The X-Project

Clint asks to become a trainee.


This was one of the best parts of the job Scott thought to himself as he stared at the young man sitting across the desk over his steepled hands. "So," he asked making sure to keep his face straight, "you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah," Clint said, nodding. "I got the permission slips and stuff signed, Andre and Steve are cool with me being a trainee as long as it doesn't impact my schoolwork next fall."

"And will it?" Scott dropped his hands to rest on his desk and gave Clint a sincere look, "Only you can tell us for sure if you can handle it but I can honestly tell you that being a trainee is a lot of work. Apart from the extra training, you'll have to go through old mission reports as well as keep up on the current reports and information." The older man gestured towards his in-tray. "As you can see, it can get a little overwhelming at times," he noted with a wry smile.

"I don't think it will interfere with school," Clint answered, shaking his head. "I've looked at everything I'm currently doing and I've got the time as well as the motivation for it. The extra training on top of what I'm doing with Logan and Laurie shouldn't be a problem and reading through reports won't be much different from all my school work. Plus, if I officially start things now, as the summer's beginning, I'll have a lot of free time even though I'm planning to take classes over vacation. I mean, in a cost-benefit ratio, the benefits far outweigh the costs."

"Ah, excellent...I'm glad you've put so much thought into this," Scott hedged completely thrown off his stride. A cost benefit analysis, in all the years he'd been doing this that was the first time he could remember someone ever doing a cost benefit test on being an X-man. "As long as you're aware that all the reports need to stay secure, so you can't take them with you while you go outside to enjoy the weather. Sadly it kinda cuts back on your enjoyment of your free time."

Clint grinned. "No problem, I don't mind staying inside to read them wherever you guys keep them. I'm sure there'll be lots of really useful information in them."

Scott was entirely lost right now, this was normally the part of the speech where the trainee candidates were hesitant, after all nobody really enjoyed trawling through reams of old mission reports. However Clint seemed...eager, something was definitely off about the situation. "Well okay then...are there any questions that you want to ask me?"

"Would twenty hours a week be good for training? In addition to my work with Logan and Laurie and my regular self-defense classes once those start back up? I figure I can do all the reading as well as Danger Room scenarios and still have time leftover for anything else you might need me to do," Clint said.

"I think 20 hours a week is a good starting number; you can, and will, tweak it up or down as you get used to the way things run around here." Scott paused and took a moment to observe Clint, "I've heard good things from Logan and Laurie, so I don't think you'll have too much trouble with the training. Most of the trainees take about a year or so before they're comfortable being promoted to full X-man status. You're a little younger than most of the trainees, so we'll have to play it by ear in your case and see what you're comfortable with down the line."

"Is there a particular time every week that trainees do their practical work as opposed to reading reports and stuff? Or is it more just an 'as you're able, complete this many hours' sort of deal?"

"It really depends on the week," Scott allowed, "I have to make up a schedule for Danger Room use every week so everyone gets a chance to get in there and practice. I try to keep it at a reasonable hour so you can all make it but," Scott shrugged, "balancing the schedule is an art in itself."

"We've used it a couple times for self-defense," Clint said. "The Danger Room, I mean. It's really cool. I'd be interested in learning about the programming - I think I heard somebody talking about how you make up the scenarios."

Scott blinked owlishly, "You would? How much do you know about programming at the moment?" he inquired. Now he wanted to learn about programming the DR, Scott wasn't sure what to make of the teenager sitting in front of him.

"Not much, really, but I'm taking a computer programming class over the summer at Columbia. I'm pretty sure I want to do engineering as a major once I get to college but I'm still deciding what type and it seems like programming would be a lot of fun," Clint answered.

Scott leaned back in his chair, "Well programming the Danger Room is fairly simple as far as most programming tasks go, a lot of it is automated these days. We just have to tell the Danger Room what you want." He sat back thoughtfully, "I'll tell you what, let's get you sorted as a trainee first and then we can talk to Miss Guthrie and Mister Kane, they do most of the upkeep on the Danger Room these days. Between the three of us I'm sure we can find something to keep you busy."

"Awesome - thanks, Mister Summers. I'm really looking forward to getting started," Clint said, grinning.

"No problem Clint, I'm glad to see you're so excited about joining the team," Scott replied leaning forward in his chair, "So I've got to ask, you're younger than most people who become trainees. Why do you want to be an X-man?"

"I like helping people," Clint said. "I want to have the training and get the experience to help people better, I guess. And I admire what you guys do - the stories I've heard about everything, the people you've stopped from doing terrible things. That's... I mean, that's important. And I want to contribute to that."

Scott nodded slowly, "I can believe that, with Red-X and volunteer work you do, you seem like the kind of person who wants to make the world better," Scott admitted as he leaned back in his chair again, "I have to warn you though Clint, being an X-man isn't always about doing good things and saving the world. If you choose to become a member of the team there's a chance you, or one of your friends and teammates could end up injured or worse, dead. We've all had our share of trouble, some more than others," Scott cautioned the teenager as he gestured towards his fake eye. "Even with that, are you sure it's something you still want to do?"

"Well," Clint said, shrugging. "I've already been sucked into an alternate dimension by an internet meme and attacked by giant scorpion statues, which isn't much compared to everything you guys have been doing and have gone through, but I think I know what you mean. Sue and Tandy were pretty bad off after the scorpion thing. And getting training would help me be better prepared to handle situations like that when they come up. There's a pretty big difference between having statues randomly come to life while you're on a field trip so they can attack you and going into a cave knowing there are statues or something that's probably going to attack you."

"This is the Xavier mansion," Scott pointed out, "I've found it's a good bet to assume that the giant statue is always going to come to life. It lets you feel pleasantly surprised when you manage to get away without being attacked. And as you say, it's not as if your stay here has been without incident," he acknowledged, "As long as you keep that in mind I think you'll be alright." he added with a nod. "I'll talk to the professor later today Clint, but I don't foresee him throwing up any objections."

"Thanks again, Mister Summers," Clint said, standing up and offering Scott his hand. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem Clint," Scott replied with a smile as he stood up to shake Clint's hand, "Welcome to the team."