In the large gray hanger-like room, giants roamed. Scorpions and spiders and other large, dangerous insects roamed freely throughout the room. They were not in search of any particular object or living being. They roamed along minding their own business. Any sign or scent of life was justly recognized yet remained just as that; a recognized being was with them. However, a quick sight of a running or fleeing prey would probably set them off to run and chase. Armed and dangerous with everything from large fangs to bite or tails to sting, these things were to be greatly feared and avoided. And that was the point. This was not a room to be treated like some sort of first-person shooter. Not at all. This room was designed to be a room full of deceiving and evading. A room not meant to be charged into. A ninja would be more likely to succeed than Patton. To survive, one had to become stealth itself. There was practically no other way.

Behind a crate on the other end of the exit, Mettaliar ducked behind. He had created his necessary items. To be sure though, Mettaliar mentally went over his checklist of things he might need. Multiple supply of previously-made knives? Check. Knives lined along the carefully edited spots in the inner lining of his jacket? Checked off with a quickly few pats to make sure. Two sheathed boomerang-formed blades? Check. His trusty staff? Check, of course. If he wasn't in the streets of New York City or along the mansion hallways, he would have his staff on him. That was his rule with living in a world in which his kind weren't treated with the tranquility they should be. He shook the notion away from his head before it could manifest into a full on mental debate that could take away from his concentration. May any God in any Heaven damn his trait of going on into frequent daydreams. If he were to be in any sort of group, especially the chivalrous and honorable X-Men, he would have to get rid of it at any costs. Groups like those just didn't appeal to people who would rather sub-consciously go off on mental tangents rather than concentrate on any sort of order. Before Mettaliar knew it, he was stopping him from going off on THAT sort of tangent. He truly had a problem, and one day he was going to march into the infirmary and demand a test for A.D.D. He sighed lightly to himself and broke from thought. Back to the task at hand.

Mettaliar peered around the corner of the box and scanned for two things. One was spotted immediately. A ten-foot tall Emperor Scorpion stood in his way, facing due East of his current position. He searched further and further, until he saw what he was looking for. The black beast stood approximately half-way between him and the next crate. He knew that running for it was pointless, as he couldn't possibly out run the beast and fighting was the pure basics of a suicide mission. The giant stinger that bleed toxins wasn't the only concern. Any sort of commotion would attract more scorpions as well as the eight-legged counterparts. There was no way he could simply startle and and fight. His goal was to reach the end. Simple to explain, crazy to do. After a while's wait, Mettaliar figured the beast would be continuing the waiting routine in that position for a longer while more unless given a reason to do otherwise. Mettaliar had to give him that reason somehow. While risking a lot, it was the only way to actually progress through the course at all. He shifted slowly to the other side of the crate slyly. His skater shoes made but not a sound as he moved. Once he developed his entire idea, he took one of the throwing knives out of their rightly placed sheathes.

He slowly pulled it out of his coat and watched for any sign of notice from any of the behemoths. With signs of continued walking patterns and no motion of surprise from any standing foes, he guessed none. He found his perfect target. A large yellow beam coming from the wall of the hanger made the spot his knife would land. He arched his arm back and stared with complete concentration at his target. Two scorpions, one Goliath Birdeater Tarantula. A group not to attract to oneself, along with others off in the distance. He held his deep breath in and threw the knife with great force. That attracted the attention of the beasts. Bodies froze and movement stopped. The could hear where the sound was and waiting for another sound to send them off. Mettaliar was one of those waiting for that sound. He watched the large scorpion blocking his path and waited to see if the distraction would work.

**CLINK**

The beasts went off, including the one that was blocking the path. They all gathered toward the sound of metal hitting metal from the knife. As soon as the Emperor Scorpion joined the horde towards the sound, Mettaliar bolted toward the crate holding his staff out behind him to reduce drag. He slid on his knees behind the crate and stood on one knee and looked out to the commotion. To the unfortunate guess of Mettaliar, a few of the beasts has probably sensed his movement. The Emperor scorpion had stopped moving and was looking around seemingly as if hearing his post be stormed through. The birdeater from before was also seemingly aware of his movement. Mettaliar's breath became short as he realized that any sort of movement would result in a chase. He knew he had to move, so he took another knife out and had the idea to create distance. After finding another part of the wall to target, he released his second knife. Again the beasts froze, and again the charged after the sound. Instinctively, Mettaliar took off farther down the course.

His headturn would result in his fear rising. The two beasts that were aware of him had not fallen for his trick and were in pursuit. Mettaliar let out a small amount of obscenities before planning his next plan of action. He quickly slid behind another crate and looked on as the monsters continued to follow him. He slowly back away seeing for the chance to do something instead of awaiting doom. He noticed that each of the beast was onto him, so spliting them was of no use. They both had him in their sights and were not letting up. The scorpion struck first, it's stinger lunging and instead striking the crate in between them. Pieces of wood flew everywhere. For a split second Mettaliar's hopes rose as he thought the beasts were going for the crate instead of him, yet were demolished when the Birdeater came at him and tried to get him in for a nice bite. The staff was the only thing the tarantula could get as Mettaliar thrusted upwards into the beast. It roared back and continued it's attempts to kill. Mettaliar held it off for a while before rolling out of the way of the attack. A quick toss of a knife caught the beast in the eye and caused Mettaliar to charge. As the beast roared back, Mettaliar unsheathed his sword and cut into the beast, leaving it on the ground and almost motionless. Mettaliar got up to quickly turn, yet was not able to before the claws of the Emperor scorpion got to him.

His left arm and right leg were binded by the grip of the scorpion. He left his staff go out of the result of extreme pain. His scream only lasted a short while, as it was cut down by the thrust of the stinger into the back of Mettaliar. Mettaliar's eyes widened and his breathes closed in. The flow of the poison could almost be felt withing his body. He felt his body giving away life as he tried to suck in his escaping soul back into his body with large gasps for air. They were futile as the eyelids closed up the eyes of Mettaliar. Before he could feel the hand of Death seal his fate, he could quietly hear the sound of a computer-operated voice come in and interrupt his death scene.

"Training level complete. Operation: Failed."

Mettaliar soon fell to the ground, not as the dying man he thought he was but as the defeated student training to better his skills for the X-Men. He remained laying down, though, as if dead. He rolled over only to stare up at the ceiling and sighing. Before he could run through the plan to see where he had failed, the same computer voice chimed him to ask if he wanted a second death wish.

"End session, computer." The beeping acknowledged Mettaliar's request and shut down the custom training program. Mettaliar ran his hands through his hair and held his hair back, letting his scar be visible to anyway that may be watching. While the pain of the sting could be still felt in his back, he knew he wasn't dying. He grunted at himself and his failure and sighed again. He question his ability to be a good soldier and shook his head. He would soon have to beat that course in order to actually be able to compete in any sort of faction in this real-world war. He shook his head again and closed his eyes, going into deep thought about what he could do better the next time he went through that course again.

The buttons and levers flashed as the scenario had ended resulting in Mark’s defeat. For a time Sam sat in the chair of the god room of the danger room watching all of Mark’s movements during the training simulation. The camera now zoomed in on Mark as Sam spoke into the microphone with a slightly disapproving tone knowing full well what was going on in Mark’s head just by the look on his face, “Why do we fall Mark?” Sam asked paraphrasing the butler in Batman Begins, “It’s so we learn to pick out self’s back up…” he answered before Mark could answer. The echoing of his voice died down a second or two after Sam spoke and then he continued, “Despite the outcome of the scenario,” pausing and replaying a few of the screens in front of him again each one was zoomed in on Mark’s movements as he created a knife or made an attempted run, “You did a phenomenal job…”

Pressing a button as a large screen came up on the danger rooms circled wall the image of Sam could be seen with a smile on his face, “Hope you don’t mind watching or commenting, you looked a little down after the scenario.” Shrugging and replaying the scene where Mark used one of his knives to distract the giant spiders and scorpions as he made an attempted run, “think this and,” the screen Sam just played on the wall was replaced with by the few second clip where Mark through out his sword and cut down the giant spider, “this were my two favorite parts of what I saw.”

The screen of the clips were replaced with the image of Sam staring at Mark as Sam’s voice continued to echo from the circular room with a sympathetic look on his face Sam’s eyes gazed at Mark without blinking, “Can I ask why your not happy with your final results for the scenario?” Sam knew what the answer would be but he wanted to hear it from Mark’s own mouth and see how the Journey playing guitarist from the pool party no longer seemed as confident as he did by the grill.

Clearing his throat after a moment or two Sam’s voice boomed throughout the danger room, “You once showed some curiosity about the X-men…” Sam paused gathered his thoughts and continued, “If your still curious about it I’ll be happy to answer your questions.” Sam said his smile widened on the screen.

Mettaliar almost jumped when the booming voice of Sam came throughout the room. Mettaliar sat up as the voice quoted from the movie Batman Begins. Both asking and answering the question, Mettaliar looked around for the face of the man talking to him yet only saw the gray dull room around him. He became a bit nervous before a large screen came up in front of him. The large, blown up face of Sam stared back at him and continued to comment on his efforts in the previous simulation. The replay being shown almost cause him to look away. He didn't want to watch himself doing anything. He was always convinced his efforts always looked bad no matter if it was running a Danger Room course or performing on guitar. Yet he refused to give in to not looking at watched the two clips Sam chose to show. They were his best moments, apparently. He nodded his head watching them, trying to get where Sam was coming from with this.

Than Sam continued on with his talking asking him a particular question and mentioning his previous curiosity about joining the X-Men. Mettalir took up one knee and nibbled on the skin of his finger for a little bit, listening to Sam's words. He had his thoughts race through his head about the two thoughts proposed by Sam. The first one was easy, though he would need to gather the proper wording before trying to explain his true thoughts. The second one proved to be a little more interesting, as it was the first time he could actually ask about joining the X-Men. It had been his dream to join the group, though due to a number of circumstances was unable to focus on joining. He sighed to himself and decided that answering the questions in order was the best way to go.

"I feel so down because I didn't succeed in my goal. No matter how much effort I gave, the ending result was not what it should be. I want to have the results to show how my skills are, not highlights from a failed training simulation. If I were to be a part of the X-Men and was assigned a mission, I knew that I would be required to... no... MUST come back with a successful outcome. I could not come to the faces of you or Tricity or anyone with video tape say, 'Oh yeah, I failed at my mission, but here's a tape to show the moments I did best at. I would be a laughing stock. At least that's what I've been taught. Effort is necessary for success, yet can never substitute success. That's why I feel so down. I cam so close to being able to complete my goal and failed. Now I know it was in front of the eyes of a recruiter as well." Mettaliar shook his head to himself and sighed. His confidence was slowly but surely dying. It would take a little more than encouraging words to bring him back up. He looked back up at the monitor and continued answering the requests of Sam.

"Either way, if that didn't show you, yes, I am still curious about joining the X-Men. Very much so, to say the least. It's hard to be a resident of this mansion for almost two and a half years and not be interested in at least finding out more about it. I also just personally feel indebted to the people that run this place for giving me a place to call home, as much as I have urges to leave it. My questions about this place mostly come off someone just looking for information. Is there a questionare of some kind do I need to answer? Is there some sort of test simulation I need to pass? Do I need to beat you in a spar? What exactly must I do more that what I've done before I can be considered a part of you guys. Or a Trainee at the least. I just want to know what to do so that I may do it and finally fulfill the goal I had for myself back when I stepped through the doors and claimed my room back in November of 2006. Answer me those, and the only question I would have after that is... when can we begin?" Mettaliar looked up at Sam and nodded his head. He was ready for anything he could throw at him. Well, apparently anything instead of hordes of scorpions and spiders, anyway.

The answer was more or less was what he expected, the current thoughts and feelings poured out as Mark continued to be disappointed in himself. Nodding knowing the feeling all to well having gone through the same thought process on more than one occasion however in mainly different situations, the first several thousand times he felt like this was back when he worked with T.A.T. however if you expressed the thoughts allowed you were often presented with constant near death training to the point of exhaustion or even death. However Sam preferred the second approach one Neena had displayed with him several times on numerous occasions.

As Mark answered Sam’s second question with a tad more enthusiasm than he demonstrated moments before with Sam’s first question he smiled into the camera and nodded, “All good questions, however one can’t simply join the team, there will numerous tests mentally and physically trying but for now why don’t I give you an idea of a typical mission or better yet one of the first missions I went on.” Hitting a button the scenery of the danger room changed to one of the Pacific Ocean, a large cruise liner was sinking as a giant iceberg was near the ship as hundreds or thousands of people jumped from the liner to smaller boats or the cold ocean.

Hitting another button a large platform started to lower as Sam descended from the God Room and onto the main floor where the ground was covered in a holographic ocean and a scaled down ocean liner along with a smaller ice berg, “You know how many people were saved on this particular mission?” Sam asked knowing Mark wouldn't know the answer, “About ninety percent of the passengers and employees, despite me and the team getting there we were seconds to late, at least five percent died on impact hitting the water and the ones that didn’t died within minutes of the freezing cold water.” The hologram changed as Sam walked closer to Mark now standing next to him.

The iceberg’s shape began to change and take a new form as a small blue figure, which was Sam stood at the top of the giant now shape shifting iceberg, “Despite the fact that we saved ninety percent of the people there was still that ten percent that died that day, when the estimated should have been well over sixty percent casualty, you know what my first thoughts were?” he paused as he pointed to the people now climbing onto the flattened iceberg and huddling together. “My first thoughts were this mission was an epic fail, ten percent of the people died.” He paused as he waved his hand at the hologram boat as the images disappeared back to its empty room. “We are not Gods Mark, we are nothing more than humans with gifts, we cannot save everyone or get everything perfect what we can do is try our best and accept the outcome no matter how horrible it is.”

He smiled as he turned from Mark and looked to the god room and smiled, “my first six missions I considered a failure, even if only half of them were in fact failures, I would spend hours upon hours beating my self mentally and pushing my self to the point of exhaustion in here trying to obtain,” he lifted his fingers and made quotations as he said, “perfect.”

Looking back to Mark and smiling he said, “Whether you think you can or can’t your right…” he pointed his fingers to the god room and said, “The main reason we have this room is to practice, you practice till everything becomes as a second nature, that is how you become better at something, moving around at high speeds on a bike or running into a burning building or flying a plane, chasing down the bad guy” Sam continued to mentally count the countless scenarios he created for the danger room and continued, “Most of these have become as simple as breathing for me.” He paused and patted Mark on the shoulder, “Besides it will never be just you on a mission unless I say otherwise,” Sam said jokingly as he was not in charge of the missions or who got assigned them he just voiced his opinion if it seemed to dangerous for one person, “We are a team Mark, we all support each other, if you want to truly be apart of that team then your training starts now!”

Looking up to the god room and calling out, “Computer, Sam’s files, scenario 601-A from the beginning!” the room grew dark as a building came into view now appearing quite large as streetlights took shape as well as a van near the exit of the building. The area around them remained frozen in time as he smiled to Mark and said, “You will not fight with me. You will as of now work with me, our mission is to stop the men who are loading computers onto the van.” Sam pointed to a few men off in the distance who were loading small boxes onto the van. “Regardless of the outcome I want you to try your best, you learn more from your failures than your successes.“

“Any questions?” Sam asked as he looked to Mark with a fire in his eyes, one way or another Mark was going to fail again Sam would rather have him learn to deal with it opposed to having a breakdown after or during a mission.

Mettaliar stood in that one position silently. He engulfed every word that Sam spoke to him from beginning to end. He could not ruin the moment at any point by speaking. His mind would not let him to. It were as if Sam was pulling the thoughts out of his head and presenting them in both verbal lecture and visual reputation. He watched the miniature representation of one of Sam's first missions. He stared down at the holographic events taking place around him. He watched as the passengers began to fall down into the freezing ocean below, while others went on life boats and tried to get to the safety of the iceberg. He shook his head at the chaos around him, only to be narrated by Sam about the tragic statistics. He crossed his arms over his chest and continued watching over the holographic images.

He almost jumped when Sam appeared next to him. He had been to lost in thought to realize that Sam had come down from the room above and joined him on the ground. Sam seemed to walk around slightly looking at Mettaliar and the scene in front of them and the room upstairs at random. Mettaliar remained standing in the same position, though. He just kept an eye on Sam as he smiled and explained his first instances of being part of the X-Men. Mettaliar knew that his future would probably be similar to Sam's past. As much as he knew that mutants were not much closer to God than humans were, he felt that he should be closer to that road of perfection. He always felt he was better than what he showed at anything he did even with the compliments of others. Mettaliar always felt that it was just that one more training session that kept him from being that person he wanted to be.

Mettaliar listened deeply to Sam's words regarding the X-Men themselves. He wanted to take in every word, every lesson he could possibly absorb from Sam. He understood what he meant by the idea of training until tough actions become second nature. Guitar was the best example of that. At first, scales and chords seem to be impossible and discouraging to learn. Yet enough practice and determination and suddenly people consider you the next Estabon. Skills with mutations probably compare similarly to that, as always keeping your body and mind in shape and intact was always important and the only way to do so was with constant training. It was also good to know that the missions assigned by the X-Men were rarely solo ones. As much of a loner Mettaliar was, he knew that he could NEVER handle a mission of any similar caliber Sam had shown him on his own. Being able to work as a team was the only true way to be successful in a world like this. Allies were more critical in this time period than at any other period in history. Mettaliar sighed and watched as Sam spoke to the room above; the computer's simulation.

Suddenly, the room around him grew dark. Instead of the cruise liner and iceberg, a dark street barely lit with streetlights, a building and a van off in the distance. Mettaliar uncrossed his arms and sighed semi-worriedly. He had prepared himself to when he would finally be able to try and prove himself. Of course, the butterflies spawned inside him and caused him to grow nervous. While the talk Sam had given him tried to quell those fears of failure, everyone, human or mutant, wanted to do their best. Mettaliar listened to the instructions and nodded his head. When Sam asked if any questions where on his mind, Mettaliar quickly cracked his head and shrugged.

"Just one. Who takes the lead? You or me?" Mettaliar's green eyes stared into Sams. They showed that he was ready. He was not willing to just back down for now. He was willing to take orders, give orders. Anything. His mind kicked into gear and he became anxious to get the simulation started.

Glancing from the current goings on down by the store Sam’s attention turned to Mark as he frowned slightly, “Your asking to take lead aren’t you?” Sam asked the rhetorical question knowing full well that Mark seemed interested in it despite the fact that he just had a pity party. Shrugging a little and sighing, “You learn more by doing I guess….” Grinning and waving his hand in the directions of the thief’s Sam waited to follow Mark, if he was smart and was going to think this through he would try and get as close as possible and then try to figure something out, however Sam was going to be the “Counter Productive” team member that made the situation that much worse.

Despite the whole teacher standpoint on succeeding Sam felt different than most teachers, Sam wanted Mark to fail, only then could he truly begin to understand failures. In the outside world on missions there was no room for stupid mistakes when it involved highly dangerous armed men in fact your mind had to be constantly racing a mile a minute and if you were leading the team you had to be three steps of everything else preparing for the worst.

Smiling to Mark and deliberately not telling him everything he needed to know about this particular mission, “They don’t use real bullets but they will defiantly feel like them, your hit three times you fail, if I am hit three times you fail, if you kill anyone, you fail, if you damage any of the computers you fail, if we get separated for more than ten minutes you fail.” Grinning to Mark and laughing Sam said, “You can command me but unless it violates any of the rules I stated before hand I won’t follow the orders!”

There were several more rules but none were important as the ones he stated, this mission was after all to teach more than anything, as Sam spotted the first lookout about thirty feet or so away Sam smiled, and decided not to give his and Mark’s position away just yet, he was slightly curious to see what Mark would do in a situation such as this. Unless they were notified by the lookout the armed robbers wouldn’t pay any attention to Sam and Mark until they got around ten feet from them.

The way Sam set this mission up was the perfect remedy for Mark’s doubts and confidence issues. Not to mention that this was anything but deadly unlike his missions and training situations as a kid. Although it helped the fast learners it had a small success rate seeing as most of his classmates were killed during training simulations.

Mettaliar's face showed more signs of curiousity after Sam showed sign of disliking his eagerness to lead. At least, that's what his mind was telling him. He could see why Sam would feel such a way. After all, Mettaliar was the man trying to learn while Sam was more or less the teacher. It didn't seem right that the student would lead the master. Even so, Sam seemed to not be completely against the thought. He verbally accepted it, just gave hint that he wouldn't be the most coopertive listener. This slightly worried Mettaliar, as he became more confused as to what intentions Sam had. Was he trying to prove something or would he be simply THAT upset about not taking lead. While he could easily ask, Mettaliar knew that the simulation had started and whatever time they had was slowly ticking away. Mettaliar would, if anything, just address it later on.

Mettaliar scanned the area, listening to the rules Sam listed for him. He knew full well the physics of the Danger Room's pain simulator. The pain in his back from the earlier scorpion sting was there, though slowly starting to go away. Mettaliar scanned around the buildings, seeing that the area was dark all around save for the dull glows of street lights. There was a lookout, though he didn't seem to notice them too much. Seemed the perfect thing to do would be to sneak around or lure him away and take him out of the equation in any way save for killing him. That would be against the rules, of course. After seeing how to at least get started. Mettaliar slowly backed up behind the street lamps and shadowed himself in the darkness.

He looked to Sam and figured out whether or not what to do. He could easily use hand motions to give the order of doing the same thing. Yet his mind still lingered at the face Same gave. Trying to find a solution, he simply concentrated on his own motions. He looked at Sam once more before slowly moving slowly towards the van. He figured that Sam could at the very least handle himself for now, being part of the X-Men and all. He knew that Sam's life affected the success of the simulation, but figured that he didn't have to worry too much. If Sam decided to do something crazy, he'd try and figure it out then and there. He also kept and eye on the man keeping lookout. He still didn't seem inclined to do anything yet; whether or not it was that he didn't see them or didn't find them a threat was a totally different issue.

Mettaliar stopped as he got closer to the van. He remembered what Sam had said about the need to work as a team. People weren't assigned solo missions for a reason. He sighed to himself and checked back to Sam's position. He would wait until he made a move before he would proceed. Mettaliar would not give orders, just simply move in stride to whatever Sam decided to do; unless it was just standing there. He figured that Sam was probably confused at what was going on and may even be frustrated. Mettaliar felt a bit of fear rise within him by giving a bad impression. He would need to calm down and not rush into doing things anymore. He would let Sam take the lead motions and just go with the flow. Hopefully, the path to success would open up there.

Following Mark as far as he went and abruptly stopped Sam watched the facial expression and the eyes of his fellow mansion resident making notice of every feature and detail on his face. Watching the movement his eyes made Sam could tell Mark was defiantly thinking now, about what Sam couldn’t be sure, if anything he was hoping Met was piecing together the rules and the current situation. Most of what Sam had said was little to no help to the alchemist what so ever, all Sam stated was things he couldn’t do. Things that would fail him in the course, things that would make him hesitate and second-guess himself.

The confidence that Mark had been giving off seemed to wither as he now looked unsure how to proceed, clearing his throat Sam whispered so Mark could hear it clearly, “Did I mention there was a time limit?” Sam knew he didn’t mention it at the beginning but that was all part of his plan, “I would make a move if I were you the clock is ticking.” Good get him more anxious thought Sam as he continued to try and make Mark jump to an action that could pass him or could fail him. He knew that Mark at this point would be regretting his request to take the lead but even if he didn’t ask for it Sam was going to fore the lead on him regardless if he volunteered for it or not.

Looking at his watch and making and continuing to whisper Sam said, “twenty minutes, it looks like they are now getting to the heavy stuff, I would make a decision if I was you…” looking over to the sentry that was now scanning in every direction through a pair of night vision goggles Sam pointed at him giving the hint that Mark needed, Always go for the most secluded member of the team, scouts are the eyes of the team without the eyes they won’t be ready thought Sam as he remembered his training from back when he was a kid.

Watching and waiting for the movements from Mark signaling it was time to make a move Sam remained motionless after he pointed in the sentry’s direction hoping that mark would take the lead and get started before the clock runs out and he fails the session. Pointing and hints was all he felt he needed to be doing during the down time, after all Mark should be leading this session not Sam, even if Sam had more experience than Mark.

Mettaliar clinched his fist when he heard Sam tell him about the time limit. For some reason, Mettaliar had already known such yet it was still a shock to actually hear that there was. Mettaliar had been keeping his gaze on either Sam or the night watchman. From the lack of gunshots and screaming, he figured to others in the group were all doing their own thing at the time. Mettaliar didn't want to worry about people who, at the time, weren't a threat. He definitely had to worry about that sentry though. He shook his head trying to look for how to get him. Killing him was out of the question, making the thinking process harder and harder for Mettaliar. How to take someone out with out killing them. There had to be some weak point.

It was then that the sentry turned his head in a way and Mettaliar realized his night vision goggles. Perfect. Taking out the goggles would leave him without anything to detect Mettaliar hiding in the shadows, which might leave Sam as the scapegoat. While Mettaliar knew that he had to keep Sam safe, Mettaliar also knew that it wasn't like Sam was helpless. Probably, Sam was much much stronger than Mettaliar. Of the two of them, Sam seemed like the better candidate to be used as a scapegoat. Mettaliar crouched down and reached within the lining of his jacket, unsheathing one of his already made knives. Since the sentry was looking a bit towards him, he hid the knife in the sleeve of his black coat. He stay crouching and waited for the man to turn his head. Mettaliar nodded his head to himself and slid the knife out of his coat. He let his index and middle fingers hold the knife gently and arched his arm back. Before he could throw, Mettaliar thought that he should warn Sam that it might be good to hide in the shadows as well.

He turned to Sam and whispered, "Hope your stealth is good." With that he turned back to the sentry, leaving his goggles wide open. He took a deep breath and held it in. Suddenly, he thrusted his arm forward and flung the knife at the man. Mettaliar's aim had to be perfect. He kept his finishing motion, his arm down and his gaze on the target to see if it would hit. It did. The mans head flew to the side, scaring Mettaliar at first. Yet with the man scream some obscenities, Mettaliar realized that it was due to the whiplash of the knife hitting and destroying the goggles. Mettaliar nodded his head with a smirk. As expected the guy flipped out and took out his gun, looking around for the person that could have destroyed his googles. Mettaliar turned to Sam and only gave one order. It was the only order he could really give and it was more advice than order.

"Stay low." Mettaliar kept his crouching position and moved forward slightly as the man looked around. He could still catch Mettaliar, yet the attire he was wearing combined with that low, slow movement of his body would make it incredibly hard. The easy part was down. Now Mettaliar had the hard part of trying to stop all the people in the van. Mettaliar slowed down to a stop and looked at the van. This one required more though, and time was running out. He glanced back at Sam to see what he was doing. If Sam was in trouble he knew he'd have to go back and help him. He wasn't afraid to do so. Helping people was something he enjoyed doing anyway.

His eye brows quirked at Mark Sam still couldn’t believe that he had such good aim with the knifes he created. A grin appeared on his face as Sam thought of future possibilities, which would involve Mark’s area of expertise. The fact that he could hit the goggles was amazing to Sam. If Sa tried to throw one of his ice knives he would have most likely have hit the man in the hand or worse. To think that Mark was this down on him self when he had the awesome aim with his knives. Then it occurred to Sam, Did he aim it or was it just luck… it was a question he planned on asking very soon seeing as the time limit was getting shorter and shorter by the second.

Sam watched as the sentry pulled his gun and looked in several directions wondering where the knife came from. Slightly unsure he agreed with just leaving a scout with a gun alone Sam followed Mark knowing that all his scouts carried small scopes with laser pointer attachment if their original equipment were to get destroyed. He figured it wouldn’t take long for he or Mark to get spotted if they didn’t move fast. One thing that Mark did do right was make sure he was being followed, Sam recalled one of his early missions as a kid where he wasn’t followed and it ended up costing three of the newer TAT agents there lives.

Spotting the small red dot on Marks head near his temple Sam frowned slightly, maybe the scout wouldn’t pick him out or notice… knowing better seeing as he designed the scouts and everyone else in the training simulations Sam quickly rose to his hands and feet and tackled Mark to the ground. Getting clipped in the process, fake blood spilled from the rubber bullet as Sam rolled off of Mark and out of sight from the scout as the horn was sounded. It was a single gunfire into the air, as the loud bang resounded he looked to Mark then to the van they were trying to approach.

As the gun sounded Sam knew that two of the computer thieves would come and investigate, that was a third of the remanding thieves not including the scout. A grand total of seven thieves, the scout aware of their location and two more pulling out their pistols and heading their way. “Sorry” Sam said trying to sound as sincere as possible, knowing that this could very well be the near end of the mission, all he needed was two more shots and the scenario would be over.

A few plays by plays moved out in his mind as he pictured how they should react, the best way be split up and go one on one, however there was the ten-minute time limit if they were to get separated. The next play was them moving about as fast as they could to avoid the attention of the armed men for as long as possible till they could strike back, the next one involved Sam turning up his powers and knocking both of the armed men out however, it would only tire Sam out and alert the other guards. Looking to Mark Sam waited for an order.

Mettaliar almost screamed when Sam tackled him. He landed on the ground and rolled, yet not before hearing the sound of a gun shot go off. He saw us? Guess that device was just a helping hand, not a necessity. He heard the sound of a bullet hitting flesh and a shiver went down his spine. His nerves told his brain that there was no pain besides that of his rolling on the ground. Once he was able to get control he got up and felt his body around for any feeling of a bullet wound. He sighed to himself when he was sure he wasn't hit, yet tensed up again when he realized what that meant. Turning to Sam, he saw the little blood drops next to him. He gasped a little and looked to see if he was in a lot of pain. Seeing as he rose just as he did and no clearly noticeable sign on his face that he was dying or anything, he brushed it off slightly and paid more close attention to the thieves.

Mettaliar noticed that two other guards were coming over, guns pulled and looking for the two of them he figured. He glanced over at the sentry that had fired his shot, seeing that he was also including himself in the search for them. The sound of him being tackled probably gave a broad idea of where they were. The had to move fast or be loaded up with bullets. Mettaliar looked over at Sam as his mind ran through the scenario all over again. Three guys; two of them; can't kill anyone. Interesting options presented themselves. He looked over at the two new men approaching again as he waved off Sam's apology. He sighed as he thought about how to explain his plan.

"It's all good, Sam. Can you move ok?" Figuring that there wasn't much time until they had to get moving, he cut out the questions and just decided to spill out the idea and fix it as they go. "Alright, if you can walk alright here's what I have in mind. Those two guys need to be taken care of, and doing it one at a time is risky. I have and idea that can take them out without risking death, though it would attract attention." Mettaliar checked again and noticed one of the two looking in their general direction. Mettaliar figured he would have to take that guy out to give time for Sam to recover. He shook his head and considered whether it was a good idea to split up. He shook his head and looked, kind of apologetically, to Sam.

"Alright, I'll go take that guy out." He motioned his head to the guy slowly growing closer to them and sighed. "Stay low and try to sneak up on the other guy. Don't go unless you've got a good angle. Be careful, you've got two shot left." Mettaliar stopped himself from continuing mostly due to the fact that he needed to get moving. He also felt embarrassed as he practically lectured his trainer. The guy could probably destroy Mettaliar if they were to ever fight and here he was giving order. Mettaliar shook it off and paid attention to the action at hand. Needed to stay focus and not get caught up on other thoughts. His little slight A.D.D. was catching onto him again. He couldn't let it show in front of a true X-Man, now could he?

Mettaliar got up slightly and started moving in slightly. Behind him, he form a small wooden cylinder and kept it low. Eventually, it would become his staff yet now he needed it to be hidden. He had to stay really low as it seemed the guy had a lock on his directed. His gun wasn't raised yet though, giving Mettaliar hope that he wasn't spotted yet. Now, to truly thing think of a way of handling this. Going up to the guy head-on was stupid. Distracting seemed hard as it would draw all attention to him and probably get him over that three hit limit. He needed a plan. To keep things even more interesting, he remembered that there was a time limit. He couldn't let things continue at the pace this was going. He sighed and pulled another knife out of his sheath. He looked for a good spot to aim, the foot being the eventual target. He raised his arm at an angle as to not attract too much attention and locked on.

As he was in the motion of throwing, something caught his eye. The other guy had turned his head in Mettaliar's direction. Distracted, he threw the knife slightly off. With wide eyes and a gasp, he watched as the knife flew and hit the ground inches from the mans foot. The clinking alerted the two to Mettliar as they both raised their guns and fired. Mettaliar formed a small metal plate and grabbed it with his original throwing arm, holding it near his head. Luckily, the shot in front of him missed completely, hitting the wall behind him. The shot from the second guy was better, getting a nice arm shot. Mettaliar gasped in pain and held his head low. He wanted to reach for his arm yet knew he couldn't.

A second volley of shots came and Mettaliar rolled away and was able to dodge both shots. Mettaliar looked up and knew he was done if something didn't change. He looked back and noticed Sam. His eyes must have turned into looks of pleading. He looked back and saw the first man drawing closer. Mettaliar knew he had little time to act. Yet could think of nothing to do. He sighed to himself, realizing he was close to failure.

Watching intently as Mark plotted out their next move a twinge of a smile left his face as Mark gave Sam an apologetic look. Slightly confused Sam waited for the reason he was looking apologetically, turned out that Marl wanted to split up and go their separate ways for a bit. Nodding his head Sam turned slightly and went for his target, tucking and rolling Sam managed to arrive at his opponents backside and was able to put him quickly in a blood choke only after distracting the guard with a small ice minion. Counting in his head a period of four minutes went by since he was last by Mark’s side, which meant only six minutes remained on the clock for them before the mission ended.

Laying the guard down out cold Sam looked around and spotted Mark looking as if everything was lost. “Pause!” Sam called out as the simulation paused itself the armed guard now aiming the gun at a dead on shot from Mark, “Your on the verge of failure, how do you feel right now?” Sam asked as he approached Mark making no notice of the frozen figures around them. This was the true point of the lesson Sam wanted Mark to be familiar with this feeling of hopelessness. Sam wanted him familiar with it so later on when they were in different missions or simulations Mark could identify if he was truly about to fail or not.

Smiling slightly Sam offered a hand to Mark and said, “It might seem cruel but there was no way you could or would have passed this mission. Can you recall all the rules of the mission I gave to you before hand?” he looked curiously to Mark knowing that the alchemist could easily recall a few if not all the rules. “I told you those rules to make you react faster to everything, the time limits, the amount of times you could get shot, all of them were set up so you would fail, I went through several simulations like this when I was younger, they were set up so I could properly identify with true failures from ones I thought I lost.”

Pausing as he looked back at the gunman who had a barrel of metal pointing at Mark’s head he smiled and said, “Despite the rules saying that we had to save the computers, in the outside world these computers don’t mean our lives to save, we could always pick them up later down the line.” Sam looked back to Mark and smiled again, “Well anyways you passed your mission to fail!” Sam waited to see exactly how Mark would react to the news of the mission being based off his failure.

Mettaliar rolled into a ball and was defending himself with the shield. There wasn't much time left and he had to move fast. That was until he heard the familiar voice scream "Pause!" Confused, Mettaliar looked up to see Sam standing there looking at him. Mettaliar looked up from his shield to be a little shocked to have the guard up close with his gun. Mettaliar stayed down on one knee and just stared at the man as he heard Sam talk on about the mission. A failed mission, apparently. Mettaliar just shook his head silently to himself. He couldn't believe he could fail the mission. For some reason he could still feel that hope that he could have made it in time. Mettaliar was still stuck on Sam's last sentence though.

"You passed your mission to fail!"

What? Mettaliar couldn't understand what was going on. Mettaliar tried to take in everything that he had said, yet still was in a confused mindset. Did he PLAN on him to fail? What was this mission designed to do besides show how TRUE failures happen? Mettaliar simply dropped his shield and sighed. He didn't know whether to stand up or remain kneeling. He didn't know whether or not this was all a joke and as soon as he stood up Sam would yell "Go!" and get him shot. He simply didn't know what was going on with this simulation. Was this something he should have passed or not? Mettaliar seemed lost though he know he shouldn't be.

"Well... th-thanks?" Mettaliar had to not leave in at that. "Look, I'm not sure how to react to this. I mean... was this made to make people fail? Why? Why make something for the sole purpose of failing?" While he understood the point Sam was trying to make, it was still confusing to him why had to go through all of that. He was someone who always believed in achieving the goal set in front of him and if there was truly no way to do it than why bother. His mind became frustrated as he stood up and looked at Sam. "I'm sorry. I'm just not sure how to react right now. I kept feeling that I would be able to work through it, though it did seem like things were turning out bad. I just get frustrated when I fail, even when I'm supposed to."

“Simulation Over!” Sam ordered the Danger Room as it changed its current scenery back to its normal, plain and gray look. Smiling to Mark who was clearly confused Sam just responded with a small chuckle and said, “The mission we just had undergone was designed to fail, think about it, all the rules I placed, every time you had an edge I took it away every time you would get ahead I would add another rule, this mission was designed to make you fail, it was set up so you confront your issues of failure.” he paused and walked a few steps away from Mark and towards the exit and said, “You had hope which was good, I bet if you were to undergo the session before I entered you could pass it now, just be aware of everything, and be aware that this is just a simulation, you fail you try again, expected the unexpected.”

Walking towards the center of the of the danger room as the god room lowered it’s platform for Sam to step on once he was on it the platform brought him back up to the god room and from there he spoke into the mic and said, “Learn from your mistakes so you can better yourself from them.” pressing a few buttons the same scene of Mark’s first simulation started to form. Spiders and scorpions started to roam around looking for food or a victim which in this case was Mark. “Remember from your previous mistakes, Ready! GO!” sitting in the seat behind him Sam watched Mark and the giant bugs on the security cameras.