[ We find Daegal and Alex meeting in the halls! Is this a chance meeting, or is there some deeper plot at work? Let's find out! ] [ Session Start! ] * Daegal walks down the hallways, blinks at Alex, then waves to get his attention. "Alex! Was actually lookin' for ya." ...why? You gonna bitch at me, too? ... bitch at ya? Who's bitchin' at ya? Pretty much everybody. I take it you didn't notice earlier? Were you asleep or something? Back in the city, actually. And yeah, sleepin' a lot. Gettin' shot up a lot makes me really tired, even if my body heals up. Yeah, well... I was trying to work with my "powers" and decided it'd be a good idea to try out "Don't Worry, Be Happy". ... and they're upset because it made them all happy or somethin'? You'd be surprised how angry people can get when you basically force them on a blind date with Mary Jane. ... ah. *shrugs* Well, I wasn't there, so I ain't got nothin' to bitch at ya about. But I think that might be parta the reason Logan'n Pink Eye sent me ta find you. ( What! MJ, you've been cheating on me?!? ) Uhoh. What'd they send you to find me for? They want me to do a Danger Room session with you. Thought before it was because I was one'a the more experienced kids here, and that you might be more comfortable practicin' around another kid. ... now, I'm thinkin' they wanted me 'cause I can heal quick. *grins slightly* Wonderful. Hey, I ain't no masochist. I ain't lookin' forward to you singin' 'Momma Said Knock You Out' or somethin'. ...that's really frightening. Yup. But you need the practice. And better it be on me than with the others, right? Maybe. * Daegal shrugs. "As long as you don't sing somethin' from 'The Nutcracker', I ain't gonna get mad at ya. I know what I'm gettin' my dumb ass into." Okay. Sure. Let's go. * Alex doesn't sound very enthusiastic, though. * Daegal leads Alex to the Danger Room. "It ain't my idea of a fun time either, but... you got powers. Just based on that, there's a chance someone's gonna come after ya. Lotta people don't like us mutants, and a lotta people don't like the Prof. So you gotta learn how ta defend yerself." [ Down two floors of stairs and into the Danger Room control booth leads Daegal! ] So you're saying I gotta make lemonade. Screw that. I prefer sucking on my lemons. No, I'm saying there ain't no lemonade. [ Inside the booth are Scott, Logan, and Hank. Alex might not have met all of them, yet. ] 'ey Hank, Logan, Pink Eye. Found Alex. ...pinkeye? * Daegal nods. "Pink Eye." [ Scott sighs. "Please just call me Scott. And thanks." Logan, who is easily the shortest man in the room, looks Alex over. "Yeah, he's green," he comments. ] No, Max is green. I'm untrained. * Daegal snickers. * Alex rolls his eyes. "Lord, you must be rubbing off on me, Daegal." I'm infectin'. Like the plague, 'cept without the boils and the death. [ Logan grins. "That you are." He lights up a cigarette, takes a puff, then uses the cigarette to light a cigar. "Max, actually, can throw a decent punch, especially for a geek. But he should learn better than to wrestle a sentinel." ] s'my job. *grins* Okay, fine. So how do we do this? [ Scott nods approvingly. Logan shrugs. "But he's not the one we're here to work on. That's you, Alex. How we do it is simple." ] Logan points into the Danger Room. "You go in there. We're gonna play a song that shouldn't have any bad side-effects. Least, not that we can't handle." ] +[ [ "If we don't like what we see, we stop the music. If you ask, we stop the music. But you gotta learn how to use your powers to your advantage, and this is how you do that." ] ... so why'm I here, other'n moral support? Fine. [ "You, Daegal, are here to forcibly pull him out if he gets in over his head. Or you can spar with him, if you like." Logan grins at that. ] * Daegal shrugs. "Oh, good. I thought I was here to be his punching bag." *pauses* "So should I go down with him?" [ "I wouldn't recommend sparrin' with Daegal, tho, Alex." ] [ "Yeah, you should. Be near in case something goes wrong, but don't give him a hand in a fight unless he needs it." ] Sure. So what song are you gonna test first? [ Hank grins. "Kung-Fu Fighting." ] * Alex pales. Oh no. Please, please don't. * Daegal tilts his head. [ Logan shakes his head sadly. Scott says, "Well, why not?" ] You don't understand. _EVERYBODY_ was kung fu fighting. It would be the largest impromptu kung fu fight scene ever. [ "Ah," says Hank. "Thought about that. Don't worry. As long as you focus on the danger room environment, it shouldn't spill over. Unless, of course, I'm completely wrong." ] I really hope you aren't. * Alex shudders and walks to the door down to the floor. "It's up to you. You're the... teachers." [ "But we'll never find out if we don't try, now will we?" ] * Alex opens the door and walks down, leaving the door open for Daegal. Besides, I already kung-fu fight. Or judo fight, with a bit of wresslin' thrown in. * Daegal walks down with Alex, and walks over to a side of the room. "You feel yourself loosin' control, and I'll come over and... erm... tickle you? Shake you? Somethin'. you'll be too busy kung fu fighting. Maybe, maybe not. You just worry 'bout you. I can handle myself. Sure. * Alex walks out into the center of the danger room and waits. [ The Danger Room shimmers, and Chinatown appears again. ] This place is good. You can almost smell the funk. [ Alex finds himself in the middle of a long street; it is currently unpopulated, although there are stands where people would normally be hawking wares. ] [ Then the music starts. ] * Alex drops into a perfect kung-fu stance after the first few notes. [ At first, nothing seems to happen - except for Alex doing that. ] [ But then chinese martial artists with, impossibly, afros appear from some of the stores and from behind stands, maintaining perfect attack posture, but not actually doing anything. Yet. ] ... okay, that's a bit freaky. ... and funky. ... and hoo boy, this feels odd. These are the funky chinamen, from funky chinatown. [ Then a large grey man appears down the street, with a sign hanging around his neck saying "I am a strong bad guy." ] HEre comes the big boss. Let's get it on. * Daegal feels himself dropping into a fighting stance, but shakes his head and manages to restrain himself for the moment. * Alex runs forward in time with the song, lashing out with lightning fast kicks and the occasional chop, dropping funky chinamen left and right. [ Sadly, Alex hardly has time to do that before the four funky chinamen leap into action! Literally! They sail across the distance, kicking the big guy one at a time in the head, each earning an "ow" from him. ] * Daegal mutters, still fighting against the urge to join the melee. "That's my line..." * Alex blinks and comes to a stop, to wait for the mooks to get slaughtered. [ The mooks do alright, right up until the big guy takes a swing and knocks all four of them flat with one clumbsy blow. ] Ah, that's my cue! [ The big guy comes charging for Alex! He bellows incomprehensibly! ] * Daegal tenses, but again, with effort, forces himself to stay back. * Alex leaps into the air and throws a series of lightning fast kicks at the big guy's face! (So, when does a sudden motion make them slip?) ( I'm ruling it doesn't, because Alex doesn't have the power required to cause an earthquake. ) (But then how are they gonna break into a brand new trip? ;_;) ( Stop nitpicking. c.c ) [ The big guy gets hit! A lot. And then he swings back, and Alex just barely gets out of the way in time! ] * Daegal is looking like he reeeeeeeeeally wants to get in there. Whether this is because of Alex's powers, or because Daegal's a violent street punk, is up for debate. * Alex lands behind the big boss man and slashes behind him with a chop to the guy's neck. ( Hmmm. Should I require a soul roll for Daegal? XD ) ( Dunno. ) ( Just give in, Daegal. ) ( Seriously. Break down, it's alright. ) ( In a minute. ) * Daegal is actually twitching now, visibly sweating from the effort of not getting involved. [ The big boss man hits Alex, hard. Dayam, he really IS a stong bad guy. ] * Alex is thrown forcibly to the ground and cries out in pain. Unnnnnnagh! * Daegal scowls, and then relaxes for a moment, giving in to THE FUNK. With a growl, he charges at the big guy, diving shoulder-first into the guy's knee and causing it to bend in an extremely unnatural angle. * Alex looks up and winces. "Oh, man, Daegal, that's just WRONG." [ The big boss bellows in pain! ] * Daegal flips the guy over onto his stomach, scissors his non-broke leg with his own legs, then sits and leans back, using his own body as a lever to wrench the leg in an unnatural direction. [ Sadly, the big boss has no mat to tap out on. ] * Daegal keeps that on for a while, until he feels he's weakened the leg a good amount, then quickly gets to his feet, jumps, and drops a knee on the back of the big guy's head. * Alex gapes. Um... Daegal... I think you can stop now. [ The big guy is knocked out from the impact. ] [ And then the song ends! ] ( BRB. ) * Daegal gets up, and looks over at Alex. "... holy shit, man. That's... that's the best I ever fought in my freakin' life." One move flowed into the next, no hesitation, no delay, perfect form... cripes, man. That's some goddamn awesome power you got. Yeah. It was pretty cool. [ "Nice job, kid," says Logan's voice over the intercom. "Now, come on up and we'll discuss things." ] * Alex shakes his head a bit to clear it and walks over to the door, pops it open, and climbs slowly up to the main control room. * Daegal nods up at the booth, then turns back to Alex. "You okay? Got tagged pretty good." * Daegal follows while saying that. I'll probably feel it all day. And all week. Wish I could lend ya my healin' powers for a bit... really helps with that kinda pain. Yeah, I bet you never have to deal with MotrinPain(TM). Well, no, not for headaches and stuff. But gettin' shot or stabbed hurts like a motherfucker for a while, 'till it fully heals. Huh. [ You re-enter the danger room control booth. Logan's still looking serious. "First thing's first: Daegal, you were twitching the whole time, right up until you got into the fight and ended it pronto. Why's that?" ] ( Ah, Daegal. Our Budget Wolverine. ) Dunno... just had this *urge* to fight. And I ain't talkin' about my usual desire to spar or go back to the city and pound on some mooks. Was almost like something was tellin' me to go'n fight... Was tryin' to fight it, 'cause you guys said not to help Alex 'less he was in trouble. When he got in trouble, I stopped tryin' to resist. I'm amazed you could fight it at all. [ Logan nods. The others frown. Scott says, "That sounds almost like mind control to me. I don't like it. Alex, do you have any idea how many people you can affect this way?" ] Yeah. I think. Sorta. * Daegal shrugs. "Dunno." Did they tell you guys how I was... um... outed? [ Scott nods. "I know. That's a lot of people to have jumping into a fight. Especially if they have no idea how to defend themselves and no sense of self-preservation." ] Actually, it does help them defend themselves. I know I couldn't have dodged that first attack without some sort of help. And I'm a good fighter, but not *that* good. I think it's because of the song. It says it was a little bit frightening, but they fought with expert timing. [ "Yes, but you weren't good enough to avoid the second. If you're up against someone more skilled, a slight improvement won't protect a normal person. ] +" Yeah. That's why I didn't think it was a very good idea to play it in the first place. A thousand people all suddenly fighting like that... [ "A thousand? Don't you think that's a bit high?" ] I thought you knew. There was a big cover up on the part of the fashion designer's company, but yeah, it was almost a thousand women. What song? * Alex sighs. "I suppose it's gonna get out sometime." I was walking down the runway when some smartass decided to play "Sharp Dressed Man" [ Scott shakes his head. "That's too many. Far too many." Hank adds, "Perhaps you can refine it, with practice? Pick and choose who the music affects and who it doesn't?" ] ... ah. That'd be an issue. * Daegal frowns. "Coulda been worse. Least it wasn't a Madonna song." I would really prefer not to be a Material Girl, thank you very much. * Alex sighs. [ Hank snickers, Logan grins. Scott is Scott. ] I really, really hope I can refine it, but I don't have much hope. The power thus far seems kinda... literal. Was actually thinkin' of a different song... nevermind. [ Hank looks thoughtful. "Well... perhaps you can work on that, too. I have one thing that'll help you get started on the road to better use of your powers, tho." ] Yeah? [ "And learning the better use of your powers is why you're here after all, so." He pulls out what looks like a large, blocky, metal walkman. Attached are a pair of earbud-style earphones. "Found some promotion for one of these, and took the liberty of making a few changes..." ] So I have to carry around a big tapecase in case of emergency? [ "This," Hank says, "Is a 'hit-clips' player. I've reinforced it with a very rare steel alloy. It plays little mini-casettes like this one," here he holds up a mini-casette labeled "Kung-Fu-Fighting". ] [ "Only if you ever want to use your powers to help people, or something silly like that." Hank grins. ] Well... at least they're SMALL tapes. I hope you don't mind if I refrain from using that particular tape, though. [ "Oh, not at all. Just keep it in case you ever need to give Daegal a boost, tho." ] Daegal and everybody else, too. It's like a doomsday weapon. [ "Right now, yeah. Once you get better at it, tho, you should have it affecting only those you want it to. And wouldn't that be something?" ] Yeah, it probably would. That'd be... cool. I mean, I'm good, but a guy that big, just by virtue of size'n strength advantage, shoulda given me some trouble. But I just wrecked him. For now, I need to be wary of any song that says "everybody", though. * Alex shudders as a song floats through his head. ( o/~ Everybody must get stoned! o/~ ) ( Lucy in the sky with diamonds. :P ) Does it hafta be a song with words? No way to tell without trying it. [ "Good general policy. Most of the people around here have some small music collections. Ask to look through 'em. I've got some stuff, if you want it. I can convert anything to one of those little casettes, too." ] Do you happen to have a copy of the William Tell Overture? Mmm... okay. 'cause I've been known ta whistle some jazz songs. I'll be careful 'bout that. Actually, I'm pretty sure just whistling can't trigger it. Eric has whistled at me and nothing's happened. [ "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." ] Okay. Then I've been known to play the sax a bit, so I'll be careful about *that*. * Daegal grins a bit. Okay. We'll test this one last song, and then I'll go through all the songs I can find in the entire mansion looking for ones that probably aren't too harmful. [ All three NPCs nod. "Sounds good," says Hank. ] * Alex heads down the stairs into the danger room to test this instrumental piece. * Daegal follows Alex down the stairs, and heads off to the side of the room. "So what's this 'William Tell Overture' thingee?" I bet you'll know it as soon as you hear it. Hey, could I have an apple, Dr. McCoy? [ And so they practiced, and then Alex went on a quest for songs! ] ( And Alex shoots an apple off Daegal's head! ) [ Maybe. ] ( Oh, *that* song... oh. Oh fuckballs. ) [ Session End! ]