Madin and Marius: A Danger Room(ish) encounter

[xp_madin]

Marius runs into the X-Men's newest almost-a-trainee in the Danger Room's locker room.



Madin was sitting on one of the benches in the not-quite-a-locker room outside the Danger Room. With the suites upstairs, very few people used the locker room for changing; instead it was a place to catch your breath and regulate before going back upstairs.

Madin had just finished one of the sparring programs Kane had made available and was still buzzing with adrenaline from the workout, even as they sat there trying to find the energy to move.

"Morning there." A dark-haired man had appeared around the corner, a bottle of water in hand and the jacket of his leathers tossed over one shoulder. Marius flashed the younger mutant a reflexively friendly grin. "Just coming off a session?"

Madin nodded and took another sip of water. "Yeah, Kane has a couple of hand to hand programs I'm doing."

It said something about the sort of company Marius had become accustomed to keeping at the mansion that the broad Melbourne accent tipped him off before the purple skin. "Ah, you're Madin, correct?" he said, tossing the jacket onto the bench. He gave his waterbottle a cheerful tip in Madin's direction before taking another swig. "Kyle mentioned you'd been helping with the groundskeeping. I heard you'd joined up. I'm Marius Laverne. Emplate, on occasion."

Madin nodded. "Hi, yeah. I've heard about you." Mostly from Hope. "You've got uhm. On your hands? And you were in New York?"

The older man put a hand across his chest and inclined his head in an ironic bow. "If by 'in New York' you are attempting a polite euphemism for 'enabled the destruction of a substantial portion of it,'" he said brightly, "you are correct." This was possibly coming on a bit strong, but Marius had determined the best way to deal with discomfort was to lean into it. Or rather, no one had yet found a way to stop him from doing so.

"They said you were brainwashed?" Madin offered hesitantly.

A gloved hand waved. "Ritually enacted possession is perhaps the more accurate term, but the effect is functionally the same." Marius brought his hands together in a decisive close to that mildly awkward topic and immediately pivoted to the next. "And you, I'm told, had some association with the Brotherhood?"

"Uh." What was worse? Joining voluntarily or ritually enacted possession? "Mercenary in the Brotherhood's fundraising arm, yeah."

Marius' head bobbed good-naturedly. "No worries. If you've been cleared as a trainee I can't imagine anyone will hold it against you. Whilst not everyone on the team has previously engaged in a bit of light terrorism the number is rather higher than average. What inspired you to throw in your lot with Xavier's, if I may ask?"

"I had a showdown with the cops in Chicago and Quentin offered me a place to stay. And then um. The murder cult," Madin mumbled, "and they're still willing to take me back even after I accidentally joined those fucks and I swear, I had no idea."

This did not have the cooling effect Madin might have been expecting.

"Ah, you as well?" Marius said, impressive eyebrows arching as he screwed the cap back onto the waterbottle. "My own recent misadventures were cult-adjacent. Less accidental, bit more of a kidnapping. Whomst among us, eh?" He scooped his jacket from the bench and shrugged it on with a grin. "To reiterate: no worries. This lot is all about second chances. I myself am on my third. You've energy projection powers, correct? Found a suitable sparring partner yet?"

"I swear I didn't know about the murder cult par..." Madin trailed off. He clearly didn't care. "Not really. I do bio plasma. I don't want to injure people in training."

Curls bounced with another amiable nod. The given impression wasn't quite 'no thoughts, head empty,' but it was certainly skirting the line of 'head uncluttered, thoughts optional' -- although it was possible appearances were not precisely aligned with reality.

"I absorb and return any sort of biologically generated energy," Marius explained as he zipped up his jacket. "The programmes are quite expert, but if ever you'd like to have a go with a live opponent I'm safe enough. I'm always looking for training partners; I can only absorb attacks from other mutants, so the drones are no substitute."

It was so many words. "You're saying that I can what? Go knife hands and it's fine?"

Marius was aware he seemed to be losing the younger mutant (admittedly not an uncommon occurrence) so he settled on: "Precisely."

Madin stared flatly at the man in front of them. "You understand that it's bio plasma? Hundreds of degrees? I stab things with it and they melt, or maybe catch on fire or explode?"

The X-Man scratched his head. "Would you be using it to a scale that might obliterate, say, Tompkins Square Park?" he asked.

"No? I try to keep it dialled down. I've never really gone larger than a, a sword, I guess? I'm trying to learn how to just use concussive force? Not make things explode."

"Ah, then I'm not concerned. Although on that topic, if you've not yet met Jubilee perhaps you would benefit from an introduction. At any rate," Marius set the bottle on the bench and flashed Madin another grin, "we'll set something up. Worse comes to worse, I borrow Kyle's healing factor. Perfectly safe, eh?"

Madin brought up the smallest, weakest plasma blade they could manage. "You're certain this won't injure you?"

"Absolutely -- ah, one moment." Marius unzipped his jacket again and held it clear of his centre mass. "There we go. Please, feel free."

"What the fuck."

"What, the jacket? I go through so many, and the leathers take ages to break in."

Madin bit their lip, plasma still crackling around their hand, light shining down their arms. On the one hand, he was probably telling the truth. No one voluntarily got stabbed with plasma. On the other, the man in front of them was clearly crazy. You can't train with the X-Men if you don't trust them to know what getting plasma stabbed will do.

They flung the bolt at centre torso, pulling as much power from it as they could.

There was no screaming, although there was a whiff of charred fabric as a patch of the older man's unnecessarily expensive athletic shirt burned away from the point of impact. The olive skin beneath it, however, was unscathed. Grinning, Marius thumped a hand against his abdomen.

"There, you see? Perfectly fine. Now, let's see . . ." The X-Man extended a hand and focussed. Light of the same quality of Madin's, though far below the levels generated by the younger mutant, began to crawl across the digits exposed by his fingerless gloves..

"Never used plasma that could hold a shape before," Marius remarked, as conversationally as a man taking note of a new coffee maker. The plasma bubbled around his fingertips, shapeless and sputtering. "I imagine it takes a bit of practice. Aim as well, though I expect it'd be best to experiment in a controlled environment. Later, perhaps."

Satisfied, Marius flicked his fingers. The globs of plasma flew from his fingertips to explode in mid-air with a faint paff.

The relief Madin felt on seeing the total lack of impact was palpable. In hindsight, there was probably a step between stab and believe the crazy man that they hadn't previously considered. "Yeah, I'd really like to work with you in the danger room," Madin said finally. "Just not today if that's okay? I'm a little cooked right now."

Comments

[xp_longshot]

Madin stared flatly at the man in front of them. "You understand that it's bio plasma? Hundreds of degrees? I stab things with it and they melt, or maybe catch on fire or explode?"

This was hilarious. I especially enjoy Marius's nonchalance met with Madin's own inner chorus of "WTF."

Good leather jackets are hard to find. Marius has priorities.