"This. Is the danger room" He grinned as he strode on into a small room with a big control panel and lots of switches and button on it.

It was pretty spartan, actually. Metal on metal, sterile. The only other feature, a pair of screens, one small, one quite large.

"Well, the observation room, actually. The Danger room access is close by. Figured I can use this to show off while keeping you away from the big explosions I make happen." He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and the screens lit up. One with the settings menu on it, and the large one lighting up to reveal an empty white room.

"That's where I'll be... It's pretty damn neat. Lemme show you." He pressed a few keys, clicked through some options, and then pressed enter. The room on the screen suddenly morphed into the Niagara Falls.

"This screen shows you exactly what I would see in there. Wachu think?"

He pressed a couple keys and the room morphed back. "It's also got a lot of voice controls, so I can handle most of the work. I can show you how to zoom in and move the camera, and how to talk to me from here. Think this'll work for you?"

He gave her a quick rundown, sure to warn her away from activating any programs, and then skipped out to the danger room access, feeling quite proud of himself. Only trainees and full X-Men could use the Danger Room, which meant she was locked in a very secure room. Safe. Also, she was going to be well entertained. Win/Win.

She wandered in behind him, sipping on a mystery drink, already scoping out the room with her eyes. It was.... small?

"Well, the observation room, actually. The Danger room access is close by. Figured I can use this to show off while keeping you away from the big explosions I make happen."

Ooohhh. She peered at the screen as he messed with the keyboard, not even bothering to try and hide her fascination. She had never seen anything like it before. It was truly a spectacle. As he explained she listened, and nodded along. Honestly, she was terrified of the idea or touching anything on the complicated looking panel. She was handy with regular computers, sure... but this? This was not a regular computer by a long shot.

"Of course." She started, leaning back and eyeballing the only chair in the room. "I mean, it's certainly not what I was expecting, but if you're going to be blowing things up it's probably for the best." She didn't want him destroying any of the school on her request after all.

She memorized how to talk to him, because the likelihood that she would forget the majority of what he had showed her, but if she at least had access to talking to him he could probably walk her through it again.

"I think this is waaay more than I was expecting, but also super awesome." She beamed, sitting in the chair and swiveling it a few times. "What kinda things are you planning on showing me?" She set her drink on the floor, next to the console-thing, not wanting it to be anywhere near all of the complicated technology.

"I think this is waaay more than I was expecting, but also super awesome. What kinda things are you planning on showing me?"

Good. This would keep her mind occupied for sure. Saphirus shook his head as she asked about his plans, and turned to exit the room, aiming to show up in on the screen in just moments.

"Heh. I ain't givin that away just yet! You'll hafta watch and find out."

In all actuality, he didn't have anything prepared... Make it up as you go! He could use some of his training simulators. He hadn't tested his limits in a while.

Saphirus entered the danger room, walking in a bit to be sure she saw him. The Cameras would track his movement pretty well, so he wasn't worried about disappearing from the screen.

"Test... Can you hear me?" He waited for her response as he tried to think ofthe right simulation to start.

"Alright... Begin simulation...eh... 117b!" He'd been looking down the list at a few, and this one had looked interesting, based on it's one sentence description.

((Alrighty, this is where it gets fun! You get to throw Saph into what ever situation you want! I'll have him roll with the punches for ya!))

Meanwhile, Shelby was not alone in the observation room... A little visitor had hitched a ride, where else, but in her drink!

She stuck her tongue out at him, cheeks puffed out, as he left the room. Suuuure, torture her by waiting. Fine! She could deal with it for now.

She watched him enter the room on the screen, going over in her head what his directions had been again. Then his voice crackled to life over the intercom. "Test... Can you hear me? Alright... Begin simulation...eh... 117b!"

She pushed the button he had indicated and leaned toward the mic. "I can hear you loud and clear!" This was neat. Like she was in some kinda sci-fy movie. Hopefully without inevitable movie monster, though. As she watched, the room depicted in the screen started to change. It gradually started to shift into New York, what part of the city she didn't know, and cars and people populated. It was visually just like a video game. She pressed the button again. "Wow! This is super neat!"

Then, screaming started.

Annnnd there was the movie monster. Or monsters in this case. At the crest of a hill toward the back of where she could see on camera people started to run. Then there was this awful scratching, growling that started up... and she noticed large hulking figures started to appear. She hit the button again as uncertainty took root. Was this supposed to happen?

"Uh... Saph? What's going on?"

Unbeknownst to her, while she was occupied with watching the screen, another creature in the room was using the distraction to escape from her drink cup. The lid popped open on one side slightly and two long, delicate antenna popped out. They wiggled briefly, before the lid moved again and a cockroach eased itself out of the cup. It took a moment to shake off any residual moisture from it's body, and then skittered down the cup and up onto the side of the control panel.

New York City appeared an populated itself before him. Strange, this one had been labeled "Christmas Special." And had said it would be combat heavy. Oddly enough, though, it didn't seem very festive. Weird.

It wasn't long before he got it, though. People started running in terror. The reason why became obvious quick; A horde of 9ft tall clay Cthuhlu monsters started appearing on the other side of the street, and slinking toward him. Man... How many years ago had they encountered that monster? 5? More? Saphirus grinned, holding his right arm out.

"Computer, one crowbar, medium, Steel." It appeared before him, and he reached out to grab it in his left hand.

"Computer, load Saphirus prototype 8." Slowly, a strange, clunky looking device appeared on his arm. It looked almost like a small motor, like from a lawn mower, but mounted to an arm. Saph looked to where he assumed the camera would be focusing. "check this out. Been working on it." He reached to his shoulder, and clenched his fist around what looked like a small clutch bar. On his shoulder was a handle and string. He gave it a tense pull, and a motor kicked into action, smacking his arm with many small pistons.

His teeth clenched as many small impacts in sudden succession started filling his internal battery with energy.

"Lets rock." He shot forward with blinding speed, launching energy into the ground to throw himself at the lead monster.

THWAK! He sent it's body splattering in every which direction. That was the first of many blows; interestingly enough, this device made him have to use his energy, otherwise it would compile too quick, and... well, he wasn't sure what would happen.

As she watched, she reached down to reclaim her drink and casually sipped it. All he had to do was say something, a command, and things would appear. It was like the realistic manifestation of cheat codes. Even more interesting was the contraption he had appear next. She fiddled with the zoom button so she could see it clearer, temporarily setting her drink down beside her so she could hunch over. "Woah, is that a motor?" She was talking to herself, mostly, as she attempted to dissect it with her eyes. From what he had told her about his power, it certainly made sense. Kinda genius in fact. She marveled at it.

The small roach, Eric was his name, cautiously made his way toward the edge of the console table. It was his first day on the job, so he was nervous about pulling it off. Roach had been gracious in his explanation of what the job duties entailed, but so many other more seasoned roaches had come before him. He was excited to be able to prove himself just as capable.

Unfortunately, the room was a fully sealed in room. A vent, as he spied, was located across the room at the edge of the wall... so he had at least one escape route should things go sour. The layout of the room left him with little places to hide, however... so that was a problem. Especially since he needed to be able to get somewhere where he could see the woman, Shelby, and the screen that was attached to the other room. That meant climbing a wall.

Shelby was fixated on the screen. So far Saph had exploded one of the creatures, whom she was not familiar with. Perhaps it was some sort of mutant villain? Like the bone woman she'd heard so much about? She mentally shrugged. She watched for a while longer. While reaching to grab her drink, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and startled.

The cup tipped over as she yanked her hand back and scooted away from what had appeared to be antenna, and found herself suddenly locked in a short, tense stare down with a bug.

... a cockroach.

..... COCKROACH!?!!

The insect vanished and she bolted to her feet, rounding the corner of the table just as it scurried away to the other side of the room. She saw it scurrying, and quickly at that, and snatched the now empty cup from the console to bolt after it.

It appeared to be going for a vent on the other side of the room, which she beat it too... but then changed course to charge up the wall and onto the ceiling where she couldn't get it. That started another tense stare down as both of them tried to figure out what to do next.

"Y-your one of his, then... right?" Oh god, she'd kind of hoped that she was actually being too paranoid and that she didn't actually have bugs following her.

Meanwhile, her forgotten drink was currently soaking into the spaces around buttons and dials. A few moments later a soft electrical zapping sound could be heard, and the small screen started to flicker a little....

He'd grown. He could tell he had; the 9 ft monsters weren't nearly as intimidating as they'd been when they first encountered them, and this device prototype he'd dreamed up made the job a breeze. His teeth chittered as he jumped about, flinging his crowbar at an impossible speed, and then steering it through two of the Clay underlords before bringing it right back to his hand.

He secretly hoped she saw that one. It was his coolest trick.

More Claythuhlus appeared, and he grinned widely, appearing like some sort of wild beast. "That all you guys got... You're boring me." He shot forward, colliding with the pack of them, and sending clay flying everywhere. The experience was so intense he barely noticed the sun flicker like a light.

He did notice it, though. The mutant paused and looked up as the world shuddered, and blinked between light and dark a few times.

"The... Hell... Shelby, you see anything weird on the monitor up there?"

He looked around. Everyone was suddenly gone. Monsters and all.

". . . Shelby?"

The ground disappeared. He was falling. The sun was gone as well. The only light came from... well, what he was falling toward. A.. bright... Glowing... Rainbow colored manatee. It was strange, though. It was oddly entrancing.

"Oh... Hey"

The cockroach skittered to the left, she followed it with her eyes. It skittered to the right, she repeated her previous action. She held her ground, protecting the only escape route she could visibly see. The bug seemed to take a moment to think on things, before he turned to look down at the fizzing console. Then, like some kind of insect-ninja, it flipped itself off of the ceiling and landed gracefully on the table below. It proceeded to skitter across the keyboard and around dials, making sure to press and turn as many of them as it could.

"HEY!" Gasping, Shelby abandoned her post to run toward it. She slapped the cup down in an attempt to capture the bug, but missed. It zipped around it, hopping off the table and made a beeline for the vent.

In a desperate moment she lunged for it, hitting the floor on her belly and skipped a foot. The cup slapped down against the floor and she peered at it. A soft tak tak came from inside the cup, as the bug threw itself desperately against the plastic walls. She'd caught it! And only a few inches from the vent, to boot. She heaved a sigh of relief.

"The... Hell... Shelby, you see anything weird on the monitor up there?. . . Shelby?"

She heard a crackle come from behind her, and Saph's voice was mixed in with it. "Ah, s%&t!" Slowly, she started to get up. The lid to the cup was still on the console, so she couldn't very well lift it up without losing the precious hostage inside. Instead, she was forced to quickly slip her hand under to form a lid.

She instantly regretted that choice. Eric started biting into her, desperate to escape, and he had no reservations about trying to chew a hole through her hand to do it. "OW! OWOWOW!"

Quickly she made it back to the table. To dislodge the bug from her hand she shook the whole cup violently, and them quickly slapped on the lid -straw included- back onto the cup. She had to ignore the wound that had been bitten into the palm of her hand in order to scramble back to the monitor, with the wiggling cup still gripped in her hands. Man, the little insect was putting up one helluva fight!

She pressed her elbow into the com button. "Saph?" On the flickering monitor, she could see him.... kinda. It was mostly black, except for.... was... was that a manatee?

She blinked. "Saph! I've got a problem here!" She eyeballed the many buttons and keyboard.

How long had he been falling? How long had he been staring? Was he grumbling something about his new supreme manatee overlord? He couldn't accurately answer any of those questions. All he knew was that a voice over the comm pulled him out of it.

"Saph? Saph! I've got a problem here!"

Presence of mind suddenly returned to him, and he shook his head violently.

"Uh... Yeah. Giant seal thing. Not sure what's goin on." He looked around urgently. This wasn't any simulation he knew about. Something had gone wrong. "Computer, end simulation."

<Cannot comply. Simulation still in process. Complete to end process.>

What?!

"COMPUTER. END @#%#ING SIMULATION BEFORE I @#$%IN BREAK YOU!"

<PC LOAD LETTER ERROR. CANNOT COMPLY. COMPLETE TO END PROCESS.>

Great. He had to complete the simulation before he could finish. His teeth suddenly gritted against his will as he realized his battery was charged past his elbow. He needed to expend some energy, quickly. Saphirus looked around urgently. The environment had changed... Around him, floating about in aimless free fall, were chunks of buildings and streets. A quickly glance up a the manatee revealed a life bar above it's head... It was like it was some sort of video game boss.

He noticed a chunk of street coming his way. This was going to be interesting. He landed on the chunk briefly, and immediately launched himself from it, using an inch worth of energy in the process. He launched himself toward a nearly intact skyscraper, landing upon it with his right foot and then running up it as it spun in place. Soon, he was facing the manatee again. It was huge. He launched himself to the next bit of rubble.

This was going to be a bit of an ordeal.

"Shelby, I have to fight it. Gimme... I dunno... Five minutes."

She blanched. "What? No, five minutes?" She watched him on the screen, squinting at it as it flickered again. "I don't know if i've got five minutes." The cup wriggled again, she she could see the roach on the lid where the straw was pushed through, trying to chew through the plastic. She shook the cup again to knock it back to the bottom. Then she hit the com button again. "Is there anything I can do to speed this up? Can you walk me through how to shut it down from this side?" Something sparked next to her hand and shocked her, she yelped.

"%$&#!" Rubbing the hand on her jeans, which left a smear of red as well, she shook the cup again and looked around. She didn't have anything to soak up the spilled ginger water that was all over the equipment. All she had on her person was a t-shirt and jeans... and she was definitely not disrobing for this.

Instead, she hit the button again. "Okay, so you need to beat that thing, right? Then kick it's a@$ and get out here before I try to come in there! Remember the bug spies I told you about? I f%*#in caught one!"

The speaker crackled... she hoped that the message had gotten through to him. Sitting down and fixating on the screen, she watched the fight while shaking the cup every few moments or so. It at least seemed to give the Roach pause for a bit.

Inside the room, the large colorful Manatee was slowly changing. As Saph neared it, it began to open its mouth. Due to the sheer size difference it almost seemed like slow motion. From the depths of that cavernous place out flew a squadron of smaller manatees, each a perfect duplicate of the gigantic beast that had spewed them. With a bellowing war-groan they floundered through the open space in graceful arches toward him, around the debris that was falling.

When they neared, a few cranked their mouths open and a bright, intense light sprang to life. A few seconds later rainbow hued beams arched the heroes way.

Saphirus heard some crackling over the intercom, a turned his head, stopping on a piece of rubble to speak int the blackness.

"Shelby? What's up? You there?"

No response. @#$^, comms were out? What the hell happened?! He didn't have time to think about it. Manatee had... manateed? "Great, more seals."

Then they started firing rainbows. Of course. He sprang off of his rubble piece, which exploded loudly when hit by the beams. "HOLY @#$^ REALLY?!" Who programmed this thing?!

An thus, an absolute war started. He dove, flung himself, maneuvered carefully and quickly, avoiding attacks from many angles, steering manatees into each other and launching attacks when he could, all the while steering the battle toward the boss. He needed to end this as quickly as possible. Something was up out there.

CRACK! He shattered the skull of a manatee in passing with a wild swing, and took stock of his energy. Past the elbow, aiming up the bicep. His teeth chattered, as if he were cold.

An opportunity arose, and he launched himself onto a passing marine mammal, he gave it's head a knock, and steered it into another, launching himself in the direction of the big guy. It got closer and closer until it was looming over him.

How the hell was he gonna kill this thing?

His arm motor sputtered to a stop as he landed on one last island of street. He unstrapped the thing, tossing it to the side, and stretching his arm. The thing was heavy. It was a good thing it didn't really hold enough fuel to stick around too long.

Saphirus eyes the large blubbery thing for any weaknesses before deciding where to leap.

Man, it was an intense looking battle. The manatees were one thing, but the fact that they could also shoot rainbow beams that exploded? Well S&%$. She was also entirely sure that a few animal rights groups out there would have an absolute conniption fit if they ever got word that such a program existed. The speaker crackled a few more times, and she got a few broken words from Saph. Nothing that really made any sense. She eyeballed the controls again, but wasn't brave enough to try and mess with them. What if she made it worse?

It was a simulation anyway, right? It's not like he could actually get hurt, right? He just had to defeat the thing and it would end, and then she could show him the bug and justify all of her paranoid feelings at the same time. Happy ending.

Geez, some of the action looked really realistic though. She cringed a few times, even having to turn away from the screen occasionally. When she looked back, Saph had pretty much reached the boss. She attempted to zoom in and found that at least that function was still working properly.

The Giant mammal was slowly turning to look at Saph, and just as slowly opening it's mouth again. This time though, there was a gradual buildup of light instead of a hoard of more mammals. It looked as if it had the same ability to fire those rainbow lasers that the smaller ones did. Fortunately it seemed much, much slower than its spawn. The light continued to build and build in intensity until it was blinding, and when it fired the beam it shot out like a laser. He would have to dodge it if he could.

He had to admit, he would be saving the video of this for review later, or maybe to show it to CS and brag. It was likely in the top ten of coolest things he'd ever done.

He stared up at the giant manatee as it opened it's mouth, and prepared for more manatees to spill out. They didn't, and instead an intensely glowing light gathered in it's mouth.

"Oh... Sh-" He dove for the edge of his mass of land, and the beam of rainbow light lashed out at the large chunk of street.

TSEEEEEEEEEEW-KADOOOOM!

The screen when bright with the light of the explosion.

There was a deft silence as the rainbow manatee floated peacefully.

Saphirus was nowhere to be found.

She flinched, turning her eyes from the blast and consequently had to shake the cup again. When she looked back she was able to see the manatee and a few of it's spaw left over floating around, but.... no Saph. She tucked the cup between her legs and hunched over the control to zoom and move the camera. She spanned the camera left and right, up and down. She didn't see him. She hit the com button again in a panic.

"Saph?!"

Nothing. It crackled at her. She pressed it harder. "Saph!!"

Fed up with the silence, and more than a little freaked out she stood and hauled herself and her cargo to where she'd seen the door appear for him. It didn't appear for her, but that didn't stop her from slamming a fist on the wall where it was supposed to be good and soundly a few times.

"Open! Open godda*&%t!"

Within the simulation the large Mammal was slowly turning its head, beady eyes trying to spot its foe. The smaller ones were floating in lazy circled around where the blast had occurred, as the dust started to clear.

The dust cleared slowly, dissipating like in those childhood action cartoons. This time, however, the hero wasn't standing in the cloud, ready to boast about how his power level had increased.

The cloud was empty. The confused manatees traced pre-calculated routs to try and find a foe, or confirm his demise. The observation room cameras tried to find something to track.

After a few more seconds, they did. Walking up slowly on over the back, and onto the forehead of the manatee, was the Masochist, grinning widely, with an energy crazed look in his eyes. He lifted up his crowbar, and struck down.

The screen flashed brightly in a rainbow of light, and then there was silence once more.

Finally, the danger room door slid open, and Saph wandered out in a somewhat nonchalant manner.

"So... That was freaky huh? What's the matter?" He looked to her hand, grabbing it. "Oh @#$^, you're bleeding. What happened?"