It was Sveta's first official training session in Haven. Except there wasn't really anything official about it.

She had met Max at the gala, and he seemed like a nice enough guy. On top of that, Devon trusted him, and Sveta was fast learning that Devon had a good eye for trusting people. The both of them being a part of Haven, it only made sense that they would have to work together sooner and later. And since they both had time on their hands, waiting for missions and jobs, Sveta did not decline when she was asked to train with Max.

She knew his powers had to do with gravity. In order to experiment in a safe environment, she decided to use one of the CLASS facilities; it was not as high-tech as the Danger Room, but it did have a high level of safety, isolated from other parts of the complex. Whatever they did would be contained in one space. They could come up with the rest themselves.

Sveta waited for Max to join her, doing some stretching. She did not expect the training to get very physical, but it was a force of habit, loosening her shoulders and bouncing on her feet as she waited. She was wearing simple workout clothes, close fitting-pants and a tank top, and had her hair pulled back into a bun.

She had to admit to herself, she was excited about this session. She had not trained with someone who had powers since she had left the X-men. She never thought she would get back to it... but then Haven became a thing, and everything changed.

Hopefully, she thought as the door opened, this session was going to go better than some of the previous ones had.

Max whistled cheerfully as he rose the elevator into the subterranean complex of Haven. He had been hitting CLASS hard since joining Haven, wanting to push himself and prepare himself for anything. His first run through with Agnes had taught him a lot, and ended with him having a series of stings and bruises that had been hard reminders of those lessons.

Since then he'd started to get better and as the doors opened and he walked to the entrance of CLASS he felt a familiar excitement. He'd been asked to pair of with Sveta on her first run through and he was looking forward to it. She had been pleasant company at the gala and he had liked her well enough.

He entered wearing his black Haven shirt and camo army pants. His fanny pack was strapped to him full of his makeshift arsenal. He had crammed a ton of various tools, snacks, medical supplies, his metal yo yos, rolls of quarters, and just about anything else he thought he would ever need. On his back was a a duffle bag.

He saw Sveta and gave a wave. She looked wonderful even in workout clothes. Some woman had that talent. He imagined he could pass her a nuns outfit and somehow she would still be driving anyone with the slightest bit of libido crazy. Haven tended to be full of beautiful women, especially at Inferno so Max was slowly learning how to keep his tongue in his mouth whenever he saw them. It got a little easier with time.

"Thanks for coming. Looking forward to getting some training in." He said dropping the duffle.

"You got anything in particular you want to work on?" He asked.

CLASS could do about anything. Make a ton of environments and scenarios. Unlike in his first training however, Max wanted to take it slow.

"Maybe we should go over each other's abilities so we have a good idea of what we are capable of. You said you boost powers by touch right?" He asked.

May made an appearance more or less on time, dressed for training, and carrying a whole lot of gear and a... fanny pack? It made Sveta arch an amused eyebrow.

>>"Thanks for coming. Looking forward to getting some training in."

"Dis should be interesting" Sveta agreed with a smile, continuing to roll her shoulders and stretch her arms. She was not sure how physically exhausting this session was going to be, but she never said no to a good workout...

>>"You got anything in particular you want to work on?... Maybe we should go over each other's abilities so we have a good idea of what we are capable of. You said you boost powers by touch right?"

Sveta nodded. Max was right, it was a good idea to start with the basics.

"Double the power if we touch through clothes, while we touch." she explained, holding up her gloved hand "Triple power if I touch you skin to skin, and dat lasts for a few minutes even if I let go. Kiss..." she smirked, shaking her head to set a clear boundary "I don't do kisses anymore."

Sveta seemed sincerely interested in getting in a solid workout. Max couldn't help but grin. He had always been a bit of a slacker when it came to training. Especially after the intensity of his first session of CLASS he had less enthusiasm for his training sessions than he once did. Sveta however made him feel that pulse of excitement for it once again.

-"I don't do kisses anymore."

Max felt his face redden even as he processed her explanation of power. The Phantom tingle of lips on his reminded him of his encounter with Noel. It seemed he kept running into people whose mouths had special powers.

"That's fair." He daid keeping his voice level and prefessional, "Though can't say theoretically I'm not interested to hear what it could do. The fact that the multiplier factor increases so much just between clothed and skin to skin contact is impressive enough. I'm sure you know that already but that's a damn powerful ability you have."

He imagined the things her power could let him do for a moment. Tripling the amount of surface area and time he could effect gravity would be interesting. He imagined himself throwing a sixteen wheeler across the highway.

"I create fields of augmented gravity. By touching someone or something I can throw a field of gravity around them, like plastic wrap, and manipulate the strength and direction of it. I can hold continues use for about three minutes at a time." He explained.

He unzipped the bag and pulled out a baseball.

"Do you have any kind of training in self defense?" He asked.

The guy blushed when she mentioned kissing, and Sveta chuckled at him. Sure, making out with a hot blonde had power in itself, but with her abilities, it usually did not end up being all that they expected it to be. Not to mention people got hurt. At least Max seemed like he was really here to train, and not to flirt. That was a plus.

>>"That's fair. Though can't say theoretically I'm not interested to hear what it could do. The fact that the multiplier factor increases so much just between clothed and skin to skin contact is impressive enough. I'm sure you know that already but that's a damn powerful ability you have."

"Yeah, I'm aware." Sveta nodded, more serious this time. She was dangerous, to say the least, and valuable to all kinds of parties she did not want to get involved with. Haven kept her safe, and respected her boundaries. That was the main reason she joined them.
It was Max's turn to explain his powers.

>>"I create fields of augmented gravity. By touching someone or something I can throw a field of gravity around them, like plastic wrap, and manipulate the strength and direction of it. I can hold continues use for about three minutes at a time."

Sveta nodded. That was an interesting ability, and definitely worth testing in a controlled environment... she had no idea if her powers would boost time, weight, or other factors. Better safe than sorry.
It was good to start with something small. The guy pulled out a baseball.

>>"Do you have any kind of training in self defense?"

Sveta smirked at the innocent question.

"You could say dat, yes." she nodded "What do you have in mind?"

Sveta seemed to get serious at Max's response to her power. He saw a number of emotions flash across her eyes, including what he thought was guilt. She knew she had power, and more importantly that she made others more powerful. It was not a far stretch to believe that some of those people hadn't used that responsibly.

She asked what he had in mind and he smiled as he raised a hand.

"One second." He said walking across the room.

He talked as he walked, "your power is what I'd classify as a support ability. You make others stronger but it doesn't grant you any boosts or powers yourself. It's amazingly useful and powerful when used in cooperation." He explained.

He reached the other side of the long room and pulled out his phone. CLASS had been given a mobile app and it was a blessing. He hit some buttons on his screen and a pedestal rose from the floor. He sat the baseball on it and returned to Sveta.

"What it means though is that in combat or in missions you have to utilize different skills than other mutants. You can make people stronger but it helps little if you get hurt and they have to protect you on missions. It means you have to be smarter, faster, and more agile than everyone else." He explained.

"I'm not much of a fighter." He said, which wasn't a whole lie. He didn't like fighter though he'd become much better at it when he had to.

"My specialty is mobility and speed, and I'm sneaky. So my idea is to work on that." He said

He hit another button on his phone and walls began to rise up and create a maze of hallways behind them. The room became a labyrinth and Mas stood at the entrance.

"I'll stock the room with guards and security cameras and common traps. We make our way to the ball and retrieve it and bring it back here to win." He explained, "Sound good to you?"

He still needed to call up the guards and finish prep but he wanted to give Sveta the general idea before they got started.

>>"your power is what I'd classify as a support ability. You make others stronger but it doesn't grant you any boosts or powers yourself. It's amazingly useful and powerful when used in cooperation."

Also, the sky is blue.

Sveta bit back the snarky comment as Max talked about her powers. He was not saying anything that was not true, but he was also not saying anything she did not already know. Sveta assumed he was the kind that liked to think out loud, and process things that way.

>>"What it means though is that in combat or in missions you have to utilize different skills than other mutants. You can make people stronger but it helps little if you get hurt and they have to protect you on missions. It means you have to be smarter, faster, and more agile than everyone else."

"Sounds about right." she nodded, with a light smirk. The guy sounded like Sam, when he was lecturing her about self-defense and the vigilante life. She had done a lot of work alone, helped by guns instead of powers, so she was fairly sure she could hold her own without someone to boost. It just needed a lot of practice, and a certain level of death wish.

>>"I'm not much of a fighter. My specialty is mobility and speed, and I'm sneaky. So my idea is to work on that... I'll stock the room with guards and security cameras and common traps. We make our way to the ball and retrieve it and bring it back here to win. Sound good to you?"

Sveta watched the scenery change, and had to admit it was impressively close to how the DR worked at the Mansion. The DR was voice commanded, though, and did not have a handy phone app. She nodded as she saw the maze rise up. The idea was simple enough, yet challenging enough for the two of them.

"Sounds good. If I am support, den you call the shots."

Sounds about right."

She was smirking at him and Max had the sneaking suspicion this was not the first time she'd had this conversation. He smiled back and decided to move on given he didn't much want to bore her with repeated details.

"Sounds good. If I am support, den you call the shots

He nodded and reached into his bag. He produced two small pistols. Each was made of a tough plastic and had a metal cylinder attached to the back. He offered one to the woman.

"They're set to respond to the paintballs as real rounds," He explained and nodded behind Sveta.

A dozen pairs of feet shuffled along the floor. Max grinned as the soldiers they would be going against entered the room. They were simply robotic skeletons with hard light projections over them. But to the naked eye they looked like stormtroopers. The white armor flashed in the light as the troopers entered the maze. There was a disturbance in the air and a map appeared beside them. It had the floor plane of the maze along with notations of where cameras where.

"In a real mission we would have Intel. So this is what we have to go on." He said.

He took a minute to memorize the map. He ran through the maze and tried to force a few different routes into his mind. It didn't have the location of the stormtroopers on it, that would be a variable. After he felt confident he could navigate he stepped towards the door.

"Your ready to go?" He smiled, bringing his gun up.

Max handed her a pistol, and Sveta looked the weapon over with practiced ease. She had never used one like this before, but from his description, it was not a real gun anyway. Paintball bullets she could deal with. It was lighter than she'd expected it to be, but she was sure she'd get used to it fast.

Men in white armor appeared and entered the maze; those were going to be their opponents. Sveta missed the pop culture reference, but the presence of hostile soldiers was nothing new to a mission. She glanced at the map they were given.

>>"In a real mission we would have Intel. So this is what we have to go on."

She nodded, waiting for Max to give her a sign that they could start the mission. She was curious how it was going to go.

>>"Your ready to go?"

Sveta pulled off one of her gloves, and tucked it into her belt. She held the gun in her gloveless hand, and left the other one free, in case she needed to use her powers.

"Ready." she nodded, following Max into the maze "If you need a boost, let me know. Stay close."

She analyzed the map quickly and stowed a glove in her belt. She wanted to be ready in case things got dicey. It was smart and it told Max she knew what she was doing. He took a measured step and entered the maze.

Dancing taught you a lot of good things for sneaking around. It tonight you how to be light on your feet, how to move with another person without exchanging words. Max took slow measured steps down the hallway, sticking close to the wall and came to the first fork. His hand rested on the pistol that he held up and ready. His other hand went to his fanny pack and he produced a small compact mirror from it.

The mirror went out past the edge of the corner and Max saw nothing but empty hallway. He revered it and saw the same. With a quick gesture he closed the mirror and moved forward, taking the left turn.

It was when he made it to the next corner and used the mirror again that he saw trouble. Two of the stormtroopers were walking down it heading straight for them. Max clasped the mirror shut and looked back. They couldn't make it back to the corner before the troopers arrived.

He shot Sveta a glance and held out his hand with the mirror in it. He pointed a finger up and looked to see the ceiling above them, and then extended his fingers for her to take his hand.

If you had nowhere to go, go up.

Max moved smoothly and Sveta followed, light on her feet and keeping an ear out for trouble. The first hallway they turned to, after he carefully checked, was clear, and they moved on immediately. Sveta wondered if he also checked for traps, or if the map had already told him there were none; she felt her muscles tense from anticipation. Some enemies were human-like and had guns. Others might have been hidden. She let Max keep the lead, and turned sideways along the wall in case someone tried to sneak up on them from behind.

Max checked the next corner, but she could already hear the footsteps of more than one guard. He turned back to her and extended a hand, pointing up. He was going to use his powers. Sveta reached out with her free, gloved, hand, and took hold of his, her powers kicking in instantly to double his natural ability. She made sure she held on to the pistol, and pointed it away from the both of them.

This ride was about to get dizzying...