xp_logs | Nathan and Kyle (way backdated to Nov 19)

(Backdated due to it getting lost.) Kyle and Nathan catch up after a Danger Room session. Topics of discussion include Kyle's strategy against Toad and how Nate needs to take his pills.

Better. Much better. Nathan leapt from the top of the tower the Danger Room had just created beneath him, falling the twenty feet to the ground and landing as lightly as a leaf, the rubber bullets the Room's guns were fired at him deflected easily by his TK shield. No sense of strain doing it, either, which was a nice change. He ran for the glowing spot on the far wall, propelling himself over the gap that opened in the floor, and then vaulting with one hand and a push of telekinesis over a metal cylinder that shot outwards at waist-height. The guns kept firing, all the while; one rubber bullet slipped through and clipped his arm, but it would have been a flesh wound at worse. Might not have even pierced the body armor.

Only when he'd hit the deactivation switch and the Room was powering down did he let himself notice the person in the control booth. "Hey, champ," he said, breathing heavily. "Don't say it - I know I'm slow."

"Still about thirty seconds faster then me, so it's all good." Kyle said through the microphone. "and I have less guns when I have to go jumping off towers." He thought his tower might've been shorter too, now that he thought about it. "Crazy net drones get me every damn time." He hopped down off the chair and headed down to the main level of the Danger Room "I bring to you the Gatorade. Because old guys need electrolyte replacement."

Nathan snorted as the young man came through the doors and waggled the bottle at him. "Let go of it," he said, and levitated it over as soon as Kyle did. "Next thing you know, you'll be nagging me to take my pills."

"Nah. Then Doc Moira wouldn't have any fun at all." Kyle said, grinning. "I can't deprive her of her fun. I like her too much." He leaned against one of the walls, arms behind his head. "And, I mean, dude, it's Mr. Marko who has the whole 'You kids get off my lawn I had to walk uphill both ways to the store and milk the cow myself for fresh milk!' thing goin. It's pretty funny."

"You notice I don't do the 'when I was your age' thing. Mostly because it would come out sounding really wrong." Nathan took a sip of the Gatorade, then eyed Kyle. "All healed up properly?"

"Pretty much." Kyle said. "I've got a tooth checkup next week just to make sure the bones and teeth all came back the way they're supposed to, but it -feels- okay. I can chew." He hadn't tested it on anything harder then regular food, but he was pretty certain. "No crazy potassium overdoses either, no thanks to Laurie. She was trying to kill me with bananas."

"Medically inclined women get funny ideas in their head when they're looking after us poor wayward males." Nathan tilted his head at the younger man, remembering something he'd finally read in the database... "Interesting strategy, by the way. With Toad, I mean. You appear to be one of those very rare creatures - a feral with a sense of tactics. Kind of like Ani."

"Seriously, she was trying to turn me into a... dude, what?" Kyle's brain only registered the compliment several seconds after he started speaking. "I, you know, I can't actually kick the guy's ass exactly, but it wasn't like anyone else was in any place to do it." He rubbed his jaw, and shrugged. "I figured if I annoyed him enough, he'd get too pissed off to remember to keep out of range. Also, you know, Garrison totally did to me once a week for about a month."

The corner of Nathan's mouth curled very slightly at Kyle's last comment, but his tone was natural enough as he went on. "It works under the right circumstances, and with the right people... Toad had already had a pretty bad day. You would have been in trouble had you tried that with Nimrod, from the sounds of Jennie's report."

"Dude, if Nimrod had been there, I totally wouldn't have tried that." Kyle said, voice cracking a touch. "I dunno what I'd have done, but it wouldn't have been that! I'm not gonna be handing Toad his slimy green ass all by myself, but I can at least trick the guy into letting me put a hurting on him. Nimrod's ... dude, he's like big evil psycho you." He scratched his head, obviously thinking hard. "Seriously, I have no idea what I would've done."

"I'll write you a tactical review, if you want - put you in Jennie's place, and let you figure out what your options would have been." Nathan took another sip of the Gatorade. "You know, I imagine that you don't look back on previous encounters with Toad all that fondly, but in a way, you've redeemed all of them with what you pulled off in Tibet. You used the edge they gave you, to your advantage this time." Nathan gave a crooked grin. "There can be benefits to having had close encounters with the bad guy before. I should let you into my private database folder on what to do if I ever run into Saidullayev again."

Kyle shook his head. "No, dude, the -next- time I get him, I'll redeem all the stupid. This time was just letting him know I'm not kidnap bait anymore." He looked up and grinned. "Course, next time he'll know I can hold my own, so I really need to keep working on it." That there would be a next time wasn't even a question. Kyle had figured Toad just kept coming back, like a plague. Of toads. "The tactical thinger would help. I really dunno what I'd do besides run, and, uh, well, that only worked out so well for Cyclops, right?"

"I don't know - if the Blackbird had gotten there an hour earlier, it would have worked out just fine, from the sounds of it. Although I'm still impressed Scott managed to keep ahead of him for two days, when he was injured and dragging two cosmonauts behind him..." Nathan opened the snaps of his jacket, rubbing at a sore spot along his ribs. "But yeah, I'll do the tactical review. You need to go for the creative options, when you've got that much of an imbalance in power levels... either that or make sure backup's right there and handy. I always like double-teaming them, personally. Or triple-teaming. Triple is good too."

"Or!" Kyle said, holding up a finger. "I could totally just not be around that guy in the first place." He gave a little shrug. "I'm serious. I know where I'm outclassed." It was said matter-of-factly, and without Kyle's normal cheerful tone. "It's... you know, I know what I'm good at. And I know what I can work on being better at, but I also know... it's like I said to Jay, you don't send a guy like me after a guy like Magneto."

"True enough, but sometimes you don't get a choice. And you need to try and have options, even then." Nathan rotated his still-sore wrist, looking pensive. "I know I'm not a good person to be talking to about this sort of thing - I don't often get overmatched. But there are always openings in a situation, no matter the odds you're facing. And those of us with a lot of firepower can be awfully cocky and full of ourselves sometimes. It's like David and Goliath."

"Yeah, I guess.." Kyle said, although his tone didn't match his words at all. He gave Nathan an awkward sort of grin. "Hey, the being cocky thing worked against Toad. I totally let him underestimate me."

"Yes, you did," Nathan said, and then took pity on Kyle, grinning back. "Did I ever tell you about the time Ani kicked my ass? Snuck up on me - I didn't hear her coming at all. She claimed she snookered me by thinking like a cactus, whatever the hell that means." The grin grew a bit, helplessly, as he downed some more gatorade. "Michael's lucky that at least one of his parents is mostly sane."

"Thinking... like a ... Maybe she... no.. maybe.. " Kyle shook his head, snickering. "Dude, I got nothing. I can't even start to explain that one." But now he had plans to email Ani and ask, because if thinking like a cactus worked, he wanted to learn it. "I mean, cactuses don't fit in the ninja-monkey-pirate-robot chart at all, dude."

"That's Ani for you. But," Nathan said, turning towards the door and waving Kyle along, "it proves something. Even those of us who have big brains can be outthought." He tried to keep a straight face as he went on. "The world belongs to the sneaky."

Kyle followed, jogging a little to catch up. "I've heard the world belongs to nerds, because they're geniuses. I mean, Bill Gates, richest dude in the world. But maybe they're also sneaky nerds. Or maybe they just don't know the world really belongs to the sneaky." He said, thinking aloud. "I mean, Forge? Total genius. But how many times have I dumped him in the pool?"

"You're catching on, young Padawan." Faster than anyone with stereotypes about feral mutants being at the mercy of their emotions would give him credit for, Nathan thought, and waited until Kyle was a step ahead of him and couldn't see the fond smile being directed at him.