Creative Destruction (IC)

[angrydurf]

Mike blinked disoriented by the sudden end of the simulation. He still wasn't completely used to the faux reality ending so ... abruptly.

"Well we managed to retrieve Strongman," Mike said, "Or likely woudl have at least, his back up escaped but wasn't a primary target regardless. More importantly no signifigant collateral damage and no bystanders were harmed, I'd say it was rather successfull."

Mike didn't feel the need to point out his own inadequacies in the realm of combat as really that was a fairly well known issue at this juncture. However he expected that there was some other lesson they were supposed to have learned from the scenario, likely about the hidden escourt that had surprised them.

[Avenger Assembled]

Archer hmmed, making more notes on his clipboard. "Good work, team. I like the initiative you showed from the beginning. Taking to the air was a good decision, and one that made the tactical situation much better for you." He smiled. "We once had a class have to reboot the scenario entirely when El Diablo hit the chemical waste stored in the freighter they'd started in. Good times, good times. But anyway, the two of you both are well above average. Strongman even survived hitting the water. Go cool off and enjoy the afternoon. Nice work."

[Electra]

Erin looked skeptical of the praise, like she was waiting for the catch, but when Archer was obviously finished, she seemed to relax a little bit. After taking a moment to wring her hair out on the bare floor of the simulator, she looked over at Mike. "Getting in the sky was a good idea," she agreed with a half-smile. "Though I'd have been in trouble if I'd fallen off any sooner. You wanna go grab lunch?"

[angrydurf]

Mike too seemed to be expecting the other shoe to drop but didn't really seem to relax much when it didn't. He looked over to Erin as she spoke responding, "I wouldn't let ya fall." with a small smile.

"Lunch sounds good." He replied ot her other question. Mike was happy to get out of the Doom Room, and glad that things seemed a bit better between Erin and himself, seems Chris and Eddie were right on some stuff.

The tall boy waved goodbye to Mr. Archer and with a gesture to the door said, "After you." to Erin and folowed her out and towards the elevator.

[Electra]

Erin stopped off in the locker room long enough to towel off her hair and change back into her everyday clothes, bright blue shorts marked with the Ocean Heights logo on the pocket and a t-shirt for a Labor Day festival she hadn't attended. At least it was much cooler in the hot August weather than jeans and blouses. "I always kind of wonder," she said as she rejoined Mike and walked towards the elevator, "if they model those people we fight after real villains, or if it's all just made up. It'd be kind of weird to fight someone in real life after you've already beaten them ten times in practice or something. Or if the way they fought was really different from how the computer made them fight." That was an easy enough subject, she figured.

[angrydurf]

Mike shrugged as they walked down the long hall. "I never really thought about it honestly," He said pensively, "I guess I just assumed they formulated them based on what kind of reactions they want. Like a test to see how we react to stimuli, though I suppose they might be loosly based of the real deal, Mark'd probably know."

Mike really tried not to think too much about what the Doom Room was intended for, he just assumed it was more mind games like his first visit. Today he felt a bit better about it as it seemed that tey had passed the test whatever it actually may have been.

[Electra]

"Yeah, I guess," Erin agreed as they got into the elevator. "It just seems sort of weird. If they're filming and testing and measuring everything we do in there, we could end up being someone else's training exercise someday. I looked up this one villain I had to fight during my placement test and she seemed to be made up, but it doesn't mean they all are. And as long as Archer's not in there, the Doom Room can be a good place to get practice at different things. I must've thrown myself off a hundred buildings in there before I started figuring out how to land without hurting myself. It's a good way to practice fights and jumping and different moves without risking hurting anybody. And when Archer's not at the controls, it pretty much makes sense."

[angrydurf]

Mike nodded, "Yea I can see that, the thing just gives me the heebie jeebies." He said with an exagerated shudder.

He hit the botton for the exit level and turned to Erin as the doors shut, "I dunno why really, I just don't like the feeling of being watched and judged by some unknown criteria. I guess it woudl be better without Archer he reminds me of the guys at the institute every answer to a question was met with 'Hmmmm Interesting' like they were weighing it and analyzing everything. From what Alex says they pretty much were."

Mike wave one big hand dismisively, "Guess I should just forget about that though. Just not give Archer the satisfaction of squirming on the hook."

[Electra]

Erin nodded in complete agreement to that assessment of Archer. "It seems less like he's teaching us and more like he's measuring us to see how fast he can make us screw up. I'm just glad to be getting outside training with someone else, or I don't think I'd be learning a thing except group tactics." She grimaced. "Even if a lot of my training is just learning how to not hit a training dummy. You gotta have a teacher that's helping you to get better, not just hoping you flunk in an interesting way. They say he used to be a hero or a sidekick or something, but he got too old. Maybe he's just bitter."

[angrydurf]

"After you." Mike said with a nod as the doors slid open at the exit.

Following Erin out he took a deep breath as if a weight had been lifted, "Yea he might be bitter but I think he actually thinks it helps or something. I guess thats almost worse in a way." He said as they turned towards the cafateria.

"I can't really imagine what more you need to learn, you seem to have it all pretty well down." Mike said honestly, he didn't want to get into the whole control issue again really but after her display in the Doom Room he was impressed.

[Electra]

Erin shrugged. "I only know how to fight one way," she told him. "Just to hit things and hope they stay on the floor. When it works, it works pretty well, but if it doesn't, then I'm screwed. I don't have any powers, just being really strong and pretty fast. If I want to be able to keep up, I need to be able to do more than slug things."

She hesitated for a moment, then admitted, "And it makes me feel better. If I can always always hit the dummy in the training room exactly as hard as I want, then maybe I won't hit a bad guy too hard even when I'm really caught up. Meditation helps too, kind of, but mostly you have to feel it in your body before you can do it, you know? Training with someone who really knows how to fight is a lot different than training with Archer. They know how it feels when your adrenaline is going and it's hard to think straight."

[angrydurf]

"Well it may be just the one way but its pretty damn effective none the less." Mike said with a shrug, "I mean that really seems to be the big thing we train for at least."

Mike glanced away saying, "I always find the mental stuff more usefull personally. Just not letting the anger or adrenaline take over ya know?" it was a delicate subject but he felt it worth at least trying to explain how he managed his strength.

[Electra]

"That's assuming you have time to get a meditation technique or something up and running before instinct takes over," Erin replied, heading out of the main building and off towards the cafeteria. It was nice out, if hot, and a few people were outside playing games, but no one nearby enough to overhear them.

"Whatever works for you, I guess. You did a good job with that flaming guy in there, getting him away from the ship so I could get in there." She'd been relieved that Mike had been ready to jump in and actually fight today, whatever his hangups sometimes were.

[angrydurf]

Mike nodded agreement, "Yea, I mean the eventual goal of most meditations is to be able to be mindfull in all things, so with enough practice its less of a problem." He explained, it was hard to remember that Erin hadn't the resource he did when younger when he realized he added, "Of course you've only been working on it for a few months really. So." He shrugged to punctuate his point.

In response to her praise, he smiled a little, "Well I'm trying, still got a ways to go I guess, but I'm trying."

[Electra]

"You can only do so much meditation practice at once, or your brain starts going funny, looking around for something else to do," Erin replied, pushing open the door to the cafeteria. "Least mine does. I can do maybe an hour on a good day. By the time I'm thirty, maybe I'll have it down like you do, but in the meantime, I'd still like to be able to work." There were a few other students in the cafeteria line, more than usual as the regular year population started filtering back in for fall, so she changed the subject. "You gotten your course schedule for fall yet?"

[angrydurf]

"Yea it is a kinda long term thing I guess." Mike said with a shrug as he began to pull food onto his tray.

"My mom started me on some of the exercises when I was really young, simple stuff at first but it made the temper tantrums more manageable I guess." He explained. "So if you want any advice," He shrugged he wasn't really any more qualified to teach than anyone but he did understand some of the difficulties better than most.

He let her change the subject though at that, "Pretty standard stuff overall," Mike told her, "English, civics, advanced algebra and trig. Still trying to decied if I'm gonna take chem of physics, everything I did before was this wierd integrated thing, Chris and Eddie say we should all do chem cus the new teacher is..." He blushed realizing what he almost said to Erin, "Anyway I'm also working as a stage hand for the theatre program, I like building stuff so that should be fun."

"So you get all caught up on stuff?" he asked, "You've been working you tail off I'm surprised you haven't caught up with Alex."

[Electra]

Erin wasn't sure she could see the value in getting meditation advice from someone with as many hang-ups as Mike, but today her head was cool enough to let her keep her mouth shut. It wasn't like she had a lot of room to throw stones. "I'm stuck in algebra with the sophomores," she admitted, "but I caught up close enough to grade level to be normal everywhere else. Trying to do two years of school in one summer, I guess getting everything but math caught up isn't too bad." She shrugged, loading her plate with fresh fruit and veggies, then a couple of big cookies.

"I met the new chem teacher the other day," she remarked offhandedly as they walked to a table. "She's got hair like six feet long. Taking chem might be interesting, but it seems like physics is more useful. You'll use that every day to see what happens when you hit something or bounce off something."

[angrydurf]

Mike settled his laden tray on the table opposite Erin, "Wel I've supposedly been in school for the last two years and I'm still not certain I should be going on to trig. Alex says its not bad but she's not exactly on the same page as the rest of us on that front." He said with a roll of his eyes.

He had agreed that on the surface physics seemed more usefull but doubted he was up to really applying it on the fly.

"I dunno personally I don't think I'm gonna be abel to keep anything from physics straight in the midst of stuff." He explained with a shrug. "Then again chem isn't exactly applicable to much I plan on doing either. I'll probably just pick one that I know some one else that can help me keep up is in."

[Electra]

"That shouldn't be a problem," Erin pointed out, "Alex probably has both of them down already by now. I don't know why they have her take classes at all, except I think she likes them. I don't think anyone can do physics in the middle of a fight, but if you can figure out ahead of time how fast you have to be going to knock over a wall or make something fly up into the air, you can practice it till you get it, without a lot of trial and error." She grinned a little. "Besides, if all you guys pick chem because the teacher is hot, you're not going to learn anything."

[angrydurf]

Mike chuckled softly, "Well there is always that fall back, but sometimes its nice to have a study buddy thats on the same page." he said good naturedly, "You might be right about Chemistry though, plus physics seems more substantial to me."

"So other than math hows your schedual coming out? Any electives?" He asked curiously

[Electra]

"I'm taking Spanish 1 again, because I forgot how any of it went," Erin replied, scooping up some fruit salad. "And Alex and I are both taking driver's ed. Should be a pretty easy course since I already know how to work a car, but it's still a credit. Even if we have to take it with the headmaster. What are you going to do in the theater department?" she asked. "I didn't know this place was big enough to do lots of shows and stuff."

[angrydurf]

"Not exactly sure." Mike said with a shrug, he'd been unawar that they had this kind of program untill one of the advisors suggested it as an elective.

Between bites he explained what he knew, "Mostly set building I think, some backstage stuff, might have to run lights or soemthing. We are a pretty small school so I imagine theres alot of overlap."

[Electra]

"It sounds kinda fun," Erin replied, more interested than she was maybe ready to let on. "Is anybody else we know getting into that stuff? I'd think most of them would want to be actors instead of backstage, but you never know. "And you actually get course credit for it? Or is it an afterschool thing, like being on a sports team or doing a club?" She bit thoughtfully into a cookie, wondering if it would be worth it to try and chip out room in her schedule for one more activity.

[angrydurf]

"Oh yea its a for credit elective and everything." Mike said, "I don't think anyone else is gonna be taking it, I mean eddie might be into the sound tech end but I haven't talked to him about it." Mike didn't really think Eddie would be interested, probably woudl be a bit below him as he was like a pro and everything.

"I'm looking forward to it, I've always liked working with my hands." He said, the fact that he left unstated that it was a nice counter to how good he was a breaking stuff was real progress his therapists would have been proud.

[Electra]

"I think my schedule's full, but maybe I'll ask Mrs. Dugan how many credits we're allowed to have in a term," Erin said thoughtfully. "Geez, after this summer, I don't want to get bored all of a sudden." She snorted, and took another bite of her cookie. "I'm not taking any tutoring, so I'll be doing maybe half as much work. You going to go out for any of the intramurals?"