Training rooms all looked alike. Whether they were training athletes, X-men, undercover mutant agents, or SUPER *ssholes, the basic setup remained the same, and one did not have to be a detective genius to know why she was in one, waiting around as the minutes ticked by. Svetlana, dressed in some basic black SUPER-mandated outfit, folded her arms as she stood in the room, waiting for someone to appear and tell her what the clusterf*** du jour was gonna be.

It could be another interrogation session. Just because she suddenly decided to cooperate (although she was not dumb enough to make it obvious - reluctance took a few days to make it believable), that did not mean SUPER was done with trying to dig into her skull. Akshay had made a good point - the higher the agent, the better the perks, and if Sveta was ever going to rescue herself from this facility, she needed to earn herself an opening. Time ticked by unmeasured, but she was fairly sure she had been here a month at least. Which meant that Haven either did not notice she was gone, or did not know where to start looking.

The blonde tugged on her black gloves, and looked at the door of the training room.
Whatever was going to come through that door, she was ready to deal with it.

New recruits were rarely an easy assignment with SUPER. Occasionally, they would bring on a promising agent from another department or government with a passion and an understanding for what made their organization necessary. Then there were people who joined SUPER under the ignorant and misguided hate of mutants, (which, contrary to popular belief, Sabine opposed.) Those were the loose cannons and who were too ready to invoke violence when it was unnecessary.

And then there were the new mutant recruits who came to SUPER against their will. It was unfortunate, but necessary. They were often stubborn and defiant, refusing to accept their new given roles. It was not their fault; the world had failed them. It warped their world view and blinded them to the inherent dangers they could present to the world. It took time to bring some new recruits to their senses. Others would require more drastic measures which SUPER was not averse to taking. It all depended on the mutant and their willingness to see the truth.

In the meantime, mutant recruits needed training just like everyone else. Training was strictly supervised with “unbroken” recruits; they took no unnecessary risks when it came to preventing escapes. There was a call for an experienced human agent to lead a mutation-enhancing recruit through a physical training session. Once a photo of the new recruit was shared, Sabine saw a wicked glint in the eyes of Kristoph Karlson. Naturally, she signed up for the task before he could. The last thing they needed was her partner scaring away an already defensive recruit.

Sabine pushed through the training room door to find a blonde woman wearing an unhappy expression. It was what Sabine expected, and it suited her fine. If she was going to be given a tough time, (and she knew she was,) she was willing to return what she received.

The more tenured agent did not bother to look up from the tablet in her hands. She scrolled through the introductory information provided to her. ”Designation: Iota-Nine. Mutant-Booster, recruited from… the other side of the Rip.” Okay, maybe Sabine could take a moment to glance at the woman just once, if only to experience the odd sensation of looking at someone impossible. ”Interesting,” she muttered honestly before moving on.

”I am Omega-Two,” she said, placing the tablet and her duffel bag on a nearby bench. Her words were coated with blasé disinterest, as if she had better places to be. Something told her that would be a fine enough mirror for her new training partner. She grabbed a pair of black gloves from the bag and started slipping them on. Black was the theme of the day, with her tank top, yoga pants, and hair tie all sharing the SUPER-standard coloring. ”I will be leading you in hand-to-hand combat training today. Before we begin, do you have prior combat experience?” Sabine hoped she did; it was always more of a chore to train a green recruit and it felt distinctly like she was being tasked with beating the inexperience out of them.

A young woman walked into the room, dressed in black and looking too cool for school, even though she was clearly the teacher. Svetlana looked her over. She did not have a visible mutation, and at this point in her training, according to Akshay, she was more likely to get paired with people she had no chance of boosting. Which meant either adapted, or human. Sveta took half a step closer, judging distance by her own aura. She could still feel the buzz. Human, then.

>>”Designation: Iota-Nine. Mutant-Booster, recruited from… the other side of the Rip. Interesting,”

"Svetlana. And recruited is a nice way of putting it." Just because she was playing along, did not mean she had to be nice. In fact, her suddenly being all polite and cooperative would have come off as awfully suspicious. Sveta decided to vent her frustrations while she was building up to getting in line. Or pretending to, anyway. It was healthy to vent.

>>”I am Omega-Two,”

"I am sorry." Sveta shot back. She did not like the letters and the numbers. They had a distinct 'clandestine government organization' ring to them. "I'm gonna call you Judy. You look like a Judy."

The woman still looked like she was all business. Okay then.

>>”I will be leading you in hand-to-hand combat training today. Before we begin, do you have prior combat experience?”

"Some." Sveta nodded. She was not going to give out all her checkered training history just yet. If she was gonna get assessed, the woman would find out soon enough for herself anyway.

Well, Iota-Nine was a chatter. Not even a chatter—a sasser. She was frustrated and had no qualms voicing her frustration whenever possible. It was not uncommon. People had different ways of being upset. Some people scowled, some (tried) to be uncooperative, and others thought they had enough wit to land some verbal barbs as an act of passive-defiance. Sabine could not tell if the goal was to be hurtful or annoying, but they generally only succeeded at the latter.

Iota-Nine would be no different. However, if she was going to open up with snark, Sabine could play that game as well. A woman like that was not going to be won over by emotional support and hand-holding; she was too angry. Stubborn and rude could sometimes respond to stubborn and rude, (once the wreckage was cleared away, at least.)

Sabine ignored the comment about their recruitment methods. I-9 did not get it, so addressing that would be a losing fight. She did arch an eyebrow at her renaming, because she did not see where “Judy” was hiding in her features. It was a lame shot, but Sabine was ready to return fire. ”And you look like a Barbie, but I’ll stick with Iota-Nine all the same.”

When asked about her combat experience, there was one honest answer, but it was a limited one. ”Some,” she repeated, chuckling to herself. Sabine took three steps toward the new recruit and stopped, adopting a stance to prepare for a fight. They were not there to talk after all. ”Fine, come show me what ‘some’ is.” She knew nothing of I-9’s fighting style, which was why she was willing to play a defensive role. The newcomer had no clue what Sabine brought to the table either, so if she was not careful with her approach, the older woman was prepared to sink a knee into that taunt stomach.

>>”And you look like a Barbie, but I’ll stick with Iota-Nine all the same.”

So, she could talk back, and she was snappy about it too. Sveta rolled her eyes as she wondered if sass was a requirement from all SUPER agent, or if it was just a side-effect of all of them being with the organization against their will, or from some strange Stockholm syndrome. They probably all had serious issues; the organization was set up to be frustrating for everyone after all.
But they were not here to banter at each other. Oh well. She could always use Akshay for that.

>>”Some. Fine, come show me what ‘some’ is.”

The woman took on a defensive stance, once that showed that she had martial arts training, and also that she expected Sveta to go first. Mostly because, in situations like this, it sucked going first. Neither of them knew what the other was capable of, but whoever started, all the other had to do was react. And then cards were on the table.
So, Sveta chose the third option: She faked it.

The punches she threw were decent, but in no way great, and she did not expect them to actually land. She knew the woman was also ready to strike back if she went at her full force - but she didn't. If Judy insisted on calling her a Barbie, then she was going to fight like a Barbie. As expected. Until she had a better sense of whom she was fighting, anyway.

Iota-Nine moved in, throwing punches at Sabine. Nothing flashy or calculated; just a standard slew of jabs and crosses for the most part. Sabine was taking the opportunity to keep her distance enough to deflect or block the blonde’s strikes. The whole style was non-descript. It was the best word for what she was seeing from her opponent.

The new recruit was no idiot; she understood that Sabine was there to assess her fighting ability and potential to improve. The way she was fighting, she was holding back—way back. This was her brand of resistance: putting forth minimal effort to make her job harder. It was annoying, but she was still not the first, nor would she be the last.

Sabin prioritized her blocking, but she started mixing in punches of her own. Nothing complicated, and nothing indicative of Muay Thai. She wanted to start controlling the pace of the fight without tipping her hand too readily. In between grunts, she grumbled, ”Trying to keep secrets? They all do. Until they realize—unf!—they’re not leaving. You'll learn.” Her strikes were growing more aggressive in an effort to see whether I-9 prioritized sandbagging over defending her face. It was a slow ramp-up, but if she kept playing coy, she was going to catch a punch across the jaw.

Sveta's half-*ssed punches were not fooling anyone - definitely not the woman that had been sent to assess her. If she was worth her rank in the organization, she had to be a good fighter, which was clear from the way she held herself, and the way she set the pace for sparring, going on the offensive once Sveta managed to annoy her enough by holding back. No one was fooling the other, but at least now they were getting somewhere.

>> ”Trying to keep secrets? They all do. Until they realize—unf!—they’re not leaving. You'll learn.”

She was wrong, but Sveta was not about the point that out. She was not trying to keep secrets - she just wanted to learn as much about Judy as Judy was about to learn about her. As they picked up pace, and the other woman started throwing punches, Sveta took up the rhythm too, mostly by dodging. Dodging had been a huge part of her training, back in the day with Sam, given the fact that the less touching happened in combat, the safer everyone was around her. Her reflexes were honed by being chased, shot at, and attacked for years, and while she was not artful or graceful in any way, she managed to get out of the way of a series of attacks. Eventually, one fist grazed her jaw, proving her opponent's considerable speed and accuracy. Sveta frowned, spinning out of the way of the next move, and aiming a kick at the back of a woman's knee.

Sabine was curious about the new recruit’s motivations. If she was trying to keep her fighting style a secret, she was just wasting valuable assessment time. If she was trying to better get Sabine to show more of her own fighting style, the mutant was missing the point. SUPER was well aware of Sabine’s abilities on every level.

Then again, she may have been dismissing an obvious observation: Iota-Nine was battle-conscious enough to understand the advantages of not being the first to tip her hand. She wanted to know what she was fighting against, and that in itself was a tactical decision.

With her blonde partner keeping her fighting style vague, Sabine had to focus on the elements of technique in what she was doing. Maybe she was not using Krav Maga or Aikido, but it was impossible to fight totally outside of one’s training to be truly generic. When Sabine was letting Iota-Nine take the offensive, her style was predominantly blocking-focused, but Iota-Nine put more effort into sidestepping and avoiding strikes entirely. She was dodgy, both as a conversationalist and a fighter.

With fists being traded, dodging could be effective, but only for so long. Sabine felt the glancing contact between her knuckles and Iota-Nine’s jaw, and the recruit realized how close she was allowing herself to get to a serious blow to her frowning face.

Considering how milquetoast the fighting had been up to that point, it was a refreshing surprise when Iota-Nine took an opportunity to dodge and spun away enough to get to a new angle on her trainer. Sabine felt a foot connecting with the back of her knee and her instincts compelled her to loosen and give way, pulling her leg forward. She would end up on the ground, but it would pull away from the point of impact.

Most importantly, a kick like that would give a window, however brief, where Iota-Nine would not be grounded. One foot had to be in the air, which was not a position conducive to dodging. Using her new position low to the ground, Sabine spun around with a sweep, targeting Iota-Nine’s shin.

Judy fell, which gave Sveta a rush of pride, but she did not fall flat. Her leg buckled and she went down, but she had enough control of her momentum and body that she managed to aim a sweeping kick at Sveta's leg. Not being bale to regain her balance in time, Sveta went down with a yelp, landing on her back, only managing to make the fall less painful by falling the way she learned in training. Rolling to the side she got back up. As much as she wanted to kick Judy again just for good measure, they were both getting back on their feet now, ready for the next round.

"So, what's it like, being a human in SUPER?" Sveta taunted her with a smirk "Do you feel superior, or unlucky?...
Maybe both?"

The sweep was a high-percentage play. Sabine was taking advantage of her situation to go for an easy-to-land strike, and it resulted in both woman landing on the floor. If Iota-Nine was going to be stubborn, it was important to pick up little details. Sabine picked up on the way her opponent fell, because it was not as hard a fall as it could have been. She knew how to go down, which was important since it would naturally happen in fights. Slowly but surely, she was developing a profile for the woman.

They both got to their feet, but Sabine rolled over toward her tablet to jot down quick notes about what she had seen so far while it was still fresh in her mind. If the interruption annoyed Iota-Nine, the senior agent was sure she would find a way to live.

Waiting for the next round to begin, Iota-Nine taunted Sabine with some kind of “call-out.” It took her a moment to gather the goal of the statement. If she had to guess, it was some effort to make her feel guilty or dirty for the work she did. The shot lacked impact. ”I feel like I’m doing my job. Keeping people safe from danger and mutants safe from themselves. I have my role, just like any mutant operative,” she explained, matter-of-factly.

Sabine tossed the tablet away and moved back toward Iota-Nine, but there was no need to declare that they were resuming. They never stopped, so Iota-Nine would have been within her right to attack Sabine while she was entering notes. The agent shifted into a fighting stance, but it was a clear sign she was ready to go on the offensive. Her new Iota had an issue with revealing her technique before Sabine showed more of her hand. She was still expected to get results, so she would have to understand the newcomer’s ability to react and adapt.

Sabine would lead in with a punch and transition into a knee toward the blonde’s stomach, and she would see what decisions Iota-Nine made so she could properly react.

Judy paused the fight to take notes on her tablet. It was more annoying, in a way, than her kick that brought Sveta down; it made the blonde feel like some kind of a lab rat, who was not an opponent worth paying continued attention to. She made a face and tried to taunt a reaction out of the woman.

>>”I feel like I’m doing my job. Keeping people safe from danger and mutants safe from themselves. I have my role, just like any mutant operative,”

"I am sure the mutants are extremely grateful to you" Sveta said sarcastically, easing back into a fighting stance as the tablet was stowed away. For their own safety. Sure. That was how it always started. As if anyone was really concerned for them at any time. "You're a regular Mother Teresa."

The woman threw a punch and Sevta dodged, and then blocked the knee aimed at her stomach. It was hard contact; things were picking up now. Sveta retaliated; punches were only fir distraction, she had always been better at kicking, mostly because it gave her more force, and also more distance from her opponent. Another vestige of Sam's training. So she aimed a kick in return at the woman's mid-section.

"Let's not... kid ourselves. SUPER would never put me in the field for hand to hand combat."

Iota-Nine was still prickly, denying how Sabine could be benefiting mutants in her work with SUPER. It was expected because most mutants saw themselves as mutants first in the same way humans saw themselves as humans first. They all lived on one planet, sharing the space whether they liked it or not. Sabine’s mother would have expressed the same beliefs Iota-Nine held, but in the end, her beliefs did not stop her from accidentally killing her own husband.

The fighting was finally heating up, and Iota-Nine was doing well to keep herself away from heavy blows. She was throwing punches, but nothing that threatened Sabine. She was wondering if the mutant’s physical strength was just too low to throw a strong punch, but the thought was interrupted by a kick arcing toward her mid-section. If Sabine’s reaction time was average or even good, she would have missed her chance to block the kick with the back of her forearm. The impact was strong; had it connected, she would have had the wind knocked out of her. She made a mental note to add Iota-Nine’s kicking affinity to her tablet when she had the chance.

They returned to their fighting, but Iota-Nine commented on how SUPER planned to use her. Sabine rolled her eyes, tired with the blonde’s routine. ”If your mutation is the only useful thing about you, that’d make you a s***ty asset, you know. If you’re not going to be a burden in the field, they will assign you missions accordingly, once you get it.” She punctuated her comment by grabbing a balled fist with her other hand and pushing herself and her elbow forward toward Iota-Nine’s shoulder.

Her kick was blocked, but she could still feel the impact sending a shudder up her opponent's arm. She was strong and well trained, but she was still human, and Svetlana had fought people with superhuman strength before. She pulled back, keeping up her defenses, as she made an observation about her possible career future.

>>”If your mutation is the only useful thing about you, that’d make you a s***ty asset, you know. If you’re not going to be a burden in the field, they will assign you missions accordingly, once you get it.”

"Yeah, sure." Sveta smirked, dodging as an elbow came her way, and aiming a knee at the woman's stomach, to give her a taste of her own medicine. She was faster than Sveta, and probably better trained too, but the blonde was heavier set, so on the off chance her kicks and hits connected, she had some considerable umpfh behind them. "You have seen my file, right? I'm not an asset. I'm a power plant."

Sabine’s elbow came down, but Iota-Nine got herself out of the way of the strike. Training was a delicate balance for the sake of safety. Sabine wanted to provide her trainee with a challenge, but she could not give the fight her all, risking a potentially serious injury to an asset.

Iota-Nine, meanwhile, likely had no concerns about causing Sabine harm. Sabine was moving away, but she had gotten too close. Before she could earn the space to dodge I-9’s attack, a knee made firm contact with her stomach.

Sabine stepped back, coughing up all the air in her. She found some distance and the coughing slowly shifted to chuckling (and more coughing.) ”Impressive start,” she admitted, making a mental note of Iota-Nine’s ability to capitalize on a close-range fighting style like Muay Thai.

Finding her breath again, Sabine was ready to jump back into the fight, but Iota-Nine brought up her own profile and powers. Heaving a heavy sigh, she shrugged her shoulders. ”You’re a powerful mutant. Yes, we could use someone like you. But this is also about keeping you and the people around you safe. Can you honestly claim your ‘gifts’ have not inadvertently gotten people hurt? Gotten people killed?” With the ability to enhance powers and no off switch, Sabine doubted Iota-Nine never made a misstep that cost people dearly. ”We want to put you in positions to use those powers of yours for everyone’s benefit.”

Sabine settled back into her fighting stance, rolling her shoulders and neck to loosen back up. ”Besides, anyone who catches me with a knee is an asset I can work with.”

>> ”Impressive start,”

Sveta grinned, watching Judy catch her breath after the kick she got in the stomach. It was satisfying to actually get to kick a SUPER agent and vent some frustrations that way. The whole training session just got better from it. Since the woman needed to catch her breath, they exchanged some words about Sveta's abilities and her potential as an agent.

>>”You’re a powerful mutant. Yes, we could use someone like you. But this is also about keeping you and the people around you safe. Can you honestly claim your ‘gifts’ have not inadvertently gotten people hurt? Gotten people killed?”

Against her best try at a poker face, Sveta winced. She had gotten people killed before. Many of them, and not in combat. It was a fact a precious few people knew, but she carried it with her every day. She felt bitter now, that Judy managed to get a reaction out of her with such a cheap shot. Especially because she had worked for years to find a way to make that right, which was impossible, but even if it had been possible, SUPER was definitely not the way to do it.

>>”We want to put you in positions to use those powers of yours for everyone’s benefit.”

"What a coincidence!" Sveta chimed in sarcastically, taking on a fighting stance again "I had a job just like that back home..."

>>”Besides, anyone who catches me with a knee is an asset I can work with.”

"Oh, then you're gonna love the next part" Sveta smirked before she attacked again - this time, not holding back much.