Xaviers!

Leo stepped into the Danger Room in an X-Uniform for the first time, unsure of what to expect. He was also a little suspicious that the course was just a scheme to put their powers into a government database. But the benefits of figuring them out for himself balanced out the risk.

"Well now what?" he asked no one in particular.

"Good morning, Leo! Welcome to the Danger Room," Headmaster Lippencott's voice came from the observation room. With him was someone in a white lab coat -- very scientific -- as well as a woman in a sweater -- very unscientific. He didn't immediately recognize either of them.

"And how are we doing today?"

"Doin' okay," he answered with a teenage shrug.

"Who's the audience?" he added suspiciously, worried by the sight of a lab coat.

"Allow me to introduce Doctor Takahashi, from the medbay, and Doctor Brown, from the counselling department.

Dr. Takahashi is here as a precaution, in case the safeties malfunction or in case other unexpected developments occur. We take your physical safety very seriously.

Dr. Brown is here in case you need to talk to someone after the session. We are pushing people to their limits, and sometimes, that can take a toll. We're here to help you come down afterwards, if necessary. After all, the program is designed to eventually cause you to fail in a safe, controlled environment -- so you know where your redline is when you're not here."

Fearing what a failure of control might look like, he hoped that would be enough.

"And what do I have to do?"

"We're going to load in a scenario, and you'll have to follow the prompts. They're tailored to your particular mutant profile, so you'll have some physical challenges, as well as some things designed to test your new instincts."

Swallowing down his fears, he made a show of looking like he wasn't nervous at all and said, "Bring it on."

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Subject.  Two.  One.  Three.  Six.  Eskandari.  Leo.

Beginning Training

Leo found himself in a clearing in some kind of tropical jungle -- hot and humid, though not oppressively so.

Across from him in the clearing, a large man with his shirt off, cracked his knuckles, and strode forwards.

Leo gaped for a moment at how real everything looked before cracking his neck and dropping into the stance he and Nika had worked out. When the man got close enough, Leo lunged forward a good distance on his long legs and struck with a punch.

The man threw his arms up to block Leo's initial attack, but staggered backwards under the blow. He didn't go down, but Leo's force earned him some positioning, at the very least.

He tried to counter with a sweep, trying to take Leo's legs out from under him.

The stance helped him not to fall down but his inexperience with real fighting and his own body left him stumbling and vulnerable.

The three people in the booth were talking to themselves, as they observed Leo's movement and his motions.

Leo couldn't spend too much time worrying about, though, as his opponent tried to spring back to his feet, driving his shoulder into Leo's midsection as he went.

Leo grunted as some of the air left his lungs. Instincts flared and he grabbed his opponent in an effort to grapple him to the ground. He was only dimly aware of extending his stinger and driving it towards the man's side.

The man cried out as Leo's stinger was driven into his side. Crying out, he collapsed to the ground...and vanished.

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Beginning.  Level.  Two.

From the jungle, a man emerged swinging a bola and chains around his head, as he approached Leo, warily.

He rolled over into a four-legged stance, stinger held high over his back like a scorpion. He paced around his opponent and periodically feinted ahead to see what the warrior would do. He gave a challenging growl, pretending to be lost to instinct.

The man waved the bolo over his head, feinted right, and attempted to throw it in a manner that would wrap around Leo's arms.

Leo failed to avoid getting what were currently his front legs wrapped in chains. Immediately he rolled onto his back, realigned his shoulders for better leverage, and roared with effort as he used all the strength he could muster to try and snap the chains.

The chains withstood it for a moment, but then Leo was free, them exploding into shrapnel as the massive man flexed his massive muscles.

His opponent took the time it took for Leo to break free to rush forward, aiming for a knee to hit Leo right in his face!

He quickly turned just enough for the point of one horn would meet the oncoming knee.

The man groaned -- not screaming; it was just a glorified video game after all -- and collapsed to the ground.

There was a scent of blood in the air, however -- one that lingered even after the baddie de-rezzed.

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Level Three.

This time, two men came out of the woods, flanking Leo on both sides.

Despite knowing none of it was real, Leo felt a moment of guilt and shame for goring the NPC. He shook it off, along with the predatory thoughts that the smell of blood kindled, and got back to his feet. Looking back and forth at his new opponents, he strengthened his footing and waited for their first move.

Leo tried to shake off the scent of the blood, but if anything, it just got that much more prevalent in the room. As if someone was cranking up the intensity.

One of his opponents circled around to be directly in front of him, drawing his attention with some fancy-looking martial-arts style movements...

The wild part of his brain strengthened its hold and forced him to focus on the obvious distraction. Leo raced for his chosen prey opponent and struck with a powerful punch.

The guy in front tried to jump out of the way of the rushing Leo train, but he had underestimated Leo's speed. The backpedeling softened the blow of the punch, for sure, but even a softer blow from Leo did a hell of a lot of damage.

The distraction, however, allowed the other guy to jump on his back, wrapping a chain around his neck as he tried to choke Leo out.

Leo stopped his onslaught of heavy punches to grab at the chain around his neck. Operating on survival instinct, he started stabbing at the guy choking him with his stinger.

This was an effective counter strategy! The stinger pierced the guy on his back, who cried out in pain before falling to the floor and derezzing.

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Level Four.

Things were getting serious now -- five guys, coming out of the woods, armed with poles which crackled with some sort of energy at the tips, surrounding Leo.

The smell of blood coupled with the arousal of his survival instincts had Leo on the verge of letting the beast out to play. If asked, he likely wouldn't admit it felt exhilarating. He was breathing heavily as he picked the weakest looking target and charged with a snarl.

Leo could, and did, overwhelm his one target, getting to him and charging into him before he could get into a defensive position. Excellent!

Sadly, that left him open, as two of the remaining four guys blasted his side with the shocky-poles, hitting him with a wave of electricity.

He roared in pain but the voltage wasn't sufficient to bring down a being his size and he responded by swinging an arm into one and his tail at the other as he turned. His eyes were wild.

The remaining two rushed forward, jabbing THEIR poles into the same spots as the previous two, the voltage increasing as they did so...

He roared louder and struck out savagely with his claws even as he began to spasm, quills growing and retracting in chaotic waves.

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Simulation pausing!

As Leo was pushed to the edge, all of a sudden, his opponents in the danger room froze in place.

A white light and low hum began to shine down from above. The pain from the electricity quickly vanished, and he would even feel the bloodlust sensation be sort of dimmed. His mind was...hazy was probably the wrong word for it, but there was a sort of artificial sense of disconnectedness being applied, like after taking a painkiller or something. The light, whatever it was, was apparently trying to bring him out of his rage.

"Leo. Leo, can you hear me?" the voice of the headmaster came from the observation deck.

Dazed, Leo hunted for the voice and growled up at the deck. The animal rage didn't want to let go.

The white light increased in intensity, as did the sort of mental chaff attempting to get between him and his animal rage.

"Leo. You are Leo Eskandari. You're at Xaviers University. You're doing very well. Take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out."

The growling gave way to calm as he began to ease his breathing. Humanity had returned to his eyes.

"Wha... what happened? Did I... I... I lost myself didn't I?" he asked with confusion and shame.

"You did quite well, Mr. Eskandari. Quite well indeed.

Towards the end, you did begin to lose control, in a manner that was becoming unsafe for you. That is when the program stopped. That was the point you came up against. And that's what we need to work on, yes?"

"Yeah..." he said sadly, hanging his head. He had done what he was afraid he'd do. He had started to go feral when the men with shock sticks came at him. The doctor's men had used those on him when he wouldn't cooperate.

"Mr. Eskandari, there's no judgment here. There's no need to feel shame. This is a barrier you've come up against, and we can see where it begins now. Which means we can start to work and get past it.

Can you tell us how it feels when you begin to lose control?"

Being questioned by an unseen observer didn't help him feel any better. In fact, he reacted by breathing faster.

"Stop... I can't..." he said, starting to panic a little as he imagined being back at the zoo facility.

The light increased in intensity yet again.

"It's OK, Leo. It's alright. Just take some deep breaths. You're among friends."