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Cafas was....well the dude was cool. There were very few other words that came to mind as Max saw him walk forward to take the second round. He hadn't been impressed by Max's run on round one, but that was to be expected. This guy was an X-men. He was on a very different level.

This was evident even more as Max watched his run. Cafas even randomized the run. Max watched with earnest curiosity as the buzzer rang out and Cafas entered the fray. The metabots in the Danger Room were nerfed from their real life counterparts, Max knew that, but seeing the ease with which Cafas dispatched the Bots guarding the door Max couldn't help but be startled.

He entered the building with a small blaze if fire that had once been a pair of metabots behind him. A holographic screen appeared in front of Max, displaying a real time map of the structure Cafas was in as well as a camera feed of his run. What was this guy?

He tore through Bots like it was nothing, exploiting weaknesses in their joints and system that Max had never heard of. He didn't know what the Xman's mutation was, as far as he could tell Cafas hadn't even used an ability yet. He reached the fifth floor and grabbed the case.

Max didn't have to watch the display to see two Bots be tossed out the window of the building and smash into the street in front of him. He heard impacts and then silence. Shortly after which Cafas exited the building and a buzzer sounded.

"Unbelievable." Max thought to himself.

So this was what a real warrior fought like. Max had been in his fair share of scraps, heck he even studied martial arts, but this pink haired guy had blasted through a dozen or so Bots in three minutes and all he had to show for it was a couple of scratches.

He was pulled from his thoughts as the case skid in front of him and Cafas spoke. The timer was down to thirty seconds now and Max picked up the heavy case.

"Sure, it be a waste not to try out a team run." Max agreed.

The buzzer sounded and about a block away on top of a building Max saw a bright red contraption form. It was huge, taking up the entire roof of the place. Metabots spewed out of the thing, propelling themselves on jet packs.

"Level Three. "Place charges and detonate to destroy enemy assembly. Begin."

Max opened the case and saw a small box with a big red button on it that he took out. The rest of the case was full of tiny white blocks Max assumed were explosives with wires running to a small device in the center.

He shut the case and picked it up as a small crowd of Bots appeared at the end of the street. He turned to look at Cafas.

"What do you say? I go high you go low?" He asked.

Mirror's explanation made sense concerning his revival. It was comforting to have somone who had gone through the same thing he was currently dealing with. Her statement raised a single question in Max's mind though and he asked before he could over think it too much.

"So how did you die and come back?" He said.

It was the strangest question he had ever asked. It was like something you would expect to read in one of those hip church newsletters in a dumb article named "An Interview with Jesus." What a complicated world they lived in now.

She informed him of him of what kind of logistics he had to deal with now and he felt a wave of panic at the mention of contacting his family. He and his parents had not been on the best of terms since he moved to the city, in fact the last conversation he had had with his dad had been something like; if you're going to waste your life with your head in the clouds you can do it without me.

He had been gone for a year, they would have been here dealing with his death for a year. Emotional baggage aside his dad was a doctor, people just didn't come back from the dead. He would want answers.

"We can update my status and check storage but I'm not contacting my family." Max said, "lots of bad blood and for now I think letting them have some closure is fine."

Kendra bravely walked him out onto the dance floor as they made their way to the edge of the ocean of bodies moving in rythme. She seemed confident and Max felt a rush of excitement as she let go of his hand and started dancing.

Kendra was sweet, intelligent, and beautiful...but a dancer she was not. He gave her credit for her effort as she twisted about, enjoying herself. He raised an eyebrow curiosly, was she trying to make him smile? Or was she simply unaccustomed to salsa music. She smiled at him.

- "Come on show me what you got. I'm sure you've got a few moves."

He gave her a devilish grin and raised one hand over his head in rythme with the beat. Latin flavor was one of Max's favorite dance influences. He offered his other hand to Kendra.

Before she could take it he spun, turning himself so he landed behind her facing her back. His hand went onto the back of her neck and he used his power in her, making her light as a feather. With a twist of his hand he spun her to face him. His right arm landing on the small of her back, the left grabbing her free hand. He pressed himself against her, moving to the rythme and guiding her. With his power active it made her an easy partner.

He lead her through the crowd, a simple task despite the numbers when you flow with the music and moved towards the center of the dance floor. He found a pocket of free space and guided Kendra to it. He moved his right hand and spun her with his left out so his arm was fully extended and then back in and into a deep dip.

As he raised her back up he placed both hands firmly on her back and smiled.

"You tell me? Do I have moves?" He said with a wink.

As Max listened to Agnes explain her ability he had to admit it was quite remarkable. Walking into a fight with a swarm of insects having your back seemed like a pretty solid battle plan. Max let out a sigh of relief as Agnes turned around and reabsorbed the insects back into herself. He appreciated her looking away, seeing the bugs come out had been intense but seeing them go back in? Max gave a little shudder at the thought.

She called out to the CLASS system and the room began to shift around them. Max had gotten acclimated to the process from his experiences with the Danger Room but he always felt a sense of wonder as the area around him morphed and changed. He found himself in a dirty alley, looking forward at a run down bar. He'd done urban before in the Danger Room, but this felt more real somehow.

-”Welcome to CLASS. We’ll start you out easy, okay? This is more just to get a gauge on what you can do. There is no pass fail here.” She gestured towards the bar. ”Why don’t you lead the way? But...be on your toes, okay? Even at Level 1, these things can hurt.”

Max felt a wave of nerves run through him. Playful demonstration was fun, but now he was looking at the practical exam. Sometimes it drove Max crazy trying to find ways to utilize his ability in training scenarios. His ability was adaptable, but very circumstantial. He always had to be aware of what was around him, what he could use to defend him.

"Well here goes nothing." He said giving Agnes a thumbs up.

He lowered gravity on himself to almost nothing, barely letting his feet touch the dirty alley floor. He was wary of traps, being presented such a straight forward path. He cautiously made his way to the door of the bar.

The windows were blacked out and one was covered with wood, making it impossible to see inside. He edged over to the door and pushed it open, clearing the doorway as he did. The door swung open and Max waited pressed against the doorframe. After a moment of silence he peeked.

The place was dusty and run down, it was a decent sized room with table sand chairs scattered about. In the back was the bar with stool in front of it and off to the left was a doorway that Max assumed led into the back.

"Clear." He called out to Agnes.

He took a step inside and felt his foot catch on something. As his shoe touched the wood of the floor he saw a wire snap under his boots. He heard the click of some kind of mechanism trigger. Well damn.

"Wire!" He called out.

He rolled forward, his weightlessness carrying him far into the room. He smacked into a table and pull it down between him and the door.

The quiet night around him was calming. He could hear the rustle of the leaves above him in the trees. He focused on his body, on the flow of energy through them. He was calm, in a state of mental peace. Maybe there was something to this martial arts stuff.

-"Hey"

Someone was shouting. His bubble of focus popped and Max opened his eyes and looked for the source of the outburst. He saw a hooded figure running his way.

-"Hey. Run"

The man was shouting. Behind him off in the distance Max saw three men in suits chasing the man. "What is up with this city?" Max thought as he saw the pursuit. He saw one of the suites figures extend his arm. There was a silvery flash of moonlight in the night air and Max saw a hatchet smack into a tree beside the hooded man.

"Oh shi-" Max began.

The running man kicked the hatchet and snapped the handle. Max took a reactionary step away from the group and fell off the side of the rock. He nullified gravity around himself and broke his fall as he lost sight of the men behind the stone.

"That man needs help." Max thought.

"Not my problem." A voice in his head responded.

"But those guys will kill him." He thought back furiously.

"And? Once again not my problem." The voice repeated.

Max took a deep breath. When you had a chance to do good, to help someone, and you didn't do it you were just as responsible as the person causing the problem.

"Alright. Go be a hero....idiot." His inner jerk replied.

Max zipped up his hoodie and popped the hood up. The man being chased had the right idea. Last thing Max wanted was to have hatchet wielding lunatics know what he looked like. Max ran out from behind the rock.

"This way." He shouted.

He tore across the path and into the trees. He could weave through the woods here and make his way way to the 7th Street subway entrance. The crowd might help the man lose his pursuers.

Agnes complimented Max's demonstration and he gave a pleased smile. He wasn't used to compliments, especially about his mutation. Most of his life he had made it a point to keep it hidden. Letting loose without fear of judgement felt good.

She gave him a warning about her ability and Max stood and watched her. The tension held in the air as Max watched her and waited. There was something amazing about the moment between when you knew someone was a mutant and when they displayed their power. It was a moment of endless possibility where for just a fleeting second you allowed yourself to truly believe anything was possible.

The buzzing started. At first Max thought it was just hie ears until it continued to grow louder and louder. The sounded resched its crescendo and Max started to see what was going on. His stomach turned as waves of bugs expelled from Agnes' body. They spewed from her mouth and her limbs split open revealing more and more of them. His head swam for a moment when the giant centipedes rolled out.

It was terrifying and for a moment all Mac could do was stand in shock and horror as the plague of insects buzzed and hissed. As she floated upward Max could see the majesty of it though.

He had been mocked, insulted, even beat up for being a mutant back in his home town. Labeled a freak and an outcast. It had given him an appreciation for those that were different. Everyone had worth, everyone had merit, and as he looked at Agnes he saw her for what she was. A Queen. She was the host and leader of this swarm and as strange as it was it was something to behold.

She explained her power and Max applauded slowly.

"Absolutly incredible. Don't get me wrong it makes my skin crawl a little bit to be honest but I've never seen anything like it," He smiled, "Do you feel them while their inside you?"

The idea of feeling millions of bugs crawling under his skin made Max feel itchy but he ignored the psycho somatic sensation. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of the swarms hostility but tool a step forward. The insects hissed in protest and Max stopped.