Issue 1 Downtime

The area that the X-Corp van pulled up at was... well, 'nondescript' would be too polite. If it was bigger, it could have been called a wasteland. As it was, it just looked like the aftermath of a few bombs hitting an area that hadn't had anything to be blown up anyway. It was all loose dirt, rocks... nothing important.

Except for the man walking into it, away from a duffel bag that was padlocked shut.

Callie hadn't been told why she was being brought here. Just that Cassiel had asked them to bring her there, and that hey, it would get her out of her holding cell for a few hours.

Callie looked curious, but kept quiet. She was under no illusions about her position here. One screwup would be all it would take to get her locked back up for good.

"Ms. Shah," he said, not pronouncing her name wrong like so many did. "I saw what you did to the interrogation center. Even through power dampeners. I have to say, I was impressed."

"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's exploding, sir," Callie says.

"Good," he said. "Because you're going to be getting better at it. Specifically, exploding exactly when you want to, exactly how you want to, and exactly what you want to, and how hard you want to."

"Normally, we'd be doing this in a Danger Room. But since it's broken, we've got a good excuse to do this the real way."

He looked her over, giving her a mental once-over as well.

As instructed, Callie had come dressed in the standard issue training outfit. She had been keeping up on her exercise, so she was still in good shape, but her stance lacked some of the confidence and stubborn nature that she had before everything had gone to hell.

Mentally, she was....well, she didn't have anyone controlling her anymore. She was still a bit of a mess. She had been betrayed and it had really hurt her. She was confused, angry, and all sorts of other conflicting emotions.

"So, you just want me to....what? Blow everything up?"

"Only when you want to, in the end," he said. "Some of us get the people-friendly mutations that look good on paper, are great for public relations, and essentially make them feel great to use every day."

"On the other hand, some of us are just given really good ways to smash the hell out of things."

"There's nothing wrong with either. But when you're given a really easy way to do damage, something that ends up being needed pretty often around here, you've got three choices. You can shut it down and learn to keep it under lock and key, so no one gets hurt by it. You can do what you can when it's needed, with... hopefully decent results, while keeping things under wraps as well as you can. Or you can work at it and get good at using it. Not because you want to blow things up, not because you're a bully or an overly violent person, but because you can, and if you don't, that's going to be one less person making sure things get done right."

"Your call which way you're going to go. I'll help you whichever way... but I need an answer."

Callie looked at her hands thoughtfully. Weirdly, she was thinking of Victoria.

"I want to get control," Callie says finally, "I want to get better so I can help people."

"Good."

"Well, then, you're going to hate me. You're going to hate me, you're going to hate these sessions, and you're going to hate this place."

"And hopefully, afterward, you're going to thank me for it anyway."

"Now... your power makes you basically indestructable, right? At least as far as brute force goes?"

"Pretty much. I haven't come across anything that has been able to do any real damage," Callie says.

"How hard have you tried?"

"At Muir, they made it a point to try to test my limits," Callie says, "But they could only go so far. I've been hit by blasts that could punch through a foot of concrete and shrugged it off. Right before I exploded at least."

"So 'not very hard.' Well, we'll fix that."

"These sessions are going to have three segments. Control, usage, and combat training. In control, we're going to work on testing and pushing your limits. Get you able to take bigger hits, store more energy, and let it out more directly or more controledly. Usage is going to focus on finding new applications of your power, and making them work right. And combat training is going to be just what it sounds like. You pick a combat style that suits you, you get the basics put into your brain, and we drill them until you're good with them. We'll move on to firearms training sometime after you can hold your own by hand."

"Firearm training?" Callie asks, sounding surprised, "Why would I need that?"

"Because there are some jobs for a sniper rifle and not a tac-nuke," he said. "Also because being familiar with weapons is going to give you a better idea what you're up against, how much of a threat it is, and how to neutralize it when you come up against somebody who's armed."

"...Alright," Callie says, "That makes sense. I guess."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yes. For now? Don't hold back. If you can hurt me... well, then I'll buy you a drink when we're done."

"Are you ready?"

"When you are," Callie says.

It was true, Callie had been tested with force that could shatter concrete. Cassiel, though, had been giving blows like that when he was her age. The opening blast he gave her would have taken out three feet of concrete, and possibly something standing on the other side of it, too.

Energy crackled around Callie. The force was enough to overload her instantly, but she hadn't been knitting doilies her entire time at Muir Island. She absorbed the hit and directed the blast of her explosion in Cassiel's general direction.

"Good!" he said, grinning fiercely as he was blasted back, skidding several yards through the dirt. He shifted his stance to attack again. "Now try to hold it in a moment this time. Look around for a target, see how many seconds you can take to aim."

"Fine. You want to see what I can do?" Callie asks, bracing herself, "Come at me."

And so he came at her. Just as powerful as before, this time sending a stream of rocks along with the blast, which in all honesty really only served to block her view of him.

This time Callie directed the blast downward, launching herself into the air and out of the avalanche of stone.

Cassiel watched her go up into the air and, knowing that she couldn't actually fly, stood where he was, wondering how far out she'd planned this one.

Twisting in mid-air, Callie's legs explode launching her towards Cassiel like a cannonball.

"Very good!" he said. He threw a punch that was followed by a wake of telekinetic energy to counter her kamikaze attack. Let's see if she kept a little energy...

Callie met the punch with a hit of her own, letting loose the last of her explosive energy as she collided with Cassiel.

Shields or not, Cassiel found himself being blasted back across the ground.

He pushed himself up, looking over at her as he peeled himself off the ground. "You know, part of me wonders if you've done this before," he said as he got back to his feet.

"Mutant jail isn't as peaceful as you'd think," Callie says, getting back to her feet after being blown aside by the blast.

"Depends on which ones. Usually the ones with fights have more breakouts. Lucky me."

"So, is that what you'll have me doing? Hunting mutant criminals?" Callie asks.

"I don't know what you'll be doing with me," he said. "We never really do know. X-Force handles the things that need to be done quickly, finally, and unofficially. It's never officially sanctioned, it's practically never legally tolerated, but it almost always exists, because for one reason or another, there will always be a need for people that can get the job done quickly, efficiently, and even brutally. We're the final answer, when no other answer can be found."

"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The X-Team," Callie says.

"Oh, we can find them. If this is too silly for you, though, I can have the van take you back."

"Before this I was running a bunch of orphans that thought they were the Brotherhood," Callie says, "This is much saner."