No science like mad science.

Small Training Room - Xavier's School - Westchester

The small training room is almost a perfect cube, about twelve feet along each wall. All surfaces in the room are reinforced concrete that are covered with a heat and impact-resistant coating. The lights are recessed into the walls and protected by several inches of bulletproof glass. There are reinforced hooks and loops soldered into the ceiling, and evenly spaced metal rings can be brought up or removed to access small, deep holes where equipment can be secured. Otherwise, they remain recessed level with the floor as to not provide any tripping hazards.

With the things provided in the huge storage cupboard and a little elbow grease, the room can be set up into almost anything imaginable. The holes and hooks are perfectly measured to fit with the gymnastics and tumbling equipment, securing them enough to hold up to five grown men. Punching bags and tackling dummies can be hung from the hooks in the ceiling. And a line of velco on the walls allows blue gym mats to be attached around the entire circumference of the room.

Well, if Jace doesn't -live- in these rooms, he comes pretty close to it. Tonight, seems to be a less house-shaking evening. As usual, his arms and legs are heavily-taped, sweat coating the burly (and -extraordinarily- focused) teen is working a high-end practice dummy over, the barely-padded human form serving as the target for a repeated series of vicious kicks and knees to what look like the lower ribcage. As usual, it seems like Jace is blaring the angriest music he can find. The current selection? Disturbed's "Meaning of Life".

Hefting a bundle of dubious home made science equipment and wearing her extremely strange techno-Derby hat, Kisha does her best at sneaking into the training room. It's only because of the loud music blasting out that she even makes it to the doorway undetected, as the younger teen can't make it ten feet without almost dropping something or bumping into the wall. Suffice to say her hat project is still in the prototype phase...

Apparently -way- into the music's aggressive rhythm, Jace doesn't actually notice Kisha's entry until a larger than normal clatter draws his emerald eyes around. After a couple of blinks at Kish's array, he heads to one corner, snagging a bottle of water in one hand, and a flat remote in the other. After adjusting to the sudden -lack- of booming audio, he looks the gear over again, one brow in the air. "...the Hell..?"

"You said you wanted me to make something to help with your bleeds, right?" Kisha says, tucking one of the wires from her hat behind her ear. "So I need to get some data first. This is stage one of the procedure. Unless you're having second thoughts?" Without waiting for a reply she begins opening some of the random bundles of stuff. To her credit she has at least used insulated wires for most of the equipment.

Jace spends a -very- long and apprehensive moment to look the equipment over as it's set up before clearing his throat. "Y'know what?" He walks over, towelling off a little. "...ya only live once, right? Let's do it."

"Actually I could probably make something to bring you back from the dead," Kisha replies with an impish grin. "Anyway most of this stuff you'll need to wear for at least six hours. I need to know atmospheric readings from the area around you, especially during bleeds. I got hold of a few sterile medical connector thingys, the kind with the little needles in, those will need fitting to various sections of your limbs and torso." She begins to spread the gear out on the floor, throwing the occasional piece she's not happy with into a small pile.

Jace resumes his perusal, growing a bit skeptical again. "...you serious..?" he asks nervously at the mention of 'medical connectors'. "Christ, six hours, huh..? "

"Look, think about it this way," Kisha says solemnly. "Either you have to endure a little discomfort now or whatever I end up building will be anywhere up to ninety percent more likely to have a terrible side effect when you use it. I mean I know this stuff looks bad, but there's nothing I haven't tested on myself." She winks. "And hey I totally externalised all the equipment. So you don't even have to swallow anything, the first version would have left you walking funny for days."

Jace just blinks. "Aight, aight. I get it." He starts ripping the tape off his forearms, revealing more of that samoan tattoo of his. "I'll trust ya on this, Kish. If it'll help, then let's do this."

"Okay so most of them are fairly simple," Kisha explains, handing Jace various small objects and pointing to indicate where they get attached. "And they should all be waterproof to some extent, however I haven't tested them to any great depth. So a shower should be fine, providing you push this button before and after. So I'll know to take it into account when reviewing the data."

Jace apparently follows instructions well enough, securing the miscellaneous electrodes to his skin. When it comes to the torso patches, he just pulls the tanktop off without thinking about it, showing both a -very- cut physique and a good number of small old scars (about the size of a cigar tip). "Might wanna scratch down things I need to do, Kish. Not sure I'll be able to keep track of all this."

Kisha just shrugs and hands over a page of computer print outs detailing what each bit is, what it does and details step by step instructions for proper use. "Way ahead of you on that one," she notes. "Thanks to the hat of doom I could type that up while I built the gadgets. Anyway the large bits in this pile here are the various data stores, they're all wifi you see. So you'll need to keep this bag within about fifty metres of yourself or else you won't be producing data you'll just kinda look silly."

Again, Jace blinks. "Damn. You really -are- into this shit, ain'tcha..." Glancing at the data storage, he hmms. "Eh, I guess carting my duffle around won't be so bad for a few hours." He continues to attach the electrodes, apparently making a concerted effort NOT to show Kisha his back. "What's the point of all this? I mean, what're ya lookin' for..?"

"Well for I start I need to know what you make, where you make it and how it's released," Kisha explains, rolling her eyes. "Because otherwise I can't really help control it. It's like... if you're building a house you need to check to make sure the land you're building on is okay. Otherwise you might finish building only to discover your house has sunk into a swamp."

Jace finishes with the electrodes as directed, nodding slightly. "Right." Finally reaching for a second bottle of water, he drains it in nothing flat. "How much impact can these things handle..? I mean, they're electrically insulated, right..?"

"They're insulated enough to work when wet," Kisha says, frowning as she skim reads her notes. "And impact wise they should tolerate most physical activity. Unless you get hit by a baseball bat or something, then I can't guarantee anything." She shrugs. "To be perfectly honest, the biggest risk I'm aware of is the whole cellphones and wireless devices potentially causing cancer one."

Jace nods, testing his range of motion with the sensors on. "...more worried about the wierd brownouts thing..." He trails off there, not really addressing what he's talking about. Seems his guarded facing of Kisha slips as he twists at the waist, revealing a criss-crossing network of scar tissue over his lower and mid back. "...s'why I don't Bleed anywhere near the mansion, really."

"Interesting. Well, keep the data collection modules as far away as possible and who knows burning them out might give me more interesting information than I was expecting to get!" Kisha exclaims cheerfully, ignoring the scars entirely. Of all the sensors, the only really restrictive one wraps around the throat and appears to have twice as many of the needles as any other device.

Jace looks at the throat sensor with a raised brow. "Nuh-uh. Not happenin'." He holds it back out to you, shaking his head. "Nothin' on my neck. Not all the way around." He seems extremely adamant on the subject. "No way in Hell."

Kisha waves her finger at Jace. "Oh come on it's only a little neck sensor," she replies. "Don't be such a baby about it! The last version I tried on had thirty six needle points in it and a 2 percent chance of leave permenant markings. This version is practically a necklace and without it I can't tell which parts of the body you're trying to control when you bleed."

Jace again shakes his head. "No." He hands the collar back to you insistently before pulling his tanktop back on. "I'll take my chances. Besides, I -know- where the strain is when I bleed. Shoulderblades and abs. There ya go."

Inspecting the neck sensors, Kisha pouts and then drops it onto the damaged goods pile. "Fair enough, but if the final product has any unwanted side effects because of poor data I won't let you complain about it," she warns. "Uhm and you do know the end product might /need/ a tight collar? I mean if it's how the machine needs to be I can't really change it all that much without it not working."

Jace suddenly shifts demeanor, becoming VERY brooding, his tone dark. "...then I'll find another way, or just deal." He suddenly spins, nearly knocking the practice dummy's head clean off with a thunderous elbow strike. "I've handles this shit for four years, maybe I don't need mechanical help."

"Maybe you do and maybe you don't," Kisha replies with level indifference. "I'm helping because you asked me to and if you change your mind, then that's fine with me too. But you don't have to sulk because I'm warning you it could potentially include a collar, for all I know the best solution might transmute your bleed energy into turkey microwave dinners."

Jace goes back to work on the dummy, obviously having practiced a LOT. seems he's no longer completely sociable. "...thanks, Kish. I'll bring this shit back to ya in a few hours..."

Kisha sighs and begins packing her stuff up. "Well, if anything goes wrong the instructions have my contact details on," she informs as she bundles the last of the broken bits up. "And you probably know who the schools first aiders are better than me." With a heave of effort she slings her things over her back. "I'll cya later then."




Salem Center - Westchester

Salem Center is a lazy hamlet located north of Manhattan. Modest homes are located off of the main strip, and there is a general store, train station, and small library found here in the center of town. A large road leads off towards the highway, which will take one north towards New York City, while smaller roads lead off towards the surrounding farms and country homes.

Unlike the houses found in the heart of the hamlet, those lying further out are all larger and more ostentatious. Even the farmhouses tend towards the larger side of things, and they all look to have been around for generations, renovations performed every few years to keep them in good condition. The scenery out here is beautiful, whether on state land or privately owned. Everyone here seems to take pride in their home and hamlet.


Having decided her steampunk Derby hat of doom needs a proper field test, Kisha has dragged herself out of the workshop which is nominally her bedroom and tagged along on an outing to the Salem Center. She seems to have at least mastered the art of walking while wearing her invention, even if it does look a little like she's walking on the deck of a ship in stormy seas. "So do they have any fun shops here? Or is it just the tourist stuff and essentials for locals?" she wonders, glancing around.

Jill, wearing a holo-emitter necklace (possibly of doom, or possibly not), looks blonde, pink, and a bit sullen. "There's a Walmart over that way, and I think there's like a Best Buy or something just a few blocks over." Any town large enough to have its own Walmart suddenly counts as a city. "All the stuff people need to live." She casts a sideways glance at Kisha's hat warily, but doesn't say anything about it. "I guess all the really neat places are up in NYC, but that's a little far to walk. What kinda stuff are you looking for?"

"Nothing as such really," Kisha admits, between oo'ing and ahh'ing at thin air. "Just a break from being around the school I guess? Nikki said she might be able to use a school van to help me with shopping for parts. Rather than me trying to get everything home on foot or borrowing a car myself." She shrugs. "How about you? Anywhere you'd like to visit?"

The Jill of today, while normally a few inches shorter than the younger Kisha, has been taken down by a substantial margin to a half-foot gap. She has to look up to marshal a suspicious look. "I thought you weren't old enough to drive yet, anyway." Letting that go, she puts her hands in the pockets of her windbreaker. "I need a belt," she replies with a touch of sourness. "Or suspenders or something. None of my pants fit."

"I did think you looked a little how do I put it, different today," Kisha admits, glancing down at Jill. "But I couldn't think of anyway to bring the topic up without being horribly rude." At the comment about her driving status she grins. "I'm not, technically. Oh I have a plan for if anything weird happens today. What we do is ignore it and divert to the nearest icecream place, providing you can uhm eat icecream that is?"

The little blonde girl hunches her shoulders and tries to frown grimly, but really it just comes off as pouting cutely. "I lost my arm and now I have to wait for it to grow back, I think. So I'd rather just be a little shorter for a while than try to do everything with my left hand." She looks interested in Kisha's devious plan. "I'm definitely not looking for any more trouble, so I think the Ice Cream Retreat plan is perfect."

Kisha tilts her head to peer at Jills arms, almost loosing the hat of doom in the process. "The main flaw comes if the trouble occurs in the ice cream parlour. Although I have a back-up to cover that situation, involving Walmart and some kind of huge bucket of chocolate brownie icecream for the trip back. According to this store guide they should stock a whole bunch of decent flavours."

Despite herself and trying very hard to remain in a foul mood, Jill actually cracks a smile. Well, a smirk, but it's close enough. "I know I attract weird stuff, but an ice cream parlor is probably a safe bet." She plods along, hands in her pockets and past the displays of autumn leaves in shop windows and the eager hands that will take them down tomorrow in favor of Christmas decorations. "What kind of stuff would you get? If you had a car," Jill asks, obviously fishing for gift ideas.

"I need a generator and... promise not to tell anyone?" Kisha glances around before whispering. "I think maybe if I got some kind of satalite tv dish I could maybe build something to tap directly into a communications satalite. Which would be totally cool, I could do well, to be honest I have no idea what I could do with it. Something cool I'm sure."

Jill's vivid blue eyes flick around as well, because acting like a spy is cool. "Like, maybe you could get sattelite TV channels for free? That would be pretty neat." Her head bobs in an appreciative nod, then she remembers and puts a finger over her lips to signal silence on the issue.

Kisha blinks a few times. "Well actually I was thinking of something a bit more, well it's not important I guess. I probably won't do it because someone would find out eventually and then I'd get expelled," she admits sullenly. "But getting free tv channels is easy. I could probably make a plug in device for a tv which does it in a weekend or so. Maybe I should add digital tv to my PDA and run it via my hat?"

"You mean you can get HBO on your hat?" Jill's eyes drift upwards to regard the strange derby with a newfound respect and admiration. Looking up while walking forward is a bad combinaiton for her, and she manages to trip on absolutely nothing (not even her own feet) and stumble into a trash can. Luckily the trash can is bolted to the sidewalk and is none the worse for the experience. The blonde girl picks herself up and dusts herself off. "Ooh, hey look, a Radio Shack!" She points down to a strip center in the next street over. Serendipity.

"The hat is... well like a keyboard, mouse and monitor all rolled into one," Kisha explains proudly. "So if I plug it into a computer I can watch the shows directly beamed into my brain. Although I haven't figured out how to make the sound work without it causing narcolepsy." As Jill trips over the younger mutant pauses. "You okay? And I... I really shouldn't go inside Radio Shack. The last time I went in I spent the money I'd saved up for new shoes, clothes and Christmas presents. Belt shopping is probably a lot safer."

"I'm fine." Rising and brushing off her knees, Jill gives her pants a firm hitch to make sure they don't fall down any more than they already have. "That's... that's pretty weird, Kisha. I don't think I'd want stuff beamed directly into my brain." Jill's hands clasp at the sides of her head protectively. "... If I had a brain. So I guess belt shopping it is. I understand, though. I'm the same way when I go into a book store." She pauses, holding up a finger. "No leather belts though. They don't last very long."

"It's just like seeing an overlay of a computer screen on top of your eyes," Kisha points out defensively. "And it lets me write essays or design things so much quicker but... I think I'd have to agree on it being best if you don't try it. I mean aside from it being wired up specifically for my brain? Who knows what it would do to you." She frowns, adjusting how the hat of doom is balanced. "I've got a list of local stores which claim to sell belts we can check out. Although if you're after a metal one I could probably just make you one?"

Jill now regards the hat with a mixture of awe and fear, her eyebrows knitting together as if she isn't sure if it's a technological marvel or a threat. She holds up her hands, palms out. "I think you're right. I won't ever ask to borrow your hat." She chews on her bottom lip. "You've got a list of *all* the stores? Umm... I guess metal would be pretty neat, but I think I'd settle, right now, for just nylon or something. To keep my pants up until I can regrow a little." Then as if to placate Kisha further, she adds, "But you can make me one, if you like!"

Kisha chews her lip. "Well, all the stores which list themselves as selling belts online," she clarifies. "I'll try twist something out of copper wire for you next time I have some spare. Maybe if it turns out well I'll do some kind of jewelry for giving out as presents. Much less work than hand making everyone cellphones or mp3 players."

While being marginally familiar with Kisha's talents, Jill still has to balk at this one. "You can make an mp3 player or a phone by hand?" A note of skepticism works its way into her tone as she approaches a smallish but trendy looking clothing store. She pauses with her hand on the door's handle. "I know I could just look inside, but do *they* have belts?" she asks, tilting her head up to the store's sign.

"You saw the cellphone I made in the park, remember?" Kisha reminds, smiling. "The one with the built in tazer gun which didn't do anything even remotely useful." She glances at the store name, then blinks a few times. "I think so? I'm not totally sure if my brain search-fu skills are on top form yet."

"I just thought... that maybe adding something to it was different than building one from scratch." Jill pouts a little. She clearly didn't mean to insult Kisha's kitbashing skills. "All those little circuits and wires." Pushing ahead into the store, the shorter blonde girl gives the employee a broad smile.

"We'll be closing in about an hour," the clerk reminds the pair of teens.

Kisha nods at the clerk, then glances around the store suspiciously. From her rather generic attire it seems she's something of a stranger to trendy clothing stores. "Well, okay I prefer to cheat and use pre-made circuits and things whenever possible. Because making a machine to make the chips I need drags the process out by weeks if I'm lucky. But in theory I could make just about anything from scratch, providing a few mishaps aren't an issue."

"Huh," Jill says thoughtfully, sucking on the tip of her index finger and drifting to a rack of belts, the lion's share of them leather. "I wouldn't even know what to make, even if I could make it." She picks through the display rack to find something in cloth with a metal buckle. "I'd probably just take the stuff I already have and try to make it better." Picking something in black nylon with silver-colored buckle and accents, her attention is drawn to a selection of coats. "I guess you do that too, huh?"

Kisha sighs, a long weary sigh. "You have no idea. It's like a nightmare," she admits. "I got up early for breakfast, before I know it I'm trying to figure out ways to speed up the juicer or maybe hook it up to the ice maker. I don't even dare touch the coffee maker for fear of what I might do."

Jill picks up a black jacket with white cross accents on the shoulders and holds it up to herself. "Oh dang, I think this will fit when I get better but I can't be sure." Frowning, she starts to put it back, hesitates, starts to put it back again, holds it up to herself again, and frowns some more. "I was thinking stuff more like... I don't know, a cell phone battery that lasts longer or has better reception. I'm not sure a faster juicer would really improve anybody's daily life." With a final huff, she simply takes the belt and jacket alike to the counter, making sure to get a receipt and inquiring about the return policy.

"That's what's so terrible about it," Kisha explains, forcing a smile. "How many useless ideas can one person be forced to endure before breakfast is finished? I'm half tempted to build an automated breakfast making machine, just so I don't have to do it myself anymore." Unsure if she's liable to get any of the more expensive clothes dirty Kisha lurks in the aisle, arms crossed for addded space efficiency.

With a bag now in hand and carefully reading the back of the receipt, Jill pauses at the store's front door to hold it open. "I think they have those already. They're called Eggo waffles. Just put it in the toaster, press the button, and they come up done." She frowns, but in a considerate, understanding sort of way. "I promise I'll try to keep the useless ideas on the walk home to a minimum. You can just eat a bunch of turkey and go sleep it off in your room, if that would make you feel better?"

"I was thinking more like a robot butler," Kisha says, looking a little guilty. "Which could do my laundry too. But I guess I probably shouldn't make anything smart enough to rebel against doing my chores, because I'll only end up having to clean even more mess up that way." She holds the door open for Jill, giving the clerk an awkward goodbye wave. "Who knows? Only one way to find out, we should probably head back pretty soon or else they'll have eaten everything without us."





Back Grounds - Xavier's School - Westchester

The back grounds are far more sprawling than the front grounds, but no less cared for. Manicured lawn stretches off in all directions, tall trees, shrubs, and bushes places here and there around the area. Dirt footpaths run between gentle hills, leading off in various directions. Tall hedges separate off the pool and basketball court, shielding those within from view.

The mansion towers over the lawn, large windows looking out over the grounds here. When the light is right, one can catch glimpses of students and teachers milling about within. During the summer, music and voices occasionally drift down through open windows.

Having ruled out the front and side lawns for use in her assorted projects, Kisha is busy doing a full survey of the back grounds. Or at least that's impression all the assorted equipment provides. Kisha herself has finally added a jacket to her usual ensemble and it matches much of her other clothes, being dirty and plain black. "Ground at location 1F seems suitable," she mutters loudly.

Wesley slips outside, fairly bundled up in a long coat with turned up collar and a wide-brimmed hat. The mutter is carried by the wind, and he raises an eyebrow towards the inventor. He strolls over, attempting to get a look at the equipment as he approaches, giving the girl a wave with a dark brown glove.

Kisha barely even notices Wesley until a little laser dot shines on him and the readings on the machine spike. "Oh, hi. Sorry I was miles away," she replies with a wave. "I'm not up to anything bad, before you ask. Just trying to work out suitable areas of flat land on the off chance I might need to build something outside."

"Kinda cold to be working out here, isn't it?" Wesley wonders, looking over the equipment, then over the girl's outfit. "I imagine having to wear the gloves would be a bit rough, and the snow that's bound to come sooner or later might make it rust."

"I'd do the actual work work inside and them assemble it out in the field," Kisha explains cheerfully, adjusting a few of the gadgets. "And I don't mind the cold much, at least until it impedes on functionality. Snow... now that might be a problem. But if it's too bad I'll just have to postpone the containment unit testing until next year." She shrugs. "So how've you been since the whole thing with NoiseJerk?"

"Not bad. He's annoying as hell, racks up the property damage, but I've never been too hurt by my encounters with him. Jill got a nasty bug, but she's better." Wesley gives a shrug. "Containment unit?" he asks.

"I've run into Jill since then," Kisha says, frowning. "She was much shorter than I was expecting. We went shopping and thankfully nothing terrible happened, aside from a schematic for one potential doomsday device slash toaster." At the curiosity about the containment unit the younger teen grins. "I'm making something to help Jace control his powers. But first I need to study the energy to find out what it is and what I need to do with it."

"Ah," Wesley says. "Yeah... Jill lost some mass recently, turns out our robotic friends went on a road trip," he explains. "And /don't/ you go looking for them, Kisha. Those things are bad news."

"Did you break any and obtain parts for me to play with," Kisha coughs. "I mean uhm study, not play."

"They apparently added self destruct features," Wesley says. "That, and 'live capture' wasn't exactly on my list of priorities right then."

"Broken bits are good too. You should see my bedroom floor if you have any doubt about my willingness to work with dead tech," Kisha replies, putting her hat of doom on to run through the latest batch of data results. "Self destructed bits would have tons of value. You find out how they're blowing themselves up and you can trigger it yourself."

Wesley shrugs. "Survival was more of a priority, actually, that, and getting out of there before the cops showed up. The explosion was pretty big."

"Big explosion huh?" Kisha wonders, frowning. "How long ago was this? And think you could take me to the place it happened?" She chews on her lip thoughtfully. "If the clean up wasn't great there could be fragments in the walls. Shrapnel bits the police forensics team didn't pick up. I could check for chemical traces, see if they have some kind of inbuilt bombs."

"Maybe," Wesley says non-commitallly. "But we're bringing chaperones, and, the /moment/ I see one of those vans, we're gone, got me?"

Kisha scowls at the idea of bringing a full school entourage along with them. "That's hardly /subtle/ now is it?" she points out. "Besides if they're watching the area won't it just tag more people are being potential mutants?" She pauses. "Wait, what vans?"

"The vans the controllers get around in," Wesley says. "How they transport the robots." He looks at Kisha. "I'm not talking a school wide field trip, just more than you and me."

"Surely it's more like a trailor tractor thing than a van?" Kisha wonders. "Because the robots you described where pretty huge."

"They're smaller now," Wesley explains. "Bout... 8 feet tall or so, that's the big ones."

"Oh," Kisha says, disappointedly. "That's no-where near as technically exciting. Although far more practical from an urban use perspective!" She takes off the Derby hat, adjusts a few wires and then adds "Perhaps I should stay here, while you take someone who can fight. Then I can point you towards likely places to find bits via a video link? Much safer for everyone that way."

"Not sure who could actually fight them off, but yeah, that does sound a /lot/ safer," Wesley agrees.

"Someone who can teleport or make you invisible then?" Kisha suggests, waving her hand. "Although I hate to say it but if /I/ were them I'd have cleaned the site myself by now. Full on chemical contamination of the site, shrapnel recovery, the works basically. But worst case we find out they're re-visiting sites they cause chaos. Which is probably useful information in itself, right?"

"They're pretty thourough, from what I understand," WEsley says. "But I'll talk to Kurt."

"Perfect," Kisha declares gleefully. "If they really are thorough enough to clean up sites it's a major advantage for us. No way they can totally cover every view point in a city like New York. Next time we know they've caused chaos we can plant some bugs in the area and see what we turn up."

Wesley nods to the plan. "Alright, but don't get so eager that you forget to be safe," he instructs the girl.

"My field is science," Kisha points out, rolling her eyes in teenage dismay. "I'm not going to go charging after soldiers or anything stupid like that. At least not until I have myself some kind of superweapon that makes them fear me beyond measure, that is. Speaking of weapons, are these ones still electrified?"

"Yeah," Wesley says. "Smaller ones seem to have to turn it on though. There's little 'mini-robots' about my size, that come out when the big one's in trouble. Don't seem that threatening, mostly numbers, really.

"And they can go indoors," Kisha adds, with an amused grin. "Big technical problem with huge battle robots. They're terrible at handling people being indoors without ruining property." She blinks. "But I digress, I was about to say want me to make you some kind of non-conductive gloves? I could fit some kind of plastic knuckle guards too. Sort of like brass knuckles only more flexible and won't show up on a metal detector."

"Property damage doesn't seem to be a big concern of theirs," Wesley says. "They're a bit zealous, and yeah, insulation would probably be good, just so I can touch the damn things without having a heart attack."

"Yeah but there's only so much damage you can do to an area before it impacts on the bottom line," Kisha notes, shaking her head. "Think about it, they're either Government funded or they're funded by a company. Either way they start blowing up excessive valuble real estate and funding will drop." She smiles. "Besides, with smaller robots you can hide /inside/ buildings to ambush people. Fairly smart function related planning really."

"Well, they seemed to have no problem with mass kidnapping. I think they kind of consider themselves above the law," Wesley explains. "And they pretty much trashed that entire area of the street."

"Which street?" Kisha asks curiously. "Because if you're talking a slum area then that's entirely different to hitting the main financial district." She sighs and adds "As for kidnappings? Harming /people/ is okay. People aren't like property, they replace themselves free of charge."

Wesley narrows his eyes at Kisha over that last comment. "Look, I get you're doing the objective thing, but you might want to chill out on that kinda talk, alright?"

"My point is that they have entirely different values to you," Kisha explains with a long sigh. "Not that I think people have no value, okay? Besides it's like my new motto says, face the facts then act. No hiding from the truth of a situation, you consider it and then take action."

Wesley nods to Kisha. "Alright. Well... I'll let you get back to your... whatever, just don't blow up the back yard."

"My working out how flat the ground is," Kisha says with a sigh. "Not /everything/ I do is explosive you know."

"Doesn't hurt to be careful," Wesley says, turning to head back inside.





Library - Xavier's School - Westchester

The library of the school is a large, quiet affair. An open area near the door is filled with tables of varying sizes, and chairs to match. Beside the door, a rack holds the current issues of various magazines and newspapers from around the world, a comfortable couch provided facing it for students to sit and read the periodicals. A sign informs those interested in back issues that they must talk to the librarian. The librarian's desk is on the other side of the door, a glassed in office behind it, allowing those working here to keep an eye on the students within.

The rest of the large, rectangular room is mostly occupied with shelves. Made of a rich, dark wood, floor to ceiling shelves hold books on almost every subject imaginable. The labyrinthine layout making it easy to wander in and get lost momentarily amongst the reading material.

The back wall is lined with study carrels, for those who want privacy in which to study, while the wall beside is windowed, showing the interior of the computer room.

Sitting behind a wall of random books, most of which are rarely looked at by anyone outside of the college section of the Xavier mansions residents, is one Kisha Dorogoi. She doesn't seem to be actually /reading/ them however, just waving some kind of wand device over the book and turning the page. Over and over again. At least she's relatively oil free today, although there is a bag of suspicious and oily gadgets to hand...

Wesley emerges from the biology section, shooing off a young teen who, quite probably, wasn't going through the anatomy books for academic purposes. He raises an eyebrow, watching Kisha curiously. "Portable scanner?" he muses. "Why do I see myself getting you a Thinkgeek gift card for Christmas?" he wonders, keeping his voice low as to not disturb their neighbors overly much.

"It's not just a portable scanner," Kisha says proudly. "It's what I'm going to use to steal the whole of this library." She glances up at Wesley, then digs her hand into her bag of tricks. "Oh! It's good I've run into you, put each of your hands through this hoop one by one please." She brandishes an odd five inch circumference metal ring, studded with weird lights and wiring.

Wesley blinks at Kisha's request. "Why?" he wonders, raising an eyebrow.

"Ideally if you could move your fingers about to give the scanners an idea of your range of movement for when I mould the gloves that'd be great," Kisha adds, too far into science girl mode to notice Wesleys questions. Meanwhile the device vents a little wisp of steam.

Wesley still hasn't put his hands in the devices, simply looking at Kisha. "Okay, what gloves?" he wonders. "Kisha..." he snaps his fingers. "Look up here, Kisha."

Kisha frowns, glancing up from her scanning. "Hmmm? What gloves? I was sure I told you I was making you some electrically insulated robot punching gloves. You /did/ say you weren't immune to electric shocks and had the boosted strength required to make melee attacks viable I'm sure of it."

Wesley blinks again. "Oh." He looks at the device. "And this does... what, exactly?"

"Measures your hands exactly so the gloves will fit?" Kisha explains, frowning at the question. "Why what else did you think it would do? I had briefly considered just having something which molds gloves directly onto your hands, but there were safety concerns with the idea so I scrapped it."

On knowing that Kisha actually considers safety concerns, Wesley puts his hands into the device, turning his hands this way and that while wiggling his fingers, stretching them as far as they'll go, making a fist, spreading them out, attempting to fold them into fists one knuckle at a time, then just simply wiggling them about.

As Wesley puts his hands through the loop there is an odd sensation of heat and vibration as the device scans and records data for future use. "Perfect. That should be enough to program the tailor with," Kisha declares. "Although I'll have to design a suitable plastic unless I can find a commercially available one."

"I imagine rubber would do the job," Wesley points out, looking over the girl's stuff, taking a seat. "Now, what's this about stealing the library?" he wonders.

"I'm going to scan every single useful book," Kisha explains, whispering. "Then with my direct neural input hat I'll be able to access tons of information without even lifting a finger. It'll save me so much time you wouldn't believe!" She scowls at the idea of using rubber. "Then just buy some pink rubber gloves! Pfff. I was going for something which would not only prevent electric shocks but provide protection to your fingers when you strike hard objects. Because there's no point being able to hit them more than once if you're going to turn your hands into a bloody pulp."

Wesley blinks. "Direct neural input?" he wonders. "Um... why does this sound dangerous?"

Kisha grins innocently. "It could be, if anyone else tried to use it. Because it would stimulate the wrong part of the brain and cause untold weirdness."

Wesley pats Kisha's head. "You /might/ want to hold off on directly stimulating the nervous centers, at least until medical science gets a better understanding of exactly what does what."

"You're a bit late with that advice," Kisha admits, whistling innocently.

Wesley sighs heavily. "You've already made it," he says, it's not a question.

"And been using it for a while," Kisha adds cheerfully. "Visual cortex so far along with a want linked control system. Very complicated, but basically it's a hat which lets me control computers like a keyboard and mouse. While at the same time being a monitor, I used a load of those old PC mind controlled gaming peripherals as the base."

Wesley looks at Kisha, briefly checkin her head for holes. "Okay, does it just... shock from the outside?" he wonders. "Reading is one thing, transmitting..."

Kisha chews her lip as she considers the question, then shrugs. "Who knows! I think it's some kind of skin induced current? All I do know is the design as it stands does weird things to your balance when you turn on the audio function. Along with causing the odd bout of insomnia."

Wesley flinches at the 'who knows,' it not being very encouraging, and the rest doesn't happen. "Okay, yeah, playing with your brain is bad, alright. What about when you're just using the visual? No disorientation?"

"A little, but because the screen sometimes blocks your field of vision or the detection program brings it in and out of focus when you're not expecting it. Both of which are problems I've mostly ironed out," Kisha answers with obvious pride. "I even managed to surf the internet while out shopping."

Wesley sighs heavily, looking at Kisha. "Just... lay off on the new features for now, alright? IF you really want audio, add headphones. Until we know the long term effects."

"Way ahead of you on that one," Kisha replies, rolling her eyes. "I already learnt that by trying to stimulate my memory functions so I could learn the entire dictionary without reading it. Long story short I picked up four new words, including kakistocracy, but spent a weekend irrationally terrified of Aardvarks."

Wesley can't help but chuckle lightly at that. "See, this would be a reason to lay off and just learn the old way. What if it's irrationally terrified of stairs next time? How will you get to your room?"

"In the elevator," Kisha points out.

Wesley noogies Kisha lightly. "Smart aleck."

"Well duh!" Kisha says, squirming under the noogie. "So how're you doing?"

Wesley rolls his eyes. "Not bad, just trying to see how I did on my exam yesterday," he says, gesturing with the book. "Feel like I'm going to be nervous until the results get in.

Kisha nods, her eyes flicking to the book in an attempt to pick out the title. "I know the feeling, I keep worrying I'm not studying enough every time I start work on a project. But I hopefully should be able to wing it for most exams, at least the important ones like science and math that is."

It's an anatomy textbook. Wesley rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well, enjoy it while it lasts, kiddo."

"I already have my plans for the future all set out!" Kisha protests. "And they don't need me to even bother with college, because I'm going to invent myself a starship and some terraforming equipment and claim Mars. I figure I can have it terra-compatable before I'm fifty."

Wesley blinks at Kisha. "Sounds kinda lonely," he muses. "You sure that's what you're going to want to do?"

"Lonely? I'll be able to come visit earth the same way you take a car to New York," Kisha exclaims with glee. "And I'll probably bring some people along with me or maybe some advanced companion AI robots."

Wesley rolls his eyes. "Just keep Barb away from the AI robots, especially if they're female," he urges with a slight chuckle.

Kisha blinks a few times. "Why?"

"Barb has this... thing for stuff like Borg and such," Wesley explains.

"Like for the engineering style of their machines?" Kisha wonders, putting the weird ring scanner away in her bag.

"Not quite..." Wesley says, giving Kisha hesitant lookover.

"The costumes then," Kisha says, waving her hand. "But anyway the robots would decide their own gender and to an extent forms. Although I'll keep them away from being perfectly human looking, just incase."

"Hard to describe, really," Wesley says, giving Kisha a nod. "Alright."

"Can't promise I won't let them look perfect though," Kisha adds with a grin. "But of course that depends on if the next few years puts me off robots for good."

"Honestly, I could see why it would," Wesley says with a light shudder. "So, other than your inventions, anything going on?"

"Trying to make little bits of jewelry for Christmas presents," Kisha says with a shrug. "Nothing exciting really, although I have been trying to decide how I'll spend my first Christmas away from home."

"Well, you're not the only student far from home," Wesley points out. "I'm sure you'll have someone to spend it with. I'll probably end up heading home for mine."

"I suppose I should be more upset by it really," Kisha says indifferently. "But all I can think of is it'll give me more time to spend in my room taking apart whatever presents I get and building them into weird and wonderful toys."

Wesley chuckles lightly. "Just for that, I'm getting you a book, or something you can't take apart," he teases.

"I can scan it and then use the paper for fuel," Kisha counters, waving the little wand scanner at Wesley. "Although the only design I've got drafted which burns things would need every book in the city to function properly."

Wesley taps Kisha on the forehead. "Hey, there's no replacing a good, paper book," he says, waving the text in his hand about. "It just can't happen. Make the best digital book in the world, it just won't be the same."

Kisha sticks her tongue out in response "You're so wrong you wouldn't even believe! I could program the hat to provide everything a real book does, right down to the feel and smell of the paper. Not sure how safe it'd be with my powers as they are, but someday I'll do it just to prove a point."

"And it will still be virtual," Wesley says, "and thus not the same. What if an EMP goes off, huh? I'll still get to read my books by candlelight, what will you do?"

"Probably be the cause of the EMP in the first place?" Kisha suggests innocently.

Wesley sighs, patting Kisha on the top of the head. "I swear. So, how long's it been since you blew something up?"

"Nothing of note since the big one," Kisha says smugly, glancing at her scars. "Unless you count a few small minor gadgets setting on fire."

Wesley looks over the girl's scars. "You want me to maybe see if I can snag you some good scar cream for those?" he wonders. "Make them a little less obvious?"

Kisha snorts at the suggestion. "Nope. I mean for a start there really isn't anything cream would do and secondly I don't care if they're obvious. If someone else has a problem with 'em they can fuck off. If you'll excuse my language."

Wesley rolls his eyes. "Alright, alright, just thought I'd offer, and you'd be surprised what some of those cremes can accomplish these days.

"They're a part of who I am now," Kisha says quietly. "Coating myself in crud would be to deny an important part of my life."

"The accident prone dangerous part?" Wesley wonders, raising an eyebrow.

Kisha pouts. "The mutant part."

Wesley chuckles at the pout. "Ah," he says. "Well, just promise you won't burn these books," he teases. "I should probably get going soon."

"I don't make promises I can't be sure I'll keep," Kisha warns, waving a finger sternly. "And you can never know when you might need to make a huge fire for something or other! What if a new ice age suddenly hits like that crappy film where everyone moves to Mexico?" She shrugs, glancing at the piles of books around her. "In which case I guess I'll get back to work, it's going to take me months to finish the job after all."

Wesley chuckles lightly, giving the girl a wave as he leaves with his book. "Well, just try not too."

"Cya later," Kisha says, opening up a new book.



Common Room - Xavier's School - Westchester

This area was designed primarily with comfort and recreation in mind. Heavy black leather couches and chairs have been arranged around the room, two small groups off for conversing, while a larger horseshoe-shaped grouping surrounds the big-screen TV and entertainment system: VCR, DVD player, surround sound, satellite, every gaming system - they're all here.

Elsewhere in the room, a pool table and foozball table are available for student use. In a slightly secluded corner, a bar has been set up, high stools running along it; behind, one can find practically any non-alcoholic beverage imagined, and all sorts of little touches to add to it: maraschino cherries, lemon wedges, paper umbrellas, plastic swords, and shaped ice in the bar fridge.

Shock horror! It seems Kisha is actually taking time off from her projects for a change, at least she probably is. It's hard to tell if the electrodes she's hooked into herself are a really unusual fashion statement or if she's experimenting on herself again. Regardless, she /has/ claimed a comfortable spot infront of the largest TV and seems to be watching her way through a eclectic sci-fi dvd mix. Worryingly for some, she has a notebook to hand....

Consider Wesley worried. He walks into the room, looking more relaxed than he has for a while, and gives Kisha a wave as he sees her taking time off her experiments. Course, it is then that he notices the electrodes, and the notebook, and the movies. And now he looks less relaxed as he slowly approaches.

Barbara steps into the room slightly after before she gives a small frown, the large Tv blurring things up for her. The girl seems tired, seems her studies have been getting the best of her. She cocks her head as she squints..."Are those plunged into you?"

Kisha shrugs, adjusting the wires so they're not in her way, wincing as one of the little needles in her skin gets moved. "Of course? That is what they're for after all," she replies casually. "You don't want me to turn the tv down a bit do you?"

"Do I even want to know about the notebook?" Wesley wonders, reading over Kisha's shoulder.

Barbara raises her brow and then her mouth sort of drops as she walk slowly towards the girl with great curiosity, squinting out the fuzz from the TV. "I um.. um...what is it doing?" she asks with amazed curiosity.

"These things? Nothing too exciting," Kisha says, checking the little read out on the PDA. "Mapping my own bio-electric fields." As Wesley tries peek at her notepad she eaks and flips the cover shut. "I'm only using hardcopy for notes because the PDA can't handle the data input and run the other functions. So I'm having to plan next years schedule on paper." Before she shut the page the words 'Thermal Core Tap' can be made out by careful observers.

Wesley looks over at Kisha, raising an eyebrow. "Thermal... Okay, explain yourself, now," he says with some mild authority.

Barbara blinks lightly, Babs is nothing if not observant. "Ooh... that sounds most certainly interesting. And wes the girl desigs all sorts of things. It dosnt mean she wants to build them." she says as she glances to try and read the readings.

Kisha glances between Wesley and Barbara, then sighs. "Fine you can read it if you're so desperate to pry," she says, handing it over to Wes. "Should I get my diary ready for inspection too?" The notebook seems to contain a series of projects under the heading 'Solving the majority of world problems' and features everything from enviromentally friendly power generation ideas to a machine which would fix the hole in the ozone layer. "The only one in the entire thing you've got to worry about me actually building is page ten, invulnerable automated breakfast making alarm clock."

Wesley looks over the plans for a moment, quickly turning to page ten at the comment. "Why would it have to be invulnerable?" he wonders.

Barbara gives a small frown. "Why not? This.. this is brilliant Kisha." she says with a bright smile and what actualy looks like a blush before she turns back to the girl. "Why would you be ashamed of this?'

"I'm not!" Kisha replies sullenly. "I'm annoyed that I'm not allowed to keep my notes private." She sighs, then adds "It needs to be invulnerable because I go through a lot of alarm clocks. Usually they don't stand up to impacts from a hammer."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just stop using a hammer?" Wesley wonders, giving a small sigh before giving Kisha back her pad. "Here, sorry if I'm a bit paranoid. The idea of human experimentation makes me a bit jumpy recently."

Barbara gives a small nod before she gives a small cock of her head. "Well if its private...why bring it outside your room?' she says with some slight curiosity. "But well it seems interesting."

"Because I don't generally expect people to peer over at my notes? It /is/ kind of rude after all," Kisha explains, tucking it away in her bag. "The hammer's something I do when half asleep, it's not intentional." After a moments consideration she reaches over for the remote and drops the volume a few notches. "Things well with you both? Kneejerk reactions to perfectly innocent human experimentation aside."

"Sorry," Wesley says, patting the top of Kisha's head. "And things are alright. I'm done with school for the semester, still waiting to see how I did on my exams though," he shares.

Barbara gives a small raise of her brow. "Really? I constantly expect it... I dont write anything in public I want kept secret." she says before she gives a small smile at Kisha. "I am fine though.. hope I tested well."

"I don't get the whole worrying about tests thing," Kisha admits cheerfully. "It's not like they really mean anything in the end. Not compared with real world skills and stuff." She frowns at Barbara's comment about writing in public. "Isn't it bad that you're assuming the worst about everyone like that?"

"I wouldn't say assuming people will see what you're writing is assuming the /worst/," Wesley defends. "And, well, in my case, those tests dictate my ability to continue gathering real world skills, and, eventually, my ability to prove that I possess the real world skills to proceed in my job of choice."

Barbara gives a small little twitch. "Because the inability to pass a simple memorization exam would indicate flaw and faliure with me" she says before she blinks. "Well um... I usualy read what other people are writing...I don't write anything private while I can see people."

"It's practically industrial espionage!" Kisha protests sullenly, jolting as one of the wires gets snagged and a needle shifts about. "Exams would be much better if we have to use what we've been taught, to prove we understand application of skills instead of simple data recollection."

"So... not unless there are walls on every side and no windows?" Wesley asks Barbara with a smile. "Or is '3 miles away' far enough for privacy?" he teases lightly, poking his girlfriend's side. "And they get that way eventually," he tells Kisha. "Round college, and you're not getting into one of those unless you do well in high school."

Barbara gives a small frown. "Hey hey.. im only going into medical technology and im going into simpler devices." she says before she smiles. "Walls with no open windows really." she says before she shrugs. "I found the exams adaquate."

"Just as well really. Some of the potential side effects of those inventions being flawed wouldn't make you very popular with anyone you sold them to. Providing the planet wasn't blown up of course," Kisha says matter of factly. "Like I can't figure out how to tap the core of the planet without risking making a small volcanoe. I guess it a military might buy it though, denyable weapon and all."

"We don't have the tech," Wesley says. "The deepest hole we've ever drilled didn't even hit the mantle, and most metals we have couldn't sustain the temperature," he theorizes. "And those that could? Hell, getting enough of it..." He considers the girl's electrodes. "Do you still need these?" he wonders, tapping one.

Barbara gives a small nod..."Hmm true enough..and um hey don't take them off..." she says with a small blush. "She looks good with those on."

"Still need them?" Kisha says in a puzzled tone. "I've barely begun to map my nerve structure. Let alone finished, after all what if I loose a finger in an industrial accident and need to build a new one? Without the right data I won't be able to wire it up properly." The comments about how they affect how she looks would be politely described as confused or more accurately as utterly oblivious.

Wesley rolls his eyes at Barbara. "I think they're actually doing that sorta thing in hospitals now," he shares. "Have been for a bit." He reaches over, scooping Barbara off her feet. "You and your tech," he teases lightly, tickling her side.

Barbara gives a small squeek as she is scooped up and she flails for a moment against Wes before she just sort of sits there grumpily....looking up at him much like a passive aggresive cat. She glances over to Kisha and her mouth rounds for a second in a soft, 'oooh....can I get one too?"

Kisha tuts at the display. "It's all preliminary work at this stage," she admits. "Because I have no intention of loosing any of me in accidents. But it never hurts to have that kind of information stored away for later use, especially with some of my longer term ambitions."

Wesley smiles at Barbara, before leaning in to raspberry her tummy. "Honestly, I think the work you're doing might be a bit more helpful for neurological work not related to reattaching limbs. Figuring out how to reattach bits? That's not too hard, laying the power lines is easy. Figuring out exactly how the power plant works? Not so much."

Barbara gives a loud squeek. "Germs germs.. WES wipe my stomach this instance.." she says before she winces and she sighs soflty and indignantly.

"I don't care how it's all working," Kisha says indifferently, shifting around so she doesn't have to watch the display. "Just where it all is and what it controls. For wiring and re-wiring purposes mostly, only without all the hours of surgery and tests that doctors would require."

Wesley shrugs, chuckling at Barbara. "Come on, you know I keep my mouth clean, I used mouthwash like 30 minutes ago, haven't even eaten since."

Barbara gives a small wrinkle of her nose. "Do you really want me to take a magnifying glass to that mouth of yours and tell you whats in there?" she grumbles before she looks over to Kisha and smiles. "Well no matter how it works it is still super interesting."

"You actually know which bacteria is which then?" Kisha wonders, slowly beginning to pack her bag away. Taking special care not to catch any of the wires, some of which appear to be plugged along her spine and, if the volume of cables is anything to go by, right down her back.

"Nothing harmful, I assure you," Wesley says, lifting the girl's shirt again to rub her stomach with his sleeve. "There, happy, or are you going to run off to take a shower?" he wonders.

Barbara shakes her head. "Not really.. but well I could find it with a book." she says before she chuckles to Wes. "Oh its totaly shower." she says with a slight teasing vein.

"I get the feeling I should probably head off before you two start breaking school rules about... uhm anyway," Kisha notes, tailing off as she scoops her bag up and heads to the TV to collect her bundle of dvds. "If anyone asks I'll claim total ignorance."

Wesley chuckles at Kisha. "No worries there, she will shower all on her own, cause she's a /big girl/," he says with a chuckle, setting the girl down, ruffling her hair. "Good luck with your nerve mapping, I think I'm going to go play something mindless and violent to celebrate my freedom from class a bit. Maybe rub it in your faces later, not sure."

Barbara blinks lightly. "I... but.. no I don't break school rules and if I did most certainly n...gah see how you made me look?" she says with a whack towards Wes before she calls out. "I don't like people watching me shower! It makes me feal dirty!"

"Just as well," Kisha says innocently, packing her dvds into her bag. "Because I would feel so embarrased if someone asked me to build them a pregnancy testing machine."

Wesley chuckles at how flustered Barbara is, then looks over to Kisha. "As her boyfriend, I feel the need to defend her honor by assuring you that I was simply teasing her, and have no plans to take her upstairs and enter into any situation where such a device might become necessary anytime in the near future."

Barbara blinks lightly as she looks down. "I I.. I Wouldn't get pregnant!" she calls out with more frusturated tone. "Im not even st..oh I.. gah"

Kisha grins impishly. "I never said you would, I said it'd be embarrasing if someone asked me to make a pregnancy test." She scoops the dvds, with no regard for which goes where, and then waves. "I have a long days data processing ahead of me, so I'll cya both later."

Wesley smiles at Barbara, ruffling her hair. "Go take your shower, Barb, let /me/ handle the talking, alright?" When Kisha moves to leave, he gives her a nod. "Then we part for now. Until next time," he says, giving the girls a low bow before heading for the door.

Barbara gives a small whimper. "It was implied!" she calls out as she does her best to fix up her hair with a pout. "Boys aren't even pretty!" she calls out before she bolts out towards the shower to fix up.