Evelyn wasn't sure when the tables turned. Somewhere before the limo ride, somewhere after... maybe even walking out of the infirmary, but things were definitely not in her favor, a fact she realized staring stubbornly up at the irritated male towering above her. And then there were the echoes still recovering from blood loss. Because it wasn't just enough to be mostly helpless, she had to go and have her powers be slightly murky too. Common sense would suggest a bit of apologizing, perhaps some groveling at this point and then to just accept the bed and get some rest.

But Evelyn had a tiny problem along with her curiosity... she had a tendency not to be able to keep her mouth shut.

And that was how she found herself tossed over Mirror's shoulder like a little child.

She tried to keep herself upright, but that was just a waste of energy at this point and she felt herself drop slightly so she was mostly just hanging upside down over his shoulder. It was impossible to see with her loose hair in her face. It was like a snow storm took over and drowned everything. So she did the next best thing and made her irritation known vocally. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Put me down you little punk!"

[Individual is taller than oneself.]

So noooow they spoke up.

She swung her fist in the general direction of his head, only managed to catch his shoulder. She tried not to move her legs though, least he drop her on her head. She growled under her breathe and swatted again, trying to sort out where they were walking. But she was disoriented and upside down ... "I hope Jensen shoots you. Oh, I would feel noooo guilt if he shot you."

>>"What the hell do you think you're doing? Put me down you little punk! I hope Jensen shoots you. Oh, I would feel noooo guilt if he shot you."

"Nope!" Gawain suddenly sounded a lot more cheerful, even if not honestly so. Having the upper hand in the situation made him feel better about the completely immature yelling competition that he was having with the white-haired girl.

It lasted exactly four seconds until she called him "little".
Go figure the girl strikes blind and still manages to hit a nerve. Ouch.
What was she, Maxine's age?
Or just her attitude.

"So is that how strong independent women deal with problems? Have the handler shoot them? I dunno how on earth I thought you could be a damsel. My bad."

The Danger Room doors slid open and Gawain walked inside. Once the doors were shut he put Evelyn down. He did not drop her - no need to be an ass - only slid her down onto her feet, and then practically jumped back before anyone (not watching) could have the suspicion that he was hugging her.

"Computer, training program code 'Aliens in New York.' X-men team security level. Activate."

Evelyn felt a twinge of stinging as the comment hit her pride; the worst thing about having an argument was when wayward comments struck a nerve. Every so often, Gawain managed to return her fire and she shouldn't have been so upset, but she was. She wished she could protect herself, and fight, and deal with danger and not need a handler. But she was rather sheltered in that regard and just accepted it for what it was. Jensen would be there, she'd survive, end of story.

And... then she was standing in a metal room as the door clicked closed and Gawain said something oddly like "Aliens in New York".

"Whatever funny business you're trying, you better stop it now!" Evelyn said, but it came out somewhat like a squeak as the room started changing. It was starting to look oddly like New York...but with...

"Hey, shouldn't we be armed?" Evelyn blurted out, trying to back up for an exit. She ground rumbled realistically under her feet, and her echoes were going haywire. Adrenaline was rushing to clear up their jumbled readings, and the simulation was real enough they were responding like this was a real invasion.

Alien invasion.

As if Sesame Street wasn't enough! What did these people eat for breakfast? Watch parts?!

>>"Whatever funny business you're trying, you better stop it now!... Hey, shouldn't we be armed?"

"Fair point" Gawain smirked and held out his arms. The simulation did come with gear for registered X-members. New archery gear, designed for combat, materialized around his figure until he was holding a bow and had a quiver full of arrows strapped to his hips.

About the same time it became clear that they were standing on top of a skyscraper, with great view at the rest of New York as it was being overrun by aliens. Climbing aliens, running aliens, jumping aliens, and aliens on flying things zooming around.

Gawain notched an arrow and looked at Evelyn.

"Go ahead, damsel. You're calling the shots."

Evelyn would have protested that he was the only one with a weapon, but the echoes didn't teach her how to shoot so she probably wouldn't have been much help anyway. The whole 'being on top of a skyscraper' thing just about made her faint, but she managed to catch the edge of the railing as she watched the aliens drifting closer.

His last comment hit a nerve though, which was enough to get her mouth moving. "Aliens at 9 o'clock on your left, 3 on your right and there are 5 circling below you. Don't miss, Hunger Games." She growled at him, and skipped the skies for more incoming. "75 degree angle upwards, 50 yards or so... Gliders of some sort coming back around your 6." The few action movies she watched helped call the shots at least, and her echoes were a good judge of distance. Something hit the building below them and the shuddering sent her echoes into a panic again.

She couldn't help it. Her hands were shaking, and the color was completely gone from her face.

>>"Aliens at 9 o'clock on your left, 3 on your right and there are 5 circling below you. Don't miss, Hunger Games."

Even though Gawain's conscious mind knew that this was all just a simulation, adrenaline was already flowing through his veins from the fight, and damned if he was not going to take advantage of it. He had always enjoyed shooting practice... and now he had something to prove.

Two arrows zoomed out and hit two of the gliders, shortly followed by two explosions. Gotta love Danger Room tech. Gawain turned and followed her instructions blindly. Not like he trusted her - which he didn't - but if he was gonna fail, it would be her fault, and the point would be made.
He didn't fail.

>>"75 degree angle upwards, 50 yards or so... Gliders of some sort coming back around your 6."

Holy crap the girl was like a computer program. Gawain turned and shot repeatedly, aliens plummeting to their death left and right. Gawain was a good shot. The ground shook beneath them and debris from a nearby explosion fell down in a shower. Gawain stumbled and rolled, and sent an arrow through an alien's throat as he was standing up.

I should fight pissed off more often. Makes everything better.
There's gotta be a superpower for that...

As annoying as he was, and as ungraceful as their introduction had been, Gawain was a decent shot. And he listened. Even if he only did it to prove a point, something about calling out where to release the arrow and then watching it hit it's target was satisfying and made her feel better about her abilities. Alien after alien, she pointed out the targets, letting the echoes take control of her mouth and fill Gawain in on what was happening.

Then the adrenaline started to wear off.

Her head felt dizzy, her legs felt weak, everything was spinning and the echoes were drunk again. Someone was falling... wait, that was her.

[Concrete rapidly approaching. Pain expected]

A point was definitely being made, although Gawain, through the slowed time of the combat, could not tell exactly whose point it was. Evelyn kept calling the shots and they kept hitting true, which definitely meant she was an asset, although it did not prove she could hold her own in combat. It was just starting to dawn on Gawain that this specific situation might not be making any point in their argument...
... when the calling stopped.

Spinning around on his heel Gawain saw her drop, pale as a ghost.

Stupid stupid STUPID

"Computer FREEZE!"

The scene froze motionless and the weapons dissolved as Gawain dropped to his knees over the girl. There was only one very clear and loud echo in his head:

YOU ARE IN TROUBLE NOW

It took Sam exactly two minutes and thirty seconds to determine where Gawain and Eve were, he and Jensen made it through the quick tour of the security system and while the man was still impressed he was more concerned about his charge. So Sam took Jensen to the infirmary to meet up with Gawain and Evee, however neither were there just her old clothes and an irritated Doc who pointed them in the direction they left. After a few seconds of convincing Sam managed to get Jensen to argue with Doc about Eve staying in the mansion tonight. During that time he slipped out from the watchful eyes of the pair and tracked down to the danger room.

Sam’s first reaction was he was impressed with the way the gender shifter turned the situation around and somehow managed to get some alone time with the girl in the Gawain’s room however as he was heading up the stairs one of the students mentioned Gawain carrying a white haired girl to the danger room.

Time seemed to slow as he made it to the god room of the danger room shortly after. Looking at the scenario running and who was inside he lost it. The program froze when Eve went down and Sam jumped out of the god room making a beeline straight for Gawain. ”Computer analyze guest, Eve display readings!” Sam said as a heart monitor appeared large on the screen all vitals were normal blood was low and she just passed out.

The aliens in the danger room were all frozen in time as the effects they had in the danger room world were frozen as well. Buildings falling still in midair flame bright and hot no longer flickering or growing and then there was Gawain. The only thing Sam felt like hitting in the danger room. Never before had he been so upset with his student upset and disappointed that he would put anyone in a situation like this that wasn’t ready. Sure the danger room knew when to stop but to the untrained everything seemed very, very real and there was pain.

By now Gawain should have picked up Sam was in the room the large screen displaying a picture of Eve and her vitals were displayed for all in the danger room to see and by now Gawain should have realized he was now on the ice manipulators shit list. ”Gawain!” Sam yelled as he hopped off the ice slide and landed in between the mirror walker and the not so blonde blondie. The ground made a small thud sound as he landed and he looked from Gawain and shook his head without saying anything, Sam couldn't even form words something he was very unfamiliar with. Turning to Eve he crouched and looked her over to make sure she wasn’t bleeding again.

>>”Computer analyze guest, Eve display readings!... Gawain!”

Gawain's eyes flew up at the display that showed Evelyn's vitals. He had spent enough time in the Infirmary at this point to tell what they meant. She was okay, just passed out. Gawain let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

"She's fine" he said as Sam crouched next to him, checking on the girl. He did not need to look at the X-leader to know he was so deep in shit he was practically invisible. As the adrenaline rush subsided he started to realize how crazy the whole thing must have looked from the outside.

I took a freshly healed civilian into the Danger Room.
What the *** was I thinking?!

"I f*** up" he said shortly before Sam could even speak. He reached out to prod Evelyn, more gently than he wanted a few minutes ago.

"C'mon princess, wake up... Evelyn?..."

"Careful with that Richard. That Renoir is worth more than you'd make in a lifetime." Her eyes sharpened on the panting in her coworker's gloved hands as he tried carefully to place the picture on the wall, and she only let out her breathe when it was secure. The echoes these pieces gave off were comforting and familiar. The rough brushwork and attention to color has so much meaning in her eyes. She could sit here forever and drink it up, but she was working, and the casual observation would have to wait until later....

Turning into room 323, the Birds in the Art of Japan, she was startled to see one of the high schoolers. Forcing her professional smile to take over, she nodded her head to acknowledge him. "Are you finding everything alright?"....

"...till haven’t been to any museum for anything other than business and it wasn’t for the school.” Sam said shaking his head sadly, ”You’ll have to show me around there sometime.” Sam said as they pulled into the mansion drive.

>>>"C'mon princess, wake up... Evelyn?..."

There was a nudge on her shoulder, the Playbacks scrambled and Evelyn jerked into a sitting position. Her eyes snapped open, colorless grey voids for a flicker of a moment, then sinking back to a calmer blue. While most of the vital signs were regular, if the Danger Room could follow her brain activity, it would have spiked in that second, as the new information scrambled to the surface.

It was like hitting the restart button on her head. She put her forehead against her fist as the echoes tried to process the memories. Then it started to settle back into place, like hundreds of pieces of sand falling to a still. Then the dizziness returned, and she realized how cold it was. [Concern, anger.] Flickered from Sam. [Concern, guilt.] Flickered from Gawain. At least for the moment she wasn't a spoiled----

....princess.

She breathed through her nose, and let it go this time. Her brain was already on overload. She put her forehead against her knees momentarily, trying to get everything to settle. "Fine, just... playbacks... give me a sec..." She remarked, as she finished wading through the awakened memories. She could almost feel the angry billowing towards Mirror, however. That could just be the cold. Her echoes staged the debate about it; they were working their way somewhere around the opening statements and first rebuttal....

Sam just shook his head when Gawain spoke. Sam didn’t want to hear it; there shouldn’t have been an apology because this situation shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Not only did Gawain bring someone on the mend after getting cut up into the danger room but he placed it on an X-Men setting Sam could tell that much from the aliens and the complete chaos. Train to fight the unexpected and you learn to defeat the unexpected. It was a simple enough thought process one of the reasons the danger room was always in use.

If Sam could throw people with his mind the way Granny could Gawain would have been falling down the side of the skyscraper by now. This was both reckless and stupid and he was shocked the mirror walker would have even done this in the first place. It was a good thing he knew he messed up otherwise Sam would had actually thrown him off the side of the building they were all standing on. The danger room would simulate the fall and slow Gawain before he would land only making the landing hurt, not kill him. Even if he wanted to at this point.

Evee stirred slowly then spoke and sat up mentioning something about playbacks. Sam took this time to stand up straight and turn to Gawain. Sam stared at him for a good long second before he yelled. ”Sam override, Omega, Omega, Foxtrot… danger room cease all current running programs leave guest vitals up.” the danger room started to stir and the hard light constructs started to fade and vanish.

The building they were on started to turn into the main floor but before the building was gone completely and the pavement and roads and cars ‘below’ them vanished Sam grabbed Gawain and threw him off the ledge into a very short but still possibly scary fall. Gawain was tough if he didn’t land on his feet the wind would be knocked out of him at least. Something he should consider lucky considering what Sam really wanted to do to him.

”Evee, I am so sorry! Are you alright?” Sam asked after a few moments offering to help her up a similar situation to when they first met. The air was still cold something Sam wasn’t aware he was controlling till after he offered to help Eve up.

Evelyn sat bolt upright and looked like she was about to throw up. Well, at least she was awake now. Gawain sighed. He was feeling less angry at her, and more... guilty?... about the whole situation.

>>"Fine, just... playbacks... give me a sec..."

Apparently getting knocked out with echoes in your head had some hangover-like effects on a person. Go figure.
About the same time Evelyn collected herself Gawain realized that the air was getting colder around them. He did not need to look up to feel Sam staring a burning hole into his chest.

>>”Sam override, Omega, Omega, Foxtrot… danger room cease all current running programs leave guest vitals up.”

"She's gonna be f..." before the sentence was finished, or the simulation disappeared, Gawain was grabbed and tossed off the vanishing skyscraper with a surprised yelp. The surprise was actually worse than the fall - he knew Sam was pissed, but he had never seen him loose his cool like that. Gawain landed on his side and rolled, coughing as the air left his lungs.

>>"Kh... okay, maybe I... hrr, deserved that..."

Evelyn made a note to call this memory 'in which the ice mutant throws a mirror walker off a building'. One second there was a flicker of relief on Gawain's face, the next he was being tossed off the vanishing skyscraper. Evelyn's face widened in surprise and she lifted her head slightly to make sure Sam hadn't completely lost it and murdered his team mate, but as the ground came back it returned Gawain with it and there was a slight expression of pain but nothing serious.

>>”Evee, I am so sorry! Are you alright?”

Same held out a hand towards her, and she felt an intense sensation of de-ja-vou as she accepted it and got to her feet. It was freezing now and she curled her arms against her body to get warm. She could almost see her breathe, and now would have been a great time for a sneeze or something to remind him the ambient temperature was less than welcoming. It took a second to get completely steady on her feet, her posture a little worse for wear and her hands a little shaky but nothing serious. Although it was hard to maintain a conversation with her head on reboot. She managed it anyway though.

"I'm fine. Kinda asked for it, it wasn't all Mirror's fault." She said quickly. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and felt the cold air on her face. She glanced at her vitals out of the corner of her eye. She really should rest and recover some of that blood loss, but that took sleep and sleep was something that disagreed with her.

Sam noticed the air around them was cold and he severed his hold on it allowing it to go back to normal. Ignoring Eve when she said it wasn’t all Mirror’s fault Sam just kept his eye fixed on her for a moment glad that she was going to be all right. This was the reason you had to have adult supervision to enter the danger room and even then most of the people in the mansion couldn’t put it on an X-Men difficulty setting. It seemed Gawain needed a refresher course in Danger Room protocol.

Sam took a deep breath then shook his head again looking from Eve back to Gawain. Now that she was okay or at least seemed better than she was a few seconds ago Sam decided to take this time to go off on Gawain, ”I can’t believe one of my students would deliberately put someone in danger like this!” Sam said walking over to Gawain who had only just landed on his side.

Now was the time for Sam to yell, he had every reason to at this point because this lapse of judgment on Gawain’s part reflected Sam own shortcomings in teaching or so he thought. ”You brought an untrained civilian into a danger room session with an X-Men setting? Why would you ever do something like that?” Sam took another breath and turned his back on Gawain shaking his head again, ”You and I have a lot to talk about Gawain, a lot and don’t think for a second that your off the hook.”

Sam closed the distance between himself and Evee where he sighed and put his hand behind his head, ”I think it might be best if we just take you to a room where you can relax I don’t think Jensen will be too happy if you pass out again. We should probably tell him about this shouldn’t we?” Sam asked curiously trying to change his current mood by adding a smile towards her.