Henry whistled when the Ranger gave him his lift numbers. The Ranger knew they were impressive numbers, he had worked his ass off for a decade to build up to them. He was now at what was likely the peak performance he could achieve without dedicating his entire life to just lifting. That, or steroids.

Once the Ranger had his shirt off the weights were set. Henry took the spotting position so the Ranger, after doing some quick plate math to check the weight, lay down on the bench in lifting position. Thanks to his power the Ranger could lift to failure and never need a spotter.As he reached failure his power would engage to save him from the crushing weight.

“Damn that’s an impressive lift. Remind me to call you when I need help moving.”

”As long as you don’t own a pool table, sure.” That that they were too heavy, but everyone lived up stairs it seemed and they don’t like going up or down stairs.

The Ranger shifted his position and then reached up for the bar. While he could rep the weight it didn’t make it easy. He was doing the equivalent of lifting just over two of himselves. Up went the weight off the rack, then down to the chest, and up again. Repeat for eight repetition and rerack. Then you take a thirty second break before doing it again.

”Y’ from New York?”

Henry stood and watched as Michael lifted. His muscles rippled with effort but he seemed to be handling the exertion well. Up and down the bar went in rythme with his breathing. He hadn't been joking about his strength, it was impressive especially for a vanilla normal person. It gave Henry the strangest urge to ask a question he hadn't considered before, but before he could Michael asked him if he was from New York.

"Yup raised above my parents bakery alongside a gaggle of siblings. Old Italian family, my father immigrated here when he was a boy with his dad. Only time I ever left was when I joined the service. What about you?" He responded.

The lifting broke up conversation and Henry didn't expect an answer until after Michael made it to his next rest. Benching three seventy five was impressive, talking while doing it was impossible.

Henry answered the Ranger’s question, but it was time for him to lift. The Ranger took the weight again and worked through another set. He always found the second set the easiest. Probably just because his muscles were warmed up and ready to work.

The set done the Ranger racked the weight. ”Bryan, Texas. Over next t’ College Station where Texas A&M is. Nice area, but now it’s 250,000 people and a third of them are college students.”

Taking the weight for a third set the Ranger lifted. He knocked out another set. Sweat was now beading up across his body. It wasn’t hot outside, it just took a lot to lift the weight and control it. After he racked the weight he let his arms fall, hands touching the ground. This let him stretch his pectorals.

”Haven’t really gone back since I got out of the service.”

Henry watched Michael power through another set of lifts. He was beginning to think he was standing there more for his own state of mind that to actually spot the man. Michael moved the weights with effort, but he was doing it confidently and with extreme prejudice.

Michael told him where he was from and Henry couldn't help but let out a series of hearty laughs.

"So you are a Ranger, from Texas? Does Chuck Norris know you are stealing the bit?" He joked.

The third set of reps went by and Michael seemed content with the results as he let his arms fall. Henry gave a shrug.

"Your not human are you? No way, a guy your size doing what you did at the compound, and lifting like that, no way your a vanilla." He asserted.

"Haven't heard that one before." The Ranger drawled sarcastically. "And in no way led t' me getting Ranger as a callsign."

Fourth set. Up and down, up and down the bar went. The end of the set the bar was moving noticeably slower. He racked the bar. Then Henry asked him about whether he was human or not. An interesting way to ask if someone was a mutant. The Ranger viewed mutants as still humans. Even if they have the X-gene they were still working with 23 chromosomes and could, normally, still breed with a non-mutant.

"Nah, I'm not vanilla." Avoiding saying he wasn't human. "And I think I could say the same about you, Desert Fox. Some of those stories were... interesting."

The Ranger took the bar one last time. "Last set. I'll show you how it works. Back up." His power might not engage with a spotter. After letting Henry move back he lifted the weight.

He went through the set, by 8 he was struggling but he kept on. Eventually the bar was down against his chest and not moving. His face was red with effort. Then the weight went back up seemingly effortlessly. Once it was back up he let go with his left hand. He was holding the bar up by his right hand only keeping it from falling to the left. He rose to his feet, turned, and lowered the bar onto the rack with no visible effort. All the while his muscles rippled and expanded to handle the load he put them under.

Henry laughed at the call sign. He knew all to well that once military men got a hold of something they found funny they would run it into the ground. It was one of the reasons Henry had not told any of his squad about being a baker.

Ranger admitted to being a mutant and told Henry he suspected the same about him.

"Nah. I'm a little far from normal myself. Part of what I liked about the service. Most people don't care what you are if it means you can save their ass." He said.

Ranger offered to show his power and Henry watched him under a critical eye. The man lifted the weights under great effort when Henry saw his muscles begin to expand and bulge. He raised an eyebrow as Michael held the weight with one hand, stood up and set the bar down with almost no effort. Henry's mind raced.

"Didn't kick in till you were about to fail, so reactionary. Boost to strength obviously. What's the cap? What are the triggers?" He asked.

"Most of the enlisted men, sure. In my experience though the officers were split. Half didn't like mutants, half looked t' exploit mutants."

The Ranger stepped back from the bar, his sets all done. Henry's brain was clearly in gear, he stood there trying to puzzle out the Ranger's power.

"It seems to' respond t' need. I can sometimes trick it into workin' like I jus' did. In a life or death situation it would have responded faster. Probably. I've lifted over twenty k. It isn't just strength either. Speed an' a few other tricks. How 'bout yourself?"

While the Ranger wouldn't just jump into a conversation with the fact he was a mutant nor what he could do, Henry was a fellow operator. If he couldn't trust him whom could he trust?

Moving over to the side of the bar he put his hands on the weights. "What weight"

Henry tried not to look as completely surprised as he was when Michael spoke about the limits of his power. Over twenty thousand pounds? It was unreal. Even in his Gorilla form, which he had a very limited supply of meat for for obvious reasons, Henry could lift a little under five thousand pounds. And Michael said it could be used for speed as well.

"Now that seems pretty damn handy," He admitted, "I'm a shifter. I'd show you but I don't wanna make a scene. Basically if I eat meat, my body adapts whatever advantageous traits it can from the DNA of that animal. Wolf meat, I basically become a werewolf. Bird meat, say hello to bird man. It means I get a bit if everything, enhanced senses, strength, speed, durability. But I have to switch between forms for whatever is most suitable." He explained.

He extended his arms showing off his sleeves of Tattoos. They were a collage of mixed images of animals in various ferocious states. All set to a swirling and mixing background of color.

"Got these when I was younger as a bit of a show of force. I was a bit of a punk back then, till I ended up in prison." He said.

"Command liked to get my exotic stuff to see what it would do. Got me in touch with a government zoologist, nice guy, who sends me meat from animals that pass in zoos and reserves to me. Kept that relationship string even after my enlistment ended. You should have seen the time I went rhino on a group of hostile in trucks." He smiled fondly remembering.

He stripped off his shirt and headed to get on the bench.

"Put me at 325. I don't feel like Killin myself today." He said.

The description of Henry's power was interesting. Aside from the shifting it sounded similar to his own, at least in the sense that it gave him various physical enhancements. The difference being Henry got to choose when and what.

"That sounds both useful an' like a logistical pain. An' that explains why y're eatin' a pretzel after a run instead of somethin' with a bit more protein."

Henry then showed off his ink. Rather impressive sleeves with animals all over them. He also commented on how he was in prison. Must have been before he enlisted. The Ranger figured his enlistment was a way to get out of more prison. Why pay money to keep a kid locked up when you can pay to have them do work and learn life skills.

”That’s some impressive ink. Got it because of y’r power of coincidence?”

Command feeding Henry exotic stuff to test his power sounded about right. Never waste an advantage and find a way to milk it. This meant Henry had plenty of opportunities to test his power. The Ranger was a little jealous of his connection for various exotic meats. What does rhino taste like? No idea, but he would like to know.

”Man sized Bradley?” The Ranger asked, what else would a rhino-man be if not some juggernaut on the battlefield. ”Ever had Kodiak?” Henry’s power made the Ranger genuinely curious.

Henry gave Ranger his weight and he went to change the weights on the bar. 325 set he stepped behind the bar to spot.

"That sounds both useful an' like a logistical pain. An' that explains why y're eatin' a pretzel after a run instead of somethin' with a bit more protein."

Henry let out a bark of laughter in reply.

"You got that right. I'm a vegetarian by nessessity. My body processes meat too fast for me to even get any nutritional value out of it. Sometimes you just have to have a nice steak though ya know?" He said.

Ranger asked about his tattoos and Henry nodded as he lay in the bench.

"I got one each time I took on a new animal form. Eventually I realized I basically had the potential to become a zoo so it ended up taking up a lot more space than intended. It's okay though, I like it." He replied.

Ranger followed up with a question about Kodiak bears.

"Nah I've had grizzly though. Birds are fun, nothing like flying man. And fish helped me beat out the Seals on a mission in Italy once. Should have seen their faces." He chuckled.

He saw the weight placed on the bar and with a push if effort he lifted the bar off the rack and began to lift. Up and down it went, for his eight reps before he placed it back. His arms burned, and he rolled his shoulders as he took his break.

"I think I'd die if I had t' be a vegetarian. My primary food groups are beef, chicken, an' then green." He said with a laugh. Life without meat would be an incredible challenge for him though. "An' I totally understand just needin' a good steak. I call that Friday."

Henry's tattoos were in reference to his power. An animal tatoo for every animal he could become. He was a walking painting of Noah's ark. "Good thing you found good tattoo artists. You could've been a shitty lookin' ark otherwise."

No kodiak, but a grizzly isn't something to take lightly. And birds? "Y' can fly? That's amazin'" This was something that impressed the Ranger immensely. He could keep up with a fair amount of mutants when it came to physical things. Flying was not one of them. "I think I heard about that. SEALs went in, but someone beat the Frogmen there." That story had made its way around those in and who were once in Delta Force. Inter military rivalries lead to stories of that nature spreading like wildfire.

The weight set and the Ranger in place, Henry got under the bar. One set in and he racked the weight. The Ranger casually followed the bar up and down wit his hands. It didn't look like Henry would drop it, but better safe than sorry. He didn't have a safety net like the Ranger.

Henry laid there resting for a moment and let out a light chuckle at the Rangers remark about the Navy Seals. He gave his head a little shake.

"Some insurectionists had taken a warehouse that doubled as a shipyard. I went in through the waterway. My guns flooded, they hadnt been modofied for aquatic combat, damn useless. I convinced them all to take a swim. The Seals arrived just in time to find a ton of floating bodies and the weapons they had stockpiled boxed up and tagged with an American Flag waving over them." He chuckled.

Good times.

He lifted the bar again and did another set of reps. His arms began to sting from the effort but he managed well enough and released the bar after settling his eight rep.

"As for flying it has its uses but not great for a fight. My bones hollow so I can achieve lift so I'm more fragile that way. Plus the talons make firing a gun a pain in the ass." He said.

The story was actually not far off from what the Ranger had heard through the rumor mill. Though, the reality was better than most fictions someone could come up with. ”I wish I could’ve seen their faces. I bet it was priceless.”

Henry did another set. The Ranger again followed the bar ready to step in. And again Henry managed. He didn’t expect Henry would fail to lift the weight, at least on his first few sets. There were people who pushed their last to failure. Exhaust all muscle fibers that way.

The discussion of flying was about how it related to a fight. He could fly and he was just talking about its applications to a fight. While he clearly had his head on right, viewing everything from a tactical perspective… They were discussing flying! ”I can see that. For reconnaissance though it has t’ be amazin’. Hell, just bein’ able t’ slip outside and have that level of freedom is amazin’.”

”I can see that. For reconnaissance though it has t’ be amazin’. Hell, just bein’ able t’ slip outside and have that level of freedom is amazin’.”

Henry gave a nod at that statement. It was true in his younger days he'd used his power to sneak out. Nothing like soaring through the sky, unbound by the need of streets and roads.

"It is. I got my hands some owl meat. Being able to fly around at night and have perfect vision is probably the handiest thing I've found in a while." Henry replied.

He did a third set and around six his muscles began to scream in protest. Henry was used to pain however and he let out a little groan of effort during his last two reps. After that he sat up, letting his arms rest on his lap and chuckled.

"Think I'm getting old. Seems to be getting harder and harder to do this." He said shaking his head.

Owl meat. Now that was another meat that the Ranger had never tried. He’d also never considered eating. He idly wondered how good it was. The Ranger may have been slightly jealous of the number of different animals Henry has had the chance to sample.

”That sounds incredibly useful. Ever looked into bein’ a contractor? Skills like that could earn y’ a lot of money while still servin’ in a manner of speakin’. Y’ve got a power most people would kill t’ have in their teams.”

When Henry did his third set it was clear the last two were where he was hitting trouble. He powered through it though. He racked the weight and sat up. He made a comment about getting old.

”Y’re what? Three, four years older than me?” The Ranger asked, ”Gunna have me feelin’ like I’m gettin’ old if y’ keep that up.”

((This post has been narrated))