Sam was a.w.o.l. again, which meant Mirror had to take over the training sessions scheduled for the DR. Typical. There were all kinds of plans in there, some halfway decent, and some halfway evil, designed to give the problem students a run for their money. As someone who had ended her first encounter with Cold Steel with a black eye at age 16, Maya was very much familiar with the latter.
It was surprising though, that the name Alice was already noted with her as training supervisor when she checked the schedule. Sam must have had some kind of a plan for the two of them, and forgot to mention it. It could mean one of two things: One, the kid had powers that were complimentary to some of her own, or two, the kid was a little beast from hell, and CS wanted Mirror to have a bad day. Either was equally likely, and both was not out of the question.

Walking into the Danger Room at the given time, Maya rolled her shoulders, waiting for the girl to make an appearance. She was wearing a basic training uniform in all its X-men glory, but none of her gear; if she needed it, she could get it later. For now, she would just stick to the basics, until she figured out who this Alice was, and what exactly she could do. According to records, she had been at the Mansion for about three weeks, but no one had bothered to submit a power description for the records yet. Again, typical. Whenever Sam showed his face again, Maya would be going for a black eye on it.

The X-team leader turned slowly in the empty DR, waiting for her student to appear.

She should have expected this honestly, it wasn't a surprise that the X-Men had taken an interest once her power was on record at the mansion. Most of it was useless, sure the mini-map was handy but for the most part is was a drag. The party system though, Alice could see why that would get peoples attention. So when an invite for a little training had come she figured she might as well. Sure, she wasn't about to join up and run around in a skintight costume but free a--- kicking lessons were always handy.

So here she was, in front of the danger room, which sounded like a gamers dream come true, if they wanted a little bruises with their fantasy experience. Holograms and any programmable place, she was so in for that. Since she didn't really have a lot of work out clothes she just went for her yoga stuff. Black tank top, yoga pants and a pair of comfortable trainers. That should be fine right?

Entering and dropping her bag, filled with a change of clothes and a large collection of snack bars, she grabbed one for good measure and walked up to the woman present. "Hey, I'm Alice. Are you the person who asked me here?"

She was, well gorgeous. It was honestly hard for the young girl to stop her eyes wandering but maybe that wouldn't be the best first impression. The roaming looks could wait until the woman wasn't paying attention.

The girl who walked in was surprisingly young... until Maya reminded herself that she was probably younger back when she first joined the team. Was she really getting this old? A few years and she'd start calling the new recruits 'kids.' Yeah. As if.
The girl was dressed for a workout, with a mop of blue hair. Interesting. She did not look buff, but looks could be deceiving. Maya found herself curious, as usual when new mutants showed up at the Mansion.

>>"Hey, I'm Alice. Are you the person who asked me here?"

"Hi Alice, I'm Maya." she smiled, offering a hand in introduction "And no, not really, but Sam put you on my schedule, and I'm assuming there is a reason for that. I'm one of the X-team leaders." she shrugged "Do you maybe want to tell me a little bit about your powers before we get started here? That way I can see which program to start..."

Maya, cute name for a cute person, she'd have to remember her. Taking the hand and giving it a fairly firm shake, "Nice to meet you then, didn't think it'd be one of the leaders wanting a chat." Seriously, why were they so interested? The party wasn't as great as it sounded and she wasn't exactly the fighty type.

"Erm, sure I guess. Have you played many video games? Kind of hard to explain without the other person knowing what I'm on about." Unwrapping the snack bar she'd grabbed and taking a few bites, she was glad to see the hunger bar ping back up, dealing with the side effects would not be fun, especially in a training environment. Alice had long since gotten over people watching her eat, when you had to eat every half an hour you just got used to it.

"Essentially I have a game screen over my sight. I can see my health and hunger as bars, it has a built in compass and 'quest' tracker and a mini-map. Only about twenty five metre range but it gives me an accurate map of that area. If I can get in that is." The mighty power of a locked door defeated her map.

"Other than that I can form a party up to four people, including myself. Shows me their location on my map and their health bars as well."

>>"Nice to meet you then, didn't think it'd be one of the leaders wanting a chat."

Maya chuckled at the introduction. She didn't normally think of herself as 'one of the leaders' although technically she was qualified to lead missions if she needed to. In the girl's eyes, she was probably some kind of a bona fide superhero, uniform and all. How far she had come in a few years...

>>"Have you played many video games? Kind of hard to explain without the other person knowing what I'm on about."

"Played some." Maya nodded, even more curious now. She was not big gamer, preferring physical activity to screens, but she had spent some time playing with other Mansion residents, or testing games to see if they could be converted into DR scenarios. She knew the basics, anyway.

>>"Essentially I have a game screen over my sight. I can see my health and hunger as bars, it has a built in compass and 'quest' tracker and a mini-map. Only about twenty five metre range but it gives me an accurate map of that area. If I can get in that is... Other than that I can form a party up to four people, including myself. Shows me their location on my map and their health bars as well."

Maya blinked. That was...

"... pretty cool" she concluded with a grin, raising a hand tentatively as if she could touch the invisible screen "So... you got all that in your line of vision? All the time?... Does it get distracting?"

Good, she would at least understand her explanation. It wasn't impossible to do otherwise, but if people knew what she meant by certain terms it really streamlined the whole thing. Also let her get away with not having to say as much, which was always awesome.

"Wait, are you serious?" Did one of the X's, no one of the X-men leaders think her power was cool? That was....amazing. Right? But really, it wasn't that useful, and had a way worse side effect than the benefits she got. "And yeah, it's kind of just there, all the time. Doesn't have an off switch so that's great fun," she added at the end a little sarcastically.

"But in all honesty, I doesn't distract me too much, kind of just gotten used to it. About the worst thing it does is limit my peripheral vision and mean I have to sit a bit further back from a screen or TV when I want to see without missing anything." Made gaming a little bit of a challenge, but she'd adapted. No way her stupid power was getting in the way of her play time.

Well, she'd given up a little information, maybe Maya would do the same. "What about you then? What can you do?"

>>"Wait, are you serious?"

"Yeah?" Maya blinked, not sure why it was so surprising for Alice that her powers were apparently cool. Seriously, she was a mutant with built-in videogame powers, what's not to love? People could be such jerks sometimes...

>>"And yeah, it's kind of just there, all the time. Doesn't have an off switch so that's great fun. But in all honesty, I doesn't distract me too much, kind of just gotten used to it. About the worst thing it does is limit my peripheral vision and mean I have to sit a bit further back from a screen or TV when I want to see without missing anything."

Maya nodded, amazed at the way someone's innate, genetic power could manifest in way that were so much like technology. It was utterly fascinating, and she was already wondering if there would be a way to visualize what Alice was seeing all the time. Maybe the DR could run a program like that, or they could design goggles that projected... eh, she was getting ahead of herself. This was the girl's first training session, after all...

>>"What about you then? What can you do?"

Now, that was a more practical question. Maya smirked, and raised her voice, talking to the DR.

"Danger Room, activate training sequence titled Ende's Labyrinth. Supervisor codename: Mirror."

The Labyrinth grew up out of hard light and projections around them, grey walls and edges, sudden turns, everything that a labyrinth needed... that, and more, since many of the surfaces were covered in mirrors, making the whole place all the more confusing to the naked eye. Maya grinned, stepping backwards into one of the reflecting surfaces.

"I walk through mirrors." she answered the question "Among... other things, but this one is the most useful, for missions." she tilted her head at Alice "So, Alice... why do you think you are here?"

So the X's had a holodeck. An actual, full blown holodeck. Why the hell hadn't she tested this out by now!? It was one thing hearing about it, a totally different one seeing walls pop up around you and look so really. And reflective. That was weird. Why was it made of mirrors?

Then Maya stepped back into one and it was pretty clear. The woman could enter them! That was sooo awesome! "Wow, just.....wow. This is awesome, can just anyone use this place?" She had so many games should could program into this thing. Could it handle faking magic? Throwing around fireballs in an RPG would be the best thing ever. Of all time.

Dragging her attention away from the inner nerd, she focused on the question. Why was she here? "I guess it has something to do with my power being good from a support standpoint? I can keep an eye on allies health and locations, and map out unfamiliar places pretty quickly." OK, when she thought about it, it might be pretty useful combined with a team. Still a bit boring on it's own but yeah, it had it's uses.

"Are you wanting to test it or something? It's not useful in a fight and well," showing off her amazing lack of muscles, "Not much power in these arms."

What exactly was going on here? Was the only reason she was here to satisfy someones curiosity about her weird power? There was no way the X's could want to scout her so there must be something else to it.

>>"Wow, just.....wow. This is awesome, can just anyone use this place?"

"Under supervision, yes." Maya grinned. It was good to see someone appreciate the DR. All too often teens were too cool for school, even if school involved holograms and zombies. But Alice, being a gamer, could see the potential in the training room, and she was appropriately impressed. Maya asked her why she thought she was here, and the girl gave an answer that was not entirely unexpected.

>>"I guess it has something to do with my power being good from a support standpoint? I can keep an eye on allies health and locations, and map out unfamiliar places pretty quickly."

"Well... yes, that's correct too. But not quite." Maya smirked, stepping back out of the mirror and folding her arms, expecting Alice to think some more.

>>"Are you wanting to test it or something? It's not useful in a fight and well... Not much power in these arms."

Maya snorted a little in laughter. "You shoulda seen me when I first showed up at the Mansion." Once upon a time, Maya had been a scrawny teen too, and although she had the balance of a dancer, she had none of the power or stamina required of an X-man. That came with practice. And bruises. And years.

"As much as your power is interesting from a team standpoint, that's not the main goal here for today." she admitted finally "You are a student first, and a potential trainee only after that. The point is to help you explore your powers, figure out their uses and limitations, and make you more comfortable with using them. After that, you might learn basic self-defense; most students do that, it's quite useful. Beyond that... is up to you. We don't actively recruit people, regardless of their powers, if they are not interested."

So all she had to do was convince someone to let her use this place and she could program in what she wanted? Who the hell wouldn't want to do that, it was damn cool and she was going to have so much fun with this. If one of the 'adults' were willing to let an avid gamer mess around with settings. Yeah OK, that might be a reason why they might not.

Not quite? What did that mean? Alice couldn't really think why else they'd take notice of some random teenager. 

Exploring her power sounded, fun. She hadn't really pushed its limits before, or played around with the part system that much. Might be cool to see just how much she could get from it, and how much she could rely on her map. But she was a bit confused by them not actively trying to convince people to join, if it was her and there was someone with a useful power, she'd at least go through more than a bit of convincing before she gave up. Couldn't give up on forming a party now could you? "Self defense sounds useful, always handy for dealing with random creeps on the streets, but how exactly can we test my power? Apart from the party thing it's pretty passive. The maps got about a 25 metre range from me and the quest marker is really handy, but I have no control over what it picks as my 'quest'."

That was the weirder part of her ability. It could track an objective, across an ocean apparently but it only appeared at it's own whim. "It's the odd bit. It can be as useful as finding your long lost sister, or it could pop up after a shopping run saying I must journey to retrieve the milk I'd forgotten. So yeah, kind of hit and miss that."

It was a little embarrassing the say just how strange some parts of her were, and how absolutely nerd it was. Who ever heard of someone gaining video game powers. Not powers from a game, the game as a power itself.

"The only one I really have not much experience with is the party system. Never really had a chance to test how it works." Back home she hadn't actually told anyone about her power. Hard to test a bit that needs other people with, well, other people.

>> "Self defense sounds useful, always handy for dealing with random creeps on the streets, but how exactly can we test my power? Apart from the party thing it's pretty passive. The maps got about a 25 metre range from me and the quest marker is really handy, but I have no control over what it picks as my 'quest'."

Maya arched an eyebrow at that last bit. The mini map was intriguing enough; she had a mind to test it, see if it could follow her through the mirrors, or see if they could push the limits beyond its current range. She already had a list of questions in her mind, but it got paused when Alice mentioned the bit about the quest tracker. While the mini-map was a technicality, some kind of a spatial sixth sense, the quest thing sounded a lot more... random.

>>"It's the odd bit. It can be as useful as finding your long lost sister, or it could pop up after a shopping run saying I must journey to retrieve the milk I'd forgotten. So yeah, kind of hit and miss that."

"That's... okay" Maya blinked. So, her own powers were giving her random things to complete? That... had to be interesting to live with. She could not even imagine what kinds of things would pop up in her field of vision over the course of day to day activities.

>>"The only one I really have not much experience with is the party system. Never really had a chance to test how it works."

They needed to find a starting point, and go from there. Maya grinned, clapping her hands together.

"Alright, let's start with the party system then. Can you add me now? How does that work?"

She kind of knew the quest thing would be odd for someone from the outside, hell it was odd from her perspective, who knows what it looked like to other people. It didn't even make sense! The mini-map and health bars and stuff could just be some kind of internal psychic...thingy, but her quest marker didn't have a limit with distance. How one earth could that work? It just didn't make sense.

"It's pretty easy, you should see a popup in the centre of your vision saying 'Alice Rivers has invited you to a party'. Just click yes and we'll be good to go." The one person she had tested this with freakeda little at the sudden message. Couldn't blame her really it wasn't totally normal. "If it says ChesireBlue instead don't be surprised, it apparently chooses which name it uses on a whim." Because of course it randomly used her online handle.

Wait, didn't she need to be touching the person for it to work? She kept forgetting some parts of this.

"I do need to be touching you for it to work. For some reason. Just hold out you hand and it should be quick."

Reaching out with her own hand, she hoped this wasn't awkward for Maya. She'd dealt with one person losing it a little when the party happened, she'd rather do it to someone else.

Honestly, being part of a live video game was not as surprising for Maya as it should have been. She could walk into movies, after all, and into mirrors, and she had the whole DR to play with if she wanted to (and put in the time to program it). Still, someone having that whole thing built into her DNA... that was definitely a step up in the evolution of muliplayer games...

>>"It's pretty easy, you should see a popup in the centre of your vision saying 'Alice Rivers has invited you to a party'. Just click yes and we'll be good to go. If it says ChesireBlue instead don't be surprised, it apparently chooses which name it uses on a whim."

"You have a built in codename?" Maya grinned, picking out the least essential part of the whole conversation. "Now I'm curious..."

>>"I do need to be touching you for it to work. For some reason. Just hold out you hand and it should be quick."

Maya held out a hand; the moment they touched, the message popped up in her field of vision, clear as if it had been conjured up by the DR.

"Whoa" she blinked, grinning as she admired the sight for a moment. Was this how Alice saw things all the time?... Finally, raising her hand, she clicked YES. "This should be fun..."

Well, less a codename more her power being it's usual dumb self. Why it had to use her online name from time to time was a complete mystery, but hey, that's how it worked. No point worrying about something so small.

Grinning at the older womans reaction, it was pretty weird first time round. not that she had that experience but out of everyone on the planet, she could related to it the most. "Weird huh? Took me a while to get used to it myself, but then when you wake up one day with health bars you tend to be a bit confused." Or scared, but most people in that position would assume they were going loopy as well. Not her fault she didn't speak to anyone for a week.

With the pop up accepted and Maya status in her party firmly planted in her vision, it was cool to see her on the map. Mostly because she never saw anyone on it, so something new to look at was nice.

Damn, she had a lot more health than Alice did. Shouldn't really be a surprised but she was obviously tougher than she looked.

"When you want to leave the party just say so out loud and it'll disconnect us. I can't have someone in the party if they don't want to be." Not that she'd want most people in it. Mainly girls if she was being honest.

Well, mainly Jack. Jack was a walking talking tank.

Once she clicked yes, the display went away; it was done now, she was a part of the party. Cool. She did not feel any different, but apparently Alice's mutation registered her as an ally now, displaying information as they went along, and placing her on the map. The girl was not wrong; it was an extremely useful talent to have on a superhero team. Too bad it was short range only.

>>"When you want to leave the party just say so out loud and it'll disconnect us. I can't have someone in the party if they don't want to be."

"Your... mutation is stalkingproof?" Maya blinked. So, she could not add someone to her map display if they did not want it. Or they could leave any time. The surprises were in endless supply with this kid. Fun. Maya liked mutations that had to be figured out, especially through training. It was like a big game. In this case, quite literally.

"Alright, then" Maya grinned, clapping her hands together "Why don't we start with some hide and seek? Try to find me. I promise I wont use the mirrors yet."

With that said, Maya backed into the labyrinth, and promptly disappeared around a corner. It was a pretty basic setup; easy to navigate with a map, but confusing to the naked eye because of all the reflecting surfaces. Maya took some turns and then found a place to hide, calculating that she should be about at the edge of Alice's radius. She would wait there until she was found... if the mini map was really as good as the girl claimed.