Issue 1 Downtime

A boxing ring was in the middle of the danger room space.

Will, dressed in a tanktop and shorts, was taking on a seemingly never-ending stream of henchmen and mooks, up to four at a time, with various weapons and arms. He was taking quite a beating, and looked quite exhausted, but he was constantly getting the upper hand, with more and more trained blows taking out them as they charged.

The timer in the control room read 25:52

((open thread))
((callback!))

Stephanie watched the fight for several moments before cranking up the difficulty dial several notches with a slight smile on her face. She cracked her neck, back and knuckles before shifting into her hybrid form and slipping into the simulation, darting through the shadowy area underneath the ring at first, and keeping an eye on Will, who would quickly find that the enemies were coming faster, and hitting harder and smarter.

Steph only gave Will a moment on his own to perhaps question what was going on before she snarled and lept into the ring spectacularly, taking out two angry-looking guys with strong and painful-looking bionic arms with a powerful flying tackle.

"Mind company?" she grinned over her shoulder.

"Nnf!" was about all Will could reply, as the amped up difficulty level knocked him on his ass.

Stephanie saw even more mooks crowding the fallen Will and she let out a challenging snarl before bowling into them all hamstringing several with a low rake of her claws and dancing through the group, a blur of fur, shining fangs, and well-placed, jaw-breaking punches.

A bit of breathing room gained, she offered Will a clawed hand to help him up. "Need a break, or okay with backup now?" she asked, dropping into a defensive crouch once he was up.

"What th...I mean...ok, I guess that's enough for me," Will grumbled.

"Computer, freeze," she ordered, pausing the sim mid fight. Steph shifted to human form, a look of concern on her face.

"You okay, Will? I didn't mean to barge in, but it was unlocked, and I thought we might get some work done together...I can leave you to your own sim if you like."

Will spat a bit of blood out of his mouth. "No, no, it's fine..."

She eyed him warily. "You sure? We're you doing all that with the safeties off?"

"I'm fine," he said, turning away.

"...You sure you're okay?" she asked, moving closer to him slowly.

"I'm fine," he insisted, shrugging her off harder than he intended to.

Steph threw up her hands defensively, taking a step back, "Okay, okay...just don't want you to hurt yourself because of me joining in....you ready to go again?"

"No...no, I, uh....I think I should hit the showers..."

Steph's look of concern deepened.

"Computer, end program," she ordered, sending the scene into oblivion and leaving them in a blank room.

"were you doing this the entire time you were in here? The whole 20+ minutes? I'm sorry that I bumped the level before I came in...you looked pretty on top of things....are...you SURE you're okay?"

"I'll be fine...I think it's just a cracked rib..."

Steph's eyes widened in alarm, and she rather uncharacteristically even swore, "Will! What the hell were you doing with the safeties off in a program like that, ALONE?! Let's get you to the infirmary and get you looked at."

"I'll just fix it, it's not a thing, don't sweat it," he said, VERY tensely (for him, at least)

"Are you sure? And again, I have to ask....why were you doing that, alone, with no safeties?"

"Because....just...just BECAUSE, OK?" he said, agitation clear in his face.

Steph held back a frustrated growl, "Please listen to yourself. You sound crazy. What would your wife think of you being so reckless?"

"You're not my wife," Will said, waving a finger.

"No, but thats not the point. Do you really think she'd be happy to hear that you hurt yourself by setting up a program without any safeties on?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chesr.

"Will, we risk enough on our missions--why on earth would you put yourself at risk at home? We've already lost a lot of great people this week--we can't really afford to lose more with something like THIS."

"And if I can be lost with something like THIS, I'm not exactly cut out to lead anyone anywhere, am I?" he shot back.

"You're doing this to PROVE A POINT?!" she asked in disbelief. "A ridiculous one at that? Will, this is not the man I've seen in training and on missions! Why would you ever doubt yourself to the point that you're taking idiotic risks just to prove that you're still capable?"

"Next?" she asked, ore puzzled than anything else, suddenly. "What do you mean?"

"You saw what shape R...Seraph is in. And he's been trained by the god damned Avengers, not some low-rate X-Men who were hanging around!"

"Gabriel has nothing to do with you. Yes, he's good at what he does, but you know what, before I had this conversation with you, I wouldn't have had any doubts about you either, Will. You're bright, you're incredibly powerful and tough, and I wouldn't think twice about following you anywhere. But THIS?" She indicated him and the whole danger room, "This concerns me. That you don't see the danger in what you were just doing. That you don't see why you need to stop doubting yourself and be a leader or the teams. You ARE good enough. And you know what? I love the boy, and always have, but we could use someone with a bit less of an ego."

"He's better than I'll ever be and more experienced, and he STILL came back without a third of the team!" Will shouted. "What hope do ~I~ have if he steps out for a while? Or, God forbid, forever?"

"He is most certainly NOT better than you. Experienced? Perhaps. You're letting his confidence fool you. No one could have done any better or worse up there. We've both read the reports. It was chaotic, and he thought on his feet, just like you or I would have. You can't doubt yourself this much, Will, or this is going to quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Do you WANT to fail us? Do you WANT to be "bad at leading" or whatever you think you are? Then keep this up. It'll most certainly come true. If you don't, then stop doubting yourself. Talk to people. Me. Your wife. Anyone. Don't just stew on your own in poisonous thoughts."

Steph sighed, "Will, have you slept much since the attack?"

"Don't need to sleep..."

"Bull. Everyone does. Your brain needs it, unless you've replaced it with a computer."

"'ts fine...."

"Don't tempt me to knock you out and carry you caveman-style to your wife with instructions to keep you asleep," she warned.

To be honest it was hard to tell if she was being serious or not.

"You really want to try that?"

"Maybe. But one thing is certain--I'm going to have a talk with your wife about this one way or another."

"Are you, now."

"To tell your wife that the father of her child is being irrationally reckless and borderline unstable? Yes."

Will tensed his fists. "Say that again."

"I said," she enunciated, her eyes yellowing, "that you're being irrational and reckless, and that your wife needs to know it."