Tinley Abercrombie, Sami Rhodes & Jim Kennedy
Location: S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy - Training Room
Agent Kennedy was scrolling through reddit on his phone, laughing at the jokes. His sister had pointed out a few of the subgroups that would interest him last time he had seen her and currently, he was staring at a comparison of the stunning similarity between China's president and Winnie the Pooh. The more he stared at it, the more it stood out to him. He had shown up early to the agreed upon time in the training room, wearing a loose t-shirt, gym pants, and his hands were wrapped with tape. He glanced up at a clock on the wall, wondering when his two trainees would show up - Rhodes and Abercrombie.
Tinley entered the training room wearing workout gear. One could tell it was top of the line workout gear too. Comfortable and useful. Her hair was tied back in a tight ponytail. She was anxious to get started. After the simulation, she became all the more aware that she needed more practice, especially if she were to be a Field Commander. Agent Kennedy was on his phone and chuckling to himself as she walked up.
"Nice to see you Agent Kennedy. What's so funny?" In all honesty, the last thing Sami wanted to do was to start training, even if it was with a cool pair like Kennedy and Abercrombie. The news of what had happened with his Uncle was still weighing heavily on his mind, but at the same time the information had been given to him in confidence. To prove to Fury he could be trusted with more details in the future, worrying would have to wait. Especially around others.
Arriving seconds after Tinley, he greeted them both with a smile.
"Hope you got something fun planned today." Directed towards Agent Kennedy, his smile grew more mischevious.
"Xi Jinping photo comparisons to Winnie the Pooh," Jim explained, showing them
one of the photos in particular. Unfortunately, he wasn't there just to show them things on reddit that amused them. As funny as it was, it wouldn't prepare them for the real world. He had seen their performance evaluations and knew the rough outlines of their capabilities. He knew each of them could push them further, but now wasn't the time for that. It was time for basic control. Only then could they become more advanced.
"We're going to start off easy," Jim explained. He put his phone away and shifted, becoming made out of pure rock. Only his clothing and other things remained normal. He gave them a smile, looking like a living statue.
"Use your powers and work together to force me to shift out of my rock form. That's your first task." Sami wouldn't be able to pick up anything with his power sensing at the moment, but Tinley would be able to "feel" the minds of Sami and Jim near her, though Jim's seemed distant - as if the rock form was shielding it.
Tinley didn't understand the appeal of looking at stuff on her phone (though she will admit the similarity between the man and Winnie the Pooh was startling!), she was thankful to begin training. It seemed straightforward enough as Jim entered his rock form. Tinley could sense his and Sami's minds, but Jim's seemed distant. His rock form apparently added a mental shield. Still, Tinley assumed a fighting stance and reached her mind out to grasp his. It fell short.
"I can't quite grasp his mind. We'll need to get his defenses down." Sami couldn't quite see the resemblance between the asian man and the cartoon bear, but you could find all kinds of shit on the internet. He'd seen someone compare Tony Stark to some low-budget Sherlock Holmes character once, which was totally inaccurate despite the swathes of people agreeing to it. However, there was a different task at hand rather than playing spot the difference.
Sami echoed Tinley's stance as he looked at Kennedy, his head trying to work out how exactly he was going to be able to hurt a guy made of stone.
"My powers won't do shit here. Gonna have to go for something old fashioned to do some damage." Hoping his martial arts training would come in handy against the undoubtedly heavier and stronger opponent before him, Sami glanced towards Tinley before making his move.
"Physical distraction creates mental distraction - should be able to give you a window." At that, Sami began his attack on Kennedy, aiming more to wear the guy down with swift attacks and instant retreats, as opposed to actually putting him down. Sami had been told of a second power he had developed, but it had yet to surface. Still, he wasn't sure what help reactive adaptability would be right now. He figured it would only work if he was defending himself, but then again, he had no idea how it worked. He didn't even know how to switch the damn thing on yet.
Sami managed to kick Jim in the head, sending the stone giant stumbling backwards slightly. Yet given that Sami had just kicked solid stone, he would be able to practically feel his foot vibrating with pain. If it hadn't been for his boots, he would have broken his foot.
"I'll give you a tip - punching stone hurts," Jim advised.
"And if you aren't careful, you'll break your bones." Tinley fought back a scathing comment about how stupid it was to attempt to kick a rock. Sami probably felt that right now. Instead, she walked over to him. If they were to get him, his defenses needed to be down. They needed a big enough distraction.
"We need a distraction big enough. Hitting him isn't going to cut it." She glanced around the room, taking it in. She whispered to Sami,
"Go attack him again, but don't injure yourself. Get him to look away from me and I will pull the fire alarm. Hopefully, that will get his defense down enough for me to latch on to his mind." Wincing painfully as he hopped back to his defensive stance, Sami rolled his eyes. He figured that even in a rock form, the neck would still be a weaker point than most. Unfortunately he aimed too high, and his heel connected with tough granite skull.
"Good job I kicked you then." He said in response to Kennedy, then looking to Tinley as she formed her own plan. Still running with the idea of a distraction, he nodded in agreement.
"Gotcha." Well... he got the plan, but wasn't quite certain of the execution just yet. He had to fight Kennedy enough to distract him, but without getting hurt himself. He could slap at the stone dude all day and by either ignored or just swatted to one side like an annoying fly. Unfortunately, this would require some actual force to get the job done. Silently, Sami willed his power to kick in for the first time. Maybe his own rock-form would give him an advantage here.
Things didn't quite go as plan, but still worked out in their own way. In only took a single punch for his second power to awaken, and as he aimed for Kennedy's stomach it was as if his arm had suddenly turned to hard metal. Unable to stop the momentum even he had wanted to, his punch connected fully with Kennedy's rock hard abs (HA) and sent him flying into the back wall. For a second Sami was awed by the power that had just occurred, though it quickly ebbed away with that familiar sickening feeling of a broken bone. His powers had reacted against its opponent, but not against the consequences. Grasping his hand and bending double, he looked to Tinley with a strained grin.
"The bitch is all yours." He said somewhat breathlessly, hoping she could be as successful as him. Well, without the broken metacarpals, anyway.
Tinley was also in awe, she expected him to merely distract Agent Kennedy, but instead, he attacked him and unleashed power she hadn't seen before. Still, he fought against rock and that had to hurt, but Tinley couldn't think about that now. Instead, Tinley faced the now weakened and dazed Agent Kennedy and attempted to grasp his mind again. She had an easier time this round, just making it inside. While there, she situated herself.
"Okay, Agent Kennedy. I'd like you out of your rock form now." She issued the command, hoping he would drop his defenses and, thus, securing them the win.
"Yes ma'am," Kennedy said, turning out of his rock form and into his human one. His clothing was torn where Sami had punched him and through the tear, a gigantic bruise had begun to form. It looked like he had managed to break some of Jim's ribs. Even though it had happened in his rock form, it only delayed the damage - he took it all when he turned back into his human form. He managed to wrestle back control of his mind, having done some training with telepaths before on how to resist.
"Good work, you two," he said, grunting a bit.
"As cliché as it sounds, teamwork is a powerful thing. Know your opponent's weaknesses and their strengths. Use them against them. But also kid...don't punch rocks," he advised with a cheesy grin.
"Now uh...Sami, you're about to meet another agent in the Phase Three program - Tempest - she'll patch us up," he explained.
The next day, Agent Kennedy was waiting for them in the training room at the same time, feeling a little bit sore but he had pretty much healed completely, as would Sami have done. Tempest's healing powers were like magic and Jim couldn't help but grin slightly. It beat staying in a hospital bed for days and then doing physical therapy for weeks - or potentially even months. Once his students had arrived, Jim took a swig from his water bottle, before he greeted them with a smile, ready to get to work.
"Today is going to be harder," he explained.
"You're going to be sparring each other, but with these." He then handed them each a piece of ribbon.
"To win the match, you need to steal your opponent's ribbon. No lethal force, but that should go without saying. Otherwise, use everything that is available to you." Tinley walked in, again, prepared for another day of training. She figured the next bit would be them fighting each other. Tinley took her ribbon and placed it behind her in her back pocket. That way, it wouldn't be so easy to grab. She saw Sami's display of power yesterday and didn't want to be on the recieving end of those blows. But she also knew he was aware of her own powers. She figured her best bet was hand-to-hand combat this time around. She got into her ready stance across from Sami.
"Good luck Agent Rhodes." "You know, I've heard that's a power actually..." Jim mused, before he put on
some music to set the mood with a shit eating grin.
"Alright, you've got ten agents - go beat the crap out of each other, agents! Drinks on me after today's session." Shaking his head and laughing as the music turned on, Sami mirrored Tinley's movements and placed his own tag into his back pocket.
"Well shit boy, if you're gettin' the rounds in, I'll do whatever you want." He said with a grin before readying himself against Tinley. He knew and respected her well enough to know not to underestimate her, nor go easy. Still, maybe there was a way he could do it without messing up that pretty face of hers.
Thinking on his power, he tried to image some kind of shield over his mind, anything that would prevent her from peeking in. There was no physical changes, but suddenly it felt as though he were wearing a hat of some kind. Deciding that would be the closest he was going to get, Sami made his move. Going in as if to punch her on her right, Sami feinted and dodged to the left, getting behind her and easily snatching away the tag with a triumphant laugh.
"Guess I have got luck on my side today." He said, twirling the tag in the air with a grin.
Tinley had to hand it to Sami, he was good. However, that would prove to be his downfall. She looked into his mind, seeing his attempt at a shield to block. She easily got into his mind and settled inside.
"All right Agent Rhodes. You are going to hand me back my ribbon and apologize for taking it." Tinley stepped back, allowing Agent Rhodes to give her back her ribbon and apologize. She took it and smiled.
"Thanks Agent Rhodes, but you realize you are supposed to keep the ribbon, right?" She gave him a playful wink.
Then she rushed at him. She grabbed his arm and attempted to flip him over onto his stomach, however she may have been a touch overexcited and, instead, forced too hard. He flipped, sure, but even she could hear the break in his arm. She grabbed his ribbon as he landed and stopped.
"Oh shit! I didn't mean to break his arm! We may need Tempest in here." Tinley did feel bad, but that the same time, if this were a real enemy, she would feel no remorse.
She did get the ribbon, though.
Kennedy stared at the two of them for a moment, before he burst out laughing.
"If you have a crush on Tempest, Agent Rhodes, there's easier ways to spend time with her," Jim joked, wiping a tear away from his eyes. He shook his head again, amused at this - he'd never met a recruit that had broken limbs so consistently in training. They were lucky they had a healer with them.
"That being said, Agent Abercrombie...If he was an enemy, I'd be asking why you didn't break him more. But it's as much as a skill to hurt as it is to show restraint." After rolling around on the floor groaning for a few seconds, Sami finally flopped onto his back and looked at Tinley, laughing.
"Shit bitch, you sure got me!" He said through his laughter, sitting up uneasily as he examined his arm. It had thankfully been a pretty clean break with nothing misshapen or stuck out. He couldn't bring himself to be pissed off at her - served him damn right for letting his guard down after he got her tag.
"I still got your ribbon first, though. Be sure to keep it next time." Said with a grin and returning her playful wink, Sami struggled to his feet, holding the injured arm tenderly as he looked to Kennedy.
"We'd better be getting double drinks after I visit the Doctor lady." Tinley sure had earned it, and he was sure he needed some "medicine" after receiving yet another broken bone.
Tinley was happy Sami was ok and was laughing about it.
"Truth be told Agent Kennedy, if he was an enemy I wouldn't have stopped at asking for my ribbon back. I would have made him take out his gun and shoot himself. Or, better yet, make him punch himself in the head over and over until he concussed. But, I am glad Agent Rhodes is all right and that we have a competent healer at our disposal." At Sami's comment over him nabbing her ribbon first, she shrugged it off. She knew, in the end, both of them were competent in their fighing and, with practice, their powers.
"Drinks sound good right now."
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