Damn this guy was good.

Usually slapping double gravity on someone slowed them down significantly. But more than that it put them off guard, suddenly finding yourself struggling against a force you usually didn't even think about.

Michael took it in stride. Max would try to flank only to see the man turning with him, he was slower but also didn't have to cover any distance to keep Max in his sight. His arms were up to protect his head and every time Max got withing range he was forced back by a series of shin kicks. All and all it added up to Max once again being forced to think of a new strategy.

Great.

He fought to think and the inkling of a theory began to form in his mind. Michael was huge now, a solid force of muscle, but it had happened in phases as the augmented gravity took effect. When Max had hurled himself at the man he hadn't increased in power until Max had thrown his weight in him. Every time Michael used his power it had been reactionary. Which meant that might be part of how it worked, in response to external stimulus.

Max filed the idea away, it would be handy but wouldn't help him out of his current predicament. Max glanced up and looked at the ceiling. Metal beams stood above him and the ceiling was made of metal supported by them. Bingo. He rushed straight at Michael and threw a mock punch at the man. He stepped into range of the kicks, pulled his fist back, and jumped upward over the man.

Lighter gravity made the leap superhuman and he rose a solid three feet over the hulking man. He flipped and brought a leg down in a kick, spreading his power down his limb. Hitting Michael wouldn't cause any damage, but he had his power ready to spring out and reverse gravity on the man. Sending him upward with the same force holding him down. Max couldn't land a serious blow, but Michael's own weight might be able to.

It seemed the change in Ranger had negated whatever affect Max had been going for with his power. The odd thing was when Ranger caught Max glancing at the ceiling. That likely didn't mean anything pleasant for the Ranger.

Eventually Max went on the offensive. Coming straight at him, appearing to through a punch. The Ranger kept his guard up, even slow as he was the two places he needed to cover he could cover. Though, when the man you're intending to block jumps up and over you a new plan is necessary.

Max was no lower than three feet above the Ranger when he flipped over and brought down his leg. The Ranger thought he would have learned by now. Legs make great hand holds for the Ranger.

As Max's leg came down the Ranger reached to grab it. From there he could once again swing Max around like a sack of potatoes, or better yet wrap him into a bear hug and just squeeze. Wrapped in a bear hug Max could mess with gravity all he wanted and he'd still be stuck. That is unless as soon as the two of you make contact up becomes down and down becomes up.

The Ranger's stomach lurched and he began to fall up. He reasoned that's why the man looked up, to see what the roof was. The Ranger looked at his new ground. Metal beams supporting more metal. This was going to hurt. He tucked in ready to roll on contact, hoping he didn't just break through the ceiling when he hit it.

Initially everything went off as planned. Max was able to throw his power over Michael and send the man upward. Unfortunatly Max hadn't expected the man to move quick enough to seize him by the leg and pull him with him.

As Michael soared upward Max followed being dragged upward by the man's arm. He aimed a kick at the man's arm with his free leg hoping to break the grip but the ceiling was quickly approaching. Michael tucked in for impact, and action that at his current weird angle Max couldn't replicate.

Instead Max put an equal gravity going down on himself, it would alow the momentum of the fall significantly and his muscles gave a scream of protest as twin forces pulled in opposition directions. He lurched forward and his hands hit the metal ceiling first. He gave another twist of his leg trying to break free and threw himself to the side hoping to skid across the ceiling and grab a support beam to brace himself. With Michael's brute strength the fear of snapping am ankle was a real threat and Max swore trying to get away from the man.

The Ranger had caught Max's leg and was pulling him to his new ground with him. During the upward fall Max kicked at the Ranger's arm in an attempt to free himself. This hurt, not as much as it would have if his muscles hadn't swelled up to look like gorilla arms. It provided a significant amount of padding in addition to strength.

Then something weird happened. Max went from barely resisting the fall to feeling like the Ranger was holding onto a small rocket the was trying to keep him in the air. While it didn't stop his fall to the roof it would hopefully mitigate some of the impact.

As the pair impacted Max made another attempt at freedom, the Ranger released him as he landed in a roll like he'd just touched down after parachuting. Breaking the kid's leg was not something he wanted to do while sparring. Michael came out of the roll on his feet. Whole disoriented by his new view of the world. To him there were people up above fighting on a padded ceiling.

"This is certainly an experience." Michael began, "Y're leg alright? Didn' expect to fall t' the ceilin' there."

Max's ankle gave a shout of protest as he twisted free on the ceiling of the room and bounced a few paces away from Michael. He flipped and landed facing the man as he spoke.

, "Y're leg alright? Didn' expect to fall t' the ceilin' there."

Max gave a smile and lifted his leg, twisting the ankle and working out the tension. It hurt but he'd suffered worse stress performing.

"I'm alright. You adapted to the situation faster than I thought you would. Your good, and damn strong. I'm curious, you seem to get stronger the harder I try to hit you. Are you topped out, or is it a reactionary ability and you're as strong as you need to be?" He asked, taking the moment to satiate the growing curiosity he felt.

The problem he was facing now was the limits of his own ability. He could only maintain his power continuously for three minutes before having to release it. In a fight that seemed like an eternity, but stopping to chat would drain that time away like the Sands of an hourglass slipping away.

But he decided talking was a good idea. Michael was a skilled soldier, and Max was seeing first hand what he could do. Haven was always on the lookout for talent and they could use a good soldier. Hell he'd be worth his weight, which at the moment was considerable, in gold for training alone with his experience.

"You got a job anywhere man?" He asked off handedly in the lull,"once we finish here I might have a proposition for you." He said resuming a fighting stance.

Max's leg was okay, good. The last thing Ranger wanted to do was injure someone while sparring. He then inquired about how Ranger had adapted to what Max hit him with. "My body reacts t' what it thinks I need. If I need strength I get stronger, if I need t' be faster, I get faster, if I need t' see in the dark I can do that too. There's a limit, but when y' can overhead press upwards of twenty-four thousand it might as well be limitless."

The Ranger took a more relaxed stance while the pair were talking. He breathed in deeply, his large mass required a lot of oxygen when it was in use.

Max then asked about if Ranger had a job anywhere.

"I own a private military company, Blackforest Tactical. We mostly do private security work." Not entirely true, while they did publicly do security work, they also handled covert operations for the United States government. "I actually just got back from a few years overseas workin'. Don't have any major contracts right now so not a lot of workin' right now." He was also currently living out of his business, he had come back so recently he hadn't found a place to live.

Max gave an honest impressed whistle as Michael explained his power. That was a hell of an ability to have. It also reminded Max that he was completely outclassed by the man. Deciding to throw his powers into the frey in hopes of getting an edge had been foolish now that he knew what he was up against.

It was when Michael explained his current job situation that Max had a surge of excitement. A private security firm looking for a contract? And the company was owned by a mutant? Max could almost see Devon scrambling to get the guys support for Haven. Security details, additional troops for missions. Tons of possibilities. At the moment however, Max had other issues.

"I change gravity. Direction and power on myself or others. If you didn't know. The trick is I have a time limit and I'm about to reach it." He said as he relaxed his stance.

He bowed to Michael and smiled," I concede. You took my best tricks and came out barely breathing hard. If you'd permit me to bring us down I'd like a round two, I think I could learn a lot from you."

He offered a hand to the man as he felt his power beginning to destabilize. He had about twenty seconds left and he thought it be a much more enjoyable ride down for them both if he was able to make the drop weightless.

Max could change gravity. That certainly explained a lot. It was nice to know he had a time limit for any future sparring, but for now he just hoped get wouldn't have to fall to the ground again. This turned out to not be an issue as Max conceded and offered to take them back down before round two.

"I have a second power tha' supports my primary one. More efficient lungs under greater oxygen demand. Among other things." the Ranger took Max's hand, he didn't want to fall again if Max was offering a way down.

"A power like y'rs seems incredibly useful. Mine only helps me do things, y'rs is more of a team player power." The Ranger could see so many possibilities, much more than he could see for his. Though his wasnt competently predictable.

"Y' said you had a proposition?"

Max nodded as Michael explained his support power and took his outstretched hand. With a small effort of will Max adjusted gravity on the pair of them allowing them to slowly float down to the padded mat below. As they floated down Max flipped to land feet down and gently touched the mat.

Michael complimented Max's ability and Max gave an appreciative nod. He never got used to people being impressed by what he could do.

"I might be a good support class," He said comparing abilities to roleplaying games, "But you're a tank and that's Hella impressive."

"Y' said you had a proposition?"

Straight to business, a respectable position to take. Max nodded.

"You said you've been out of town for a while, have you heard of Haven?" He asked," We are a community betterment organization that works to help those who cannot help themselves. Some of the people are like me, but we have lots of member who are celebrities, politicians, corporate types."

He let the words rest in the air for a moment.

"People who could use security, plus we host tons of events and getting security staff is a pain." He said.

After the Ranger took Max’s offered hand he felt the crushing weight of his own bulk lift and in response his power switched back off. The Ranger’s body returned to its normal size as a result. Max spun around to land on his feet, the Ranger followed suit but with a less graceful landing than Max. He was more used to a hard impact to the ground than a gentle one.

The Ranger was not someone who didn’t know about video games, he had played his share over the years. This did not mean he did not find it odd for someone to talk about powers in such terms. ”I still take damage like everybody else. Muscles pad a little, but skin is skin and bone is bone.” He thought for a moment before adding, ”My power’s more like... melee DPS.”

Haven? The Ranger had not heard of Haven. It must be new since he left the city years back. From what Max said it sounded like an alright organization. Many members, many of influence, all working to help the community. Such an organization would certainly have security needs.

”Interstin’. I can’t say I’ve heard of Haven, but I can certainly help out on the security front. Are we jus’ talkin’ plainclothes security? Guys wearin’ suits and strapped. Or are we talkin’ that an’ a few guys with kit on standby.” He’d dealt with organizations working to improve things, and they tended to have a dark side buried somewhere.

”My power’s more like... melee DPS

Max let out a light chuckle. Part of him hadn't expected the man to know what he was talking about, but as per usual appearances were deceiving. Even dangerous military soldiers apparently found time to play some WoW or the like. Max was a tabletop guy himself, enjoying playing Towers and Trolls or TnT back in high school.

"Nice. I'd probably end up as a bard." He said chuckling.

Michael went straight to business, asking the extent of security needed. His implication of a more militaristic operation spoke volumes about the man's realist mentality. Big corporations had shadowy operations, in Havens case they were to help Mutants, but Max had to admit he wouldn't mind some good solid backup for some of the dicier situations.

"I'm kind of a low man on the totem pole," He said with a shrug," I'll give you my boss's card and set up a meeting. He'd have a better tactical assessment of what kind of needs we have."

"I'd also like you to teach me that arm lock move from earlier." He said swinging and arm to losses the muscles.

The Ranger chuckled at Max saying he would probably be a bard. "Rock that lute."

As it turned out Max was pitching for his boss. That was fine, it often happened that way. Max said he would give him his boss's card and set up the meeting. "That works."

Max also asked the Ranger to show him the arm lock move from earlier. "The one from back when we started? That ones easy..." The Ranger went into a detailed description complete with him moving through it slowly.

And so the rest of their time went.

((End))