Creative Destruction (IC)

[angrydurf]

Mike shook his head as he finished chewing. "Nah," He explained, "I don't really see how it woudl work. I mean I guess if we did in school teams but even with that I'm still above the curve on several key areas, whats the point if its not basically fair?"

Mike liked the idea of doing sports more than any of them really appealed, the camraderie of a team working together and all that. But without even competition it seemed kinda pointless.

"You?" He asked curiously. Erin didn't really seem the jock type despite the prodigeous physical abilities.

[Electra]

Erin shook her head. "Archer still won't clear me for it," she replied glumly. "Nothing except solo exercise and group powers training. Maybe he's right, but it still blows. I've watched some of the games they do around here, it's kinda cool how people make up for not being the strongest or fastest. A lot of times it bends the rules a little, but whatever." She shrugged. "It's the spirit of the game that counts. Sometimes I think it might be nice to get some exercise that isn't just doing it by yourself or working together to try and beat something up." With a quick grin, she added, "And I'd probably be a lot better first baseman than I used to be. If there's any place people like us are ever going to be able to compete, it's got to be someplace like this."

[angrydurf]

"I suppose thats true." Mike said thoughtfully. He paused for a moment before brightening slightly, "So we have prett open access to the Doom Room when its not slated for schedualed use right?" Archer couldn't complain about them trainig on real world control situations and if Erin did well he might let her participate in the real games.

[Electra]

"Yeah, there's a schedule up for when it's being used for classes, and then people can sign up for training the rest of the time," Erin told him, after making short work of the rest of her cookie. "It'll probably be busier with classes starting again, but only people on an actual training team get to sign up whenever they want, so probably not too bad, unless Next Gen are really compulsive. You going to start getting down there for training? It really is better without Archer there."

[angrydurf]

Mike chuckled, "Well I certainly could use the time." He said with a self depricating smile, "But I was more thinking abusing school resources, and maybe proving to Archer he should let you compete."

He managed to hold back all but a small wince at his own lackluster skills in the fighting department. But he did intend to get some more time in, it seemed that he didn't have as much choice as he thought he had on the hero front so he had best get it right. But he didn't really want to braoch his feeling on that subject though it was likely to come back up sooner rather than later.

[Electra]

Erin tilted her head, thinking about that. "You mean like setting up a simulation to play softball or something like that? I don't know if you could do that or not. I haven't really tried. If it's not already programmed in, we'd have to find someone who's a good programmer or something. The simulations aren't very flexible, most of the time. If they're good guys, they fight with you, if they're bad, they fight you. But I've never asked it to play games, so who knows?" She looked across the table at him. "Might be fun to play against a whole team with super speed and strength. If it can, would you play too?"

[angrydurf]

"Sure," Mike said with a smile, "I wouldn't besurprised if someone fromt he Next Gen already put one in, Mark says tose guys are all kinds of competitive and stuff so simulations that match them woudl be right up thier ally right?"

"Besides as I see it after all the heat Archer gives you, you deserve to get a little you time down there right?" He added good naturedly, Mike didn't really think it was fair how hard the pushed Erin, powers or no she was still just a kid like the rest of them.

[Electra]

"I'll take a look next time I'm down there," she told him, "see if they've got simulations that aren't for fighting. Or next time I've got someone pinned, I'll ask if they want to play baseball instead." Erin chuckled dryly. "It's a good time to convince anyone that we should do something else, right? I'd say we should invite Alex, but even a softball thrown by someone with our strength could probably take her head off if she doesn't duck."

[angrydurf]

"Cool," Mike said with a nod, "I dunno Alex has more tricks up her sleeve than it first appears."

He paused thoughtfully, "Really in there just about any of us could have a go, I mean even Mark might get a shot, though his thing might stil out do whatever counters we have."

It was an intrigueing idea even if it would likely get shut down given Archers tendancies but it was a nice safe conversation. Things seemed much better and looked up so Mike just carried on witht he flow trying not to stick his foot in his mouth as he tended to do.

[Electra]

"Maybe," Erin replied, "but the more of our team you put into any activity, the more likely things are to end up going weird. We might be better off starting small. I did train with Mark without blowing up the simulator, so I know he can do it, but I don't know what those powers would do in a baseball game. Chris's suction cup hands might come in handy, though. No glove needed. And it would probably be more interesting, eventually, to do a group training project that wasn't just beating on pretend bad guys. If you get the adrenaline rush, you start making mistakes, and if you don't, it's just boring."

She started in on a ripe pear, navigating it carefully so as not to make a mess. "Are you going to go off with your family for the long weekend on Labor Day?" she asked. "I know some of the locals are."

[angrydurf]

Mike took a long sip off his drink, "Yea, heck he have enough to field a whole team at this point but might be better to get a feel for it before clueing in th masses." He shrugged and wiped a stray bang out of his face, "Besides might be fun with just hte two of us and not having to hold back ya know?"

Mike really liked the idea he knew there was at least even odds it wouldn't work out but the idea of actually safely participating in a sport like that was pretty exciting. Between his own concerns and those of the program it had never even been an option.

He blinked perplexed for a moment at her question then said with a shrug, "Dunno, most years we'ed just do a barbeque sometimes with the Albrights. But it was always a pain to get travel clearance so we might be doing something more. My folks haven't said anything though."

[Electra]

Erin nodded at that, idle curiosity satisfied. "If I see anything that looks promising on the Doom Room menu, I'll let you know," she told him. "I probably better get going though, I've got to get up to Marquez's office before he rolls out after me." She piled her empty dishes on the tray and gathered up her knapsack again. "See you later?"

[angrydurf]

Mike lifted his own tray and walked her to the door, "Deffiantely, and let me know if you think of any simulations that might get me up to speed on the more standard stuff." He said with a tentitive smile. In the end he knew that he had to get better at the fighting end as he really didn't bring alot more to the equation when it came to crime fighting.

[Electra]

"There's a whole sliding scale of difficulty," she told him, "you can do the tester until you find someone who's hard to fight, then work on that level. It's pretty easy to figure out." Erin reached out and touched his arm, just for a split second. "You'll do fine," she told him. "All the standard stuff will come. It's why they make us go to school for years, instead of just a summer." She dumped her tray on the conveyor. "Anyway, catch you around," she told him, then left before she could feel embarrassed.