strangetrip | [GP] training day

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[GP] training day

There was a trope that in prison there wasn't much to do except work out or read. As colorful as Madonna Inn might be, it was still a prison. And look, somebody had put together a library.

Put fifty some people, many of them military, adventurers, vigilantes, or superheroes of one stripe or another, in a prison with none of the urgent missions or near-death experiences they were used to, the fitness center was going to be a popular place. Maybe almost as popular as the bar.

... Probably not quite that popular.

There were free weights and weight machines, treadmills and ellipticals, yoga mats and exercise balls. A room set aside for classes, if someone decided to lead. A large square had been taped over an area of the floor off to one side as a make-shift sparring space. Sports equipment had been brought back from Bonesville for those who preferred more organized games. And those who had been stuck here longest remembered there hadn't always been a salmon ladder.

In other words, something for just about everybody. And you could usually find someone in there if you were looking for a spotter, workout buddy, sparring partner, friendly competition too.

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His inside voice said Hell yeah I will! but Alec managed a smile and a nod as he walked up to hold onto the bag for her. "Don't send me flying half way across the room now."

Or maybe, by her, he'd be okay with that.

"You keep saying that, I'm going to start thinking you're the one who can send me flying halfway across the room." Maya took up a stance to work her right leg and still be able to see Alec if he talked. Two high kicks, two low, four working their way up the bag, and then again. Each repetition was an exact match, down to the slightest shift in weight and point of contact.

Edited 2018-02-22 00:34 (UTC)

Alec watched appreciatively. First because, well, she was hot. Second because he could appreciate good technique. He could see how she could kick mutant ass.

"I am full of surprises." He grinned wryly.

"Yeah?" she asked, backing a step away from the bag, her eyes on him. "You feel like backing that up in the ring?" She nodded toward the sparring area, currently unoccupied.

His grin widened. The ring was quite possibly his most favourite place to be, or maybe that was the bed. Both were pretty up there in places. "You bet."

He moved around to the area as well. "No holding back?" Just a confirmation of consent and reassurance. He'd feel like an asshole if he broke something.

"Just a friendly spar," she clarified, "but in the field you can't ask the other guy to hold back." She'd held her own against Logan – who hadn't actually been trying to hurt her, when she was attacking out of panic and half out of her head from fasting – waves of the Hand's assassins, Super-Skrulls more than once. It would be fun, finding out just what surprises Alec had hiding.

"Let's see what you've got." She winked and started toward the ring.

The wink spurred him on with excitement like a kid at Christmas, even if he knew she could probably, most definitely, kick his ass.

He entered the sparring area, his stance taking one of someone with military training as he began to circle to the left - he'd wait to see what move she'd make first.

Maya had told him she was a boxer, but as she also began to circle left, her movements were light and languid, almost liquid. Then her arm exploded forward, a jab at his sternum borrowed straight from Jet Li. She let the action of drawing her arm back spin her away and the opposite direction.

Maybe it was his over-confidence or her ability, but the jab hit. It cause a quick exhale and he had to take a step back, but Alec seemed to recover rather quickly. He decided to try to use the opportunity of her spin to send a kick that would, hopefully, land on the small of her back.

Spinning, she couldn't see the kick start in order to avoid or block it, but she felt the weight shift-push off through the floor and up her leg. She extended her arm down and back, to distribute the impact that knocked her forward away from Alec, then twisted her hand to make a grab for his leg.

He hadn't expected that and she definitely got purchase of his leg which also meant his expression was surprised.

From there the fight continued as a series of surprises, on both sides. Maya changed fighting styles like someone else would flip channels, interspersing film fighters – all the Hong Kong big names and a few others – with people she'd fought with or against – Daredevil, Wolverine, Elektra, and more – and as they fought, throwing in moves she picked up from Alec, who surprised her just as often. He was definitely a good workout.

When Maya started picking up his own moves, Alec adjusted his own, and eventually he started using more of his abilities, becoming faster and stronger. She was so skilled at keeping up that he wasn't quite thinking and used his full speed to spin around and then kick her hard at the small of her back.

Maya was used to picking up the tiniest, most subtle of movements. Things most people didn't notice. Things she didn't always notice on a conscious level, but filed them away in memory regardless. But she didn't see that kick coming at all. She knew where Alec was, what he was doing, then it was a blur, and the next thing she knew, there was a hard impact at the small of her back that sent her flying off the edge of the mat and flat on her face, the breath knocked out of her.

She pushed up slightly, testing. Ouch. Nothing broken, that she could tell, but she was going to be feeling that for days. In a real fight, she knew she'd have had to say fuck the pain, pushing through it so she could get eyes on Alec again fast. In a spar, she could move a little slower. She hoped.

He was actually a little surprised she didn't move to block it at all and his stance changed, shoulders relaxed. "You okay?"

She hadn't turned in time to see his question, but when she looked, she recognized the neutral, waiting posture. "Speedster?" she asked, wincing as she rolled over so she was sitting on the floor instead of lying on it. She'd stand up in a minute.

It took him a second to figure out what she meant. "Oh. Uh, No. Or yes? I'm just naturally fast." He shrugged a bit. "Comes as part of the whole package. There's some fast cat DNA in me."

Fast cat DNA? Maya blinked, then stood, rubbing at what was going to be a spectacular bruise on her back. "Say that again? I don't think I saw right the first time."

Alec caught that, finally. "Wait... saw?" His mind processed a few times. "Are you deaf?"

"Just working that out now?" Maya didn't go out of her way to hide her deafness. It was a part of her. But she did like how it wasn't as obvious as her skin to mark her as Other. And if it meant she could bust Alec's chops a little, that was just fun.

He looked a little embarrassed, but smirked at her remark. "Hey, I'm fast in body, but not in mind." A lie, but he could poke fun at himself.

"I said big cat DNA. Probably a cheetah, but we don't really know. It's not like the scientists left a list of ingredients for us."

She'd fought alongside people who had powers thanks to science experiments. She couldn't be sure, but it looked like there was maybe some bitterness under Alec's 'no big' attitude. Or maybe she was projecting. She would be bitter if some scientist turned her into a lab rat.

"You did say you were full of surprises." She held up one hand. "Help a girl up." She'd learned to speak with actions before words. This was no hard feelings about the kick and not weirded out by whatever you were turned into, if he knew how to read it.

He helped her up easily with a strong arm. "A guy can't disappoint when he says that to a girl, can he?" He grinned to her. "But you definitely kick some ass being able to keep up. I'm really impressed." And he knew he would be, really.

"Some guys are all talk," she countered, a flick of her eyebrow to answer his grin. He hadn't disappointed... so far. "Actions speak louder than words is even more true for a deaf girl."

As for the rest, she gave a one-shouldered shrug. "I learn from the best."

Alec often came off as the guy who was all talk, but he often followed through, even if sometimes it was begrudgingly.

"Maybe we can compare notes sometime." His smile turned charming and while he really meant it - you always had to be willing to better yourself in combat - it was also definitely said to sound flirty.

[GP] training day

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