Summary:Spider-Man collects a few friends together for some informal training. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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A Game of Thrones reference? Not really. The junkyard is near a dock, and accepted marine scrap as well as other kinds. There was some rumors of smuggling, none substantiated.
After the disappearance of the family, the place got tied up in probate court. No one coming forward to claim it.
It is a little nicer. The trash has been swept up, a lot of chemicals have been neutralized or disposed of. And some new construction has been placed here.
Spider-Man is sitting on the metal bench in the courtyard area, a couple of coolers nearby. He is early, wanting to set things up in advance.
After all, when you expect visitors, you should tidy up…
A soft 'thwip' announces the arrival of one incoming visitor; actually a regular to this place, by now. One Gwen Stacy, her identity concealed in the outfit of Spider-Woman, makes an arrival. She swings in off a webline, sails into the yard, and lands in a half-crouch.
"Hey!" she greets, lifting one hand to wave as she dusts herself off. "Anyone else here yet? or am I an early-arriving keener?"
Angelica Jones flies in after working out how to find the place a bit. She waited until the last minute and spent too long googling the place on her laptop, trying not to let the distress cause enough trouble to disrupt the thing. She got her costume on at the last minute, affixing her mask and taking off out the window. She left a note for Nana on the dry erase board that she might be back late. She was a grown-up, of course, but she still felt weirdly obligated to do that.
She lands lightly, raising a hand a little bit shyly, "Um. Hi."
There's no thwip. Not even the satisfaction of a flight arrival. No, the Black Cat just arrives. Stepping out of the shadows, she looks to the others. She likely arrived on the perimeter and picked her way through the junkyard.
"Nice evening for a stroll, hmm?" Her suit, as always, is impeccable. Black catsuit, white fur trim, domino mask. Hair an array of silver waves. And eyes keen, as she looks around the place. Maybe inspecting. Maybe watching for unnoticed treasures.
Spidey smiles under the mask. "All right…time for introductions. Spider-Woman, I'd like you to meet Firestar. She helped me stop a Triad boss, and I invited her to come by. Firestar, this is Spider-Woman. Similar powerset. You both already know the Black Cat."
He indicates the open area. "All right, ten-cent tour time for those who haven't been here." He indicates three heavy punching bags along one wall. "The one on the left is a standard heavy bag. The middle one is for the heavier hitters. It's filled with lead shot. The one on the right is filled with a cylinder of solid steel. For those who can lift tons and want to really go all-out. The open area is for fighting, sparring, and general exercise. The flattened cars to the right are roughly one ton each. for REAL powerlifting."
He points to an area with a steel chain across the entryway. "A lot of more dangerous crushed vehicles. Pointy, jagged metal. Tetanus paradise. Figured you could hone your powers on melting the metal, pinpoint accuracy, temperature control, that sort of thing."
"Pleasure to meet you, Firestar." Spider-Woman unslings her backpack, and sets it down on the ground (somewhere clean of course), before unzipping it to pull out six cans of coca cola, and a generously large package of beef jerky (from a quality butcher of course, not convenience store stuff). She places those right by Peter's coolers, and stretches, giving both Firestar and Black Cat a salute before heading back towards the open area that's just been designated for fighting. She casually gives the third bag - the premium bag, the one with the steel core - a solid, bone-rattling punch on the way past.
"So, what's the plan, Spidey?" She grins under her mask, moving to the center of the open area; not really looking like she's expecting battle at any moment, specifically, more it's just somewhere to stand. "What are we starting off with today?"
Angelica Jones nods, "Yeah, that's definitely more my speed. I'm not really that strong. I have trouble opening up the hide-a-bed in my couch," she admits, hugging herself a bit. She's nervous, obviously, not used to dealing with other superheroes yet and a bit intimidated by the assurance of the Spiders and the obvious confidence of the Cat.
"Nice to meet you, too!" she says to Spider-Woman, then sees the supplies, "Oh, shoot, I didn't bring anything."
"Pleasure to see you again," Cat purrs to Gwen and Firestar, before turning her gaze on Spider-Man for a long moment before tearing her gaze away to Firestar again. "I think the most important thing you needed to bring was just yourself."
Spidey grins, then opens the coolers. Leftovers from Thanksgiving—turkey sandwiches, potato salad, with some roast beef sandwiches. Cheese snacks, a ziplock bag of protein bars. a large sealed jug of lemonade, another of iced tea. A six-pack of Coke.
The other one seems to be designed to keep things warm, not cold. Small single-use cartons of mashed potatoes and gravy, sliced ham sandwiches, and some single-use containers of beef chili.
"Everything growing heroes need. I hope no one's a vegetarian. Now, as for today, and for the next few weeks, basically a freeform assessment of powers and skills. I took the liberty of setting up a junked Yugo with heat sensors, so we can get an idea of how hot you can make it. We can work from there. Cat, I am sure you have many tricks for your trade, but it couldn't hurt to assess your hand-to-hand ability. I've never seen you fight, and it might be a good idea to see what you have, and if you don't follow a discipline, we can see what martial arts fit your innate strengths." He smiles to Spider-Woman. "Spider-Woman isn't new to this place, so she may be able to answer questions or bounce ideas off of."
Spider-Woman stretches; she tilts her head to one side and the other, cracking the bones in her neck audibly, before planting her hands on her hips and standing still. "Pleasure to see you again, too," she replies to Black Cat. "Also, nice to see you when we're not having to, y'know, beat up on some mean werewolves or any such silliness." She perks an eyebrow upwards at Firestar, too, "So, you have heat control powers? You melt stuff? That is so cool. I can't wait to see you do that."
She nods towards Spider-Man, still grinning behind her mask. "Right, Spidey, this is your training yard and you're the boss. I'll help with whatever I can." She glances towards Black Cat, then back to Spider-Man. "Should I go a round with her?"
Angelica Jones grins, "Yeah, I have microwave powers. I can use them to fly and I can…like, melt stuff or light things on fire. Or make electronic stuff short out. I took out one of the computer labs at school once. Luckily, no one there knew it was me or I would've owed some money," she blushes.
"Yeah, um, I'll do whatever you want me to do! I mean, in the training. For superhero stuff. Yeah."
Cat wrinkles her nose. "Werewolves…" She shudders, as she peers into the coolers. "Were we expecting company? The 1985 Denver Broncos, maybe?" That is a LOT of food.
But Cat arches a brow at Firestar's description of her powers. "I bet that's handy when you're in trouble. Or, y'know…you have a frozen hot pocket."
Spidey nods to Spider-Woman. "Yeah, but just light sparring. See what she's got. Check how she uses her hands, her feet, etc. I have a few suspicions, but I'd like to see what she can do before making any assumptions."
Spidey points to the battered Yugo near the north wall. "I don't know what training you've had in the use of your powers. For now, work on a precision test. I marked the sharp, dangerous edges with a scratched X. Try to melt them down to round off the sharp edges."
Spider-Woman snaps a salute up to Spider-Man, "Don't worry, light sparring only. I've done enough training on the standard heavy bag, I'm good." she nods towards Angela, "Microwave powers? And you can fly, too? That's pretty slick, lady. I like your style already."
Then she turns her attention back to the Black Cat; she raises her hands in front of her, balling them up into fists, and setting one foot in front of the other. "Alrighty then," she drawls. "Cat style vs Spider style. Let's see who's Kung Fu is strong, hmm?"
Angelica Jones takes to the sky at the indication, "Okay, I'll do my best," she says. She swoops over and circles around the Yugo a few times. She actually has had a bit of training, when she was younger, and proved fairly adept at it. While she hadn't mastered some aspects of her powers, accuracy was always fairly good. She starts at the corners of the thing, beginning with melting down the tires and then working her way up to making the bumpers sweat and reduce to slag…
Cat spreads her feet farther apart and bends over for a luxurious stretch, first down to one ankle, then the other. Then she rises again to step in and square herself with Spider-Woman, rolling her neck to loosen it. She lifts her hands in a defensive stance, and there is the faintest /click/ as her claws retract. "Can't have me snagging your suit, now can we? Someone will get the spray bottle." And without further adieu, she drops to a crouch as she attempts a leg sweep.
Spidey snags a sandwich (roast beef) and observes the Cat and Spider-Woman spar, but looks to a tablet on the bench as Firestar goes to work on the Yugo. Heat sensors register temperature both ambient and location of "impact," and he nods once. She's pretty exact, truth be told.
But for right now, he's going to check out the fighters as he makes notes.
Gwen leaps back from the leg sweep; one thing she simply cannot do is turn off the danger-sense, even if this is pretty low-level (seeing as how Black Cat doesn't actuallywant to hurt her… presumably). "Nope, no ripping onesy!" she agrees. She dances back, keeping her hands up in front of her as she moves to the side, circling around her opponent. "But kicking, punching, and throwing, are all on the table."
The Spider-Woman makes good on that; she feints with one hand then jabs with the other; regardless of wether or not it connects, she follows up with a kick, aimed for the mid-section. "But we can't go too easy on each other, right?"
Angelica Jones keeps practicing, trying to draw an F on the hood with her powers, then making a circle around it. "It's too plain. I need something with style," she pouts. She can't exactly get a font for her superpowers, sadly. She's just going to have to work on her artistry.
Once she finishes off by slicing the Yugo in two, she flies over and lands next to Spidey as she goes in to get a sammich of her own.
Catlike reflexes save the Black Cat from the jab, and she springs to one side to avoid the kick, staying low. She watches Spider-Woman with a mischievous smile as she crouches. Her pupils are dilated. And was that a butt-wiggle? She hesitates only a moment to calculate the trajectory before she springs at the Spider, attempting a jab at her midsection, immediately followed by a clotheslining arm, trying to catch the Spider by her neck in the crook of her elbow, and move around behind her.
Spidey steps aside for Firestar, watching Cat's movements. Spider-Woman seems to sense the attack, bringing down her forarms to deflect it, then dropping before the arm can wrap around her neck. Cat still moves behind Spider-Woman, but the latter pivots so that Cat is to her left instead of behind her.
"Takedown moves…hmm. Maybe jiu-jitsu might work best for her…?" he muses to Firestar.
Angelica Jones watches for a few moments and takes a bite of her sandwich, chewing thoughtfully.
"Um…maybe? Isn't that like the UFC stuff? Cat's got kind of a sexy Ronda Rousey thing going," she admits, "But y'know, with bigger…uh…ambitions," she says, swerving a little bit at the last minute before she crashes into -that- proverbial wall.
"I should probably learn how to do that stuff, but I don't know if I could hit somebody. I think it would feel weird. Like, mashing someone else's face with your hand? It's kinda gross if you think about it."
"It's not gross if they're trying to mush your brains with THEIR hand," Cat replies as she turns in quickly for a right hook, using her momentum. "Did somebody spray this chick with Teflon or what?"
Well. He'd never heard it described that way.
Spidey looks to the Cat as Spider-Woman does a Muhammad-Ali lean back for the fist to moved past with a quarter-inch to spare. "Looks like she's got what I got. Spider-Sense detects imminent threats. It's like low-grade precognition." He looks back to Firestar. "A lot of martial arts involve subduing people with minimal contact. It's good to have a non-lethal skill to fall back on that doesn't display your powers. And since everyone learns self-defense stuff, it can keep from blowing your cover."
Angelica Jones sips on a soda, "I'm not sure any kind of precognition is low-grade. That's pretty spiffy," she says. "I mean, it would be nice to be able to stop someone without having to maybe cook them like a frozen pizza. I've managed not to do that to anyone yet, but I'm always afraid it's going to happen, especially if I get cornered. I know it would be self defense, but yikes, both morally bad and infinitely gross."
"Well THAT'S just cheating," Felicia chides as she fails another attempt at a jab on the Spider. "Not that I play fair," she adds with a knowing glance at Spidey.
Gwen stacy jumps back, flipping end over end to do a hand-spring and then land in a crouch. "Fighting fair is a great way to lose," she replies. "I don't fight fairly, not at all. I have better than human reflexes and I can sense danger before it happens." She stays in her crouch, hands up in front of her. "I fight to when, especially when the fight is for keeps, and you should too."
After that, she jumps forwards, shooting one leg out for a low kick, before straightening up to bring the kick upwards, eventually lifting her foot up as high as her head — and she speeds herself up while she's at it, just a little.
Spidey nods, but says to Firestar, "Well, I learned that knowing you can fight, and other people being aware of it, actually cuts down the chances at fighting, if somone sense you can hold your own. So it can be a deterrent." He looks back to the Cat. "Maybe capoiera might work for her…"
Because any martial art that is effective with the hands bound couldn't hurt.
Angelica Jones purses her lips, "How would they be aware of it? Do you wear your black belt? Do you get a pin? Do they just sense it? Is that another Spider sense you have?' she asks. She's more than content to sip her drink and eat her sandwich and watch other people fight.
The Black Cat was ready for the low kick. But it didn't stay low, and her reflexes kick in just before the blow would have landed. Her hand snaps up and catches Spider-Woman's ankle. But the damage is already done, and Cat is knocked off-balance. She twists in vain to steady herself, but she falls backward, anyway, and tumbles, taking Spider-Woman with her.