2013.07.06 - A New Job

Knocking on Kiden Nixon's door Ben Reilly sighs as it's empty again. Dressed in his a red hoodie, a white fantastic four t-shirt and black shorts he slips back into the main part of the terminal. Sitting at a computer Ben just starts surfing the web. CNN, Wired, all sorts of sites are looked into. More tabs are opened up as the websites for Oscorp and Lexcorp follow suit. Hands run through brown hair as Ben sighs not finding what he's looking for. Sighing again Ben spins in the office chair he's hunkered down in.
Jocelyn has been busy. It isn't that she hasn't been down working with the Young Allies. She's just missed out on a lot of the team action lately. But, that sort of thing happens. The woman had continued to work with some members regularly with training though. Today, Jocelyn is making her way down dressed in a green tank top, a pair of brown shorts, and has the customary soda refill she's bringing for the fridge. She takes it over to the fridge and spots Ben over at the chair.
"Hey there, Ben. You look like you've got a few problems on your mind," the teenager observes casually. She wasn't sure what Ben was up to, but usually spinning in an office chair meant either frustration or boredom, at least in Jocelyn's mind.
Smiling but still spinning he asks, "How are you beautiful? Been a while and you're looking as radiant as ever." Eventually he stops and says, "Bored. Trying to figure things out and hitting brick walls. How about you? Haven't seen you much? Who has absconded away with you and do I need to threaten them that if they don't treat you right I'll hang them from the empire state building?" The threat is playful with tones of seriousness. Ben is fiercely loyal to his friends and would probably do that if they asked.
"I'm doing alright. Mostly I've been keeping busy with finding my way into a college and looking for a part-time job. Shockingly, most places aren't interested in hiring a woman with a background check that shows she jumped a couple years due to 'clerical error' when they've got plenty of other options," Jocelyn comments with a laugh. Ah well, nothing Jocelyn could really do about that.
"What are you working on? Something I can help with?" she asks easily. "And I could ask who has taken you away as well, so I can send Jubilee after them," the teen comments. The compliment Ben gives her does draw a smile from Jocelyn, and she simply accepts it.
"I wish it were Jubilee because I do miss her. I don't see her often enough," that brings up a sad sigh but they did see each other recently. He looks at her, "Seriously if no one has taken away your ability to call yourself single then that's a shame," putting on his best Wash voice, "'Were I unwed I would take you in a manly fashion,'" he pauses, "'Cause yer pretty.'" He shrugs, "Been working with Dr. Richards too much." He looks at her hoping she got the reference, "Just doing some digging finding nothing. And so who has kidnapped you so often?" he smiles watching the woman.
"I'm sure that's a reference to something, but I'm not catching it," Jocelyn offers easily as she steps over to the desk and sits on the edge of it. "Remember, I grew up without the advantage of things like television, movies, or the time to watch them. A lot of pop culture references just go right over my head. I know that because there isn't a lot that goes over my head with my height," the teen points out with an easy grin. She was used to not getting references, so it didn't bother her much. Though Doug had been trying to indoctrinate her with some stuff at least.
"And I'm still single. Nobody specific has been taking me away so often. Just rotten luck that I haven't caught up with you," she offers. She doesn't push the issue of what he's working on. She caught that he'd evaded the question, and if he didn't want to answer it, that was fine. "Most of what I've been doing is the usual. Training, wandering around, and trying to get into a college". She shrugs. "Sounds dull, I'm sure, but it's the usual".
"You. Me. Firefly Marathon. Soda. And a pizza, would do ya say? This way you can get my reference. My place even," he offers with the hopes of alleviating what could be boring nights for her. Plus not seeing Firefly is a crime in Ben's books. At the mention of training Ben sits up and gives her a serious look, "How would you like to make some money?"
"Sure, I'm game for the marathon," Jocelyn says. "Though you'll have to show me where your place is". Especially since she can't invite him over to 'her place'. Rules and all that lovely stuff. Not that she thinks the mutants would freak him out, of course, though she's sure some lovely pranks could be played with some people's powers. Ah well.
"I usually don't turn down opportunities to make money. Tell me more," Jocelyn offers to Ben, waiting to hear what he has to say.
Smiling he looks at her, "I live in one of the apartments in the Baxter Building. If you ever want to visit just swing by and ask the front desk for me." Saying that out loud is weird for Ben. He never really pictured himself living outside of the shitty apartment he had for ages. Now to say he lives in the Baxter building still has a rags to riches quality to it. And speaking of riches, "I want you to teach me combat. One-on-one, no class. Just me and you. I'll match the prices of any premium school that would offer the same thing." Brown eyes watch Jocelyn as the offer is tossed out to her. Hopefully she would not be freaked out too much by such an offer.
"I don't need money to teach you how to fight," Jocelyn says easily. "You're a teammate. I don't charge teammates money for education that helps me out almost as much as them," Jocelyn offers. She gestures to the man to stand up. "You know some basics at least. I've seen you in a fight. But first I'm going to have to know a bit about what you can do in order to teach you properly," she says. "Then we get into the training plan". Jocelyn did know a fair bit about this subject. She does make a note of where he lives. That's easy enough for her to find.
Smiling he rises, "I insist. I want to learn and I know you do a class but I want to be able to learn at my own pace. That's why I'm willing to pay," he offers looking at her. "So tell me what I need to do," he gets in a striking stance which is okay at best. His fist aren't clenched right but his form is good. Looking at her he nods looking at her hoping he is doing okay.
"Well, the first thing I need to determine are how strong, agile, and tough you are," Jocelyn says. "Wouldn't have to on most people, but it makes a makes a difference for people who have levels beyond what non-powered people have. Part of learning to fight is control. So we'll determine that. Then we'll have a quick spar so I can determine where you're at in terms of skill. You're no rookie, and I need to know not only exactly how good you are, but what habits you've got, good and bad. Then I'll come up with a plan," Jocelyn explains.
"So, first things first," Jocelyn states, moving over near the area that the Young Allies tend to practice their powers. "I want you to punch me as hard as you can. Don't hold back". She pauses. "And I can heal myself. So don't worry about the whole hitting a girl thing. I'll be fine".
Nodding to the woman Ben suddenly pulls at some fast strikes putting all of his speed and force into them. He looks at her as he does. Then on instict a kick comes out as he is used to a one-two combo followed by a kick. Looking at her he blushes a little, "I don't mind hitting a girl because you know how to fight back. Hell you could probably kick my ass even with the powers going. To be honest," he offers an honest smile to the woman.
The first two punches are taken as Jocelyn enhances her physical abilities, and while Ben puts all his force behind it, Jocelyn just stands there, taking the blows without any reaction. She's watching to see how quickly he moves, and she determines that so far, that was definitely his biggest asset. The kick is dodged as the girl reacts incredibly fast, shifting just enough to avoid being struck.
"Good. I've worked with some people who get all nervous about hitting a girl," Jocelyn explains. "Now I've got an idea of how much force you can dish out. Now I'm going to punch you a few times. Let me know when the punch actually hurts," the teen says. She then attempts to punch Ben in the stomach a few times until he tells her the punch actually hurts him. "Also, you wear your suit in most fights. Does your suit provide more protection against blunt strikes than your natural toughness?" Jocelyn questions.
Ben stands there taking it for a while but he starts to falter after a while. What Jocelyn will note is that he's about as durable as any other well trained non-powered human in a fight. Seeing how Jocelyn dodges the kick still sticks in Ben's mind he tries to dissect how she avoids it. Nodding to the question about protection, "Red suit provides as much protection as any leotard will provide. Black costume will stop up to military grade assault weapons. I think. I know it stops a spread shot. Haven't exactly had someone stand up with various grades of weaponry shooting at me. I'm not a fan of bullets," he smiles to the woman. Looking to the woman he says with a huff, "What's next teach?"
"Alright," Jocelyn says. "So now I have an idea of where you fall in what you can take and dish out". The woman takes note of the bit with the black suit. "And you don't lose mobility or agility in it, as I recall, which is good, as that's your greatest asset in a fight. Now we're going to actually spar a bit," Jocelyn says. "I want to see what your current fighting style is, and see what strengths and weaknesses you have. What needs to be learned and unlearned, things like that".
Jocelyn then moves to take up a defensive stance, waiting for Ben to come at her. She'll let him puzzle out how she was able to dodge his kick for a bit.
Rushing toward the woman Ben tries to flip driving his legs downward into like a spinning axe kick. A blow that would be devastated if he connects it yet potentially disastrous if the moves misses the mark. Any miss would leave Ben vulnerable and open for quick counter attacks. When he lands, if he misses, a plethora of quick strikes go toward Jocelyn. One of the advantages of being faster than the average human is being able to counter potential counters. Sadly Jocelyn is pretty trained and could probably move out of the way with little to no difficulty. Ben obviously has training in gymnastics or something like it as it's incorporated into the fighting but the technique lacks. He can land strikes and kicks, but due to poor they could probably be stronger.
Opening with a flip? Jocelyn mentally ticks something in her head as she steps backwards. Planting her left foot, she lashes out with her right leg in an attempt to strike Ben right in the chest with a kick in an attempt to hit him while he's prone from the flip and also to keep him from having any clear punching shots. Part of the advantage of being able to see energy is having a slight idea of where an opponent is directing their kinetic energy. With that going up against Ben's Spider Sense and both of their augmented agility, it would make for an interesting spar.
As for her strikes, Jocelyn is slightly pulling her attacks to just where she found Ben's threshold of pain. If she went all out against him with her strength and actually connected, she'd probably do some serious damage, and she'd rather not do that.
Air leaves his lungs as a foot plants itself on the chest. He breathes hard while thinking, "Stupid move." The kick didn't hurt much but a sudden strike to the chest would do wonders to anyone. Looking at her he tries to take the defensive while panting a bit trying to stay upright. He hoped a breather wouldn't be needed mid-spar. Most bad guys heated the mid-fight timeout.
Taking a breather already? Jocelyn moves forward, taking the offensive now, and feints to the left with a punch. However, the real attack is when Jocelyn attempts to grab Ben's arm with her right hand. If successful, she's going to give the man's arm a twist while trying to pull him down so she can deliver a knee to the same spot she landed the kick. She's going for relatively simple moves here, just to judge Ben's defensive capabilities.
Slowly Ben's breathe is returning and the spider-sense kicks in. Time slows down as the feint strike comes he pushes Jocelyn's right arm away before it can grab his. Pushing the woman's arm should expose her right side. With the ribs exposed Ben tries to go in hard with several strikes to that area.
That was better. Jocelyn takes a few punches to the side before she lashes out with her left arm in an attempt to catch one of Ben's wrists. If she catches his wrist, the tall woman is going to attempt to pull Ben forward, towards her, and give him a faceful of her right forearm in an attempt to put him down on the ground. If Ben is observant, he may notice that Jocelyn is trying to use her height to leverage her attacks against Ben while also controlling the distance between them during the fight.
Taking note of her height Ben doesn't see his left hand get grabbed. And since the attack isn't a surprise attack the senses are mute. As he is tugged in close Ben gets a kick in to Jocelyn's knee seconds before eating forearm. The kick wouldn't stop the feeding but it would create chaos for their next moves as pain would set in for each: an aching face for Ben and a sore knee for his teacher
Taking the shot to the knee, Jocelyn attempts to wrap her right arm around Ben's neck and tries to pull him down onto the ground by dropping down herself, intending to put the man on his back with the girl looking over at him. She didn't intend to go easy on Ben in their training, after all, and she wanted that to be clear from the first spar. After all, they were training to ultimately fight supervillains, and they wouldn't hold back. Besides, Jocelyn wasn't going to do any serious damage to the man. Nothing that she couldn't fix with her healing, anyway.
Seeing the right arm go for him Ben ducks and moves forward. Using his strength and momentum he tries to back body drop Jocelyn. He's trying to flip her onto the ground by ducking his head down then pushing her up and over with his back. Hopefully it would work. If it doesn't Ben would have an exposed back to her that would cause some take down and hold problems.
Not a bad idea against a taller opponent. Jocelyn spots the man ducking and going for the move, however. It was one that got used on her a lot. So Jocelyn brings her arms up and attempts to slam them down into his shoulders in an attempt to just push him down onto the ground once he goes for the flip. It would come down to strength vs. strength here, and they were pretty even in that regard right now, so the question was who was going to give first?
Falling down from the strike Ben cries out then grins wickedly. A new plan comes to mind and he quickly slaps both palms as hard as he can into the same knee that took the earlier kick. Hopefully this would be enough to take the big woman down. If Jocelyn isn't going to pull many punches then he would follow suit.
Well, yes. Jocelyn will drop to one knee when Ben slams his palms into her knee, but she has the foresight to attempt to put her forearm against the back of Ben's neck as they fall and attempt to put some notable, but not knockout-level pressure on the back of it. It was one of those universal signals for, if she managed it, offering him a chance to yield the fight. Because the neck, for everyone, was a vulnerable spot that often meant you were out of the fight if it was struck right.
Feeling the pressure against his neck Ben cries out then tries to strike at the knee then the woman's foot. He is seeing this as an actual fight. Jocelyn wanted to see how someone would do and so Ben is fighting with honest desperation as he knows there's a potential final nail going into his coffin. He isn't the type to give willingly the first time either. Like most men, Ben's a stubborn lot.
Jocelyn had her full defensive strength up, and that meant in terms of raw damage, it generally took roughly the impact of a nuke to damage her. Or repeated strikes to the same location. So she winces at the knee strike, but keeps the pressure on Ben's neck, not budging from where she is. "You yield, Ben?" Jocelyn asks with a small growl. Despite the pressure, Jocelyn is being very careful not to actually do serious damage. She knows exactly how much pressure the man's body could probably take, because it was about the same as her own.
And there's the question. The same question asked by many movie villains in fighting movies. Just like all the movie good guys before him Ben lets out a defiant cry taking another shot at the knee and then another. Pain causes his vision to blur then everything goes white before his final cry is a feint one before everything goes limp. Ben is now out cold on the floor.
Checking his pulse, Jocelyn will put her hands on Ben's shoulders to heal him of his injuries. Well, better he learn that being stubborn wasn't going to win him any points in practice. Some men could just be so troublesome. She won't heal herself, however. Ben did deserve to see that he has done some damage to Jocelyn, after all. She felt that was more than fair.
"Stubbornness, Ben Reilly, is good only up to a point," she comments basically to herself, as Ben was out cold. But he shouldn't be out cold for long, not with the healing dose she gave him.
Coming back too within moments thanks to the healing he picks himself up and looks at her, "You won that round." Breathing out hard he sits on the ground and looks at her, "Next lesson?" Hopefully she wouldn't be too mad about his stubbornness.
"The point wasn't to win. The point was to assess," Jocelyn offers to Ben. "You're stubborn, which is good in many cases, but not always. If I had been of a mind to, I could have crushed your neck there, obviously. What we start working on next is the flow of attack and defense," she says, standing up. For her part, she's not yet healing her injuries. "Stand up when you've caught your breath," she says. "But watch".
Jocelyn then starts going into a series of six punches. Left jab. Right punch. Left punch. Left jab. Left jab. Right forearm strike. She repeats the series a few times.
"Try it," Jocelyn says. "It seems simple, but trust me. Do it twenty times in sequence and just start to feel the flow of it," she tells him.
Nodding Ben goes through the six motions slow knowing Jocelyn would be like Myagi. If something is wrong with his Wax-Off, or whatever this is, she would put it out in a similar fashion. By the third time he starts to speed it up but can tell this would hurt again. He keeps up the motions looking at her after the fourth. The fifth goes on strong. While he hurts a little the sixth goes. Then the seventh comes. Eventually his body would be sore and he knew that. Yet he would only stop at Jocelyn's command.
"Good," Jocelyn says once Ben finishes the twenty repetitions. "Watch". She does a simple set of three moves. Right punch. Left punch. Right knee. "Repeat this sequence. Twenty times". Why Jocelyn was showing him this? She wasn't into explaining quite yet. She would shortly, however. Most likely. But not right away. For now, she was content to let Ben work.
"Yes Sensei," he says then goes through the motions although his arms are a little sore. Ben doesn't let up until all twenty are done. He waits for the next command knowing twenty more things would probably be called upon. At least if martial arts movies were somewhat accurate about training.
There is a nod from Jocelyn. Then she starts wordlessly making motions again.
Left jab. Right punch.
Those were the first two movements of the first set. Jocelyn then adds in the series of movements from the second set, taking away the initial Right Punch.
Left punch. Right knee.
This is followed by the rest of the initial series. Left punch. Left jab. Left jab. Right forearm strike.
"See how the series of motions flow together. You can teach yourself certain combinations of movements. While this seems predictable, what it does is that if you can mix and match several of them on the fly, it means you have familiarity always available in an ever-changing environment that is difficult for your opponent to predict. Try it".
"So it's like a puzzle or a transformer. Different combinations to link it all together into something big or new," he nods doing a one two strike followed by a forearm on then into a knee strike. This motion is repeated until he changes with a series of knee strikes, a push followed by forearm strikes. Again he the motion is continued. Going through whatever combination he can think of Ben just tries to keep changing the motions into new striking patterns.
"Do this formation for the twenty times," Jocelyn instructs. "You don't want to add too many too soon. It's a good way to overwhelm yourself. Stick with a handful to practice. Find some that mix well together. That is your first actual lesson," Jocelyn tells him. "Next time, we'll see what you've found, and we'll see how we can improve on it". She didn't need to teach Ben how to punch or kick or anything like that. She needed to teach him the ways of thinking in a fight, and this was the first step. That was what she had discovered.
"Also, in general, I would advise never opening a fight in which your opponent is aware of you with a flip. It's a high risk move that can leave you open to a hard response".
Smirking to the woman he gives a nod, "Trust me. I noticed," he says with a smile. "You kind of kicked my ass using that move there...," a blush runs through his face as he looks at Jocelyn.
"I'm not going to go easy on you, Ben. Frankly, I expect that during our training sessions, you're going to hate me. But you'll approve of the results in the end. You'll become a more disciplined fighter without losing that impromptu nature of yours that can be quite the weapon," Jocelyn offers to the man. "But sometimes it pays to have the discipline first, and then get the impromptu stuff down," she suggests.
Smirking at Jocelyn, "I could never hate you but I may want to kick your ass a few times. I can see this now," a cheerful smile is given to her. He nods listening to anything else she may have to say. Knowing dispcipline is the key this is why he came to her in the first place with the idea.
"I did say during the training sessions," Jocelyn offers. "If you want to try and learn how to increase some of your physical abilities, I can try to help you with that, though you're going to have a tough time finding a weight set to accomodate you. Olympians even usually only need, at most, two thousand pounds worth of weight plates," Jocelyn offers with a small grin.
"I've got that at home. Place trains me, Ben Grimm and the Sensational She-Hulk. I'm good there," he smiles then gives the woman a nod. Being the whole super strong nerd is still a new concept to Ben. "Thank you for this by the way. I know I'll want to hurt you at certain points but this is all to make me better. So thank you again," he nods to the woman.
"I'm jealous. I lack any weight plates for when I max my strength out. Though I can still use normal plates when I don't use my powers. With them, I get up around fifty tons worth of lifting strength when I need it". Which she very obviously was not using on Ben in their spar. "And it's no big deal. Three times a week training you for starters, and you'll get 'homework' between each session. It'll help you for the next one though, I promise," Jocelyn tells Ben with a n easy grin.
"I think I've only seen She-Hulk once or twice before. When the whole mess with Namor was going down," Jocelyn observes.
Smirking he asks, "Wanna just be my workout partner and swing by Baxter Building to work out. You can meet Grimm and She-Hulk," Ben nods sagely looking at her.
 
"Well, I fear that I'd be at an odd position, as I can't keep up with your weight at all without my powers active, and I don't really gain strength from using my powers to lift," Jocelyn offers to Ben with an easy grin. "But if you don't mind that I'd be using way less weight than you, then that works for me," Jocelyn tells the man.
"It's just the company and pushing each other no matter the weight settings that are used." A smile is tossed at her again and he gives a smile ot the woman again.
"Works for me then. What time?" Jocelyn asks Ben. She'd have to make sure she knew when to swing by for the sessions, because she didn't want to show up at the wrong time. She missed having a lifting partner, to be honest, and even if Ben would be way stronger than her, it wasn't that different than being in the gym back in Detroit, she supposed. Just a difference in scale.
Nodding he gives off a time for tomorrow afternoon, "That work? I'm pretty versatile. As long as you give me a heads up and Reed doesn't make something explode I can work my schedule around yours. So you say there and I will be there with bells on!" A joyful smile pulls at his lips.
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