The New Gotham Apartments were one of New York's premier apartment building although the ratings had begun to drop as people began to find other building that would apparently offer better services or a better price. However for Luke Jacobs, none of that really mattered. He spent a small amount of time at his appartment and kept it mainly for the effect it had on social gatherings when he was forced to participate as a representative for 'Jacobs & Jacobs Security'.

Sitting cross legged in the middle of his living room floor, Luke was doing his best to clear his mind and prepare for the test he was about to give himself. Sonar and enhanced hearing had always seemed like such an easy gift but in one chance meeting he had learned that control was important even with a supposedly safe gift. Breathing in and out, slowly and deeply he was trying to reach a clarity and control he had never achieved before. With wide open eyes, the sightless orbs stared off into space, not affecting the man's concentration in the least.

Mentally reaching out for the switch Luke turned off his sonar sense... immediately the feeling of pressure began to build at his temples pushing on towards what he knew would probably develop into a migraine. Stubbornly gritting his teeth Luke did his best to split the focus between breathing correctly as well as holding in the sonar. Without the sonar to fill part of his mind his hearing and other senses suddenly seemed much stronger and finely tuned. The smell of must in the air that meant there was probably a touch of mold in the air vents... the sound of sirens and horns from the street far below... the minty taste that remained from brushing his teeth earlier... the feeling of of a light breeze as an oscilating fan in the corner gently stirred the air in the room.

As Luke held out longer and longer, his eyes began to slowly close, knitting together in concentration as he gritted his teeth slightly. The pressure was building to a breaking point and he knew there was no way he could hold the valve shut for very much longer. The pounded began to be rythmic as it slammed against his mental barrier with each heartbeat. Finally unable to hold it any longer Luke released his power once again with a slight groan of pain.

Filled with a vision of the room once again he slowly stood to his feet and walked towards the kitchen almost tripping from the weariness that had suddenly invaded his head. That combined with the throbbing was going to make this a bad day... a really bad day. Stopping at the sink Luke filled a glass with water and then took two pain killers to dull the beating in his head.

Slowly walking back into the living room Luke flopped down on his black leather couch and leaned back againt the cushions simply allowing his body to try and calm down. This was deffinately going to take work and practice but he'd get... eventually.

Luke dozed fitfully as the pain killers kicked in and when he woke he wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed. Sitting up slowly the blind man focused on the feelings in his head for several moments. There was still the slightest ache deep within but it wasn't something that he couldn't handle for a while. Taking the precaution ahead of time he made his way towards the kitchen and grabbed another glass of water along with two more pain pills before walking back out to the living room. After placing the water and pills on the coffee table, Luke touched a clock that was also sitting on the coffee table causing an electronic voice to call out the time.

"It is currently 9:15 p.m."

Turning away Luke resumed his former position on the floor as he did his best to mentally prepare for the exercise he was about to perform. "At least I can go to bed after this session."

To most people the room would have seemed silent but to Luke, different small sounds stood out. The slight whirring of the electric clock on the table, the sound of the fan oscilating gently in the corner, and the sound of the air condition kicking off as the outside temperature lowered enough to basically maintain the inner temperature. All around Luke could 'see' his room. The couch, recliner, stereo system, desk... off in the bedroom was the bed, nightstands, dresser... in the kitchen there were two chairs pulls up to a small table in what most people would call a breakfast nook.

Memorizing the layout as best he could Luke concentrated, suddenly silencing the sonar he had used for so many years. He had not lived with the kind of blindness most people experience for many years and so every time he did this it was dissorienting. Slowly rising to his feet, eyes closed tightly in concentrating he began to move through the apartment... stalking like a hunter after its prey. Suddenly leaping in the air Luke lashed out with his leg in a spinning roundhouse kick befre landing lightly on his feet. Flipping backwards Luke landed on his hands and then pressed off in a perfectly executed handspring... but the landing never happened. As Luke curved back towards the floor he suddenly found that, without his sonar, he had misjudged the size of the room. With a loud bang he felt his back crash into the wall before falling to the floor in a heap. Refelxively his sonar kicked back in from the impace, revealing a slight indentation in the wall though by some miracle it hadn't cracked or busted a hole in it.

Moving somewhat stiffly Luke stood back up and regained his focus enough to once again turn off the sonar. The throbbing was beginning to build in the back of his mind but at the moment it was still a manageable level. Taking several steps forward the blind man began to punch and kick in a pattern of moves he had often used for training. With his back so close to the wall he knew there was nothing directly in front of him but attacking this far away from obstacles was not really teaching him anything... was it? As he moved forward with the flow of punches and kick he suddenly stopped dead still before craning his neck ever so slightly and listening carefully. When he had made the last punch there had been a sound he didn't recognize but he hadn't felt anything. Reaching out a tenative hand Luke stretched foward to suddenly find himself in contact with the wall opposite where he had crashed so unceremoniously.

Dropping his arm, Luke released the flood of sonar once more as the throbbing continued to build towards a crescendo. Walking over to the table he picked up his glass of water and swalloed the two pills as he tried to understand what had happened. There had been no sonar to tell him the wall was nearby but he had still heard something that told him something was different. "What was it and how did it work?" Luke wondered aloud before turning to walk to his bedroom. He was tired and unable to really think straight from the pain that continued to move in his temples. "Tomorrow... tomorrow I'll try again."

Outside of the apartment darkness was beginning to lift from the city. On the horizon the first rays of sunlight were beginning to appear. Slowly the air began to warm from the coolness of night and the sun continued to move higher into the sky. At about 9 o'lock the sun was high enough that it streamed through the blinds beginning to warm Luke's skin. It took several moments for the warmth to break through his tired mind but finally the blind man groggily stood to his feet and set about trying to clear his head. A cold shower followed by two pieces of toast and a glass of orange juice did the trick and at approximately 9:30 Luke was once again sitting in his living room. He had chosen to go for comfort for this training session and as such was wearing a pair of sweat pants with socks on his feet or shirt on his chest.

Sitting cross legged on the floor he began the breathing exercising he had been using to gain focus of the past several days. Any good martial arts training taught you that breathing was perhapse the most important skill to have... when you could breath correct you took in more oxygen allowing your muscles to reaction faster and with more strength than someone that tried to keep their stomach pulled in in order to look more attractive. Breathing in deeply Luke saturated his lungs with air before holding it for perhapse one or two seconds and then breathing out. For the next ten to fifteen minutes all Luke did was breathe focusing inward as he prepared himself for the next practice session. While it was still difficult to turn off his gift he was gaining control so that he could keep the sonar bottled up inside for almost half an hour before his headache became unbearable. Back in his bookstore meeting Kaz had mentioned directional control and that was the next thing to try. Could he use work with the Sonar only being used to cover one arc?

Finally Luke had reached a peace that he felt was strong enough for his first attempt. Mentally he conjured a dial in his mind that would control where the sonar went. Moving it so that it would block off the sonar from being emitted to the rear or from either side, he focused on trying to only 'see' in front of him. The first several tries were somewhat successfull, but not completely. The first time though Luke weakened the strength of all arcs except the forward arc, he could still sense a few feet out from him. There was no great surprise in being unable to achieve success in the first few moments so Luke allowed his sonar to build up to full strength once more before he once again tried to shut it off. This time the rear arc was completely silent but right, left, and forward were all still at full strength.

For the next hour he worked back and forth trying to selectively search or certain directions and areas. The pain didn't build as fast in his head as it had when he was completely shutting his ablity off but he could still feel the dull throb in his temples slowly growing. Attempting time after time Luke never seemed to be able to get it completely... he could weaken selective arcs with ease and bring them in close to his body but it to shut off only one area of power was turning out to be more difficult than he could have imagined.

By 12 o'clock the pain was becoming almost unbearable and Luke dropped all stoppages as he admitted defeat for the moment. He had managed to turn off one arc at a time but had never been able to turn off three allowing for only one to continue working. "I'll figure it out." Luke murmured softly to himself as he stood and once again headed of to get himself a pain pill and some water, "It'll take time but I'll do it!"

The air conditioner was turned off and all of the windows in the apartment were thrown open allowing the autumn breeze to blow in and fill the room with fresh air and a cooling temperature that helped to reinvigorate Luke for this next training session. Once again the gray sweat pants were in attendance but this time they were paired with a baggy deep blue t-shirt that had seen better days. The sleeves were torn off and there were several small holes but it was comfortable and that was what mattered at the moment. Strangely, Luke's hands had white type wrapping around the knuckles and palms much like fighters would wear when training.

"Breathe in... breathe out... breathe in... breathe out..." Luke thought to himself over and over as he worked towards that place of focus once more. Anyone trained in any form of combat, ranging from martial arts to sniper firing, learned that focus was the most important control to have. If you could focus on a situation and ignore what was being said by your opponent... or ignore the environment you've been placed in to take your shot... if you could truly focus enough to blanket out all distractions then you could be a much more devastating weapon than someone that is skilled but lacks focus.

Slowly rising to his feet the blind man moved his feet to the cat paw stance and held it for several moments. He had taken the time to place three stand-up punching bags in the room seeing as there was no place for them to hang from the ceiling. They were the type of punching bags that would rock back from a blow and then straighten themselves. "Ok... I'm fighting alongside a mutant that is hurt by my sonar but I need to see the enemy." Luke murmured to himself as he laid out the situation in his mind, "She's behind me, but the enemy is in front... I have to fight but I have to protect her at the same time."

Grabbing the control dial in his mind Luke spun it and cranked up the power that was coming from his body straight ahead. The sides still had a touch of sonar coming form them but the rear had been block off completely sheltering the fictional mutant that he was trying to protect. Leaping forward Luke's hands lashed out in a practiced pattern... right jab, left jab, right uppercut...

Flowing with the moves Luke suddenly spun, his leg lashing out to slam the left side of his foot into the head of his target. As the floot made contact Luke suddenly stepped away, swearing forcefully. He had been afraid that would happen and it had... when he spun in combat the sonar spun with him meaning he had just hit the girl he was protecting with a powerful beam of sound. Mentally Luke had to separate his body from the sonar allowing his body to spin while the sonar stayed fixed in one direction.

Stepping back into position once again Luke retook the cat paw stance and prepared himself to try again. Focus was what mattered in this situation but as time passed it got harder and harder to focus as the pain began to build in his temples once again. Suddenly charging forward again Luke's hand slashed out in a powerful right cross that slammed into the head of one of his target before turning slightly and lashing out with a powerful left snap kick. As his foot came back down one again Luke used it to push off the ground and lept in the air, spinning and slamming the top of his right foot into the chest of the second target. As he landed lightly on his feet the blind man let out a cry of frustration before moving towards the last target and punching it over, and over, and over.

"Again! I hurt her again because I couldn't control it!" The blind man enunciated with each blow as he focused on the control he was still unable to maintain for any length of time. Finally stepping away from the target Luke allowed his hands to drop to his sides, as he breathed in and out. He had never experienced this kind of self-doubt before but until the other day at the bookstore he had never met anyone that his gift could hurt. "What if there are more people out there like her?" Luke wondered to himself as he suddenly lashed out with his right hand, punching the center target one last time before his hand dropped to his side again, "How can I fight and defend people like that if I can't even control my gift completely?!" It was a question Luke knew would haunt his thoughts until he finally gained the control he was working so hard to get.

Well over a week had passed since Luke began his intensive training but he still didn't have the control that he wanted. Things were getting better and his head didn't hurt as much or as quickly when he turned off the sonar but he still couldn't maintain directional control. Inside a battle was waging as half of his will insisted that weaknening three arcs while keeping one strong was enough control but the other half insisted that he could achieve even more if he just dedicated himself.

For now Luke had decided it was best to perservere and once again he was sitting cross legged on the floor working on the breathing excercises that had become the mainstay of his practices. There was no question that if anyone could see through his windows and watch him every day they would wonder what was wrong with the blind man in the New Gotham Towers but at the moment that didn't matter. He had started the work because he had met one mutant that was affected by his power but now he had met several others in chance meetings across the city. There was no way that he was going to accept his power hurting other just because he couldn't control it.

After some time had passed with his only focusing on breathing in and out, Luke once again rose to his feet and stood in the basic 'forward stance'. "Ok... I've tried to hold the sonar in place but let's try rotating it in the opposite direction this time." He murmured softly to himself as he closed down his sonar so that the strong beam was straight forward while weaker beams went out from his body to the right, left, and rear extending only aproximately a foot away. Maintaining the stance for several more moments the blind man continued to breathe in and out before suddenly he sprang into action.

Leaping forward Luke's right and left armed flashd out in practiced jabs to the chin of his target before his right knee came up to plant the power of his leg in the target's groin. Bringing his leg back down Luke set it firmly in position and then pushed of with his left, spinning around and slamming the side of his foot into the cheek of his target before leaping backwards and somersaulting to stable landing.

For a second Luke froze as he replayed the action in his brain trying to acknowledge what had just happened. "YES!" He suddenly yelled as he pumped the air in triumph. It had taken a moment for his mind to accept it but his idea of rotating the sonar opposite had worked! While it was true he needed more practice to handle the speed of the rotation, his mind had finally grasped the idea enough to execute it while in training.

"Now... if I can just do that in real combat I'll be completely set. Maybe I'll see about contacting that girl... Ghost. She might be willing to spar with me and give me practice." Luke murmured quietly to himself as he felt his confidence once again returning, "Maybe I'm ready to hit the streets again."