I4DT - Making the rounds

[Ryan Gabriel]

Since they'd recently almost had the world collapse in their backyard, Ryan and the girls had decided that it would probalby be the courteous thing to do to pay a visit to all their families and prove, up front, that yes, they were all safe and well. So, bright and early, they'd been flown across the ocean and had breakfasted at the Avengers' Mansion. And, naturally, that meant that soon after, Ryan was getting put through the paces by his mother.

A gathering of the younger Avengers had formed to watch the show. Ryan's power and his mother's were obviously extremely similar, but utilized very differently. Ryan's use tended more toward speed, using the stunning and disrupting abilities of their lightforce powers, while his mother had more of an affinity to the hot end of the power, and somehow seemed to be able to use it to enhance her strength and durability somewhat.

Sadly, though, as she was showing, she was much more adept at the ranged uses, too, as the gathered audience watched her zap Ryan out of the air. Again.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Thats gotta hurt." Rachel said quietly as she watched Ryan pull out of a death drop.

[Byrna Cooper]

"He'll be okay. I hope."

Be sighed, turning away and plopping down against the wall.

"I'm still not sure we should be here."

[Rachel O'Brien]

"I know, but I think it'll calm our families down a lot to see us." Rachel replied, sitting down beside her "On the other hand...I don't think that listening to a half-hour lecture on what he did wrong fighting the dragon what what Ryan needed to hear. Even if it was 'just like the Pteranodon that I took out in the Savage Land'." she added, frowning.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Oh, come on, can't you just enjoy the show?" Patriot mused, peering through the window into the room.

"The fun doesn't really start until she gets him for the fifth time. Then he really gets pissed," Speed added, having zipped back in next to Patriot with a bag of popcorn.

True to his word, as Ryan fell to the ground he did, as usual, manage to take the fall and roll. He returned fire with absolute ruthlessness, which directed at his own mother meant that yes, he was now officially pissed. She leaped over the blast, showing that he wasn't the only extremely agile member of the family, and Ryan compentsated by widening the blast as he tracked her, finally sending her to the ground instead of him.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Now that, I can enjoy." Rachel said, a hint of not-entirely-nice satisfaction in her voice.

[Byrna Cooper]

"Well, at least she's talking to him.. I bet just giving him a silent treatment would be tons worse.."

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Maybe." Rachel said with a sigh "I just wish there wasn't so much damn drama. The worst part is that they really do care about each other."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"You two are pigs," Hawkeye told Patriot and Speed as she walked in, joining them at the window. A moment later, though, she took a handful of popcorn.

Inside the room, Ryan was in the air again as his mother rolled back to her feet. Both were glowing brightly enough that it almost hurt to look. Ryan was booking at top speed, dodging another few blasts before swooping in and scooping her up, tossing her easily at the far wall of the room.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear looked on, gasping but knowing Ryan's mom was in no real harm.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"She's ok." Rachel said, trying to reassure herself as much as Bear.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Bear was right about that. Jennifer righted herself in midair, catching herself against the wall with her legs and rebounding in a short hop that took her back to her feet. Her return shot, however, caught Ryan directly in the chest, disrupting his flight and sending him flipping through the air, the heat-damaged uniform over his chest smoking.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear was feeling a little better now, even cracking a smile.

"She's giving me a few good ideas, I think."

[Rachel O'Brien]

Rachel winced a bit when she saw the charred uniform "This is starting to get a little serious." she said to Bear "Should we do something?"

[Ryan Gabriel]

The fight was, indeed, getting serious. Ryan landed in a roll, then launched himself across the room at her again, lit up bright enough that it did hurt to look at him, and enough that his moves were impossibly quick. For the first time anyone had seen, he actually threw a punch at his mother. He came in with a flurry of blows, showing that yes, even though he didn't get a chance much to use his hand-to-hand training, he was still good at it.

His mother couldn't match the speed. That was one trick her son had mastered that she'd never been able to duplicate, kudos to him. She did, however, parry the first few blows, duck the fourth, and return with a single powerful kick to his midsection, sending him to the floor again.

At the window, all of the onlooking Avengers winced.

[Rachel O'Brien]

Rachel looked away, closing her eyes "Just tell me when its over." she whispered.

[Byrna Cooper]

"I think we would just.. inflame the situation?"

[Ryan Gabriel]

It appeared to be over, from what they could tell. Ryan was pushing himself to his feet again, and although the soundproofed room didn't let them hear what they were saying, it didn't look friendly or even remotely polite. By the time Ryan had examined his chest, they were both shouting at each other, until Ryan, glowing in fury, stormed out the door, his mother rolling her eyes at his back.

"Wow. Good show today," Patriot mused.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"I think we should try to talk him down." Rachel said to Bear, giving Patriot a disgusted look.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Patriot, who was usually the butt of Ryan's jokes, really didn't seem phased by an angry girlfriend.

RYan, in the meantime, was storming into the locker room, looking ready to murder someone.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear looked up expectantly, hoping Ryan would calm down quickly.

[Ryan Gabriel]

From the sound of slamming locker doors coming from the locker room, Ryan wasn't in a 'calming down' mood. A few minutes later, his mother walked by on her way back to the housing wing with a similar look on her face.

While the girls waited, Patriot slipped past them into the locker room. "'Scuse me. I've got this."

Through the door, all they could hear were muffled voices, Eli's jovial, Ryan's angry. A few minutes later, there was the unmistakeable sound a brawl happening in the locker room.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"I think that we should make sure that Ryan is winning." Rachel said as she stood up and headed to the locker room door.

[Ryan Gabriel]

When the girls came in, they'd see the first row of lockers knocked over, and Ryan and Eli on the ground, both twisted with the other in a choke hold.

"You okay?" Eli grunted.

"Yeah," Ryan gasped. With that, they both let each other go and flopped to the ground.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Are you ok?" Rachel asked, looking at the two young men on the floor.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan glanced over at Eli as Eli stood up. "Anything broken?"

"Nah," he said, reaching down to offer Ryan a hand up. "You?"

"Nah, I'm good," Ryan grunted as he took his hand and pulled himself to his feet. They did the one-armed 'man hug' back slap deal as Ryan stood up, and Eli whispered something in a low voice to Ryan, before giving him a hard slap on the back and heading out the door. Ryan just smirked weakly and took a seat on the bench.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear crossed her arms and sighed, cracking a smile.

"Well, at least that bit is out of your system."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan scowled for a moment at that. "Elizabeth wants to go flying," he said, not meeting anyone's eyes. "I need to go take her up before it's time for dinner, she gets sick if I take her up after she eats."

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Ok" Rachel said dubiously "You should go do that, I'd hate to see a disappointed Elizabeth."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, can't have that." Still, he gave each of them a hug before he headed back out, even if he still looked pretty pissed.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"You girls gonna hang out with us in the rec room?" Eli asked.

"I think I'm going to get some rest." Rachel said "I'll catch you guys later." she gave Bear a quick hug and then headed off to towards their room.

[Ryan Gabriel]

A short while later, Rachel would pass Jennifer coming out of Elizabeth's room, looking roughly just as irritated as Ryan had been.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Hi." Rachel said, not wanting to be rude "Ryan said he was taking Elizabeth flying before dinner."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Jennifer forced a pleasant look. "So I see. She's supposed to be taking a nap, but I suppose I can't expect rules to hold right now, can I," she sighed, in a display of non-irritation that wouldn't fool anyone.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"She can catch up on her sleep when we leave." Rachel said "Which will be tomorrow, so hopefully she won't be too off of her schedule."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"And that means tomorrow she gets to spend the day crying and angry because he isn't here," she answered, trying a little less to sound pleasant now.

[Rachel O'Brien]

Rachel took a deep breath, and bit back the reply that she wanted to make and said "If that happens, just have her call him. We're used to getting calls at 3 am when she's having a meltdown."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Thank you," Jennifer said, forcing a smile, "But I'm well aware of how to take care of my children by now."

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Obviously." Rachel replied "Which would explain why you were trying to kill Ryan earlier."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"He can take it. Or, at least, he should be able to."