entrancelogs | ( closed ) when it takes you down

Entry tags:

( closed ) when it takes you down

Who: Peggy Carter + Steve Rogers
Where: The training room
When: October 17
Rating: PG
Summary: A little friendly help
The Story:

Their last conversation had been something that had stayed firmly in Peggy's mind. Even though Peggy knew that she wasn't alone in Wonderland it had helped to hear it - to be reminded that Steve had gone through everything that Peggy was experiencing now, both Wonderland and modern day.

There were some things that couldn't be helped, at least not until Peggy began helping herself on them. She'd spent the first few months adjusting - learning. Reading about Wonderland, talking to others about their experiences and experiencing it herself. She'd learned some of the modern day "improvements" and so far she'd learned something.

She just hadn't learned what to do. What you did when there was nothing to adjust to - when you had nothing. She had people that she knew, people that she met but Peggy would never expect them to be everything - to stop their own lives to figure this out for her. Peggy might have been pulled from her life but she hadn't lost herself. She just- needed guidance. Needed to know the possibilities, things that she could adapt to or incorporate into her life. When most of what she saw was rooms upon rooms, no structure or things she didn't know what the possibilities were.

But Steve did. He'd had a life, had more than that. Some of his new team was here and more had since arrived. Steve had told Peggy before place that he could be found - things that he did, and it's looking around them that she starts. The training room isn't the first place that she goes to but it is where she finds Steve, and taking in what the place looks like it could be somewhere she'll visit again. Keeping their skills sharp is a good idea - events have already proven that.

It's when her eyes fall on Steve, just an undertee and bandaged hands, working on his punching bag, that Peggy stops, standing a few steps in from the doorway - watching him. It's the first time that she's seen him work since 1945 and he is different. Stronger, more skilled. No worse for wear from these events that keep switching him back and forth.

It's a few minutes before Peggy catches herself - realises that she's staring and she takes a few steps forward, clearing her throat to catch his attention when she's a little closer. She could have watched him for longer, but she had that question still (watching him would have been easier).

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Steve is worse for the wear, but he's always been able to absorb each punch to the gut that his life throws at him and move on. The Hydra event had been a particularly intense hit, and the events that followed it haven't been walks in the park either. It feels like he's still on the back foot, still backed into a corner, something he has to fight his way out of.

Hence why he's here. Granted, Steve comes to the training center all the time as a matter of course, but there's something more frantic in his fighting style right now. He's improved a lot since 1945 thanks to modern day training, with people like Natasha helping him to add refinement to his style. That much also shines through as he takes apart a punching bag.

When he hears someone clearing her throat (and the fact that he can tell who it is just from that one sound probably says something), Steve swivels and slams his foot into the punching bag with one last kick which rips the chain out of the ceiling and sends the bag flying across the room. It slides into a corner and then Steve turns toward Peggy, a little winded but otherwise unaffected.

Even now, existing in the same space as Peggy feels a little like a dream. They've interacted plenty since her return, but he can never quite believe that it's really happening.

Still, it's better to remain casual. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in." Steve pulls off a smile, but it's not the brightest one he's sent her way. He pads over and grabs a bottle of water that he left on the floor, downs about half of it, then wipes the excess water from his mouth once he's done. "Have you tried out the facilities here yet?"

Peggy's seen the power of his movements before, the buildings he'd damaged when he'd been uncertain of his own body at the beginning, and the fact that he'd brought the 108th back alone. His mind - how he put his strength to use - always impressed her, but seeing the size of his force, the fact that he can rip the chain from the ceiling with one kick amazes her. The fact that it's possible, and that a man that was once much smaller is the one able to do it.

She shifts her gaze back to Steve as he speaks having followed the bag as it flew across the room, a light smile dancing across her lips as she tease- "Is that after you've finished tearing apart the room?" One bag was hardly tearing, but he had to save some for the rest of them.

"I haven't yet, but I may." Will. She's been here a few months already now. It's the longest she's been without keeping herself sharp in a while, and in Wonderland they need to be sharp. Even finding somewhere to safely shoot would help. Her first event had given necessity to that, when aptly timed.

"That was actually why I came here." Although not to train yet - she's not dressed for that.

"Wonderland does repair itself," Steve shoots back. Not that he actually intends to enact any more property damage on a room that he personally works to maintain. But it does help to know that when he does push a little harder than he should, any evidence of what he did will be cleared the next day. Only so many people can yank a punching bag off its chain like that. Friends and teammates would notice, and would ask after him. Which Steve would rather avoid.

It's good to hear that Peggy's ready to jump back into the fray, even if at the moment it would only be for training purposes. Steve's always been impressed with her combat skills, so seeing her around here will hardly be a burden. Quite the opposite, actually.

"That probably looks familiar," he says, jamming his thumb over his shoulder to point out the obstacle course at the back of the room. It's strikingly similar to the one he'd been forced to complete during his basic training, back when he could barely do a push-up.

"There's a shooting simulator too, but if you want an actual range to practice at that's down by the beach." There's not enough room in the mansion for actual distance practice, and Steve gets the feeling that Peggy will want the real thing, not a simulator.

When Steve mentions exactly what's on her mind Peggy doesn't bother to hide how impressed she is. My, my, Steve, you do know your audience. There's a nod at both what he mentions - the obstacle course and the shooting options, and she makes a note of finding out how to get to the beach (and ignores wondering how many more locations this place has).

"I'd imagine that it could get rather busy in here." Even with the size of the room there's also the size of his team, and a lot of equipment in here. There was also the rest of Wonderland, if it was open to all.

"What does the simulator do?" Because that sounds infinitely more- future (and fancy) than any target practice that she's had before - with Steve and his team being from said future there's no doubt of when it would be from.

"It can, yeah, especially when I do a call to arms." Steve does what he can to make sure that the entire team is in here at the same time at least once a month if he can, but he also isn't pushing them quite as hard because they don't deploy very often within Wonderland. Everyone needs to keep their skills honed, but it's more a precautionary measure than anything else.

Of course Peggy is curious about the simulator. There's still a lot about future technology that she doesn't know, as she'd admitted to him when they'd spoken on the roof that one evening.

"It's something called virtual reality." She can probably make a guess at what that means just from the name. "A computer program can generate targets and keep track of your accuracy, things like that. There are also simulators that will create virtual enemies to fight, that kind of thing." There's a pause, and then Steve realizes it would really probably be easier for Peggy to see it. "I can show you, if you want."

There's a nod whilst she takes in what he says. A computer tracking it, generating targets. Perhaps it could create something like the range, or more realistic if it created the enemies. It would be a useful tool to training - Peggy could appreciate that much. It was hard to practice on moving targets usually.

"I'd like to see it. Perhaps it may be useful." To her and not just in general training. "Though I'd guess that you still use other things more than that?" Even though Steve may have been trained she knows he's never been the man with a gun in his hand. He's his own weapon, but that's not why.

As soon as Peggy agrees to it, Steve nods and starts for one of the doors on the left side of the room. He's never been a fan of guns, though he has used them in the past. Lately he's gotten to the point where he doesn't need to rely on them, his own body and his shield being enough to get the job done.

"I don't really make use of it, but some other members of the team do," he explains as he opens up the door and leads Peggy inside. It's a sizable room, dim and with a control panel in the corner, though there isn't much else in the way of furniture. "There are other sims I could use for shield training, so it's a pretty versatile resource."

"I wouldn't mind seeing those at one point." To see him training, see how far he's come since their battlefield. The small glimpse that Peggy had gotten when she'd walked in had given her some indication of his further training, but she wouldn't say no to seeing more.

Her gaze drifts from Steve to the room as they walk through, a little curious about how it will work when the room is bare. Steve had said simulation, but the idea that Peggy currently has is a little lacking.

"How do we begin?"

The opportunity to maybe actually show off a little for Peggy Carter herself is something that Steve doesn't think he could resist. He's come a long way since the Great War, having expanded his skills and techniques to make him an even more effective soldier. He glances over at her with something that's a little too close to a boyish grin. "Well, I'm sure that could be arranged."

First thing's first, though. This is really something that's easier to see than explain, and so Steve motions Peggy over to the control panel, making room so that she can get a good look at the screen. It has touch capabilities, and he starts going through the menus.

"You can alter all kinds of settings. How many targets, how long the simulation lasts, that kind of thing. I'll do a really basic one just to show you." There's a large button that's labeled START SIMULATION. As soon as Steve pushes it, holographic targets of various shapes and sizes appear in different places around the room, each one emitting a glowing blue light.

"They only stay there for a few seconds before disappearing, so you have to be a quick shot," he explains as he walks to the center of the room, swiping his arm through one of the targets to demonstrate.

Peggy returns the smile, glad that he's open to the idea of it. Training can sometimes e a personal thing, but then Steve didn't always shy away from a challenge. When Steve continues Peggy steps a little closer, gaze following the menus that Steve indicates with nods in the appropriate places. She would need some slow practice at those settings but it did sound simple enough.

"Then I suppose I should arm up to see how I do." She is at least a quick - and accurate - shot, but how would her timing fend off against this machine?

"Do regular guns work for it?" If these things weren't real was it more dangerous shooting with a real gun - was there something special there for it?

"The walls here are heavily reinforced if you want to practice with live ammunition." Steve ignores the rest of the targets that pop up and disappear around them, walking to the edge of the room so that he can knock on the wall. It's made of a metallic alloy that's intended to stop just about anything that pierces it or smashes against it. Steve imagines that Mjolnir would still be able to make a dent, but a bullet shouldn't be a problem.

The simulation ends not long after that, and their score (which obviously is close to zero) appears in holographic numbers in the air near the center of the room. It's also on the screen, with an option to repeat the simulation or program a new one showing below it.

Steve figures that Peggy has the basic idea at this point, though. He moves back toward her and bows his head. "So yeah, feel free to make use of the facilities at any time."

"Perhaps I could begin now? A practice whilst you're here to make sure that I understand how to use it?"

Although the task seemed fairly simple Peggy wanted to be certain, and it meant that she could spend more time with Steve whilst she was there. Plus she had asked Steve to show off for her, it was only fair that she do so too, right?

Why put off to tomorrow what you could do today? That's Peggy's general way of thinking, so Steve isn't surprised that she's ready to jump right in.

"Sure," he replies with a nod before sending her a smirk, one eyebrow raised. "Just so long as you promise not to shoot at me this time." It's an old memory at this point: Peggy's hands-on test of his shield, inspired by a very personal kind of anger. Steve knows that he deserved it, though.

"I'm certain that I have no reason to this time." Though when it had happened at the time there'd been a lot of anger - a lot of hurt - behind it Peggy can now at least mention it with some jest.

Stepping back towards the controls Peggy looks to Steve before reaching for her weapon. "Shall we?"

Steve joins Peggy back by the controls, also confident that he knows better now than to incur her wrath in any way. It occurs to him that Peggy still has no clue about him and Bucky, but now isn't really the time.

Will there ever be a good time? He's not sure. So far, it hasn't been forced to come up.

"Let's just repeat that same simulation to get you warmed up. I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake for you, but..." He pushes the "replay" button and then steps back so that Peggy can shine.

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( closed ) when it takes you down

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