| abstract
| - 2k5 - Friday, August 05, 2011, 7:24 PM Uptown San Francisco This part of San Francisco is one of the few areas left mostly untouched by the weather of the last decade. The steep, curving roads are still lined with beautiful old houses, some of them almost a century old. Flower pots grace the roadsides and are cultivated meticulously. Some of the streets even show the old brick roads underneath. Occasionally, you see one of the famous cable cars pass you down the streets, and people hop on and off of them at random. Fisherman's Wharf is visible in the distance, and people will give you directions to Lombard Street if you ask. The scent of the flowers mingles with the smell of fresh-baked sourdough and the slight fish scent from the Wharf. A weathered old man passes you with a fruit cart. It's covered with fresh strawberries, oranges, bananas, and other tasty items. Another of those cryptic messages had arrived on Noah's wristcomp, this time instead of latitude and longitude, the message used a cypher to encode the address. It wasn't an impossible cypher, and for someone in cryptography, they should be able to crack it with a little effort - luckily, Aisha sent it three days before the date she wanted to meet. The woman was standing on top of a 5 story apartment building, one leg up on the edge and gazing down into the street below, looking for the tech cycle to arrive. The next bit of Noah's training takes him to this location. An odd enough place, but Noah has a good idea what to expect. He's got google afterall and Aisha let it slip they'd be doing parkur a few days ago. So beofre coming, he got into his workout sweats, strapped a few pads onto himself, and hopped onto his cycle. No fancy black ops shows though, Noah pulls the cycle up to the building listed in the message and shuts down the bike. He looks up and slips on his wrap around shades after removing the helmet and stowing it in the side container on the bike. Noah takes the stairs, it's a good workout, and eventually makes it to the top. Out of breath for a non-stop climb up five flights of course. Aisha turns as the door opens and nods, "Punctual. I like that..." she says, her voice practically purring with anticipation - she did enjoy watching her new apprentices when they first started doing what she'd been trained to do from the age of 6, "I'm curious how long it took you to crack the cypher. I'm thinking I made it a little too easy." she pushes away from the edge of the building and walks over, taking a moment to slip around Noah and survey his outfit, "Good... the extra weight will add resistance, we're not doing anything terribly hard today, but I did choose a route that had some elevation changes, specifically to make you use your upper body strength more." Noah gives a shrug, "I try, most of the time was thinking what you had planned. I had to guess." Noah watches Aisha as she surveys him, then adjusts one of the elbow pads. "No, but I wouldn't mind some added movement without them." he says and walks to the edge of the building and peeking over, "If I fall, they won't do much good. I'm just...a little nervous without them. It's one thing to be flying in an exo-suit, it's another to fly without one, you know?" "All too well my friend." Aisha assures, "But, I have chosen carefully the route we will be taking, the only way you should fall is if you're grossly unaware, and don't watch me first." she smiles, "Neither of these are issues, I think. You'll rather enjoy the watching, which should keep you aware as well." the woman is such a tease, "None of the jumps should be even close to beyond your range, based on what I've learned about you so far... it's a beginner run." she indicates the building beside, "I wouldn't expect you to keep up with me after all. I have some unfair tricks up my sleeves too." she then steps back, lining up for a moment, "We can talk more as we move, it's important to learn to get your wind while doing this, after all." With that, she's off, it's a 5 step run-up for her, and she leaps across the gap, it's a story lower as well, making it easier, but also a rougher landing. A quick tuck of her knees and a roll and she's back on her feet. Turning, she calls up to Noah, "I am assuming you had some martial arts training of course. It doesn't take much, just enough to know how to tuck and roll at impact." Noah chuckles, "Only basic how to punch and how to kick. The EDC isn't in the busness to make martial arts masters. BUT, sensei Aramasu did try to teach me a few things after that." He swings his arms, getting psyched for this. Noah just has to free his mind. Then he backs up a bit, and goes for a run. Noah's strides are quick, but not very powerful. They carry him to the edge and over it. Noah flails his arms and legs as if that'll speed him along, and drops the fen feet or so to the next roof. Noah tries to tuck and roll, rolling the impact across his shoulder and back. The fall pancakes him flat on his back stunned for a few seconds. He croaks out, "Owww....I'm ok..." and pulls himself up. Aisha leans over the stunned and flattened Noah, "You are graceful like brick, Noah-san." she intones, chuckling, "Alright, so that we don't wind up getting your legs broke, the idea is to never have your legs locked to start with, and as your feet touch, let yourself collapse forward into a roll. It'll take you some practice to be able to come right up onto your feet like me, but you'll get there." she grins and helps her student up, "The next couple won't be 10 food drops, so that'll count for something. Lets see if you can make 'em without having to roll." she turns and sprints to jump across the next gap - for her it is effortless, she's been doing this forever and the course is a simple one. Noah nods after he is helped up and gets planted agian. He listens intently and watches Aisha do it. Noah shakes his head chuckling, his way to releave the tension, and makes a dash for the gap. This time, he makes it easy and smiles, "Oh yeah, that was balls to the wall." Aisha nods, "It's no different from any kind of running and jumping as a kid, when the roofs are level, just with a gap that you call fall 4 stories down." she grins, "Alright, lets see if you can keep up for the next couple, there are some change of directions in there. And then we'll see how good you are at going -up-." she winks and with a turn she takes off. The first jump is much like the one they'd just done, the next one is across an angle however, it's a longer distance, but still level. And then there is another that goes across a smaller gap, the challenge here is that there is a fence, and there's only one gap through which the jump can be made! Noah takes off right after Aisha, only a few feet behind her. But not for long. He keeps up for the first jump, but stops at the larger one. Noah looks down, gulps and backs up for a running start again. He just stands there for a little while, pacing back and forth. "I can do this...just go..." he says softly to himself, then forces his legs to move. All that time spent in the hypergravity suit has paid off as he leaps into the air with a scream and hits the roof on the other side and goes into a roll. This time he was ready and ends up on his knees. Not on his feet, but it's an improvement. Noah slaps the cememt with a palm and gets up, ready to get the next one. The fence. Noah's bolstered by these two successes and rushes for the gap in the fence. Thankfully, he's narrow and skinny so he slips through the gap easily and leaps over the edge to land on the other side with a small hop. Aisha is standing, hands on her hips and watching as Noah sails onto the rooftop at last, "Better than I expected. The EDC does still train it's troops a little bit, rather than relying on the equipment it seems." she grins at Noah as she indicates over her shoulder, "The whole point of all of this is to not be dependent on hardware to do the job. It is why I, unlike many, have not been crippled by the loss of my powersuit." she explains, "Certainly I wish I still had it, the Redtail Armor was exquisitely designed after all." She turns and looks to the next building, it's 6 stories tall, "We need to jump across, catch the fire escape and go up it. Once we're on top there is a jump to another 6 story building, and then another 2 story climb up another fire escape..." she then bolts towards the gap, jumping across and catching the fire escape in her hands... hanging for a moment she pulls herself up and over and then starts running up the stairs, expecting Noah to follow. Noah watches Aisha climb like a monkey onto the fire escape. Noah says, "Yeah, just like aiming a gun. Angle, trajectory, distance, speed..." and he runs! With a yelp, he leaps out into air and reaches with his hands. One hand does grab the fire escape, but he dangles here for a very long tense moment. Noah grits his teeth as he swings almost helpless. His other hand frozen and numb from hitting a bar a split second too early. He shakes it free before his other hand gives up and latches onto the rail. "Argh...can't..." he grunts while swinging his legs trying to find a foot hold someplace. He finds it a level below where Aisha grabbed onto. He inches his handhold downward to the next pipe and slides onto the platform. Noah catches his breath for a few seconds and finally blurts out, "Holy...crap..." He pulls himself up and starts climbing, even waving to one person looking outside their window. He climbs up to the top of the building and leans over coughing, "Wow...I didn't think...I could do that." Aisha mmms, "I had my doubts. I knew you could catch it, but I figured that was about how it would go." she grins, "Had to go down slightly to go up, but it works." she turns and bolts off, "But, one of the keys here is to build up endurance, no stopping for this next bit... after this jump, and then the next 2 story climb, we're going down by a story the next two jumps, I'll see ya when you get there, but you'd better not fall too far behind, cause then you won't know where to go!" she trails off as she leaps, scampering towards the next fire escape - no jump this time, as the buildings are sort of joined - and is rapidly moving to vanish over the top! Noah pulls himself up and takes off again, tired but running ok for now. He pushes himself this time, keeping up with Aisha, but not for long. Noah can't watch her and time his jumps at the same time. Also, she just blows him away in speed. In full out running, he might be good, but not against a militant...even an ex-militant. Noah keeps going, guessing where he should good. He's got a good brain so his guesses might be sound, so he keeps going leaping to the next roof and then climbing slowly up to the next level. This is the part that slows him down, he just can't climb worth a butt on this one. Noah leaps and grabs the fire escape and just hangs for a moment before dropping. He screams, but grabs a hold a few bars below before swinging onto the platform. Noah doesn't stop however, finding a bit of stubbornness in him, and climbs to the top, then guesses where to go next leaping over the gaps and rolling at the end to land on his butt. He falls back, unable to move and completely out of steam. Aisha - despite turning 40 in a few months - doesn't seem at all winded, she has slowed her pace a bit to make sure that Noah could catch glimpses and wouldn't fall or anything like that, "C'mon Noah!" she calls with a grin, "You can do it. Just a little bit further to the finish line!" she sprints, going up one flight by catching the edge of the roof and pulling herself up, and then she's at a dead run towards the 'finish line' as she called it. A dive into a rooftop pool. Noah coughs, rolls over, and pushes up to his knees. His limbs are shaking, but he wills himself up thinking back to his boot camp days. This is just as bad, but Noah drives himself up to a standing position. He wobbles for a few seconds, then starts running again. Noah hits the roof wall and grabs a hold of the an edge and finds a good spot to place his foot. Hoisting himself up, he finds a bit of new strength and rolls over the edge. "Finish....line..." he says gasping, and pulls himself up once again by the encouragement of Aisha. He goes into a full run again, wobbly and slow, but running. He reaches the pool, but doesn't go into it. He just drops, pulling off an elbow pad, giving up, and just going to his back. He's smiling? Aisha soon surfaces, her clothes soaked through, but the woman has a grin of her own as she pulls herself up out of the water and flops on the deck as well, "Not bad for your first time. It's a bit different from the obstacle course of old, but it's far more applicable to the real world." she sounds almost airy as she lays there, gazing up at the skies, "Imagine how much easier it'll be without the extra weight too... that is no doubt impacting your endurance." Noah can't help but look over at Aisha and coughs, seeing the clothes cling in, places. Noah looks up at the sky and says, "Oh yeah, I usually run faster with the pads off. That suit really helped, I don't think I could have gone that far without running around in it every day." Aisha doesn't seem to notice, or at least doesn't disapprove of the glance, "It is rather ingenious... I mean, I've always done resistance weight training, but not to that scale. Weight on every major part of your body makes a huge difference from ankles, wrists, waist... it's more evenly distributed so it is a lot more like bing in a full heavy gravity well." she smirks, "I'll need to get something like that put together for my own training regimen." "I didn't think about that. While expensive, I could pilot a shuttle out someplace and crank up the gravity. I'll have to ask the autobots about that." He finally sits up with a grunt and shakes his head spraying sweat from his head that hasn't dripped down. "Speaking of which, I need to talk to one of their engineers. I like the idea you mentioned a few days ago. The collapsing staff weapon, but I thought the autobots would have better materials for it." Aisha makes a face, but says nothing in regards to the Autobot talk, instead she uses the discussion of the Staff to redirect the conversation, "Did you turn the dagger over to your EDC tech staff?" she asks, "The monofilament coating that makes it so effective would be an invaluable addition to the arsenal, and I would very much like to coat my sword with it, now that I don't have the Armor suit to enhance my sword using abilities..." she smiles just a touch, "It was one of the Militants better creations, one of those cut right through Red Cloud's armor during the confrontations like it was butter." Noah whistles, "I could have used one of those for my armor." He sits up and turns around to face Aisha, "I haven't turned the dagger over to the EDC tech staff, no. I wanted to scan it myself and see what I could find out. I'd be in a better position to add things to your gear than the others would. But I just haven't had the time yet." He smiles, "Sooner or later I will though." Aisha nods, tucking her hands behind her head, "It isn't a rush priority, I suspect it will take a few months to work out the correct formula and such." she muses, "But, I've been surprised before. In the meantime, I need to work out what other gadgets I might still have that could be of use. I want to make it clear to the Colonel that this isn't just a ploy to get me an Exo-jet, after all. I'm serious about helping the EDC, even if it means having to tolerate the machines." "The machines, huh? You don't have much love for them? Neither do I, what I wouldn't give to take one apart, just to see how it ticks." Noah smirks, "Do you know they have secondary pilots now? Nebulans. Why not humans? Just think what we could do with a few transformer bodies at our disposal." Aisha mmms, "Yes, the Machines. DO you know much about Militant and Benefactor history? On our world we crushed the Machine invasion, and learned much from their technology, adapting it for our own. There were still battles, of course, but they knew we were the superior force, and they were steadily being driven back." she sounds almost wistful as she speaks, "It was a shock to discover this other place where that wasn't the fact, that is why we came here. But, it was not quite the same here as it was at home, the societal differences were stark." Noah nods, "I've read the files, but never really talked to anyone about it, besides you. It was almost like the roles were reversed. Peaceful cybertron, war ravaged earth." Noah looks at Aisha, "You must miss your home, so why didn't you go back with Ollin?" "What, and be a peon the rest of my life? No... Ollin was good to me, he helped me start Redtail Shipping, which has blossomed into a full fledged trade organization now, and he gave me the freedom to do what I do for his sake." Aisha replies, "But back home, I'd have been kept under the thumb, as I had been before by Red Cloud. No, here was a chance to do things my own way, so when the Militants announced they were leaving, I went underground and kept running things here... most of them are gone now. A few others stayed back, obviously... my dear friend and partner Aramasu Hikage, for example." Noah rolls over to pull off the rest of the protection gear. He gives a sigh of releaf and lays down next to the pool. Noah relaxes his sore muscles and dips his hand in it testing the water and swirling it at the same time. "I suppose you would have more freedom here than you would back on your world." he says, "A lot of militants and benefactors went underground too." Noah rolls over to pull off the rest of the protection gear. He gives a sigh of releaf and lays down next to the pool. Noah relaxes his sore muscles and dips his hand in it testing the water and swirling it at the same time. "I suppose you would have more freedom here than you would back on your world." he says, "A lot of militants and benefactors went underground too." "Oh yes... I'm certain there are others around as well." Aisha assures, "William Greathawk won't have left... Selena wouldn't want to go, and those two wouldn't part company." she smirks a bit, remembering her old friends, "I have no doubt that I will see them again one day, though I do not know when. In the mean time, I have a lot of new friends, people I trust at the company, my EDC contacts... and I have lucrative world wide contracts of a more personal nature that I tend to from time to time. Here I am a queen of my trade, back home I'd just be another number." she shrugs, "This is my home now, even if it means working with the Autobots to some degree." she pauses, "I won't like that part though."
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