Grin and Bear it (IC)

[Supercape]

29th January 2011

Supercape looked down at his PDA. He had managed to get the afternoon off in the Lab, to have another look at the particle smasher in the sub-basement. There was some fascinating stuff regarding proto-quarks that he was dying to have a play with.

But no, another student from Claremont scheduled in for a few hours tour. Apparently this fellow could do with a little experience in "unsual environments" such as zero gravity and the like, to prepare him for... well, Supercape didn't honestly know, but it was a fair bet that in the world of superheroics, it was probably best to be prepared for everything.

The call came through that the fellow had arrived at the gates of the Lab. With a crack of his knuckles and a wobble in the space-time continuum, he dissapeared from the sub-basement.

[GranspearZX]

Marcus needed a hobby.

His grades had actually improved since finding one, channeling his artistic talent into a very real understanding of magic. Moreover, his focus started to push into the realm of how it affected the natural world--he was no scientist, but his penchant for sticking his nose into the unknown hadn't gone unnoticed. He'd already been warned about skipping classes to go on his little 'investigative excursions', but at least this one was sanctioned by the Academy. He looked up at the gates to the Lab, whistling low to himself as he stared up at the rather impressive looking structure.

"...holy crap this place is huge."

Somehow, just looking at the place, he wondered if his IQ was somehow inadequate; nothing like a skyscraper to make a person feel tiny. He was actually wearing his Claremont uniform, for once. It was really more for ease of identification than anything else; looking like 'a stuffy prep school kid' didn't really mesh well with his usual style, but adaptation was never really a bad thing. Anything in the name of knowledge, he supposed.

[Supercape]

Supercape strode towards Marcus with a friendly smile on his face. Much as he disliked being interrupted from a few delightful hours with his high tech toy down below, he always loved teaching.

"Ah yes, Mr. Irons is it? Come in, come in!" he said, offering his hand. As was his custom in the Lab, he was wearing a modified version of his superhero outfit, with the magnificent blue and white cape transformed into a dazzling white clinical lab coat.

"And welcome to the Lab! home to some of the finest minds in Freedom City. Or the world, in some cases".

[GranspearZX]

"Yes sir." Marcus smiled and nodded politely; so far, Supercape seemed like a rather amiable, likable guy. He'd always had the notion that scientists were boring--perhaps it was just the books he'd read. Nevertheless, he shook the offered hand; the idea of being a regular student for once seemed like a vacation.

"Thanks for letting me take a look around." He couldn't help but be a little bit nervous. Being in the presence of 'some of the finest minds in Freedom City' alone was a little bit daunting. Still, if he wanted to be any good at his own craft, he'd have to learn from experiences and environments outside of his comfort zone. And this was pretty far out there. "I always kinda wondered about this place..."

[Supercape]

"Please, none of that 'Sir' nonsense. It flatters my ego. Which shouldn't be flattered!" he gave a sparkling wink to Marcus.

Looks like a good one he said to himself.

"I could give you the Lab spiel about how its all blah blah this and blah blah that. But really, for us, its a just a giant toy box. Well, in the shape of a skyscraper. With a fusion reactor powering it. "

He paused "its really quite fun!" he laughed "don't be intimidated. We do a lot of work here, and not just us. Scientists from all around the globe pop in to help with the efforts of promoting safe science for all mankind. We have every kind of division and study here. Anything you are particularly interested in? or studying yourself?"

[GranspearZX]

"A giant toy box..." Marcus couldn't help but thing that would be the greatest job in the world--to do something one was passionate about, and get paid for doing nothing but having fun. Certainly, helping others would be an added bonus, but it seemed like an incredible occupation, no matter what field of study one was in.

"My studies are kind of all over the place," Marcus admitted. "I've been doing a lot of looking into mechanical engineering, though."

His freshman year at FDR, he'd done research on careers; the fact that he could draw made him incredibly interested in drafting, and he might've actually taken it more seriously if his magical heritage hadn't sidetracked him a bit. The thought of combining both intrigued him--he wondered if it could even be done... This would definitely be the place to find out.

[Supercape]

"Excellent! the Lab is more than just pure science, we do get down and dirty in oil and grease and wires and all that stuff too. Workshops, the Garage, the Hanger... although I confess my fellow Labbites are much better than me in that department. I'm more pure science. Mainly quantum physics, but I study practically anything I set my eyes on!"

He lead Marcus to a lift and pressed for an elevator.

He studied his PDA once more. "Says here those Claremont fellows suggest some 'alien environment' training, which I guess means the simulator suite. But really, anything you want to see whilst you are here?"

[GranspearZX]

"There's like... 20 floors worth of stuff here, I bet; I wouldn't even know where to start. I always did like working with my hands, though..." Of course, the situation varied on whether it was creating something or breaking something. The 'alien environment' bit made him raise an eyebrow; he'd gotten stuck in the Howling Dream for a while, and he wasn't really sure how much more alien things could get from there. Then again, that was a child's mind--and it was tame compared to some of the horror stories he'd read.

"Well... hm. This simulator thing does sound interesting. I guess we can start there, but... " The thought of a giant magically-powered robot popped into his head. And Agent Stone's bike--the guy was a bit of a jerk but he couldn't help but envy his ride. "I'd definitely be up to touring the workshop and garage."

[Supercape]

"Lets have a look at the Garage first then, before we have to go through all that training nonsense" smiled Supercape. "To be honest, you could probably teach me a thing or too!"

He stepped into the Lift and once Marcus has followed, the elevator swiftly descended one floor to the Garage. "Only one floor, a bit lazy of me, but as I had called it..." he mumbled as way of an apology.

The garage was huge, and probably the least pristine place in the whole Lab. Despite air vents and state of the art materials, it couldn't quite shake off the smell of petroleum, fuels, and oils. The whole level was one big parking space, repair and workshop for all manner of ground vehicles, some of them only half constructed.

[GranspearZX]

"Oh, I doubt that..." Marcus grinned, rubbing at the back of his neck. What he knew about magic could fit in a thimble compared to other mystics he'd met in the last two months... Still, it was a nice compliment.

Marcus wasn't even 100% certain what kind of training he'd been sent for, but he was taking every opportunity to get a little extra out of the deal. His eyes widened a bit as he saw all the machinery. Somehow, the things that weren't finished were even more impressive. He'd only just gotten the hang of a stick shift; the idea of driving something with a little bit of power behind it was intriguing. And even more so if it were something he'd actually designed. The smell didn't bother him in the least; he could have lived down here if he didn't have so much other stuff to worry about.

"...now THIS, I could get used to."

[Supercape]

"Aha!" said Supercape, raising his finger as if solving a Sherlock Holmes mystery "bit of a... what do they call it over here... gear head is it?"

He started walking Marcus through the various machines, both vehicles and support items. This level also had a small parking space for the Lab members and a few VIPS, but as normal it was barely half full, so he avoided this non-descript area.

He pointed out a few items of interest, but this really wasn't his field. He took Marcus almost directly to the small circular testing track that wove a figure of eight around at least half of the sub level.

"Fancy giving it a whirl?" he said, with a grin. Driving wasn't for him (being able to go anywhere in the multiverse in the blink of an eye put the dampers on any other form of transport), but he could see the attraction for his student.

[GranspearZX]

Marcus might have questioned the 'over here' bit, but he picked up on Supercape's accent. Instead, he just laughed. "Well... a little bit. I'm always a little curious about how stuff works..." He followed the teacher around the level, chiming in with a question every now and again. He was certainly no expert, but it was enough of a hobby that Marcus had rudimentary knowledge about how things worked. What he was curious about most, though, was fuel sources; without directly saying so, he was trying to work out how to power something like these through arcane means. It certainly wasn't a world-saving solution; not anyone could use magic, and it was disturbingly easy to reach outside the scope of one's power and be clubbed in the skull by an ill-fated accident. Then again... science really wasn't much different in that regard.

"You... you're serious?" He blinked at Supercape, wondering if Christmas had come again so soon. "I mean... you sure it's okay?" Marcus hopped into one of the larger vehicles; he was a pretty big guy, and it stood to reason that he'd have picked something as built as he was. Although he was pretty sure it didn't have any weapons or anything particularly dangerous on it, the ATV-like vehicle he'd attached himself to seemed like a smaller version of something that was bound to be a whole lot bigger.

[Supercape]

"Of course! the track is reinforced with malleable plastics on either side, so its hard to do a serious injury. But don't let health and safety.. or Claremont, for that matter, know!" he winked.

He studied the vehicle Marcus had chosen. "Ah yes, the Solar Cycle. Its a little experiment for a moon vehicle. Powers up by solar radiation. Electric motors. Not a fantastic top speed, and no aerodynamics at all of course, but it accelerates and decelerates like nothing else. And its got a great set of wheels!" he added, pointing to the enormous custom tyres that took up most of the vehicle. It looked like some kind of quad bike crossed with a brick, with a large silvery roof to complement it.

[GranspearZX]

Marcus was careful at first. After going once around the track, he opened it up considerably more. It turned out that Marcus was a perfectly capable driver after all, and for the first time in a long time, he actually felt okay with being a little bit childish. He spent about 20 minutes tearing around the track before he finally stopped. He could've done this all day with every vehicle in the place, but he respected Supercape's time too much to waste it.

"Phew, that was great! Reminds me of when I used to go camping with my dad." Marcus smiled, stretching a little; he really hadn't been camping in nearly 5 years... he was definitely due for another trip in the woods, but going alone just didn't seem like any fun. "Got any giant robots I can ride in?" He laughed, clearly kidding... well, mostly, anyway.

[Supercape]

"I'm afraid not. Not yet anywhere. Or not in this dimension". Supercape briefly thought of the Giant steam robots under construction in Earth Victoriana dimension. Well, he was just test - driving the dimensional scanner...

He eased out a crink in his neck from watching Marcus circle the track at high speed. "Well, I suppose the fun part is over. I have to say I have given you some valuable training, at least. So we best head up to the Simulator Suite".

He pressed a button for a lift at one of the three spines running at the edge of the Lab. "Anything in particular you had in mind?"

[GranspearZX]

"For training? No... I thought the professors at Claremont had that all planned?" Marcus looked thoughful for a moment. "I mean, it's not like I've been anywhere WEIRD... well, no weirder than places you'd find around the city anyway."

Even the Howling Dream didn't really count, since, theoretically, it could be pretty much environment.

"Well... supposedly I can deal with extreme environments. Deserts, snowstorms... never tried it though. I mean, when am I gonna end up somewhere like that?" He pondered that particular idea; it might not have been a terrible idea to see just how well--or how badly--he'd do in those kinds of situations. Then again, how could someone really prepare for something like that without actually being there?

[Supercape]

"Lets try a Sandstorm then" said Supercape, almost excitedly. He stepped into the simulator suite control room, and asked Marcus to enter the vast arena of the floor.

He had chosen Simulator Suite B, just to make sure. Dragonfly was still running diagnostics on suite A after it had recently malfunctioned and needed emergency repairs. He clutched his chest remembering the lightning arc that had struck him squarely there during the chaos.

"Activate Simulation: Desert. Sandstorm" he said, and the simulator suite filled with sand and wind, the former holographic, the second very real - and full of artificial sand particles. On top of that, the room was filled with blazing light and heat from an artificial overhead sun.

"Hows that feel?" he said over the commlink.

[GranspearZX]

"...did he just say sandstorm?"

The arena was surprisingly spacious; he looked around at the rather unassuming room, not entirely sure what to expect. Part of him was excited to see just what was about to be thrown at him, though. He didn't even have his staff on him, but that could easily be fixed. Then again, this was just an environmental thing, not a combat thing.

Still, it wasn't something Marcus could handle on his own.

The wind didn't bother him immediately. but eventually the sand forced him to squint; the heat, however, was something that he wasn't used to--between Freedom City and Chicago, he'd never been in 100 plus degree temperatures. He wasn't sure how much Supercape could see from outside but he really didn't care. In seconds, he shifted to his bear form; suddenly the heat wasn't so bad. Annoying, but not bad. He wasn't even concerned with the sweating--at least, not yet.

"What do you mean 'how's that feel'?!" Arcturus growled, one paw across his muzzle to keep himself from eating sand. It felt pretty real; as long as there weren't any actual desert critters like snakes, he was sure he'd be fine... Still, a sandstorm definitely wasn't going to send a 500 lb bear flying. "I can't see, but otherwise... I think I'm okay."

[Supercape]

"Excellent, excellent!" shouted Supercape over the sandstorm.

"Thats kind of the point!" he added, as Marcus could barely see anything. "Releasing the target drones now! Just holograms, wont give you more than a tickle of electricity, but they are there for combat practice in... um...."

He consulted the hefty tome marked 'TRAINING MANUAL' in big red letters. "...lets see, page 42... ah yes... combat practice in sub-optimal and hazardous environs..."

As he spoke, two purple spheres bolted from the ceiling and started wheeling around Arcturus. They were quite fast and agile, and by no means easy to hit in the best of circumstances. And every time one touched him, he felt an unpleasant (but not dangerous) jolt of static electricity.

[GranspearZX]

"Sub-optimal is an understatm-GAH!!" Arcturus yelped and spun around as one of the spheres zapped him in the shoulder. It didn't really hurt, but it surprised him, moving before he could take a counter swipe at it. The fact that Supercape was going over the training manual didn't inspire confidence, but this was nothing compared to the stuff he'd already been through. If anything, he wished he'd done something like this sooner.

He had to start moving; sitting in one place was just going to get him zapped from behind. The spheres were hard to see as it was, but that didn't stop him from trying to take one out anyway. Seeing it was going to be tough, and the raging winds made catching a scent of anything rather challenging... Still, there was no way he was going to let a simulator get the best of him.

[Supercape]

Supercape couldn't help thinking of that science fiction film that he had watched once many years ago. Preposterous stuff, of course, all laser swords and moon sized space stations. He vaguely remembered one scene with a man wearing a helmet, thus obscuring his vision, trying to strike at a drone. His teacher used some phrase... what was it? use the power... or something like that.

Anyway, Marcus' swiping at the drones reminded him of that scene. He was tempted to quote the dimly remembered film, but instead just called out "Good show! keep at it!"

What was it called? Planet Battles? or something like that...

[GranspearZX]

Fighting without the benefit of sight was one thing. Without the benefit of his sense of smell either... well that was just crazy. It was clear that he did have some fighting ability, but the environmental distraction was clearly starting to frustrate him. The very idea of using magic went out the window as he kept getting zapped in response to near misses; through his fur, the Beast Rune reflected his irritation by showing in a clearly visible outline on his right shoulder blade.

Inwardly, Marcus was having other problems; his normal thought process was favoring strategy while the Beast Rune wanted him to smash things. The back and forth between the two seemed to be slowing his reaction time, only serving to get him buzzed time after time... Suddenly his eyes went a flat, dull red, and he immediately stopped moving. For a moment there wasn't much sound except for the whirling sandstorm and a deep, throaty growl. Even his stance had changed into one significantly more suited for hand-to-hand combat than the haphazard wrestling stance he was using prior to that. One of the spheres slipped behind him and nearly moved in again before Arcturus suddenly whirled around, tearing a deep gouge into it with his claws.

[Supercape]

"Good shot, my boy!" shouted Supercape with excitement. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and finished with an "End Simulation!" to the computer.

The room once again faded to the blank, well lit, and vast holographic suite that had preceded the sand storm.

"Nice work. Pays to know how to fight when one can't see to well" he commented. Unlikely to occur in my case, of course he added to himself. His superhuman senses extended well beyond the normal modalities.

"Next up, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" he sang, as the room changed to an ice shelf, and a blizzard whipped up around Marcus.

[GranspearZX]

Arcturus stood there, panting by the time the entire thing was over. He wasn't exhausted--not completely--but he'd used a lot of energy just on that. Despite his somewhat altered state of mind, he was still himself; he relaxed a little bit and the glow from his eyes faded.

"Geez," he huffed, bending over with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. His own senses were better than most humans', but he admittedly hadn't used them much. Still, he had a minute or so of downtime before the blizzard hit, but when it did, he showed surprisingly little reaction. His fur adapted him to the rapid change in temperature without him so much as thinking about it, though he still hardly wanted to be stuck in something like this forever. He moved forward a few steps; in seconds there was snow up to his ankles, and he STILL couldn't see--somehow, snow was a lot less irritating than sand. Still, water was water and he inwardly shuddered at the possibilities.

[Supercape]

"Right then...page 61...lets see..." said Supercape, thumbing through the manual.

"Ah yes, locating the camp in a snowstorm! simple survival exercise here... find the beacon. Its ahead of you. Beware of the crevasses and thin ice, however..."

A distant beeping sound could be made out in front of Arcturus, but it was impossible to tell the distance. Meanwhile, the wind whipped up a blizzard that obscured vision for more than a few feet, whilst drifts of snow built up around the Ursine hero's feet...