xp_logs | Log: Bishop's Power Training

Who: Bishop and Scott
What: Power training
When: Sunday Afternoon
Where: The quarry by the mansion

Like most first-time visitors, it had taken Bishop a few minutes to
get all the first-time formalities over with. Scott had relied on that
and taken the time to finish up a couple of midterm reports before
heading down to meet Snow Valley's latest addition.

And Amanda had been right, Scott realized as he ran into the man
-thankfully not literally - coming out of the security office. The new
guy was big.

"Afternoon. Scott Summers," he said, extending his hand. They'd
intended to have this first training session some time ago, but well,
things had gotten busy, as things tended to do.

The extended hand was taken by Bishop's bear paw of a hand. "Bishop.
Good to meet you." And then after a firm but not hyper-masculine shake
it was released. "I hear you're a big thing around here." He moved in
along side Scott to walk with him to where the training was going to
take place. Bishop was actually in his usual suit for any sort of
mutant activity, complete with his concealed body armor and pistols.

"A big thing, huh?" Scott said wryly, leading him towards the back
door. He had the quarry in mind, for this first session; Emma might
vouch for the man, but that didn't mean Scott wanted to lead him down
to the Danger Room on the very first day. "Depends on who you ask, I
suppose."

"It always does. There are always people that want the benefits of
having someone 'in charge' around but never bother recognizing that's
where the benefits come from." Bishop honestly hadn't heard too
much about the guy other then he was the head field leader around
here. For a group like this he supposed that was a pretty meaningful
position. He also wasn't too proud to think there was anyone he
couldn't learn something from.

"Probably the thing that relates most to why you're here is that I've
taught the school's energy-projecting students since... well, I guess
I started before I actually got the teaching degree." It wasn't as if
they offered Energy Projection as a teachable subject, anyway. "Years,
anyway. And more specialized training with the energy-projectors who
wind up on the team." He gave Bishop a sideways look. "I'm not sure
how well you were briefed about us over at Snow Valley. A number of
your coworkers were originally members of my team."

"I didn't know that. I'm also not much of an energy projector, it's
kind of a secondary effect of my mutation, I think. I do need to get
better at it, though." Bishop looked back at Scott's sideways glance.
He could only assume that the guy didn't really approve of what they
did at Snow Valley. That wasn't any of Bishop's business, though. He
was just here for the training.

Scott smiled suddenly. "I'm just trying to sound you out to see how
much you know about the X-Men at this point," he said. "I was hoping
you'd picked up some of it from Wanda or Angie or someone else, so I
didn't have to be the one to share the whole slightly wacky story with
you. Since I can't arrange for the Blackbird to come up out of the
basketball court on cue without getting a lecture about wasting jet
fuel..."

"I know some from the Force but not much beyond that. I've heard
enough crazy things in the last couple of days to really have no
reason to disbelieve anything you may say about the X-Men, though.
Wanda didn't fill me in, just immediately forced some sparring out of
me." Despite all his talking Bishop was very aware of where they were
headed and of every part of the large mansion they passed through. He
was actually very good at appearing casual while collecting
information.

Scott was noticing him noticing; he'd made sure to keep the man on his
not-blind side, for just that reason. "Well," he said, "maybe the best
way to put it is that Snow Valley, from what I understand - and I'm
one of three people here who is at least moderately in the loop -
tends to handle the situations where they're looking into something
that might blow up, or where they're trying to prevent something from
getting to the point of blowing up. We, in contrast, more often jump
directly into the situations where things are already in the process
of exploding." Or cause the explosions ourselves, although I think
I'll leave that part out. Scott inclined his head toward the back
door, then held it for the other man as he went through. "We do a lot
of cooperative work with various militaries and police forces. That
sort of thing."

Bishop listened and nodded to all the explanations. He didn't really
have much to say beyond it so he didn't bother trying to force
conversation. Instead he just took in the walk out to where they would
be training. He considered a bit on what Snow Valley was about and how
odd it was that the X-Men operated a school. It didn't really seem
like a good fit if the X-Men were what Scott said they were.

"In case you're wondering where we're going," Scott said, "there's a
quarry on the grounds. Tends to be where these first sessions get
held. So, absorption and re-channeling energy, then?" he said, shifting
smoothly into shop-talk.

"Yeah, that's about it. It's not much of a power if there aren't
energy projectors around." Bishop didn't interject when the shop talk
started. He wasn't really sure how something like this usually went so
he didn't try to take the lead.

Scott was already shaking his head. "Not necessarily true," he said.
"We need to establish the range of energy you absorb, but it's
entirely possible that you could absorb and reuse ambient energy under
the right circumstances. My mutation's fueled by sunlight, for
example."

"I absorbed standard electricity when it first fully manifested and I
can absorb ambient energy to improve my physical capabilities but to
project I think I just need a lot more energy then that. I've found
most projectors create their own energy in some way, I don't
metabolize anything." Bishop shrugged, it didn't really bother him.
Firearms offset his handicap for the most part.

He was starting to see why Bishop was here. "Ever tried to absorb from
power lines?" Scott asked. "Transformers? Nuclear generators? Don't
laugh - working where you now work, it's entirely possible that you
could wind up around extremely exotic power sources."

"I've only done the one circuit breaker. The problem would be
absorbing too much unless I just cycled it directly out, which would
be dangerous to anyone around me, I figure." It didn't seem that
Bishop was in any danger of laughing at the moment, he took this all
fairly seriously.

"Absorbing too much - have you ever hit that point? I had a student
once with similar powers to yours - we always had to be careful,
because he had some unfortunate nervous-system-related side effects if
he hit his limit."

"I've been close. It just cycles right back out, I think. I got the
feeling it was hard to hold all the energy in." Once Bishop and Scott
arrived he looked over the quarry first, getting a feel for the area
and how it was laid out.

"You can see other people use this spot for practice from time to
time," Scott said, waving a hand at the obvious signs of blast damage.
"How much energy's in your system right now? Enough to project?"

Bishop shook his head "I can't really project without being hit with
something significant." Maybe he needed to invest in some sort of
generator for the office so that he could charge up before they went
out if needed. That would just be awkward, though. He'd just have to
use Jubilee if he needed to project for some reason.

He'd definitely need to talk to Mark and Jubilee, about charging up
their new co-worker if need be. "All right then," Scott said amiably.
"Brace yourself?"

"No real need to brace." Bishop shrugged and turned to face Scott
directly, making himself as easy a target as possible. When Bishop
absorbed the energy he absorbed the effects as well, which was very
convenient since it prevented being hurt from getting knocked around.

"I didn't think so, but it's more diplomatic to give some warning
before you blast someone." Scott let off a very careful
quarter-strength blast, aimed at Bishop's chest.

The energy cascaded around Bishop's body, as if it were only light.
"You don't have to be too careful, man. I'll be able to fire as hard
and as much as you do to me, so charge me up to what level you want to
train at." He hooked his thumbs into his belt up front as he stood in
front of Scott, showing it really didn't affect him.

Interesting mix of confident and not-so-much, Scott thought,
but just smiled. "That's enough to start with - I can hit you harder
later." He waved a hand at the quarry. "Pick a rock - I need to see
what sort of projection we're dealing with here." Would it be
concussive force like he'd just sent at Bishop, or something else?

Bishop nodded, stretched out an arm, and took his shot. It wasn't like
Scott's blasts, it was the exact same thing. He didn't bother
converting it into how own form or anything fancy. For their purposes
this was just fine. His own blasts weren't as accurate, regardless.

Houston, we have gesture-crutch. Then again, he wasn't one to
talk; he still reached up for a visor that wasn't there half the time.
Leaving that aspect of it aside for now, he eyed the rock that had
just been blasted. "Not bad. Do you find marksmanship with a blast
like that similar to the marksmanship you use when you use a firearm?"

"It's along those lines with your energy. I imagine it would probably
be easier just firing from the eye but I'm not used to that, I
suppose." Bishop was more then well aware of his gestures, he found
them somewhere between useful and harmless, depending on the
situation.

"Could you fire from the eye if you had to?" Scott asked,
sitting down on a handy rock nearby. "Or not even that specifically
-I'm just wondering what's easiest for you, in terms of directing your
blasts." And he was probably coming across as insanely inquisitive
here, but when you were dealing with someone well past manifestation,
who had long experience with the ins and outs of their powers, getting
their take on every aspect of where they were right now was essential
for training.

"I've only ever fired from the hands or had uncontrolled explosive
release. Although, at one point I fired through a taser, which wasn't
really planned, just happened." Bishop figured he'd sit as Scott did,
across from him on another rock. He didn't have a problem answering
questions, he knew how understanding things worked and he had spent a
large part of his life asking his own questions.

"Interesting. Sounds like you've got some versatility to work with,"
Scott said, taking a deep breath and then letting it out as he
mentally organized the to-do list. "Okay, this is how I see it. We
need to establish your range, in terms of what kind of energy you can
absorb, and whether you're immune to any of the nasty side effects of
some of the more exotic sorts. We need to figure out just how much
energy of each sort it takes to allow you to produce a blast - it
might vary. We need to train you with at least a couple of the
energy projectors on your team - I'd suggest Jubilee and Mark. And
finally, marksmanship."

Bishop nodded at the list. "Well, I'm not going anywhere." Both a
general statement and specifically at the moment he wasn't about to
run off. He figured working with other mutants he'd have a lot to do.
"Mark will work with me when he's recovered I'm sure. Jubilee, I guess
I'll ask her. I hear she doesn't like cops and we're not really on any
sort of terms with each other." He was more thinking aloud and
shrugged at the end of his statement.

"Why don't you let me ask Jubilee? She and I go back a long ways."
Remy, Pete, hope you don't mind me poking my nose into your team
dynamics like this, but my intentions are good... And Jubilee
would at least be open to listening to him, he suspected, if he
couched it right. "Anyway, what I think we should do now is head back
inside and find my wife," Scott said, his real eye glimmering with
humor. "I'm not proposing to hand you over to her for tests today, but
she'd have a better idea than either of us as to how to proceed on
that front."

Bishop nodded and stood "That's fine. I don't have a problem with a
few tests. I assume she's some sort of doctor." And that was all he
had to say, ready to follow Scott inside to see what he had planned in
there.