Scott and Fred: The Danger Room (BACKDATED to Monday Afternoon)

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Fred tries a simple simulation run by Scott. He, of course, messes it up.




Fred rubbed the back of his neck, trying to forget the fact that he was once again wearing the self-esteem murdering leathers. The outfit was almost as bothersome as the barren metal room Fred knew full well could murder him fairly easily. Fred, however, was damned determined to get one of these scenarios right, dammit. It should be fairly straightforward: no one else was running any practice, so no pressure. Scott had promised to keep it simple, and Fred was sure he could get it right...once it started.

Fred looked up to the control area, trying to look inside, "You ready Mr. Summers...?"
Scott leaned forward in his chair and took a sip of coffee before thumbing the microphone on. "Everything is set up here Fred. Just remember, treat the robots as if they were real people attacking you." As he spoke he activated the program bringing the swarm of robots surrounding Fred to life.

Fred nodded a few times as he looked from the control room to the robots, "Treat em like people. Got it."

Fred looked around for a few moments, taking a few moments to breathe before stepping towards the nearest robot, "Hey there. Mah name is, uh, Adipose, Ah guess. Yah ain't got any way of knowin this, but Ah pretty much can't be hurt by, uh, well, anything really. So Ah, uh, reckon iffen yah just put your weapons down, we can talk this out and no one has tah get hurt..."

Scott stared in surprise at the scene down in the danger room as the robots opened fire on Fred. He hurriedly deactivated the robots, "Stop stop, what are you doing Fred?" he asked. "You're not supposed to just stand there while they attack you."

The few rounds that peppered Fred did little to damage him before Scott had shut the robots off. Fred looked towards the control room quizzically, "Uh, but yah said tah treat em like they were people. An the stuff their usin ain't a threat tah me; Ah figured...yah know, try an be nonviolent yah know...?"

Scott shook his head in amazement. "If someone starts attacking you that's probably not the best time to try to talk them down. I applaud the effort but in reality you're going to have teammates or civilians around who could be injured even if you can't. You have to judge the situation." His hands flicked over hte keyboard as he reset the program, "ready to try it again?"

"Okay. Yeah. Ready. Gotta break em before they hurt other people. Got it." Fred gave a hesitant thumbs up to the Control Room before looking warily back to the collected robots. By the time they began to hum with new life, Fred was much larger. He picked up the nearest robot and used it as a club against several other of his attackers.

Scott stared in alarm at the sight of Fred rampaging through the robots, he hurriedly shut down the program as he activated his microphone. "Fred, stop! What are you doing?" he asked the younger man with confusion apparent in his voice.

Fred, holding two handfuls of wrecked robot, tried to keep the bafflement out of his voice, "But...but...they ain't people, right? Ah thought..break em before they hurt anyone...yeah? Ah mean, uh, y'know...?"

Scott walked out of the control room and crossed over to stand next to the younger man. "This is a training exercise Fred, you're supposed to treat it like real life. If those were real people would you have ripped them to pieces like that?"

"Uh, well, nah not exactly, but yah said not tah try and talk to them an, well..." Fred sighed, and rubbed his forehead, "Ah thought what yah were sayin was 'don't treat them like people by talkin to em, cause they're robots', so Ah was like, 'oh okay they're robots. Robots can get all smashed', yah know...?"

Scott shook his head, "Fred, X-men don't kill," he said nodding at the robots. "If you wouldn't kill someone in real life then don't in the practice room, even if you're up against robots we can fix." As Scott spoke he bent over and picked up an undamaged gun aiming it at one of the few remaining robots. "Let's try this, I'm a gunman threatening that poor innocent robot, save him."

"We don't kill? Uh, not tah be rude, but..." Fred shut up with Scott began giving him another task. He looked from the gun in Scott's hand to one of the few undamaged robots, then blinked a few times before wrapping his enlarged hand around the barrel of the gun, "Uh....tah-dah...?"

"See?" Scott replied, "Did you need to rip me in two? or actually harm me in anyway?" he asked the younger man. "The same applies everything else. Defend yourself, and try to get the job done hurting the fewest amount of people necessary." He put down the gun and glanced over at Fred, "Did you have a question Fred?".

Fred took his hand off the gun, and picked up some of the nearby robot parts, trying to gather them up, "Uh, look, Mr, uh, Cyclops...Ah don't wanna hurt anyone, Ah know that, but...how concerned about these sumbitches should we be if they're pullin guns and threatenin folk...?"

Scott dropped the gun on the pile and turned to face Fred, "You don't worry about the easy questions do you?" he smiled wanely. "How concerned you are is really up to you Fred. X-men don't kill, but beyond that it's up to the individual. We wouldn't put you on the team or let you out on missions if we didn't trust you. Try not to hurt them too badly, but if they're threatening people you need to stop them; that's what's ultimately important."

"Easy stuff is, uh, easy. Or, yah know, should be." Fred looked exasperatedly around at the broken robots, "Doesn't mean Ah don't still have problems with it, apparently..."

"Everyone has problems with the easy stuff every now and then, it's why we train and it's why we encourage you to ask questions." Scott noted.

Fred nodded, and took off his trainee coat, thankful to be rid of the garment, "Then, uh, quick question: do we have to wear these uniforms? Uh, ah mean, can't Ah just spray paint an 'X' on some clothes that ain't so, uh, tight...?"

Scott grinned, "I think not Fred, you may be invulnerable but the uniform maintains a common look across the team. It's handy for intimidation, or spotting allies when we're dealing with large crowds."

Fred's pout quickly turns into a small grin, "Tell yah what, how bout Ah try mah best to bribe yah with a cuppa coffee?" he said, jerking his thumb towards the exit.

Scott laughed, "Sure, but I've gotta warn you, this had better be a great cuppa coffee," he told the younger man as the Danger Room lights shut down behind them.