ic Room of Danger Redux (Rainshadow)

[EternalPhoenix]

May 15, 2023. Freedom City. Hanover. Terrifi-Labs.

 

Terrifi-Labs was the one bedroom apartment Terrifica had converted into her personal headquarters in Freedom City. She’d sent Rainshadow the address after her little advertisement caught his attention. So here they were. Sitting where, in any other apartment, would probably be the living room. Here it did double duty as the only public space. The actual dining room was full of electronics and technology. She slid a tablet across the table they were sitting at. Rainshadow, naturally, was seated on the opposite side of it. “Please confirm I have all of the details correct. Your scenario, opponent type, etcetera. You’re also confirming that you understand that this technology is, technically, in the experimental stages. My efforts may have reduced any risk to the miniscule, but it is still there.” She crossed her legs. “With that confirmed, we can go the next room and get started.”

[Ari]

Looming uneasily in his seat, the powerfully-built man picked up the tablet between thick fingers, with a gingerness that argued for bad experiences with its kind. Squinting at it for a second, he blinked hard, "Uh, okay...uh...hang on." Reaching into a pocket of his coat that smelled slightly stronger of nicotine than the rest of his clothes, he retrieved a pair of reading glasses and scanned the pages closely, muttering and nodding for a few seconds before leaning back, replacing the tablet on its table with great care. He nodded more emphatically at Terrifica, his grim face offering a polite smile "Yeah, looks right. Stormy, but not above a 7 on the Beaufort. Someone good in water who's got a brain on 'em, structure's got to push me to not just hang around in there, yeah."

 

Law Ming talked like every word was a reluctant, furtive escapee, but the awe and curiosity on his face as he took in the equipment on display (well, partially visible) spoke volumes. The idea of *not* trusting Terrifica with its operation didn't seem to have entered his head for an instant.

 

Looming to his feet, the man did a quick once-over of his eclectic gear. He seemed satisfied with its condition, and said "I'm ready" in a much more confident voice than he'd used all day.

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica uncrossed her legs and stood up. She gestured to two reclining chairs in the dining room. “Take whichever you like.” She herself took a computer chair by the main console. “Make yourself comfortable and put on the helmet. I will activate the system and monitor you from here.” She tapped a few buttons, warming things up. “Remember, your usual powers and skills will function as you both know and remember them to. You may do as you like without fear of damaging anything in here. The nerve impulse rerouting was perfected before I acquired the technology.”

[Ari]

Choosing what looked like the sturdier (and harder-worn) of the recliners, Ming settled in as best he could, grumbling and grunting a little as he got situated in another object just barely outside the comfortable for his height and weight range. The helmet was a deal all its own, though thankfully it could more than accommodate his thick and unruly hair. "They got things like this at the MAX arcade centers, up in Ee-see-ess" he remarked, carefully slowing his breath, "not *like-* you know. VR programs. Lets you make-believe you've got powers." He chuckled as the apparatus began to hum and blink to life "I got 'em for real, but I'm *still* using these things."

 

His non-response to the mention of 'nerve-impulse rerouting' argued for either complete ignorance as to the ramifications of that phrase, or complete acceptance of the stated lack of risks involved. "Just in case some kind of robot virus hijacks my brain," Ming added gravely as the thrumming began to reach its apex, "offer me Laramie Blues when this is done. If it's me, I'll refuse. Fire away, ma'am." Despite himself, he took firm hold of the armrests, as if that could arrest his fall into the realm of cyberspace. 

 

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica nodded, not that Rainshadow could see it. “You needn’t worry about a ‘robot virus’. The AI Exquisita is on defense against any intruders. Since you’re ready, I’m activating the helmet. Remember, while this may feel completely real, it isn’t. Any injuries may feel real, but they are not. So please remain as calm as you can. When you’re finished, say my name and I’ll disconnect. Good? Good. Diving in five…four…three…two…”

 

For Rainshadow, it wasn’t so much as a fall as a sudden translocation. One moment, he’s reclining in a chair, the next he’s standing dockside in a city that did not resemble Freedom very much. It was Toronto, for the record. The water was Lake Ontario. And the angry looking woman standing on the water was his opponent for this exercise. Her open hostility and water gathering around her upraised arms made the point extra clear.

[Ari]

In a flash, Ming's instincts kicked in. Specifically, the ones he'd honed to avoid conflict. Starting into the air, he surrounded himself with what he'd always conceptualized as a sort of shell, a full-body rejection of the local atmosphere that steered away attacks and let him fly on powerful gusts of atmospheric pressure. As if casting a net his mind flung its strange, incoherent feelers across a galaxy of vibrating molecules, the roiling energy of solar radiation that guided and shaped their flow simulated to perfection by Terrifica's hardware.

 

And then it began to warp, slipping from his grasp, a blast of desert air leaving him exposed to the full force of-Ming unconsciously clenched his fist as he hewed a gap into the local expanse of heat, letting cold, damp air gush into its place, emerald-tinged clouds of water vapour billowing into existence around himself and his enemy! 

 

It was almost disconcerting how like the real thing the simulation was. Obviously it wasn't like a "normal" VR setup, very few bothered to simulate how it felt to dangle in mid-air surrounded by water, but it went far beyond that. Things had a weight, a resistance to them, as in the real world where the laws of physics, while solid, were flexible under certain conditions. But he wasn't here to soak in the simulated atmosphere, and he launched forward to take the fight to his fictional foe!