ic Through the Paces [IC]

[Thevshi]

Sub-basement of Claremont Academy

Bayview, Freedom City, New Jersey

October 2023, 9:45 AM

 

Lawrence Harrow looked about the large room on one of the sub-basements beneath the grounds of Claremont Academy. The room was rather Spartan, with smooth white and grey walls, a floor that had a hexagon pattern and a high, almost cavernous ceiling. Along one of the walls, a couple dozen feet above the floor, was a dark set of plexiglass windows.

 

"So, this is the Doom Room." The blond teen stated with his refined British accent as he looked back over his shoulder towards his roommate and gave a small grin. "Ready to show off what you can do Baz?"

 

The faculty had arranged time in the school’s training room for several of the new students in order to start gathering baseline information on their powers for the year. As such, Lawerence was wearing the standard blue and yellow Claremont uniform, the morphic molecule costume tightly fitting his lean athletic build.

 

The teen began slowly scanning the apparently empty room before his bright blue eyes fixed on the windows to the control room for a few moments. He then turned back to Baz. "Parker said he was in our testing group right? Wonder who the others will be."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Ready as a radioactive cockroach kid can be!" said Baz, puffing his chest. He was not entirely sure he still had lungs; or if he had, they were very stange. They felt more like a hundred sacs of air arranged like a flower in his chest. Sort-of lungs. 

 

Thats what you get for being a cockroach kid. 

 

The training room looked clean and empty, at least to Baz. He had spent half his life scrabbling around garbage pits, scavenging for whatever. As it happened, he had found glowing green cockroaches, and his life had changed rather dramitically since then. A huge, clean room? Quite alien. He shivered, even though the nuclear reactions in his cell kept him very warm. 

 

He samasaulted in the air and cracked his knuckles. They cracked very loudly. 

 

"Bring it on, danger room!"

 

 

 

 

 

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"I'm not late, am I?" Parker asks, as he enters the room. And... no, he doesn't think that he is, now that he spots Lawrence and Baz.

 

He is dressed in the standard blue and yellow Claremont uniform, rather than his own uniform. For some reason, it felt off to use it just yet, especially in here, even if Parker can't help but think that it feels a bit weird to not have a cape.

 

"Baz, Lawrence," he greets as he walks up to the other two, nodding at each in turn. "You guys been in here before?"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawerence smiled at Baz's confident response before turning to the sound of Paker arriving. "Hey Parker." The teen responded with a small nod in return before looking back out at the Spartan room around them.

 

"No, never trained in here before. But I understand Deadalus built it, so I expect it is similar to what the Freedom League uses." Lawrence stated in response before looking back to Baz and Parker. "So, fully holographic hard light generators and other technology that can basically make this room feel, sound and even smell like pretty much anywhere. And of course, can be used to create simulacrums of any threat that has been programed into the system."  

[Huckleberry]

Rot

Ding! The bell announces another arrival to the Doom Room, and the heavy doors part to reveal a hovering female student with green dreadlocks. She's wearing a tight-fitting black bodysuit with a zipper down the front. In fact, she had agonized in front of the mirror for hours before selecting this particular outfit, on the basis that it made her look like a sexy super spy.

This must be the student called Rot. People say she lost control of her superpowers in a grocery store the first week of class. They also say she disintegrated part of the Albright Institute during last month's field trip. And that she and the feline vigilante known as La Puma Negra go out on overly violent crime fighting sprees. But mostly, people just said she was kind of creepy.

"Uh, hey, you guys here to pretend to fight stuff too?" Dang, these guys are kinda hot. I mean besides the one that looks like a grasshopper. Okay, Suelo, act like an adult. "So, uh, are any of you guys, like, invulnerable?"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

At the sound of the door, Lawrence turned to note the arrival of Consuelo. If the blond teen was bothered by the reputation the green haired girl was already making since the beginning of school, he did not show it as he gave her a charming smile. "Cheers, that would be us, although I believe there is supposed to be one more as well." He replied with a faint British accent.

 

"Lawrence Harrow," he indicated himself, "Baz and Parker." He gestured to the two others.

"Great costume by the way," the teen then added with a genuine smile, "AEGIS Agent chic is always a classic choice."

 

At Consuelo's question about whether any of them were invulnerable, Lawrence gave another small smile. "One or both of these two might fall in that category, I am generally more in the 'avoid getting hit' camp."

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

The doors come open as who comes walking through would be at home in some sort of science fiction setting with giant robots... in this case nautical ones. Mizuki stretched herself out as she walked in, looking over the other students. "'ey. Was having a hard time deciding to take the uniform I put together through it's paces, or just put on the blue and gold."

 

She looked around in the Doom Room and whistles. "Looks like the Holodeck from Star Trek." She smiled. "This place keeps on surprising."

 

Spoiler

Here is what she is wearing... https://www.freedomplaybypost.com/gallery/image/771-torpedo-lass-ii/?context=new

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by The Sailor

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Parker raises his hand up in a quick greeting to Consuelo. "I can be invulnerable. Kind of." All depends on what he needs to be,  but it should fit the bill.

 

He takes the few steps over and extends his hand to Consuelo, with a friendly smile. "Like Lawrence said, I'm Parker. What do you need me to do?" He's heard rumors about the Consuelo, sure, but Parker's mom taught him that he should greet people properly. It'll be Misuki's turn next.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"I'm as ready as a radioactive cockroach kid can be!" said Baz, puffing his chest. He was not entirely sure he still had lungs; or if he had, they were very stange. They felt more like a hundred sacs of air arranged like a flower in his chest. Sort-of lungs. 

 

Thats what you get for being a cockroach kid. 

 

"But..." he added. 

 

"Ready for what? Danger? But what kind of danger?"

 

He put a stubby finger to a pointed chin. His antannae wobbled. 

 

"I hope its the safe kind of danger. I mean, I'm super brave and everything, but I'd rather practice with safe danger before actual danger. I'm too young to die! I got the world to save!"

 

 

 

 

 

[Huckleberry]

Rot

Consuelo looks a bit panicked as Parker, aka the stupendous Spaceman, approaches her with hand extended. “Uh, hey, um,” and she flies up in the air a little bit to get some space. “Yeah, I should have like said something about it sooner, but I kind of have this weird aura that makes people, uh, either angry or scared when they get too close to me. . . . Yeah, you seem nice and, uh, invulnerable is really good. . . .” OMG, Consuelo, could you sound like more of a spaz?

 

“So, uh, while I’m up here, I wonder if there are any grown-ups already in the control room.” Consuelo flies up to the conspicuous plexiglass windows and tries to look in, waving in a friendly manner, to try to make it clear she’s not about to disintegrate anything.

 

OOC @ proximity effects of Rot’s powers:

Spoiler

(-5) Untouchable: Consuelo’s powers render her touch or even close proximity repulsive. An NPC (or PC maybe too?) that physically touches her with no more than clothing between shifts 2 attitude categories towards Hostile (DC 10+Rot’s PL Will Save to resist). Even being within Rot’s PL in feet close to her results in a 1 attitude category shift towards hostile (Same Will Save to resist). This has no effect on constructs or undead.

(-2) Why we can’t have nice things: Objects that Consuelo contacts for an extended time (clothing, chairs, mattresses, spacesuits, etc.) slowly decay away. Cumulative damage to the object is resolved as being hit by a Corrosion attack of Rank equal to the number of hours of contact, divided by 3, up to her PL. She has a super suit that redirects all this damage to sacrificial material touching the suit (usually a cloth wrap) over the course of 16 hours. Without the sacrificial material, even the super suit would soon be worn away. The suit provides no protection for other objects she touches, just the super suit itself.

 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

"That is pretty much spot on." Lawerence replied to Misuki's comment about the Doom Room looking like a holodeck from Star Trek as he gave her a nod in greeting as he walked over to offer his hand after Paker. "The very best in hard light technology."

 

Glancing back toward his roommate, the blond teen gave a small grin. "Don't worry Baz, they won't weed us out by attrition," Lawrence paused a moment before adding, "at least, not this early."

 

As Rot made her way up to the windows, Lawrence looked up that way. "Well, I imagine we will be finding out soon now that everyone is here."

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Rot found that the windows to what was likely the control room were fully opaque, with no means of discerning whether or not there was anyone on the other side. But then, as if on cue, a voice came over concealed loudspeakers in the room. "Now that you are all here, it is time to begin this session." The voice was immediately recognizable from her speech during the start of the year assembly, the school's headmistress, Callie Summers. “Ms. Nunez, if you would please move back near your fellow students so that we may begin."

 

As Rot moved back as instructed, the headmistress continued. "We will be taking initial readings on each of your abilities and capabilities, so do not feel as if you need to hold back."

 

As she spoke, five figures materialized in the room opposite the five teens, three men and two women. One of the male figures appeared to be African-American, wearing a black bodysuit that fit his lean, runner’s build tightly. The upper half of his face was concealed behind mirrored goggles and he wore several pieces of dark grey body armor that appeared tailored so as not to limit movement.

 

One of the female figures was a lithe Asian woman who was also wearing a fully length black bodysuit, although she had several dark green stripes going down the sides and around the torso. Unlike most of the figures, she was not wearing any visible body armor.

 

The other female figure was Caucasian, with thick, long brown hair that ran all the way down to her ankles. She was dressed in a black costume with green trip on her boots and elbow length gloves. Several bits of black fishnet connected both her boots and gloves to the main part of the costume. She was also wearing a few pieces of form fighting body armor.

 

The final two male figures were also Caucasian, one with short brown hair and wearing black cargo pants, a long sleeve black shirt and similar dark grey body armor to the others. Unlike any of the others, both his hands were wreathed in fire as he regarded the five teens.

 

The final figure had short blond hair and stood a towering six and a half feet tall. He was also wearing black cargo pants and a black long sleeve shirt that fit his muscular form tightly. He wore no body armor, and one of his large hands was wrapped over the other as he cracked his knuckles.

 

"Your opponents are currently set to a fairly even level with your group." The headmistress continued. "However, if you are able, each of these switches," five different switches appeared spaced out along the far wall, "corresponded with one of your opponents, and will significantly reduce their capabilities if triggered."

 

There was a brief pause before she added, "and no, it won't be that easy Mr. Harrow." At that, walls began to appear around the switches that covered much of the other half of the room, and soon the switches were all concealed behind what appeared to be a maze that was covered with a roof.

 

"Shall we begin?"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence had been looking up at the observation windows intently for a moment when the headmistress' voice came over the loudspeakers. When their opponents appeared, the blond teen's gaze shifted to them for a moment, then the switches when they briefly appeared, before being hidden behind a maze.

 

At the sound of the headmistress indicated they were starting, one of the female opponents began shifting her weight to prepare to take some action. At that moment, there was a momentary distortion around Lawrence, as he turned to regard his classmates. "I will try to activate as many of the switches as fast as I can." He stated, before the distortion intensified until his entire body became a blurred figure.

 

The blurred distortion that was Lawrence seemed to speed across the open area and into one of the entrances to the maze where it soon disappeared from view.

 

However, the blond teen had a very different perspective as he made a slight shift in time to act before any of their opponents and then shifted himself through time and started into the maze. Unlike his mother, and virtually every other speedster, Lawerence's speed was not so much a matter of how quickly he was able to move. Instead, slipping between time, he could cover great distances quickly, but the speed at which he did so was not a significant factor in doing so.

 

So he jogged into the maze, choosing to follow the left wall as he kept making lefts, doubling back along the left wall when he came to a dead end, until he finally reached the first of the switches. Coming to a halt and returning to the normal flow of time, Lawernce activated the switch and prepared to move on to the next.

 

Outside the maze, one of the five figures, the one with the mirrored goggles and runner's build, glowed slightly for a moment and seemed stager slightly for a brief second.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Moments after Lawrence had departed, the female figure with the green stripes that had begun to move before Lawrence acted leapt forward toward the teens, easily covering the distance between her and Mizuki with apparent ease. As the figure came down, a blade of glowing green energy extended from the back of her right hand, which she used to slash at Mizuki. However, the teen was able to dodge aside, although still found herself engaged with her opponent.

 

The other female figure was the next to act, rushing forward part of the way between the two groups, she stopped, as her long brown hair came to life and lashed out in front of her, elongating as it did, to try and strike Baz. However, the Mexican teen also was able agilely leap aside (similar to the summersaults he had been doing earlier) and land safely away from the suddenly animated hair. As her attack failed, the woman retracted her hair back to her and readied herself for any counterattack.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Whoa! That was hair-raising!" yelped Baz, insect eyes wide as spinning plates. And possibly as spinning as spinning plates, too. 

 

A quick crouch, and a spring! Up he leapt, like an ascending rocket, flipping in mid-air. The next moment, he was sticking to the ceiling like, well, like a cockroach kid. 

 

"Wait, aren't we meant to act like a team and stuff, and learn how to bash the baddies using our tactics together? Or was that a comic-book? Peow! Peow! I can throw Lawrence into Misuki and Lawrence can stop time and Miisuki can, wait, no that's not right. But something like that. With some cool call-sign like Slowball Slam or something. That sounds cool, right?"

 

He peered down. 

 

"Wait... that would need planning and brains and tactics and stuff. Shoot, no time for that! Better shoot instead!"

 

Two green laser beams sprang from his eyes, sweeping the floor below, trying to pin down the hair-lady!

 

 

 

 

 

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The twin beams of energy shot from Gamma Buzz's eyes, but his target was already anticipating a counter attack and dodged to one side, avoiding the attack. The beams struck the floor of the room, which seemed to absorb it with little issue.

 

The mirrored goggled opponent then started into action, becoming a blur of movement himself, as he sped into the maze to pursue Lawrence. Although he seemed to move slightly slower than the blond teen, there was still an audible *WOOOSH* that followed as he sped away and out of sight.

 

Inside the maze, the copy of the superpowered mercenary known as Blur followed a similar path for traversing the maze as Lawrence had head of him, and in moments he was closing in on the blond teenager.

 

Acting in and out of time, Lawrence caught sight of Blur's approach, easily dodging aside as the tactile hologram tried to punch him with a superspeed punch. Blur speed past the teen, looping back around to be ready to follow after the teen if needed.

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Rot made no move from where she was floating in the air as the combat was joined with the simulations. Instead, she balled up her fists and tensed her whole body. Shadowy distortions began to pulse around her, and she started to growl through gritted teeth as she glared at the pair of enemies that hadn’t launched their attacks yet. “Grrrrr-RRRRR-AAAARR!”

 

As her growl grew to a yell, shadows welled up around her eyes and around her two targets. There was a slurping sound, a lot like the noise you make sipping the last bit of a milkshake through a straw. And, starting from the outside and working in, tiny flecks of their substance began to flake off and disappear from the man with fire-sheathed hands and the tall, muscular bruiser.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"Don't worry. I can keep my distance while being close," Parker replies to Consuelo before the headmistress appears and introduces the trial.

 

Fight opponents, solve the maze... push the buttons. Simple enough. Not holding back, though? Parker looks towards the buttons. He could push them from here, give them an advantage, but wouldn't it ruin the exercise? He decides against it, at least for now, as Lawrence runs off and hits the first button, and then everything goes crazy around him.

 

Baz with eye lasers, yelling about teamwork. And Consuelo? She... if that had been a real person...

 

"Isn't that a bit of overkill? I don't think we're supposed to actually kill them." They might just be holograms, but they should act like they would normally, right?

 

Still, teamwork seems to be the idea.

 

He focuses and moves, flying straight towards Torpedo Lass. Then, he raises his hand, throwing a punch and... it comes in from the side at Strand, the woman with the long hair, quickly hitting her. Then, he clenches his hand, holding on. "Buzz! I got the hair lady, hit her!"

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Torpedo Lass grinned, and with a standing long-jump closed to such a range that the two could bro-fist. But instead as she landed her body whipped around a bluish-green trail behind her foot that snapped against the face of Neon Spider.

 

When Torpedo Lass was firmly planted from the kick again, she responded. "I got this one. Focus on the Hair-band reject. I got light-saber hands here." She said, smirking.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Rot’s attack proved to be very effective against her two targets, the one with the flaming hands staggering under the attack, but staying on his feet, if dazed. However, it was the tall bruiser that took the brunt of the attack, staggering backward as the holographic image was quickly torn apart into nothing.

 

The teens certain seemed to have their opponents on the ropes, with Spaceman subduing Strand and Torpedo Lass landing a solid hit on Neon Spider (who still seemed very much in the fight).

Inside the maze, Lawrence glanced at the speedster that had pursued him a brief moment. "So this is Blur." He commented, expecting the headmistress would have a way of listening in on them. "Seems slower than my mom recalled him being, so you either dialed him down to start, or this switch was his. Either way, lets see if he can keep up." The blond teen stated with a slight grin.

 

The temporal distortions surrounded him once more and Lawrence was slipping through time, traversing more of the maze. This time, when he came to the next switch, he just briefly returned to normal time to activate it, before continuing further to look for the next one.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Back outside the maze, Neon Spider staggered back slightly from the force of Torpedo Lass' punch, but quickly recovered and went into a low crouch while she studied the Japanese teen a moment. But then suddenly the mercenary leapt up into the air, flipping over to stick to the roof next to Gamma Buzz. The glowing green blade of bio-energy sliced through the air, making contact with the teen.

Down on the ground, Strand was struggling in Spaceman's grasp, but even with her hair extending out and trying to help pull off his grip, she failed to break free….

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Hiya!" said Baltazar, as the Neon Spider 'landed' beside him on the ceiling. "I'm Baltaza... whoops, no. This is practice, right? So got to use the hero name. I'm Gamma Buzz! Get in the habit, Baltazar!"

 

He tensed, wondering what to say next. 

 

"So I see you can stick to walls, too? Fantastico! Its really cool, right...ouch!"

 

The energy blade sliced into him, right between the cracks in his armour plates. It stung, the shock enough to stop him concentrating and send him spinning to the floor. 

 

"Hey, you have green powers too? Wow! Green is the best colour for super-powers, right?" he muttered as he fell, his eyes cartwheeling alongside his body. 

 

He landed with a crunch. One of his legs popped out of its socket, at an angle that clearly wasn't right. 

 

"Ouch..." he said, again. Louder this time. 

 

"Now you will face my amazing Gamma powers!" he said, shaking a defiant but weak fist at Neon Spider-although the rest of his body was a crumpled mess. 

 

His body glowed green, then spluttered, the energy fizzing and patchy, until it faded completly. 

 

"Amazing, huh?" he whimpered. 

[Huckleberry]

Rot

"I spend every minute of every day stressing out about trying to not disintegrate things, Parker. Principal said don't hold back. These are holograms. I'm disintegrating stuff!" Soliloquy complete, Consuelo shoots like a bullet at the hologram with the flaming fists, connecting with both hands right into his chest. Her powers flare up and black distortion emanates from her hands, corroding her opponents body armor. But it's not enough to get to the simulated man beneath. 

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"Fair enough, but..." Spaceman pulls his right hand back, while still keeping his left hand clenched and, then throws a punch with his right hand. Even at this distance, even without it seeming like he actually touches the hologram, he takes Strand down with a single blow. "Is that what you would do if this was not a training exercise?"

 

Consuelo knows her powers better than him. She knows what she is doing, right? Baz went down, but he's tough, and there's both him, Consuelo and Mizuki out here, dealing with the last two, while Lawrence is on his own...

 

Turning towards the labyrinth. He can sense two people moving around in there. Lawrence and the Blur hologram. Lawrence is running around hitting the buttons, so he has to be closer to those, the other one has to be Blur. And then, he reaches out, and the space around Blur seems to constrict around him, running endlessly in place.

 

"Timeout! I've caught Blur, hit him!"

Edited December 3, 2023 by RocketLord

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

As Strand was removed from the fight and Parker caught Blur, the headmistress' voice came over the loudspeakers once again. "It would appear this scenario is unlikely to continue to pose much of a challenge at this point. Well done. However, some of you are still holding back."

 

"While I do appreciate an ethical debate on the appropriate use of lethal force Mr. Powers, Ms. Nunez was following my instructions. And of course, I fully expect she will take all due care in ensuring the safety of each of you when doing so."

 

The remaining opponents facing the group of teens all then disappeared, as did the maze. The distortion that marked Lawrence’s movement through time moved over next to Gamma Buzz, as the blond teen returned to normal time, walking casually towards his roommate. "Hey Gamma, you okay?" He asked, as he held up his hand and a temporal distortion washed over Gamma Buzz, who felt the soreness from his injury fade away, as if it had never happened, while his leg popped back into its socket as well.

 

The room around the teens then shifted, and suddenly they were no longer standing in a sterile white and grey room, but in the middle of a massive indoor mall. For those that were more familiar with Freedom City, it was instantly recognizable as Millennium Mall. All around them was a throng of mallgoers, who all seemed to be in a panic.

 

The reason quickly became apparent, as at one end of the open courtyard the teens where in the middle of where four figures. One was a blue male figure that appeared to be made of water, which flowed around him. Next to him stood a massive figure at least eight feet tall and appeared to be made of orangish rock. Two of the figures were hovering in the air, one a male figure that was completed covered in flame, the other a female figure that appeared to be made of greenish, white mist.

 

"The difficulty level has been increased, no kill switches this time." The headmistress explained. "And there are civilians to consider as well."