Gabriel & Ev | Training Day

[x-velocidad.livejournal.com]

Gabriel seeks out help with a powers problem.

The Danger Room was empty, but Gabriel couldn't shake the uneasiness he felt in his gut. Even with no projectiles, no X-people, no holograms or whatever, there was something about being here that just made him so uncomfortable.

Or maybe it wasn't that, he considered as he adjusted himself in his running tights and re-tied the string on his shorts. Maybe it was just that he wasn't used to asking for help with his powers in any real, disciplined way. Or at least, that he wasn't used to inviting any kind of examination from strangers. Not that he had yet, really; he'd left his request intentionally vague.

The door opened, interrupting Gabriel's thoughts, and he turned toward it. "Are you late, or was I early?"

"Just on time." The door hissed close behind Ev, dressed in what appeared to be Under Armour's spring running collection, except the shirt bore the SHIELD logo rather than the corporate brand. He held out his hand to Gabriel and flashed him a brilliant smile. "Nice to meet you in person, Gabriel. Or do you prefer Gabe?"

"Whatever," Gabriel shrugged with one arm and shook Ev's hand with the other. He glanced at the SHIELD logo on the shirt and raised his eyebrows slightly without really intending to. These ex-cop types seemed to be everywhere, and it still unnerved him. The ones connected to Clint even more so. "I respond to most things, honestly. At my own expense."

"'Hey you' it is, then." Ev tapped the gleaming metal wall of the Danger Room, and a panel slid to the side, revealing behind it a tablet with the control pad for the room. "Why don't you tell me a little about your powers and what you're looking for. Your email was kind of spare on the details."

"Well, you know, us millennials and email..." Gabriel responded, because it felt like Ev's last comment merited a response. "Honestly, the issue is really that I can't fight. Never really learned how. Because I've got super speed, basically. You know, zoom, zoom, I'm here, now I'm there, what just happened, gasp. That kind of thing." He caught sight of his loose shoelace, and he bent down to tie it. The perils of getting dressed in a half-second.

"It's not — like, I can't always control it perfectly, like anyone. And so sometimes, I'm in the middle of something speedy, and then I'm back to normal. And I don't know how to kick somebody's ass." He stood back up. Gabriel was, of course, omitting some details — like the fact that he wasn't a speedster — but the basic problem was the basic problem. "I get by on velocity. So I need someone who can give me both things, so I can work on my fight skills at my own pace, so to speak."

Were Gabriel a telepath, he would have been able to see the gears in Ev's head turn, slowly at first, but quickly picking up steam as ideas formed. Common speedster problem, focusing on the trickery aspect rather than actual martial prowess. Common mutant powers problem in general, actually. This was not a new area for Ev.

"So, the former is easy," he said, "Or at least as easy as it is for anyone in your kind of good shape. If you can throw a punch without breaking your fingers or wrist, then you can learn combat. And then once you've become proficient, you can learn to be a little more creative and see how well those skills apply to your power. So it's a step-wise process. We'll have to start at normal human speed before we go superhuman. What is your top speed, just for reference?"

"No idea. That might be a good place to start." Gabriel didn't need to read minds to sense that this might raise a red flag. "Not really sure how to measure, I guess. I fit 10 miles into, like, 45 minutes once, but that was a good day. Honestly, I've always just been, you know, fast enough."

Ev nodded and made a noncommittal sound, not passing judgment on Gabriel's life choices. "That would be the right place to begin, to give us a baseline. Does this place still have those super-sturdy treadmills? We can test speed and stamina at once there."

"Didn't even know that was a thing, honestly," Gabriel scratched the back of his neck. "I've never been in a position to break a treadmill before." He paused, considering. "Not sure that will work out the way you're expecting, though."

"How do you mean?" Ev's eyes twinkled for a second, like a polished diamond reflecting light, as he examined Gabriel's mutant aura and answered the question for himself.

"I can't really explain it, but it's got something to do with time. I don't know," he crossed his arms, "I'm not a physicist. All I know is I couldn't run on water, and Scott had some kind of revelation that made perfect sense to him and very little to me."

A talk with Scott was in order, then. And if he was already on Gabriel's case, then the young man had a leg up. "Do you mind if I synch with you?" Ev asked. "I can get a clearer idea of what your capabilities are. It's just your powers, no memories or other skills or personality," he added, offering what he hoped was a reassuring grin.

"That's how this works, right?" Gabriel didn't exactly smile back. "Go for it."

Ev glowed with his characteristic rainbow, his aura splitting light while adapting to Gabriel's. Time slowed. Gabriel blinked, and his eyelids closed and opened slowly, like Ev was watching him frame by frame. The clock display by the observation deck ticked by at a crawl; half a minute passed to him before the clock registered one second. Ev crossed the length of the Danger Room and back just by walking in less than a minute. This was not the superspeed with which he was familiar. He was not actually moving fast so much as . . .

"Slowing down time itself?" he asked as everything returned to normal.

"I guess?" So now Gabriel knew what it was like to stand still while the world displaced itself around you. He didn't like it. And truthfully, he thought he was faster than Ev, but he wasn't really sure how he'd test that. "I don't know if — like, either I'm slowing it down around me, or I'm making it faster around me? Or maybe both? I'm not sure it matters; the effect's the same, like, relative to everyone else." It did, in fact, matter when one was concerned he was speeding himself to an early grave. But that was for Gabriel himself to puzzle out. "The gay pride disco ball thing is a nice party trick, by the way."

"Thanks, I'm always a hit at the parade," Ev said, laughing softly. "Do you know if your power is just limited to you? I mean, if you hold someone while you access your power, do they also perceive time the way you do?"

"No idea," Gabriel said, as if he hadn't thought about it before, because he hadn't. "I'm not sure I've tried. Or maybe I have," he said, "but, like, I don't know that I thought to ask." He paused. "Wow, that sounded really self-centered."

Ev's fingers moved rapidly on the tablet's screen as he took notes. "They pay me the big bucks to think about these things. So I guess the question isn't speed so much as how long you can maintain this effect on time, which to the observer would apparently translate to speed. And whether you can affect the magnitude of the time change so you can effectively move faster or slower, or if it's just a binary 'speed up/slow down.' That make sense?"

Gabriel stared at him for a second. "Sure, if you say so." He forced a sheepish laugh. "Honestly, if this makes sense to you, great."

"It'll be fine. For now, I say we split our time between regular combat training and better defining your abilities, and then that will make it a snap to learn how to use your powers effectively in a fight. So." Ev saved his notes and replaced the tablet in its compartment, and then fell into a battle stance. "Let's see what you got."