Haroun and Sam

[x-cannonball.livejournal.com]

Sam and Haroun in the Danger Room. Haroun wants to find out more about Sam's new trick with his blast field, Sam's frustrated about Haroun's taunting and still steaming over Haroun taking Alison to the HeliX ball. There is experimenting, plenty of harassment by Haroun, and at the end Haroun invites Sam along to the volleyball game being planned. For someone whose genitalia got burned off, Haroun sure can be a dick.



Haroun stood among a truly impressive pile of _stuff_. Wooden boards, cinderblocks, slabs of various-thickness ice, sheet metal, and even a Kevlar vest or two. "Samuel!" Haroun cried out to Sam as he walked in. "I understand you've developed a new trick! Time to quantify it. Go get changed, meet me back out here in five."

Sam grimaced. He'd had a hunch that Haroun would find out about his new "trick" with his power sooner or later. And, just like his ability to fly, now Haroun was about to find out that Sam had only a minimum of control over its use. As he changed, Sam just hoped that Haroun hadn't found out the reason _why_ his new aspect to his powers had manifested.

Cain hadn't been forthcoming with the details, but then again he rarely ever was. As Sam changed, Haroun tried to bite down on a seething heap of jealousy. Damn the boy! Damn his blast field! To take his mind off of things, he adjusted his slow-motion camera and his speed-and-pressure sensors, to make sure that the maximum amount of data would be captured. Besides, the more data he had, the easier it would be for the Big Brain Club to reverse-engineer his blast field and replicate it.

After a few minutes, Sam returned to the Danger Room in uniform, the aviator goggles that Paige had given him riding high on his forehead. He tried not to think about Paige and the argument they'd had too much. He imagined Haroun would provide more than enough frustration to fuel his new ability.

"Good. You stand there." he said, pointing to a taped-off X on the floor. "I'll set up various objects, and your job is to destroy them. I'll be capturing data, and when it's all said and done we'll have Moira look at it and see what she can make of things. And we'll also have a better idea for how hard you can hit. First up is good old-fashioned wood. I know you can do this one, there's a dead tree in the firewood pile to attest to that."

Haroun's patronizing tone caused the blood to simmer through Sam's veins and he flexed his fingers as he stood on the X. "It was a one-time thing, Haroun, and Ah'm not precisely sure how it happened that time," he said slowly and deliberately.

"Way Cain tells it, you got good and pissed-off before you gave that tree the what-for. Since your family all has other engagements..." he stressed the word slightly "... I figure that I'd just have to step up to the plate on this one. Now, do you think that you can activate your blast field all by yourself?" taunted Haroun.

The taunt about 'other engagements' was entirely unnecessary. Sam was simmering enough just at the look on Haroun's face, and vivid remembrance of just how close Haroun had danced with Alison at the HeliX ball, and the numerous times that Haroun had flown circles around him in training...the log that Haroun had placed in front of him flew across the room, neatly split in half, and both pieces slammed into the far wall with a pair of resounding clangs.

Haroun grinned. "Not too bad, Guthrie. Not too bad. Let's try cinderblock next. Think you've still got that fire in your belly?" he smirked as he set up the block on the target - then checked to make sure that he was capturing good data.

The main problem with relying on rage to fuel a new aspect to one's power is that such strong feelings can cause problems with aim and consistency. As Sam pulled back his left leg to kick at the cinderblock, his blast field flared around his right leg, causing him to fly a few feet into the air and backwards, and he barely managed to avoid landing gracelessly on his stomach, crouching on all fours.

Haroun almost smothered his snicker, but then decided to let it out. So he did. At length. "That was quite possibly one of the most graceful things I've ever seen, Guthrie." he said around snickers. "Would you like to try that again, this time using the _correct_ leg?"

~Not gonna snap at him. Not gonna snap at him...~ Sam kept repeating this mantra to himself. He was committed to not rising to Haroun's baiting, much as he might like to put a blast-field punch right through the Arab's midsection. He returned to the X, and the cinderblock flew in pieces toward the far wall, exploding into powder upon impact.

Haroun grinned. "Good! Good speed, good control, very nice power. Now let's try something a little more fun..." he said, then wheeled the sheet of ice onto the target area. It had to be at least six inches thick, and already slick from starting to melt from the heat of the Danger Room. "Think you can turn it into ice shavings?" Haroun asked. "You're two for two so far."

To be honest, Haroun's praise stung possibly worse than his taunting. Turning from the hip, he drove his fist toward the sheet of ice, attempting to channel his blast field into a punch. However, his blast field had other ideas, and simply did not activate, and Sam grunted as his fist slammed into the ice. A grimace crossed his face as he attempted not to shake his hand in pain, not wanting to show weakness in front of Haroun.

Haroun quirked both his eyebrows. "The objective, Samuel, is to use your _power_ to break the ice. Not your bare hand. Do you need to go to Medical to get that looked at, or do you think you can carry on? Now, step back for a second." he ordered, and shouldered his way onto the data-capture spot. "This is how you break ice bare-handed." he said, before slamming a punch through the block of ice. While it didn't break cleanly, the slab was quite visibly fractured through-and-through. "Voila."

Shouldering Haroun out of the way without a word, Sam grimaced and gathered himself for a moment. Then, bringing both fists forward from his hip in a move reminiscent of the Street Fighter "hadoken" fireball, he slammed fire-wreathed fists into the sheet, scattering thousands of fragments across the floor. Returning ot a ready position, he resisted the urge to hum the 'anything you can do I can do better' song from Annie Get Your Gun.

Haroun grinned. He didn't really _like_ torturing Guthrie, but it got results. Well, OK, he did enjoy it. He'd make his apologies to God later. "Nice. Now, think you can do that on an undamaged block?" he said, removing the frame for the now-broken slab of ice and pushing a fresh slab into place.

Sam closed his eyes and tried to breathe normally. He recognized that relying on rage and frustration was not the way to unlock this new aspect to his power. Opening his eyes, he aimed a strong side kick at the block of ice. Amazingly enough, his blast field flared up, though not as strong as the first few times. The block split cleanly down the middle, though it did not shatter. Sam put his foot down and stared at the block, amazed that it had actually worked.

Haroun nodded. "So you can do it when calm, if you try." he said. "Good." He wheeled the ice away, and in its place he put in a sheet of steel, maybe an eighth of an inch thick. "Now we have some fun. I've got Medical on a panicbutton, so if your hand goes, we'll get it treated straightaway. You don't have to do this one - we've got enough data to do some analysis on. But I think that you should. Choice is yours."

Sam assessed the steel. He had to admit he was feeling a sense of confidence from being able to break the ice while calm, but steel was another story. Still, he wasn't going to quit before Haroun. Standing ready at the taped X, he rolled his shoulders and stared at the metal. His blast field flared around his hand, and he punched. While he did not break through the metal, he did leave a very well-defined dent in it.

Haroun quirked both his eyebrows again. "Not bad, Guthrie. Not bad at all. Next time, drive your hip into the punch. Get the whole body involved. I know you've been taught this stuff, use it." Haroun demonstrated what he was talking about with a quick punch of his own, getting his legs, hips, back, and arms all working together to drive the punch forwards. "Do you want to try it again?"

Sam shrugged. "Shoulder feels a little tender from that last one. Ah think Ah made some good progress, and it gives me someplace to go with workin' on it." He rolled the shoulder in question, massaging it gently with the other hand.

Haroun nodded. "Makes sense. The blast field protected your hand, but not the shoulder behind it. Have to watch that, you could do yourself some real damage that way. I think the Doc's going to have enough here to work with. If we need more, we'll redo up to ice, OK?"

Sam nodded. "Works for me." As much as Haroun got under his skin, he had to admit that the man knew where the lines were. "Ah'm gonna hit the shower now, then ice the shoulder down. If we're done?" he asked politely.

Haroun shook his head. "Not quite. Sit." he said, pointing to a stool. "Let me take a look at that shoulder. Then you can go hit the showers and ice that joint. If it's still sore tomorrow, I had better hear that you'd reported to Medical first thing, you understand me?" growled Haroun

"Yes, sir," Sam replied goodnaturedly. "Ah don't have a Medlab phobia like some of the folk 'round here seem to. If it hurts, Ah go talk to one of the docs. No fussin' necessary." He sat obligingly on the stool.

"Knew you'd be reasonable." Haroun said. "Now, where's the shoulder hurt?" he asked as he started to poke at it with what seemed like a grip of _steel_.

Sam grunted and carefully schooled his expression so as not to wince and show weakness to Haroun. "There," he said after a particularly painful probe. "And there."

Haroun massaged out some of the tension in the shoulder as best he could. Sam never flinched or winced - he liked that about the kid. Stoic, like a man should be. "Make sure you ice those places after your shower." Haroun instructed. "Oh, and before you go - I've got a question for you. Somewhat personal, not team-related."

Sam paused on his way to the door. If it was about Alison...he kept his features carefully neutral as he turned. "Personal?" he asked. "What exactly's on your mind, Haroun?"

Haroun grinned, his scary-crazy-insane grin. "You play volleyball at all?" he asked.

Grinning back despite himself, Sam shook his head at the look on Haroun's face. "Volleyball? In October?" He raised an eyebrow for a moment before thinking it through. "Oh. Right. Storm. Yeah, Ah play. Lookin' to put together a game?"

Haroun nodded. "Yep. Two-on-two. You and me vs Scott and whoever he gets to be his partner. At a guess, I'd say Nathan, or maybe Alex. I'm fairly sure Ororo will be willing to make sure we have the perfect weather for it. May even be a powered game."

A chuckle answered Haroun. "Ah'll be there. Just let me know when and where, and Ah'm game." And with that, he turned and exited, heading for the showers.