Male Bonding

[cyclops@psynet.net]

Date Logged: 3/19/98
Logged By: Cyclops
Players: Cyclops, Wolverine
Time: Early morning, on a day shortly after the New Mutants were introduced.
Place: Xavier's Mansion (Danger Room)

     It's one of those early-morning workouts, where muscles are stiff and 
tempers short, where yet another death-trap contrivance has to be fought off 
before an X-Man can sit down to a well-earned breakfast. Cyclops is already in 
the Danger Room when Wolverine arrives. He's doing a couple of casual warm-ups 
with free weights, with the Danger Room set in exercise mode. 

     Wolverine strolls in, street clothes replacing costume. He removes his 
hat, tossing it to the side of the room absently. "Was told you were here, 
slim." 
     Wolverine discards the jacket in short order, his demeanor gruff as 
usual. "Think yer done with the toys?" He nods at the weights. 

     The weights are set aside, and Cyclops nods casually in response. 
"Couldn't sleep. Figured I'd set a good example for those new students of the 
Professor's, by coming down here before breakfast. I was just doing a few 
warmups. Have any specific thing to practice in mind, or do you just want to 
let the computer pick what it thinks we need work on?" 

     Wolverine grunts, stripping his gloves. "Kids, you mean. Surprised Chuck 
would start 'em so young; as likely to get em killed than help 'em." His face 
splits into an unfriendly grin. "Why don't you pick; you'll need the edge." 

     It's too early in the morning to start wrangling, so Cyclops just lets 
that remark go, though his scowl is visible and he's obviously restrained a 
shot back. Irritably, he sets up the parameters of the scenario, and the 
Danger Room kicks into motion. "/All/ of us can get better." 

     "Better start quick, Summers," Wolverine returns and suddenly dives at 
the other man, forearms extended. A loud *>SNIKT<* accompanies six deadly 
blades springing from their housings. 

     That definitely wasn't how Cyclops was expecting things to start. He 
leaps backwards and momentarily out of the way, reflexively aiming an optical 
blast just in front of his erstwhile ally. "Hey!" 

     Wolverine flies past the other, twisting and rolling upon landing; 
crouched with his fists clenched low before him. "Whats'a matter, Slim; still 
sleepy?" he chides. 

     Around them, the Danger Room has been taking on cave-like properties. 
Unfortunately, from the trembling and bits of rocky debris falling from the 
cave roof, it looks like the two X-Men are about to be caught inside a 
cave-in. Taking a quick glance around to survey the artificial dangers, 
Cyclops growls, "Listen, buddy, just what /is/ your problem? You want to fight 
me? Fine! We can fight. What're you tryin' to prove?" 

     Wolverine twists to the side, smashing through a falling rock with one 
set of claws to remove it as he moves. "Way I see it, bub, you're gettin' 
soft." He shifts direction, body low and tense, "Think maybe we need to hash 
out the old peckin' order again." 

     Concussive blasts blow apart a series of rocks, each precisely eliminated 
in a red flash. "What pecking order?" Cyclops shouts over the rumble of the 
collapsing cave. "Storm leads the X-Men now!" Soft? /Soft?/ Cyclops might be a 
lot of things, but soft he isn't, and he proves it amply (though maybe not to 
Wolverine's satisfaction) with a number of well-timed acrobatic moves, 
throwing himself out of the path of danger as rocks and dirt hail from above, 
blasting himself egress when he needs to. 

     For his own part, Wolverine scythes his own haphazzard route across the 
room, closing the distance between himself and Cyclops. Timing the fall of one 
of the better-sized rocks, he turns and cradles the fall into an arc; hurling 
the head-sized chunk of sandstone directly at the other man. "Here ya go, 
Summers! Catch!" 

     An optic blast of judiciously-applied force intercepts the missile midway 
through its flight, and, rather than shattering it, merely lobs it back at the 
thrower... at high velocity. Not a good move, though, Summers. Timing's off 
just a little. Another large rock just barely misses him. "This is senseless, 
Wolverine!" Cyclops shouts back angrily. "We're in the Danger Room to learn to 
work together, not to fight one another!" He takes his eyes off his fellow 
X-Man only momentarily, trying to spot some exit from this chamber of 
destruction. The closest thing to it is a narrow crack in one of the walls, 
far too slender for even a child to slip through. 

     Wolverine doesn't reply with anything but a low growl, already in motion 
and out of the way of the returning projectile. He launches himself bodily at 
the taller man, his clawed hands moving to both sides as he shoulder-tackles 
Cyclops instead of tearing into him. 

     It's too late to throw himself out of the way entirely, so Cyclops elects 
to fall back and go into a sideways roll, taking only part of the impact. 
Still, that's got to hurt. "You're crazy!" he yells. "The Danger Room's trying 
its best to kill us! Why should we do that ourselves?!" As if to punctuate his 
words, the rumbling intensifies, the entire floor shaking with the 
reverberations of the cave-in. He fires a beam at full power, but it's not 
directed at Wolverine. Instead, it's focused upon the crack in the wall. 
But... under a normal Danger Room scenario, the X-Men would, of course, 
combine their efforts to smash through, and there would be enough time 
allotted so that cooperatively they could win over the forces arrayed against 
them. Now, though... 

     Wolverine rounds on the other man, "Life's not always fair, bub. Cope." 
He stands there a moment, grinding his teeth almost audibly over the noise of 
the cave in; smashing a falling rock that comes too close with what almost 
seems an afterthought. Finally, he mutters something under his breath and 
shakes his head, rushing towards the crack in the wall. 

     Cyclops, from his prone position on the heaving floor, aims another 
full-force blast at the crack. He makes some good headway, but still not 
enough. "Yeah? Well, I'm tired of your attitude, mister," Cyclops snaps as he 
stumbles to his feet. "You think everyone else has it easy? You think that 
life's-not-fair makes up for everything you do?" 

     Wolverine attacks the wall with both hands, blow after adamantium-backed 
blow carving chunks from the opening begun by Cyclops. He rages at the rock as 
he yells, "Somebody's gotta wake you dreamers up every now and again. It's 
good for ya." 
     Wolverine says "'Sides, a good toss an tumble is better'n those stupid 
weights." 
     Wolverine grins, laying into the wall even more. 

     "Some of us go through a stage where we think who we are and what we're 
worth is measured by who we can beat up," Cyclops states disdainfully, as he 
closes the distance to Wolverine. Focusing a series of blasts upon the wall, 
he hammers away around the opening. A deep rumble starts in the distance... 
the final death throes of these caverns, from the sound of it. "/Most/ of us 
grow out of it." 

     "Maybe, Slim," Wolverine replies, hammering loose a larger chunk and then 
falling back to allow his teammate a free shot without fear of holding back. 
"Some call it survival. 

     *SKROW!* A shower of rocks blows outwards as Cyclops' final optic beam 
opens the way to freedom. "There's a difference between doing what you have to 
do to survive... and being proud of what you did. Are you just a beast who 
talks, Wolverine? Is being an X-Man just a way to show the world you're still 
in the race? What's the prize for winning?" 

     Wolverine dashes out the hole made by that last blast, slowing his run to 
a walk as the surounding terrain begins to fade and vanish about the two; the 
scenairo done. He sheathes his claws with a vaguely disturbing sound of metal 
against flesh. 
     Wolverine says "I'm the best there is at what I so, bub; and the prize is 
tomorrow." 
     Wolverine picks up his hat and coat, roughly. "I like to think I'll see 
it." 
     Wolverine throws the coat over his shoulder, "Go ahead and live for your 
future, I'll take see'in the next sunrise." 

     Cyclops is close at his team-mate's heels, letting out a sigh of relief 
as the simulation ends. He ignores the computer as it recites the results. 
They're not good statistics --- that's all he needs to know. "And is what you 
do, what you /should/ be doing? Is tomorrow going to be any better than 
today?" Cyclops turns, and shrugs. "See you at breakfast," he says abruptly. 

     Wolverine mutters, "I'll let you dreamers worry 'bout that one." and 
walks out the door of the Danger Room, putting on his hat and tugging the brim 
down hard over his eyes.