Summary:Hisako and Posse meet in the gym and do some light sparring together. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It might take a second look, or a third, to recognize the young Japanese woman who's systematically punching and kicking away at a heavy bag. Hisako's fashon sense when she's on RESCUE's grounds normally tends towards demure and practical outfits, so seeing her in a sporta bra and bike shorts could be a matter of some cognitive dissonance, even for the head of security. The fact that she's actually wearing martial arts gloves and pads might stand out even more, but Hisako is using those too - and seems more or less accustomed to them, she's not stopping to fiddle with the straps or anything.
Jab. Jab, jab again, knee strike. Elbow strike, backfist. No particular rhythm, but there's a certain fluidity as she executes her attacks - not like she's actually working through a kata, just the hints of someone with a relatively generous amount of hand-to-hand experience.
Hisako dishes out another quick flurry of strikes to the bag, then steps back, keeping her guard up as she catches her breath and glances around the gym.
The staccato sound of steady bag work creates a distinctive noise through the gym and draws the attention of a black-clad woman doing pull-ups across the room. Her armored suit is easy to miss where she's tucked it away in a corner behind the heavier equipment but the shock of snow white hair and the from top to almost bottom betrays who it is. Moreso because the black suit stops where cybernetic prosthetics take over.
Dropping from her bar and taking gulps of air as she lets her arms hang and recover, Ava wanders over barefoot and appraises the young Japanese intern. "Good hits on that bag," she remarks.
"Thank you, Chief Posse," Hisako says with a wry smile and a bow of her head. "I'm nowhere near the best fighter I know, technique-wise, but I manage." She looks vaguely chagrined, then circles the bag so she can resume striking it while still having a line-of-sight to converse with Posse. "The raid basically went well, I gather? At least, I didn't see any of our people headed for medical in the aftermath …" Even a telepath might have some trouble reading her emotions regarding the raid, but the ambivalence shows in her voice too - a mix of relief and something like regret. She *did* volunteer for the mission, after all, even if she didn't wind up in the thick of the action. "Should I know any specifics about what happened?"
"Mission accomplished with no casualties," Ava responds simply, sounding content though little more. "Captured some tech as a bonus. The only ones that needed healed were the hostages and a few mercs we neutralized."
"Hoping you can go on the next one?" she asks point blank. The cyborg's never been one for subtlety.
"Good question," Hisako replies. "Glad none of ours got hurt, though." A grim smile flickers briefly across her face before she throws her next combo into the heavy bag, mixing lighter strikes - almost feints - with a couple of more forceful blows. Some of the moves look a bit like Muay Thai, but that doesn't fit her stance …
"How messy was it?"
"Two of ten." Ava lifts a hand and wobbles it in the air as she steps around the bag to brace it from behind. "We shut 'em down with speed and surprise."
Hisako nods, looking somewhat relieved. "So it could've been a lot worse … Good." She pauses to let Posse brace the bag, then lays in a heavier series of strikes. Less Muay Thai now, more military-style, with an emphasis on efficient offense leavened with what would, on a person, be a set of cheap shots to usually-vulnerable spots.
"The downside to bag work," Hisako adds as she finishes that combo, "is that you can't use throws …"
The bag holds steady through the combo with Ava behind it and afterwards the cyborg grins. "Or locks or holds or clothes grips… but they're fun to hit."
Taking a half step to one side the tawny vet spins tightly in place and swings her elbow around in an arc, striking the bag deeply at head level and sending it staggering on its chain. A visceral, self-satisfied smile spreads her lips, then the chief of security gestures to an empty patch of padded floor. "Want a more realistic partner?"
Seeing a strike like that from the chief of security and head of REACT probably should *not* surprise Hisako, but she raises her eyebrows nonetheless at that elbow which leaves the bag rattling back to rest. "Do I need to get a helmet and other pads," she asks, "or should I save the extra walk and just use my powers? I can hold back on the strength boosts," she adds. "Just need to keep my attention on it."
"I can hold back," Ava assures with a chuckle while moving fully away from the bag, though not leaving kicking reach of Hisako. It's up to her if she wants more space. "Don't know what your control's like so start slow if you have to. This evolution's about practice, not knocking each other out." There's no stance the bionic woman is taking but as she's stopped moving, maybe it means she's ready.
Hisako sidesteps towards the clear area of the mats which Posse had pointed out earlier; yes, she does want more space to work with, even if they're going easy on each other and she's not using her powers. Once they *do* face off, though, Hisako is clearly putting control first and foremost - speed, precision, only as much force as the 'speed' part requires.
"Good," Ava affirms as she takes the first couple strikes to learn the young woman's speed and match it. Her own blows are sparse and probing, just feeling Hisako out if she pauses in too long of a gap while dipping and evading with a boxer-like elusiveness and weave. It's a comfortable pace to start with and except that she keeps threatening to advance on Hisako's outside, the intern has control of the spar.
The 'feeling out' is mutual at this point - Hisako is taking the measure of Posse's hand-to-hand as well, even though she knows on a rational level htat the cyborg could take her apart easily if she felt the need to get serious. Maybe even if Hisako *did* armor up - but in that case, it might just take more serious equipment. In fact, Hisako realizes, it's quite possible that *Posse* could be the one to throw *her* into the river if the need became evident.
For now, though, it's still a matter of sparring … and Hisako 'idles' long enough to invite another of Posse's probing punches, then acts on it - trying to grab her arm and maneuver her into a shoulder throw.
A solid purchase can be found on Ava's arm with the speed that they're moving but it also brings with it a sudden change from the cyborg who's been testing her from a distance. Reeling herself in tightly against Hisako's back, the bionic vet pushes against her hips while sinking her weight and moving her other arm around to fight for control, turning what could have been a textbook toss into a test of force and technique. "Nice move."
"Thanks," grunts Hisako as she suddenly has her work cut out for her. Give her credit for persistence if nothing else; she pushes her hips back against Posse's, utilizing both hands to grip the cyborg's arm, trying to get her center of gravity under Ava's - if she can't simply throw Posse, she's aiming to *roll with her*, which would put them both on the ground (at least briefly) but probably leave Hisako with the advantage.
… Probably. Old age and treachery, after all …
It's brief but the feeling of weight shifting between them favors Hisako just long enough to lift the resilient cyborg halfway off the ground and roll her to the mat, though it's not enough to break the grip she established in the process. There's a messy cacophony of padded thumps and that's when Ava really gets to work, tangling the young woman up and making it surprisingly hard to get back to her feet - or away for that matter. Old age is treacherous indeed.
In hindsight? Yeah, that's about what Hisako figured would happen. She may be on top of Posse, but the wily security chief takes full advantage of their sustained proximity, restraining the mutant girl's limbs very effectively. Hisako *does* still have a potential trump card she could fall back on, if this were for real, but she doesn't want to pull it out while they're sparring.
"If you were a real enemy," grunts the mutant, "this is where I'd try popping you off with my armor - manifesting it at my size first, then expanding if I had to." She squirms briefly, trying to slip an arm free, or a leg. "… I think that'd be my only option, though," she concedes after a moment.
"That's good. Use that everywhere you can in a grapple. Changing size gives you a huge advantage," Ava replies, as she shifts her hold to try to keep Hisako tangled, then abruptly breaks it and shrimps away to separate herself before trying to roll back onto her feet. "When you backed away I thought you liked all that punching and kicking karate stuff but you know some grappling too don't you?" she guesses.
Hisako rolls smoothly back to her feet. "Part of basic hand-to-hand training," she replies with a nod. "Sometimes you need to subdue an opponent without just socking them into oblivion. Not sure I'd want to wrestle with a Sentinel, though … they cheat too much."
"Heavy artillery works better on those. Go for weak spots; grappling a robot isn't one of 'em," Ava suggests while raising her left arm spinning her hand in a complete circle. "They /do/ have a nice blind spot on their six. Someone built them a little too human."
"Not all mutants have heavy-artillery powers," Hisako points out - her tone dry, but also a little on the subdued side. "But yeah, hitting them from behind makes for a nice sucker-punch. All the more satisfying to take their heads off that way …"
"Who said mutants? Guns and bombs work too," Ava notes. "Or structure, vehicle, power lines…" The air around the tawny security chief distorts in a heat haze then her color and shape both dissolve away, leaving behind a suddenly but convincingly empty looking space between Hisako and the punching bag.
"Use anything you have," she continues to instruct before fading just as quickly back into view. Two fingers pinch the side of her suit and stretch it the short distance its flexible weave will allow before letting it snap back taut against her body. "That includes grabbing somebody's street clothes."
"Sentinels were created as mutant-hunters," Hisako points out to the momentarily 'empty' air. Posse's sudden invisibility does put her back on guard, as if expecting the spar is about to resume - but it doesn't actually, and while Hisako's guard stays up, she doesn't attack when the security chief becomes visible again.
"No such thing as a 'fair fight,' right?" the Japanese girl adds wryly, giving Posse's suit a curious look. "Is that an optical camouflage suit, or is the invisibility part of your, ah, cyber-components?" she wonders aloud.
"Cliche but no, a 'real fight' and a 'fair fight' aren't the same," Ava agrees with a bit of a smirk, then the white-haired vet nods down to her suit. "They work together. I've got a lot of hardware goin' on. Some of it keeps me standing, some of it's an upgrade." The last part even draws a proper smile from the bionic woman, at least for a few seconds before the change in topic squashes it flat.
"That might be how you know 'em but Sentinels were fielded all over, and they made a real mess of conventional forces too before getting put down."
Hisako grimaces, but nods. "Forget about paradigm *shifts*, they were a paradigm-*breaker* on the battlefield, yeah," she admits. "Versatile weaponry, self-directing, able to walk where tanks or cars couldn't roll … and they weren't really programmed to follow the Geneva Conventions, either, were they?"
For a moment, she looks ready to resume sparring - but then she goes back to standing normally, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "Sorry. It's … not a subject I'm fond of."
"Yeah, they had a glitch or two." Grave understatement, that. Looking at the young woman sympathetically, Ava passes a hand backwards through her hair, removing some sweat from her brow. "I'd ask you to tell me over drinks but you're too young for that, aren't ya?"
"A little too young," Hisako says with another wry little smile and a game shrug. "And I'm not really in a hurry. - Did you want to spot the bag for me some more?" she adds, inclining her head back towards the heavy bag she was working on earlier. "If you've got other things you need to go attend to, I'm okay on my own, but right now, talking about Sentinels … I kinda need to hit something some more. And not somebody who'll get hurt."
Ava's eyes flit back to the hanging bag and it only takes a moment for her to decide. "I'll spot ya' again. Just return the favor when you're done. I could do with some unloading myself."
Hisako grins, "It's a deal. And if you hit the bag hard enough that I need to armor up for spotting, I'll buy your next drink."