Hades knocked on Nox’s door, he had come in response to her request to him about training as regards to her emitting laser etc. Secretly he also hoped to train her to perhaps bend light and learn the art of inivsability and other things, but he shelved that for now. Hades quickly found Nox’s room, knocked and waited

The white washed ceiling gazed back at her – this was a staring competition she was going to lose. The bare room, which was supposedly ‘hers’, could have just as well been any one of the other empty rooms that lead off from this corridor. Boredom hung heavily in the air; the ceiling had only offered entertainment for a moment or so before becoming as dull as all the other white washed ceilings in the labs, of which there were aplenty. The question then becomes why on earth was she still there? The answer being earlier, having already trained for an extended period, she had found herself, once again, with nothing to do. And not in the mood to search for someone to pick a fight with she had retreated to a 2m by 5m box that apparently she had some claim over.

A precise knock broke silence of boredom, never before had Nox welcomed a disturbance to such a degree. Cracking her back as stretched, she got up and answered the door. Hades? It took a moment or so of searching for her to remember a request she had made awhile back, a request, which if he was now responding to, would not only fill a considerable amount of her time, but would also be extremely valuable. Hoping that this was indeed the reason for his visit, she spoke “Are you here about the training?”. Nox controlled her excitement, refusing to allow herself to fully realise the situation until he had confirmed it. But even she couldn’t stop a small part of her that leapt at the thought of a new challenge, never mind the simple fact that it would provide her with something to do and elevate the boredom.

“Am I here for your training? Only if you are still interested that is.”
He sensed her controlled excitement, and inwardly shook his head slightly and suppressed an ever so slight twitch of his lips that if allowed would have formed a slight smile, ah mortals, so young and impulsive, like children. Ah well.

“If you are come with me to the Armoury. As for your training I have a few ideas, but how about you? Do you have any ideas on what you want to be able to train your powers to achieve?”

His answer cured her restlessness immediately; not only in all likelihood would she be occupied for the next hours but it seemed that this ‘project’ might even span over weeks, possibly months. Nox restored her composure; this was serious after all, and not merely something to occupy her free time. With her professionalism reasserted Nox considered his question carefully – What did she want to achieve? Well considering the fact that she didn’t even know that yet, he probably wasn’t going to be getting an answer to that one. She realised, however, that she was interested more generally in simply learning how to use her powers differently, since, having found a way that worked for her, she had simply accepted that rather than exploring other techniques. It was this she wanted to modify.

Having turned round to lock her door as she thought, she now faced him again and addressed his question. “I don’t know what I want my powers to achieve, I do, however, know I want to reassess them. By looking at them from another perceptive I hope to be able to learn how to use them differently. And with any luck, the result of which will be able to achieve things that currently I believe are not within my ability.” Believing she had covered everything but feeling irritated with herself for lacking any specific aims, Nox set off in the direction of the armoury presuming that he would follow. Having remembered something she added: “Though the possibility of laser control, which we discussed last time, sounds extremely tempting and useful. But I am perfectly happy to try out any of your ideas”. The rise and fall of their footsteps provided the undertones to their conversation, which, as it bounced back and forth between the white-washed walls, momentarily concealed the lifelessness of the bleak corridor.

Hades pondered over her words as he followed Nox in the direction of the armoury.
As their footsteps sounded through the empty hallway, hmm she was professional enough, she had an interesting mentality.

When they reached the armoury Hades led Nox down a dim corridor. He paused for a minute in front of a door, opened it and gestured her inside. Behind them the door slid shut with a soft hiss.

With a wave of his hand, Hades switched on the lights. The lights flashed on one by one, each one giving out a soft snapping sound, stage by stage the inky darkness was banished to reveal a bare room.

Hades walked forward slightly his back to Nox. Tonight, this time he decided to trust her a little bit more.

“Nox, I have learnt from experience that your powers are just a reflection of your character and also an enhancement, or if you choose they can be the opposite. Your control of the electromagnetic spectrum grants you a almost limitless range of abilities. IF you so choose you could concentrate on the high energy range, learning to vaporise your enemies with a single blast, or to cleanse an entire building with a blast of radiation and then dispersing it, so that nothing else is damaged and the building can be entered safely immediately afterwards. You could be like the “powerful wizardess of death and fire” as it were.

Or you could go the opposite and choose to become a creature of the shadows, to learn to conceal and manipulate light, to cloak objects. If I am a security guard and I discover you and I see a gun on the floor I prepare to dive for it when suddenly the gun “disappears”. You could make it so that people might see you wearing the clothes you are wearing now and be blinded to the set of armour you are wearing over it, or you can make it so that what they see is an empty gun holster, but in actual fact the gun is there. You could learn to cloak yourself, to say… clock any weapons that you throw, i.e your knives. You could use it to create confusion, say in an enemy camp, if you are between two armed soldiers, and they both drop and fire, could you not with illusions make one kill or wound the other?

My point is that you must choose who and what you want to be, and then train accordingly and your powers will follow suite.”

Here came the trusting bit.
Hades paused for a minute and then continued. “I am fare more advanced in years than I look, Nox. You know that I can phase, and that I am well versed in martial arts. At first I was a petty thief, a master burglar. I trained my powers so that I could phase with me an increasing amount of matter. First were things like jewls, then moving on to computers, and finally bodies. Then I changed roles. I became an assassin, a killer. I trained my powers to allow me to infiltrate, to come and go, to move more swiftly. I became a master of disguise, phased or solid, I became apt at infiltrating any and all places, with or without using my ability, my mutation was simply an extension of me, something that enhanced me and my skills. So how you want your powers to develop really depends on what role you want to play.

Do you long for the “in your face” style walking forward boldly and vapourizing your enemies? Or do you prefer to come and go and leave no trace, except a mission accomplished? Do you prefer subtlety or brute power?

That is the question.”

Hades stood where he was awaiting an answer. He had decided to trust Nox, as he had worked with her before. She was mature enough to warrant him to teach, but she still had to prove that she was ready, she had to choose an ideal role, a goal as it were and then strive and train to achieve that. Hades had been set a goal to become the perfect assassin, and he was still striving for that, and more.

The closing door trapped them in the darkness, or least it what would have been darkness if Nox had not, on reflex, converted some of the heat into enough light for her to channel. She had, therefore, found her bearings long before the bright lights illuminated the room for human eyes. Cheap tricks were not going to intimidate her. Possessing her abilities also resulted in the convenient advantage of never experiencing the temporary blindness caused by the rejustment required between light extremes, which meant that rather than being thrown off guard Nox watched Hades back intently.

It didn’t take long, however, before the magnitude of his words sunk in and her attention switched its focus to fall upon his words rather than his form, partly switched that is; she was experienced enough to know very well that you never lose track of someone’s actions, regardless of how tempting their words. It seemed a rather inconsequential room to be the host to such a speech; predictions of ‘wizardress of death’ were absentmindedly absorbed by the peeling paint. Though filled with less grandeur, the later part of his speech was as surprising as its opening, since he revealed far more about himself than most others gave away in years.

His final words died slowly in the stagnant air, and full realisation of his words struck Nox. To choose her future path – this was not what she had expected. So much would rest upon her next words, and the weight of her decision pushed her into silent consideration as she addressed the question that had haunted her for the past years – Who do i want to be? Everything else, like the answer to Hades' question, would fall into place around the answer. Yet self-discover is never easy at the best of times, even without the extra weight built up after years of avoidance.

After a series of circular arguments that led to nowhere, something clicked. For barely a second she had been reminded of how she felt when she had entered the room, and then it had come to her, afters years of simply going on she had realised, beyond any doubt, who she truly wanted to be within a split second. She was a creature of darkness. Though her name had seemed like an accident when given to her years ago, with hindsight the coincidence seemed impossible – for it far more than a name, it was her. It was wrapped in the shadows that terrified most others that she felt most at ease. She didn’t need her accomplishments witnessed for them to be fulfilled; it took more skill to go unnoticed than to relay on brute power to get you out of all situations.

Taking her gaze away from the floor, she looked up and addressed him. “I am Nox. I am a creature of the shadows, I don’t need people to tremble at the sight of me, and subtlety is what I prefer. And I shall train so that i have complete control over the darkness, so that it will no longer be that I am concealed among the shadows but rather that there is darkness.” The words were the truest that she had uttered for a long time, and they held the complete confidence that can only accompany truth. A glint in her eyes had hardened; she had chosen a path, and so her determination finally had a goal to seize upon. This was what she would do.

((OOC: Nox tranlates directly as Night, and is the roman translation of Nyx – the primordial goddess of the night))

As they entered the room Hades noticed that Nox had channelled some light. Hmmm, so there was some fear there! That might be something she would need to face.

All through the conversation he could sense Nox watching him closely, truth be told he expected no less of her, and would have been disappointed with her for being lax if she had not. Then her guard slightly lowered as his final few words hit home. She seemed to pause for a minute, then her shoulders seemed to straighten and she seemed to hold herself slightly differently. Suddenly Nox was… confident, sure.

“I am Nox. I am a creature of the shadows, I don’t need people to tremble at the sight of me, and subtlety is what I prefer. And I shall train so that it will no longer be that I am concealed among the shadows but rather there is darkness.”

Hades mentally nodded, Nox did not disappoint, and thus she earned the right to the next level and thus it would progress. Hades had already prepared a basic training plan tailor made for Nox. First they would cover hand to hand combat, and the basic usage of her power. Then, when Nox had a better grasp of certain things they would move on to the next level.

Hades slowly turned to face her, his hands still clasped behind his back. He looked her strait in the eye and slowly said “Very well Nox of the shadows but not yet of the darkness. Might I suggest an amendment to your goal; no matter daylight or darkness, in the spotlight or in the shadows, a simple shack or a high security compound that you can come and go at will, unseen, unheard, unknown.”

He paused for a minute, considering what to start on first. No, he would tell her the objectives one by one as they got to them, no use getting her distracted.

“Let us begin,” Hades said slowly, as he started to meander around the bare white room, with its lighting panels in the ceiling.

“We are now in an underground room, one which is bare. I will close my eyes and count down from ten. When I open them, I wish you to tell my eyes that I am in a back alley in New York at dusk. You know the one between the coffee shop and the supermarket. You are not allowed to damage the lights in anyway, nor do you need to conceal yourself.”

Hades turned around and closed his eyes. He stood relaxed, feet slightly apart, hands behind his back, the perfect stance for blind fighting.

“Ten.”

His mind became calm, crystal clear.

“Nine”

Breathing became controlled.

“Eight.”

Without moving he tensed and relaxed every muscle set.

“Seven.”

He attuned his ears to his surroundings.

“Six.”

He was ready, but then again he had always been ready.

“Five.”

Patiently he waited, as he had been taught, as he had taught himself, and as he had learned to be.

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Hades eyes snapped open as he turned to face Nox, his eyes scanning each and every inch of the room.

And they began. The task itself seemed simple enough, but then Nox was no illusionist, in fact she had never even dabbled in the realm of creating images, let alone entire scenes. His steady counting filled the room, and made her acutely aware that she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. ‘Eight’ cut through the room particularly effectively, and prompted a decision in Nox, after all how hard could it be?

Nox’s mind worked quickly, having made the decision that with detailed shadow manipulation she just might get there. First, black tendrils of darkness spread themselves out across three of the walls, their pattern of meeting, separating, and meeting again, so to form the regular motif of bricks, soon covered the majority of the room. Next, lighting, this was far easier, since she simply drew a portion of the light onto the remaining wall. This not only darkened the room, and so giving it the latest ‘dark ally way’ look, but also, in an abstract manner, made the remaining wall represent the open street. Her mind sectioned, so to hold the necessary control over everything, Nox surveyed her creations. Strangely enough shadows, regardless of their pattern, didn’t quite qualify as bricks, as for her ‘ open street’, well… ‘Two’ ahhhh, due to a certain time contrasts Nox accepted that her comic book style, which strangely enough it had turned out to resemble, was going to do. ‘One’

Hades swept a critical eye around the room. “Hmm, we might need to work on that, but more of that later, now I am interested in seeing how good you are at blind fighting!”

Hades said as he took a strip of cloth and handed it to Nox, “In a minute no less than five padded assailants will enter this room and attack you. You are to disarm them and or render them unconscious if you can. There are however some limitations, firstly no using your power, secondly you must do it blindfolded, unless of course you deem yourself not yet ready!”

He waited patiently for her response, just how far was she willing to go?

“Need to work on that” – one of those wonderful phrases, which meant exactly what it didn’t say. For example, in this instance it could have been easily replaced by “that was disastrous”. Pushing the shame at failing her first task away, Nox focused on the next task. It was sounding surprisingly easy, she could after all sense bodyheat, which made fighting blindfolded barely a hindrance. That was until he added the little snag – no powers – ahhhhh. True to form, it seemed Hades had made the second task just as challenging as the first; she had never trained properly without her powers – why would she? They were part of her. Hades, however, seemed to have different ideas. Not one ever to accept defeat, Nox tied the cloth around her eye as a way of responding, sending herself into darkness - not that that mattered to her. She stood there, focusing on her other senses, and ignoring the urge to open up her awareness of heat; she would have to survive on her human senses this time.

Hades watched as the first wave of padded attackers reached Nox, they were loud, and she seemed to hold her own for a bit, but she was taking hits. He said nothing. The more people there were the harder it was to sense where people were coming from, in that case one usually would start going through a set of moves, firstly to take down any people in the way, and the second reason was to keep moving thereby making a smaller target. Hades watched. When she was battered, bruised and tired he called a halt. (occ, feel free to fill in the fighting details)

The assailants, (those that still could, for some of them had taken beatings that were none too light from Nox) rose and bowed and then retreated. She stumbled and Hades caught and steaded her, she stood stiff.

Hmm, this one has pride, perhaps a little too early, thought Hades.

“You may take off your blindfold now.” He led her to stand to one side of the room.
“Not bad for an untrained fighter.” He paused.
“Do you know why I tested you without your powers?” he asked. “Firstly, from the registration bill we have learned that Humans do have the capability of disabling our powers, if even for a time, now if that happened to most mutants, they would be as ineffective as a babe in arms. But if you are used to training, you are not that helpless. Secondly, your powers are like a martial art, to truly train it requires discipline and the elimination of fear, which the usage of power often hides. Watch and listen.”

Hades strode to the centre of the room and unwrapped a piece of cloth from around his wrist and proceded to wrap it around his eyes, blinding himself. He took a stance and with his foot drew a large circle around himself. He then again initiated the wave of fighters

“Your power and your martial art skill, are alike. When you start it is like a flailing of the hammer, or of the fist.” As he spoke as the assailents entered the now imaginary circle, Hades began to lash out.

Surviving on instinct and senses Nox had managed fairly well to begin with; mainly by using the limb the assailant attacked with against them – stop a blow to her head, left hand held the wrist, right palm pressurised the shoulder forcing the attacker to bend over before her knee come into sharp contact with the stomach, winded, the assailant dropped to the ground, and so it continued. The problems began when the numbers increased; firstly, sounds began to confuse themselves, and secondly because with some coordination on their part Nox would take a blow as she was dealing with a different attacker. She was still managing to deal with some of them, but as her hits soon equalled, and then was surpassed, by the hits she received, she realised she wasn’t going to be able to stand this for much longer.

Hades it seemed had perfect timing, as the wave of attacks ended Nox stumbled, before regaining her balance – she would not fall. She was fully aware that her hand to hand combat needed work, that and quite clearly her dependence on her powers, which he then went on to emphasis. Breathing heavily and more concentrated on the bruising she could practically feel spreading out across certain areas, Nox only really focused again when his ‘demonstration’ began. The circle drawing, eye-brow raising through it may be, seemed to work – not a single hit touched Hades, as he efficiently dealt with all the assailants. His motions polished, his attacks precise, she knew this wasn’t something you learnt overnight – a lifetime of training went into reaching his sort of standard. Impressed by his display, she wondered what would come next – feeling the aches already set into her muscles, she only hoped that she wasn’t expected to perform the same task again. If she did, with a sinking feeling, she knew she would barely survive the first series of attackers.