Wanda and Scott

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda shows up to discuss her training with Scott. They go over the basics and then he shows her one of the 'toys', the Danger Room.



Wanda stretched as she waited for Scott in front of his office. She sighed as her vertebrae popped one by one, sending shivers up and down her back. It was surprising how calm she was, despite the slow spread of jitters in her stomach. It wasn't like what she was going to do was an every day occurrence, on top of her worry for Alison and the
stress of the entire week.

This would take her mind off of her worries for a short while, at least.

Scott turned the corner and smiled at the sight of Wanda waiting in front of his office. "You're early," he said with a weary chuckle, coming down the hall to join her. "Eager to get started?"

"Hmm, yes. Mostly because there are certain people who are in the process of trying to kick me out of the gym. They say that more than four hours in there is 'unhealthy'." She shot him a smile. "You look as frazzled as I feel, Scott. More."

"It has been," Scott said a bit dryly, "an extremely long week." He unlocked his office door and gestured for Wanda to precede him in. "I can't imagine it's been easy for you, either," he said, eyeing her with some concern as he went over to sit behind his desk. "No one's given you any trouble about what happened, have they?" The students accepting Wanda's presence here given her family ties had been one thing when she'd first arrived, but with her father popping up again to wreak havoc...

"No, thankfully." Wanda settled herself in the chair in front of Scott's desk with a sigh. "I have been beating up on myself but, well, that is to be expected. I am thankful, though, that I came out and told everyone when I originally arrived." Her expression changed to a wry one. "Coming out with that now would not have boded well with the student body."

"See," Scott said with a wry smile to match her tone, "this is where, according to most of the student body, I'm supposed to start ranting and raving and tell you that no, it's best to keep things from them whenever possible. It's a good thing none of them are actually here listening. I'm sure I'd disappoint them terribly." He leaned forward in his chair, calling up the security files on his computer. "I'm going to be giving you a lot of reading, incidentally," he said, reaching out for a fresh USB drive. "Given that you're an academic, I'm assuming that's not going to be a problem?"

It was a very good thing she had nothing to drink or else she would have snorted it. As it was, Wanda coughed a few times, taken completely by surprise at Scott's first statements. The student body was obviously doing it's very best to run roughshod over the poor man. "Oh no. Reading. No, please." She snickered slightly. "I did not grow up with television, on top of me being an academic, so I will not complain at all about having to read."

Scott smiled. "Mostly historical files," he explained as he started to load them onto the drive. "The detailed mission reports on our past activities, to give you a better idea of what exactly it is that we do. Although I've included all the personnel files in here, as well, so that you can get to know your teammates. Also schematics and security codes for the restricted areas of the sub-basement - the War Room, the Danger Room, the hangar, that sort of thing."

"Do the others know?" She gave him a curious look. "That you've asked me to train? The thought occurred to me that, especially after this latest incident, some would be leery." Wanda caught the look that crossed his face and smiled. "I am not backing out. Simply..." She took a deep breath. "I would have no problem being scanned. By whoever feels that it would be necessary. The Professor, Betsy, Nathan..." Without a doubt, she wanted them to feel that they could trust her.

"The Professor vouches for you. That's good enough for everyone on the team," Scott said simply, unable to help a faint wince at the mention of Betsy. Realistically, he knew that she was perfectly fine, just...still catching up on much-needed sleep, but it was beginning to bother him, that she wasn't waking up. "They're used to members with... unusual backgrounds. Even unusual family backgrounds."

Some of the tension seeped out of her shoulders at that and she nodded. "I just wanted to be sure. So, the first step is reading, correct? It should not take me that long to read and process."

Scott nodded. He finished copying the files over - it was a more extensive 'package' than what he might have given one of the younger trainees, but with Wanda and Kylun he was hoping to get them trained and onto active duty as soon as possible - and disconnected the USB drive, handing it across the desk to her. "I've been a little slow getting the new training rotations drawn up, after last week's incident," he confessed, "so it might be a few more days for that. But," he said with another brief smile, "I can at the very least offer you a tour. Would you like to see the Danger Room?"

---

A few minutes, and a lot of hallways later, the pair stood in front of what Wanda assumed was the Danger Room door. "I suppose there's a _reason_ it's called the Danger Room?" she asked dryly, eyeing the door suspiciously.

Scott laughed as he keyed in a basic scenario. "I called it the Danger Room, actually. When I was eighteen years old and had a much better sense of humor than I have now." The doors opened to reveal a maze rising out of the Danger Room's floor.

Carefully, after Scott's nod, Wanda edged inside. The maze started just beyond where they were standing. "Impressive. Slightly intimidating, but very impressive." Oh, this would be a good deal of fun.

"It's very versatile," Scott said. "Allows us to run a wide range of different possible scenarios. We don't do all our training in here, of course, but it serves a lot of different purposes."

"Supplemented without outside training?" she asked, peering around the nearest corner. "How much time does one spend training?"

"It actually depends," Scott said, watching Wanda study the maze. "Generally the minimum is about ten to fifteen hours. We have people who push it a lot higher than that."

Wanda glanced over her shoulder at him with a serene smile. "What is the, well, limitation?" she asked, sweetly.

Scott laughed. Oh, he knew that look. "Well, Wanda," he said amiably, "if you can manage to fit more than thirty hours into the schedule, good luck to you. Those of us who do, generally sneak down here and use the Room in the middle of the night."

"Insominacs'R'Us?"

"Constructive insomnia?" Scott offered feebly.

"Hmm." She just gave him that look, the one she had given him in the garage that day, and went back to studying the Danger Room. "What else is this place capable of doing? And I'm going to assume that there are safety locks, or something along those lines? How realistic can this get?"

"There are safeties," Scott said, snorting softly. "A good number of your soon-to-be-teammates like to turn them off, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't go down that particular road." He took a few more steps into the room and the door slid shut behind him once he moved out of range. "I've included the specs along with the other files I gave you. Its holographic abilities are limited, but can spice things up."

Chuckling, she shook her head. "I am eager, not stupid or suicidal. Though maybe 'macho' is better used for some of them, hmm?" Wanda tilted her head. "How far can the holographs go?"

Scott launched into his patented, five-minute description of Danger Room holography and what it could and couldn't do. It was a sign of just how much the team had expanded over the last few months that he had the spiel memorized.

"So basically," he concluded, "it's not that good at simulating other mutant powers. Which is a shame, because we can't precisely go find your father and ask him to let us try out tactics, can we?" He smiled wryly at her.

Wanda snorted at that. "A real shame," she said, dryly, hands twitching just slightly. He was part of the reason she had said yes and his attempt to kidnap Miles had simply added fuel to her resolve. She needed to remind herself to tell Scott that Magneto knew she was here. "But you do have Lorna, which is a plus."

"True enough," Scott said briskly, and reminded himself to put Lorna and Wanda together for a few sessions once Wanda was up to working in the Danger Room.

"What do you recommend doing outside of the Danger Room?" she asked, mentally trying to put together a work-out that would be suitable for when she was not training in here. "I am...rather fanatical about keeping myself in shape."

"To be honest, Wanda, my answer to that would be to keep doing what you're doing, first of all." He looked thoughtfully at her. "Secondly... have you got any experience with martial arts? Unarmed combat?"

"Martial arts, no. Unless you count bar brawling as one." A small grin crept over her face. "I have no official training but I can take care of myself physically. Getting new ways to do so would not hurt at all. I highly doubt Bar Stool Foo is going to work in some of the situations the X-Men get themselves into."

Scott chuckled. "Bar Stool Foo... you'll have to demonstrate that for me." He rubbed at his jaw, giving her an up-and-down assessing look. "I think I'll throw you at someone who's got a less-formal fighting style for some sparring work. Haroun or Nathan, maybe..."

Oh, she had heard about his last time in a bar. He would be fun to be in a brawl with. "It helps, I suppose, that they are bigger than I am," she said, realizing she might be the tallest woman in the mansion. Though Lorna was not far behind but Wanda had also added a great deal of muscle to her frame from the way she had grown up.

"We want you to have experience facing a range of different opponents, though," Scott explained. "So if you find either of their styles appropriate, then we'll move on to pairing you with some of the others." He smiled crookedly. "I do have a method, you know."

She laughed at that. "A method to the madness is always good."

She was eager, but not too eager. He couldn't help comparing her with Marie-Ange. "I won't rush you," he found himself saying suddenly, "but ideally, I'd like to get you trained up as quickly as possible. You could be extremely valuable in the field."

Unexpectedly, she flushed slightly at that. It was something Wanda had always stretched for. Being useful to her family, to the university as well. But this was different, in a way. "Thank you. I'm willing to start, and work as hard as you need me to, as soon as you think is advisable." She gave him a small smile. "I won't talk about needing to wipe away the sins of the father, I promise you."

Yet another good answer. Scott smiled, without hesitation this time. "I'd say you've started already," he said warmly. "I think... you'll do very well.">

"I will do my best not to disappoint."