Alex needed to blow off some steam, he was feeling trapped, claustrophobic. Unfortunately since he couldn't go out like he usually would, house arrest seeing to that, he was left with little to do. He could continue studying, see if he could get Jiri or Leo to play some soccer with him, or he could continue his training.

The last option was preferable. He needed to be alone for a little while, clear his head. Thankfully there was space enough in one of the small gym areas the school had set up. The physical training he did with Hades was enjoyable enough to burn through the nervous energy.

Still he wished he had the man here with him. Hades might have something smart to say about all this. Maybe something that would calm this nervous tide that threatened to over take him. The trial loomed overhead, the lawyers on both sides taking up arms. It was tiring to think about and only conjured up bad memories.

Bad memories that he had to hide from Jiri on a nightly bases. Distract him from the flickering images in his head at night and ignore the questions that came in the morning. Jiri already knew about the one event that shall not be named. He didn't know the worst of it but he was sure the other teen had a fair idea of it. He didn't want to ask what he thought, he was sure it was completely out of Jiri's depth.

Then there was Leo, he wasn't sure what to think of the non-mutant, the only human in the school. It was weird but after running away he hadn't spent much time with anybody who wasn't a mutant. It just wasn't in the cards for him. People like Leo had been so far removed from where he was, he wasn't even sure where to begin. He wanted to like the guy, like he liked Jiri but there seemed to be a wall between them. For now a least, he needed to work past that.

It took him a while to realize that he had been moving through the motions. Body matching the forms and steps Hades had taught him not too long ago. One move flowing through to another. The interesting part was the more he worked at it, the less he had to think about it. He supposed that's why his mind moved on to other things, other problems.

Thinking back on it, this was probably what allowed Hades to take care of so many targets at once. He still struggled with one person. He didn't know the name of the man he killed, either of them, but they had been bigger and stronger than him. Two thinks he needed to not have that happen ever again.

Hades returned from a job overseas. Well to be more specific he had just made an African warlord "disappear". On his way back to one of his safe houses he was scanning the news feeds when who should he see than Alex. When he got to the safe house he initiated a number of web crawler programs to gather further information.He read the various news reports about the incident, obtained footage from security cameras. He read the AMA session that Alex had done online and even watched the footage of when he had "Skyp-ed" the world. Then after some tracking that did not require much effort he located Alex who was apparently under house arrest in the Mansion.

He felt that Alex had handled himself well but also realized that in the increasingly polarized city of NY, there were those would, and indeed already had, brand Alex as a murder and yet another example of a dangerous mutant that had to be put down. And then there was the issue of interrupted training. Shortly afterwards well qualified martial arts instructor and self defense trainer Kevin Wong requested permission to continue training one of his students on the Mansion grounds. Kevin had many good references, and recommendations from military sources as well. Under that name Hades had helped train a number of special forces units, but which units and for what, well... that was classified. Kevin was duly granted permission to continue training his student while at the school.

Back to the present. Hades/Kevin watched from the shadows as Alex ran through the moves, he was improving. Walking forward into the light he cleared his throat and announced himself. "Good day Alex, I am Kevin Wong your self defense instructor, I am here to continue your training, you may call me Mr Wong." Saying that he tossed Alex a dull and blunted training dagger and said "On Guard."

Kevin advanced towards Alex and started attacking him with the same moves that he had taught Alex albeit slowly. He wanted to see if Alex could figure out the correct response moves. A few times he would stop mid swing and say things like  "No Alex, try move 6." Slowly they got into a rhythm. After half an hour or so Kevin started to speed up his moves. He increased the speed so that Alex was not overwhelmed but was continually challenged. Suddenly he launched a triple attack that pushed forward against Alex's stance, then he backed off and repeated. What he was doing was testing Alex's stance and how well he maintained it. Each time he pushed Alex off his stance Alex did reset, which was good, but he did not reset to as good of a stance as before. After the third repeat Kevin saw that Alex's stance was so weak that he tripped Alex with a low kick then immobilized him while pressing his own training dagger to Alex's throat. "Yield" he said simply before helping Alex to his feet. "You need to maintain you stance better Alex. After each successive reset, your stance got worse. Other than that well done, you are learning. "

"Good day Alex, I am Kevin Wong your self defense instructor, I am here to continue your training, you may call me Mr Wong."

The voice startled Alex from his concentration by the appearance of Hades. Well the man looked enough like Hades, the face was a little different and the accent more Asian. But it was definitely Hades. But he wasn't addressing him like they had already spent time together. The man was only acting as the instructor. True, it wasn't like he and Hades were all that close. But was sure the man must have some questions.

He didn't get a chance to ask for any clarification of what was going on. A training dagger was tossed to him, dulled and blunted thus harmless. "On Guard." Alex took up the guard stance and soon they were going through the moves together. Though this time against, rather than side by side. Each move was tested and countered, corrected and reaffirmed.

Things ramped up at an equal pace, matching that hard but fair mentality that Hades had. Still he couldn't seem to keep up, his mind started drifting elsewhere. Backwards in time, backwards in mindset. He couldn't really shake it. No matter how hard he tried he always panic in some form or another. And he always ended up flat on his back.

He stared up at Hades, no Mr. Wong, panting and with dull blade pressed to his throat. "Yield." He layed down his weapon at the command and took the offered hand up.

"You need to maintain you stance better Alex. After each successive reset, your stance got worse. Other than that well done, you are learning."

He nodded, catching his breath before speaking, "Right, uh...why are you here? I abandoned my training, I messed up when I left. I thought I wouldn't see you again. Not that I don't like you here, appreciate it. I just gotta ask."

>"Right, uh...why are you here? I abandoned my training, I messed up when I left. I thought I wouldn't see you again. Not that I don't like you here, appreciate it. I just gotta ask."

Hades/Kevin looked at Alex saying nothing for a moment. "Firstly, Alex, when I start something i will aim to complete it until it is no longer viable. I said I would train you, ergo as long as you are still able & willing to be trained, training will continue."

"Secondly, you were never confined to the cabin Alex, I left for a job and you left to explore. During your travels you were ambushed and despite panicking you managed to keep it together sufficiently to survive. How is that..."messing up"? I will not give you a speech about facing your fear, you will come to terms with that in your own time. However history seems to show that despite your fear you have avoided death and/or serious injury twice. Close shaves perhaps but success none the less. Hence well done, although with much room for improvement."

"Finally as to why I am here, a private individual who wishes to remain anonymous has generously paid for your self defense classes till the end of this academic year with renewal thereafter pending. Who am I to turn down a well paying job." Said Kevin with a subtle wink. This was his cover story and he had bank transactions to prove it if necessary.

"Now do you have any more questions? Are you ready to continue training or do you wish to continue tomorrow. Regardless you will find that my class has been added to your timetable under the heading private tutoring."

"Firstly, Alex, when I start something I will aim to complete it until it is no longer viable. I said I would train you, ergo as long as you are still able and willing to be trained, training will continue."

Partially made sense, though he never met anyone who was willing to follow him like this. If only because stuff always ended up going sideways because of him or around him. Someone always ended up dead or they separated for one reason or another. It was a pattern, no matter how good things seemed, he'd end up...He pushed the thoughts down. This wasn't about that, this was simply about training. Hades just wanted to finish the job, that was all.

"Secondly, you were never confined to the cabin Alex, I left for a job and you left to explore. During your travels you were ambushed and despite panicking you managed to keep it together sufficiently to survive. How is that..."messing up"?"

There were a lot of reasons for it being a mess. He should have been more aware of his surrounding, should have used his powers more efficiently, should have run away or asked to stay inside the bus, he shouldn't have killed that man no matter what he had done, any number of things could have had better results. Hell he might have put Hades at risk with his actions.

"-despite your fear you have avoided death and/or serious injury twice. Close shaves perhaps but success none the less. Hence well done, although with much room for improvement."

Well that was nice, didn't do much to calm his worry, but it was still nice of him to say.

"Finally as to why I am here, a private individual who wishes to remain anonymous has generously paid for your self defense classes till the end of this academic year with renewal thereafter pending. Who am I to turn down a well paying job."

He smiled at the wink and nodded in return. The man was doing this on his own. There was no way this would get past teacher approval otherwise. Mirror would have a fit and Miss T would probably disapprove at first. There was good reason to allow it, he did almost die trying to defend himself after all and had to resort to using his powers. If he hadn't had to use his powers someone might still be alive to hate him today. He was sure there were other students who could benefit from lessons like this. Perhaps he could invite a friend or two.

"Now do you have any more questions? Are you ready to continue training or do you wish to continue tomorrow? Regardless you will find that my class has been added to your timetable under the heading private tutoring."

"No sir, thank you for explaining things to me. I'm glade your here. I'm ready to continue when you are." Though he wanted to ask the man's advice, he wanted to get rid of his nervous energy first. He picked up the training knife and got into the on guard position. This time he would be sure to reset his stances more firmly.

>"No sir, thank you for explaining things to me. I'm glade your here. I'm ready to continue when you are."

With Alex's response to his statement, Hades knew that Alex would keep his cover. It would be a shame to have to remind him or take more drastic action. As Alex was listening to his explanation Hades/Kevin could practically see questions form behind Alex's eyes, however he seemed to want to keep training first. It was the Alex's last class of the day so they could go as long as they wished.

"In stead of defense, Alex lets see how you are at attacking." With that Kevin got into a defensive stance and waited for Alex to attack. To learn how to attack well is sometimes more challenging than learning how to defend well. The tendency of many is to put too much power or movement when attacking, this often throws one off balance and gives your opponent an opening. This was the lesson that could not be learned in one sitting but would take time. Hades also used this opportunity to instruct Alex on some of the form's defensive moves. For example when Alex thrust forward Hades would grab his wrist with the empty left hand (shield hand) and pull him forward off balance while pressing the point of the training dagger to the back of Alex's neck as he fell by. "That is one way to use move 9." He would say.

"Alex the trick to attacking, is control and the idea that "Less is more". Firstly this form is meant to act in stages. It is strong on defense, letting your attackers know that you are by no means defenseless. This should discourage those that prefer to prey on the weak and helpless. That is why you have at least one hand empty at all times. It is your shield hand. It blocks, slaps, redirects, grapples. Half the time your dagger is held point down so that after you block with your shield hand you can counter attack. You use your shield hand to get your opponent(s) off balance then strike. You can then choose the severity of your attack. You may just choose to trip them up." Said Hades demonstrating with Alex as he made a rather vigorous thrust. "If your attackers persist, you can then wound them, shallow cuts that cause more pain than damage, again it is giving them a chance, letting them know that you can strike back." This time after Hades blocked Alex's attack he replied with slashes or stabs to non critical areas. The blade was blunted but was still capable of inflicting pain. However this time Hades was merely making an illustration so he did not strike hard. "Finally, if your opponent gives you no choice you can neutralize the threat in a manner of your choosing. This can be done in your defensive stance with the dagger point up or down or in attack stance again with the dagger up or down." Again Hades illustrated on his unfortunate pupil. After a while it seemed that Alex had burned off some of his energy.

"That should do for today. You are learning well. Now I believe that you have questions for me. Where you you prefer to talk? Here or we can take a walk if you would prefer."

"Instead of defense, Alex lets see how you are at attacking."

On this end, Alex didn't fare as well as before. He had never truly been the one to strike first, always ending up defending until he could find an appropriate out. So attacking was more awkward and ended up in way more bruising. Hades' demonstrations of the moves as offensive and defensive were rough on him to say the least.

"-Firstly this form is meant to act in stages. It is strong on defense, letting your attackers know that you are by no means defenseless. This should discourage those that prefer to prey on the weak and helpless. That is why you have at least one hand empty at all times. It is your shield hand. It blocks, slaps, redirects, grapples."

Hades showed him just how effective it could be. It didn't seem like any of his attacks would really connect. He'd get close before being countered in some painful way. One thrust was particularly harsh, making him stumble and almost call a time out. He really didn't get a chance.

"If your attackers persist, you can then wound them, shallow cuts that cause more pain than damage, again it is giving them a chance, letting them know that you can strike back."

Even though the blade was dull and wouldn't break the skin, it still hurt quite a bit. He only hoped he wasn't too bruised up by the end of the session. He didn't want any of the teachers to think he was being abused or anything. Definitely not his roommate. Despite being nearly the same age, Jiri was protective of him. He didn't want the other teen to get the wrong idea.

The demonstration of the neutralizing move was particularly unfun. But admittedly effective. It would take a lot more practice to get them down and much more to learn how to counter them. Hades was leagues above him in this stuff. All in all the training session left him breathless but happily without the extra energy.

"That should do for today. You are learning well. Now I believe that you have questions for me. Where would you prefer to talk? Here or we can take a walk if you would prefer."

Alex sat down on the floor, one knee pulled up, catching a breath before speaking, "Yeah, I guess. Here's fine...It's more like I want some advice anyway. I'm pretty sure by now you've seen the videos. I know you heard the news at least and I just...I don't know how to handle this. I've never been in the public spot light and there are so many people who've seen my face and know my name. And with the house arrest and the trial about to come up, I don't know how to face it all."

He ran a hand through his hair, wearily smoothing out the messy locks, "And to top it all off I have a dream walking, body snatching, roommate that's in my head every night. He's a good guy, I like him but with everything that's been happening...It's hard to keep him from seeing too much. I don't want him to be exposed to my memories."

"It just feels like I should leave, escape before it all comes crashing down on me. So I guess, what I want to know is what would you do in my place?" It was a lot to ask, he knew it was. But he was hopeful that Hades might have at least one nugget of wisdom for him.

At the announcement that training was over for today Alex seemed more than happy to collapse to the floor to regain his breath.



>"Yeah, I guess. Here's fine...It's more like I want some advice anyway. I'm pretty sure by now you've seen the videos. I know you heard the news at least and I just...I don't know how to handle this. I've never been in the public spot light and there are so many people who've seen my face and know my name. And with the house arrest and the trial about to come up, I don't know how to face it all. And to top it all off I have a dream walking, body snatching, roommate that's in my head every night. He's a good guy, I like him but with everything that's been happening...It's hard to keep him from seeing too much. I don't want him to be exposed to my memories. It just feels like I should leave, escape before it all comes crashing down on me. So I guess, what I want to know is what would you do in my place?"

Hades was silent for a minute, he decided to cut straight to the point. "Alex from what you have told me of your past. You have often made decisions on an emotional basis. You are hurt or overwhelmed or scared or in unfamiliar territory and you run. That is what you are feeling now. I would advise you to stay. A life ruled by emotions is chaotic, will limit your growth in all areas and is easy to manipulate. For perhaps the first time in your life, you are presented with a wealth of resources. You are in a school of mutants where you can gain increase the power and control of your mutation which is not yet at combat proficiency. You are in a place where being a mutant is accepted, a place with is not likely to take advantage of you. You are in contact with people of authority who would be willing to fight for you. You have the opportunity to make friends, if you will give them an opportunity."

Hades looked pointedly at Alex. "Alex there are battles that you cannot fight alone, regardless how much of a lone wolf you prefer to be it is always good to have resources to call upon in a time of need. So try to make friends while you can. Especially at this stage in life where all you have to hide are painful experience and not secrets that can kill." This was true, over his multi-millennial existence Hades had learned many secrets that could cause much harm and destruction, it was rare for him to make friends these days, partially for that very reason.

"You are in a stable environment where you can receive other training as well." Again a look at Alex. He had barely taught him self defense. There were many more things that Hades could teach Alex, stealth, tactics, many libraries worth of knowledge of assassination technique, martial arts, the list was endless.  "You are neither equipped resource wise or mentally for evading the full weight of the law at this present point in time. And when you are caught you will also loose a lot of the good will that you currently enjoy. Finally, there is a word which terrifies you possibly the most. You are in a position of responsibility. The world as you know it is on a knife edge as regards their opinion towards mutants. The last time they tipped one way the holocaust that was the registration camps ensued. Your case is high profile, no matter if you were legally right or wrong if you run you will have ceded that battle even before it has been fought. You are in a position to perhaps do some good for mutants nation wide if not globally, and through your internet "exploits" you have also built up support among-st the masses."

Hades paused for a breath and to reflect if he had missed anything. "Hence I would stay if I were you. Those are my brief thoughts on the matter."

He waited. How Alex responded to this blunt analysis would give another indication of his maturity and to some extent the amount of effort that Hades should expend on training Alex as it would also indicate to some degree how much he was capable of learning and his potential.

Alex listened to the blunt but truthful speech. It was a little bit hard to listen to...

"Alex from what you have told me of your past. You have often made decisions on an emotional basis. You are hurt or overwhelmed or scared or in unfamiliar territory and you run. That is what you are feeling now."

True, but that was just the rule. Why waste energy or time or emotions that would only result in damage later? What worth was it, when he was already doing fine on his own? What if the trial ended up sending him to jail or worse? He couldn't trust people to let him go free, even with the video evidence that proved he was the victim. There were too many things out of his control in this situation.

"I would advise you to stay."

That wasn't what he wanted to hear. He could admit that. It was hard advise to swallow.

"You are in contact with people of authority who would be willing to fight for you. You have the opportunity to make friends, if you will give them an opportunity. Alex there are battles that you cannot fight alone, regardless how much of a lone wolf you prefer to be it is always good to have resources to call upon in a time of need. So try to make friends while you can. Especially at this stage in life where all you have to hide are painful experience and not secrets that can kill."

It sounded like Hades was speaking from experience. He wondered how many people Hades lost in his life. Friends and family lost by circumstances out of his control. The man was supposedly hundreds of years old, probably outlasted everyone around him if they weren't killed some other way.

"You are neither equipped resource wise or mentally for evading the full weight of the law at this present point in time. And when you are caught you will also loose a lot of the good will that you currently enjoy."

He knew he could. Hades knew he had spent threes of his life off the grid, isolated from people, avoiding authority. He could do it again. He would just need a head start. He knew places where no one would think to look. He had survived on his own before, he could do it again.

"Finally, there is a word which terrifies you possibly the most. You are in a position of responsibility. The world as you know it is on a knife edge as regards their opinion towards mutants. The last time they tipped one way the holocaust that was the registration camps ensued."

How was any of that his responsibility?! He shouldn't be responsible for the well being of a whole group of people. He just wanted to be left alone, his only responsibility should be too himself. He earned that-!

"Your case is high profile, no matter if you were legally right or wrong if you run you will have ceded that battle even before it has been fought. You are in a position to perhaps do some good for mutants nation wide if not globally, and through your internet "exploits" you have also built up support among-st the masses."

Oh...Well there was that...The weight of it all settled heavily in his gut. He would get some good out of staying but...People still had their eyes trained on him and his trial. The outcome may effect future trials and how people may end up treating mutants in a similar situation to him. He had hoped that Jiri's AMAs would have taken some of the heat off but apparently not. They may be popular, but people were sill paying attention.

"Hence I would stay if I were you. Those are my brief thoughts on the matter."

Hardly brief but the man had spoken clearly and truthfully. Still, it didn't do much to sooth his fears. "You made a lot of really good points. Really true points...I have made some good friends and the teachers and staff are all really good people. And you're right, I am afraid of the responsibility. Because I've only ever been responsible for myself and now suddenly a trial could tip how people view mutants. My trial. I-I don't know how to handle that. And if I'm found guilty...Ha-I mean, Mr.Wong, they put one of those power suppressing collars on me in when I was in the hospital. The damn thing made me feel sick, like I was drowning with my head full of cotton. If I go to jail, I'm going to end up wearing those things twenty-four-seven. And on top of that, people could end up the same because of me. I don't want that, I don't want any of this...responsibility."

>You made a lot of really good points. Really true points...I have made some good friends and the teachers and staff are all really good people. And you're right, I am afraid of the responsibility. Because I've only ever been responsible for myself and now suddenly a trial could tip how people view mutants. My trial. I-I don't know how to handle that. And if I'm found guilty...Ha-I mean, Mr.Wong, they put one of those power suppressing collars on me in when I was in the hospital. The damn thing made me feel sick, like I was drowning with my head full of cotton. If I go to jail, I'm going to end up wearing those things twenty-four-seven. And on top of that, people could end up the same because of me. I don't want that, I don't want any of this...responsibility."

Hades,/Kevin smiled at Alex. Well it would be more accurate to say that his face looked momentary less serious and perhaps the corners of his mouth twitched in a slightly upward direction. "Your trial is still a way away so there is no need to rush your decision and in the mean time training can continue. I don't think you will loose the court case. In the event that you do you will not spend much time in prison, not if I have anything to say about it." That would be probably as close to Hades giving his word as he would ever get at the moment. 

"Anything else on your mind my young student?" Hades would not perhaps use the word fond of, not at this stage it was still very early days, but he had to admit that for some unfathomable reason young Alex was growing on him. 

"Your trial is still a ways away so there is no need to rush your decision and in the mean time training can continue. I don't think you will loose the court case. In the event that you do you will not spend much time in prison, not if I have anything to say about it."

The smile might have been a mere twitch but it was still held quite a bit of confidence. Hades would be there for him, break him out if need be. He didn't know how the man would plan to break him out but he knew it was a possibility. There was a lingering question of why, why would a man like this be so invested in his well being, whether he ended up in jail or not for his actions. Hades had said before that he intended to finish what he started and that he had potential for something more. But he couldn't help but keep doubting.

"Anything else on your mind my young student?"

He smiled and shook his head, "No sir. Thanks for the advice and the vote of confidence. I needed that, and I'll stay, promise. I'll see this till the end, even if I do end up in jail for a little while." It was strange to have people by his side. People whose motivations weren't as simple and standard as survival. He had gotten so used to the idea that motivation more ambiguous than that were harder for him to grasp. It made feel a little dumb...but he would try to understand it. It was the best he could do.

The trouble with schools is that they always tried to teach the wrong lessons. Jude hadn't been kicked out of any schools lately, but he had been kicked out of enough of them to know: What he wanted to learn, not even the X-men could teach.

The girl he liked was a gun toting, karate-chopping, bad ass. One of the last times he had seen her, she had kicked his butt. If she ever remembered that she wasn't 16, she was going to murderize him.

Jude needed more skills. Quick.

Of course there was the Danger Room. Jude had begged, borrowed, and stolen his way in there so many times when he was younger that now, once he could legitimately use it, he'd outgrown a lot of the material he had access to.

There was Sam, AKA Cold Steel. He was the Self-defense teacher so that was a logical choice until you considered the fact that the X-leader was still trying to corner Jude into his inaugural "Welcome to the X-team! Let's go camping to death!" Trip. No, thank you. When he wanted to die, he would go looking for his step-dad gone terrorist.

So, when Jude happened to glance out the window and see one of the new guys practicing with knives on the lawn with a young, hip Mister Miyagi?

Jackpot.

He wanted to stop by the piano room to pick up a different power first, but he never made it.

Oof! One of the youngest of the Mansion, a kookaburra shifter hit him at a full out run. If the tyke hadn't been only thigh-high Jude probably would have gotten creamed. As it was, the teen just started sprouting feathers.

Ugh. Great. By the time Jude stomped out to the yard, he had a beak.

"Class?" He trilled in a less-than-human voice as he approached the new guy and the instructor. As it turned out, it was a bit hard to form more than a few words at a time. "Open class?"

His arms were wings now, but they were still generally arm shaped with hands at the ends. And though his legs were feeling dry and scaly they still bent the same way as usual. It wouldn't be too big a loss to train in this body... if they would have him, that was.

Jude resisted the urge to preen.

Hades was interrupted mid lesson with Alex by a boy who seemed to be transforming more and more into a bird with each step came and well... trilled "Class? Open Class?" This presented Hades with a quandary, personally he would rather just continue training Alex. Already he would have to think about how he could train Alex in the art of stealth and other perhaps more agressive "skills" when at this mutant boarding school. That would depend on when his trial was. As it was Hades was growing to like the boy. He considered it perhaps worth the investment to break him out of jail if it came to that although if it came to that they would probably leave the state if not the country for a while. But bback to the problem at hand, he was to all intents and purposes Victor Wong a martial arts and self defense trainer which meant that he should welcome new students. Hmmmmm. He decided on a compormise between the two. Turning to the boy / Kookaburra mutant, Hades said, in a Chinglish accent (he had to remain in character) [If you want to hear a sound bite pm me].

"Hello there, my name is Victor Wong, a martial arts instructor and self defense trainer hired to teach Alex as a private tutor. To answer your question, I had to get special permission from the school to teach here. I would be happy to take on more students but you would need to get approval from a member of staff and I would have to go talk with the school about turing these private sessions into a formal class." He turned to Alex "Which would mean exams and the like, but I think you should be fine with that yes?" Turning to the Kookaburra he continued. "You are welcome to sit in on this class, see if it is what you are interested in. If so, you will need to get a signature on the special applications form from a senior staff member. What say you?"

Having dealt with that intrusion, he then proceed to continue sparring with Alex. As Alex advanced so too did Hades display more skill. He no longer slowed down his actions to the same degree. He no longer gave obsious hints as to when he was about to attack. One minute he could be steadily circling Alex the next minute he was already mid attack. he attacked Alex a few times enough to knock him off stance and nodded in satisfaction when Alex promptly reset. "You are doing better on your stance resets Alex" said Hades. "You are still consciously thinking about it but that will go away in time and become automatic."

Hades then procedded to launch a flurry of heavy vicious sttacks at Alex. Alex dropped into a bracing stance. Hades struck a few more times then suddenly wheeled around and kicked out Alex's back leg, resulting in Alex loosing his balance and rolling on the ground to find a blunted dagger at this throat and the worlds "Yield" ringing in his ear. As Hades helped Alex up he continued to teach. "Alex, another common mistake people make when they are hit with heavy attacks is to either fight or fly. They either immediately evade which will make the attacker pursue giving themselves no time to rest or they go into a heavily defensive position like you did. This is fine but unless you also reset you end up locking yourself in and limiting your mobility. Better to defend a few then evade and try to land a few rapid strikes on your opponent." He paused. "Another thing, I taught you at least three recovery moves. Once you lost your balance all is not lost, that is what those moves are for. They are legeitimate attack moves, designed to force your attacker back while you get back in stance and to would your attacker if he does not back up. For our next lesson i will continually force you to use the recovery moves untill I am satisfied that you can do them well. It would be best to wear some padded clothes for next lesson." Said Hades tossing a bundle of clothing at Alex. It was a padded training outfit Taylor to Alex. Upon seeing his expression, Hades replied. "You think it was for naught that I had you take measurements? I am not going to pull and punches and I would rather you not get too injured otherwise we would have to pause training. Now any questions?" Once again Hades was continually challenging Alex not just on a skills and application of skills but also on how much he could learn and grasp. He was slowly and gradually shaping Alex into a more skilled person capable of defending himself but more importantly trying  instill some discipline so that Alex could continue to learn and grown in skill and knowledge.

Turning to the Kookaburra boy, Hades/Victor said "Now you have seen a class, are you still interested? This is a class to firstly to train your self defense skills independent of your mutation. Too many mutants rely on their mutation alone and suddenly when they don't have it they are worse then helpless. If you pass the first set of tests then my aim is to continue to train skills that you can use along side your powers. I will not pull punches, if you become a student in this class you will get bruises and scrapes etc but I will do my best to teach you what I know. Do you have any questions?"

The teen that ran up to them, just as they were about to continue classes, seemed way to desperate to get himself beaten up. Approaching with a question of whether the class was open or not. To which Alex could only look over at his teacher, sure that Hades or Mr.Wong would prefer to have these classes between them. Sure enough, the older man explained the situation and what might need to happen for more student to be able to join.

With that being said Hades wasted no time jumping back into training, catching him a little off guard but he quickly settled into it. The man moved up the pace, made his moves less obvious, a little harder to block and dodge. He found himself once again on the floor with the man's blade to his neck. Dulled though they might be, the pressure of the weapon was still a bit frightening.

Once on his feet he listened to Hades' explanation and plans for future lesson. At the mention of padding and the reveal of the clothing, Alex was shocked to say the least. "You think it was for naught that I had you take measurements? I am not going to pull any punches and I would rather you not get too injured. Otherwise we would have to pause training. Now any questions?"

He looked down at the the bundle of clothing, padded in certain areas yet section to maintain flexibility. It was pretty cool, to be honest. He never had anything custom made for him. "Yeah, does this fighting style have a name or did you make it yourself? Cause I don't think I've ever seen anybody use it." Most people took hand-to-hand combat class. Karate and the like, seen through those big front windows in shopping centers. None of them ever used weapons, as far as he had seen.

"Also, what do I do if the attacker has a weapon with a longer reach or a gun?" Especially a gun, a dagger up close was good an equally armed or less armed opponent but a gun...How would one used a dagger against a gun?

He looked back at the other kid when Hades addressed him. Oh yeah, he had seen the whole thing hadn't he. It might not look very nice now that he knew just how tough the teacher was going to be.

> "You are welcome to sit in on this class, see if it is what you are interested in. If so, you will need to get a signature on the special applications form from a senior staff member. What say you?"

What say he?

“Caw-ha-ha!” Jude reshuffled his feathers, unsettled at his own kookaburra call. He wished that this could be more than just a sit and watch, but even that was more than he had been expecting. “Signature easy.” Ghost still counted as senior staff, right? He would just ask her.

Jude settled onto his legs. As a human, squatting just anywhere was a bit awkward. As a kookaburra, the Frenchman was finding that he did not care what was normal for a human.

This kind of sparring looked brutal, but… somehow more realistic. He drank it in with his eyes and tried as hard as he could to commit it all to memory just in case this Wong guy never came back. Because really. Was this guy for reals? Who said “naught” anymore? It was kinda cool that he was doting on his little apprentice, here, though.

It was only after Wong’d roughed up his apprentice and then rewarded him that the teacher turned his evil eye toward bird boy. The kid was asking some good questions. Questions that Jude had asked before too and never quite been satisfied with the answer.

> “If you pass the first set of tests then my aim is to continue to train skills that you can use along side your powers. I will not pull punches, if you become a student in this class you will get bruises and scrapes etc but I will do my best to teach you what I know. Do you have any questions?"

“Power doesn’t turn off. Power isn’t same. Today bird. Tomorrow boy. Train still-ha-ha?”

Jude stood. He was an X-man. A newby, sure, but he’d already passed some amount of testing. Even with all that he was nervous to try. Hand-to-hand was his weakest attribute. Was he saying this wasn’t a 101 class?

“What test? Now test?” He ruffled his feathers again and had to use his hands to smooth them. It was way too easy to see when he was in a kerfuffle when he was a bird.