Dejected Goo moves to the side of the silo, I can’t even jump. I hope I don’t get kicked out I was starting to like it here.
Shadowcat watches the goo slump away, and shakes her head. "You're not done. Stretch up again, grab the railing up there. Then hold onto it, and relax again."
"Good, now reach across the silo to the railing on the other side, and do the same thing."
"Trinity, our medical specialist, examined them. The pinfeathers have hollow shafts, with two or three chambers in it. Your body seems to be generating binary or trinary agents into them. When the feather hits something hard enough, the chambers break and mix, and something nasty happens. I saw something that looked like an acid, and another that just exploded. The one with acid seems to be hydrogen in one chamber, and iodine in another. Mix the two and you get hydroiodic acid, which is nasty stuff, half again as strong as hydrocholoric acid. Fortunately, you don't get a lot of concentration on it. Explosive seems to be hydrogen based as well."
"Hngh," Whippoorwill makes a strangled sound in her throat as she reacts to this new information. She turns to her right and her wing on that side splays out, the feathers fanning out wide. She reluctantly touches the bright red pinfeathers, then draws her hand back.
She feels a shudder running out and back through her wings. They flap on their own accord as she shuts her eyes and pinches her brow. Her thoughts scrambled for a moment, and she slowly pulls them back together.
"Did you do this?" she turns back to Ace, upset. "They were white when I first woke up! And now, now they explode?"
Ace blinks. "How would I do it? I do mental things, not alter people's biology... that's..."
"Shut up Ace!" Shadowcat suddenly growls. "I don't want to hear his name..."
Ace winces, getting it from both sides. "Right... 'scuse the hell out of me..."
Whippoorwill doesn't relent. Instead, she jabs a finger in Ace's direction. "When were you planning on telling me? You said you were sure I would murder someone with these things! Is this what that was about?"
Goo follows Shadow cats instructions. With a little effort he is able to replicate his first stretch and grab onto the railing. Wow, I can do this! It takes him a few seconds but he is able to reach across to the railing as instructed. Excited he lets out a “who
Getting down from the far side is a little trickier for Goo. How do I stretch down? Finally, he relaxes and is able to stretch down to the ground.
“I did he says with a lopsided grin.
Hotaru watches tensions build as Goo moves easily and quickly from place to place... keeping her eyes on the others, and becoming steadily more tense herself. She doesn't really have a way to step in to solve anything.. so she'd just need to be ready to react if something went wrong.
Goo stops in his tracks, his excitement of a moment before vanishes as he watches the argument between Whippoorwill and Ace. This can't end well.
“Lets all just take a de he suggests.
Seeing that she's drawn a crowd, Whippoorwill freezes. She shuts her eyes tight, fighting away awful scenes of charred, blackened bodies. She puts a hand to her temple, rubbing it, as she backs down. "It's just that-- I don't--" she tries, moving away from the instructor.
She pulls her hand away and looks hard at Ace. "I won't, ever again. Not even for you."
Hotaru watches Whip, concern clear on her face. "Are you.." she stops herself from asking if she was okay - clearly she wasn't - and chews her lip.
"I'm fine!"
Ace shakes his head. "I said you were capable of taking out a regiment. I didn't say you should take out a regiment. I hadn't wanted to bring up your history in a public fashion. However, since you've brought it up yourself... I am pleased to hear a rather vehement response. It does relieve a certain amount of understandable doubt on my part. I haven't killed anyone in a long time, I hope never to again. If I have a choice between killing someone and letting innocents be hurt... I will choose to kill, however much I regret it. However, that is a decision all of us..." He glances toward Shadowcat, and a bit of pain enters his eyes for a second. "...have to answer for ourselves. And as to telling you, I did, immediately. You never followed up on it, and I was giving you your time to adjust."
Ignoring the rest of the commotion, and leaving the winged woman to Ace, Shadowcat nods at Goo. "Very good. Now, can you push yourself through that pipe on the wall over there? It comes out on the landing at the top of the silo." She pointedly ignores Ace's conversation with Whippoorwill.
Hotaru seems content to fade into the background; this wasn't her fight. One arm massaged her other shoulder, as she turned her attention towards trying to mag-lock herself to the wall. She lies down on the floor and tries to repeat what she'd done moments earlier, white-and-orange hoodie still in place.
Aegis takes advantage of Whippoorwill distracting everyone to try out her powers. She takes it slow at first, moving to the center of the silo she activates her power and is suddenly several Kiloton heavier but appears exactly the same.
She waits for a moment half expecting the entire silo to crumple around her, when/if it doesn't she'd smile having finally found a place she can use her powers indoors. Then she did as she was instructed and attempt to jump as high as the Silo would allow.
We all bring our own baggage to the table. Goo considers for a moment, I don't know if I can kill someone, I hope I never have to find out.
Aegis flies upward, then lands.
The landing is, spectacular. The boom that echoes around the chamber is deafening. Rust falls from the entire silo as it continues to reverberate, over and over.
Where she landed, the steel floor has warped.
Shadowcat rubs her ears with a pinky. "OW! THAT WAS LOUD! HOW THE HELL MUCH DO YOU WEIGH? CAN YOU MAKE YOURSELF LIGHTER TOO? OR ONLY HEAVIER?" She asks in a loud voice.
Hotaru's hoodie changes to rust and orange as she lies, face up as the rust falls. She throws an oversized sleeve over her face to protect herself. She had clearly missed something. And that something -hurt-.
Interestingly, more of the rust had gathered around Hotaru's feet than the rest of her body.
Earplugs where a good idea for more than the speedster it seems. Aegis seemed surprised by her own power, jumping wasn't something she'd every considered while powered up honestly and the booming echo made her smirk until she saw the warped floor. Guess even this place isn't safe from me.
"So about being reinforced floors, think you need a better guy."
She tilts her head at Shadow's questions."A lot. I don't know how would I weight myself? I can go from one extreme to the other but that's about it." Aegis had focused most of her time on studying the density change but no matter how hard she'd tried middle ground just wasn't an option at her skill level.
"WHAT?" Shadowcat asks, not hearing Aegis.
One after another, every person in the silo area hears in their mind...
Please allow me to form a link to you, so we can talk with the earblocks on... Ace does have to get Violet's attention and say loudly "LET MY TELEPATHY IN!"
Hotaru uncovered her face and grinned as Ace touched her mind. No problem. I've been missing radio waves. It's... so quiet.
She wasn't sure how to really let him so she'd just try answering in her head. Ok I allow you to form a link, How does this work?
Pretty impressive, I'll have to get some measurements but I should be able to figure out Aegis's approximate weight, Goo thinks to himself.
Aloud he says,"woW!
When he gets Ace's request he tries to let him in.
Whippoorwill picks herself off the ground after the shockwave passes. She staggers toward the exit of the silo, still hot. No thanks, she responds mentally to the telepathic contact.
She grabs a bottle of water and downs it, fuming.
Over the next three weeks, the days become very routine. Six days on, one day off. Mornings are spent trying new things with powers, pushing the ones the recruits have, trying to explain how to work on ones they recognize from other people.
Aegis get's to life heavy iron, to see how much she can handle. She ends up being slightly stronger than Shadowcat. They also test how strong her skin is (turns out, it's close to the level of a main battle tank, although not as resistant to things like AP rounds).
Pulse ends up blowing up some 30 year old electronics in Silo 2, making impressive amounts of toxic smoke from the insulation on the wires.
Goo finds he can fit through pipes, and physical attacks are all but useless against him (although energy HURTS).
Violet already knew her abilities, although Ace does give her some pointers on illusions.
Rocket also already knew his abilities, so mostly he gets lectured on how to use them responsibly, and used to help with target practice.
Whippoorwill finds out how fast she is (turns out pretty fast). She also finds out she's a lot tougher than she used to be (although not as tough as Aegis).
In the afternoons, however, it's all cerebral. Talking about small unit tactics, how to avoid injuring bystanders, and other lessons about the powers of other Metahumans.
One training bit does stand out in everyone's mind.
Ace and Shadowcat go to Silo 3, and set everyone up behind three inches of ballistic glass. Then Ace takes out a US Military Barret M82 50 caliber sniper rifle. He holds up a shell that's nearly 6 inches long. "This is the standard sniper round for the US Military. This particular rifle comes from a guy we caught selling it to terrorists in, of all places, Little Rock. Now, just so you can see what it will do to an engine block..." He lines up the rifle on an old engine block, and from 40 ft away, blows a whole the size of a 50 cent piece through the engine, and buries itself in the lead backstop.
Shadowcat then walks over to the engine, picks it up, and teleports it away. She teleports back, and stands where the engine was. A second round fires, and the bullet pancakes against her stomach, making her grunt in pain and knocks her back into the wall. But she stands up and peels the lead off her stomach.
"So, Cat has nothing to worry about sniper rifles, she can safely ignore a human with a sniper rifle, right?"
He puts a slightly different round in the gun, and Shadowcat takes the same spot. This time the gun fires, and Shadowcat barely moves. But the backstop is sprayed with blood as her abdomen erupts. The lead backstop rings and bits of metal plate fall to the ground into a pool of growing blood.
Shadowcat drops to one knee, gritting her teeth, holding her stomach as blood pumps around her hand. "F@#! that hurts..." She grinds out. Closing her eyes, she forcibly slows her breathing... and over the course of a minute or two, the bleeding stops. When she finally stands up, she tugs at the hole in her leathers, to show the skin sealed over.
"Lesson for the day, never take anyone for granted. You can't tell what a Meta can do until they do it, and Metas are always finding new ways to use their powers. On top of that, even normal humans can hurt you, and hurt you bad, no matter how tough you are. And a gun loaded with armor piercing rounds looks just like a gun with dum dums looks just like a gun with depleted uranium rounds. Most of you won't be able to recover from a wound like that as easily as Cat can."
The woman nods. "What he said..." She says, sounding winded.
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Ace does have to get Violet's attention and say loudly "LET MY TELEPATHY IN!"
Violet, who'd been watching the altercation between Whippoorwill and Ace with an increasing amount of concern, makes a concerted effort to concentrate on other things. Such as Goo's success (which nets him all manner of encouraging words and excited hand motions and praise), and Rocket's violation of physics (at which point she makes a mental note to wear more pants than skirts around him), and Pulse's victories (which elicit copious smiles and claps).
So when Ace knocks on her door, she almost literally jumps and stares at him without comprehension for several seconds before letting him in.
She blushes involuntarily when she does so.
Well, this is certainly different.
Violet actually tends to avoid Ace. He's someone she can actually let in, and that scares her. He's the only person here who can actually relate to her on a level as an equal, and that intimidates her. She won't ignore or evade him, but he gets a lot of "Sirs" and "Affirmatives" and formal treatment.
She will attempt to keep Uncle Bill informed as best as possible if she can, including at least one trip outside of this wherever-it-is that involves her uncle, a pond, and no fewer than ten ducks. One one of these trips, Violet returns with a shopping bag full of T-shirts that say "This Is My Superhero Costume" on them, one for each member of the enclave. Even Goo.
It is increasingly clear to Violet that Whippoorwill doesn't like telepaths. Which, given how important it is to Violet that the people around her like her, means that Violet will attempt to do whatever she can to break down that distrust. This manifests itself in a delivery of freshly baked cookies, and escalates to offers of movies, books, game nights, and (if these don't work) a very long, handwritten letter that begins "I know you don't trust me..." and ends with "Now you know why I don't trust the CIA any more."
And if none of these work, well, at least she tried.
Violet also spends a lot of time talking to Goo and trying to understand who he is and what happened to him. She can't help but feel simultaneously sad and fascinated by him - in a lot of ways, she feels he's like her. Something bad happened in a lab, and now he has to live with the results. And like her, he's doing something very good with it. She reminds him of her brother, in a way.
The first day Hotaru learns how to exert control over her powers so that she doesn't automatically fry anything, Violet finds a way to get the girl a 3DS and a matching pair of the latest Mario Party cartridges so that the two of them can play.
She has absolutely no idea what to do about Aegis. Someone that strong, that powerful... It's intimidating. Violet makes sure that Aegis gets a wide berth at first, until she's certain that the other woman isn't going to randomly break something off-handedly. When Violet is certain that Aegis has full control over her strength (something Ulysses didn't have for many years, and of course then he was gone...), Aegis gets the fresh-baked cookie treatment.
Rocket is another wide-berth at first. She wants to like him, but he's so brash and impulsive. Eventually, though, she figures out that he's just an eager kid, and will even offer to sit for him if he can keep patient enough to draw her at normal speed.
Shimmer, she tries to get to know, but something tells me that that's just not going to happen.
Shadowcat is the top of Violet's "Get On Her Good Side" hit list... Which is why when Ace shoots her with... visceral results..., Violet's immediate reaction is to scream incoherently and launch herself at him.
"What are you doing?!" She shouts. All of her conditioning won't let her use her powers on another member of her team, even in a situation like this, so she ineffectually beats on him until pulled away and shown that Shadowcat is alive and healing quite handily. At that point she regains her cool and listens to the rest of his speech.
It finally occurs to her that she really hasn't seen everything. Nothing is ever going to be "simple" again.
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Goo approaches his training like the scientist that he was. That is he took a methodical approach to discovering his abilities which consisted of systematic observation, measurement, and experimentation, as well as the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. In the formulation of hypotheses Pulse and Rocket, the comic book kids as he liked to think of them, were a huge help. They would describe powers they thought he might be able to perform and he would go about testing and measuring to see if he could do it. With their input he discover he was less like Mr. Fantastic and more like Clayface, whoever they were. Unfortunately, and at times a blow to his ego, he found out he couldn’t glide, bounce, act as a parachute, propeller his arms, slingshot, or act as a trampoline. The last was a major disappointment to Pulse, and resulted in a bruised tailbone for his assistant.
But what he could do was still incredible and defied the laws of physics as he understood them. Because of the Goo like nature of his body he determined that he was impervious to physical damage; Shadow Cats hardest blows had no effect, Agis and Shadow Casts combined blows, no effect, Agis, Shadow Cat and Rocket punching him as fast as he could had no effect. However, further experimentation determined that he was not impervious to energy attacks and he had a definite negative reaction to cold. He was also just as susceptible to mental attacks as most people. During his testing he also found, that since is anatomy had changed, he didn’t need to breathe.
The low point of his training came soon after this discovery. In order to gauge the limits of his ability not to breathe it was suggested that he try to see how long he could stay submerged under water. This was a disaster as water acted like acid when he was submerged destroying cells at an alarming rate. Although it was a major weakness in Goo’s eyes he still found it very interesting and noted that it need further study once he had proper laboratory facilities. His disappointment to his susceptibility to water changed to excitement when he realized the possibilities. As he tried to explain to his companions much like recent trends in using viruses to fight cancer at the molecular level he hope to use water in the same way to help cure him of his current condition.
This led to his biggest frustration, there were no laboratory facilities to use in analyzing his condition. He had several theories on ways to cure his condition but without the proper data and the equipment to conduct tests it was meaningless. While learning his powers was fun it was only a temporary distraction from his worry about his family. It has been almost a year since he has heard anything about them, he wonders are they well. Although they believed he was dead he knew if he could cure his condition he could return home and make everything right.
Since Goo didn’t need to sleep he was able to put more time in researching his abilities. Late one night he discovered he could shrink, grow and ooze through things pipes, grates and the like. Equally amazing he found he could transform his body into the shape of most any object he could imagine. ”Just like Plastic Man,” one of the comic book kids told him. The comic book kids became a source of entertainment for him as they tried to think of a better superhero name for him, for they felt that Goo was pretty lame and not very intimidating. He humored them and their ideas but was kind of fond of the name Goo.
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On the opposite end of the Spectrum from Violet was Hotaru. Hotaru saw Shadowcat as more of a drill sergeant. She saw Ace more as the counsellor, and was willing to share a bit more with him than Shadowcat.
Hotaru also meshed well with Goo who mostly didn't get her jokes, but respected her insight. And likewise, having a scientific mind to help guide her own experimentation helped to shed significant light upon her power. She really wished he'd go with the name 'Deep Black', but there was nothing for it. Goo stayed Goo.
With his direction, and some degree of direction from their instructors, Hotaru moved quickly into understanding her powers. Had it not been for Goo (and possibly Aegis) much less likely would have been accomplished. Hotaru didn't have the attention span to stick to one thing and wanted to move from idea to idea like a butterfly. With their guidance, however, came quantitative information, not just qualitative.
Considerable amounts of time were spent in silo three, where she learned to use her ability to cling more efficiently. She didn't quite have the muscles to do so properly at first. She found that walking laterally was effectively as difficult as walking horizontally, on the ground, but vertical climbs were harder, a bit harder than walking up hill, to say the least.
The first no physical training she threw herself into was understanding her weaknesses. She didn't just run a little hot. She couldn't take heat at all. Likewise, her electromagnetic field could be contained... somewhat. They slowly moved old electronics towards Hotaru over the course of several days. While she used her force field, sparks flew off from her body, and while Hotaru could just nearly touch electronics without them eventually sizzling, her shielding ruined that entirely. The cascading magnetic waves seemed to ripple outwards without rhyme or reason. While tech could normally survive her touch for a small measure of time, her shield immediately shorted out everything in her immediate vicinity.
She also was able to show her companions her ability to throw pulses of energy, bright and full of scintillating colors, that she called starbursts. These little blasts were the primary way she broke the old technology, but not the only one. She also showed off her ability to expand her electromagnetic field intentionally in two ways. One: as a pulse. She shortcircuited everything within fifty feet with hardly a thought. Likewise, she could expand it to fill an area with dampened signals, causing static to creep into anything that relied on lower frequency waves, and concealing what was inside.
She also discovered that she could pay attention in nearly every direction at once, leaving her very difficult to drop in on, as long as she had line of sight. Her rear arc seemed to be unable to process the information properly, just now. She was fairly certain that had she not taken to 'pinging' random objects just to try to get a connection, she'd have never discovered that.
During the tailbone incident, Hotaru had also discovered that her shield didn't just protect her, it also protected goo, extending to surround him in the sparks... as long as they stuck very close. Holding hands or simply being close by wasn't enough; an embrace was necessary to create a sort of 'envelope'.
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Whippoorwill gives her full attention to the lessons in the afternoon, but doesn't offer anything unless called upon. She stays cold and aloof that evening, not taking part in the normal mealtime conversations and quickly excusing herself to retire to her room.
She is later called topside with Shadowcat and Ace for her additional tests. It's a dark night with high, sparce cloud cover and a sliver of a moon.
Whippoorwill checks the high-altitude gear, including her tank, mask and earpiece, with an experienced eye. Her wings create a bit of a problem with the straps, but she makes the necessary adjustments. After checking that she can hear them and they can hear her, she turns to face the wind and spreads her wings.
She lets the wind do most of the work, and it only takes a few good beats of her wings to get airborne. She climbs easily, circling over the compound several times and making note of landmarks so she can find it again from the air. She taps the light on her wrist altimeter and watches as the numbers climb. She stops at a conservative 3,000 meters and rides the wind.
"This is amazing," she reports. "It's like I'm in a harness. I can feel... Yes, I've got something, muscles or tendons, that's keeping my legs straight behind me."
Whippoorwill flaps several times to pick up speed and soon the air is whistling in her microphone. "You got eyes on me? <crackle> Could you give me a speed estimate? I've got to be doing at least 50 knots, but the wind isn't <crackle> I'm feeling pretty good, actually."
She fans her wings and catches an updraft that takes her to 4,000 meters. "Holy s<crackle>! It's reading minus-12 degrees! That's crazy, it should be freezing up here!
Tentatively, Whippoorwill takes her oxygen mask off and feels the wind in her face. She cruises at that height for several minutes and observes no adverse effects, either from the cold or the altitude.
She gets back on the phone. "I think I can leave the tank behind next time."
"Phone GPS is reading about 23 knots when you're cruising, and a not quite 47 knots when you push it." Ace's voice comes back, slightly deflating the speed.
Upon further examination, Hotaru's white noise extended to a quarter of a click when she activated it, and pushed it as far as she could. Likewise, during endurance training, Hotaru discovered that with a little patience and concentration, she could seemingly maintain her barrier indefinitely. But like she already knew, it wasn't impervious... and having seen shadowing take a bullet to the stomach sent her mind back to taking that ice javelin from Snowjob. Her shield -could- be penetrated, and that meant she had to rely on a lot more than just it. She wasn't nearly as shellshocked as Violet.
Hotaru was also rattled around inside of the field. It diffused the brunt of the damage, but it couldn't do much for force. She still hit things like walls, which could easily leave her dazed or even unconscious. Likewise... enough pressure could break through her shield. And she couldn't maintain the barrier if she wasn't awake. So she was still quite vulnerable.
Finally, one of the strangest quirks was that Pulse seemed to enjoy singing to her food, while she ate. She also maintains an open door policy.
Pulse takes to calling Violet 'Vy', assuming she doesn't take offense to it. Given what the group discoveries about Hotaru's powers, it seems unlikely that a 3ds would be a great investment, but she was very grateful for the thought. She accepts the shirt happily, and even wears it frequently. She seems to be a sucker for all things home made, as well. As for video games, she was more than happy to watch Violet play them, but her heart just wasn't into playing then herself... not ever since her level 91 hardcore bowzon had gotten nuked with the rest of her first computer. Hotaru is also quite interested in spending time just hanging out with Shimmer, if the possibility comes up. Hotaru isn't very well off, but on a shopping trip, she buys Violet a pair of mirrored shades, figuring she'd like the ability to 'cover her eyes' in public. It was a secret identity thing. She couldn't do much for the freckles, though.
For Whippoorwill:
Violet will absolutely go along on the flight test, and is a one-woman cheer squad. Others may cheer, but not as enthusiastically.
Violet has a lot of dreams about flying, that night, but sadly does not wake up 3 feet off the bed in a comical moment of "what the hell?" before falling back to it in a rumple.
For Hotaru:
The idea that the young lady can't even touch this handheld entertainment marvel is extremely disappointing. But, Violet gets an idea, and will get ahold of A Link Between Worlds, and let Hotaru run the adventure by way of telling Violet what to do and where to go. Teamwork in a tiny box of fantasy adventure.
As they continue training Aegis shows more of her powers to the group, including her ability to cover her skin with a golden sheen and walk through walls, but she goes out of her way to avoid any kind of jumping unless instructed to by the teachers. The last dent had scared her enough not to risk any further damage to the silo even if they could repair it, she spends her time working to on her density control, but still can't seem to manage it, other than switching back and forth between being nonsoild or freight train. On the bright side she was able to figure out her approximate weight when she was transformed to be about 26 kiloton.
Aegis watches with interest, confident they weren't going to seriously injury someone as important as shadowcat. She -really- considered asking to try it next but after Violet's outburst decided against it.
She tried to stay close with the mentors, especially shadowcat and bolt, in an attempt to learn more about her powers and keep tabs on the progress of the favors she had asked about, she'd even offer to settle for sending a messenger if she wasn't allowed to meet with mimic it was only one question after all. She doesn't spare any expense turning her sleeping quarters into a presentable room and if they'd let her she'd replace her standard nameplate on the outside of the door with a golden one that had Aegis engraved in it.
When not training Aegis seemed to bore quickly and looks for things to fill her time like Violet's games or flicking refrigerator magnets at Pulse. It was also very common to see her with a drink especially after using her powers and while she never drank enough to be hammer it was safe to say she kept a pretty constant buzz.
Violet's power had put Aegis on edge since she saw her mind control, she knew taking a punch would be easy for her but didn't know much in the way of mental defense. So while she avoided training with her when not in Silo 3 she'd try to play nice; joining them for things like the game if they'd allow and accepting her gifts with gratitude, even if she doubted she'd every wear the shirt.
Sinclair wasn't sure what to make of Whippoorwill, she seemed emotional which Aegis didn't really know how to deal with and while her quills were interesting but her love of flight made it difficult for Aegis to work with her.
Aegis is a little competitive with Goo, during training at least. Outside of that she's not entirely sure how to handle him, being a non humanoid made interactions a little awkward.
Pulse was easy to train with but since she'd had said her shield was hard to keep up even when they did practice Aegis would always try to go easy on her not wanting to cause any serious harm. Outside of Silo 3 she was the closest to Sinclair's age and even thought she didn't read many comics like Pulse she didn't mind listening to her and Snailboy talk about them.
While she wasn't exactly fond of Rocket or his juvenile attitude he, like Pulse and Goo, was easier to train with than the others so she would do her best to work with him in finding some common ground.
Bolt isn't involved in the training, as she's busy training a different group. However, Ace acknowledges her request, and promises that Aegis will get a chance to talk to Mimic when the training is complete. They want to make sure she's ready in case Mimic attacks. Unlikely, but better safe.
The second request is awaiting the results of training.
The rest of that first week passes without another outburst. Whippoorwill is still guarded, but not standoffish. It becomes readily apparent she is most approachable after one of her flights, which lift her mood considerably.
Violet's initial forays to build a friendship are met with polite resistance. Her off time is spent in quieter exercises like yoga and tai chi, or paying rapt attention to international news reports.
During the classes, she is a model student, stoically absorbing the information. If there are any complaints, it would be that she obviously doesn't share her own insights whenever the topic touches on something with which she is familiar.
During her flight training, Whippoorwill aggressively pushes herself. By the end of the week, she is advocating for an obstacle course to be installed in one of the silos so she could practice tight maneuvering.
The one thing she does not do, however, is test her pinfeathers. Any time the topic is broached, she glowers at the speaker and refuses in as few words as possible.
At some point, when Violet realizes that members of the team are actively avoiding training with her, she will drop a note in Ace's inbox asking him to let the team know (in the manner that only he can muster) that not knowing how to resist the effects of a friendly Mentalist is a really great way to fall under the influence of an unfriendly one.
"If you think it's a good idea, that is," the note finishes.
After the first week, a teenage boy that is introduced only as 'Fusion' is brought in. While Shadowcat and Aegis hold various 1 to 10 ton iron beams in place, Fusion touches the ends, allowing the two bricks to push the ends into the concrete and steel structure of Silo 1, turning the entire silo into something of an indoor jungle gym for Goo and Rocket to practice on, and which just happens to also work as an obstacle course for Whip.
The boy is mute, and blushes if any female more than smiles at him. He retreats quickly and hugs Shimmer tight before they both vanish when he's done.
Hotaru was watching Whip fly about, but most of it was sort of just... lost on her. It was cool that Whip could fly, but Hotaru couldn't really make her out in the sky, as the black-on-black that she would almost automatically be.
She could kind of track her with pings on the object she was using to communicate, but watching someone fly around in the dark was considerably less cool than having watched her fly inside the silo. The one consolation was that Hotaru was getting to listen to a signal that didn't say 'your burritos are almost done.'
Hotaru, sadly, also recognizes that offering to be a gopher for a teleporter who can lift a car really doesn't help out in any meaningful way, so doesn't press the mechanics thing.
Once Fusion shows up, Hotaru absolutely pays attention to him, asking about his powers, what else he can do with them, and the like, until it's made clear that he's not going to try to communicate. And then they're gone again.
Every time Sinclair tosses a magnet at her, Hotaru makes sure to use her clinging to draw it to her... that she's aware of. If the woman is going to play, Hotaru might as well play along. She also doesn't mind watching the other two girls play games, nor helping out rocket with the murals. Realistically, a lot of what they wind up doing after training is probably better for team building than fighting and training together.
Once Fusion is gone, Ace get's everyone's attention, before they try out the new jungle gym gone large. "And that is this weeks lesson. Not everyone has an array of abilities like you lot. Fusion has one and only one thing he can do, that is to make up to 3 cubic feet of matter phase out of synch with reality for a short period of time. Well, that and a complete lack of vocal chords. He can speak sign, he can understand spoken words. But that's it. No defenses, nothing. So he helps out where he can." He smiles. "Which is quite a bit. We have another pair of brothers who can work as expert excavators. One can convert any natural dirt or stone into dust over a 2 cubic meter area. His brother can convert dust into a stone that approaches volcanic rock for strength and load capacity."
"Unfortunately the two idiots insist on being called Dig Dug." Shadowcat says with a look of disgust.
Ace winces. "Yeah..."
Hotaru laughs out loud, thinking it was an amazing name. "Are the folks that don't seem to have a wide array of abilities ever able to move beyond that, that you've seen? Like has anyone ever started off like Fusion, and then shown aptitude to do something else down the line?"
Briana watches closely as Fusion helps with the assembly of the obstacle course, but stays a respectable distance away from him when he shows himself to be extremely shy. She chews her lip in thought as she considers Ace's "lesson" about the different arrays of powers some metahumans receive.
She had slowly come to the realization that she was far more changed than just the wings on her back. That was the obvious change, and she had initially overlooked all the smaller changes in the rest of her body to accommodate the addition of the two limbs. As her first nighttime flight had shown her, she could withstand severely cold temperatures, and similarly ignore the buffeting effects of the winds. Her musculature was changed, which helped her body lock in a more aerodynamic shape as she flew without straining her back and hips. Her pulmonary and cardiovascular system was obviously changed as well, allowing her to endure both high-gee force turns and high altitudes.
She was completely adapted for flight.
==================
Whippoorwill struggles to relate to the younger students. She feels most comfortable around Goo, of all people.
When the day off arrives and the normal-looking ones all get 'ported off to whatever city Shimmer chooses, Whippoorwill and Goo remain. She grabs a beer and one of Goo's special brews which she slides over to him. "Cheers," she offers as she twists the cap off her own.
After taking a swig, she looks at him. "So, lab accident, huh? You don't have to tell me anything, but it's recent, right?"
She listens to whatever he's willing to tell her. "I had something similar. Lab exploded. I got doused with some sort of chemical. Woke up fine. Then, a few weeks later, bam. Wings."
She takes a long draught, and sets the bottle down on the table. "These other kids, they were born with their powers. Even Violet, though it might have been the government that did it to her. But it's just how they are. You and me, we didn't start out this way. Do you understand what I mean? I don't feel like a 'metahuman' at all. Which is strange, because from now on that's the only thing anyone will ever notice about me."
Goo salutes with his brew, “ Ch e
After taking a swig, she looks at him. "So, lab accident, huh? You don't have to tell me anything, but it's recent, right?"
Nodding his head, “ Yes, less than a y
She listens to whatever he's willing to tell her. "I had something similar. Lab exploded. I got doused with some sort of chemical. Woke up fine. Then, a few weeks later, bam. Wings."
Laughing he offers, “ I’ll trade y
She takes a long draught, and sets the bottle down on the table. "These other kids, they were born with their powers. Even Violet, though it might have been the government that did it to her. But it's just how they are. You and me, we didn't start out this way. Do you understand what I mean? I don't feel like a 'metahuman' at all. Which is strange, because from now on that's the only thing anyone will ever notice about me."
Goo nods his head vigorously in agreement, “ I feel cu
He raises his glass again in silent toast.
At Goo's admission, Whippoorwill is silent for a long time. She looks at him sympathetically. I should be. The thought dances around in her mind while she debates about whether to share more. She ends up opting for another beer.
After opening the cap and clinking the bottle against Goo's, she tries to lighten the mood. "What I'd love is to see the sun again! We've got a teleporter, let's get her to take us somewhere! Someplace distant, remote. Where would you want to go? I've always wanted to see the li jiang karst. And now that I can fly? Oh, I've just gotta go, now. Where would you want to go?"
During the week Goo tests the new jungle gym trying to find new ways to test his limits. Stretching, bending, and moving in ways that would make a contortionist cringe. He finds that Shadow Cat pushes him the most trying to get every ounce out of him in training.
Early in the week he seeks out Violet and starts engaging in mental conversations with her. This he really enjoys and is the activity that brings him the most peace, it is the release he needs to stay sane. Not only because it reminds him of the time he spent with Granny but because he gets to speak with his real voice and not that strange oscillating noise he usually communicates with. It seems that every chance he gets he tries to engage her in mental talk. Through is frequent interaction with her he discovers that she is brilliant in addition to being a strong mentalist.
Also, he is shares an unspoken bond with Whippoorwill as both of them feel their powers as a burden more than a blessing. It is nothing grand that marks their bond just an occasional nod, glance, or look which offers support and understanding. They share an occasional brew and talk about mundane matters and vague references to their life before. Both still wary of trusting too much.He recalls fondly the game they played where she asked him where he would want to go if he could teleport anywhere. If he was honest he would of answered home but he was tired of the looks of sympathy from his friends and answered the Tianzi Mountains in China instead
In addition to the jungle gym workouts he is also starting to enjoy his unspoken completion with Agis, although she easily wins them. He thinks she takes great pleasure in beating him in feats of strength. It is this friendly rivalry that helps him look forward to the grind of daily training.
Whenever he sees the comic book kids In between his work outs he starts a rousing debate about super powers. He is a little dismayed to find out that clayface, Inque and sandman, those whose power sets are closest to his, are not heroes but super villains.
At the end of the week he concludes we are beginning to bond and become a team, but to Goo he looks at them more like a family.
When the others return from their day off, Whippoorwill looks at the t-shirt Violet gives her with a smile. She immediately realizes that to wear it, she'll have to take scissors to its back to make room for her wings but she doesn't mention that. Then she wonders if Violet's listening into that thought, thinks that that observation might appear ungrateful, gets uncomfortable, so she quickly excuses herself.
===========
The next week of training begins with Ace's demonstration of the sniper rifle. Whippoorwill stands in the back and observes silently but intently. Her reaction is muted, though inwardly she is intensely surprised, not at the demonstration of the weapon, but Shadowcat's regenerative powers.
At the conclusion, she suggests they leave the ballistic glass up and in place. She sets up some target dummies in the reinforced arena, but is reluctant until the others leave to work on their own exercises.
Even though still at times she regards her wings as extraneous objects, it was undeniable, especially to her, that they are a part of her. She can feel the muscles, skin and bone. And the feathers. They are living parts of her, just as much as an arm or leg. The sensation of movement, fatigue, pressure and everything else reports to her just as her native limbs. And though she would never be able to put it into words, she could tell that a number of feathers on each wing were special.
Feeling more nervous than when she took her first flight, she seeks out the feeling of one of those special feathers. With half-lidded eyes, she views the target, and lets instinct take over. Her wing takes an odd arcing beat over her shoulder and snaps quickly back behind her.
A red pinfeather dislodges and streaks toward the target. She had expected a boom, but instead she (and any onlookers) is hit with a dazzling burst of light that left her seeing spots for minutes. She staggers back behind the glass. "I didn't expect that," she mutters.
Ace rubs his eyes. "Hydrogen, oxygen, and phospher?" He asks, still seeing after images.