[RP with doug_ramsey - The Danger Room]
Peter stood in the middle of the Danger Room, which was just a large, open space as there were no programs running as of yet. He performed some stretches while waiting for Douglas Ramsey, as they were going to do a training session together. He had arrived early, so he was not impatient that Doug was not there yet.
Peter had even picked out a program to use, provided that Doug did not mind. It was a new one that Hank had told him had been created - it advanced through many levels, starting at fairly easy and working up to much harder, almost like a video game. There were simple human thugs to get buy, some villains, some super-villains, and then a very large Sentinel, and possibly more. Hank did not go into specifics, but Peter did not know what could be more than a Sentinel. Probably something from space. There always seemed to be something from space popping up.
Peter was not too sure of Douglas' ability in the Danger Room, as his mutation was not a physical power. He had tried to remember back to a few years ago when they were both just students, and before Peter had left for his year back in Russia. But then there were often large groups of students practicing together, and Peter could not recall how trained Doug had been. And as it was years ago, Doug might be much more advanced in defense tactics now, so he really could not wager a very good estimate.
He thought it might be quite rude to openly ask Doug this, so that was why he decided that this program might be best - they will get as far as they could, advancing through the 'levels.' Peter had to remind himself that he was not here to protect Doug, but to fight along side him. He felt very uncomfortable even thinking this way, but he would be foolish to try and forget that his strength was not much greater than Douglas even without his mutation. And when he did use it? He bashfully admitted to himself there were very few that were much stronger than himself.
He was distracted from such unwanted self-centered thoughts when the door to the Danger Room opened. Peter greeted the other mutant boy with a smile as he walked further into the room. "Hello, Douglas. Ready for a good training session, da?"
"Da," Doug agreed. He had just sprinted all the way to the Danger Room from the computer labs, worried that he might be late. IMing with Pyro tended to make him lose track of time all too easily. He wasn't very well prepared - wearing just his same old jeans, sneakers, and t-shirt instead of any durable body armour. But, then, Doug had some reservations about pulling on an X-Men uniform, even only for a practice session. Besides, if a supervillain or robot or alien were to attack him in real life, he couldn't very well ask it to please wait a second while he got ready.
Peter was doing the responsible thing - stretching and limbering up. Doug had never been much of a phys. ed. student, but he copied Peter's movements. There was no point in ending up in the infirmary with a pulled hamstring. Injuries were definitely not required for his new modeling career. Then again, showing up to a photoshoot with a black eye and split lip would be frowned upon as well. "Haven't done this in a while," he said, a little tentative. Even an unfit Peter could pummel Doug into oblivion, and from the looks of things Peter was far from unfit. "Did you set up a program already?"
"Yes, I have been told of a new program and I thought that maybe we could do that one. It moves up in levels and difficulty - without us knowing, of course - and so this should be appropriate for you to get back into the swing of things." Peter smiled at Douglas encouragingly. "I am sure that you will do just fine."
Peter walked to the control panel on the wall. "I think we should begin, then." He punched in the program, and he and Doug found themselves standing in an dark alleyway of a city, surrounded by tall buildings. "New York, perhaps," Peter mused out loud. He was cut off when he heard a woman's scream. He pointed out to the street. "I think we need to go and check that out."
"Guess so." Doug had always found it difficult to keep a straight face during these simulations. Mr. Summers' inspiration for the programs seemed to be based mostly on schlocky horror movies and old comic books. "Oooh, what foul fiend will spring at us from the shadows?" Doug muttered under his breath as the two of them jogged towards the street. He was barely able to complete the sentence when something underfoot tripped him up. Unable to keep his footing, Doug instead threw himself into the fall with whatever momentum he still had, rolled in mid-air, and landed on his feet, if a little dizzy and shaken. Great start, Ramsey. He looked around, disoriented. "Pete?"
"Right here, Douglas," Peter said, coming up behind the other boy and clasping him on the shoulder lightly, though it was just a hidden attempt to make sure that he was standing up okay. "That was an impressive maneuver. A bit untimely, but impressive." He kept a straight face as Doug's cheeks started to turn a bit pink. They walked around the corner and saw there were two men running out of what appeared to be a corner store while customers from inside looked out in horror. They appeared to be carrying bags of money, and Peter knew that it did not belong to them.
"Stop there!" Peter called out, and the men turned to him, each sporting a vicious look. They dropped the money bags and each pulled out a knife as a weapon. Peter made a mental note to let Hank know he doubted two store robbers would just stop like that, but he didn't think that was the point of the exercise anyway. "I shall take out the man on the left," Peter said to Doug. "And you disarm the one on the right."
Peter made use of his mutation, turning into Colossus as he advanced on the man. The other man did not fear him at all, and ran at him screaming, waving his knife around. It only took him three seconds to knock away the knife and have his arms pinned behind his back. He looked over to see how Doug was doing.
Doug had paused for a moment, seeing the organic steel ripple over Peter's already huge, muscular frame. Probably, in real life, any mere thief would run a mile just on seeing that. No one is ever going to run a mile from Doug. Still, these were only human attackers, and a knife was... Well, it was a knife. Not as bad as robotic tentacles or a Doombot or a thousand other scary things. But a knife in the right place could still kill him. Doug sighed and waited where he was, a slight grin on his face. If the other programmed man had run at Colossus, it probably wouldn't take much to provoke his accomplice to attack poor, weedy Cypher. Sure enough, the man ran at him, and Doug calmly - on the surface, at least - deflected his knife arm, spinning the man around, arm straight in a lock, with Doug forcing him to the ground, knee in the small of his back. Under the pressure of aching tendons, and with concrete in his face, the burglar soon dropped the knife. Doug kept the man on the ground, and picked up the weapon. "We going for unarmed, or should we take these with us?" he asked Peter.
"This is up to you, I believe," Colossus answered. "We do want to try to be as non-violent as possible, but this program is already proving to be problematic. I have issues with it, such as unrealistic and somewhat idiotic burglars."
Colossus walked over to where Doug and the other man was, while carrying his own knocked out burglar over his shoulder. Doug stood up, and Colossus picked that burglar up too. He put them both in a nearby dumpster and shut the lid, and told a person standing on the sidewalk to call the authorities. The person stared at Colossus wide-eyed, but nodded and pulled out a cell phone. Colossus gestured for Doug to follow him. "Well, then. Let us see what awaits us next."
Doug considered his knife for a moment, then tossed it away. It would dematerialise as soon as they were out of sight, anyway. He needed the practice with hand-to-hand fighting. He trailed after Peter, casting a look around, trying to look as if he was actually of some benefit to the "team" by keeping an eye on the surroundings. Unfortunately, he saw nothing. "This place has improved a lot since we were kids, huh? Remember when it was pretty much like being attacked by Pacman, and the garbage converter from Star Wars?"
"It has improved sufficiently with advancing technology, yes," Peter agreed. "I think I had to defeat dancing dust pans, once." He paused as he saw something walking down the now suspiciously deserted street at them. "That right there," he said, nodding toward it to direct Doug's attention, "is no dancing dust pan."
"Well, dude, at least you defeated them..." Doug frowned. "You know, I've seen that before... Isn't that a, um..." He didn't have time to finish the thought before a red light bathed the street, destroying as garbage can to their left. Doug threw himself into Peter, and got them both into an alleyway to take cover. "Okay. It's a thing. A very destructive red roboty thing. Plan of action? And remember I'm not exactly Wolverine."
"Well, I could smash it to smithereens if I could get close-" He was cut off as the alleyway was filled with red light accompanied with a loud explosion out on the street. "-enough to it," he finished. "It would be much more easy if it-" Red light and large explosion, this time much brighter and louder and closer, and the wall of the building they were leaned up against shook a fair bit. "-would stop doing that," Peter added dryly. He looked at Doug and cocked his head to the side. "You know languages, Douglas. Including that of computers and robots and such, da? Can you ask it to stop-" More light and another explosion of a visible street lamp "-doing that?"
Doug could barely hear Peter over the din of things exploding, but the gist was fairly easy to understand. "Well, maybe if I can get to some kind of access panel..." he muttered. He tapped Peter on the shoulder and, using the hand signals Cyclops had taught them once (the hand signals Wolverine had taught them had been of a different sort entirely), indicated that he was going to try and circle around the block to come up behind the robot and reprogram it. And that Peter should try not to die in that time. Doug grinned hopefully, and then dashed off.
Peter tried to call after Doug, telling him to stop, but he must not have heard. He did not realize that Doug talking to the robot meant having to go up to it and get close enough to open it up. Quite honestly, he wasn't exactly sure what he had been thinking when he suggested the idea - that Doug start making beeping sounds at it? - but now that he knew he wish he had never said anything. He went out to the mouth of the alley and looked over, seeing the robot continue to blow up random objects - Peter didn't think that rat trying to run to a sewer grate much deserved it - but he noticed Doug sneaking up the the road behind it, being rather stealth.
Except that the robot seemed to be changing it's mind as to the direction it was going to go in, and looked as if it was starting to turn back toward the other way. Peter jumped out onto the road. "Oy! Robot!"
Peter realized as it turned back to him with its red eyes that were about to shoot at him that this might not have been the best decoy method available for him to use, but at least he saw Doug getting closer to it. And so he might have to play Duck and Roll from the red beam for a couple minutes, or hopefully much less time.
Doug had sprinted around the block, all-too-aware that every passing second put Peter in more danger. Even a man with a metal skin could be hurt or killed (at least in real life) in this situation. Attacking the robot from the rear should, in theory, have been the safer option. But, without even time to catch his breath, Doug was not feeling overly optimistic as he threw himself onto the back of the robot, immediately reaching to grapple with the access panel. He was almost thrown off just as soon as he landed, as the robot whipped around and tried to dislodge him, but held on long enough to rip open the access panel and input some code. "Got it, Pete!" he yelled, moments before the robot did fling him off, crashing into the alley wall.
The robot was not completely disabled, but it was no longer shooting its deadly rays. Peter advanced on it, and it did try attacking him physically. It was not difficult for Colossus to grab a hold of it and crush it down until it was no longer activated and moving. Tossing it to the side, Peter walked over to Doug, holding out a hand to help him out. "Excellent work, Cypher. Are you all right?"
Doug coughed loudly, attempting to get some air back into his lungs. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, before he had actually figured out that he was, in fact, okay. Well, he could stand up, and that was something. His back hurt from where he had crashed into the wall, but fortunately the Danger Room's safety parameters had minimised the impact. "Want to go on? I wonder what they have that's worse than a death-ray-robot..."
Trying to make himself feel a little braver than he actually felt, Doug took the lead back into the street, hearing Peter jog after him. The light level in the room had dimmed, mimicking the approach of night, and various strange sounds seemed to be coming from all directions, designed to spook them. Doug took a breath and turned back to Peter. "You'd think after all this time they'd actually program something scary in here..." He could have sworn that Cyclops must be in the control booth, toying with them, because at that moment a jet of flame sparked from the darkness, shooting between the two men and barely missing both of them. Doug jumped back, surprised. "Oh man," he said, squinting into the darkness. "It can't be..."
Peter couldn't believe his eyes as the short figure walked closer to them, poised for attack. It had to be some sort of joke, that he would be part of the program. But Peter knew there was no trying to deny it.
After all, John Allerdyce - Pyro - was considered opposition. A bad guy.
Peter wondered if it was too much to ask that Doug fight his own boyfriend in this simulation, but as another stream of flame came towards them, and Peter jumped forward to push Doug out of the way, he knew the only options would be to fight, or stop the program.
"I... what would you like to do, Douglas?" Peter asked, ducked down behind a dumpster he and Doug were using for cover.
Doug peeked up over the dumpster. "It's not really... It's not really him," he said in a whisper, meant more to convince himself than for Peter's benefit. "It's just a test. I mean... if it was his clone or a robot or something we'd need to take him down." He ducked back down to consult with his team-mate. "The problem is - how do we take him down? Those flames could fry me to a crisp. I'm not too sure they couldn't hurt you, either."
"I think I could fare well enough," Peter said, "to get close enough to him to..." Peter let himself trail off and bent his head down a little. He did not want to have Douglas worry about this, though he wasn't exactly looking forward to having to face John - Pyro - himself. "Please wait here."
Peter jumped out from behind the dumpster, instantly needing to duck and roll from a ball of fire that shot at him. Peter stood up and looked over at Pyro. Pyro had a maniacal and somewhat wild look, and he did not hesitate to click the flamethrower on his palm and aim at Peter. Peter ran at Pyro, weaving back and forth, dodging around flame and feeling the heat against his organic steel skin. He was more immune to it in this form - it did not burn him the same way as it might regular flesh - though it did hurt. He charged at Pyro, this programmed version not seemingly to afraid nor needing to take flight from the situation.
Doug watched from behind the dumpster, knowing that there was really no way to help without putting himself in danger, but still feeling horribly impotent as Peter attacked the Pyro-simulation. God, it looked real. The computer must be using John's latest mugshots and video footage as a basis. Even though Pyro in real life would never just stand there as Peter attacked him (would probably never attack Peter at all, if it came to that), it was still hard to keep the idea of John - the real John - from his mind.
Peter had caught up to Pyro now, was grabbing his arms, smashing the flame throwers and stopping the flames. Then, as Peter raised a steel arm to knock out the simulation, Doug found himself on his feet screaming. "No, don't!" Peter looked around in surprise and confusion, just as Doug realised what he had done. Stupid, Ramsey. Stupid, stupid. It's just a goddamn simulation. That's all. Tired and with no further will to fight, Doug called out to the computer to end the program. The buildings around them faded to white, as did the "Pyro" in Peter's hands.
"I am sorry, Douglas," Peter said quietly. "I did not..."
What he wanted to say was that he didn't want to do it either, that he cared for John in ways that he shouldn't, because of that alternate timeline, that he didn't want to pretend that he hadn't any problem with fighting against Pyro when it bothered him much more than he could let on. But he couldn't say that, especially not now, when Doug was so visibly shaken with having to see his friend nearly beat down his boyfriend.
"I did not realize that he was part of the new program," Peter supplemented instead. "I would not have chosen this one if I did. I apologize." It saddened him that he had unintentionally put Douglas, and himself, through that. "Perhaps I will talk to Hank about fixing this program and its problematic issues. Would you care to start another one, or are we done for today?" Peter honestly hoped that Doug didn't want to do this anymore - Peter was unsure if he could do it himself.
Doug took a breath, more than a little embarrassed at himself. "Yeah, maybe we should call it a day. My shoulder's killing me." Really, it felt okay, but in all probability it really would be aching like hell in a few hours once the adrenaline had worn off. "Want to grab a coffee or something?"
"I thank you for your invite, but may I take a rain-check on that? I am done with simulations for the day, but I really should go and work out, at least." Peter felt bad about this - it wasn't that he didn't want to go for coffee with Doug, but he was having a hard time looking him in the eye as it was, he did not think he would be the best company over a cup of coffee. He felt as if he was somehow deceiving Doug, not telling him of his feelings for John, even though that man no longer existed, and never really did. He thought maybe he just needed some time alone and to calm his mind, and working out always helped him achieve this. As an after-thought, he added, "And if you ever want to do a session again, I would be more than happy to. A different program, of course - perhaps we can do one set in space or fighting Skrulls or something." There would be less chance of them running into someone they actually knew.
"Yeah, Skrulls," Doug nodded, a little relieved that Peter hadn't accepted the offer. "I'm going to go to the computer labs... write a note to Mr. Summers about how to, uh, improve the program."
He shook Peter's hand - Peter was always a little formal - and hurried off towards the labs, in need of a hot shower but, more than that, in need of some reassurance. The labs were empty, and he found his books and photos stacked around his computer, as always. Doug logged on, and brought up his encrypted IM module. He clicked on Pyro's "flame" icon.
J?
Doug sat back in his chair, back aching, and hoped that he wouldn't have long to wait for a reply.
Three days later, Doug and Pyro talk.
Peter had even picked out a program to use, provided that Doug did not mind. It was a new one that Hank had told him had been created - it advanced through many levels, starting at fairly easy and working up to much harder, almost like a video game. There were simple human thugs to get buy, some villains, some super-villains, and then a very large Sentinel, and possibly more. Hank did not go into specifics, but Peter did not know what could be more than a Sentinel. Probably something from space. There always seemed to be something from space popping up.
Peter was not too sure of Douglas' ability in the Danger Room, as his mutation was not a physical power. He had tried to remember back to a few years ago when they were both just students, and before Peter had left for his year back in Russia. But then there were often large groups of students practicing together, and Peter could not recall how trained Doug had been. And as it was years ago, Doug might be much more advanced in defense tactics now, so he really could not wager a very good estimate.
He thought it might be quite rude to openly ask Doug this, so that was why he decided that this program might be best - they will get as far as they could, advancing through the 'levels.' Peter had to remind himself that he was not here to protect Doug, but to fight along side him. He felt very uncomfortable even thinking this way, but he would be foolish to try and forget that his strength was not much greater than Douglas even without his mutation. And when he did use it? He bashfully admitted to himself there were very few that were much stronger than himself.
He was distracted from such unwanted self-centered thoughts when the door to the Danger Room opened. Peter greeted the other mutant boy with a smile as he walked further into the room. "Hello, Douglas. Ready for a good training session, da?"
"Da," Doug agreed. He had just sprinted all the way to the Danger Room from the computer labs, worried that he might be late. IMing with Pyro tended to make him lose track of time all too easily. He wasn't very well prepared - wearing just his same old jeans, sneakers, and t-shirt instead of any durable body armour. But, then, Doug had some reservations about pulling on an X-Men uniform, even only for a practice session. Besides, if a supervillain or robot or alien were to attack him in real life, he couldn't very well ask it to please wait a second while he got ready.
Peter was doing the responsible thing - stretching and limbering up. Doug had never been much of a phys. ed. student, but he copied Peter's movements. There was no point in ending up in the infirmary with a pulled hamstring. Injuries were definitely not required for his new modeling career. Then again, showing up to a photoshoot with a black eye and split lip would be frowned upon as well. "Haven't done this in a while," he said, a little tentative. Even an unfit Peter could pummel Doug into oblivion, and from the looks of things Peter was far from unfit. "Did you set up a program already?"
"Yes, I have been told of a new program and I thought that maybe we could do that one. It moves up in levels and difficulty - without us knowing, of course - and so this should be appropriate for you to get back into the swing of things." Peter smiled at Douglas encouragingly. "I am sure that you will do just fine."
Peter walked to the control panel on the wall. "I think we should begin, then." He punched in the program, and he and Doug found themselves standing in an dark alleyway of a city, surrounded by tall buildings. "New York, perhaps," Peter mused out loud. He was cut off when he heard a woman's scream. He pointed out to the street. "I think we need to go and check that out."
"Guess so." Doug had always found it difficult to keep a straight face during these simulations. Mr. Summers' inspiration for the programs seemed to be based mostly on schlocky horror movies and old comic books. "Oooh, what foul fiend will spring at us from the shadows?" Doug muttered under his breath as the two of them jogged towards the street. He was barely able to complete the sentence when something underfoot tripped him up. Unable to keep his footing, Doug instead threw himself into the fall with whatever momentum he still had, rolled in mid-air, and landed on his feet, if a little dizzy and shaken. Great start, Ramsey. He looked around, disoriented. "Pete?"
"Right here, Douglas," Peter said, coming up behind the other boy and clasping him on the shoulder lightly, though it was just a hidden attempt to make sure that he was standing up okay. "That was an impressive maneuver. A bit untimely, but impressive." He kept a straight face as Doug's cheeks started to turn a bit pink. They walked around the corner and saw there were two men running out of what appeared to be a corner store while customers from inside looked out in horror. They appeared to be carrying bags of money, and Peter knew that it did not belong to them.
"Stop there!" Peter called out, and the men turned to him, each sporting a vicious look. They dropped the money bags and each pulled out a knife as a weapon. Peter made a mental note to let Hank know he doubted two store robbers would just stop like that, but he didn't think that was the point of the exercise anyway. "I shall take out the man on the left," Peter said to Doug. "And you disarm the one on the right."
Peter made use of his mutation, turning into Colossus as he advanced on the man. The other man did not fear him at all, and ran at him screaming, waving his knife around. It only took him three seconds to knock away the knife and have his arms pinned behind his back. He looked over to see how Doug was doing.
Doug had paused for a moment, seeing the organic steel ripple over Peter's already huge, muscular frame. Probably, in real life, any mere thief would run a mile just on seeing that. No one is ever going to run a mile from Doug. Still, these were only human attackers, and a knife was... Well, it was a knife. Not as bad as robotic tentacles or a Doombot or a thousand other scary things. But a knife in the right place could still kill him. Doug sighed and waited where he was, a slight grin on his face. If the other programmed man had run at Colossus, it probably wouldn't take much to provoke his accomplice to attack poor, weedy Cypher. Sure enough, the man ran at him, and Doug calmly - on the surface, at least - deflected his knife arm, spinning the man around, arm straight in a lock, with Doug forcing him to the ground, knee in the small of his back. Under the pressure of aching tendons, and with concrete in his face, the burglar soon dropped the knife. Doug kept the man on the ground, and picked up the weapon. "We going for unarmed, or should we take these with us?" he asked Peter.
"This is up to you, I believe," Colossus answered. "We do want to try to be as non-violent as possible, but this program is already proving to be problematic. I have issues with it, such as unrealistic and somewhat idiotic burglars."
Colossus walked over to where Doug and the other man was, while carrying his own knocked out burglar over his shoulder. Doug stood up, and Colossus picked that burglar up too. He put them both in a nearby dumpster and shut the lid, and told a person standing on the sidewalk to call the authorities. The person stared at Colossus wide-eyed, but nodded and pulled out a cell phone. Colossus gestured for Doug to follow him. "Well, then. Let us see what awaits us next."
Doug considered his knife for a moment, then tossed it away. It would dematerialise as soon as they were out of sight, anyway. He needed the practice with hand-to-hand fighting. He trailed after Peter, casting a look around, trying to look as if he was actually of some benefit to the "team" by keeping an eye on the surroundings. Unfortunately, he saw nothing. "This place has improved a lot since we were kids, huh? Remember when it was pretty much like being attacked by Pacman, and the garbage converter from Star Wars?"
"It has improved sufficiently with advancing technology, yes," Peter agreed. "I think I had to defeat dancing dust pans, once." He paused as he saw something walking down the now suspiciously deserted street at them. "That right there," he said, nodding toward it to direct Doug's attention, "is no dancing dust pan."
"Well, dude, at least you defeated them..." Doug frowned. "You know, I've seen that before... Isn't that a, um..." He didn't have time to finish the thought before a red light bathed the street, destroying as garbage can to their left. Doug threw himself into Peter, and got them both into an alleyway to take cover. "Okay. It's a thing. A very destructive red roboty thing. Plan of action? And remember I'm not exactly Wolverine."
"Well, I could smash it to smithereens if I could get close-" He was cut off as the alleyway was filled with red light accompanied with a loud explosion out on the street. "-enough to it," he finished. "It would be much more easy if it-" Red light and large explosion, this time much brighter and louder and closer, and the wall of the building they were leaned up against shook a fair bit. "-would stop doing that," Peter added dryly. He looked at Doug and cocked his head to the side. "You know languages, Douglas. Including that of computers and robots and such, da? Can you ask it to stop-" More light and another explosion of a visible street lamp "-doing that?"
Doug could barely hear Peter over the din of things exploding, but the gist was fairly easy to understand. "Well, maybe if I can get to some kind of access panel..." he muttered. He tapped Peter on the shoulder and, using the hand signals Cyclops had taught them once (the hand signals Wolverine had taught them had been of a different sort entirely), indicated that he was going to try and circle around the block to come up behind the robot and reprogram it. And that Peter should try not to die in that time. Doug grinned hopefully, and then dashed off.
Peter tried to call after Doug, telling him to stop, but he must not have heard. He did not realize that Doug talking to the robot meant having to go up to it and get close enough to open it up. Quite honestly, he wasn't exactly sure what he had been thinking when he suggested the idea - that Doug start making beeping sounds at it? - but now that he knew he wish he had never said anything. He went out to the mouth of the alley and looked over, seeing the robot continue to blow up random objects - Peter didn't think that rat trying to run to a sewer grate much deserved it - but he noticed Doug sneaking up the the road behind it, being rather stealth.
Except that the robot seemed to be changing it's mind as to the direction it was going to go in, and looked as if it was starting to turn back toward the other way. Peter jumped out onto the road. "Oy! Robot!"
Peter realized as it turned back to him with its red eyes that were about to shoot at him that this might not have been the best decoy method available for him to use, but at least he saw Doug getting closer to it. And so he might have to play Duck and Roll from the red beam for a couple minutes, or hopefully much less time.
Doug had sprinted around the block, all-too-aware that every passing second put Peter in more danger. Even a man with a metal skin could be hurt or killed (at least in real life) in this situation. Attacking the robot from the rear should, in theory, have been the safer option. But, without even time to catch his breath, Doug was not feeling overly optimistic as he threw himself onto the back of the robot, immediately reaching to grapple with the access panel. He was almost thrown off just as soon as he landed, as the robot whipped around and tried to dislodge him, but held on long enough to rip open the access panel and input some code. "Got it, Pete!" he yelled, moments before the robot did fling him off, crashing into the alley wall.
The robot was not completely disabled, but it was no longer shooting its deadly rays. Peter advanced on it, and it did try attacking him physically. It was not difficult for Colossus to grab a hold of it and crush it down until it was no longer activated and moving. Tossing it to the side, Peter walked over to Doug, holding out a hand to help him out. "Excellent work, Cypher. Are you all right?"
Doug coughed loudly, attempting to get some air back into his lungs. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, before he had actually figured out that he was, in fact, okay. Well, he could stand up, and that was something. His back hurt from where he had crashed into the wall, but fortunately the Danger Room's safety parameters had minimised the impact. "Want to go on? I wonder what they have that's worse than a death-ray-robot..."
Trying to make himself feel a little braver than he actually felt, Doug took the lead back into the street, hearing Peter jog after him. The light level in the room had dimmed, mimicking the approach of night, and various strange sounds seemed to be coming from all directions, designed to spook them. Doug took a breath and turned back to Peter. "You'd think after all this time they'd actually program something scary in here..." He could have sworn that Cyclops must be in the control booth, toying with them, because at that moment a jet of flame sparked from the darkness, shooting between the two men and barely missing both of them. Doug jumped back, surprised. "Oh man," he said, squinting into the darkness. "It can't be..."
Peter couldn't believe his eyes as the short figure walked closer to them, poised for attack. It had to be some sort of joke, that he would be part of the program. But Peter knew there was no trying to deny it.
After all, John Allerdyce - Pyro - was considered opposition. A bad guy.
Peter wondered if it was too much to ask that Doug fight his own boyfriend in this simulation, but as another stream of flame came towards them, and Peter jumped forward to push Doug out of the way, he knew the only options would be to fight, or stop the program.
"I... what would you like to do, Douglas?" Peter asked, ducked down behind a dumpster he and Doug were using for cover.
Doug peeked up over the dumpster. "It's not really... It's not really him," he said in a whisper, meant more to convince himself than for Peter's benefit. "It's just a test. I mean... if it was his clone or a robot or something we'd need to take him down." He ducked back down to consult with his team-mate. "The problem is - how do we take him down? Those flames could fry me to a crisp. I'm not too sure they couldn't hurt you, either."
"I think I could fare well enough," Peter said, "to get close enough to him to..." Peter let himself trail off and bent his head down a little. He did not want to have Douglas worry about this, though he wasn't exactly looking forward to having to face John - Pyro - himself. "Please wait here."
Peter jumped out from behind the dumpster, instantly needing to duck and roll from a ball of fire that shot at him. Peter stood up and looked over at Pyro. Pyro had a maniacal and somewhat wild look, and he did not hesitate to click the flamethrower on his palm and aim at Peter. Peter ran at Pyro, weaving back and forth, dodging around flame and feeling the heat against his organic steel skin. He was more immune to it in this form - it did not burn him the same way as it might regular flesh - though it did hurt. He charged at Pyro, this programmed version not seemingly to afraid nor needing to take flight from the situation.
Doug watched from behind the dumpster, knowing that there was really no way to help without putting himself in danger, but still feeling horribly impotent as Peter attacked the Pyro-simulation. God, it looked real. The computer must be using John's latest mugshots and video footage as a basis. Even though Pyro in real life would never just stand there as Peter attacked him (would probably never attack Peter at all, if it came to that), it was still hard to keep the idea of John - the real John - from his mind.
Peter had caught up to Pyro now, was grabbing his arms, smashing the flame throwers and stopping the flames. Then, as Peter raised a steel arm to knock out the simulation, Doug found himself on his feet screaming. "No, don't!" Peter looked around in surprise and confusion, just as Doug realised what he had done. Stupid, Ramsey. Stupid, stupid. It's just a goddamn simulation. That's all. Tired and with no further will to fight, Doug called out to the computer to end the program. The buildings around them faded to white, as did the "Pyro" in Peter's hands.
"I am sorry, Douglas," Peter said quietly. "I did not..."
What he wanted to say was that he didn't want to do it either, that he cared for John in ways that he shouldn't, because of that alternate timeline, that he didn't want to pretend that he hadn't any problem with fighting against Pyro when it bothered him much more than he could let on. But he couldn't say that, especially not now, when Doug was so visibly shaken with having to see his friend nearly beat down his boyfriend.
"I did not realize that he was part of the new program," Peter supplemented instead. "I would not have chosen this one if I did. I apologize." It saddened him that he had unintentionally put Douglas, and himself, through that. "Perhaps I will talk to Hank about fixing this program and its problematic issues. Would you care to start another one, or are we done for today?" Peter honestly hoped that Doug didn't want to do this anymore - Peter was unsure if he could do it himself.
Doug took a breath, more than a little embarrassed at himself. "Yeah, maybe we should call it a day. My shoulder's killing me." Really, it felt okay, but in all probability it really would be aching like hell in a few hours once the adrenaline had worn off. "Want to grab a coffee or something?"
"I thank you for your invite, but may I take a rain-check on that? I am done with simulations for the day, but I really should go and work out, at least." Peter felt bad about this - it wasn't that he didn't want to go for coffee with Doug, but he was having a hard time looking him in the eye as it was, he did not think he would be the best company over a cup of coffee. He felt as if he was somehow deceiving Doug, not telling him of his feelings for John, even though that man no longer existed, and never really did. He thought maybe he just needed some time alone and to calm his mind, and working out always helped him achieve this. As an after-thought, he added, "And if you ever want to do a session again, I would be more than happy to. A different program, of course - perhaps we can do one set in space or fighting Skrulls or something." There would be less chance of them running into someone they actually knew.
"Yeah, Skrulls," Doug nodded, a little relieved that Peter hadn't accepted the offer. "I'm going to go to the computer labs... write a note to Mr. Summers about how to, uh, improve the program."
He shook Peter's hand - Peter was always a little formal - and hurried off towards the labs, in need of a hot shower but, more than that, in need of some reassurance. The labs were empty, and he found his books and photos stacked around his computer, as always. Doug logged on, and brought up his encrypted IM module. He clicked on Pyro's "flame" icon.
J?
Doug sat back in his chair, back aching, and hoped that he wouldn't have long to wait for a reply.
Three days later, Doug and Pyro talk.