Log: Kane and Madin: hand to hand assessment

[xp_madin]

Kane gives Madin their hand to hand assessment in the Danger Room.






The Danger Room had been mocked up like an old school boxing gym, with black and white cutouts of American boxers they had never heard of, dark brown heavy bags in a line, and peeling white paint behind the sign that said 'Mighty Mick's Gym', whoever that was. Kane stood by the edge of one of the rings, arms crossed and leaning against the corner post with his eyes closed.

To Madin, coming here, doing this at all seemed like a mistake - Kane of all people had no reason to offer a favour like this to Madin but, no. This was not going to be another rundown of their greatest fuck ups. Madin took a deep breath and stepped through the door.

"Hi - fuck. This is unreal. I didn't think you'd do the whole place up like this for this, you know?"

"What's the point of having a room that can basically make any environment and not having some fun with it? I have a program which is a low-G obstacle course on the surface of the moon during full Earthrise." Kane said, before opening his eyes and looking up. "Besides, the atmosphere seemed appropriate to start. With your powers, concentrating on your upper body training fits best."

"Holy shit, really? Can I try it some time?“ Madin asked. "Mojo only wishes he could do VR this well." They moved on to the second part of what he'd said. "I agree. I've never been able to generate plasma from other body parts." The true horror of what they'd said dawning on them, Madin hurriedly corrected it. "I've never been able to generate it from my feet."

"DR is always available. Take a look at the available modules and you'll find it... and a lot of others." Kane said, taking two steps up and holding up the top rope around the ring. "Grab a set of gloves and step in."

Madin grinned and picked up the gloves, climbing in awkwardly as they adjusted the straps on them. "Okay, so? Is this going to be a 'you beat the shit out of me to teach me not to be cocky' sitch or a 'actually, you teach me stuff' one?' I'd prefer the second, if I'm honest."

"Nah, this is figuring out what you know and don't know, and what habits you have, good and bad." Kane said, following them into the ring. "The beating the shit out part is usually left until you actually get cocky... or lazy. Now-" He gestured and a trace of golden energy surrounded his fingers for a bit. A featureless humanoid drone materialized in front of Madin, hands clad in the same kind of gloves they were wearing.

"So, basic testing. You and the drone, punching only, no powers, nothing below the waist. The drone will become more advanced as it goes, testing your skill level. We go until it puts you on the mat the first time. And, before you ask, it puts everyone on the mat eventually. That's just how the program scales." Kane said, retreating back through the ropes to watch.

Madin nodded seriously. "Got it." For something like this, they had to trust Kane. It was a test on two fronts - could they trust him enough to work with him? Could they trust that Kane wouldn't deliberately hurt them? And for Kane, could they be trusted to do these drills without a powers flare? Kane had probably programmed in something to push that out of them if he could and no. Madin was not falling for that shit. There was no way they were going to go knifehands through the boxing gloves.

They raised their fists into a guard and began to circle the bot, cautiously, ready. It didn't attack first, which would have broken the tension so Madin eventually had to hit out at the bot. It blocked and hit back and it was on.

"Good. At some point, you need to throw a punch." Kane said, leaning back into his corner.

Madin grunted as they were hit with a glancing blow and hit back. The scaling was obvious - it felt like it was moving faster with every punch they threw and each strike that landed was harder, or more direct. "Fuck."

"Yeah, they're pretty good. They beat me eventually." Kane said, arms crossed. "Don't hold back at all."

"Got it," Madin replied. They and the drone circled each other, trading punches but both moving with a sense of caution. It was clear from Madin's form that they'd trained once upon a time; it was equally clear that while they had a reasonable level of basic fitness, they were no longer conditioned to this style of high intensity work. Visibly tiring, Madin finally missed a feint by the drone, catching a right hook, followed by a double punch. They slipped and fell, hitting the mat and pulled themself back to their feet, gasping, uncertain if Kane would pause the drone or keep the scenario running until they couldn't get back up.

Kane flicked his fingers and the drone froze. "Well, you've got some training. That's obvious." He said as she stepped further into the ring. "So we can go down two avenues with this. We can do powers integrated training or we can do non-powered hand to hand as a focus. Depends on what you're looking for."

The drone stopping was a relief. "I need both," Madin said. "Non powered is essential." They bit their lip. "I risk killing people any time I bring powers to a fight. You and I both know that. I mean, I know you can do that just by king hitting someone but I don't want to just stab and burn people to death because I can't do anything else. But I also need powers integrated work, because there's a lot I can improve on."

"OK. You and I will focus on the non-powered aspect. But I'm going to schedule you more DR time for powered training - solo and team. Depends where you want to go here, but in general, working on your own and understanding how your powers hit into a group is important." Kane said with a nod. He made a couple of notes in the air with the interface and then waved it away. "Come down this time next week. I will start instructing you in the 'Sweet Science'."

Still gasping, although their breathing was beginning to equalise, Madin nodded. "Yessir." They took another, deeper breath. "Can I keep using this for now but?" They desperately wanted to ask about the team stuff but. Hi, I used to be a terrorist and now I want to join up felt like something they still couldn't ask. "Which team are you going to have me training with?"

"Absolutely. This room is a resource." Kane said. "As for training, we'll figure out who is best to link you up with."

Do you ask? Or not? Fuck, at least Madin knew where they stood with Kane. Sort of. He was being so much nicer than they'd ever expected he would be, given everything. "Do you think maybe. Um." Madin couldn't meet his eyes and mumbled "the X-Men but like I totally understand if the answer is no."

Kane paused for a moment. "I don't mind setting that up. I'll need to talk to Scott and some of the others, but I'm pretty sure that is doable."

"You think?"

"Look, let's deal with the elephant on top of the elephant in the room. We know your background. That isn't an obstacle." Kane said. "We all found our way to the X-Men in different ways. Some are cleaner than others. But all of them end up being based on trust. Talking to Scott isn't about whether we can trust you. It is about how we make it work. That's it."

"I kinda figured that if you can't trust me a bit, you'd never have let me back in the door," Madin replied, which was a complete lie but they weren't really up for dealing with that. "I... I know you're going to. To haze the shit outta me to make sure that I can handle it but I can. Yeah." Probably.

"Madin, I'm going to talk to the others because I'm not the only one in charge of this." Kane said, crossing his arms. "But you're not going to get hazed or abused or whatever you think."

Madin nodded and didn't say 'fucking bullshit' despite the temptation. "Yeah, thank you. That's real kind of you."

"It's not kindness." Kane said, and paused, squaring Madin up. "Redemption is hard. If it wasn't, it doesn't matter. Me slapping you around doesn't make things better if I hit you hard enough. So you can believe or not, but we aren't going to put you in a hairshirt and hurt you until you reach some magical limit."

"I want to... I always said that I wasn't gonna do this because all you guys are just the same, you know? The X-Men, the Brotherhood, you're all the fucking same but actually, you're not. I've been learning about the stuff you do and it's not the same. I saw that in New York." They were nearly vibrating with tension. "I don't want to just join another murder cult or be a hitter or whatever again unless it's. Unless it means something."

"It means a lot. And you will never be thanked for it." Kane said, with a long sigh. "The deal is that you can question us any time. You can demand answers. And unless you believe, you are not going to be recruited. You and your powers can make a difference, but that is only by your choice."

Madin closed their eyes for a moment and took a deep, steadying breath. This was, already, so different to the night in Woomera and a yes or no answer they hadn't even considered. "Thank you," they said, speaking softly and almost whispering.

"Don't thank me. You made a decision. That's important." Kane said. "It wasn't for us. It was for you."

Comments

[xp_longshot]

An easy read with added character progress!

Madin nodded and didn't say 'fucking bullshit' despite the temptation.

I really enjoyed the hesitancy on Madin's part here with communicating their desires — the lowered volume, notes on breath, and whispered tone really helped juxtapose their bigger words about hazing and fear of being rejected.

I do greatly enjoy Kane's emphasis on choice in here, matched with his glee on sharing Danger Room magic with folks.

[xp_alias]

The true horror of what they'd said dawning on them

Oh my god lmao

"I don't want to just join another murder cult or be a hitter or whatever again unless it's. Unless it means something."

Kane and Madin's conversation here - Kane's reassurances and Madin's skepticism - are both really well done, and I particularly liked Madin pushing through despite their disbelief, having found something that they feel is worth it.

[xp_icarus]

This is such a great log, I love how obvious the doubt is and how Kane isn't trying to push the questioning one way or another

[xp_catseye]

It says a lot about their background that Madin really expects any kind of training or redemption to involve abuse. Their willingness to potentially subject themselves to that treatment also speaks to their determination to make things right, even if they're not entirely sure how.


"Don't thank me. You made a decision. That's important." Kane said. "It wasn't for us. It was for you."

Yes. Good job, Garrison.

[xp_aero]

This was an excellent read! Really loved the insight into Madin’s character, their hesitancy, their fears of being rejected, as well as Kane’s frankness.