The X-Project

Marie takes Ororo up on her offer of training the new Nanny program in the Danger Room. 'Ro has a different scenario in store for her to focus on Rogue's weaknesses. Training ensues, bots are smashed, bruises are formed.

Rogue paced nervously in front of the entrance to the Danger Room. She had messaged Ororo earlier about trying out the new Nanny scenario, but ‘Ro had said she had something different in mind for Marie. More specifically, something testing her weaknesses…and that made her anxious. She ran through her last combat experiences in her mind, trying to remember how she had performed and analyze what she could have done better. Of course, it didn’t help that she had been out of commission for the past two years. While she had kept in shape, the only time she had actually used her powers offensively had been her little rumble with Logan.

Not long after she arrived, the doors slid open, admitting her into the currently featureless Danger Room. "Hello, Rogue," Ororo's voice came over the speakers, echoing a bit in the empty room. "Are you ready to begin?"

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the room, feeling the rush of wind as the doors slid shut behind her. Clearing her mind, she took a defensive stance and said, “As ready as Ah’ll ever be.”

"Your objective in this scenario is twofold - to protect the civilians while incapacitating your foes. Use whatever means are available to you." Ororo began to call up the pre-programmed utilities she had put in not too long before, and the room began to shift and change, growing tall, building-like projections. "Good luck."

Protect the civilians? That was an interesting twist. In most previous scenarios, she had just had to focus on incapacitating the enemy. She sidled up against the side of one of the buildings and began moving slowly through the setup, trying to see what lay ahead so she could come up with a plan in advance.

As she rounded a corner, she could see the first of the bots emerging onto the scene. They were helpfully color-coded - red for foe, blue for civilian - though their behavior made their alignment obvious enough. The red bots zoomed around aggressively, surveying the landscape, their optical sensors scanning this way and that. The blue bots seemed much more passive and disorganized, milling about aimlessly and shying away from the 'villians'.

Rogue took a final look around, surveying what aspects of the landscape could be beneficial defensively and offensively. She then floated up to get an aerial view of the foes and civilians. Furrowing her brow, she noticed that the red bots were all at least semi-close to blue bots. Protect the civilians indeed.

Eenie meenie minie mo she thought to herself, debating which red bot to attack first. Aha, we have a tie. Spiraling as she flew down to pick up speed, she headed for two foes that had moved closer together, intending to grab them both and smash them into each other.

The plan worked relatively well at first, in that she was able to get her hands on both bots. The second she touched them, however, they began to act in concert, rotating so quickly about that she was unable to collide them together. Instead they twisted her around, propelling her towards a nearby wall as hard as they could.

Letting out a yelp as she hit the wall, she didn’t let the force shake her grip on the bots. She allowed a fleeting thought to the warm bath she was going to need after this exercise, then refocused on the situation at hand. Bringing her arms together, she finally smashed the two bots together. While they seemed out of action, she quickly rocketed another punch to each to make sure they stayed down.

Looking around, she noticed that the other red bots seemed to have noticed her behavior towards their companions and were moving more aggressively through the crowd of blue. Getting the remaining villains was going to be trickier than the first two.

Though the red bots were definitely focused on her, they never strayed more than a few feet from the crowd of blue. While she watched, one of the foe drones took hold of a civilian, drawing a high-pitched, anxious beeping from the blue bot.

Ororo leaned her elbows on the console, watching the situation curiously. This was a particularly difficult scenario, and she was interested to see how Marie dealt with it. Better to prepare now than to be faced with it in the field, cold.

Protect the civilians, she reminded herself. Internally rolling her eyes at what she was about to do, she figured she needed to practice dealing with crowds as well. In real life, the entire crowd would be in a state of panic as soon as they noticed the fight…and they generally wouldn’t be able to tell the good folk from the bad. “Remain calm, Ah’m here to help.” It felt silly talking to the drones, but she wanted to show ‘Ro she was aware of the crowd.

Lifting off, she flew as quickly as she could towards the hostage bot, while trying her best to keep aware of the activity of all the red bots. Landing a few feet from the bots, she edged closer. “Come on, wouldn’t y’ like a real challenge?” she said before darting towards them. She pried the arms of the red bot off the blue, urging the innocent to run off while she held onto the foe.

Unfortunately for her, the blue bot didn't move very far away at all, seemingly in 'shock'. The red bot twisted and flailed, its long arms moving in ways no human could manage. Another red drone came up to help it, pincers poised menacingly, snapping as it advanced at her.

Marie looked around noticing that other blue bots were starting to come closer instead of moving father away. Making a face, she couldn't argue with the programming because human nature tended to drive people to go see what was causing a ruckus instead of doing the sensible thing and running away.

Well if you can't get the civilians away from the enemy, get the enemy away from the civilians. Struggling to maintain her grip on the wiggly bot, she reached out to grab the second bot, but missed and was thankful for the thick leather covering her arm as the pincer sliced at her. While she had avoided injury, her sleeve now had a long rip stretching from her elbow to her wrist. Trying again, she managed to get a grip around the bot's arm and flew upwards, taking both bots with her.

Once away from the ground they were easily dealt with, and Marie could see below her that the crowd was growing more and more agitated. The few remaining red bots were lashing out at the civilians, knocking a few to the ground in their efforts to draw Marie back to them.

Biting her lip, she winced as she saw the blue bots hit the ground. Then sighed with relief as they started crawling away – hurt was fixable, she just really wanted not to lose any of them. Scowling at the remaining red drones, Rogue began dropping down and grabbing a bot or two at a time, then flying up above the crowd to dispatch them.

By now the blue bots had definitely sensed that Marie was there to help, though they were a bit confused on how to act helpfully. Every time she swooped down to grab another foe they crowded about and reached out towards her entreatingly. It was during one of these times that she felt the cold, metallic touch of a bot's arm against the bare skin exposed by her torn uniform.

Damn damn damn double damn.

She caught the blue drone as it toppled over and laid it gently on the ground. Rogue had forgotten about her exposed skin and hadn't even fathomed one of the civilians reaching out and actually touching her. She would have to be more careful…luckily the contact had been minimal and so the "damage" would not be fatal. She was also relieved to note that being touched hadn't sent her into a shocked state…even if the touch hadn't truly activated her absorption power. After insuring that the downed civilian was out of harms way, she again begin her systematic elimination of the enemy drones.

She needs to be more careful, 'Ro thought, keying up a screen to check the length of the contact between Marie's arm and the bot. It hadn't been long, true, but in a situation where it could've been avoided, it was completely unnecessary. She glanced up to watch as Marie sorted through the last of the attacking bots, making quick work of them.

As she knocked out the last red drone, she landed and surveyed the damages. No structures were harmed and there appeared to have been minimal injuries to the civilians. All except one were moving around on their own. Walking to the bot that had touched her, Rogue sighed and kneeled beside it, mock-checking vitals. She felt crestfallen, knowing that the only innocent bot seriously hurt was the one she had hurt.

"Very good, Rogue. Simulation ending now," Ororo said over the speakers. The room began to shift back to its normal configuration as the bots that were able to returned back from whence they had come.

Standing, she walked to the door, her sleeve fluttering in the wind created from them opening. Looking angrily at her sleeve, she muttered a few incomprehensible words under her breath then headed to meet Ororo for a critique of her session.

Ororo was waiting for Marie in one of the smaller rooms of the sub-basement, having sat patiently to give the girl time to change and shower, if she wanted. She smiled as Marie walked in, motioning for her to come take a seat at the table. "What did you think of your first run?" she asked curiously once the girl had settled in her chair.

“Not as good as Ah wanted, not as bad as it coulda been,” she replied while twirling a strand of white hair around her finger. “Ah need to be more aware.”

"Good," 'Ro said, nodding. "You did do well, Marie. Very few injuries, and no casualties. You seem to show a great deal of control over your strength, which is heartening."

Marie nodded, grateful that Ororo was acknowledging the things she had done right, but she still felt down. “It just hard…Ah feel like Ah have to remember fifty things at once. Don’t hit the building too hard or you’ll crack the foundation. Don’t hit the baddie hard enough to ricochet into an innocent. Draw the villain’s attention so they can’t focus on the civilians. And while remembering all those, Ah forgot the most important one.”

"Well, you know the best solution for that - practice." 'Ro smiled, her expression kind and compassionate. "That is the entire purpose of the Danger Room, of our training. Practice and repetition until we do the right thing automatically. There is nothing wrong with making mistakes, as long as you recognize them and work to correct them. It is only when we are too cocky to see our weaknesses that we make the wrong decisions, put people in danger. This was a good start, don't you think?"

Managing a weak smile, Rogue recalled her first Danger Room experience and recited in a sing-song tone, “Practice makes perfect.” Her tone returning to normal, she continued, “This was not a bad start. And Ah plan on doing it better next time.”

"And I am sure you will. Believe me, Marie, you did not do that badly. I could tell you stories about some other team members that would put your session in an entirely different light..."

Raising an eyebrow, she couldn’t help but wonder who Ororo was referencing, but politely refrained from attempting to satisfy her curiosity. Stretching, she grimaced at the feeling of moving her back. “Any chance y’all added a masseuse to the staff while Ah was gone?”

"No, a therapist was a bit higher on the 'staff needed' list," 'Ro said, shaking her head ruefully. "But now that we have one of those, perhaps we will be on the lookout for a masseuse. Though they would probably qualify for overtime within their first week here and quit because of the trauma caused by trying to manipulate adamantium-infused skeletons and people made of steel..."

Marie laughed wholeheartedly at that mental image. “Ah still say it’s worth a shot. Just let me know if you hire someone so Ah can get a massage before the other’s run him off,” she said while winking at ‘Ro. “But no massage means Ah’m headed for a steam and a long, hot bath.”

"You've earned it," Ororo said with a smile. "And do not be disheartened, please. We all must start somewhere. I will make sure to make a note that your uniform needs repairing, as well."

“Ah’m sure it won’t be last time,” she replied ruefully.

"It never is. But don't worry, we have budgeted that in our expenses. You have two more uniforms to wreck before it becomes a problem," Ororo joked, grinning.

Laughing at the image of herself after running out of proper uniforms, in a black leather outfit with big patches all over it, Rogue walked out of the room, waving as she left.