Scott and Alex, Saturday morning

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

The brothers Summers have a training session. Alex takes an important step forward with his powers. Scott takes... a step back?


Scott gave his brother a brief, crooked smile as the flying drone buzzed above their heads. The rest of the Danger Room was powered down, in its natural (if armored) state. "Call this a test of both your accuracy and your ability to scale back your power levels," he said to Alex. "I want you to knock the drone down, without destroying it. Although if you destroy it, that's fine - I know this is something new, and we do have spares, much as I tend to give the team a hard time for wrecking these things."

Alex gave him an idle smile as his eyes remained tracking the drone. His hands were already itching from some other practicing they had done and he couldn't stop his fingers from moving at his sides. "Wouldn't want special treatment now, would I?" he teased, then bit his lip in concentration. Then he raised his hands and concentrating, shot a bolt at the drone. It hit it square in the middle... except there wasn't a middle anymore amid the tiny pieces it was suddenly in on the floor. Lowering his hands, he sighed. "Well...I got it. How is accuracy so much easier then power levels?"

Scott reached out and laid a hand on Alex's shoulder, squeezing briefly and reassuringly. "Because," he said, "to some extent, energy-projection is either on or off. Especially energy-projection like ours. There's no way to easily quantify how to manage the energy flow." He shook his head. "I had it easy, you know, with the visor for so long. It was a mechanical way of doing what I then had to turn around and do myself, when I lost my eye - and what you've got to do now."

Sighing again, Alex looked down at his hands, then back up at his brother. "On or Off. No wonder I feel like a battery," he teased before nodding to the spare drones in the corner. "Let me try again? I think I'm getting better, at least I didn't disintegrate it that time." Which had been what had happened most of the time in their first few target practices.

"Sure thing." Scott spoke a command to the Danger Room, and another one of the drones levitated off the rack. He rubbed briefly at his temples as he watched Alex studying the drone for a moment. He'd woken up stiff and sore as expected, and half-tempted to postpone the training session - but it was Alex, and he preferred not to do that whenever possible.

Alex focused on the drone and watched it for a few moments, concentrating more on the energy in his body then the drone itself. But still, Alex caught Scott's movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to look, frowning slightly. "You okay, bro?"

"Just a headache," Scott said with another crooked smile. "Long day yesterday." He gestured at the drone. "Try again? If you still don't quite get it, I'll try it, and maybe we can generate some ideas from that."

Nodding, Alex turned back to the drone. He let the warmth of his power overtake the itchiness and just kind of held it for a moment like that, before raising his hands, biting his lips and letting off... a small bolt that barely knocked the drone off it's course. He couldn't help chuckling as he lowered his hand. "Yeah, okay, that was pathetic. Let me see you try?"

"Like hell was that pathetic," Scott said, surprised and pleased. "That was fantastic. That's a huge step." He grinned at Alex a little more widely. "You hit upon something, there. You think about what it was, and I'll give it a try, too."

Scott's praise made Alex grin brightly. Finally giving into the itch of his hands, he rubbed them together as he took a moment to think about how he'd managed such a small amount of energy versus the normal outpouring. The outpouring was easier, as Scott said, just turn it on and let it go. These small amounts were tiring. "Yeah, let me see the master at work."

"You're going to give me performance anxiety," Scott said, ordering another drone into the air. He waited until it was right overhead and then concentrated.

What happened was entirely unexpected. Instead of the usual steady pressure, there was a stab of pain that seemed to travel from one side of his skull to the other. And then there was the drone, lying in pieces on the ground just as small as those of the first one Alex had destroyed. Wincing, one hand going to his temple as he tilted his head, Scott gazed at it in bewilderment.

Alex was immediately by his brother's side, hands out to steady him, just in case. "Yo, dude, you okay?" He couldn't help but sense something was wrong from the pained expression on Scott's face.

"... yeah. Um, that was a little odd. Room, throw me another drone." Another levitated into the air, and Scott immediately took another shot at it. Get back up on the horse. This time, the shot was good. The quarter-strength blast knocked it through the air and to a hard landing, but didn't destroy it. "It depend on what you're trying to hit, too," Scott explained, and if he was moving past his little faux pas a little quickly... well, he had struggled enough with control himself after losing his eye that he didn't particularly want to dwell on a moment of backsliding.

Alex couldn't help watching Scott more then the shot, making sure his brother was okay. He didn't press the matter; powers were always a sensitive subject where Summers were concerned, but he also didn't remember Scott's powers ever being painful like that. When the blast went off okay, he shrugged slightly and paid attention to the lesson at hand again.