nextgenerationmarvel | Let's Get Physical! (Just not like that.) [Open to X-Students and X-Faculty!]

“Alright, Animus. It’s just you and me,” Christopher Philip Summers said to his evil psionic demon twin-thing. (He really wasn’t sure how to describe it – just that it tended to explode out of his body whenever he had overloaded on negative energy and hadn’t released any of it.)

The shadowy blue-black figure leered back at Christopher, its stark white teeth bright against the bruised colouring of its lips.

Topher narrowed his eyes. He took up a fighting stance that he’d learned from Wolverine, and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet, making it easier for him to move in case Animus tried to do anything bad. Which he already had, considering all of the unconscious bodies of his teammates around him.

Animus rushed him. Topher moved to intercept the psionic being, suck in all of that negative energy back into himself. He outstretched his hands and...everything went black.

Topher blinked and looked up at the ceiling. The lights flickered once, and then twice, and then he heard an odd whirring sound. “Great,” he said to no one but himself. “The Danger Room’s on the fritz.” This, normally, would be a bad thing, but technically, Topher wasn't supposed to be down here, unsupervised. He'd used his father's passcodes to access the Danger Room while everyone else was at lunch.

Topher turned around and walked towards the exit doors, which had slid open on their own. As soon as he was outside of the Danger Room, he ripped off his hoodie and walked up the steps towards the control room, his sneakers padding softly on the ground. He was no tech genius, but maybe he could call someone to help him figure out what was going on.

Or, y’know, not.

One of the consoles was smoking. Topher groaned. Not only was he most definitely in trouble now, but it looked like he was going to have to do expend his energy the old-fashioned way. With a punching bag.

He turned on his heel to go towards the gym, grumbling to himself. As he stepped into the elevator to take him onto another level of the lower levels of the compound, he caught his reflection in one of the mirrors that lined the walls. A sad, grumbly face stared back at him. His eyes widened for a moment before he forced a smile onto his face. No sadness, no negativity for him. That way led to trouble. That way possibly led to Animus. He didn’t want that.

The doors gently swooshed open and Topher stepped out onto the next level of the underground compound. Eight steps to the left and he was in the gym, ready to take some energy out on a punching bag.

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Topher studied Rose. He couldn't read body language, so he had no way of telling whether or not Rose was going to jump at him, well, until she actually did it.

It put him at a disadvantage.

He shifted his weight a little, and then went in for a kick to her right. She'd be ready for it, though. Of that he was certain.

The kick's a good one, she gets a block up, but the block's not the best one, leaving her open for a follow-up.

A follow-up which Topher directly goes for.

It's not every day that you actually manage to get a hit on Rose.

Not for Topher, anyway.

The blow rocks Rose across the face, snapping her head around.

She turned her head back, giving Topher a stare. "Not too bad, Summers. Yer learnin'."

She followed up with a quick pair of jabs of her own.

Topher grinned back at her.

And was too late to block that first jab. He was able to deflect that second one, though, even if it was just barely. "Pretty soon, I'll be better than you!" he said, moving to give the girl a swift uppercut.

This one, she was ready for. Rose sidestepped it and delivered a right cross.

"Don't go countin' yer chickens before they're hatched, Summers."

The right cross connected.

"Always preferred fish to chicken," Topher countered with a left hook. "Less negativity from being cooped up on farms all day."

Rose blocked the blow, aiming a body blow to follow it up.

"Anybody else, I'd say they were messin' with me, sayin' stuff like that."

Topher grinned, taking the body blow and all. He'd steeled himself for it with some of his superstrength, so it didn't really hurt as terribly as it might have, but it stung a bit. "I actually can't feel dead animals. But it's fun to say." He stepped back for a badly executed roundhouse kick.

They always made those seem so easy on tv.

Also, they tend not to work so well on the especially short. Rose ducked under the kick and put all her power into an uppercut.

"Hnngh!" Topher grunted. Still using superstrength, but still hurting. "That was good," he said as he got back up to his feet. Then he lunged forward. If he couldn't punch and kick, he could certainly try to tackle.

Unprepared for that, the tackle knocks Rose down, landing her on her behind with Topher on top of her.

"...Good thing I ain't yer type, Summers. People might talk."

Topher laughed. It was a deep, warm, hearty sound. He got up off of Rose and then gave her his hand to help her up. "No, the only one who probably could have been my type was your brother, but even then. No." Sure, Misha was cute, and Topher could see the attraction, but he'd never found himself crushing on the guy in the least.

Rose took the offered and and got herself to her feet.

"Under no circumstances am I lettin' a Summers into my family tree," she said. "Even a good one like you."

Topher laughed. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I've already kind of met someone." There was a faint blush to his cheeks as he said that - a different shade from the flushed tone of his skin from a good workout.

"Oh yeah?" Rose asked. "Anyone we know?"

"His name's Jeremiah Bennett," Topher replied. "I think his sister goes here - or is supposed to go here soon? Josephine. Josie."

Rose recognized the last name, if not the first. "Reckon I know who yer talkin' about. And if he is, ya do know his dad's crazier than a room fulla lemurs on laughin' gas."

Topher nodded. "Yeah. His upbringing was all kinds of different from, well, ours, but he's a good guy. I'd hate for people to judge us based on who are parents are, you know?" Because otherwise, Lorna would have been judged solely on who Magneto was and...well, that wouldn't be very good at all.

Even if she did have some deep, underlying issues awhile back.

"Okay, yeah, you got me there," Rose agreed.

"Although...I mean. I get it. I just hope that Mom and Dad keep as open a mind about him as they did about me. Because...I mean, we only had one date, but I felt a real connection there, you know?" He looked at Rose. "Have you ever felt that?"

"Me?" Rose asked, a little surprised. "Guys ain't exactly linin' up ta date me, Summers."

"Their loss," Topher said. "You're an amazing girl." He meant every word of that, too.

She smiled. "Yer all heart, Summers," and she means it too. "Reckon I scare most folks."

"Men tend to be scared of strong, confident women, it's true," Topher nodded. "But you'll find someone. I can't imagine that there's no one out there to fall head over heels in love with your all of you."

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wild_child - 2012-04-25 01:54 (UTC) - Expand

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