[October 6th. 11:30 PM] [After the first meeting of the new team has broken up, Horus, Christian, and Jacqueline find themselves following the translucent image of Sister Admin down a hallway off the room where they had gathered.] [At the end of the hallway is a large metal door; it opens as SA waves a hand, and you walk in to see a large, empty room, with shiny metalic panels all along the walls, floor and ceiling.] [Sister Admin disappears, but then you hear her voice from above; looking up, you can see a window to what appears to be a control room of some sort. "So what're you all in the mood for, hmm?"] [Mini start] * Jacqueline 's first act is to finally discharge her gun into one of the training room walls; the big, pulsating blue ball that leaves the barrel explodes noisily, if probably harmlessly against it. * Horus looks around the room, fairly impressed. "Man," she says, instead of answering Sister Admin's question, "what'dya guys use? Holograms?" * Horus blinks at Jackie's act of aggression, but hey, it didn't hit anyone. A sea of admirers with poor self esteen and-or low moral standards. Failing that, a suitable number of training aids. Preferably shaped like the Eternal Warrior or American Dream. If they could wet themselves and cry for their mothers when injured, it would help, but I'm not picky. [The energy balls hits harmlessly against the walls. "C'mon Jacqueline, I *know* you know better than to shoot at Unobtanium panels. And yes, Horus, something like that. The technical explanation would make you want to claw your ears off, but it's damn good tech that produces realistic training sims." She pauses. "Among other uses."] * Christian walks in and starts rubbing his knuckles, looking around, then glances at Jacqueline. "Man, the visual aids help much? I mean I'm all for American Prick bein' one but the wettin' himself seems a little unnecessary." * Christian then looks disembodied voice-wise and smiles a bit her way. "I'm up for anything. Just make sure it's a good enough challenge. I'm itchin' ta break some face. And if you're sayin' I can't do much damage in here...well..." ["Well, the question is whether you three just wanna blow off some steam, or whether you'd like to get in some actual practice."] * Horus nods at Christian once, then addresses the voice again: "Probably wanna get some actual practice, if things are as hairy as you guys say they are." Some of the guys we'd actually be up against would help. * Jacqueline shrugs without much concern for the chiding. "You have your definition of necessity, I have mine; failing my /first/ choice, I really couldn't care less." ["Hairy and unwashed. You all still want to fight Billy?"] Fuck yeah. * Christian smirks and pulls on his gloves as a response. "What the hell *you* think, doll?" * Jacqueline very faintly smirks. "Well, then. Sweetcheeks. Give us our ugly American." [A note of bemusement creeps into her voice. "I'll assume you don't want the full-powered version."] * Horus snorts. "No. How about a version we can set on fucking fire." Let 'im keep his mouth, though, so we can punch it. * Christian looks at Horus evenly. "Man, you're fuckin' pissed." ["Right then. Challenging, not able to walk all over you, giant dick. I think the system can manage that."] * Horus looks back at Christian. "You got no idea." * Jacqueline glances sidelong towards Horus as she fishes a hand into her labcoat to retrieve a little digital camera. After waving it about slightly, she holds it before her eyes and instructs, "A moment. Give us a smile, Horus. Or a glare." ["Give me a couple of minutes to program the scenerio. Oh, and this system has extensive safety protocols, so even though it'll feel like you're taking real damage, it won't be real." She chuckles. "Well, mostly not real."] * Horus turns her attention to Jackie and blinks. "What for?" she asks, sounding mostly confused and slightly suspicious. Well. That works too. * Jacqueline clicks the shutter, causes a flash, slips the camera away. * Christian keeps an eye on Jackie as well, looking curious as well. * Horus shrugs philosophically. "Long as it didn't suck my soul." * Jacqueline smiles brightly at Horus as she thumbs a switch on the side of her gun. "Other coat, darling." * Christian gestures vaguely to Jacqueline. "Speaking of which. Do the chain thing much?" * Jacqueline quirks an eyebrow as she turns to face Christian fully. Her hands, in spite of one of them being full of her gun's handle are placed on her hips. "When it suits; what a woman's bioelectric aura can allow her to get away with fashion-wise is quite something, with a little work." Bio-what now? [The room suddenly shudders, and you find yourselves inside a warehouse. You can smell the salty sea air and hear waves crashing against the pier in the background. Oh yeah, and American Dream is floating a few feet off the ground, sneering at the lot of you. "Seriously? A geek, some copycat ghetto trash, and... what the fuck are you anyway, boy? Get a goddamn normal man's haircut, for fuck's sakes."] Wow, you fucking got him *down*, Sis. Admin. * Christian laughs. "Really? That the best he can do? "Get a goddamn haircut?" Like the real one had better. [AD shrugs. "All I know about you is you dress like street garbage and have a haircut like a fucking queer. Once I get to know you better, I'll be sure to put some extra special care into what I say to you."] * Christian cracks his knuckles and smirks slightly. "You'll get to see what the hell I'm all about, flyboy." He cracks his neck to both sides and takes a fighting stance. ["Now are you three ladies gonna do something, or are you gonna break out an issue of Cosmo and synchronize your periods?"] [He eyes Horus and Jacky up and down, leering slightly. "And I use the term 'ladies' loosely. I assume you two know from loose."] * Horus glares at American Dream, and the stone in her mask flares once again. She explodes with light that's not quite painful to look at (unlike last time), which covers her with gold and silver feathers, wings, and a full falcon headdress. * Jacqueline 's gun hums gently thanks to a button on its side being depressed, and meanwhile her hand goes into her labcoat. "Oh, William. What thinking woman really deals with that whole ordeal anymore, anyway?" she breezily says as she holds the camera up before her eyes. "Say 'Gouda'." * Horus actually laughs at Jackie's comment and spreads her wings. She takes to the air, flying high but not quite touching the ceiling. [AD feigns panic. "Oh no, she's mad now!" He snickers. "Though, to be fair, you look like less of a sissy than the old Horus did in that costume. I mean, really, what kind of man prances around in shiny wings? Was he on the down-low?"] * Christian whistles lightly. "Well that's a nice effect." He then points at AD. "Y'know, with ya talkin' so much about gayness, ya think you'd know a thing or two 'bout it. Maybe you're just insecure." ["Why don't you ask your mom about that when she tucks you in tonight, boy?"] I thought you didn't know me? How the fuck would you know my mom then? ["Hell, with all the kids she's had from all the men she sleeps with, how's a guy supposed to keep track?"] * Christian smirks. "If you're my fuckin' father, I'll fuckin' kill myself. But in the meantime, I'll just settle with bustin' *your* sorry ass face in." Hm. An artificially intelligent father; I suppose there are /worse/ parentages. [AD just shakes his head, then takes a deep breath and exhales with the force of a hurricane.] * Christian tries to brace himself by crossing his arms in front of him but ends up getting lifted off his feet and slamming his back into the side wall with a hard thud. He lets out and oomph but picks himself up fairly quickly right after. * Jacqueline 's labcoat is all aflutter as she's thrown into a pile of crates. Through the power of science, they are transmogrified into kindling... and she still manages to remain decent. * Horus braces herself as flickering flames form around her, but she wasn't quite high enough. The blast sends her spiraling through the air and into a wall. "Fuck!" she cries as she falls, but she catches herself and hovers. * Jacqueline shakes bits of virtual wood and virtual crushed beanie baby off of herself as she groans and pushes herself upright. "Hh--well... fortunately, we've reinforcements," is muttered as she clicks the shutter. Horus, sans her visual alterations but with a gout of fire headed for AD appears before him. [AD looks as surprised as the rest of you doubtless are as a second Horus appears right in front of him and blasts him with a burst of fire. He seems even more surprised that it singes him as much as it does.] * Horus grins at that. "You go, me," she says softly. * Christian plants his hand on the ground and gets ready to run at AD, building up speed faster than normal. He leaps up in the air and twists a round-house kick in the air but whiffs with his foot overhead. He lets out a tssh out of his breath and lands on a crate on the other side of AD in a crouched position, ready to strike again. [AD floats to the side to avoid Christian's attack. "Gonna need to do better than that, boy."] * Horus flies up, raising her arms, and a funnel of wind forms around her, pushing up, and up... the roof groans, then half of it raises with her as she flies up and out of the warehouse. The next thing anyone sees is that same roof, forced into a blocky shape, dropping right back down the hole for American Dream. [AD's sneering and taunting is interrupted as he damn near gets half the roof dropped on his noggin. Near because it misses, though.] * Jacqueline 's head cants slightly to the side as she lowers her camera and watches the falling chunk of roof with a silent little grin. * Christian grins with the falling roof and then leaps off the crate that he's on. He plants his foot on the falling roof piece and uses it to launch even *more* momentum into his attack. His arm hums as it gets encased in a purple hue moments before the whole forearm slams against AD's face in midair with an audible sonic boom, while Christian uses the momentum of the leap to land on the ground and keep running. [AD damn well wasn't expecting that, and get spun around in the air as Christian nails him with a forearm to the head. He rubs his jaw, scowling. "You hit almost as hard as you mom."] One trick pony. That's what she said. [He then disappears in a blur!] * Christian grins at AD and cracks his knuckles. Lavender Lad? * Christian seems to see AD coming, because he leans back as far as he can balance as AD flies overhead. His hair gets blown back by the wind pressure. * Jacqueline adjusts her goggles slightly... and it is just in time for her to be caught about the body by a tackle. She is carried a fair few feet by the blow, but the humming, dangerously glowing gun in her hand is a handy contingency because the recoil from firing it forces her out of the American Dream's grasp. * Jacqueline groans as she pulls herself free from a dented wall, glances towards the windswept Christian, and calls out, "Orchid King!" We'll kick his ass, *then* you can talk about my nickname, asshole. [AD doesn't veer away from Jacky in time, which is a bad thing for him because he takes a huge ball of energy to the chest, sending him spiraling across the room to crash into some boxes.] * Horus swoops in, and the moment she spots American Dream, a bow of light forms in her hands. She notches an arrow, also made of light, and lets it fly right into her prone target! Sucks to be him when it hits dead on and explodes. [Horus hits him while he's getting up, and staggers him momentarily. "Hmm. Not completely useless. Close, but not completely."] * Christian comes out of his dodge pose and pulls himself up to his feet, and wipes his mouth with his thumb. "I mean seriously. The name calling's getting old." He then swaggers a little and lets out a little cocky grin. "I'll show you useless, American Prick. Come on." [AD smirks, and his hands are surrounded by nimbuses (nimbii?) of energy. He rears his arms back, and launches a burst of red energy at each of you.] * Christian tries to dive to the side but is a bit too late as the nimbus hits his feet and catches his boots on fire. With that he yelps a bit and takes off his coat trying to put it out. * Jacqueline 's smirking reply of, "Well, perhaps if you'd thou--" is cut short by the sudden need to whip her coat off due to being set on fire. It only kind of helps, but it's something. She is grimacing deeply and trying not to make any more noise as she levels her trembling gun to fire a stream of wildly bending and twisting lasers into the American Dream. * Horus moves easily enough to the side, letting the burst pass harmlessly by. [AD takes a laser to the chest! Meanwhile, the blast he threw at Horus hits the sprinkler system, sending water spraying throughout the warehouse; it doesn't put out the flames immediately on Christian and Jacky, but it's helping.] * Horus shifts her bow to one hand and pushes the other towards American Dream, and much like with him, wipsy glowing light forms, only surrounding her entire body. "Anything you can do," she comments as the light funnels around her hand and lances for American Dream.] (-], don't know how that got there) [AD is momentarily distracted by the falling water, which is a bad idea when Horus sends some more hot burny death right at him. He takes it right between the eyes, and staggers back with a scream. "You BITCH!"] * Christian runs at AD while he's distracted yelling at Horus and ignores the flames being put out on his feet. The water will take care of it. So he'll take care of good ol' ugly. He flies in the air with a quick sprint and jump and holds his coat down over AD's face as he leaps over him, yelling. "BITCH! THIS!" His foot glows this time before exploding into the superprick's back. [Well, that doesn't look comfy. AD gets his neck wrenched back as Christian plants his heel into his spine, sending him crumbling to the ground.] * Christian lands from his jump and slings his coat over his shoulder. [He gets up unsteadily... and the glow that was around his hands spreads to his entire body. "Little bastards... these colors... don't run..." And he fires a torrent of energy blasts out every which way!] * Christian must have been unprepared from the landing because he gets buffetted by the barrage of energy wave attacks. First one hits him in the chest and knocks him up into the next one which sends him flying back and crashing into a couple of crates. * Horus 's eyes widen at that. "Holy shit!" she yells. One of the blasts hit her neatly in the side, her aura absorbing some of the blow, but she manages to dodge the other. * Jacqueline , instead of firing her gun upon the American Dream after nearly toppling beneath one blast and neatly sidestepping the other on her approach towards him is stuck with a smoking and uselessly fizzing gun after the building huming noises are replaced by an unseemly pop. She heaves a heavy sigh and falls to her knees aside AD to begin servicing the weapon with shaking hands and blurring vision. * Horus tosses her bow into the air. It vanishes, and she flies down to touch the ground softly next to Jackie. She glances down at the scientist, then gives American Dream a Look, and he explodes outwards in searing flames. Guess looks really CAN kill... or at least do damage to training holograms. [AD doesn't react in time, and gets caught in the middle of the searing burst of heat. He's looking pretty bad, now.] * Christian gets up out of the crate mess he's in and tsshes again, diving at AD and letting loose a punch straight for his gut from midair. [AD just barely sidesteps; it's more like he staggers out of the way from the damage he's taken more than any coordinated attempt at defense.] [He manages to pull himself together, though, growls, and throws a left hook-right uppercut combo at Christian!] * Christian grins and turns off to the side as the move he prepped before goes off. As the left hook comes Christian's way, American Dream's punch seems to slow down as Christian sways to the side if it's hitting through water and a faint purple glow appears again. Moment's later, Christian steps within his guard and slams it against his gut with an auditory explosion. AD, while not flying back, goes skittering along the warehouse floor on his back. [AD ain't gettin' up from that one, folks.] * Horus watches that. She waits a while, then asks, "Is he out?" [I just said he was.] * Christian dusts himself off. "Looks like it. Ow, what power was he at?" * Horus can't hear through the fourth wall, no matter how much she pumps into Heightened Senses: Hearing. Fuck if I know. Hey, Sis. Admin! What was that guy at?! [The scenery flickers and fades, and you find yourself back in the shinyroom. You're all tired and sore, depending on how badly you got beat up, but nothing worse than that.] * Horus powers down as she yells, going back to just a gold tint. [SA comes on over the intercom. "Around 40% his full power, I'd estimate."] * Christian shakes his arm and mutters. "Damn. Guy's a fuckin' truck." * Horus winces. "Jesus fucking Christ." She glances at Jackie. * Christian then smirks at Horus. "You've got better names than "Lavender Lad" and "Orchid Kid" I imagine..." ["He is, which is the only reason anyone puts up with him. He's a bastard, but he's damn good in a fight."] Oh yeah. Still thinkin' Shockwave works for ya, or somethin' like that. ... You okay, Dr. Hyde? Shockwave or Impact, I was thinkin', yeah. * Christian walks over to the good doctor and offers her a hand up. ["Eternal Warrior is stronger and a better fighter, Solaris is a more powerful energy channeler, but he's not far off on either front, plus his other powers." She pauses for a moment. "Not bad for a first try, but it could've been better."] * Jacqueline only just manages to fix her gun, at which point a burst of more or less harmless blue energy leaves the barrel. She helps herself up, brushes herself off, and is clicking softly to herself as she goes to retrieve her coat. [A bit of mirth creeps into her voice. "I trust that was sufficiently theraputic?"] * Jacqueline would, if there were any African natives around, probably be the source of quite a lot of offense just now, but as it is she more than likely just sounds strange/seems stand-offish. * Christian shrugs. "Fair enough." He then grins at the disembodied voice. "Would a "Hell fuckin' yeah" answer your question?" * Horus snickers at Christian's response. ["I worked hard writing that douchebag algorhythm; people insisted on it because it didn't feel right beating on him without the satisfaction of shutting him up."] * Christian puts his hands on his hips and then grins over his shoulder at Horus. "Hope you're not mad I got the last hit, yeah?" Nah, no problem. The whole *point* behind giving him that mouth was to punch him in the fuckin' face. Damn straight. ["You all done for the night?"] * Christian looks over at Jackie for a response. She's being quiet. I think so. * Horus watches Jackie go. * Jacqueline 's coat is slipped on, and her gun - in cylindrical form - and camera are slipped into her coat. She takes a few seconds to very carefully tease and comb her hair with fingers that are doing quite a lot of trembling, and then without much of a warning she turns to display a broad smile at Christian and Horus to chirp, "I do believe I'm going to requisition a smooth young thing to work these kinks out." Uh. Huh. * Horus snerks. "Go for it. I'll leave you alone." That said, she moves to leave. * Jacqueline 's footware clacks softly against the ground as she follows suit in leaving, with a delicate finger wave in the direction of what feels like the closest thing to a source the disembodied voice had in the room. "'ta; thank you ever so much." * Christian shrugs slightly. "Whatever floats your parade, doll." He then shakes his head and heads out of the Danger Room. * Horus waves offhandedly. "See ya." And then she's out! [As you walk out, a new scene pops up: in Central Park, late evening, full moon, the image of Sister Admin appears sitting on a bench as a bald young black man walks up, wearing a full length tweed coat. Sister Admin waves shyly at him as the doors close behind you.] [Mini End]