Lex and Tabitha | Danger Room Training

[x-lexington.livejournal.com]

Tabitha tries to help Lex fix his control issues in the Danger Room. It does not go well. Later, Lex and Hank talk briefly in the MedLab




Tabitha sat staring thoughtfully at the displays in the Danger Room's control booth. The set-up below was fairly simple, Lex on on of the room, a target on the other. "We're going to start easy," she said into the microphone. "Just a little rain, then I'll increase it until you start having trouble. Then I'll call someone to man the booth and come down for a real program."

"Works for me," Lex called out. He knew that he could control his powers in mild weather conditions so he started to build a charge and waited for her to initiate the program. It felt good to be training with a partner. "Start her up."

Tabs turned the dial until a light sprinkling of rain came from the "sky" of the Danger Room environment. Every few seconds, she twisted it a little more.

Lex moved around in a slow circle, feeling the rain wash over him. The danger room always made him feel comfortable, surrounded by the intricate web of technology felt almost as good as being away from it all. Releasing the first charge he watched the electricity arc into his target with little disruption. "I think we can go a little heavier!" he shouted confidently.

The blond woman smirked as she twisted the dial a little faster. "You want to head straight to the "tropical rain forest" setting or would you like to stop in "Seattle" first?"

"Let's hit Seattle for a moment and then head down to the tropics." He started another charge and began concentrating on working out how to mold it into a regulated form. If he pointed, like in Star Wars, he thought he might be able to achieve the effect he wanted. "Ready."

Seattle gets an average of thirty-seven inches of rain per year. This is anywhere from the three-quarters of an inch in July, to the six inches in January. Tabitha chose a nice middle ground, watching as the water slowly plastered Lex's hair to his head.

Sculpting the blast in the rain proved more difficult than Lex had anticipated. The thing was that the more liquid in the air, and on the ground, the more energy he had to put into his attack. This made it highly unstable. "Meltdown," he yelled, trying to talk over the downpour, "Are there monitors in place to see if I'm hitting other areas with lethal levels of energy?"

"Not yet, give me a minute." Tabs said into the mic. She flipped a few more switches and smacked another couple of buttons. A screen blipped to life and she tried to understand what it said. "Okay, maybe more than a minute." She hit some keys on the keyboard and toggled a few readings with the mouse. "All right, now we're cooking. Go ahead."

Releasing the burst, Lex watched as it spread through the mass of water. It hit the target but he doubted it had enough power to do any real damage. "How was that?"

Tabitha's eyes scanned the monitor. "Well, you got the dummy, but also about three innocent bystanders. You're bleeding energy in some pretty random areas."

"Reset it, then. I want to try something different." As he spoke he began building up another charge. If he could manipulate the energy in his own discharge, as though it were a preexisting system, he might be able to negate the diffusion.

Eyes on the readings, Tabs hit a few more buttons. The target reset to zero and the readings went back to normal except in Lex himself. "Go ahead, Hammy."

Releasing the next burst of energy, Lex pushed himself to read the fluctuations as it passed through the water. He could barely register it as a closed system. Reaching out, he manipulated the direction of dispersion and pushed all the energy to towards his target. "Come on," he whispered, face taut with effort.

A line wrinkled the skin between Tabitha's eyebrows as she stared down at the monitors. "Still got some bleed. Not as much as before. Whatever you're doing, it's the right direction."

It may have been the right direction, but Lex was feeling the strain more than he desired. Every moment took more out of him as he tried to fold the waves of energy back in on themselves, at once doubling their potency and controlling where they went. He knew he could not pull it off in a combat situation. Something shifted, just a tiny fraction, maybe a change in the flow of water or possibly in his mental state, but Lex lost control and the arc he had been folding entered a feedback loop and went wild.

"Shit," he breathed.

Tabitha grew alarmed as Lex's vital signs went as haywire as his power readings. "Okay, now would be a good time to stop?" She cut off the rain and ended the program.

Falling to the ground, Lex could barely recall where he was. Something was wrong, terribly wrong, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Tabitha's hand slammed down on the panic button. She kept her eyes on the readings for several seconds, making sure it was safe to go before she dared to run down to the danger room.

The electricity arced about the room randomly for another few seconds before the safety protocols successfully contained it. Lex lay in the middle of the danger room completely unaware of his surroundings.

****

The brilliance shone through a thick haze as Lex came to. He couldn't remember where he was, but the blinding light made him feel like he was at the dentist... though that might have been the pounding in his head. "What the hell happened?" he mumbled, trying to sit up. Finding it impossible, he just lay back and stared at the light.

"From what I've been told and observed you entered a feedback loop with your electricity while standing in the rain. The result of which actually managed to hit you with the force of, let's say, three or four tasers at once." Hank dropped down from the ceiling and dimmed the lights over the bed. Taking out a penlight, the blue doctor checked for a concussion before continuing. Once satisfied, he went on, "How are you feeling?"

"Much like I always imagined sucking on a battery would feel like, to be honest." He rubbed his face and temples. Looking up again he saw Hank and smiled, he was becoming particularly fond of people with a blue complexion. "Is that what you were looking for, or do you want me to tell you that my head hurts a lot, and I feel like I've just run a mile-long fireman's carry."

Hank chuckled his response to what the ex-soldier surely thought passed as wit. "Well, you won't have any lasting damage- aside from the discomfort I mean. You'll want to take it easy for a couple days and come see me again before trying any training exercises."

"So, I'll be good in a few days, hmm?" Lex asked rhetorically. He was actually thinking about how best to spend that time, maybe he should set up an actual date with Morgan. They'd been going out for almost a week, and he wanted to make up for his unannounced move. It would be nice and relaxing, maybe a movie. "Does that mean no physical exercise?" he asked, but couldn't help the smile growing across his face.