Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 Blackbird groaned as his teeth broke, obviously hurt though he stayed in the air and stayed in flight. Though the new passenger meant his jetpack was taking them up in the air more slowly, they were still rising, at least a hundred feet up above the rooftop beneath their feet, and even further above the simulated ground so very far below. The fall below looked long indeed!
Electra Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 Erin tightened her grip, not from fear of falling, but because it was the fastest way to inflict more damage on her opponent. She squeezed him around the waist as hard as she could, her arms like a vise around all-too-fragile ribs. "Land, damn you," she grated, though almost as though she were talking to herself, not as though she expected to be heard or obeyed.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 Blackbird groaned again, his breath rattling in his chest, but stayed in the air. Wander had felt his body armor bend underneath her fantastic grip, but she hadn't felt flesh actually give way. If she wanted to hurt him this way, she'd have to keep squeezing! But the situation was changing rapidly. Blackbird had failed to break free from Wander's iron grip, and now had turned to hurtle them both straight down! "You'd better let go of me!" he yelled, soon finding that frightening Wander was a fool's errand at best.
Electra Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 Erin didn't bother to reply, instead locking her legs around his body, freeing up one of her arms. She used that to deliver another solid punch to her opponent, who couldn't exactly dodge from this distance. She didn't pay attention to the ground looming up beneath them, all her attention still on the fight.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 Erin could feel the wind on her face as she broke Blackbird's ribs, the roof beneath her coming into view faster and faster. The real Blackbird might have gotten spooked himself and pulled off, or tried and break out of Erin's grapple, but the simulated armored adventurer wasn't so clever: he was going to break her grip, whatever it took!
Electra Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 Erin twisted her body as the roof came rushing up, trying to keep her opponent between herself and the hard surface. She gave him another punch for good measure, tears from the wind stinging her eyes as they flew faster and faster.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 Erin felt things break inside Blackbird's body as she yanked him, and his struggles and screams suddenly came to an ominous stop. A moment later, though, Erin came to a spectacular stop as both she and Blackbird slammed into the roof and right through the tar-paper! She felt Blackbird break entirely in her grip as she twisted at the last minute, then her own impact came rushing up.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 Erin crashed through the roof entirely and slammed into the stone floor in the level beneath, sitting up as she realized she still had what was left of the simulated Blackbird all around her. Disengaging from the broken man, she realized she was entirely unhurt despite all the punishment she'd received so far, three enemies down in a four-enemy test. Until suddenly, shockingly, she heard a huge crash from somewhere nearby in the building. She wasn't alone up here...
Electra Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 Dispassionately, Erin wiped a sleeve across her bloody face and brushed herself off. It was hardly the first time she'd wound up covered in blood and mess, though the layer of gravel and plaster dust made her look more like a sand sculpture than a superhero. Her blue and yellow uniform was almost invisible beneath the rubble. Turning her body towards the sound of the crash, she braced for yet another attack.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 A blast of energy tore through the wall near Erin, blasting straight through the decaying plaster and wood and blowing a huge crater in the opposite wall. Through the new opening flew a strange-looking woman, her white hair and blue uniform matching Captain Thunder's, but her tightly-clinging outfit making no illusions of the fact that she was indeed a she. "I have you now!" she called, firing a blast of electricity from her fingers that hit Erin right in the face!
Electra Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 Operating purely on instinct, Erin threw herself to the floor, dodging the attack by fractions of an inch. She quickly rolled and stood up, before the light from the last attack had totally faded from the room. Two quick steps had her across the room, where she drove her fist squarely into the sternum of this new opponent. This was the hardest test, some part of her remembered dimly. She'd have to give it all she had if she wanted to stay alive.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 Thunderbolt coughed blood, a vindictive look in her eye as Wander's powerful punch hit home. "Good hit, honey," she spat. Shaking off the impact and wiping her lip, she raised gloved fists, disdaining another lightning attack for a more direct blow. "Question. Can you fly?" With that, she threw a devastating punch at Wander, landing a solid blow in her mid-section that hit harder than a tank-shell's impact. "Here's some HELP!"
Electra Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 The force of the blow lifted Erin from her feet and tossed her back into the cinderblock wall. She crumpled to the floor. It was a devastating hit, but after just a moment, she dragged herself back to her feet. Panting, she stared at her opponent with rage in her eyes, then began moving forward. A stagger turned into a run, and then she plowed her fist once again into her opponent's chest. Spent, she collapsed to her knees, breath rasping.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 "Aagh!" Wander felt ribs break beneath her fist for the fifth time that day as Thunderbolt's eyes began glowing a brilliant white. "You made me mad now, you crazy killer! Eat lightning!" she yelled, hurling a bolt of lightning right at the fallen Wander that hit her right in the center of the chest, the flash of energy from the blast so powerful as to nearly blot out the world even before it hit.
Electra Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 Wander yelped with pain as the lightning tore into her, curling in around herself at the quick burst of agony. With a gasp, she unfolded herself and headbuttedThunderbolt, perhaps the only attack remaining to her at this point. Panic was rising to compete with rage and determination, and the true circumstances of the test faded in the immediacy of a fight she seemed to have no chance of surviving.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 "My beautiful face!" Thunderbolt yelped as Wander broke her nose. Now severely battered, the version of Captain Thunder from Gender-Inverted-Anti-Earth shot Wander a murderous glare. "You make me sick!" she yelled, throwing a bolt of energy at Erin that missed entirely! Screaming in fury, she suddenly rocketed upwards, blasting right through the hole in the ceiling Erin had left behind the last time she'd come crashing in through the roof. "You'd better run!"
Electra Posted June 20, 2009 Posted June 20, 2009 Erin stood and brushed herself off, popping the joints in her back as tissues knit themselves back together and bruises faded. She could no longer see the villain through the hole in the roof, but she strongly suspected that a lightning bolt was waiting for her the second she jumped out the hole in the roof. What Erin needed was a little breathing room, time to regroup. Maybe a weapon, if she could find one. She took a second to look around, then raced across the floor, dodging rotted furniture and drywall. Spotting a window entirely broken out, she ran up to it, hopped up onto the sill, and leapt out, heading for the roof opposite. Dodging and weaving, keeping under cover as much as she could, she jumped from rooftop to rooftop.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 20, 2009 Author Posted June 20, 2009 "I can SEE YOU!" From down below, Erin could see Thunderbolt coming at her fast, her eyes glowing white "You'd better run, little girl!" she yelled as she drew level with Wander, hanging back a couple of hundred feet across the street. "Run like the wind!" She fired a blast of energy from her eyes at Wander from there, electricity crackling as it blasted into Wander's chest.
Electra Posted June 20, 2009 Posted June 20, 2009 Erin froze for a second, stunned that her opponent could catch up with seemingly no trouble. There was nowhere to run, no way to hide, no help, and apparently, no luck left for her. After that, the renewed lightning strike was hardly a concern. She shook it off and leapt recklessly, ready to end this one way or another. Tumbling through the air, hundreds of feet above the dark city street, she missed her opponent by a hair, hurtling onto a roof opposite and still tumbling.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 20, 2009 Author Posted June 20, 2009 Another bolt of lightning hit Wander in the chest, the teenage hero forcing herself through the pain to throw herself off the roof one more time. A few moments before her feet actually left the roof, though, the world around her rippled and vanished. She found herself standing up in the middle of the Doom Room, the dust and blood on her uniform completely gone, only the rips and her own mental state to show that she'd just been in simulated combat for her life. It was only a moment before she heard Mr. Archer's voice from well behind her at the very edge of the Doom Room. "Take a breath, Erin," he told her with a firm, compassionate teacher's voice. "Cool down."
Electra Posted June 20, 2009 Posted June 20, 2009 Erin pounded the floor with both hands in helpless frustration, the tough surface vibrating but not cracking under her hands. "I wasn't done!" she rasped. "I could've passed!" Truthfully, the test was the furthest thing from her mind in the past few minutes, and even now her mind felt like it was in two worlds, but she had to finish. If she didn't, it meant she'd lost, that she'd failed. That she'd died, or would have. "Let me finish!"
Avenger Assembled Posted June 20, 2009 Author Posted June 20, 2009 Archer said nothing to Erin at first, letting her finish pounding the floor and crying out in frustration before he spoke. "Erin, you didn't fail the test. You were supposed to show me how you fight, and now I know. You did everything that was asked of you." He was quiet for a moment, studying her. "When you're ready, you can come back here and fight Thunderbolt on your own. Right now, who'd win in a fight between the two of you isn't really important."
Electra Posted June 20, 2009 Posted June 20, 2009 Erin wanted to keep yelling, to keep hitting until the blank black floor responded to her fist. More than a small part of her wanted to turn her frustration on the author of her misery, standing there so smugly like he had any idea how she felt, or what was at stake. She stayed on her knees, knuckles pressed against the floor and eyes focused down, for a long time, not saying anything. The exercises Dr. Franklin had given her flowed through her mind and were rejected as useless. She didn't want to take deep breaths and think calm thoughts. But if she didn't get herself under control, she would be in real trouble. She had nowhere to go, she reminded herself for the thousandth time. If she attacked a teacher, she was through her, and this was the end of the line. She'd die before she'd let herself be sent back, and she honestly had no idea how to die if she tried. It was too risky, she reminded herself, pushing up to her heels and rocking slightly, rhythmically. Especially now, when she was so tired. She might not even win, and even if she did, she'd be trapped down here in the dark. That, more than any of her other arguments to herself, kept her from leaping up and trying anyway.
Avenger Assembled Posted June 20, 2009 Author Posted June 20, 2009 "You did fine on the test, Erin," said Mr. Archer after another long pause. "We'll talk about how we're going to handle your combat training on Monday, after you've had time to settle into your other classes. C'mon, let's get out of here and up into the sunshine. I think we've both had enough of this room for one day." Inside, Archer was already making plans about who he'd call to help out with Erin's training...and how he'd write up his report for this exciting afternoon a little later.
Electra Posted June 20, 2009 Posted June 20, 2009 Erin still didn't say anything as she pushed herself to her feet, reeling slightly from fatigue as she followed him silently out of the room and into the dark and claustrophobic hallway that led away from this little slice of hell. By mutual unspoken assent, she stayed out of reach of the adult speedster. She didn't like to think that instinct might overcome reason here in this sane and populated world, but she couldn't quite trust herself that last step. Instead, she looked at his face as they walked, trying to gauge what he was thinking, and what would happen next.
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