Bobby & Nico: Monday Night

[x-staffofone.livejournal.com]

Bobby finds Nico about to do some serious damage on the gym, and decides the Danger Room is a better place to land some destruction.



It had taken her about half an hour, but Nico finally had managed to put about thirty targets all over the gym; she wasn't sure of being able to use enough magic to hit them all, but she was going to try. The idea of an endurance spell seemed to make sense on her head, but she didn't trust her magic for anything remotely passive. Still, if she was alone, nobody would get hurt, right?

"Alright, let's see what I can do."

After working through his lesson plans for the following day, Bobby Drake had already been in for a long night, and decided that he should turn in early from his nightly walk around the grounds. But as he took a shortcut through the gym towards his room, his eyes opened wide at the site of one of the mansions new students standing in the center of several make-shift targets. "Oh this isn't going to end well." Shifting to his ice form, Bobby quickly sprinted towards the corner of the gym, covering his head.

Nico managed to notice the icy form moving before she get into focusing. "Mr. Drake? That's...such a cool look you got there." It really was, though; seeing a man made of ice was pretty awesome. Nico then noticed her plan of training alone was pretty much discovered. "About this...don't tell anyone?"

Taking a deep breath and realizing he wasn't about to fave to dodge some kind of magic fireball, Bobby uncovered his head and began walking towards the center of the gym, but keeping his ice form just in case. He still had way too many awkward memories of how unpredictable magic could be in the mansion. "Don't tell anyone?" A smirk appeared on his face. "So you don't want someone like a teacher to find out?"

"Actually, just one teacher; my teacher; Amanda said 'don't overdo it' and I'm not, but if I don't practice, I don't get good at this. And if I don't get good at this, someone might get hurt."She didn't elaborate, but the idea of being able to do something, anything out of the ordinary meant control, no matter how silly it was. "So yeah, I think Amanda will eventually find out I tend to do more magic than she might be happy with, but it can't be helped; she cares, and I would like her to keep caring instead of raging."

"But don't you think that she may be just a wee bit angry if she found out you accidentally destroyed the whole gym?" Shifting back into his normal form, Bobby cocked his head to the side. "I mean there are safer places to practice our powers around here." Tapping his chin, Bobby let his smile show his teeth. "Have you heard about the Danger Room?"

Well, the man made a point there. "Ugh, you are right?" Well, the targets were pretty lame anyway, and she was sure at least one would catch on fire and then it would all become very messy... "Of course I had, but I don't think I can just walk in, turn it on and use it...can I?"

"That's what I'm here for. I have a working relationship with a big, blue guy that knows all about the Danger Room." He added another smile. "Plus maybe I can set you up some targets for you that don't look like they're about to fall over." The teacher raised an eyebrow. "As long as you don't suddenly cut yourself without warning me again."

Nico's face lit up. "Really? That would be awesome then. And don't worry, I'm working in making magic without the Staff of One; I don't last much yet, but that's why I'm training." The idea of talking with Hank was a little worrying, since he was on Amanda's side about taking care with magic, but if she could use the Danger Room, well...it would be great.



"...Woah."

The Danger Room, all for herself. The place didn't look dangerous, but it never did though. "Alright, what do we do now? You said something about making targets?"

"Wha?" Bobby had found himself lost in the moment. He loved watching the reaction on the kids faces as they first entered the Danger Room. But he shook it off and refocused himself as he massaged his temples. "Oh, right, right..." Quickly he reached one hand out in front of himself and formed an ice slide to position himself a few meters above the ground, enough that he could still get to the girl quickly if need be, but enough to protect himself as well. Slowly with the other hand, he began cooling the molecules in the air and forming a figure in front of Nico. Smiling to himself, he shouted down. "Now try not to hit the base of the ice will ya?"

Nico nodded, still amazed by Bobby's skills. The target appearing in front of her made her attention focus on her training again though. "Okay...Mr. Drake? Would you mind making the targets quite breakable? As I am at the moment, I can't do much magic without the Staff of One, so the lower the effort, the longer the run." Nico closed her eyes, focusing in the energy around her. Electricity flowing all around her was the most noticeable source of energy she had at hand. Nico's hands were at her sides, fingers extended towards the floor. When she opened her eyes, they were partly covered by the black mist that was apparently a signal of her magic being fueled. Rising her right hand, she pointed at the icy target with her index finger.

"Rettahs."

The icy target stood there for a second, and then pretty much exploded in smaller bits. Now she needed to endure as much as she could before reaching her limit; she was getting better at that.

"Whoa." Now it was Bobby's turn to be impressed. It seemed like the kids at the mansion were gaining more and more power everyday. He was sure of one thing, he was happy he was on the same side as they were. "You ready for another?"

Nico nodded, not looking up at Bobby; her eyes weren't really nice to look at the moment. "Just keep on going; I figure I'll just sit and start panting when I'm done."

Closing his eyes to concentrate for a second, Bobby couldn't help but smile. It had been a while since he had pushed his own powers, and it looked like he was about to get his wish. "Let's kick this up a notch then." Beginning to slow the molecules around the air of the girl, Bobby began pulling up several ice sculptures. Remembering her request, he only made sure that each one was standing before moving onto the next. After about his fifth, he looked down to check in on the girl. "Let's see what ya got, kid..."

A notch? As Nico saw the sculptures appear, she cursed her own cockiness and focused as well. She would be death by the time she shattered the last sculpture if she took them out individually, so that was so not an option; she needed to hit the area. Focusing, Nico extended both hands, her eyes going dark again; this time the lights in the danger room blinked as Nico pulled more energy.

"Snoitarviv"

There was a pulse of sorts that suddenly shoot out Nico's palms, not shattering the sculptures, but cutting them in several little pieces as if she had thrown knives at them; Nico was also thrown to the ground by the force of the waves. "...Wow."

Bobby instantly came crashing down from his perch, shooting down on his ice chute before jumping off and sprinting to the girl's side. Whenever he saw one of the children in the mansion in any sign of distress, a knot formed in the pit of his stomach. The fact that he was partially responsible for this one made it even worse. "Nico! You ok!?" He quickly fell to his knees at her side. Hank was gonna have his head for this.

Nico waved one hand dismissively, as the other was already pressing a Kleenex on her bleeding nose. "I reached my limit, that is all." She tried to sound cool, but she was still a little dizzy. "Doctor McCoy explained me this was supposed to happen when I tried to force things a little, so that was good enough. Just give me a second, alright?"

Bobby fell back on his heels, but kept his eyes trained on the girl. "Alright. But next time, can you give me a warning before you start bleeding? I think I've been shocked by it one too many times now."

Well, she had told him something would happen. She didn't mention the bleeding part, because Nico thought she would be able to stop the magic casting just before running out of it. Well, she made a mistake there. Nico required another two minutes to stop the bleeding -she had really pushed the limits that time, apparently-, and then simply sat there, a bunch of Kleenex on the floor. "Well, I guess we call it a day now, huh?"

"I guess we do." Bobby reached out for the girl's hand to try and pull her up. "Now let me go make you some food or something. It's the least I can do."