Still Not Safe #2 [M&M 2nd ed]

[Matar]

Todd liked this guy. Of course, he didn't agree with anything he said, but still. To Todd, a fight was a battle of passions. Moving with the river of youth and power. Sure, you should watch it and judge of the flow of the river, but it just wasn't the same as diving in and feeling it for yourself.

But, you know, why the hell not?

Todd steps into the ring with youthful passion!

"Me first!"

[Cubey]

The day after:
"Nice to meetcha." Alex returns the handshake.
"My lessons sound confusing to you? Well, maybe - after all, they're teaching you something totally opposite from how humans are wired to act."

"Sounds like my hypothesis is busted, huh? Or is it?" He wonders.
"Don't give up on trying to mold your powers as you want. And whether you succeed or fail, make sure to gimme your research data."

Training, day two:

"I'm starting slow. I will quicken up if I see you performing well. Ready?" Says 'mr Robot'. Then, he tries to punch Todd. Like promised, his first punches are easily predictable as he telegraphs them a mile away.
(Too easy to avoid, so just RP it rather than rolling anything)
However, his attacks are getting faster and harder to block as time passes!
There is one thing that remains about them though. They're faster but are still the same pattern - the punches are virtually the same, just quicker. Can you use this against him? Even after the attacks become too fast for a normal teenager to easily avoid?

[Tengu_temp]

Emi had nothing better to do at the moment, she just like she planned before she went to the gym to check how the others are doing. She didn't change into any training-appropriate clothes, she has no desire of participating herself. And what she sees there? A guy dressed like a giant pillow trying to punch out Todd.
"What is this?", she asks in a bemused tone.

[kamikasei]

"Ben found someone to give us some out-of-armor combat training," Cat explains. ...Yeah, she'll leave it at that for now.

[Matar]

There is one thing that remains about them though. They're faster but are still the same pattern - the punches are virtually the same, just quicker. Can you use this against him? Even after the attacks become too fast for a normal teenager to easily avoid?

Todd was able to keep up, at first.

At first.

However, deeply analyzing something and acting upon that analyzable just isn't something Todd is good at. It doesn't take long of Todd acting unToddly before he just can't keep up anymore. He doesn't get very far and in fact does rather badly at the whole exercise.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Todd just isn't fit for this type of training.

"Blargh! My eyes keep making want to move before I should! Or too late!

[Cubey]

Todd's opponent sighs and stops his attacks, but probably not until after scoring a few successful hits. Be glad for the boxing gloves.

"You need more practice. Try to predict my moves." He says, sounding more worried rather than annoyed. At least for now.

Does anyone else try next, now that Todd has failed?

[Drascin]

The day after:
"Nice to meetcha." Alex returns the handshake.
"My lessons sound confusing to you? Well, maybe - after all, they're teaching you something totally opposite from how humans are wired to act."

"No, the visualizing part is easy to get. It's just, I had never seen you before, so I was pretty dumbfounded at seeing you here teaching the guys. I was wondering if I missed a memo somewhere or something" he laughs.

"Sounds like my hypothesis is busted, huh? Or is it?" He wonders.
"Don't give up on trying to mold your powers as you want. And whether you succeed or fail, make sure to gimme your research data."

Andy nods. "Will do. Don't worry, if it can be done I'll do it. I'm one stubborn bastard" he grins.

Other than that, Andy will join the training curiously. He's not sure about the methd, but hey, couldn't hurt - and as has been previously mentioned, curiosity is one of Andy's biggest traits. He's way too slow to actually pose any kind of threat or get much mileage of this while unarmored, though - he's more used to just grappling people down (namely, all my attack bonus is armor-based. I can't hit the broad side of a barn without the armor).

[Tengu_temp]

"Ben found someone to give us some out-of-armor combat training," Cat explains. ...Yeah, she'll leave it at that for now.

"Mhm, I know that. But I didn't expect it to look like... well, like this." Emi glances at Todd getting his ass kicked.
"Just what exactly is the purpose of this exercise? Learning how to defend yourself in case a plush couch attacks you?"

[Fri]

James watches the training intently with his hand on his chin. He looked at Emi (or the others that might doubt the training) and makes the number two with his fingers.

"Two words. Wax on, Wax off" he nodded wisely, remembering the old adage of all martial arts movies. Never doubt your eccentric old master's training, no matter how ridiculous it seems.

[Tengu_temp]

"That's four words." Emi doesn't look impressed.

[Cubey]

Even if Andy has next to no out-of-PSA fighting skills, he will still do alright if he actually focuses and listens to instructions provided, unlike a certain Todd.

As the speed of hits increases, they get harder and harder to defend against - but are you able to somehow use the fact that they're all in the same, repetetive pattern?

(If anyone else wants to try this out too, feel free to post already rather than wait for Andy to get his ass kicked end)

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Ben watched the first two fights, seeing how "Instructor Robot" moved, and what combinations he was using against Todd and Andy. Did he use the same repetition of moves every single time? If so, Ben would keep it in mind for when he went up third. He tried to keep his feet moving and his mind working, focusing on trying to stay one step ahead of his opponent. With the pad-swaddled instructor moving so slowly, Ben's natural athleticism was a major advantage.

[Cubey]

In Ben's case, the pattern was the same. At first. But then, 'mr Robot' notices how well you perform and his quickness is increasing much more rapidly than in others' cases. Keeping up with it is pretty easy if you know how his attack pattern looks like - but what will you do once it becomes unpredictable? Your sparring partner now attacks without any pattern at all, although his attacks are still from a limited pool of moves and they're telepgraphed in advance, although the window before that and the actual attack is very small. He moves much faster than you'd expect from someone in such a weighty protective suit, too.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Spoiler

Show

I think I'll leave this one up to chance. If he makes a DC20 Acrobatics roll then he'll be able to keep up. If not, he becomes overwhelmed. Post to follow.
Acrobatics: (1d20+9)[24]

Surprisingly enough, Ben's footwork increases in speed and complexity in order to keep up with the change of pace. He's still not able to effectively counterattack, but his dodging looks almost graceful. He shifts his feet, ducks, bobs, and weaves out of the way while at times giving the suit some light taps and slaps in response. He breaks out in a sheen of sweat from the concentration and effort required to keep up the pace, a dim portion of his mind wondering how hot "Instructor Robot" is getting in the bulky pillow suit.

[Cubey]

The sunglasses-wearing man does not complain nor get visibly slower from exhaustion, but beads of sweat appear here and there on his face.

"Okay, okay. That's enough for now." Suddenly, the fight is interrupted by the instructor - Alex.
"You did well, good job! You made sure to at least try to analyze the opponent's moves and predict them, right? Keep it up, it may seem tough at first but it will get easier and easier in time."

[Cubey]

The training session continues, and if Ben decides to hold his ground for longer, Alex himself offers to be his sparring partner.
And if accepted, he will proceed to completely wipe the floor with anyone and everyone.

"I presented you the very basics, but you can work and improve from here. Just remember what I told you and advance, advance and get better. Well, that's all. Good-bye!" He waves and leaves the place.

He won't be in the gym, or anywhere around the base for that matter, the next day.

============

August 11th, year 2017

Location: The lonely, wind-swept island of Seaberg. Its stoic, melancholic wildness contrasts with metal and glass of the grandiose, modern SECT headquarters that occupy the island's northern corner.
The last days were uneventful and peaceful. Frank Symes (and most of the MSAS squad, it seems) did not return yet. But neither did the bearer of bad news - Devon. You had a PSA practice, and tried hard during it. But there were no unexpected circumstances, good.

It is early afternoon. You are in class, discussing nihilistic tendencies of 19th century Russian and German writers. Sara is with you too, and she seems to excel in the topic. The teachers accepted Emi kindly, although with a minor sarcastic comment in case of the physics and mathematics teacher (who, unknown to everyone but Lorne, is also one of the head scientists). It was but a singular event though.

Anyway, you are busy analyzing a fragment of Crime and Punishment that mr Gallagher dictated to you (he didn't make you read the whole book, luckily). Some of you might be looking forward to another PSA training, tomorrow.

But the occasion to don your PSAs comes sooner than expected, as a moderately loud alarm sounds in the room.

"Everyone. Please focus." The 'mission control' miss Darius speaks up on your amplifiers' communicators.
"A space-type Shifting Entity has been detected. Please make your way to the command room immediately."

[kamikasei]

Cat tries her hand at the sparring again, and acquits herself not too badly - at least, it's less embarrassing to watch than her match with Ben. But though she found the training interesting, she still spends most of her training time focusing on her PSA. After all, if she has to fight out of armour she's pretty much screwed anyway; the lessons' value is in their applicability to her armoured fighting, and she tries to do as Alex advised and carefully explore the limits of her powers. There's definite progress there.

As far as actual out-of-armour combat training, she does take one measure: she looks up SECT's policies on firearms training.

===

Cat closes her books with something approaching relief. She'd been having trouble concentrating on the exercise anyway, her mind still subconsciously turning over the results of her last practice sessions alone and with the others and suggesting new tactics to try. In fact, she's in enough of a hurry that she summons Oisin as soon as she has room to do so, and heads to the command room Shifting along the way.

[Matar]

Assuming it's in the middle of the day, Todd gives a nod to James and begins to jump full speed from there training zone all the way back to base. He just shifts through any walls on the way there.

Seeing as how Todd and James are on the edge of the island, they probably take the most time getting there.

[Drascin]

Andy had enjoyed the sparring - he's not bad at it, given his innately analytical mind, but the fact remains that he's too slow and as soon as the speed steps up his arms can't follow the rythm of his mind.

Still, he takes the punches laughing, and has a lot of fun. He's not too sure of the use of this for armor fighting, though.

--------------------

When the call came, Andy had been in class. To be more exact, he was actually reading the book a part of which the teacher had asked them to analyze instead of doing said analysis, and seemed to have tuned out and forgotten about the whole "teacher right there" thing. It is probably a good thing that they'd been interrupted, or he might have got scolded.

And so when the call comes, Andy's startled, but recovers quickly, laying down his book. "Well, it'd already been way too long, I guess" he remarks, sardonic, as everyone comes out from class.

He'd not intended to use the God, but seeing how Cat summons her armor and zooms away, he shrugs and summons his own, surfing on the concrete to the command room.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Having spent the rest of his time outside of working on his close combat fundamentals and school doing PSA endurance training, Ben called upon his own armor in order to lend himself flight for the journey to the command room. Since he could shift through the walls, he closed the intervening distance as the crow flies, which took next to no time at all. He bid the armor disappear as soon as he arrived, knowing that he'd need the Requiem later. "Space-type? Does that mean that Alex and Robot Glasses Guy are in trouble?" Ben asked. "Are we going to fight it in space again? Have we sighted an Earth-based entity yet?"

[Cubey]

Catriona might be surprised to find that SECT states nothing about its special operatives (read: you) carrying guns, nor makes it any easier for you to obtain firearms. And because you're 1. underage and 2. in Germany, a place known for its strict gun control policy; then you won't be using a pistol any time soon.

Apparently it's okay for teens to run around with super-powers, but guns are a no-no.

----

"The SE is not in range of our weapon systems yet. Its corresponding Earth-type was not detected yet, either!" Ben receives a response. It's a bit frantic, as there's a lot of background noise at the mission control's side.
"Our plan is to intercept it using Stork's Nest and its upgraded weapon systems. The Commander will tell you more."

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"Oh yeah, because you know that worked so well last time..." Ben frowned. Would they be burying Alex and Robot Glasses this time around, too? "I guess this is another 'hurry up and wait' scenario." he mused as he crossed his arms. "Has any Ascension activity been reported?"

[Tengu_temp]

The minor sarcastic comments were almost enough for Emi to stop attending physics and math again, but since there wasn't anything more, she decided not to. She only skips it as much as any other classes - sometimes she just doesn't feel like attending. She still doesn't attend PE, although the PSA training is a different matter completely.

Emi and Lorne probably finished Eden of the East in the meantime - it's only 13 episodes and two movies, after all - so she tries to show him some other series, too, this time more recent ones. She goes for stuff they both would enjoy, and preferably not the very depressing things. Apart from that, she can watch anime, or just hang out, with the other people too, if they offer it.

---

Emi knows quite a bit about nihilistic tendencies from personal experience, but she doesn't show much activity during the class unless asked. She splits her attention between actually paying it to what the teacher is saying, and daydreaming. At least until the alarm sounds.
An SE? I should have expected that - it's been almost a month since the last one. It was too quiet lately...
Seeing that they're ordered to go to the command center ASAP, the best course of action would be to summon their PSAs, Shift and go through walls, and Emi is more than happy to do so,
"I'm on my way.", she tells the communicator right before Shifting and turning the transmission into a static-filled mess. She will return to normal once she reaches her destination, though, she doesn't want to tire needlessly.

[Cubey]

Shifting can only get you so far, because the room you have to go to is, in fact, underground. And in the area of the base that has a lot of mixed Sophium walls. But anyway, you eventually make it there.

And this time it's no little meeting room. The Commander wanted to meet you at the command hall, and a command hall it is. It does not disappoint - there are rows of computers, people using them and exchanging commands loudly, and a huge screen on the wall, currently displaying (what else?) the Earth's whole map.
The place is loud, busy but coordinated, despite the initial feelings of chaos. It looks so archetypical, but some archetypes just work in real life.

Laura is here already - she looks a bit sleepy, but is standing by the Commander and was apparently talking with him. But they interrupt when the first of you enters.
"Hello..." She waves uneasily. It seems the situation is very stressful for her.

"Thanking you for making it here as fast as you could, Ladies and Gentlemen." The Commander says once everyone is here.
"The current situation is as follows: Stork's Nest's supporting satellites have detected a Shifting Entity incoming towards Earth. SE 03B's course is unchanging, and our experts are calculating its destination as we speak. But I am not going to let it reach the surface."

"As soon as the target is in range, Stork's Nest will fire its improved Alexander weapon. We made an unforgivable mistake in the past, however - it allowed us to learn and improve. The current incarnation of the Alexander defense system is impregnable against SE attacks, direct or indirect."

"SE 03A has not been located yet. Stay alert, everyone. We must act quickly if the situation takes a turn for the unexpected."


"Estimated time until contact: 20 minutes!" Someone yells from the operating computers.

[Matar]

"As soon as the target is in range, Stork's Nest will fire its improved Achilles weapon. We made an unforgivable mistake in the past, however - it allowed us to learn and improve. The current incarnation of the Achilles defense system is impregnable against SE attacks, direct or indirect."

Todd winces at these words and glances over to Andy. On one hand the second time you fight someone after losing badly normally goes very well. On the other, the Commander bragged about the weapon and how the SE didn't stand a chance.

So, it could both ways. With any luck, Andy could catch Todd's glance and give him some sign as to what he thought was going to happen.

A part of Todd hoped that when they found the Earth SE that it wouldn't be on a rampage. He was eager to try to attempt to communicate to one. Even though he knew it would end it violence.

[Drascin]

Todd winces at these words and glances over to Andy. On one hand the second time you fight someone after losing badly normally goes very well. On the other, the Commander bragged about the weapon and how the SE didn't stand a chance.

So, it could both ways. With any luck, Andy could catch Todd's glance and give him some sign as to what he thought was going to happen.

Todd can easily see Andy wincing visibly as well, closing his eyes for a second in an "oh, crap" expression.

Never sell a bear's skin before killing it, the proverb goes, and it's one Andy believes in wholeheartedly. In addition to thousands of tropes codifying exactly how boasting can make your perfect plan fail in the most miserable of manners (which would be enough to the painfully genre savvy Andy), there's also the fact that tempting God to prove your hubris wrong is never a good idea - He might just decide to teach you a lesson. Still, he shakes his head at Todd. Let's just not say anything to jinx it further, dude.

"So, do we have any kind of visual on the thing yet?" he opts for saying instead.

[kamikasei]

Cat studies the map, trying to identify Stork's Nest and the SE, if they're represented. "Have we heard from Devon? Do we know where she is?" The reason for the question is clear, of course: in all probability she's already on her way to intercept 03A.

[Cubey]

"We weren't able to locate Devon recently, I'm sorry." You hear the familiar voice of the mission control lady, but it doesn't come from your amplifiers. She is sitting in the control room, not too far away from you.
Those of you who did not meet her earlier indeed notice the similarities to Eleonore Darius, although like mentioned before - her hair is longer and in a ponytail, and she's wearing a SECT uniform.

But enough about introduction, because...
"We have visual." An unknown voice says from the middle of the room. A picture appears on the huge wall-based screen.

And unfortunately, what you see is only a small black object. On the black background of space, it doesn't look very interesting. Even discerning its basic shape is nigh impossible.
"The visibility is very bad. A Sophium-based photograph is being taken... sending now!"

The picture changes. What you see now is something akin to a thermographic image, if thermography came only in green (for presence of Sophium) and black (lack thereof).

And according to what you just see, SE 03B has a simple, cylindrical shape, open on both sides like a tube. It is roughly 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. However...

"This is physically impossible!"

New photographs appear on the screen, pushing the existing one aside. They are not only taken in Sophium-vision, but also in infrared and other spectrums. According to them, the tube not only has openings on its end and beginning, but also smaller holes on its walls. And if you take a peek through these holes, you can notice weird shapes inside - crystalline structures connected by thinner veins, almost looking like insides of some poor animal, crystallized into sharp-cut gems.

But that happens only if observed through the side holes. If you were to take a look from the major openings on the tube's ends, it's hollow inside.

[Tengu_temp]

"They're getting weirder." Emi's comment on the SE's appearance is delivered in her usual for these situations If I Stay Calm The Madness Around Me Won't Affect Me tone.
This is getting even more like Evangelion... Sigh, let's hope nobody dies this time...

[kamikasei]

"No kidding." Cat blinks at the optical-illusion creature imaged on the screens, just once, then puts it out of her mind. If the explanation for how on earth it can do that is comprehensible to humans at all, it's certainly above her pay grade and not worth dwelling on. Maybe Lorne will be able to translate from Old High Math if and when it becomes necessary.

"'Contact' is when Alexander will fire?" Again she looks around, this time for a something suggestive like a clock counting down from near the twenty-minute mark. When will they know whether this SE can do an end-run around the Stork's Nest as the last one did?