Burning Buildings, Shadowcat, Iceman, Wednesday Sep. 7th

[Iceman]

Wednesday, September 7th
12:47 pm

It had been a pretty boring day thus far in Bobby Drake's opinion. Things were too quiet between 'classes', and he had spent much of the day in his room. Which was why he had ended up ready for the Danger Room half an hour early. He'd left straight from lunch, knowing nothing legendary would happen in the half an hour between lunch and the time he was supposed to meet Kitty for her one-on-one time.

The X-Men uniforms were an acquired taste. When he'd first arrived, he'd eyed them dubiously, trying to figure out where the zippers were. Of course, it had been hard to concentrate on the uniform when it was molded so vuluptuously to the redhead wearing it. After a bit of territorial attitude from Scott he had been informed that this was Jean Grey. It took him a bit longer to realize that she was eternally off-limits. A shame.

Now he could get on an X-uniform in two minutes flat--he knew, because he'd once raced Warren for the title of Fastest Uniform Putter-Onner. Of course, he'd gotten his 'safety belt', as he liked to call it, twisted up, and had to do the entire Danger Room mission with his--well, let's just say it wasn't pretty.

He took his time this time, making sure everything was in place. The last to go on were the gloves, which he didn't like but which were apparently a necessity. He could have always rebuilt a finger that blew off, but it made him terribly nervous every time he had to try it, so he made the necessary precautions anyways.

With about ten minutes before the start, he left the locker room to lean against the door to the Danger Room. He assumed Kitty was already changing and would be out shortly--she was always punctual, unlike him.

[Shadowcat]

There was a side of the X-suits that made Kitty think she was a bond girl, made her make sexy faces in the mirror as she zipped everything up and had her playing with her hair for ten minutes before she inevitably settled on a sensible ponytail, the only way to escape a reprimand. There was also a side of them that pulled the little hairs on the backs of her legs out. Leather had a tendency to do that. She certainly made sure to shave her legs every day now, though, though she wore a long-sleeved undershirt. Shaving arms was waaay too much work.

Even though it took her forever to get suited up -- Kitty did a slightly psychotic triple-check of all the suit's pieces before entering the field -- she was always on time if not slightly early, since she also psychotically budgeted way too much time for any activity. She appeared in the Danger Room immaculately uniformed at 12:50, her hair pulled back neatly and her eyelashes darkened with a light coat of waterproof (and therefore sweatproof) mascara. Kitty was always going to be the girl who wore makeup to the gym. It was in her soul.

"What's up, Bobby?" she said as she entered the big silver room, which was still bare of hardlight foes. "Ninjas? Pirates? Pirate-ninjas on fire?"

While she liked the straight-up fighting programs -- Kitty was getting really good at Judo and could beat up the sim-Ninjas all the way to level 30 these days -- she liked the programs with puzzles even better. It gave her the chance to problem-solve, something she knew she was good at. And it wasn't like she ever had to fight her way through the guards to the silver monkey at the heart of the Temple, either. While she couldn't blast planes out of the sky, Kitty had a much easier time in most battles than those with offensive powers. No one ever called on her to fight giant robots, so she could concentrate on achieving the objective.

"Come on, surprise me," she said with a little bounce. "I had, like, a huge bagel with cream cheese for lunch. I need to burn it off."

[Iceman]

When Kitty arrived, he checked her for the make-up he knew he would find there. "Oh, good thing you put on mascara today. One of the ninjas has been asking about you," he jibed, always ready with a comment every time they went into practice together.

"Ninjas? Pirates? Pirate-ninjas on fire?"

"Fire pirates on ninjas, actually. Thought we'd put a little twist on things. It was Scott's idea." The best part about Bobby's lines was his delivery. Casual way of talking, completely straight face as he moved over to the computer to start things up.

"I had, like, a huge bagel with cream cheese for lunch. I need to burn it off."

"Oh my gosh!" Bobby exclaimed with every bit of over-exaggeration he had in him, turning on Kitty with wide eyes. "Look, I didn't want to tell you this, but I think you should lay off the eating for a while. I heard Scott telling 'Ro if you gain any more weight we're kicking you off the team." But knowing weight could be a touchy thing for girls, he broke into a grin immediately, reaching out to put an arm around her shoulders and pretending to ruffle her hair. "I'm just kidding--you're perfect. In fact, you should really indulge yourself more often," he added as he let her go and moved past her, looking around as the scene came into view. "I had a piece of chocolate cake for lunch." It was a well-known fact that Bobby had an infamous sweet tooth and no sense of healthy eating.

"Alright, so. Here's the deal," he said, turning back to face Kitty. There was a tone to his voice suddenly that signified the change between Bobby and Iceman. A certain seriousness and maturity that he only put on when he had to--and even now, it wasn't very pronounced. He was just with Kitty, after all.

"We've gotten information about a group of mutants who are going to level this building," he said, gesturing behind him at a building that now stood across the street from where they were. "It's a business that has been putting out some anti-mutant propaganda. We've been watching the building all day, so far we haven't seen anything." As he spoke, Bobby was surveying the scene. He turned back to face Kitty when he was finished. "So, Shadowcat. What do we do?"

[Shadowcat]

"Hey, man, you're the one who keeps asking about over-18 programs," Kitty shot back. "Don't think I don't know about Britney And Christina: Mark I."

Hmf. Boys didn't understand the pressure to look good all the time, even while fighting off evil guys. And it wasn't like her mascara was going to seriously impede her battle performance... unlike some other X-ladies she could name, who seemed to believe that long, flowing hair in no way hurt visibility. Cough cough Jean.

"So what's up, Bobby?" she said as she entered the big silver room, which was still bare of hardlight foes. "Ninjas? Pirates? Pirate-ninjas on fire?"

"Fire pirates on ninjas, actually. Thought we'd put a little twist on things. It was Scott's idea."

"Fire pirates? Of course," Kitty said. "I'll be interested to see how that one works." She knew Bobby was never serious, but she tended to run with other people's jokes. Bobby got it by now, of course. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't, and would give her condescending stares and tell her she needed to figure out how to take a joke. She could take a joke just fine! Why else hadn't she killed Bobby yet?

"Come on, surprise me," she said with a little bounce. "I had, like, a huge bagel with cream cheese for lunch. I need to burn it off."

"Oh my gosh!" Bobby exclaimed with every bit of over-exaggeration he had in him, turning on Kitty with wide eyes. "Look, I didn't want to tell you this, but I think you should lay off the eating for a while. I heard Scott telling 'Ro if you gain any more weight we're kicking you off the team."

Kitty shot him a glare for that one. Sometimes she wished she had Scott's laser eyes.

[Bobby] broke into a grin immediately, reaching out to put an arm around her shoulders and pretending to ruffle her hair. "I'm just kidding--you're perfect. In fact, you should really indulge yourself more often," he added as he let her go and moved past her, looking around as the scene came into view. "I had a piece of chocolate cake for lunch."

"OMG! Of course you did. You're going to blow up like a balloon when you turn 30," Kitty said with a smile. A lot of people had told her that, most of them like Bobby -- half-joking. She'd had to put up with a mini-intervention once. Kitty always thought that if she were anorexic, she'd be the first to know. Besides, she still had little love handles she needed to get rid of. Ugh! Gross.

"Alright, so. Here's the deal. We've gotten information about a group of mutants who are going to level this building. It's a business that has been putting out some anti-mutant propaganda. We've been watching the building all day, so far we haven't seen anything. So, Shadowcat. What do we do?"

"Well, if we had the rest of the team, we'd stake them out on buildings surrounding the area," Kitty said, sliding immediately into a more professional tone -- though, like Bobby, not much more professional. Mostly it was an elimination of "like." "I'd put Storm and Jean in the sky, keep Cyclops and Logan close to the ground with you and Betsy monitoring the crowd, have Beast tapping wires and me on recon. Since it's just us, I'll take point with you following. If there's guards in the building, I'd patch the communicators into their chatter. Do we have the cooperation of local police force?"