”Sae Mirror has a mission wi’ ye under her belt awready? Ah need tae catch up then.”

"Yeah. Mirror's been a huge help in me getting the hang of my powers. When I first came in I normally looked like a light-show malfunctioned," she said with a slight giggle. "And that's not accounting for the multiple flash-bangs per week."

She smiled softly, thinking about blossoming friendships. She'd only ever been in two serious relationships, but they both started out exactly the same; she was in need of a friend, a friend stepped in, and she found herself falling head over heels. While Mari hadn't necessarily ended in the best way...she still had a chance to not mess up the current one, right? The light flickered blue, and then something pinged off of Becca's shield, breaking Skye's train of thought as the light flickered to green and then purple.

Skye approached much more slowly than the other two. She wasn't sure what she'd expected them to come across, but it wasn't anything like this, that was for sure. "I'm...I'm no expert either, and I don't know what the hell that is," she murmured, the nervous purple not going anywhere. "Maybe but if that's the case...then this might not be all that's down here." She bit her lip as the light turned red-orange and she swallowed what fear and nervousness she had. Slowly, she took a few more steps forward, her brown eyes looking around the cavern, pointing her hands to light the way; she didn't go far, but she was just making sure.

Did something just move? She was sure she saw something move, but when she shined her light there, there was nothing. "Yeah...I'm starting to think we're not alone here..." she breathed, still keeping her determination about her.

It was a shame when mission-stuff got in the way of mission bonding. Becca really was enjoying spending more time with their trainee. When her significant other inevitably grounded her, she wanted to take a more proactive role in helping with training up the newbies. Maya had a knack for it, and the Scot wanted to do her part to lead their next generation of heroes.

Sadly, team-building would have to take place amidst the action now. The creature looked different from a bird. There was some connection there, she had to guess, but the creature’s features were closer to those of a lizard in some ways. Were they stumbling into some genetic experiment? Maybe just a miracle.

”If aw we dae today is gie a sneak peak ay some marvel ay nature, Ah’ll call today a win,” she admitted hopefully. She kept her shield raised, carefully stepping around the small creature. ”Til then, stick close. If there are mair ay this wee thing, we coods gie swarmed. For aw we know, they’re venomous.”

Taking the lead, they stepped forward and their tunnel seemed to meet with another, like approaching the base of the forking paths. Before she could look down the path not taken, Valkyrie heard skittering approaching. A lot of it. Bracing for trouble, she tensed and watched as a group of two-foot-tall lizards ran past the team and ahead of them toward the warmth further into the tunnel.

Except… in the low-light, with her cat eyes, she realized those weren’t lizards.

Disbelief and curiosity pushed Valkyrie to follow the pack, waving for the rest of the team to stay close. She had to know she was not crazy.

The temperature kept rising until the tunnel finally opened up. They had been running toward something. And this was sure something.

They knew there was some kind of geothermal network under the ice and snow. Valkyrie was not expecting a dome-like natural cavern that went for miles in all directions. They were still underground, but churning currents of magma, some clusters of dim luminescent crystals, and reflective metal deposits provided enough light to keep the interior of the cavern visible.

Which was great. It would have been a shame if Valkyrie was the only one to see a brachiosaurus in the distance craning its massive neck low to eat from squat, subterranean vegetation. ”Nae birds,” she spoke breathlessly. ”They were definitely nae birds.”

The little creature was stunned, but even so, Maya stepped carefully around it. This was a whole new kind of exciting: no wonder the scientists stayed down here if this place was full of PhDs waiting to be written. Skye's colors flickered.

>>"I'm...I'm no expert either, and I don't know what the hell that is. Maybe but if that's the case...then this might not be all that's down here... Yeah...I'm starting to think we're not alone here..."

>>”If aw we dae today is gie a sneak peak ay some marvel ay nature, Ah’ll call today a win. Til then, stick close. If there are mair ay this wee thing, we coods gie swarmed. For aw we know, they’re venomous.”

"I like your optimism" Maya smirked, keeping an eye out as they followed the tunnel. Becca's pregnancy eyes were better for low light vision, but Skye's light definitely helped. It would not have been the first time they got ambushed by something that also looked fascinating.

And then there were lizards.

"Alright, not in Kansas anymore, whoa" Maya jumped as they skittered around them. How did so many animals just happily swarm around under the Antarctic ice? Nature was so funny sometimes. One only had to look at Becca on any given day lately.

>>”Nae birds. They were definitely nae birds.”

Maya looked up, and her jaw dropped.

This was... unreal. This was some Jules Verne meets Triassic Park sh*t right there. This was something she needed quite a few minutes to completely process.

"Dinosaurs. We are looking at f**** dinosaurs. We all see the dinosaurs, right?"

"If aw we dae today is gie a sneak peak ay some marvel ay nature, Ah’ll call today a win."
"Oh totally. This just is the last thing I was expecting," Skye murmured, the orange lights flickering between that and purple, obvious that she was trying to get it under control.
"Til then, stick close. If there are mair ay this wee thing, we coods gie swarmed. For aw we know, they’re venomous." Skye immediately stepped back so that she was behind Becca, but still where she could light the way if need be. Right now though...that wasn't really necessary, and Skye was also thankful for the other light source because her emotions were really going haywire right now.

Her lights did help the situation, but the dim light from the cavern meant that thankfully the fact that her lights were now dominantly purple didn't really hurt things too much. Lizards, but none like she'd ever seen ran past.

"Alright, not in Kansas anymore, whoa."
"Nae birds. They were definitely nae birds."

Skye froze, looking dead ahead as the lights went from purple to a color they rarely went to, and then even more rarely stayed there. Skye, Mirror, and Becca were bathing in a green light; Skye was ****ing terrified as she looked on, jaw agape.

"Dinosaurs. We are looking at f**** dinosaurs. We all see the dinosaurs, right?"
"Well I'm not g-green with envy." Skye tried to be witty, to make a dry comment, but she felt a lump in her throat and her voice was shaky and cracking.

"Okay so uh....what....what do we do from here?" she said, looking up at her senior members, trying to kep her hands from trembling.

"Dinosaurs," she agreed, still dreamily processing this reality. "Real, big, fucking dino--freaking dinosaurs." Okay, she did not catch herself in time, but she did make an effort. Prism was not some naive X-Kid, but Valkyrie was a teacher and wanted to act like she was a good influence.

They were all clearly struck by this revelation. This was news-worthy. Hell, this might net some researcher the Nobel Prize. Maybe that was what led their lost research team to get lost in the tunnels and explore further? That realization reminded her that they were here on a mission. She could mentally and emotionally deal with a miracle like this later; she had to be an X-Man right now.

Okay, mentally regrouping, even if her voice cracked. "Okay, sae we still hae a research team tae find. The mission hasnae changed. Well, much." It was disengenuous to act like dinosaurs did not inherently change how they had to handle themselves. "We hae tae head it, bit we cannae jist gae screamin' fer 'em when we dinnae know what kinds ay predators are it there." It was one thing to geek out, but another to do so while raptors chased them.

And yet, the thought of, "Oh my God, I might see a raptor in real life" did cross her mind.

"Ah'll keep aware ay my magnetic fields. Th' researchers might hae devices wi' them." Of course, it was a large cave, and she could only canvas so much. There was a tempting idea, but she shot it down. "Wi' dinos in play, splitting up is at best stupid, and at worst, suicidal. Sae we stick close, an' we give a wide berth tae anything that micht trample us."

Waiting for any additional thoughts or plans, Valkyrie eventually raised her shield when they were ready and led them out onto springy blue-green grass. This underground ecosystem was almost as mind-boggling as the dinosaurs themselves. "Ye know, as far as perks ay bein' an X-Man, 'find undergroond caves wi' extinct life' coods be on th' brochure," she joked to stave off nerves as they pressed forward.

Seeing dinosaurs was not the weirdest thing that had ever happened to Mirror. It was maybe top ten or so.
But it was definitely one of the coolest ever.

>>"Well I'm not g-green with envy... Okay so uh....what....what do we do from here?"

Stare?

>>"Dinosaurs. Real, big, fucking dino--freaking dinosaurs."

Becca was apparently doing a reboot as well.

>>"Okay, sae we still hae a research team tae find. The mission hasnae changed. Well, much. We hae tae head it, bit we cannae jist gae screamin' fer 'em when we dinnae know what kinds ay predators are it there."

"We are all thinking raptors, right? Because I'm thinking raptors. It's hard not to think raptors. Or a telepathic Deinonychus or something."

>>"Ah'll keep aware ay my magnetic fields. Th' researchers might hae devices wi' them. Wi' dinos in play, splitting up is at best stupid, and at worst, suicidal. Sae we stick close, an' we give a wide berth tae anything that micht trample us."

"Maybe they just got super distracted, and forgot to send a note? Maybe it's a science thing and they want to document so someone else doesn't steal the discovery?" Maya mused as they headed out again. Maybe the scientists were just fine. Maybe.

>>"Ye know, as far as perks ay bein' an X-Man, 'find undergroond caves wi' extinct life' coods be on th' brochure,"

"Yeah, as long as we are not in the five cool minutes of the movie before everyone starts screaming." Maya frowned "I once walked into that movie by accident. Ugh." she glanced at Becca and Skye "Are you sure you're ok with this? We could go and call for backup..."