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[img]http://i.imgur.com/28qjKqU.png[/img] [img]http://i63.tinypic.com/2ijgg9d.jpg[/img] [img]http://i67.tinypic.com/2qb8wgw.png[/img] 
[h2][color=palevioletred]Zoe[/color] | [color=B0C4DE]Brent[/color] | [color=a2d9ce]Callan[/color][/h2]
[hr][color=silver]𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟘𝟝, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘   / /   𝕌𝕊𝔸ℝ𝕀𝕃ℕ 𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕥   / /  𝕨𝕖𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 ℝ𝕠𝕠𝕞 / / 𝟙𝟘𝟘𝟘[/color][hr]
[sub]Collab with [@Lasrever][@ERode][@Baklava][/sub][/center]

[color=palevioletred][i]Twenty-eight... Twenty-nine... Thirty![/i][/color]

Zoe had been battling through circuit training for the past half-hour, breathing heavily as she went through her workout. The place was basically empty beyond a few people doing their own thing - apparently morning workouts weren't that popular around here. She could understand why, honestly. It really felt too early for this shit, but she'd spent all day yesterday being lazy so she had to make up for it somehow. After having breakfast and handing in her requisition form earlier, she'd headed straight down to the gym.

Well, yesterday's laziness wasn't really why she was there. The real reason she was doing this was to work on her endurance when using her powers - while it hadn't seemed too bad in the battle, they did tire her out like any other subnatural. Not knowing how long future battles could last, it made sense to ensure she could keep it up when she was exerting herself - and the black tattoo-like lines criss-crossing her body were evidence of that. It hadn't been too bad at the start, but now her workout felt a lot harder than normal.

She'd at least gotten into the right frame of mind by now. Wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around her, but that was good. It meant she was focusing on the exercises, on pushing herself - that there was nothing to distract her from improving, except her own struggle to keep up the pace. Determination etched on her face, she moved into her next set of shoulder presses - the last one for her to get through before she planned on taking a break.

Moments later, the sound of shattering glass and a crash rang out from the deadlift area. A quick glance would reveal that one of the mirror panels had been shattered and amidst the shards of glass littering the floor there laid a weight bar, packed on either side with 45lb plates. It seemed someone had managed to strap four extra plates onto either side using several colorful resistance bands to do so. The weight bar had snapped in half, each side leaving a sizable little crater in the tile where they'd fallen. A staff member raced over to assess the scene, but otherwise there wasn't a person in sight. 

Across from Zoe, a girl appeared at the bicep curl machine, hoodie up, head down and pulling the bar back a little too quickly-- especially considering that the weight pin was in the bottom-most slot. Callan's train of thought was nothing but a stream of curses as she tried to hide her face and look inconspicuous.

How could he become faster? Up his reaction speed? Get an instinctual feel that allowed him to dodge imperceivable dangers? Brent honestly had no idea, and Google wasn't being the most cooperative thing with him thus far, so for the time being, all he did was lift. One-two one-two, his arms went up and down at a rapid pace as they gripped onto the dumbbells. For such a well-stocked gym that was ALSO free, it was sorta weird that so few students were there. Maybe being magical, they thought that they no longer had to work on the physical? That made sense, probably, but on the other hand...

Brent stopped, breathing deeply as he placed the weights down.

...his own power definitely required him to be in perfect shape if he was going to get anything done at all. As he moved onto the next set, however, a painful crash resounded throughout the gym. Apparently, someone watched Unbreakable. He looked at the crater, looked around at the others in the gym, and then smiled. This was a surprising encounter. After all, why on earth would someone who automatically attained superhuman fitness even bother with normal forms of training?

[color=B0C4DE]"Heyo, Callan,"[/color] he said, starting up on the rowing machine, [color=B0C4DE]"How's it going?"[/color]

Looked like she was trying to hide and pretend it wasn't her. Tsk tsk, what an amateur deceiver.

Zoe had noticed the noise of course - that kind of crash was basically impossible for anyone with working ears to ignore - but she hadn't quite made the connection to the girl taking her place at the nearby machine yet. Eyes darting over towards the source of the noise, a look of surprise crossed her face as she took in the amount of weight. Apparently someone was a little too strong for the equipment, from the looks of things. Man, that had to be some kind of power, right? Otherwise it really put her workout into perspective.

Still, she continued with her set as she saw the girl pull the bar back. Pull it back a lot faster than she should have been doing, as well, and Zoe couldn't help but glance at the weight, at which point her eyes narrowed. It didn't take a genius to figure out who'd been the source of the noise earlier, especially with how the girl was trying not to draw any attention. And subsequently just making herself draw in way more attention than she otherwise would have.

As she finished up, she heard someone trying to start a conversation. She was going to say something, but-

[hr]

[I]Here again. The ocean. She was standing on the surface again, the same as she had been before.

She reached down, and a little more of it reached back, power flowing into her system. Just as vast, just as unknowable, just as powerful.

Just as tainted.[/i]

[hr]

Shock showing through in her face, she was thankful she'd kept a hold of the weights, placing them quickly down on the floor next to her and walking closer to the nearby pair, figuring she might as well look for some conversation while she took a break, although she was a little too disoriented from the sudden vision to really say anything right away.

Callan froze mid-rep. Not only was that voice totally blowing her cover, but she recognized it from yesterday-- associated with not the best of memories.

[quote][color=B0c4De]"Yo, need this?"[/color][/quote]

She turned slowly to face him, just enough for him to see that she was pursing her lips at him with one eyebrow raised. Her first impression of the boy, despite a chiseled physique and intense amethyst eyes that mirrored her own, left her mind churning over a single word. 

Weird.

He must've overheard her name some time yesterday after her punch episode. She was equal parts embarrassed and curious. What kind of guy picks up someone's displaces vertebrae and tries to return it to them like that? More intrigued than angry, she responded.

"[color=a2d9ce]Hey...,[/color]" Callan replied with her greeting of choice, sparing a glance over at the staff worker that was calling for another employee to bring a broom, glancing over the room with narrowed eyes as he did so. "[color=a2d9ce]What's up?[/color]"

[color=B0C4DE]"Not much. Just handed my forms, encountered an emo, sick headbutter, and now I'm gyming,"[/color] Brent replied, not pausing from his own reps, [color=B0C4DE]"Seems like I say this a lot, but huh, didn't think you were the type to pump iron and all."[/color]

There was apprehension in her expression, to be sure, but he either didn't notice or didn't care.

Cal narrowed her eyes vaguely. Was that supposed to be a slight? She decided in his favor, shrugging off the remark.

"[color=a2d9ce]I dabble,[/color]" she joked, "[color=a2d9ce]Brent, right?[/color]

Having regained her composure a little, Zoe had watched the two with vague interest. Normally, she'd head back and do some more of her workout, but she was exhausted from the extra effort of her powers. Still, there seemed to be some kind of awkwardness going on there, so after a moment's thought she strolled over.

[color=palevioletred]"You guys alright there?"[/color] She asked, looking from one to the other with a confident expression. Now that she thought about it, actually, she kind of recognised one of them. After puzzling over their faces for a second, she nodded to herself. Yeah, they'd been part of the group that had been fighting the other day - or at least, the girl had. She couldn't remember seeing the guy in any of the groups they'd started with, and she been a little busy with her own group after things ended.

[color=palevioletred]"Hope I'm not interrupting anything, but you were in the battle the other day, right? How was it?"[/color] Zoe spoke quietly and calmly but it was clear that she wasn't particularly intimidated by either of them - although she admittedly had no idea what their powers were. Of course she also wasn't exactly being sensitive about the subject, but dancing around problems wasn't really her thing. She looked at Brent with an unapologetic shrug. [color=palevioletred]"You, I don't remember seeing. Sorry."[/color]

Before 'Brent' could answer, a tall red haired girl approached them. Man, she was drawing a lot of attention. She lowered the bar carefully and assumed a more relaxed posture at the machine. Maybe this could work in her favor. Just keep pretending like she'd been here chatting the whole time.

Her expression reflected surprise, which then turned somber as the question was raised. Yes, she recognized her now-- she'd been on the team with that other red haired girl. The one who died. "[color=a2d9ce]Not great,[/color]" she shrugged, averting her eyes. 

A new challenger? Turning to face the red-haired tomboy, Brent's eyes flickered up and down her body with approval. A fellow lifter, wasn't she? Nice. [color=B0C4DE]"Yeah, you probably wouldn't. I came at the end, on a crystal bird. Got shot the night before, so I couldn't really do anything until they patched me up."

"Thank god for Benedick, really,"[/color] he muttered, rolling his perfectly fine shoulder now.

Zoe looked at him with a shrug. Obviously getting shot would suck, but he'd avoided having to confront any of those creatures out on the battlefield. If he'd turned up with the crystal-maker, then he really wouldn't have had to go anywhere near the things. [color=palevioletred]"Lucky for some, I guess. Trust me, you didn't want to get there sooner."[/color]

Turning her attention back to the girl, Zoe came to the realisation that her question had been a little direct. But she'd kind of already said it, so there was nothing else to do than just carry on. With a slightly forced smile, she spoke. [color=palevioletred]"It was the same for our team. I don't know if you'd have heard me after the fight or not, but..."[/color] She laughed dryly, folding her arms. [color=palevioletred]"Well, let's just say there were a few issues to be brought up."[/color]

As she finished speaking, her expression seemed oddly conflicted. On the one hand, neither the battle itself or the aftermath were particularly happy memories, but on the other... Well, there was her Stigma to consider. Despite herself, that kind of outright violence always came with a bit of a thrill, even in memory.

Brent was quickly falling out of Callan's favor. The unabashed looks he'd given Zoe as she'd approached hadn't gone unnoticed and the quip about Benediction didn't sit well with her. She was beginning to think his comment earlier might've been a slight after all... either that or he was really good at putting his foot in his mouth-- which might've explained the spine thing at the track. Attractive or no, she wasn't amused. 

Callan wasn't left to stew over it for long before the red head addressed her again. As excited as she'd been for that fight, she wasn't too eager to talk about it. In her book it was a failure, and she tended not to dwell on those for very long. She thought of her outburst at Grant after the fight and considered saying she could sympathize, but she'd only be trying to impress them. She didn't blame Grant and wasn't about to lie about it.

She smiled warmly, trying to lighten the mood, "[color=a2d9ce]Not as many issues as I'm having with this useless weight room. I'm Callan, by the way.[/color]" She lowered her voice just enough to be sure the staff in the corner couldn't hear her. 

[color=B0C4DE]"Mm, yeah, definitely wouldn't have a good time if I came earlier,"[/color] Brent replied, [color=B0C4DE]"Don't have nearly enough combat skills to take advantage of my power yet."[/color]

As Callan spoke up once more then, Brent really couldn't help but ask. [color=B0C4DE]"So, really, I'm curious. Did you watch Unbreakable or something? Honestly thought you'd be benchpressing road rollers."[/color]

Did she not have an accurate idea of the limits of her own apparently passive power?

Zoe smiled back, nodding in acknowledgement of the other girl. [color=palevioletred]"I'm Zoe. Nice to meet you both, I guess."[/color] Pausing and listening as Brent spoke, she glanced over at the mess in the deadlift area. From the sounds of it this girl had some kind of super strength, so that solved at least one mystery. No wonder she'd been pulling the bar back so quickly. It definitely seemed like Callan was still figuring her powers out from what little Zoe had seen.

Still, Zoe wasn't sure how she felt about the guy's comments. [color=palevioletred]"To be fair, it's pretty difficult to practice with a lot of these powers. I don't know how much I can do,"[/color] Especially at that particular moment, she reflected, considering the vision she'd had just moments earlier. She shrugged as she continued, [color=palevioletred]"But unless I want to go out and murder the local wildlife, I'm not gonna figure that out. Besides, I don't think most people would appreciate having a-"[/color] She glanced at the nearby staff before continuing with a note of resentment. [color=palevioletred]"A [i]subnatural[/i] messing with their vehicles."[/color]

Callan scoffed, wiggling the handle of the bicep press back and forth using only her thumb and index finger with ease to accentuate her point.. "[color=a2d9ce]Good movie, but yeah-- point me towards something heavy enough to lift without causing mass panic and I'm all for it. I came here to see if I could get some sort of measurement, but... well, I guess you saw the result.[/color]" Feeling it was safe, she lowered her hood and looked over at the wreckage. They'd already cleaned most of the glass up and now they were busy taping off the area. "[color=a2d9ce]If I could pick up all the weights in this room, I'd sure try. I don't really know what else to do, to be honest.[/color]"

Oh, so both of them had troublesome powers in their own way, huh? Callan didn't have any idea how she was actually going to test out her power, while Zoe was an x-marked, the same as Angelic and Savannah. Destructive powers then. Scratching the back of his head, he said, [color=B0C4DE]"Well, there WAS that violent release form. Dunno how it actually is, but that sounds like a fairly good place to test out your powers."[/color]

Hm...now she got him thinking.

[color=B0C4DE]"If you used all your strength, how high up do you think you can jump, Callan? Maybe we can calculate something from that? It'd be based more off a 'burst of strength' instead of continuous strength though..."[/color]

"[color=a2d9ce]I've thought about that[/color]" Callan responded, "[color=a2d9ce]And unless I've got a safe way to get down, I'm not too keen on the idea.[/color]"

[color=palevioletred]"And here I thought you all had it easy with this."[/color] Zoe smiled slightly, before pausing and responding to the guy's suggestion. [color=palevioletred]"I'd go to the violent release zone myself, but if it's just targets and shit then I can't really do anything to them either. Unless they're alive, which is an idea I'd rather not think about."[/color] Her smile faded slightly. Honestly, despite the implications she sort of had to hope there was something there she could work with, or she was screwed when her Stigma got out of control.

After a second, she turned to Brent with a questioning look. [color=palevioletred]"While we're talking about this, what do you do? Only seems fair to ask while we're having this discussion."[/color]

[color=B0C4DE]"Hm...so you can't safely take the impact of your own fall,"[/color] Brent said, stroking his chin, [color=B0C4DE]"Guess another option would be to have you throw something and see how far it lands...but that'd be a whole other set of problems. Shame there isn't any sort of diamond-hard device that'd measure your strength then."[/color]

A smile then surfaced. [color=B0C4DE]"Unless they start giving you permission to rearrange buildings as you wish."[/color]

Before he could delve into that particularly amusing idea, though, the red-haired girl spoke up, questioning what his own power was. [color=B0C4DE]"Mmm, I basically just buff objects. Can't really do much else, so I have it better off in terms of being able to use my own power without much issue, but, well...it's not nearly as impressive as you twos' abilities, I wager. I'm just Batman without the money and the gravelly voice."[/color]

[color=palevioletred]"Yeah, well, there's consequences to being flashy, I guess. As you can tell."[/color] Zoe sighed. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't actually said what her powers were. 'Yeah, I rot people alive' tended to be a bit of a conversation killer anyway. Apparently it was unnerving to think about. Still, Brent's powers gave her an idea. Seemed like there might be a solution to at least one of their problems.

[color=palevioletred]"You could always try buffing one of those bars. See if it can hold enough weight for Callan to maybe test her limits."[/color] She looked between the two of them. [color=palevioletred]"I figure it might work. If the bar snaps again, just tell those guys,"[/color] She gestured at the staff members, [/color=palevioletred]"That it was my idea. I'm an X anyway, they'll just figure I'm having a bad day and deciding to make their lives difficult."[/color]

She grinned wickedly. How much trouble could she even get in for it anyway? She was encouraging her peers to improve. Being a pain in the ass was just a bonus. [color=palevioletred]"I won't tell if you don't."[/color]

A parachute might work. Or she could try jumping into a helicopter... oh, but if she messed up she might crash it. What about jumping over the ocean? She was revisiting the idea of seeing how high she could jump when hearing about Brent's ability interrupted her train of thought. He could buff objects? Any object? Unfortunately, her first thought was far from practical, wondering if he could make bad movies better or buff her iPad enough so it would never need to recharge. Could he make couches more comfortable? Similarly useless thoughts followed until Zoe made her suggestion.

She turned to Brent, still thinking of all the awesome possibilities. "[color=a2d9ce]Could you do that?[/color]" she asked eagerly.

[color=B0C4DE]"Hilarious thing is that if you asked me like...two days ago, it'd probably be a 'no', but..."[/color]

His mind went back to the blessings he received, to the powers that he didn't deserve at all. It's fine if he uses them to help someone else, right? If he was going to get it for free...might as well share it, right? And, if nothing else, the function of a bar would be...to hold more weights? His hands weren't that big. He needed a more convenient function. If he could [i]select[/i] then it would be...

[color=B0C4DE]"Alright, let's try it! I'm Brent Roless and I'm about to use my powers for the sake of experimentation and examination. Is that ok?"[/color]

A beep from his cuff was all he needed to get off the rowing machine and head towards the bench press once more. Slapping on all the weights possible (without trying to attach more with sketchy resistance bands and all that), Brent shook his hands a bunch before wrapping them around that bar.

Silver veins ran from his arms into the weight bar and attached weights, before they glowed with an ethereal light. Before his eyes, the metal that he held dissolved, material reforming into something else entirely. Two bars made of a white, synthetic material stood adjacent to the now 'outdated' bench. The weight bar, now a gunmetal gray, was slotted inbetween those two bars, as an LED display blinked a green '0 lbs'.

It took him but a moment to figure out how exactly this thing worked.

[color=B0C4DE]"Shit,"[/color] he laughed, [color=B0C4DE]"I guess this is...an electromagnetic weight bar? Uh...try it out? It probably goes off voice command when it comes to setting the weight?"[/color]

N0 NAME was once against emblazoned on the center of the weight bar as it stood, waiting for use.

Raising an eyebrow, Zoe looked at the contraption. It definitely looked pretty, uh, futuristic? Although it wasn't something she personally needed, what with her average human strength and all. After a moment of trying to figure it out, she just looked at Callan. [color=palevioletred]"Uh, go ahead I guess. I think I'll stick to my usual weights."[/color] It wasn't that she didn't trust the thing to hold up or anything, but Zoe usually preferred to stick with what she knew.

Mind you, she was definitely curious to see how this went, so she stood by, waiting to see how this ended up. As much as anything else, it'd be interesting to see just how far the other girl's powers could go. Might be handy if they ever had to work together.

"[color=a2d9ce]That's amazing![/color]" Callan picked up the bar, turning it over in her hands, "[color=a2d9ce]I wonder what the max is....[/color]"

She adjusted her stance and held the bar with both hands in front of her, getting ready to feel the weight increase. "[color=a2d9ce]1000 lbs?[/color]" she said tentatively. The number reflected her command and she waited. She could feel that it was getting heavier-- if only because of the slight pressure against the inside of her hands. Maybe it was gradually increasing? She waited some more. 

As cool as it was to potentially learn that lifting a thousand pounds was as easy as lifting one, she looked disappointed. "[color=a2d9ce]I can't tell if it's working or not,[/color]" she admitted.

The number just went up and up and up and...oh dear.

[color=B0C4DE]"It...should be working?"[/color] Brent tilted his head to the side, careful about keeping his hands still on the machine. [color=B0C4DE]"But I guess there's always going to be a limit to what a machine designed for human use could do. In this case, why not see how many reps you can do consecutively? Looks like 1000lbs is it's limit and all, so yeah...can't really do anything more with that."[/color]

A weight bar was still just a weight bar in the end. Though it could act as an enabler for weights, it was a tool designed for human use, not for subnatural usage. Maybe it was just a matter of perception, and maybe he could go on to improve the power of the electromagnets, but on the other hand...

[color=B0C4DE]"Have you [i]ever[/i] had any problems with lifting things? Maybe your strength is just essentially infinite?"[/color]

Callan frowned at the suggestion of doing reps. She had a feeling something like that was going to take a long time-- more time than she cared to contribute, as helpful as Brent was. 

"[color=a2d9ce]I wouldn't really know. I've only tried lifting so many things in the last week,[/color]" she shrugged. Maybe she'd have to use Kusari's suggestion after all. If she requested massive concrete blocks or something, would they indulge her? She'd hoped the weight room would have everything she needed, reluctant to try and figure out what channels she'd have to go through for such a request. 

[color=palevioletred]"I don't think you have to figure everything out right away. After all, it's not like any of us get to leave anytime soon."[/color] Zoe nodded toward the staff. No matter whether they called this place a school or not, it was basically a prison. [color=palevioletred]"As long as you're smart about it whenever they send us out there again, I wouldn't worry. That's what I've been doing, and it seems to be working alright - Just so long as everyone can keep up, that is."[/color] She smirked at the last part, a hint of her slightly more insufferable qualities coming through.

[color=palevioletred]"In all seriousness, so long as you're tough enough to watch people's backs, I wouldn't spend too much time thinking about exactly how much you can lift."[/color] She trailed off, glancing at her hand and contemplating it as she briefly switched on her powers. It seemed almost like she was talking to herself as much as either Brent or Callan. [color=palevioletred]"Doing whatever you have to to protect people. That's what's important."[/color]

[color=B0C4DE]"Yeah,"[/color] Brent smiled, releasing his hands. [color=B0C4DE]"That sounds about right. Not for your own sake but for others, huh?"[/color]

The weight bar turned back to normal, dissolving and reforming once more, as he got back to his own machine.

[color=B0C4DE]"That's a better reason than what I had, at least."[/color]

Callan smiled as well, despite Padma's name coming to mind. 

[i]I won't let your death be in vain.[/i]

She remembered the corny line she'd thought to herself before the trucks had arrived. Thinking about the last fight, it was a mess. But [i]next[/i] time.... Callan watched the veins appear on Zoe's hand and again felt that invigorating rush-- a desire to not only protect, but perform. However immeasurable, her abilities had a purpose. She could lift well over a thousand pounds and punch straight through a person. 

Armed with the confidence this realization bestowed, she nodded in agreement, "[color=a2d9ce]Amen to that.[/color]"

With that, she thanked Brent, said goodbye to them both, and left. By every right, she should be able to do work if and when they were sent out to fight monsters again-- no more hiding behind a wimpy sword. Of course, all she had to do now was figure out the pesky niche that was her shadow....