He was speaking, Maya was listening. She seemed interested. She was taking mental notes. He knew that look. He'd gone to several workshops to assess and flesh out his abilties, and experienced trainers often had that look when he described his powers. There was something else there, though. What was it?

An edge to the look. What was it? He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

She started keying something into a suddenly there keypad and... "Woah." The room shifted and changed around them, and his eyes went wide. They were... Well, in medieval times. Being a history major, he god a good sense for when, as well. It was a little more crowded and leveled than many true medieval villages... But... there it was. The world itself was now something else. This was amazing.

By the time Maya looked back at him he was crouched with his back to her, poking at the ground like a school kid who found a bug. "It's real... Or at least seems completly so. I thought the rumors were just rumors but... Wow."

And then she said something that answered that question at the tip of his tongue earlier. Had he ever actually been in a fight? That's what it was. She sort of... What, doubted he was ready for this? Huh. That made sense. He finished prying out a small piece of pebble from the building they were standing on, and tossing it experimentally off the edge... Completely realistic physics. Wowie, that was neat.

"Countless recreational bouts, plenty of martial arts tournaments in a few different disciplines, state level wrestling, five armed robberies foiled, one human trafficking ring shut down, and six engagements with mutants of varying abilities. And a giant moth monster, but Shard helped with that." There was no sense of smugness in his voice. He was just honestly trying to recount his experience fighting to her. Obviously, she had been through much more than he, and thus he had little to brag about... but he wasn't inexperienced by any stretch.

>>"Woah... It's real... Or at least seems completly so. I thought the rumors were just rumors but... Wow."

It was always a priceless moment to see a newbie's face when they first saw the DR at work. Sure, people talked about the technology, and there were some pretty wild urban legends out there, but nothing compared to being inside the real thing. It even surprised Mirror from time to time with the level of how real it felt. Xavier looked sufficiently impressed, for once looking like the kid he was.

And then Maya asked about fighting.

>>"Countless recreational bouts, plenty of martial arts tournaments in a few different disciplines, state level wrestling, five armed robberies foiled, one human trafficking ring shut down, and six engagements with mutants of varying abilities. And a giant moth monster, but Shard helped with that."

"Th..." Maya blinked. Damn this child. Sure, yeah, she'd done the vigilante thing too in her teens, but the confidence... "Right. Okay then. Let's roll, shall we?"

She called up the control panel and keyed a few things in. It was time to take training wheels off and see if that was a mistake. The DR whirred to life with noise and color, and some kind of a distant rumbling. There was a wide assortment of opponents sprinkled in this scenario, tailored to their powers. The question was, which ones would get to them first...

"Heck yeah! I mean, yes, I'm ready."

He kept a confident smile on his face as he looked back to see her keying some more into the keypad she'd somehow summoned. After Maya was done with that, there was a strange moment when it sounded like something was starting up. He got into a readied stance. His heart was beating like mad! Something was coming and he had no idea what to expect.

"Any idea what we can expect? Are you here to help, or watch?" He had questions, but before there was a chance to answer, a dark laughter echoed from a nearby, shorter rooftop. Xavier looked over just in time to see a dark figure launch herself from said rooftop using a shadowy dark pink aura as a boost.

The young woman arced up toward them, her body shrowded in deep shadows that made her already intimidating form seem even more foreboding. As she came down on them her aura formed into an axe in her hand, which she brandished in a swing toward Xavier. Rather than shy away, he quickly boosted himself up to meet her, highfiving the kinetic axe as it came down, and repelling it and its owner like a cannon ball down through the window of the building across from them.

As he landed, he looked about for another second, and then back to mirror. "Okay, so we should probably get off of this roof. We're sitting ducks up here." A quick glance told him that the shadowy pink girl wasn't out for the count, as she poked her head out of the window and stared at them. Dang, apparently she could take a beating. He looked back to Mirror, and then toward the stairs leading down off the roof.

With a short nod, he started heading down, looking over to the window across the way once more to see that the woman in it was gone. Scary.

>>"Heck yeah! I mean, yes, I'm ready."

Heck yeah indeed.

>>"Any idea what we can expect? Are you here to help, or watch?"

"I'm here to follow your lead. I'm gonna stand back and only help if you n..."

A shadowy figure erupted from a nearby rooftop. Maya's eyes widened at the sight. Who the hell programmed her into this game?! Maya manifested a bow and arrows, but before she could react, Xavier launched himself up into the air, and punched Shady Aura into a nearby building like this whole simulation was some kind of an anime fight scene.

Maya put the arrow away.

"Yeah Imma just hang back and have a mojito."

>>"Okay, so we should probably get off of this roof. We're sitting ducks up here."

He led the way down the stairs, and Maya followed. She knew the general layout of this simulation, but the opponents were randomly generated to the specifications of the people who were inside. The program seemed to detect that Xavier was a powerful mutant. It was going to up its game.

"That one's real" she noted "Some of the opponents in here are based on people we've fought before."

He'd been too preocupied to see Mirror prepare to join in as he landed. As she spoke up, he pouted a bit as she said she'd hang back. He was sure he'd get to see her in action before too long, though! As they headed down the stairs, which disappeared into the building itself, and wound down the interior until they reached the floor.

He looked back at Mata as she stated that the girl who'd attacked them was a real person. "Yeesh, she's definitely terrifying. Don't feel envy for the people on her bad side." That really solidified it... That was Aura, wasn't it? He was a hero and villain nerd. He hadn't seen her in person, but he'd heard of her. One of the most dangerous mutants ever to grace NYC with their presence.

He turned toward the door, and paused, opting to kick it instead of opening it normally. With a use of his power, it rocketed off its hinges, and a man with eight arms hiding behind the door was taken up by it, his hands poking out the sides as he and it smacked against the closest wall, and fell flat, dropping the six swords he'd been holding in the process. Xavier frowned a bit. "So... How many will it spawn for us to fight?"

He poked his head out experimentally, seeing only a crowd of obvious NPC people populating the streets.

"Is there an end objective, or just survive?" There was another loud rumbling in the distance, which drew Xavier's attention for a moment. That lady from before was still making him nervous, too. Where was she now? When would she attack?

He stepped out... It would probably be best for them to find a good position to fortify, though thinking about all of the possible mutations they could go up against... They were going to have to be flexible first.

>>"Yeesh, she's definitely terrifying. Don't feel envy for the people on her bad side."

"Yeah" Maya allowed. Aura was definitely a high risk opponent to have. They made their way down the stairs and she was about to say something about being careful with the door, but Xavier, once again, was faster, flattening the eight-armed guy on the other side like a spider under a shoe. Yikes.

>>"So... How many will it spawn for us to fight?"

"Um, maybe check sometimes that we don't have allies on the other side?" Maya prompted. Sure, there were no other superheroes on site, but there could have been first responders...

>>"Is there an end objective, or just survive?"

"Survive, for now. If we work well enough together, it might give us an objective eventually, to work towards." Maya pulled out her bow again, looking outside and glancing around "... do you hear thunder?..."

Maya agreed with him on the subject of Aura. It was nice to know that, despite her skill and status as a team leader, she seemed pretty down to earth. That was a nice aspect for a leader to have.

He nodded at her comment to check for allies in the future. It was true, he was being rash; he was treating this too much like a game. In truth, it was a simulation, it could have allies in it, right? He had no idea.

As they made their way into the street once more, stepping into the spattering of bland faced NPCs. It wasn't too crowded, luckily enough, it seemed like the simulation wanted them to still be able to move around. He looked back to Maya as she drew her bow and spoke up about the rumbling. "Yeah, I heard it... I dunno if it's thunder though..." The tall blonde pause when he caught something out of the corner of his eye, and turned to look. Had something ducked into an alleyway up ahead? Great. He took a step that way, but froze as the rumbling suddenly grew louder, and closer. Quickly, it became clear that something was up, as the bland NPCs suddenly started running away.

He moved toward a small V intersection as he tried to discern what was happening. "What is that? Is that... Wait..." Hooves? "I think it's a stam-" A rushing herd of cows rounded the corner and bolted up toward the fork in the road. "pede!" They looked like dairy cows! Where had hundreds of dairy cows come from?! They charged mindlessly toward them as Xavier turned and headed for the building at the V of the forked road.

Quickly he used his ability to launch himself up and onto the roof, turning to reach down and attempt to hand up Maya if she needed it. There didn't seem to be an end to the cows... Countless bovines rushed down the street, overtaking the building and the whole intersection easily, and rushing past in a constant stream.

"This isn't good..."

There was a distant rumbling in the air that could have been a lot of things. Given that they were in a DR simulation, it was probably nothing like a pleasant summer thunderstorm.

>>"Yeah, I heard it... I dunno if it's thunder though... What is that? Is that... Wait... I think it's a stam-"

Maya might have been the trainer in this simulation, but it didn't mean she knew all the things that could happen. Xavier was quick on the uptake though, and even quicker to discern just how big of a mess they were about to be in because... COWS!

Xavier turned and ran, and Maya followed. The kid launched himself up to the nearest building, which Maya could not follow, but she managed to jump up to a windowsill and into the nearest reflection.

>>"This isn't good..."

"What the hell is up with the cows? It's like the freaking Tiger Emperor down there!" Maya huffed, reappearing from a window by the fire escape and climbing to the roof. "Uh oh..." she followed the stampede with her eyes as the stream of cows split in two. Both sides were heading to a quickly gathering crowd of pedestrians, corralled by some abandoned cars. "We need to help them!"

Cows. Man, this was bizarre. Someone had to have programmed this in, right? Were all of the encounters a roll of the dice? They'd rolled cows, apparently. He watched with marked interest as Mirror found her way up to his position. It was neat to watch up close.

He grinned a bit, looking over as she climbed up from the opposite side. "Huh... I thought you would have a better idea about what's going on."

He glanced about, scanning the scene, and freezing on a dark figure jumping from cow to running cow, slowly making its way toward them. The woman, Aura. Meanwhile, Mirror pulled his attention to the simulated civilians. "Got it. Watch our backs. She's on her way." He motioned toward the smoky shadow of a woman to make his partner aware of her approach.

With that, he reached down to the window in the fire escape, and neatly extracted a glass pane from it, showing it to Mirror with a wink. He then launched himself into the stampede, landing on a moving cow and losing his footing a bit. Carefully he balanced on the bucking beast and jumped to the next, which faltered, but allowed him just enough time to make it to a car on the side of the road. He looked back, to see if Mirror was still there to see Aura getting closer. "Not good."

Ignoring the scrapes and bruises he earned himself along the way, he launched himself from car to car to get adjacent to the corralled NPC's just before the herd was about to hit. Thinking quickly, he turned to a nearby parked car, and launched it, causing it to skid to a stop at the mouth of the car coral, turning it into a safe box instead. The herd started to go around, though more were closing in on him as well. It looked like his maneuver had put him in a bit of danger...