Players:
Summary: Summary of what happened.
Date: August 21, 2010
Log Title: Practice Session At Barnes
Rating: PG-13
Barnes Academy - Practice Room
This is a very large module, about the size of a football field. In default mode, it has stadium lighting and the floors and walls are of the same white-gray alloy as the rest of the base. However, practically every element in the room is modular, from floors to walls to ceilings to lighting and even the air flow is adjustable. While it isn't a Star Trek style holodeck, just about any credible threat can be simulated, if not replicated. A control booth overlooks the room in a way that might be oddly familiar to some people.
Anti-gravity suit turned on, Troy… Agent Slide… hovers in the air of the practice area. He doesn't have anything fancy going on right now, just a basic training program. Himself against a large group of invaders coming at him. The door is unlocked, allowing anyone who wants to come in. As they charge and run, his two hands are angled in different directions. Some of the group slips and falls, some others are stuck, standing in place as he rises.
Coming into the practice room with his Barnes uniform, custom with six arms, Travis is here to practice a bit with some fighting routines he's been learning here. Ways to fight hand to hand with his extra appendages. Spotting someone in here, he gives a wave with one hand. "Hey, hope you don't mind company, I'll be taking up a small part of the room so I'll try not to get in your way."
The Practice Room is popular today, it would seem. Swathed in some sort of warm brown fabric, edged in red, and with a black bodysuit beneath, Rashmi peeks her head in, the sounds of the room in use drawing her curiosity. "Um… hi," she says, slipping into the room. "Sorry to interrupt… is it okay if I find a corner?"
"Why find a corner. We can turn it into something group related." Troy says as he glances around, visor moving from face to face. "If anyone has suggestions. At the moment, I don't have much creativity. Haven't in a few months." He explains as he flicks a wrist and the sliding 'people suddenly find themselves sticking together in clumps. When one touches another, even in a bump, they're stuck.
"Hey Rashmi." Travis says as he gives her a wave, she's one of the few people he knows here. "And Troy right, I think we met once." He says as he nods. "And group something, I can try that but ideas, I dunno. This is all still newish to me that I'm used to them just saying 'do this' or 'freeze that' and see what happens so…I dunno. Some kinda group fight?"
Rashmi bobs her head. "That sounds like a good idea, actually… Hm." Approaching the other two, she furrows her brow in thought. "So there's three of us… And it looks like we're all pretty good about taking on multiple opponents…" Looking up at the other two, she raises her eyebrows, glancing around at the clumps of training-assist 'dummies.'
"Teamwork training it is, then. I know you have some experience with your background, Rashmi. Unfortunately… I don't know you or your experience level, yet." Troy says to Travis. "I know some of what she's learned." He explains. "Enhance opponents. Intelligence. Numbers." He says as he looks left and right. "Rashmi, takedown." He states. "You - Crowd Control." He says to Travis. "I'll sow confusion in the ranks." He offers a grin, rising as the number of opponents triples.
"My experience level…I've had my powers for a few months so very beginner. I can only use one ability at a time." Travis says as he starts to go through a few stretches as to not get any pulled muscles or anything. "I just know about working as a team from doing sports in High school but that's about it. So, alright…crowd control it is." He says getting a bit nervous as he readies himself to fight a bit, an energy shield starts to glow in one of his upper arms.
"Don't worry about it, Travis," Rashmi says, as her spheres fade into view, whirling in random angles around her body. "You *probably* won't get hurt unless you do something really ill-advised. And team training is more about working with us than fighting, so…" Assuming a rough defensive stance, she starts to slide off to one side, awaiting the sowing of chaos to place her strikes. "Travis, can you drop an ice slick ahead of us?"
"I got the slick, Rashmi. Friction is my thing." Troy calls out, sliding his hand out. "And an unseen one at that. If they can't see it, they don't know where it is. Just… don't walk too close to them." He coughs, before shooting across the field at a high speed to move around behind the opponents. They're standard marching troops. Well, they were. Now they're starting to pay attention. So, they're becoming more like trained soldiers.
"Good, I can't cover that much area, it's more like i just freeze what I touch." Travis says as he can only affect a square foot. "Don't walk to close, I'm only a close combat person, I don't…" This is why they're training him with pistols and rifles but he doesn't have anything with him. He's a bit nervous but he gets into a fighting stance and tries not to freeze too much.
Rashmi slips in behind a stack of faux crates as the soldiers advance, and once the first line hits the barrier of slickness, her orbs streak out, aimed at shoulders, thighs, and shins, propelling them at speed toward the ground. "Find cover, then," she calls out to her teammate. "Get all sneaky and ambushy and stuff!"
"Have you figured out how to make other shapes yet, or still just balls?" Troy asks Rashmi as he starts flicking little bits of stickiness at eyelids here and there throughout. To blind them and prevent them from seeing themselves and their opponents. Of course, after seeing a few fall on a slippery surface, the others stop. They can learn!
Travis dives behind some crates opposite Rashmi and moves along so that he can get behind where the guys are slipping so that he doesn't slip himself. He puts the shield in front of him as he goes to charge one of the guys and smash him with the shield, trying to knock him into his mates. He tries to blank his mind and just go with it, letting instinct take over very much like the first time his powers manifested.
"No," Rashmi replies, not *quite* testy, "it's not exactly something I have a *lot* of control over, you know. But I *do* have some tricks…" As she slips around further to one side, she sends all her spheres out in a loose line, angled behind the halted soldiers. The way they move, however, doesn't quite suggest that they play follow the leader… more like the tail of some great lizard, whipping out to sweep the combatants away.
"Wasn't meant to be an insult. At least you have a power on your own. Some of us don't." Troy calls out. "Some of us have to rely on technology." He explains before one of the soldiers fires a gun that is pointed at him. He tries to dodge, but it still hits him, hard enough to make a small rip in his power-suit. Sure, they can't REALLY be hurt in here with safeties, but they can take some damage. The rip reveals a little blond hair. Not the brown of the image induced form. Of course, he doesn't notice. He glares at the offending weapon and gums it up inside. The next time it fires… the barrel explodes.
Travis ignores what Troy is saying mainly cause he is stoping himself from a bitter chime in. Instead he takes the frustration in the fact that at least Troy looks normal and he doesn't on the next guy in line. The shield goes away and he reaches out one of his middle arms, pushing the guy in the chest where Travis' target starts to scream as he's suffering horrid burns. He doesn't even notice the guy behind him come up and punch him in the kidney as he fights.
*SMACK* Before the ambusher can get another punch in, one of the spheres changes its angle sharply on the return, catching the soldier in the side of the head. "You all right, Travis? And no, Troy, it's *not* an insult, just a question I hear a lot more often than I thought I'd have to." More spheres shoot out, imitating a particularly chaotic pinball game as they rocket from target to target, thinning the crowd nearest the six-armed mutant, and driving a small knot toward Troy. "Besides. If you *want* my powers, you're welcome to them. It's not like it'd stop me if I *didn't* have them."
The pain of being punched there explodes in his lower back and he grunts in pain. "Yeah..I'll be fine Rashmi, thanks." He says as he grabs the next person and all of a sudden they start to wobble before falling to the ground and start throwing up. Avoid the puke puddle. "I'd be happy to trade powers with your Rashmi, is there a form to sign for that?" He says as he turns to stab one of the guys with his energy blade. He can switch through powers quickly but he can only use one at a time.
"I doubt it," Rashmi says in wry answer, slinking around and over a low wall, popping her head back up once she's reached her destination. "Watch your right, by the way, you've got three coming up behind you. But honestly? Don't worry about it, your powers are just part of who you are, you know? The hardest part's just getting comfortable with it."
"Just be careful that you keep them. There are things out there that can take them away. Temporarily or for good." Troy says as he goes in for a ramming motion through the center of the group. It hurts like hell, because of the speeds, but he can deal with it for now. He doesn't go TOO fast, fortunately. His own body is 'lubricated' as he does it, to make sure nobody can grip him. "Just be happy you have them."
At Rashmi's warning, Travis turns and the shield is out and he uses it to block a few incoming strikes. He rolls out of the way and reaches a hand out to grab onto one of them. "Seriously, I don't give a fuck if they go away or not." He grumbles as the shield vanishes and the guy he's holding onto screams as his legs starts freezing from Travis' touch. "Thanks for the warning Rashmi." He says a she's taken a few punches but he's still fighting to the best of his ability.
"Troy's right, though," Rashmi says in answer to Travis' grumbling. "I've heard of a couple things that could do that… And there's one guy who likes to mess around with mutant genetics. Trust me… I've known some people who had it *really* bad." Pressing her lips together, she seems to tire of this cat-and-mouse game, leaping into the center of a loose clump and just letting her spheres bozz at random, as fast as they can go. "The best thing you can do to be ready for it, really, is just be comfortable with who you are, you know? Like I said, if I lost my powers, I doubt I'd let it stop me. …I wonder if I'd get a friction suit, too…"
"With SHIELD involved, now that you're here, they'd do something while they try to find a way to restore them. Once you work with SHIELD, you're important to them. And even sometimes before you do." Troy says, "Not necessarily a bad thing." There's a hint of sourness there, but not much. "Rashmi, move! Gun pointed your way!" He shouts as he tries to make a divebomb, but can't make the speed.
"I just wonder if I'd get my…." The sentence is never finished as Troy gives a warning about the gun pointed at Rashmi and he looks over and rushes forward reaching out a hand to grab onto the gun. The gun fires and with Travis being the position he's in, gets grazed but the gunman screams as the metal in his hand starts to heat up and turns bright read as it starts melting the skin on his hand. Anyone after him is forgotten due to him trying to stop Rashmi from getting shot at.
As soon as the word 'gun' is heard, Rashmi flattens herself on the ground, spheres whirling madly. Between the gun being grabbed, her sudden movement out of the line of fire, and the small cloud of spheres providing a handy distraction, the redhead manages to not get shot… but as the bullet *spangs* off one of the spheres, she sucks in a very audible hiss of pain. "Thanks, Travis… Troy, this was a bad idea. Make me a path to the far wall, please?"
"Not my fault SHIELD's training facility is a little more realistic than Xavier's." Troy chuckles. "But it's nothing more than grazes. They don't want us really hurt." He says before he spreads his hands out, making a pair of slick fields that cause soldiers to fall down in a straight line, and slide in opposite directions. He releases the path in the center, solidifying it again. "Path clear!"
"I have no clue what they have in store for us, just told that it's safe here. They also hired my Mom to work here so….I think they're keeping an eye on me for something, not a clue though." Travis says lying a bit but lucky for him he's told lies so much about his past that he's not half bad at it. "And that's a pretty quick way to clear a path there Troy."
"It's not that," Rashmi says, scrabbling to her feet and charging down the path, away from the thick of the fighting. "It's just… Well…" Diving behind a box, she rubs at her temple, one of the spheres showing a small, but visible crack along its face. "Ever get a *really* sudden headache right behind your eyes?" For the moment, taking a breather, all six orbs pulled in behind cover to idle, peeking out now and again to keep track of the goings-on.
"Many many times." Troy says as he looks at Travis and sees the SHIELD file on him. He knows a little, but nothing major. Just that he's a mutant that needs training. "You're safe behind here." Of course, they're down to less than what Troy was fighting on his own. "Wrap'em up. All out." He says, tying the remaining opponents feet to the floor.
Travis rests two hands on his knees while another two wipe his damp hair back. "My powers don't really give me headaches but leave me feeling tired. How are the two of you, any injuries?" He asks as he does have the ability to heal and plans on using it. "I need to practice more on hand to hand combat and stuff, so…thanks for the workout." He says and there is a slight smile.
"Just a crack," Rashmi reports, standing up from her place and lifting the damaged sphere high and slow enough for the others to see. "So, headache. I'll be fine in a couple hours, though. And yeah, thanks for the workout… Um. Troy?" She lifts a hand, scratching at the back of her head, approximately where the tear in the suit shows. "…Your roots are showing."
Troy reaches up to touch the tear and grumbles. "Shit." He says before tapping his wrist and activating the image inducer. Brown hair it is again, along with the face that he goes by now. "Gotta get them to fix this soon. See if it damaged anything inside." He sighs. It worries him, but he'll be able to deal with it. "Not bad. Rashmi, you're used to things like this, so you've got a head start on it all. Travis, not bad at all for a first time. Just keep practicing."
Travis doesn't really notice things like the different hair colour, not until Rashmi says something but then he's not going to ask why when he's hiding a lot himself. "Alright well if either of you want some healing, I am able to heal some minor injuries. And I know I gotta keep practicing. It's like baseball you ain't gonna be worth shit to the team if you don't keep practicing." He says with a grin.
Rashmi chuckles, brushing her hair away from her face and adjusting the bracelet keeping one end of her stylized sari in place. "Well, that and a bunch of other reasons. Most of it amounting to, the more comfortable you are with your powers, the easier they are to handle. And thanks for the workout, Troy… Should do this again soon."
"Not a problem. I'm in here often. I'm still learning this suit. Only had it a few months." Troy explains. "And it always works up a hunger." He says with a nod, "So I'm heading for food." He offers a wave before leaving towards that area.
Travis doesn't agree with the do this again soon part, not at least verbally. "Seriously, I don't know how six arms are every gonna seem natural or easy to handle. It'd be so much easier to have a suit or your spheres so you could actually just kinda go off and do your thing." He gives a wave to Troy and nods. "Enjoy dinner, I might head there later." Shower before dinner sounds like an option though.
Rashmi lifts a hand to Troy, before turning to tilt her head at Travis. "…Actually it's kind of a *lot* like having six more arms, for me. Just, they can stretch, and end in bricks. Trust me, the more you practice, the easier it'll be. Talk to the medic guy, um… Angelo, that's his name. He gave me some pretty good idea for learning how to think in a whole bunch of different directions at once, maybe he'd help you too?"
"I work with Angelo on my healing a bit, assisting him in the medbay. I don't usually use the power that's opposite it though, I can also make people sick." Travis says with a shrug. "It's just weird, not only do I have six arms but I also have a power that's different with each hand. I dunno, sorry if I seemed a bit annoyed back there just a lot happened after I got my powers including losing a scholarship to a school I wanted to go to."
Before Troy vanishes completely, he looks over his shoulder. "Trust me, kid. I know all about losing things important to you because of things going absolutely wrong." And then, he turns on the speed, flying at his top speed just to get away from it all for a bit.
Rashmi glances over her shoulder at Troy as he vanishes, her expression speculative, wondering, a concerned frown on her face. "You're not alone there, Travis… You'd probably be surprised how often that happens to mutants, really… Some of us are lucky; we don't have to change a whole lot to get most of what we want. Most, though… not so much." Shaking her head and sighing, she turns back to approach Travis. "It's something we all end up having to come to terms with… don't worry, Travis. You will too."
"It's…a lot more complicated than that Rashmi, I wish I could go into more details but I can't." It's not that Travis doesn't want to it's just he's not allowed to talk to it from what the government told him. "Just, I wasn't supposed to be a mutant. They said I had the gene but it was recessive, but there was an….accident and it caused the gene to become dormant. So…all of a sudden I had six arms and was taken here to go to college and at the same time they offered my Mom a job cause she's a teacher and they needed them. I dunno everything just seems so fucked up right now."
"Active," Rashmi corrects, as much out of reflex as anything else. "And yeah… you'd probably be surprised how many kids I knew wanted to be athletes and stuff…" She laughs softly, shaking her head and sighing. "I had one friend who was going to be an Olympic athlete… But trust me, Travis… You can still have your dreams. Just.. y'know… maybe you'll have to change how you get them."
Travis smiles and nods. "Sorry, tired after all that. Yeah, I had a full scholarship for baseball. First basemen. I dunno, my father and I used to go to baseball games all the time as a kid and I just always wanted to be a baseball player and then when my Dad died, I didn't want to let that go. I wanted to do it for him but the only good thing, before I get too depressingly emo and shit, is that it's much easier to be a carpenter with six arms." he says with a chuckle.
Rashmi smiles gently, patting Travis' left upper shoulder. "Well… give it time, huh? We'll see what you can do, after you've got a better handle on things… I mean after all, that's sort of part of why you're here, right?"
"That and the custom t-shirts that allow for easy arm access." Travis says with a smile as he bushes back some of his hair. "I'm giving it time it's just it's all so different. So what about you, what was this Xavier's Troy was talking about? And you've been doing this whole fighting thing for a while?"
Rashmi blinks for a moment, then sighs, running a hand through her hair. "Xavier's is…. mnh. We're not supposed to talk about it all that much, so um… can you keep a secret?"
Travis nods his head. "Yeah, trust me, I can keep a secret." He's got so many of his own that he's not allowed to tell, what's one more. "And honestly the only people I know anymore are here at Barnes so I don't even have anyone to really blab to. I know you, Jakob, Troy, Angelo and my Mom here."
Rashmi nods quietly. "Okay, so… Xavier's School for Gifted Children, I think is the whole name. Except it's not just for smart kids, but mutants. Like, a high-school age boarding school. Most of what it's for is to teach kids how to deal with their powers, and deal with the rest of the world, y'know? But also, it's where the X-Men come from. So… yeah. They do combat simulations too… mostly rescue and evacuation stuff, for the students, or teamwork."
Travis nods as he listens. "If you told me this a year ago, I would have told you you're crazy but now, I'm not surprised. So you went to a high school for mutants where they trained you, so not much difference from this pace but Barnes isn't just mutants. Huh." He wants to open up more to Rashmi since she just told him about Xavier's but that's always been one of the rough parts about being in his situation. "So how big of a school is it?"
Rashmi chuckles. "Well… they built it out of a mansion the founder owned, so… pretty big. Really nice, too, just upstate enough you get out of the smog. …Oh. Also, not military. Privately owned, and all… But, yeah. If Barnes hadn't found you, probably they would have… They take in kids from all over the world, if they can find them in time."
"So you go from really nice mansion to a sunken boat, sounds like a step up in the world." Travis says obviously joking with her. "Well I gotta go grab a shower, clean off after this session, then go eat. Thanks for chatting Rashmi and I'll catch ya later?"
Rashmi bobs her head, lifting a hand in a wave as she trots toward the girl's showers. "Definitely! You take care, all right?"
Travis waves. "You too Rashmi! Laters." He says has he heads out of the trainig room.
