Line of Defence :: obeX, formerly known as Gold SF(Takes place around two weeks after the training island plotline! March 29th, afternoon?)
There was a certain quality to some things that numbed the mind in a way that was nothing in comparison to a proper shock, but still enough to let you perceive the world as if through a transparent blanket. You could still see and hear everything, and yet it was obvious there was something in the way. What exactly that was, however, Matt felt unable to fathom, just that it was obviously connected to that fated visit in the medical bay. Yet despite wishing he had never made his way there, he was still strangely glad to have said those things, no matter how fruitless it had been.
On occasions, he still found himself replaying the dialogue, wondering whether there had maybe been anything he could have said or done that would have had more of an effect on Max. Anything. Still, there was always this quiet voice in his mind assuring that no matter what arguments he could have brought forward, none would have changed the other's attitude. And it was only logical, wasn't it? The shortest of time spans it had taken the light-elemental to figure out the dominant aspect of Max's personality, and that was the fact that he got what he wanted. Simple as that. He didn't ask, never had; and even though it was obvious that his parents had worked it into him, his way of seeing things and not allowing for an alternative was actually just another way of getting his will.
This morning's announcement had helped distracting his mind from entertaining such futile thoughts. An open training session; Storm was such an optimist. Then again, they weren't Exiles. That didn't make them a perfect team but at least not as dysfunctional as Aurora's group, and that even though it seemed there'd yet again be new members. Who decided all those regroupings and with which purpose? It seemed random and counterproductive, but then again, Contrast didn't know much of teams and how they worked. He just played along as was expected of him.
To Matt, the way to the Danger Room was of the kind that you know but aren't a hundred percent certain of. Sure, he had trained there one time or the other; sometimes with Aurora – as uneven a match as those had been – which had at least served to give him a better understanding of how this place worked. He was nowhere near the fiery mutant's prowess, but then again, she had helped improve the system often enough to know it inside out. He knew how to turn it on and a very limited number of random things, like how to activate certain functions from inside the room.
When he got there, absent-mindedly brushing through his now much shorter hair, the contrasting mutant was surprised to find Angela standing in front of the entrance, apparently waiting for something or someone. The fact itself wasn't all that strange considering the Danger Room had been reserved for obeX, as their team had recently been named as their powers could mostly be used for defence. Yet why she hadn't already gone inside he couldn't guess.
"Hey," he creatively greeted her with a broad smile. She was an odd one, not too different from himself, and thus obviously likeable. With Madison Enright in a team, you were glad to have someone as un-Madison-ish as yourself to team up with, and so – Matt mused – it was only logical he was quite keen on being friends with her. The level of naivety children are said to have, however - just walking up to someone, asking whether they'd want to be friends with you – was far behind him, and so things had to develop slower, and more naturally as he thought. "Madison already inside or why the standing around outside-ness?"
TBC: Angela, optionally Taylor and/or Madison..but not Dan coz he's freshly arrived and too lazy to bother
There comes a point in everyone's life when we have to take over responsibility. The question remains whether there is also a time when we can get rid of it again.
Taylor Andrews
Team : Gold Strike Force Co-Team : X-Treme
Iceman
Bobby Drake
Team : Red Strike Force
Shinzon
Scimitar Commander
Matthew Rosenberg
Eldest of the Rosenbergs
Lady Death Strike
A Clawed Huntress
Posts: 378
(5/14/06 1:42 pm)
Re: Line of Defence :: obeX, formerly known as Gold SF
Taylor instantly got quite enthused when the message about a danger room session for the newly formed obeX team was posted in the dorms, the newly formed team, which was almost identical to the previous Gold Strike Force, had yet to have a full training session in the danger room and Taylor was looking forward to getting to vent some energy. Although in normal day to day life his increased speed came in handy (as he was often running late) being able to release some of the stored electrical energy was not usually possible and so a good danger room session would be worth while.
He had gone down to get some lunch before the session, making sure he was full enough to sustain him through the workout, he needed to ensure he had enough energy not only for the physical requirements that would be put on his body but the energy for sustained use of his mutant abilities; although he was one of the older members of the team and had a fair control of his abilities he still tired when using them in the danger room and he didn’t want to run low before the session ended making him loose control to any degree.
Taylor had grabbed an extra bottle of water to take down with him before running back to the dorm to change into something suitable for training He didn’t get into a tracksuit or anything, for one they looked questionable on him and secondly he had to train in clothing that he could be wearing in the event of an attack so he grabbed a pair of combat trousers and a plain white t-shirt. The dorm was empty so he picked up his water and left, assuming everyone was already at the room or on there way he made his way down to the danger room.
He had contacted Eva as soon as he knew about the session; she had to no that he probably wouldn’t be good for anything after so she’d have to call in an extra member of staff to cover Wired. The café was proving quite a success, its ties to the Institute helping it immensely now that it was up and running, the students liked somewhere to go and hag out that wasn’t in the Institute itself and so what with the internet access and the comfortable seating area the Wired staff including Eva and Taylor had been a little run off their feet to begin with, thinking it was going to be a slow growing business.
Taylor made his way steadily to the danger room; he wasn’t running late for once and so he was quite happy to take a gentle pace down there, not wanting to use up any energy to soon, being one of the few offensive team members he felt he had to be on top form for any training session. As the elevator door opened he walked through the white sterile environment that was buried underneath the old mansion, he turned a corner past the medical bay to see the danger room just ahead, two figures talking by the door, Angela and Matt. Taylor felt comfortable with the pair of them, although he always tried to tone his enthusiasm a bit down when around them, Matt was often quite quiet but friendly enough, and although Angela had first met Taylor at the Dying Star during a moment of some excitement and knew what Taylor was like he always tried to keep a calmer façade when around her; saving his usual energy fro someone like Eva, Sean or Ben who knew how to take it.
Taylor’s usual grin spread across his face as he came into a good distance of the pair, both seeming quite happy as they waited for the session to begin; “Hey,” Taylor said as the two turned towards him, he assumed they were waiting for Storm to arrive before going into the danger room. “Looking forward to a good training session?” He asked taking a quick swig of his water and smiling at the pair; a usual amount of anticipation building in the yellow skinned mutant that he had taught himself had to be kept in control.
Re: Line of Defence :: obeX, formerly known as Gold SF
There she was… right there… standing… waiting… Angela sighed somewhat, going to rooms on her own was always nerve racking for her, why? She wasn’t sure… it wasn’t like the empathic mutant had a tendency of walking into the wrong classes, but the girl was afraid just as much as if she had the habit and did it on a near daily basis. At least in class rooms Angela could peek through the windows to see who’s in there, but the danger room didn’t have that, not unless she snuck into the control room… but Angela didn’t have the clearance for that, simply because she never went to get it sorted again after her card and code had various problems. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t… the card managed to get messed up somehow and it was just Angela’s luck that she appeared to be the only one with the problems.
"Hey," Sweet warm pools of a hot chocolate liquid hue peered over towards Matt, a faint smile on her lightly glossed lips to welcome him. One of the new acquaintances in her life, he was different somehow, a bit of a back seater like her in some ways, perhaps that’s why she found him a more manageable companion compared to the others on the team. Fear peered up at Matt from the ground by her feet, the size of an average dog now days the dragon like entity was hard to miss, but if people preferred his original gaseous ball form or this one, Angela wasn’t sure and honestly didn’t really care. She loved her illusionary abilities and Fear wouldn’t let anyone pick on her for her choices regarding his appearance. Though she found it hard to really alter him much, it seemed he was a specifically fixed way but she could – with effort – alter small parts of him, like give him wings or remove them, add or reshape the horns… small things like that that helped alter his looks.
"Madison already inside or why the standing around outside-ness?" Angie smiled, it seemed the two already had their own thing going on where random things were added at the end of words… usually ‘ness’ or a slight alteration of a word itself. Like ‘confuzzled’ instead of confused and the like. It was fun, and Angela like him just for the fact he wasn’t afraid to be silly, even with someone like Madison looming over their shoulders.
"She went in a little bit ago," The empathic mutant replied to his initial question, "But naw, I just don’t like going into rooms for classes on my own.. that and it gives me time to think about replies to some places I’m due with friends in our creative writing." The young woman commented, always so eager when it came to her writing time, her laptop seeming to be an extension of herself, and it was something she readily agreed and admitted to. Especially since Lauren, a class friend who Angie had started growing close to, declared she was heavily into Role playing as well, though oddly enough, since both their powers surfaced it felt rather strange playing out characters with powers… Both got more heavily involved in Angie’s fantasy board, which was picking up well and the empathy was thoroughly excited about it.
“Hey,” Another greeting, and Angie looked over to see Taylor walking down the hall towards them, she wasn’t sure what to make of the guy, one moment he was overly nice and seeming really sweet and fun, the next he seemed distant and stand offish. At least that’s the sense Angie got, she never felt she could really let loose with the guy since her empathy ability allowed her to notice he himself was emotionally holding himself back. It was quite off-putting at times and yet Angie was probably more annoyed with the fact that what seemed like a prospering new friendship turned out to be nothing but another friendly acquaintance, Angie seemed to have a knack for getting those sort of relationships.
“Looking forward to a good training session?” Friendly as always, he not quite as back in Salem Center, or on the training island… it’s as if since then he’s been less interested in being friends with her and he wasn’t the first and Angie assumed he’d not be the last. Sure she heard he had a business, but she wasn’t naïve, being an empathy gives her insight and sometimes it was just a whole lot more annoying than useful. It wouldn’t be as bothersome if he hadn’t come off as such a nice guy to start with… but letting that affect her was counter productive to the now bland and casual relationship they’d suddenly become. She much preferred the fun one, where he’d always smile at her and look as if he really cared how she was going. But than again, that could just be considered selfish.
The now dragon looking illusion of Fear, whose body was solid to the touch, let his crimson gaze stare down the yellow skinned mutant, though Angie kept her pleasant expression and refused to let her own emotions bring her down. People confused her, they always did, she tried to stop caring about their actions and reactions now.
"As long as it’s not us verse each other, Madison’s too rough, and I’ve just recovered from all the aches and pains we endured during the training island." There was a slight amusement, though at the same time a dryness to her words that hinted despite the joke she found the encounter very serious and worrying.
Re: Line of Defence :: obeX, formerly known as Gold SF
A curious look was directed Fear's way as the ghostly creature gazed up at him. Matt could still remember it having been nothing but a shy gas ball hovering about the girl like a strange satellite of sorts, and now – mere weeks later – it almost looked like a real animal. Well, if you ignored the fact that dragons were a) supposed to be much larger and b) convincingly inexistent these days. Then again, the same was said about vampires and yet Aurora had told him of one of her first mission when they had actually fought three real vampires. It seemed reality just wasn't what it had used to be these days...
So far, Matthias hadn't really posed any in-depth questions about the girl's powers. Why exactly, he wasn't entirely sure, but somehow it hadn't seemed appropriate so far. At Xavier's, it was probably like asking someone at university what course they were taking, yet still it seemed to be somewhat personal. There had been one versus fight when they had still been Gold Strike Force and he had felt Nightmare influencing his emotions in a certain way, or at least he had guessed it had been her from all he had heard before. A slight feeling of unreasonable fear – was that all she could do?
The trouble with Danger Room session in which you fought team mates was, that you could never know whether people were holding back or using their whole potential. Especially with psychic abilities and related it was hard as you usually didn't have any visual manifestations – and occasionally encountered problems when trying to affect one of the training program's holograms. Personally, he was just glad he had practised here with Aurora often enough to know how to set the computer to let its puppets react like normal opponents would, and not like mere light or a bunch of metal and wires in the best case. Otherwise he'd have been completely useless in a training scenario – not unlike in versus sessions.
Frost didn't need to see where she was aiming to use her powers, same for Taylor and probably Angela too. And Wolverette? Well, she could just absorb his pathetic abilities and either turn them against him or stay unaffected. Although they had not really got along, Matt still somehow regretted Anna's switching teams as it meant Madison's attention was not diverted from the weaker members by her most favourite rival any longer. *Joy oh joy,* the light-elemental thought sarcastically as he imagined what the team climate would probably be like from now on.
Fortunately, Taylor's arrival distracted him from entertaining those unpleasant thoughts much longer. A small smile, nothing compared to the electrical mutant's grin, was sent his way. "At least it won't be boring, I suppose...," he answered evasively, his smile becoming slightly agonised in reply to Angie's comment. The Training Island mission... ah... he still couldn't believe just how lucky they had been to get away that easily. Admittedly, that had largely been due to their team's more powerful members, so there was no point in condemning them. You just had to somehow work together with them – or her as it was now – without suffering a mental breakdown.
"Well then, shall we dare to enter?" Matt asked looking at the other two as he got out his key card. "I think Storm's note said something about scenario training by the way...," he continued, particularly to Angie as she had been the one worried about having to face their clawed ally. Maybe Madison would know some more details or the training computer had some presets they could work with. The black-haired young man had long since realised that their team leader was very keen on developing their independence and so he didn't exactly expect there to be a nice big post-it with instructions on it. But you could never know... maybe Madison had been made the one in charge. The thought was strangely scary...
There comes a time in everyone's life when they have to take over responsibility.
The question remains whether there is also a time when we can get rid of it again.
Taylor Andrews
Team : Gold Strike Force Co-Team : X-Treme
Iceman
Bobby Drake
Team : Red Strike Force
Shinzon
Scimitar Commander
Matthew Rosenberg
Eldest of the Rosenbergs
Lady Death Strike
A Clawed Huntress
Posts: 380
(5/22/06 3:10 pm)
Re: Line of Defence :: obeX, formerly known as Gold SF"As long as it’s not us verse each other, Madison’s too rough, and I’ve just recovered from all the aches and pains we endured during the training island." Taylor smiled at Angie’s comment, she had a point although he doubted that Storm’s idea would be to pit the team against each other; although they were fairly successful on the Training Island mission they still had a fair few cracks that needed filling when it came to working together as a team so pitting them against each other in the Danger Room would probably be detrimental to that little team requirement.
Taylor looked at Angie and there was something a little wrong, a coolness that he hadn’t seen before; maybe he was getting the wrong end of the stick but he had to admit there was something a little different about her. To be fair he hadn’t seen her an awful lot since Eva returned; when she turned up everything seemed to pause for a moment especially with the introduction of Wired into his life. When she came back it gave him a new hope for his lost past; he had all but written everything off that he had had before his powers manifested, trying to build himself a new life here and was being successful with it; when Eva found him he realised that maybe not all was lost and fearing loosing it all over again had been spending a lot of time with her, along with Ben and Sean. He just hoped that Angie didn’t hold it against him; his life seemed to be changing from day to day at the moment, he could barely keep up with it himself.
"At least it won't be boring, I suppose...," Taylor turned his grin onto Matt at his quiet comment, he was right, being pitted against someone like Madison would be a bit of a kick, but riling that particular mutant against her teammates was probably playing with fire…still the thought kind of gave Taylor a buzz.
"Well then, shall we dare to enter I think Storm's note said something about scenario training by the way...," Taylor’s grin lessened slightly as he prepared himself, watching Matt swipe them into the Danger Room; he took a step back slightly to allow Angie to enter after Contrast trying to catch her eye a little to see if she was still giving him a bit of the cold shoulder; he could see something was up as Fear’s new form seemed pretty wary of him for the first time since the Dying Star.
As the three entered Taylor saw Madison in the room seemingly ready for their training session and a familiar buzz of excited anxiety swept through his body, the charge running through his flesh urging to be used; his fingers tingling a little as a slight spark of power skipped between his yellow fingers. Taylor walked to the very edge of the room and dropped his bottle of water after one last swig and followed Matt and Angie towards their team member. “Here goes..” Taylor said softly under his breath as he let his eyes make contact with Madison’s and putting on a reserved smile for her; “Madison, nice and early” he said bowing his head to the side slightly in greeting, he just hoped she didn’t take offense…or think he was being sarcastic. The pair had talked very little, Madison didn’t seem to talk much at all, but he hoped with Frost switched from the team she might be able to focus on gaining some trust with her team mates…he could wish.
Re: Line of Defence :: obeX, formerly known as Gold SF
A slight nod came from Angie before all four entered the training room… yes, three people were there, but as far as Angela cared, Fear had just as every right to be counted as any other. An affectionate smile was cast down to the purple dragon that plodded along with curious eyes peering about. Fear grew and developed just as much as Angie had herself and for that she was very proud, and her short, very brief, time on X-treme had really helped push her to understanding herself, and Connor had a big part in all she had learned of her power. People reacted in various regards towards someone else knowing more of their power then themselves, but for Angie it had been a blessing instead of an insult, and knowing Connor was back and safe took a lot of the worry that weighed on her since the training island. Though she wasn’t exactly friends with the guy and found it awkward approaching him, especially after rumours of his amnesia spread and were later confirmed by staff members.
“Madison, nice and early” Taylor’s voice caught Angie’s distracted attention and she peered over towards their electric companion curiously as he approached Madison, part of Angie felt so bad for her, wanting to comfort her for how Madi must be feeling regarding her brother, and yet… In truth the empath was just too timid to say much to her. A brief well wishing the best Angie could summon all this time.
Madison was beautiful, Angie almost pouted at the fact that both Madi and Frost were such pretty girls yet so nasty as well, at least they were generally nasty and not specifically assaulting anyone in particular. You could take the girl out of highschool but you can’t really take highschool out of the girl and Angie hadn’t had the best of times in school. Even if by law she was forced to attend, and deep down she really wanted to, at the same time the mutant loved the chance of not having anything to do with it. Xavier’s, however, was proving to be as much an adventure as it was a school and she couldn’t say that this was just like any other school, even once you take away the mutant factor… the things offered here was just so… amazing.
Dark eyes seemed to turn and stare at Taylor and Angie almost felt bad for him as Madi stared, despite the girl not doing anything but waiting after all, she had already done her warm ups, and yet it looked as if Madi felt the very presence of someone so close was disturbing her. Angie built up her nerve a little before opening her mouth.
"Hey Madison," Madison was a very confusing girl and Angie just settled on describing her just as that. The confusion inside the other girl was as wild as her temper could be and Angie had a hard time keeping up with the signals that came pouring from the feral. "Do we wear casual or should we go change?" Despite the suits being very flattering, Angie still felt rather awkward and insecure in the get ups, most of the girls that were part of the teams for a while had gradually obtained pretty nice figures and while Angie was far from tubby she never really got over her insecurities. She wasn’t the most insecure of girls, but still, there were things, and moments, that really showed her problems… Then again, Angela would rather scrap a suit then what little clothes she actually owned herself, and so… awkwardness aside, found herself hoping towards the suits being worn if only to save her closet from a downsizing.
Re: Line of Defence :: obeX, formerly known as Gold SF
Once inside, Matt's eyes wandered around the large, circular room as always amazed by the technology that would make this place become literally everything within but a few seconds. It really was impressive, especially if you considered that the holograms it generated were so much more than just images. They could do things. They could hurt you. He had heard of an incident where the mechanism that stopped the room from killing people had been faulty, making what some people around here condescendingly spoke of as mere illusions as dangerous as the Brotherhood's attack on Training Island. And even without everything working correctly, a Danger Room session could rarely be compared to a trip to the gym. Up to a certain point, those fights were real.
A light a the wall below the control room indicated that the computer was ready to accept commands, but thinking of Madison whom they were just approaching, the contrasting mutant didn't dare to launch any programs. What if Storm had given her second-in-command privileges or something? The Windrider was known to think of all possibilities when it came to her training sessions and so it wasn't unlikely she'd gradually develop the leader qualities of one or two of her team. It could only come in handy when forming groups or for the off-chance that she was rendered unconscious.
Matt didn't have anything against Madison personally; it was much like with Frost. Both hadn't exactly been the most cooperative of team members in the past. Actually, their behaviour had made a joke of the team aspect of Gold Strike Force, but still that didn't mean they were bad people right? You had to trust there was something good and positive in everyone – even if it was hidden under attitude, claws, an adamantine shell of ice... and even more attitude. That said, ambiguous words certainly weren't the wisest choice when this theory of people's intrinsic kind-heartedness were still being tested.
For the time being, she didn't seem to jump at anyone, so Matt took the moment before Angie posed her question to send a nod and a 'Hi' her way. Said query was about something he hadn't really thought about. During the team missions, they hadn't worn uniforms and for the time he had been on a team, they hadn't been used all that much either, so that he had automatically assumed their combat outfits were mostly for real thing. Then again, you had to get used to them, have them become like a second skin to you, and thus wearing them more or less regularly was quite important. Thinking about it for a moment, the black-haired student soon realised he wasn't entirely sure whether it had been all that rarely that they had switched to official X-Men clothing after all. His memory really was low.
Like Angela, Matt wasn't entirely sure whether he liked the suits or not. There seemed to be more toned and athletic guys around this place than in a gay porno and if you were neither, self-consciousness was quite an understandable reaction. Then again, they weren't as bad as spandex. You had to be Barbie's Ken to look good in that, and even then it was kind of embarrassing. Fortunately, the Rompers Era – as he liked to call it – had been way before their time. Waiting for Madison's reply, Contrast wondered whether he should just bluntly ask her whether she had got any instructions other than 'be there' like the rest of them... or simply wait and hope the tigress would come out of her cave so he didn't have to venture on inside.
There comes a time in everyone's life when they have to take over responsibility.
The question remains whether there is also a time when we can get rid of it again.
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