Jean and Garrison, Thursday Evening

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Jean and Garrison work together to scale a jungle pyramid in the Danger Room.



It was dark and quiet, punctuated only with the odd sounds of insects buzzing or the wind ruffling the trees around them. The Central American jungle was thick and hot, surrounding them in a miasma of humid heat. For the dozenth time since the Danger Room's training computer had randomly selected the 'Lost Temple' scenario, Kane cursed Summers' obsession with realism. Sweat was running down his back and chest, slicking his hair and beard to his face.

The premise was deceptively simple; reach the top of the massive step-pyramid that towered above them. The problem was that the crumbling ruin was a cocktail of traps, unstable stone, and overgrown vegetation. More than one X-Man had misjudged distances or leaped to a platform only to find it give way and plunge them down a bottomless pit. It was hard enough that the joke quickly had been about replacing their leathers with red or green plumbers overalls in order to get through it.

Pulling her now rather bushy red hair back in a ponytail, Jean looked up at the darkened pyramid in the distance.

"I'm taking the longest shower ever after this," she said with a smirk.

"You ready?"

"For the longest shower ever? I guess so, but I hadn't really thought about it." Kane said absently, already trying to track a logical path up to the summit. "Are we talking full on with the loofah, or more one of those fooze ball things with body wash that smells like a fruit salad?"

Jean grinned, "Neither. How about we focus on the pyramid, Indiana?" she mused, glancing back up toward their target.

"So do you want to go one on one or team mates?"

"As a race to the top of the falling apart pyramid? Sorry Doc, but in this scenario, you get to be Willie Scott." Kane almost wished he had a hat to put on. "See you at the top." With that, the Canadian was moving, making a leap out of the underbrush to the top of a large rock and loping forward.

Shaking her head, Jean took off after him then darted past him.

"Actually, Lara Croft, thank you very much. Who do you think gave him the idea for this little adventure?"

"I'm guessing it had something to do with a too tight t-shirt, shorts, and some kind of anniversary." Kane shot back. That was all together a slightly terrifying idea; Scott into sexual roleplaying. The Canadian firmly clamped down on the idea as he wove through the debris, looking for a spot where he could start up the side.

"Yeah...I'm going to ignore the fact that you actually went there," Jean said as she hopped up onto a step, narrowly missing a plunge into a long dark hole as one of the rocks crumbled behind her.

"You think I don't like video games or adventure films?"

"I can't picture you with Nintendo thumb, no. Or leaving a Congressional hearing to take in the Mummy 2 that evening." Kane could have easily outdistanced her with his powers, just as she could have used her telekinesis to clear a path, but that wasn't the point of the exercise. A black shifted under his foot, and he jumped back just as a bolt smashed into the wall beside him.

"Super Mario Brothers and Tetris were my games when I was--" Jean turned her head as she heard the impact, cocking her head to the side with a grin.

"You doing okay over there?" she said.

"Yup. Just your husband trying to turn me into a pin cushion." Kane leaped over the trapped ground, his enhanced strength easily carrying him to the other side. He was sure, at some point, a giant rolling rock was going to come down the side of the pyramid. With a grunt, he levered himself up onto the first level.

Jean quirked an eyebrow, noting the quite a bit more than human ability that gave him the extra oomph to get to the other side. It was hard to call cheating when unnatural ability came naturally.

"It's sort of his specialty," she mused, as she started to climb onto one of the other levels.

Her eyes widened suddenly as a figurative storm of crap happened all at once: a bolt came out near her hand and she pulled her hand away just in time, even as the ground began to crumble at her feet and she had to pull herself up quickly.

"Yep, definitely his specialty," she murmured.

"So, if he virtual kills you in the Danger Room, does he just have to apologize, or is it a 'sleeping on the couch for the next week' kind of situation?" The first level was cracked and pitted. Kane spotted a gnarled tree growing up the pyramid; twisted and wedged into the cracks. It was tall enough to carry him to the next 'step', and he grabbed hold, hauling himself up.

Jean finally pulled herself up to the next level, but not without a bit of huffing and puffing. Parts of her hair looked like she'd touched one of those electric glowing balls, the stray strands of red billowing out everywhere.

"The punishment varies. Last time he got to clean our bathroom, including the toilet, wearing one of my aprons and pair of pink dish washing gloves. I made him go down to the kitchen to get some cleaning supplies while he was wearing it between classes for maximum student exposure," she said with a smug smile.

"It depends on how creative I'm feeling and the severity of the virtual death. I don't like dying. It's rather annoying."

Garrison withheld commentary. The Summers' marriage had entirely its own set of rules, and so long as he wasn't involved, it was safer to smile and nod. He pulled himself up, hand over hand, until just near the top of the tree when the creaking started. Rolling his eyes, Kane braced and leaped, as the limbs pulled free from the wall. He caught the stone lip with one hand, and swung sickeningly wide for a moment before reasserting his grip. Carefully, he reached up and got his other hand on the ledge. After a brief pause, he pulled himself up, muscles straining at the effort.

"Huh, I can see your house from here."

The silence in his response to what she said made Jean grin devilishly.

"Garrison. I'm kidding," she said, laughing.

"It's just a game. We both know that."

She dusted herself off as she stood up on the next level, then eyed a higher part of the tree Garrison had been using and used some of the vines dangling off of it to try to pull herself up.

"If I have a house then something must be going on I don't know about."

When the vine started to move on it's own and made a hissing noise, Jean bit back a curse word as she quickly let go, landing with a hard, ceremonious tumble onto one of the stone blocks and nearly sliding off from the force of the momentum.

She let out a breath.

"Doc, the secret weapon here is gravity. Be careful!" Kane called down from the ledge, double-checking to make sure it was only her pride that was hurt.

"Thanks, I'm okay," Jean said, glancing up with a besmirched smile as she stood up. Other than a large bruise forming on her shoulder she was fine. Glancing toward him, she knew he had the one up, so she looked for another.

"Go to the right. If you can reach that crack, I can likely hoist you up." Garrison gestured to the edge he meant.

"Hey, no pity face. This is supposed to be a competition. I'll get up there. You go about your business," Jean said with a smirk as she continued to scout for a place to climb up that wasn't too treacherous.

"It's not really a competition. You've got about as much chance of winning as I do being named the Sexiest Man Alive, eh." Kane smirked. "So unless you're really looking forward to bouncing back down the pyramid on your lovely forehead, you'd do well to accept my help this time."

Jean shook her head. "Not staying true to the original cut-throat principles of the exercise and actually trying to promote teamwork?" she said. She smiled.

"I like it."

She scooted right, tiptoeing along the edge until she found a good foothold on the crack in the rock, then reached for his hand.

"If anyone asks, it's all a ploy to look down your top. I have a reputation to maintain." He grabbed her around the forearm, setting his feet carefully before pulling her up. You had to be careful with super-strength. He could have easily dislocated her shoulder by accident.

"He was just looking at boobs, check," Jean said with a wry smile. She would've saluted had she not been hanging on for dear life.

"I'm still going to keep it for blackmail ammunition, though."

"Don't know what you think you're going to get for it. My fulsome government paycheck? Or my personal assets which consist largely of a CD rack, an old acoustic guitar or my prized SCTV collection on VHS?" He set her down on the ledge carefully. "So, which way do we try not to die attempting?"

"You and I both know blackmail isn't just for goods. What is SCTV?" Jean said after back on (somewhat) solid ground, then looked up at the much farther "road" that awaited them.

"Well, we have the deceptively easy row of steps to the left, the crumbled and broken steps with massive holes to the right, or straight up....where I'm pretty sure I hear something skittering."

"That would be the crawling thing with the teeth and the claws and the yeah..." Kane considered the options. "I like holes. Lets go with holes. Falling to our deaths is at least a little more routine."

"The 'yeah' sounds particularly frightening. Wouldn't want to run into that," Jean said with a smirk as she gave him a nod, then motioned forward with a smile.

"After you."

"Gosh, thanks. Go after whatever is there is gnawing on my head." Kane pulled himself up the base. "Next time, leave the red-head at the bottom, Kane. That's rule one from now on."

The skittering grew louder as he climbed up, until he came face to face with a giant lizard, complete with giant claws. It started to charge toward him when a knife suddenly became embedded in between its eyes and the lizard went still.

"Teamwork means trust," Jean said, only a moment or two behind him. One of the knives was missing from her belt. She smiled.

"Don't worry, I got your back."

"What is it with you people and knives? A simple baton wasn't cool enough?" Kane clamored over the dead lizard, and when he reached the other side, lifted it easily with one hand and tossed it off the edge, clearing the route for Jean. "No, we must have sharp pointy things! The people demand it! I swear you've all spent too much time with Logan."

"If it were a person I would have used the baton. However, a concussed, confused and angry lizard the size of a horse is a bit more problematic and dangerous given the rapidly close proximity to both of us and a 50 foot drop. In this instance, I felt a knife was the most prudent in stopping the situation quickly," Jean said as she shadowed behind him.

"If anything, being around Logan has made us use knives less, rather than more. At least in my case."

She preferred to utilize her abilities, but kept a knife just in case she found herself unable to use those abilities. She could probably count the number of times she'd used a knife on one or two hands, with some fingers left over. Well, when not in a medical procedure, that is.

"See this face? This is my dubious face. Right here."

"Right there? Really?"

Jean was trying not to laugh.

"I changed my mind. I think we should go back to the part with you falling down the side of the temple. Remember that? Good times." Kane said with a sigh. There was another stretch in front of them, covered in geodesic designs which no doubt had some kind of trap set in them. No way to avoid them either. Resigned, he began to carefully pick his way across.

"And then who would you have to keep you company?" Jean said as she shadowed him, taking every step he took. She kept an eye out for any inconsistencies with the curves. Unfortunately a trap wasn't usually that obvious, but it was the best they had to go on.

"I am bedeviled by women. So much that I had to figure out what bedeviled meant so I could use it properly." Something under his foot went 'click' and Kane groaned. "Oh, I'm so blaming you for this."

"The Canadian James Bond, right," Jean said with a grin, that quickly faded at the sound. Eyes narrowed, she looked around for anything pointy, crumbly, or equally dangerous. She found the faint outline of three spikes sticking out of a hole in the, crumbling, moss-covered wall right in front of him.

"Okay..." she said quietly and calmly. "There are three spikes in the wall. One is about midline with your temple, the other your abdomen, and the last one your knee."

Her gaze drifted ahead of him before looking back to him.

"There's a narrow ledge about two steps in front of you. If you jump, you might be able to make it before the spikes come out."

Human shishka-bob. Truly the Indiana Jones Experience.

With his reactions, Kane could normally have snapped the spikes in two before they could seriously endangered him, but they were supposed to use their powers as little as possible in the scenario, leaving him with only the jump and hope option Jean outlined. He took a deep breath and lunged for the ledge.

There came a rumble, a creak, and the hiss of air as the spikes shot out of the wall, whizzing past him a bit too close for comfort.

Unfortunately, they stayed protruding out of the wall. Jean blew a strand of hair out of her face

"Mmph."

"You could climb it." Kane pointed out, although it wouldn't be an easy fit.

Jean shook her head, craning her head to get a better look toward the top of the spikes.

"I'm concerned on how load bearing the wood would be. Since Scott is big on realism, the wood's probably started to rot from being in the wall so long. I think best bet is to climb the wall above the rock and try to come down on the other side," Jean said, rubbing her hands together.

"Which I'm sure also has a barrel full of surprises."

"Your husband has too much fucking time on his hands for this shit. At least my Danger Room sessions involve outdated video game humour that none of the kids get." Garrison turned and stepped up out of the tunnel, getting a better look at the rest of their track. Just two more levels on the pyramid, and while it was crumbled and cracked, the path looked clear of any other surprises.

Jean just smiled. It was all she could do to keep in good spirits and not use her TK to fly right up the pyramid.

"So you're the owner of the Super Mario Bros program," she said as she grunted a bit, pulling herself up the wall.

She started to shimmy her way over, then nearly slipped as the weight of her foot in the foothold caused a bit of rock to crumble, which made sand pour out of the exposed part of the wall everywhere below her, including Garrison's head. Luckily she managed to catch her footing.

"Whoops, sorry," she said sheepishly.

Garrison spat out some sand. "God, it's worse than Clarice's cooking." He braced himself and pulled himself up just behind her, concentrating on the handholds. "Yeah, I spent hours programming those goombas. It was fun."

"I guess that was his homage to the Mummy ," she said, unable to help from chuckling at the layer of sand that covered Garrison's face.

"And Mario Land sounds fun," Jean said as she climbed, careful to keep an eye out for any more surprises. It was a long way down.

"Do you make the players wear overalls?"

"Tempting, but no. However, the Princess is always in another castle." Kane shuffled out from under her, just so if she did slip, she wouldn't take him with her. "Can you see the top?"

Jean lifted her head a little higher, then nodded.

"Yep. Complete with bright shiny diamond," she said. Another Mummy reference.

Reaching the next level, she glanced over her shoulder, then crouched down and extended her hand for him to grab.

"If there's a balloon airship, I'm punching your husband next time I see him." Kane took a firm grip on her forearm, and walked himself up the last section of the wall, settling on the ledge. "Oh look, stairs."

"Get in line," Jean said, shaking her head with a smile as she sat down beside him to catch a breath. She sat there a moment, staring at the stairwell.

"Since it looks like we're going in, I imagine there's scorpions, snakes, and scarabs ready to greet us along the way."

"The temptation to shut the program off and go for a beer is almost overwhelming." Kane said, but stepped forward in any case. The stairwell was narrow, and from the bottom, you could just see light at the top, obviously from the end at the top.

"I believe this is usually where most people do that, yeah," Jean said as she continued to follow him.

"I don't think I'm going to be watching any movies involving pyramids or jungles for awhile."

The stairwell looked too serene. She hoped it was.

"Wise choice." They climbed the steps, waiting for the hammer to fall. Surprisingly, the climb was free of any surprises. That is, until they reached the top of the staircase. It didn't end so much as crumble away, as if a bite had been taken out of the side of the pyramid by some monstrous creature. Kane craned his neck around, and caught sight of the apex.

"Shit. I can see the top, but it's ten feet of broken rock between us and it." They could climb it, but the ancient bricks and slabs were fractured and unsteady. One slip and they'd fall thirty or more feet to the stones below.

"Hmmm," Jean said after a few moments of silence and examination of their predicament. Reaching down, she picked up a handful of dust, then glanced to him with a wry smile.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

A leap of faith. Too easy, but it was worth a shot.

"Yes, but where are we going to find a lawnmower engine and a tub of Crisco at this time of day?"

Jean didn't know why but she wasn't expecting his comment. She definitely should've, but she didn't. Either way it made her laugh and she didn't know how to respond for a moment.

"I...heh...um."

"Don't sweat it, Doc." Kane cracked his knuckles and swept a cascade of sand off the side with his foot. Sure enough, Jean had been right. Just below them was a ledge, not wide, but wide enough and carved so that it blended with the rock on the side to look like a sheer drop. He followed the ledge along, and saw where it connected with solid stone and an easy climb up to the top. "Ladies first, I guess."

"Was that a Pinky and the Brain reference?" Jean said. Yes, she was familiar with some cartoons. With the things they played in the rec room it was hard not to. That one was a bit "old school" 90s however.

She glanced over the edge, then back to him.

"Mmm. What a gentleman," she said.

Shaking her head, she took a tentative step forward, lightly at first, but then a bit firmer when she found the invisible ledge could support her weight. She took another step. Safe so far. Then another, cautiously. Nothing yet.

"When the options are 'Pinky and the Brain' or 'Penthouse Forum', let's go with the cartoon." He lowered himself on to the ledge behind her, edging slowly along at her heels towards the safe ground ahead.

Jean smirked. "Yes, lets," she said.

She came to a stop about halfway across because it became particularly hard to see as dark clouds passed over the moon, the only light they had coming through the pyramid.

"Oh, good."

"You're going to have to go by feel. We didn't even get matches for this simulation." The lack of equipment at the start had been Kane's first warning that the scenario would be tricky.

"I know...I'm just preparing myself," Jean said. It was a good exercise, to see what you could do without your powers, in case it ever happened (and very much often did). But it was an adjustment. In a way it was like going blind.

Taking quiet, calm breaths, Jean resumed her walk, one foot after the other, in a straight line. She was aware of every step she took, how a breeze would occasionally blow past her, the openness surrounding them, and the stone beneath their feet.

"It gets narrower in a few steps, be careful," she said. Foot width with a little more to spare rapidly diminished. It would stay that way for a couple more yards until they'd be able to reach wide solid ground. She looked up toward the top. Despite the clouds, the diamond still gleamed, catching any light it could.

"This would be a really bad time to suddenly discover a problem with heights." Kane said softly, concentrating on his own steps behind Jean. It was a challenge, especially with the lack of light, to keep the edges of the path in mind with each footfall.

"Good thing it's dark then," Jean said they finally reached the other side. The relief that washed over her was just a little bit more concrete than if she had been using her abilities. She would've just caught herself and him should they have started to fall.

Waiting for him, she tried to get a better idea of how much farther they had. It was usually longer than expected in a Scott Summers scenario.

Kane stepped off the ledge with a grateful sigh and looked up. "Just a shimmey up an eight foot wall and we're done. In theory. You want a boost, Doc?"

"Sure, thanks," Jean said. Done. What a lovely word.

Once they reached the wall, Kane cupped his hands and put his side to it. It was identical to children boosting each other to a higher tree branch, an almost funny parallel in one of the most advanced training facilities in the world. "Whenever you're ready."

Jean nodded, then lifted her foot, putting it into his hands as she put her hands out, prepared to grab onto the wall with the lift. Six feet plus two feet should mean only a brief amount of climbing. She hoped. There was a lot of hoping being done today.

"Think light thoughts." Kane hoisted her up. At an even six foot, he already made most of the distance to the top, and he was helped by the fact that Jean was tall for a woman.

Jean felt herself lifted and immediately tried to grab onto the wall but it was harder to get a grip, flatter, and left her scratching at the stone for a moment or two. Letting out a grunt, she dug her nails in and used her other foot to get a better dig into the stone. With a cry of success, she managed to hoist herself up on top of the wall.

Meanwhile Garrison might heard the skittering sound from before, coming up both sides of the chasm. It was then that a hoard of scorpions began to climb up onto the ledge he was on.

Jean reached for his hand.

"Shit!" Kane reached up, grabbed her forearm, and jumped, grabbing purchase on the edge with his other hand as the scorpions flowed over the edge and under his feet. Using both grips, he carefully brought his foot up to toe at the ledge. Fortunately, brute strength was something Kane had in spades, and he was able to avoid forcing Jean to support his weight, instead using her hold as leverage to get to the top safely.

Jean pulled as hard as she could, remaining relatively calm about the fact that there were hundreds of scorpions around them. The alternative was panic and panic was a crappy, reckless emotion. It wasn't easy to turn off but she'd gotten a lot of practice. With animals it was easier, around evil people, she mainly just got very angry...and reckless. If only every danger was feathered, furry, or scaly.

"You okay? I propose we run like hell. Sound good?"

"The goal is the stupid diamond." Kane nodded as they took off up the last steps of the pyramid. The giant gem oozed moonlight along the lines of the prism cuts, echoing out white flashes as they approached. It was probably trapped, but enough was enough, Garrison considered, as he grabbed it off of the plith that it was atop. All at once the program around them frozen, and began to dissolve away into the reset 'lobby mode' of the Danger Room.

"About damn time."

Jean was right behind Garrison, as usual, making a mad dash, stepping on scorpions and anything that got in her way. She held her breath when Garrison grabbed the diamond, then couldn't help but smile as the world began to fade away and they were blessed with the reward of a blast of air conditioning. The DR was usually cold by default as most electronic systems were to keep it temperature regulated.

She was glad it'd done the apex scenario. There were some instances where the program made you bring the diamond back down the pyramid.

Usually only whenever Logan played it.

"Good work, partner," she said.

"Yes, if we're ever caught in a jungle pyramid without our powers and an untamed desire for a giant piece of bling, this experience will help us." Kane scrubbed his hands through his sweat soaked hair as the blast of chilled air broke over them, cooling the still warm holoproponant projectors.

"Perfect. Next time I'm looking for El Dorado I'll look you up," Jean said as she resisted the urge to go stand in front of one of the air conditioning vents.

"Great, I just qualified for either a cartoon or a romantic comedy. Either way, as long as I get a shower first, you're on." He replied, turning towards the exit.

"A cartoon? God, I hope not," Jean said with genuine disdain mixed in with her quip, scrunching her nose. With their lives and all they'd seen it was entirely possible.

"But good. This time we're stocking up on everything," she said as they walked through the exit doors, right into the nice, winter-ready, heated entry bay outside the danger room.

It felt great.