A low sweeping wind knocked the Clyde from his feet and the robots took only moments to recover before Neena was calling another name. A sharp, focused attack to the shoulder quickly knocked Clyde back to the floor again. Ghost had never really used her gift offensively so they'd had to reset a lot initially as she had to get the hang of acting aggressively. Even now, several 'different' power uses later most of her attacks were more aimed at keeping the opponent away rather than hurting him.

Bonnie's metallic body screeched as she attempted some kind of vacuum, she released it when she realized how she could potentially destroy the robot's metallic structure. Zephyr had been right. Vacuums were messy business.

Neena fiddled with the controls again. Ghost felt the addition and hesitated. She actually hadn't heard the last name Neena had called before and Ghost felt one of the metallic automatons take a swipe through her head and then quickly reset to fall into pace with the two new robots. She was too distracted by the name, "Bittie."

She hesitated again. Even if with the gratingly obnoxious sound that vibrated against her particles like nails on a chalk board as differentiation between the newer robots, how was she supposed to tell which one was Bittie and which one wasn't? She'd assumed it was the one that was different last time and that had proved to be wrong. Ghost held up her hands and a barrier of buffeting wind held all four opponents at bay for a hesitant moment.

"Squeak or no squeak?" She asked quickly.

(OOC: Sorry it's short. )

"Squeak or no squeak?"

"Squeak. And nice job, by the way." The robots paused in their attacks momentarily. Neena smiled. It had taken quite a bit of creativity to come up with all of the attacks Ghost had so far. And the dark-skinned teacher was pleased to note that most of them wouldn't automatically be considered lethal.

"I do have a question, though, before we continue. That's screechy whine? What caused that?" According to the console, that particular attack had been registered as 'critical', though Neena could see no visible damage.

"Squeak. And nice job, by the way." Ghost nodded, trying to reconcile how she thought she was doing and how Neena seemed to think she was doing. She just felt so hesitant all the time. On the feild it hadn't been that way. She hadn't even hesitated to incapacitate Garrett, her own... friend. Dear friend. Yes, they were dear friends who... sometimes maybe just happened to bump lips. The robots paused in their attacks momentarily and Ghost instantly felt the strain lessen against her wall of air. She dropped the wall to better hear Neena. She was smiling at least. That was a good sign, right?

"I do have a question, though, before we continue. That's screechy whine? What caused that?" Ghost's eyes looked up toward the ceiling, though actually her vision and perspective did not change in the least. She tried to think back about what Neena might be referring to. The only attack that had really made much noise was... ah.

"Just... uhm. Depressurization? You know - a vacuum? He was on his way to imploding so I stopped short." She shrugged as if it were natural. She'd only wanted to try it and why else would they be there except to try different things? Ghost made the motion to stretch again. She wasn't sure how many more things she could think of. She wasn't consciously thinking of non-lethal attacks, it was just her nature and therefore most harmful options never even occurred to her.

"Just... uhm. Depressurization? You know - a vacuum? He was on his way to imploding so I stopped short."

"Ah! That makes sense. Hm. That may be something to practice on with the robots later then. Best to practice with them, when destruction doesn't matter as much. Speaking of which," Neena shifted her weight, pulling one leg up so hat she resembled a flamingo, "I notice you've been using mainly defensive attacks. Pardon the oxymoron. You seem kind of hestitant. Don't forget that these are just hunks of metal, easily repaired or replaced. There's no need to go easy on them."

"Not that I'm encouraging you to become some destruction-happy elemental, or anything like that. But, it's better to push your limits here, where the harm factor is near nil."

She paused to see if Ghost would correct her. It was hard to get a read on someone who was only partially solid.

She nodded about Neena's talk of practicing depressurization more later with throwaway bots. Actually, complete depressurization of multiple targets would be a great strain. It could be a good stamina builder.

"Speaking of which... I notice you've been using mainly defensive attacks."

Ghost tilted her head. Defensive attacks? Her face turned down toward her hands, though she could already clearly 'see' the definition of her own particles. She'd thought that she was being offensive.

"Pardon the oxymoron. You seem kind of hesitant. Don't forget that these are just hunks of metal, easily repaired or replaced. There's no need to go easy on them. Not that I'm encouraging you to become some destruction-happy elemental, or anything like that. But, it's better to push your limits here, where the harm factor is near nil."

Her eyebrows bunched together. "O-offensive... right." She turned toward the still paused bots and her face screwed up into a look of utter concentration. She was ready to begin if Neena was. "Are we still ruling out buffeting and cutting winds as well as things I've already tried?" She wanted to make sure she was still operating within the rules, after all. Ghost grimmaced as she ran through her options. She was pretty much out of options by now. If they were to continue this practice she was going to have to think of something entirely new... the gears had started turning. She started wondering what would happen if she tried to take one robot... one person out of existence.

Ghost would wait until the robots started coming again before she hesitantly called out, "Neena?" She hoped that the robots would keep herself and Neena distracted enough so that Neena wouldn't get mad at Ghost for asking. "Have you ever... uhm-killed someone?"

"O-offensive... right."

Neena could just barely make out the intent focus on Ghost's faded features. She guessed that, from her earlier expression, the young woman thought she was taking the offensive. Perhaps Neena should clarify that she meant offensive 'with intent to harm', as she'd put it. Robots could be repaired; sometimes people could not. If you could find the line with the robots, then you could avoid that line in real life.

"Are we still ruling out buffeting and cutting winds as well as things I've already tried?"

"Buffeting, yes. Go ahead and try the cutting again. And push it a bit further in force this time." Neena decided to settle on that for clarification instead. Maybe now wasn't the time to push. "Ready?"

She waited for an affirmative, before unpausing the scenario. The robots immediately continued from where they'd left off.

"Neena? Have you ever... uhm-killed someone?"

"Bonnie." Neena called out the first attacker, then without missing a beat, added simply, "Yes."

She waited for the next attacker, calling out 'Bittie', before inquiring in a neutral voice, "Why do you ask?"

"Buffeting, yes. Go ahead and try the cutting again. And push it a bit further in force this time."

The robots unfroze and began their menacing stalk toward her again. It was rather more intimidating with four as opposed to two. Ghost was even more dissettled by Neena's offhand answer. Yes. She'd killed someone. Neena still seemed like a good person somehow. Not to say that killing people was 'okay' now. It was never okay. Neither was hurting people. Robots on the other hand... she had express permission, no urging for some kind of robot lethality.

Neena had said to cut so she was cutting. Cutting was something that also took more focus. She had to make the particles of air denser in specific places, then compress and "sharpen" them by making the leading edge much smaller than the following dense blast, then on top of forming this blade of sorts it then had to move. She grit her teeth as Bonnie's solid fist pushed the particles of her face apart, cutting through the fog.

The robots reset, but this time she was not only ready, but she had the molecules already formed into the most lethal cutting wind she'd ever attempted. When Neena called 'Bittie,' she launched the practically invisible blade at the metallic thing. To Ghost the blade was long, curved like a scimitar as it was designed to slash straight through the opponent's neck as it moved past them. Visibly it was a faintly more opaque semi-circular outline, but that was all.

"Why do you ask?"

Maya's ghostly shape jumped visibly at the loud metallic slicing sound that followed right after Neena's question. A few sparks exploded like miniature fireworks at Bittie's neck, and for a moment the robot kept moving as if nothing had happened, though it's movements were visibly jerking as if the signals weren't transmitting properly. Bittie lumbered a bit slower than the others toward her and Ghost automatically sent a focused blast at the robot's chest to keep it away from herself. Even if the punch didn't 'hurt' when it went through her head - it was still a very strange feeling that she liked to avoid where possible.

Bittie's head flew clean off, the now separate mass flying back much faster than the now stiff body that was tipping backwards off balance and unable to recover without it's command center. ghost looked worriedly over at Neena. She'd never done that kind of damage before. Her slicing attacks had only been superficial before.

"I just wanted to know, I guess." Ghost fidgeted looking back at the robot she'd effectively 'killed' and then quickly back at Neena. "I still respect you. I just wanted to know if it's possible... to still be a good person even if you make mistakes." She fidgeted again.

Neena blinked several times as Bittie was effectively removed from the exercise. She tilted her head slightly, and her brows rose and fell in a facial shrug.

"Hm. That definitely counts as offensive."

Ghost sounded unsettled; whether from the robot's demise or the teacher's answer, Neena couldn't tell. Either way, she paused the scenario once more, and focused on the elemental's inquiry.

"I just wanted to know, I guess. I still respect you. I just wanted to know if it's possible... to still be a good person even if you make mistakes."

"If you're asking my opinion, then yes, I believe you can be. 'To err is human', as the saying goes. As for killing someone..... Well...."

Neena reached up to rub the back of her neck, and pulled one leg up in her 'flamingo stance'.

"I can't say that I haven't killed out of extreme anger, even though it was to protect someone else." Her eyes glazed over as she recalled her activities during the Camp Breakout. "The circumstances were extreme. I would never expect anyone else to do what I did. But if the chance came to do it all over again...." She inhaled deeply, and let it out in a resigned sigh. "I can't say I wouldn't kill again." Especially since the guy had been a masochistic pedophile. But that was neither here nor there.

"I won't give my opinion on whether killing is wrong or right under various circumstances. You didn't ask for that, and it can be argued by anyone until they're blue in the face. But I will say that I firmly believe that your actions in life will come back on you, good or bad. I've done some things in my life, both on purpose and on accident, that I'm fully prepared and expecting to pay for one day."

She turned her head to look Ghost in the eyes, as best she could, her expression showing an odd combination of sorrow, resignation, and contentment.

"If you're asking my opinion, then yes, I believe you can be. 'To err is human', as the saying goes. As for killing someone..... Well...."

"To err is human... only are we human?" Ghost stated softly as Neena fidgeted in her own way, rubbing her neck and resuming her one-legged stork pose. Ghost listened patiently as Neena went through a brief justification with as little description as possible. It was just so foreign to her that they were having this conversation at all.

"...I can't say that I wouldn't kill again..." She wouldn't even bother to deny it, that comment made Ghost's insides sorrowful. Wafting toward the paused robots, she continued to listen. The robots were uncaring that they stood next to the body of their fallen comrade's body. Ghost drifted over the body and squashed herself into a crouch next to the head. She reached out to it with her power and the solid metal began to fade into a non-solid state.

When Ghost stood with the head in hand, Neena was looking at her with a rather mixed expression. Some sorrow perhaps, but not a scrap of discernible regret. Well, at least she owned up to the consequences her actions had. Ghost closed the last little bit of distance between Neena and herself and offered the head to Neena. As soon as Ghost let go of the object it would become solid again and fall into the teacher's hands.

"I just cut off that robot's head, Neena. That was metal. How much easier would it be to slice through flesh and bone?" She shook her head. She was always holding herself back because that was the exact kind of thing that she didn't want to know. "aren't we supposed to be superhuman? Above normal ability... that means we need to have above normal restraint..." She wasn't berating Neena... it was more that Ghost didn't want to ever be in that kind of situation. With a sigh Ghost began the slow process of becoming solid again. She was running low on energy anyway. It was a good excuse to end the session.

"I just cut off that robot's head, Neena. That was metal. How much easier would it be to slice through flesh and bone?"

Neena reached out as Ghost extended the robot head, her powers turning the metal into another airy wisp of her element. She attempted to cover the young woman’s hands with her own, stopping before they passed right through them.

".... aren't we supposed to be superhuman? Above normal ability... that means we need to have above normal restraint..."

She nodded slowly, her voice going soft. ”Yes, we are, and we do. Superior strength isn’t an excuse for domination.” She looked down, watching both Ghost and the robotic head slowly solidify, feeling its weight slowly return. When she was able, she squeezed the girl’s hands, and looked back up at her. A small smile had planted itself on her lips.

”And it takes more strength to hold yourself back,” she remarked, referring to Ghost’s earlier expression, her wish to be a stronger person. ”Especially when someone you love is at risk.”

Neena's hands hovered uncomfortably close to Ghost's as she started the transfer back to corporeality. She ducked slightly and drew her hands out in an apologetic manor. She just couldn't risk fusing their hands together on accident, though she only withdrew her hands, not the metallic head. She didn't mind letting Neena feel the cold metal as it formed. It would be an experience.

Ghost felt her own weight returning. Her toes touched the ground first, fast followed by the ball of the foot and eventually the heel as her mass began to respond to earth's gravitational pull and pressed her back toward the ground. She rather sunk into her skin: compacting, condensing, and coming into her fully physical self. As soon as Ghost was solid, Neena squeezed her hands.

Neena seemed to look slightly pleased about something.

"And it takes more strength to hold yourself back... Especially when someone you love is at risk.”

Ghost nodded gravely. And didn't she know it... only the one she... liked a lot or whatever... that'd been the one she'd been force to fight. Ghost smiled a bit grimly and hefted the now solid head into Neena's hands. "Well, I'd say we've achieved lethality. Any other bright ideas?"

(OOC: Sorry it's short. )

Feeling the metal head reform in her hands was…. interesting. Kind of like holding a metal bowl being slowly filled up with ice water. She shivered reflexively. She watched as Ghost also solidified and grounded herself.

"Well, I'd say we've achieved lethality. Any other bright ideas?"

”Can’t say I’ve ever been accused of having bright ideas.” Neena quirked an eyebrow. ”But I’m thinking there’s no reason to keep going with this exercise. I don’t think it’s going to accomplish anything but push you in a direction you don’t want or need to go.”

She walked over to the robots and replaced the decapitated part. ”End scenario.” The three functional machines returned to their places, while the piecemeal one was retracted into the floor. Then she turned back to Ghost.

”You said you wanted to be more useful in combat situations, to be stronger. But the two really aren’t the same. How ‘bout we take a break for now, then try and find some middle ground later?”

"... I’m thinking there’s no reason to keep going with this exercise. I don’t think it’s going to accomplish anything but push you in a direction you don’t want or need to go.”

Ghost nodded, thankful that Neena wouldn't push her to try overtly lethal tactics again. If possible her respect for the woman grew even more. Ghost only watched as Neena replaced the part and ended the scenario. The broken robot was retracted into the floor. This room was amazing, Maya didn't even want to bother trying to figure it out. The danger room was almost more fun to think of as magical rather than to bog it down with science and complex things she could hardly grasp.

”You said you wanted to be more useful in combat situations, to be stronger. But the two really aren’t the same. How ‘bout we take a break for now, then try and find some middle ground later?”

Again Ghost nodded. The middle way sounded very Theravada Buddhist to her, but she set that thought aside. Moderation and balance... it seemed everything always came back to those concepts. Control was very important to Maya. Not the control of others or situations, she couldn't ever seem to manage that kind of manipulation, but the control of herself, her element. She was her own most brutal task master. "I understand..." She began carefully, "would you mind if I tried some things on my own? Maybe not now... but I don't always need adult supervision to utilize the Danger Room, do I?" Ghost stood carefully still, trying her best to feel grown up enough to safely manage the Danger Room on her own.

(OOC: Sorry it's short.)

"I understand.... would you mind if I tried some things on my own? Maybe not now... but I don't always need adult supervision to utilize the Danger Room, do I?"

"No, you're okay on your own. The room is open to anyone over sixteen." she replied. "I'll show you how to work the controls, though its fairly easy."

Neena smiled at Ghost. "After all, if they trust me in hereon my own, , you ought to be great solo. Just be careful. Avoid the danger levels higher than five. Those tend to cause pain."

"And, any questions, you know where to come."