The Danger Room still let her in. They had not changed it, to revoke her access. Good, very good. A little more practice would serve her well.

Amelia had been messing with her other power. The clothing thing. The clothing enhancement thing that she was pretty certain future her had stolen shamelessly from a book. She had been trying to figure out how to replicate it, and what she would do differently if imitation failed. But she hadn’t played much with the weirder, less accessible part of her power.

Clothing, she could understand. Enhancing it, making it, that sort of thing. But manipulating it with her mind? That was pretty abstract. There had been a handful of successes amid a score of failures.

The thing with the blue “ghost hand” snap around Adelynn. That had been a fluke. Amelia had yet to duplicate that effect. Invisible waves of force... she’d managed that in the fight with the adapted, hadn’t she? Not that it had done her any good. That one was easy. She could throw that one around pretty well. There was this gut feeling Amelia had, though, that said the colored psychic hand thing was better... That was what she was trying that day.

“Danger Room, give me something dangerous. Top difficulty. Be creative.” Amelia said. Then, she mentally prepared herself for a trial by fire.

The danger room took that literally, it seemed. Amelia noticed the little arm rising from the ground just in time to react to it by diving out of the way. A jet of flame shot from the gun on the arm’s end. It passed over her back by inches as she moved... The green Carhart hoodie she was wearing did not get singed, oddly enough. Or feel extreme heat. Though the rest of her might have. In the heat of the moment, Amelia completely missed the little detail. She was cursing too much.

Crap! A saw blade swung across the danger room at waist level, and she tucked and rolled.

Some throwing knives flew at her as she came up out of the roll. Amelia raised her arms up in front her her, their backs facing the incoming attack. And she braced herself for the impact. The knives clattered against the hoodie, without piercing it. She might have bruises tomorrow, but for that day, her skin was safe.

And so it went for the next ten seconds, while the occupied light outside the danger room’s door blinked glibly. Until something about the situation changed.

There was no one noted on the schedule for the Danger Room, and yet when Maya showed up for some stress-relief training, the light was on, noting the place was occupied. Someone else must have had the same bright idea as the mirrorwalker, which was a bit of a bummer, because nothing relieved the stress of paperwork like a DR session. Especially since people started turning into teenagers left and right, and Mirror increasingly felt like Karma was gunning for her ass.

She wondered who it was. Maybe they wouldn't mind running a scenario together? Hopping into a nearby mirror, Maya walked up to the God Room to take a look.

It was Ami.

A... very young looking Ami.

Right.

She watched for a few minutes; the DR was throwing some scary things at Ami, pulling out classics like saw blades and lasers. She did pretty well, all things considered, but the DR seemed to adapt and step it up too, until there was one laser aimed at her from an angle she could not possibly notice in time. Maya pressed the button on instinct.

"Freeze simulation."

The laser pulled something straight out of a Star Wars movie that had come out long after Amelia had been a teen. It froze the bolt of laser energy in the air, a moment before it would have struck her from behind. Amelia had heard the sound, but by then, it had been too late.

Her focus had been divided between dodging another saw blade, and wondering when the danger room would start throwing clothed threats at her... since that had sort of been the goal. Learning how to make the ghost hand thingy to interact with clothes. Perhaps, she should have specified that when she’d armed the room for bear.

She glanced over her shoulder in the direction the pew pew laser sound had come from, and stared down at the little Han Solo gun at foot level aimed at her back. The beam bolts hung in the air, stalled. Had someone frozen the scenario?

Amelia looked up at the god room, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted to whoever it was. “I think I could have taken that! Though I was about ready to change things up, anyhow.”

Could she have absorbed laser fire? Was it kinetic force, or was it fire fire? Did it burn? Amelia was uncertain whether or not her hoodie could handle burning.

The laser bolt froze mid-air just in time. It took Ami a moment to realize someone head halted her scenario. It was a very basic, very classic DR setup, with lasers and sawblades and stuff like that. Maya wondered if she'd chosen it on purpose.

>>“I think I could have taken that! Though I was about ready to change things up, anyhow.”

It sounded like classic Ami but also... younger? Maya felt a pang of worry as she walked into the god room mirror, conjuring up another mirror inside the DR to approach Ami.

"Those lasers actually hurt a lot, you know. 'Sup Ami?"

It was true. A blast from the past Amelia stood in front of Mirror, looking eight or so years younger than the last time they had met. She wore jeans and a green Carhart hoodie, and looked harried. Like she’d just spent the last several minutes rolling under saw blades and cartwheeling around sledgehammer blows and laser beams... though the lasers had come later, rather than sooner. Classic simulation, or not.

Seeing Maya brought back memories that would have been distant for the girl, but recent for Amelia herself. Amelia did not dwell on them. Maya was older, and had a life of her own. Not the same person she was. Just a somewhat familiar face.

Maya asked what was up. Amelia told her. “I was practicing... trying to figure out my powers a bit more actually. After the whole deAging thing, I’m going on rumors and whatnot... figure you’ve heard about all that from Serena or someone.”

She frowned. “It’s funny. The basic stuff is coming harder than this weird trick I do with enhancing clothing... although right now, I’m still experimenting with that element. I want to figure out how I made this hoodie bulletproof... that’s why I figured it might be able to tank the force from the laser beam. So long as it didn’t set me on fire like the witch from wizard of oz. Managed sais well enough.” She shrugged one shoulder. The shoulder was better now. All healed up from the gunshot sprain experience with Juniper.

“So how about you, Maya? How have you been?” She could not help herself from asking. Best she managed was not to continue talking after that moment. Prevented a lot of things that might have sounded odd, or even combative. Like ‘I heard we broke up’ and ‘are you seeing anyone interesting’ and ‘from my perspective, we just went on a date a short time ago.’

>>“I was practicing... trying to figure out my powers a bit more actually. After the whole deAging thing, I’m going on rumors and whatnot... figure you’ve heard about all that from Serena or someone.”

It was true, then. Up close an personal, there was no mistaking this Ami for the... current one, or the one that would have been current had she not been de-aged to the point where she made Maya feel like she was looking at the yearbook photo of a high school sweetheart or something. Oh joy. She had heard rumors that Ami had been hit with the de-aging, but she had not met her yet since.

"Yeah, I heard. Trying to figure out your powers again?"

From what Maya knew, de-aged people kept their current powers, which confused a lot of them.

>>“It’s funny. The basic stuff is coming harder than this weird trick I do with enhancing clothing... although right now, I’m still experimenting with that element. I want to figure out how I made this hoodie bulletproof... that’s why I figured it might be able to tank the force from the laser beam. So long as it didn’t set me on fire like the witch from wizard of oz. Managed sais well enough.”

Right. It was a gamble, just going up against a training sim without knowing how much her powers could handle. Then again, it was also classic Ami. Literally. Maya wrinkled her brow, trying to think about how she could help with a more custom made simulation.

>>“So how about you, Maya? How have you been?”

"I'm good." Maya said automatically, scratching the back of her neck "You know... keeping busy, X-team and all." I'm also gonna be a parent "Avoided the de-aging somehow, but now I have Sam's teenage ass to train... must be karma" she chuckled "Maybe I can help with your powers? If you tell me what you wanna test, we can tweak the simulation for it?"

When Maya asked if she was relearning her powers, Amelia had nodded.

“From my point of view, they just activated for the first time a few days ago.” She said. “So I’m still learning the basics.”

Which was funny, because... she’d gone on to explain why some newer skills were coming earlier than old ones. And how she was still left guessing, even then. Still learning what did and did not work.

Amelia had turned the conversation to Maya. Couldn’t help herself.

Maya was good.

“Good.”

Keeping busy, they usual stuff. And the unusual. She had not deaged... Amelia had noticed that. And she’d been “Dealing with Sam.”

Amelia laughed at her comment about Sam, and interjected “I met his teenage ass. He was sweet, if infuriating. I feel your pain.”

Then, maya offered to help her train. Like she had with Sam.

“Thank you,” Amelia said. “I would appreciate it.” And because she could not help herself, Amelia held up her in have an idea’ finger and said “Hey!”

“Maybe I could ask a few simple questions? You know, to pare down what I do and don’t know? Get my mind in order. If you know the answers, it might help me get a grip on my stuff. Right now, you know more about me than me.” She smiled.

She waited for an answer, then started asking her questions.

“Okay, first off. Have I talked with you about my powers any?”

“Is it a solid, or a wave?” She asked. “I’ve sort of force pushed with it... but I also accidentally made something. Have I ever shown you a weird blue hand? Or made anything else?”

“Have I ever talked with you about making special clothes? About being bulletproof? Fireproof?”

“Why did we break up?”

Just a few simple questions, that was all. Inquiring minds wanted to know.

Ami was taking things in stride. She had met teenage Sam. She did not seem as miffed about him as Maya was. Maya wondered if meeting Sam while de-aged herself would have been more or less confusing. The thought made her head hurt, so she dismissed it.

>>“Hey! Maybe I could ask a few simple questions? You know, to pare down what I do and don’t know? Get my mind in order. If you know the answers, it might help me get a grip on my stuff. Right now, you know more about me than me.”

"Sure?" it would not have been the first time Maya had to teach someone about their own powers. It seemed to come with the territory of not being de-aged in the midst of droves of repeat teenagers.

>>“Okay, first off. Have I talked with you about my powers any?”

Easy questions first. Maya nodded.

"Yeah. Some."

>>“Is it a solid, or a wave? I’ve sort of force pushed with it... but I also accidentally made something. Have I ever shown you a weird blue hand? Or made anything else?”

"I've seen the hand. You make... sort of make constructs, I think. I have no idea if solid or wave, I'm not a physicist. But I have seen you use them."

>>“Have I ever talked with you about making special clothes? About being bulletproof? Fireproof?”

"Bulletproof, yes. AT least that's what you told me. Also they seemed to protect you from other... forms of attacks. Like... mauling. But I don't know about fire. I've never really seen you use clothes that way."

>>“Why did we break up?”

"What?" Maya blinked. The question came out of left field; she was not sure if Ami planned it that way, or just blurted it out. She gave her a sheepish look. This was a question one did not get often from exes. "Well it was... um." she had a feeling Ami would smack her upside the head with a blue hand if she said 'complicated'. "I was in a rough place. I was underage drinking, and... not easy to manage. Lots of weird things going on in my life. It was just one of those things." Weird things named Maxine. But that part had never really been talked about.

So, she made a hand. And... constructs? What were constructs? Maya has no clue if it was solid or wave, but constructs... that sounded solid, didn’t it? As solid as something made with your mind can be.

This did not tell her much about how her power worked. How did she make the hand? Why was it visible, when the pushy thing hadn’t been? She would have to do some thought experiments to test this all out.

As for the next question... the things she made. How did she do it?

Maya had heard her talk about it, but once again she hadn’t talked much to her ex about the nuances. Bulletproof, and mauling proof. Fireproof was a question mark. Amelia must’ve figured that aspect of her power out after they had broken up. Which brought her... to her next question.

Maya has been unprepared for the question. Yeah. It must’ve been a while since they’d last talked, because anyone who truly knew her would have expected this sort of curveball.

The girl stumbled, and finally explained it all.

Amelia probably would have swatted her if she had said complicated. But what it turned out to be, was... well—

Amelia burst out laughing. Doubled over, laughing. Tears in her eyes, laughing. She had to take a deep breath, to gather herself and calm down.

“I’m sorry,” she said, between gasps. “I am... so freaking sorry. I am such a damn hypocrite. I just... oh god. Really? Underaged drinking? I’m sure the rest was probably pretty tough but— underaged drinking?! I just—“

Okay. She could do this. She could stop laughing, and sober up. She forced a straight face, even if her cheeks strained to restrain a smile.

“I’m a hypocrite, and a freaking prude.” She said. “Because I literally just did that sh** the other night after I got shot, and really. It’s no big deal. I am really sorry... I put you through that. Clearly, I wasn’t ready for a real relationship. Because if I’d been even half as mature, we probably could have just talked it out. You sound like you needed help.”

“I have no idea why I wouldn’t have done that, honestly. I mean, a girlfriend is the first person you talk to about stuff like that. I should have helped you... I’m sorry. I was a crappy girlfriend. What... when you came to talk did I just talk over you and shut you down? I was the first person you spoke to about your problems, right? Not some guy down at Cheers?” She smiled at her, sympathetically. Poor girl. Needed help, and she’d been trash. Seemed to be a recurring thing lately.

There was a sliding scale of how badly her answer could be received. There was no easy way to explain to someone who didn't remember how a breakup happened. Sure, Maya could have made up something easy, but even young Ami would not have been stupid enough to take anything too easy at face value. So, she told the truth (or close enough).

And Ami laughed.

>>“I’m sorry... I am... so freaking sorry. I am such a damn hypocrite. I just... oh god. Really? Underaged drinking? I’m sure the rest was probably pretty tough but— underaged drinking?! I just—“

Maya arched an eyebrow. That was not one of the many reactions she'd expected.

>>“I’m a hypocrite, and a freaking prude. Because I literally just did that sh** the other night after I got shot, and really. It’s no big deal. I am really sorry... I put you through that. Clearly, I wasn’t ready for a real relationship. Because if I’d been even half as mature, we probably could have just talked it out. You sound like you needed help.”

Okay, well, this was going in a whole different direction now. Maya looked at Ami sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. She had never really blamed Ami for the breakup. There was no reason she should, even if she was all down to underage drink now (which was a whole other thing, to be addressed another time).

"I don't think either of us was very mature at the time."

>>“I have no idea why I wouldn’t have done that, honestly. I mean, a girlfriend is the first person you talk to about stuff like that. I should have helped you... I’m sorry. I was a crappy girlfriend. What... when you came to talk did I just talk over you and shut you down? I was the first person you spoke to about your problems, right? Not some guy down at Cheers?”

"You were not a crappy girlfriend." Maya corrected with a sigh "And I was not exactly a prize girl... boy... partner either, at the time. Aaaanyway... back to training?"

Yeah. Maybe they were both at fault, both immature. Not ready. Nobody is perfect. It was a long time ago. There was no Eason to rehash it into oblivion.

Aaaanyway.

“Yeah, anyway.” Amelia agreed. Time to move on. She was making Maya uncomfortable. “Sorry. And, back to training.”

So. What had they been working on, again? It took her a moment to drag her mind back from the laugh-fest where it had gone, and get everything back on track.

They had been speaking of powers. She had been asking about her powers... wave or beam or whatever, and— she did not think she had been trying to replicate the effects of the enchantment. More, trying to figure out how to push with the hand.
Amelia made a face. “I guess, target practice? To try and see if I can push with my power, maybe make the blue hand I made for Adelynn again?” That was one idea. It was totally doable. Maya would be able to help her with that.

Under her breath, Amelia grumbled. “I really want to figure out how I made my bulletproof hoodie at some point, but I have no freakin’ clue how we would go about doing that. Honestly, if I wanted to tinker with power manipulation and go over data, Eevee would be more helpful. Eve’s pretty good with experimentation...”

>>“I guess, target practice? To try and see if I can push with my power, maybe make the blue hand I made for Adelynn again?”

Alright, good, great, they were done with the relationship talk. Maya sighed and nodded. Immature exes or not, she liked Ami as a person, and being de-aged was a bitch. She wanted to help any way she could, even if it was just some basic power training. Target practice was probably a good place to start.

>>“I really want to figure out how I made my bulletproof hoodie at some point, but I have no freakin’ clue how we would go about doing that. Honestly, if I wanted to tinker with power manipulation and go over data, Eevee would be more helpful. Eve’s pretty good with experimentation...”

"Yes, but Eve is seven years old and is definitely not getting DR clearance for tinkering." Maya huffed. The last thing she wanted was to give Eve access to a supercomputer. She already had one. "Hey, maybe we could start there? The DR I mean. If you have done any of these things in here before by any chance, the computer would have the data on the scenarios where you used them. Wanna give it a try?"

Eve was NOT cleared for Danger Room activities? Or tinkering? Oh. Amelia felt her smile slip, if only for a second. Because she HAD gotten Evelyn into the Danger Room. And she WAS going to help her tinker with powers. Like how they'd planned to tinker with chemicals. Whoopsie.

Maya had gotten all huffy about Evelyn, too. Did Mirror dislike the young girl? Eevee seemed pretty okay to her. Little scary, too smart. Troubling powers. Poor girl had nightmares. Complicated situation. And only seven. Full of potential, and potential trouble.

Amelia did not say a thing about Evelyn and Danger Room stuff to Maya. Maya was annoyed enough as it was. Certainly, she wasn't going to blab that Evelyn had been in to practice throwing sai at her hoodie in order to test its resistances to bludgeoning, and slashing, and piercing damage. Nope! Her lips were sealed.

If she blabbed, Maya might not help her train. That passed through Amelia's mind, too.

Except-- Mirror wanted to check the Danger Room's past simulations for her. Which, when initiated, would likely give her the most recent session, on-camera. For Maya to see in all its glory.

Amelia hurried to cover. "Oh. No. That's alright. There's no real reason to check past sessions." She waved her hand in front of her, to try and push/wave the thought away. "Really, this seems more like a trick of the mind than one plugging through Danger Room session history. Unless we had the right key words," she added the last part quietly.

What key words would she use? Was that even how this worked? How did this even work? Would this work? Hrm.

"It's a trick of visualization. Blue Hands. Hrm..." She mumbled, to herself. Maybe Blue Hands was a keyword set? "We can certainly try."

If she got in trouble, she got in trouble. Whatever.

>>"Oh. No. That's alright. There's no real reason to check past sessions. Really, this seems more like a trick of the mind than one plugging through Danger Room session history. Unless we had the right key words,"

"Oh. Well, alright then." Maya shrugged. It was strange, not to use the DR data for coming up with training options, but not everyone had the same relationship with the DR. Some people liked figuring their powers out on their own more, with as little help as possible. Maya usually left it up to them, and helped with whatever choices they ended up making.

>>"It's a trick of visualization. Blue Hands. Hrm... We can certainly try."

"We can." Maya nodded "Danger Room, data search: Amelia Mellitues. Keyword... uh, blue hands?"

They'd see where that led them.

The danger room did nothing for a few seconds, and then it brought up a hologram that covered the entirety of their fields of vision.

The words Most Recent appeared hovering in the air in front of them, in Comic Sans font. They vanished a moment later, replaced by the scene. A ghostly see-through image of Amelia in the danger room. A younger Amelia. Fighting two clothing store mannequins. Though to this Amelia, it was an older Amelia. A year or so her senior.

One mannequin was dressed in slacks and a white button up shirt. It wore a tie that streamed behind them as it ran. Faceless, fearsome, pale. It threw a straight jab at the girl. In a blur of motion, she ducked, bobbed, and deflected the move with her hands. Then, she thrust both hands out in a shoving gesture. A very large blue hand appeared in the air between them. It sent the mannequin staggering back with an open palm thrust.

The second mannequin rushed in to try and kick her. It wore a black miniskirt and blue tank top with the words “live free. Danger room style” written on the chest in sans serif. The hand turned as she spun to face the mannequin. She brought her own hand back in the motion for a slap. The blue hand followed suit. The mannequin in the miniskirt was sent spinning from the impact of the big blue hand.

Amelia ghost ran.

The word Continue? spun in place in front of them as the visual paused.

The real Amelia frowned. “Interesting, but no.” She said. The danger room returned to its default settings. Turning to mirror, she added “That tells me I can do it. The question now is how.”

How now, brown cow?

She hadn’t given Evelyn away. That was good. But how did one practice something like this? So far, all she had managed with her power was to manifest the invisible push and pull of it. The one that only affected clothes.

“With Adelynn, it was an accident. I snapped and it sort of happened without my concentration, mimicking me. But every time I try that now, it’s like there’s something there, blocking me.”

Did she even want to mess with this, now? Maybe the block was there for a reason? Like some invisible hand, holding something from her. Protecting her? Keeping it for... itself?