[h3][center][color=orange]Vincent[/color] and [color=pink]Pei[/color][/center][/h3] [hr] Vincent stood alone on the training grounds, his eyes closed. His spinal implant glinted in the sunlight, his sleeveless athletic shirt tailored to allow his implant to easily connect to the port on his back. Over the years, thanks to a mentor of sorts he had when he first started fighting, he had become rather skilled in a particular form of shadow boxing. It only took one or two fights for him to get an idea of the way someone fought, right down to their form. At that moment, there was one person he wanted to fight again, more than anything. He wasn’t a man who was used to losing and if he ever got the chance, he wanted to be ready to make sure that one loss remained his [i]only[/i] loss. His eyes still closed, Vincent took a fighting stance as he imagined his own mentor, Nightwing, standing in front of him. Their fight, admittedly, didn’t last very long, but it was long enough for Vincent to get a good idea of how the veteran hero fought. Before, Vincent had made the first move, which he was sure was the reason he lost the fight, so he decided to let ‘Nightwing’ take the initiative. His right forearm turned jet-black as he hardened it to block a strike from one of his mentor’s Escrima sticks. Driven by the instinct that had not only made him undefeated but also kept him alive, Vincent countered with a left straight, his fist hardening at the last moment before ‘impact.’ The match continued like this for a few moments as Vincent and the mental image of his mentor attempted to counter each other. Patches of Vincent’s body hardened seemingly at random, as if he were actually defending from attacks he couldn’t block. Then, Vincent saw an opening in ‘Nightwing’s’ defense. Part of the outer shell of his implant leapt from his back and around his hand. Vincent focused on it, using his power to increase the speed and power of his punch, doing his best to capitalize on the opening…then he suddenly stopped and let out a frustrated growl. Just like in their actual fight, Nightwing had quickly figured out that it would’ve been difficult to damage Vincent, given how quickly he could harden specific parts of his body. He had purposefully made an opening, which Vincent was eager to take advantage of. The result was Vincent’s right shoulder dislocated, soon followed by the left when he tried to attack in anger. Even though he had essentially been fighting his imagination, Vincent had caught himself about to make the same mistake. [color=orange]”Shit, he’s tough even in my imagination,”[/color] Vincent muttered as he sat on the ground. [color=orange]”I’ve got a long way to go before I can take on the real thing, again.”[/color] [color=pink]”Times are tough in dreamland.”[/color] Pei said suddenly in the training ground. Pei was light of foot, sure, but maybe running a combat simulation in his mind had allowed her to unintentionally sneak up on him. She hadn’t said anything before because she had gotten distracted by the implant she spotted, resisting the urge to tap it with her index finger. Vincent looked over his shoulder as Pei approached from behind. [color=orange]”Yeah, I suppose you could say that,”[/color] he replied with a shrug. [color=orange]”Not a big deal, though. Just means I have to work harder.”[/color] As he said this, Pei’s smile widened, endeared by the earnesty. A moment passed as Vincent’s face took on a more thoughtful expression. [color=orange]”...Pei, right? What brings you here?”[/color] [color=pink]”I…”[/color] She glances around, trying to think of a reason, before settling on a version of the truth. [color=pink]”...am mostly looking for someone to annoy! Mind if that’s you?”[/color] She went to plop down on the ground next to him, legs crossed. [color=pink]”So, who are we fighting?”[/color] She asks, slapping her hands on her knees and leaning forward. Vincent watched as Pei took a seat next to him without waiting for his answer. [color=orange]”Nightwing,”[/color] he answered without hesitation. [color=orange]”He kicked my ass before I got here. In fact, it was how I even ended up here, in the first place. It was the first time I’ve lost a fight in…well, ever. So, I’m working on getting good enough to beat him next time. But, I guess being trained by ‘the world’s greatest detective’ gave him a pretty big head start.”[/color] He then turned to Pei and asked, [color=orange]”So, why are you here? And I don’t mean here, next to me, but [i]here[/i]...”[/color] he gestured broadly, indicating he meant Mount Justice. [color=pink]”Well [i]now[/i] I’m here to help you defeat Nightwing in imagination combat!”[/color] Pei says excitedly. [color=pink]”No wonder you couldn’t beat him on your own. He’s strong, smart, funny, faster than [i]Batman,[/i] and has unbeatable glutes.”[/color] She lists off Nightwing’s defining features. [color=pink]”He’s the Boy Wonder!”[/color] [color=pink]”Have you tried giving him a mirror and saying the back of his hair is messed up? That might distract him.”[/color] Pei suggests. Vincent let out a laugh at Pei’s suggestion. [color=orange]”I’ll try to remember that for next time,”[/color] he replied, still chuckling. He wiped his eyes as he calmed down and asked, [color=orange]”What else can you do, besides give surprisingly sound fighting advice?”[/color] Pei was taken aback that he enjoyed her joke so much. Had she finally found the perfect audience, she wondered? Her smile brightened. [color=pink]”Oh, me?”[/color] Out of white mist, an icicle formed in her hand. She flung it at a nearby training dummy, and the icicle shuddered before popping with an impact, spreading mist and frost. [color=pink]”Aaand that’s basically it in a nutshell.”[/color] She said, scratching her pale head of hair. Vincent let out a low whistle as he watched the misty cloud around the dummy dissipate. [color=orange]”Now that’s pretty cool. Pun fully intended,”[/color] he said. [color=orange]”Can you do anything with the mist, too?”[/color] [color=pink]”The mist is where the ice comes from! No mist, no ice.”[/color] Pei explains. With a flick of her wrist, the mist that spread out from the exploded icicle zipped through the air, reforming into the shape of a large, intricate snowflake. She set it on her palm and blew on it, and it dissipated back into mist. [color=pink]”Tra la la la la~”[/color] She whispered whimsically, wiggling her fingers. [color=orange]”So, if you’re, say, trapped in the desert, you wouldn’t be able to do that?”[/color] he asked. [color=orange]”Or can you make the mist wherever you are?”[/color] [color=pink]”The second thing!”[/color] Pei said, demonstrating by shooting a stream of mist from her fingertips. [color=pink]”It’s ‘no mist, no ice’, not ‘no ice, no mist.’”[/color] Pei clarifies a little unhelpfully. [color=pink]”Oh! And this!”[/color] She flipped her legs and transitioned into a handstand. [color=pink]”Eh? Eh?”[/color] She wiggled her eyebrows, sounding much more excited about this ability than the previous one. With an arched eyebrow, Vincent watched Pei effortlessly went from sitting into a handstand. He nodded and said, [color=orange]”Impressive. I’ll be sure to call you if I ever need to read something upside-down.”[/color] He hopped to his feet and stood up, rolling his neck. [color=orange]”Me, I’m not quite so acrobatic. I punch and control metal. Though, I do suppose I have one other trick.”[/color] His spinal implant clicked and whirred as it seemed to open up. Metallic panels spread out and rearranged themselves, glinting in the sunlight as they took on a familiar, yet oversized, shape. In just a couple of seconds, a pair of large, metallic wings had unfurled from Vincent’s back. [color=orange]”It’s not often I get to use these things. In fact, I tend to forget about them more often than not,”[/color] he added with a chuckle. Pei fell from her handstand, staring up and upside down at Vincent, as her mouth formed a small ‘o’. [color=pink]”Wow! Metal wings!”[/color] She said. She made a ‘flapping’ sound effect and wiggled her hands around. [color=pink]”Do they work? Can you fly with your metal wings?!”[/color] She asked. Vincent couldn’t help but smirk, feeling a sense of pride well up inside of him. Rather than directly answer her question, he started to flap his wings. After a couple of flaps, he began to rise into the air, the only sound coming from his wings being that of the air moving with each flap, despite being made completely of metal. [color=orange]”I’ve never really put them through their paces, so I’m not sure exactly how fast or high I can go,”[/color] he replied as he lowered himself back to the ground. As soon as he regained his footing, a few ‘feathers’ fell from his wings. Rather than fall to the ground, however, they stopped in midair and began to float around Vincent. [color=orange]”And since they’re made of steel, I can do this,”[/color] he added as the feathers arranged themselves to form a large letter ‘V’ in between himself and Pei before returning to his wings. [color=pink]”That’s so sick!”[/color] Pei leapt to her feet. [color=pink]”We gotta test 'em out! Wanna see how high up you could go if I blew you up?”[/color] She asked. Vincent was about to agree, then stopped. [color=orange]”Wait, what do you mean by that?”[/color] he asked, slightly confused. [color=pink]”Like this! Iceburn Special Technique: Cloud Leap!”[/color] Pei stomped the ground, sending out a cloud of mist beneath her, and then she formed it into a temporary compressed ice cloud that burst upwards. She went about twenty feet in the air before landing, cushioning her fall with another burst of mist. She rolled, dispersing her momentum with a cloud-like formation in her wake. [color=pink]”Now imagine if I did that for you except you had wings!”[/color] Pei said. As he watched Pei ascend using her clouds, then return to the ground, Vincent gave a thoughtful nod. [color=orange]”Alright, that’s pretty cool. Let’s give it a shot!”[/color] He unfurled his wings again, then gave it another thought. [color=orange]”You sure this’ll work, though? I mean, I’ve gotta be quite a bit heavier than you are.”[/color] Pei giggled, nudging his shoulder. [color=pink]”Of course I’m not sure if this’ll work! That’s [i]why[/i] we’re testing it!”[/color] Vincent grinned at that, seeing the sense in what Pei said. Pei whipped her hand about and created a slow moving vortex of ice and mist that came up to about Vince’s knee. [color=pink]”So you step on that, flap your wings, I’ll launch you up, and we’ll see what happens!”[/color] Vincent nodded and raised his wings, ready to bring them back down, but paused. He turned to Pei and held out his hand. [color=orange]”How about it? Wanna take a trip around the island with me?”[/color] Pei’s bravado lost a step, and she found herself flattered. But then her grin widened, and she smacked her hand into his. [color=pink]”Would I?!”[/color] Using his hand as leverage, she went to pull herself onto him in a piggyback. She used her other hand to maintain a connection to the ‘jump pad’ of ice. [color=pink]”Ready when you are!”[/color] She exclaimed. As Pei hopped onto Vincent’s back, the steel between his wings morphed and molded itself into a kind of harness. He lifted his wings again and stepped onto the mist cloud. Pei moved her hand straight up, and the mist surged upward into a windy cool shower. As he brought his wings back down, he felt the mist propel him and Pei into the air, quite a bit faster than he would have been able to on his own. Using his momentum, he flapped his wings again and again, making himself pick up speed as they ascended. Within moments, they were a couple hundred feet above the ground, his wings spread out to catch the thermal currents rising from below. [color=orange]”How’s the view?”[/color] he asked Pei, raising his voice over the rushing wind. Pei was holding on tight now, her heart gripped by exhilaration and terror. They had gone much higher than she anticipated, and though she could cushion most falls, skyscraper height was much beyond her capability of survival. [color=pink][i]”Aaah!”[/i][/color] She screamed into the back of his shirt. [color=pink]”Aaahahah! Haha!”[/color] It morphed into a laugh as she glanced around. [color=pink]”High!”[/color] She yelled. [color=orange]”Higher?”[/color] Vincent called back, mishearing Pei through the rush of wind. He brought his wings down harder and climbed higher into the air. Pei realized the translation error immediately and just cackled, holding on tighter. In truth, he wasn’t exactly sure why he knew how to use his wings. Back in Bludhaven, he never had much opportunity to practice with them, yet here he was, flying as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He evened out at about four hundred feet, less than half the height of Mount Justice. [color=orange]”Still doing okay back there?”[/color] he asked Pei. [color=pink]”Perfect!”[/color] She said, hanging on very, very tightly. At this point, she was just a giggling mess. Vincent grinned, then tucked his wings in. The two of them dove toward the ground, hurtling headfirst. Vincent found the speed exhilarating: he couldn’t help but grin almost madly as he did his best not to laugh, knowing the wind would steal his breath. At the last moment, just before he and Pei reached the tops of the trees, he unfurled his wings and leveled back out, using the speed from the dive to fly even faster. Before he knew it, the two of them were about to circle back to where they started. He started to flap his wings backwards to slow down and managed to land safely where he and Pei had been chatting not too long ago. [color=orange]”God[i]damn[/i], that was great!”[/color] he exclaimed as his wings retracted back into his implant. The ‘harness’ that had wrapped around Pei let her go as he stepped away. [color=orange]”I didn’t know I could go that fast!”[/color] Pei detached from Vincent’s back and then dropped belly-down onto the ground, grabbing the dirt. [color=pink]”I didn’t know you could go that fast, either.”[/color] She said, voice muffled by the dirt. She let out a few residual nervous giggles. Vincent sat down on the ground next to Pei and leaned back on his hands. He could still feel the rush of the wind against his face, the thrill of defying gravity. [color=orange]”I almost didn’t wanna come back down,”[/color] he said with a chuckle. He then turned to Pei and asked, [color=orange]”You feel alright? Still got all your pieces?”[/color] Pei gives a thumbs up from her position on the ground. [color=pink]”That was…”[/color] She cuts herself off, before looking quite seriously at Vincent. [color=pink]”I can’t remember the specifics. But an oil worker, in the American Wild West, fell several storeys while working on a regular job. Right from the tippy top of the tower all the way to the ground. He survived with minor injuries because of the lucky consistency of the mud.”[/color] Pushing herself up to her feet, she continued. [color=pink]”His friends went to go help him up, but the first thing he did was climb right back up that ladder and get to work. The reason? Because he knew if he didn’t climb back up that tower at that very instant, he’d never climb it again.”[/color] She said sagely. [color=pink]”Basically, Vince, what I’m saying is-”[/color] She went to jump into his back again. [color=pink]”If I don’t do it again right now I don’t know if I ever will!”[/color] She cried. [color=orange]”Whoa!”[/color] Vincent cried out in surprise as Pei went to climb onto his back again. He chuckled and stood up, carrying her piggy-back style as he said, [color=orange]”Alright, alright, one more lap. I don’t even think I need a hand, this time, either!”[/color] Once again, his wings spread out from between his back and Pei. He lifted his wings and brought them back down. Dust rose from the ground as he and Pei rose back into the sky, though not quite as quickly as the first time. He gave another strong flap and they once again sped off, climbing higher as Vincent continued to pick up speed. [color=pink][i]”Eeeuuuhhh~!”[/i][/color] Pei made an unsure noise and laughed some more. [color=pink]”Don’t forget the harness!”[/color] [color=orange]”Right, sorry!”[/color] he called back over the rushing wind as steel once again wrapped around Pei’s torso, securing her to his back. [color=pink] “Yes, I can feel it- I can feel my security and my confidence growing with every second!”[/color] Pei said, not really sure if she was lying or not. [color=pink] “Just don’t do any loop-de-loops!”[/color] She cried out as they got further and further away from the training ground, their voices trailing into the open air.