low risk, given they were in a simulation, and death was impermanent.

Finally, he looked back towards Abercrombie as he began moving towards the stairs down to the first floor. She was effectively the team leader in this, or at least, if she wanted control over their little slice of the mission, she now had it, as far as he was concerned. "Any objections?" he asked mildly.

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Sparky was glad that someone else had managed to do something to Sabretooth other than her, she was also glad that it had happened before he might have switched targets to her since she had hit him. Though it was kind of funny to see his fur kind of stand up on end from the electricity that she had shot at him. The man definitely would have been a major threat had Tinley not been able to stop him via mind control. It did make her worry slightly that someone like Tinley had mind control.

She listened to what Creed was saying, nodding her head with what he was saying. Apparently the speedster who was with the X-Men in reality, was made to be with the Brotherhood again in this situation, that's just great. The fact that the hostages were being defended by Quicksilver of all people was definitely going to cause a lot of problems for them when it came to rescuing the hostages.

The blonde Agent, that Niah was certain was called Johnson, died in her hands, her very bloody hands. A part of her brain screamed and she shut it behind a very heavy door mentally. She was not a field agent, she hadn't been trained for this kind of thing. Why had she decided to volunteer for this experiment? She had been the one to convince Antonie to join her, though neither of them would have joined without the other. They must have been desperate indeed. She shut that part of her brain away too, that was something to unpack while not in a mission.

With Wonderland out, thanks to Agent Novikova's power, everyone else was free of the illusion. Niah appreciated Agent Reed's compliment and nodded when it was given.

Reed took control of the situation and the group, now missing one Agent not your fault you were too late to help, started down to the lab that would have the virus. It would be up to Niah to figure out how to neutralize it, with Agent Novikova's help. Maybe if she could actually get her focus on her sight to work she'd be able to tell what was in the virus and with that information counteract it. She wasn't an epidemiologist but she was good at chemistry.

As the awkward group made their way down the stairs Niah decided to give her hearing a shot. With it, she would be able to know if someone was coming down after them, though she knew that wouldn't be enough if that someone was Quicksilver. She also still had the radio on her, so anything announced over the radio would be heard by the rest of the group.

Sound enveloped her, and her mouth lost the taste of concrete thankfully. She could hear the heartbeats of the group and their footsteps as they made their way down the stairs. She counted off theirs and listened for any extra sounds coming up behind them. There didn't seem to be any additional heartbeats or footsteps.

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It was now or never really. While the other team secured the virus, they had to clear the upper floors and thanks to Sabretooth, at least they knew what to expect. The man sat down, but glared at them. She returned with a look that could kill before she turned back to her team. Hale was right, it was best not to tell their plan in front of Sabretooth, just in case.

Tinley listened to her teammates come up with their plans and each had a good point. Some of them crossed over too. Hale even used his telepathy superpower, which impressed Tinley. So far, the team was proving to be more than she initially thought. Not that she would ever tell them that, lest it get to their heads.

"That's a solid plan. Agent Nikolova, could you accompany Agent Hale to the security room then? I would feel better knowing someone was watching his back and your abilities are useful, should you run into enemies. The rest can follow me upstairs. Primary objective for us is the hostages, but I imagine we may run into more than Quicksilver up there, so be prepared." With that, she broke the team up, confident Agent Nikolova could handle the escort mission. It wasn't a dig at her either. Compared to the rest of the team, they needed someone Tinley knew full well could handle themselves and, so far, Agent Nikolova has shown that. She wanted to keep Agent Sparks with her. Just a hunch really.

Grif gasps for air as he lays collapsed on the cold office floor, his own weight acted against him as it painfully pressed down onto his broken ribs, a total of three so far. Virtual simulation or not, the whole experience couldn't have been any more real for him, being reduced to such an incapacitated state in a matter of moments. But he wasn't a battle-seasoned, combat-capable soldier of three years for nothing; pain was no stronger to him. It could have been the coursing adrenaline, experimentally enhanced endurance or just sheer willpower but Grif would pull himself to his feet, propping himself with his axe drawn out. The very act cause more pain to swell up across his frame, he would've liked cave into the blunt trauma but he soldiered on through the pain.

In the midst of pulling himself together from being a wheezing mess on the ground, he would fail to take much notice of the glitches in the Framework; be it distorted voices, bodies twisted and displaced beyond the limits of the human body. At any rate, Grif was currently acting on battle instincts alone, his body on auto-pilot as he wearingly borders between conscious and unconscious. He would hurl his battle axe with one good arm at Pietro, the speedster somewhat distracted and glitching in and out. But at the last moment, a sharp jolt of pain would tear across his chest, his grip would slip and the axe goes off-course and would hit the ground, missing Quicksilver altogether, and the axe blade would dig few inches into the office floor. The entire motion would aggravate the broken ribs even further, nearly having him black out on the spot.

"I'm stil... standing here, one way or the other." Grif manages to croak out, both arms lowered at his sides, practically driven to complete exhaustion at this point. Yet he refuses to be beaten like this.