Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Fiction - Third Party [Complete]

[Stargaizer]

Date/Time: 11:45 AM, February 7, 2010.

Location: Greens Restaurant, San Francisco, CA, USA

Joe had done everything he could for his students. He had studied all of the Asian martial arts that he could find, and he taught what he had found. He had even created a tropical island where they didn't have any worries except for their studies...

... still it wasn't enough.

Late last semester, some of his students that were within a year of graduating had come to him and asked, respectfully, what they were going to do once they left. The lifestyle, living a life of discipline and study, devoted to the art, it really appealed to them. Of course, they weren't really the teaching type.

So here he was, again on business for the school that took him far away from it. He'd put out feelers for organizations that would be interested in novas trained in martial arts as well as martial artists that had been trained by a nova.

One organization had come to the top of the pile... DeVries. So, he set up an interview with an operative to discuss both future jobs and, possibly, a 'guest teacher'.

The meeting was scheduled at 12 noon, but Zhu wanted to be early. He'd gotten there early enough that he had a table next to the big, picture windows and was thinking as he stared across the clear bay at the marvelous sight of the Golden Gate Bridge.

[Charlie Cole]

Charlie walked in, in his normal everyday persona, albeit an extremely wealthy one. It seemed at this rate, he was going to have the summer and winter off this year, which meant he had to figure out what had to be done with his incredibly free life.

That could wait for later.

Right now, he was meeting Joe Smith, aka Zhu. Ex-Utopian and well known for being a martial arts master as well as having created his own private island to host his massive teaching center for martial arts.

Apparently, he was looking into career opportunities for his students, as well as a possibility of a 'guest teacher.' It was primarily for the latter that Charlie Cole was here to speak about.

He saw Smith at a table, looking out over the Golden Gate Bridge, but Charlie knew an alert man when he saw one. "Hopefully you haven't been kept waiting, Mr. Smith?" Charlie asked as he approached. "I'm Charlie Cole from DeVries, it's a pleasure to meet the master."

[Stargaizer]

Upon hearing Cole speak, Joe stood. He didn't act startled, even though he could have, but he had heard Cole when he came in and gave his name, and had seen his reflection as he approached. Joe was wearing his formal gi, black with yellow/gold trim. On the right breast of his gi was the symbol for his school: a brown silhouette of a person doing a high kick in front of the white hanzi for wushu on a blue and red dot-less Taijitu background.

Once he was standing and facing Cole, he gave a polite and practiced half bow, arms by his side. One he had straightened back up, he motioned towards the chair opposite him and waited until Cole was in the process of sitting down before he took his seat again. Once he spoke, his voice was casual and even in a strong tenor.

"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Cole, and no, I haven't been waiting long. I got here early so that we could get a table with a good view. Often it's only airport terminals, cabs, hotel rooms and convention centers or football stadiums that I get to see when I leave the school. It's nice, occasionally, to actually see the sights." He chuckled slightly then took a quick drink of his ice water. As he started talking he shifted his gaze out the window to the boats, birds and of course to the bridge. "You come highly recommended by DeVries, and they come highly recommended, for a private company, by pretty much everybody." His gaze shifted back to Cole. "That's saying something."

It was about that time that the waiter came with two piping hot bowls of the soup of the day. It was a beef vegetable soup that smelled so good that it could've been a meal in and of itself. He also pulled out a pair of menus and set them down between the soup bowls. After getting Cole's drink order, it only took a simple look from Joe for him to quickly go back to taking care of the still fairly empty room. "I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of starting us off with the soup. It came highly recommended as well." Joe cracked a pleasant grin at his own joke, and left the ball in Cole's court.

[Charlie Cole]

"No problem." Charlie leaned back in his chair and regarded Smith with a frank look. "For the guest teaching possibility anyway. It's the flying vermin routine, you see..." and here he hoped Smith would catch the hint, "Makes me quite well-qualified in the area of martial arts."

"I wouldn't claim to be a guy to talk to about future DeVries jobs for your students, that's a recruiter's business. I suppose if any ARE actually interested in DVNTS, it would be worth my observations of them."

[Stargaizer]

Zhu looked Cole directly in the eye. "I assume that by flying vermin routine you mean your skills as 'Air Rat'. Yes, I know. It took some digging, as it's not widely known, but the information is out there for those with interest enough to look."

Joe took a spoonful of soup, after closing his eyes and saying a few words in Chinese over it. He tasted the soup, moving it around in his mouth and chewing the chunks of beef and potato that had come with it. He seemed rather pleased. Once he had swallowed, he continued.

"As for the guest teaching position, perchance you could give me a personal demonstration after we finish here. It's not just anyone that I let into my school, teacher or student, you know. And if we come to an agreement after that, then when you see my students, teach them some, gauge their abilities, you can go back to DeVries with your report. Maybe then they'll actually send someone who could speak with them about jobs."

He took another spoonful of soup as he waited patiently for Air Rat's reply.

[Charlie Cole]

Cole's face was bland for a moment as Zhu expressed his knowledge of Cole's elite indentity. Hiding it better would have to be a goal to think about in the future.

Then the polite smile returned as Zhu moved on, and he wasn't fazed by having to prove himself to Zhu. "That's perfectly acceptable."

This remark too was followed by the consumption of a spoonful of soup.

[Stargaizer]

Most of their current business concluded, Zhu and Cole ordered, ate, and made small talk. Most of Zhu's talk was about his school and his Disciples: How many students he had, how long his Disciples had been his students, how difficult it was to teach but how rewarding it was, etc.

Once the meal was finished, Zhu took care of the bill and walked Cole outside. "Since the challenge was mine, the choice of venue is yours.

Lead away." His tone was casual as he spoke, and offered, basically, the whole of the world to choose from with a sweep of his arm.

[Charlie Cole]

Charlie smiled politely. "You'll have to give me a minute to visit my car, as I'm not exactly keen on increasing the list of people who are doing the digging, as you might remember."

Excusing himself for said period of time, Charlie disappeared, only to return with a red pack with black strings, and it formed around what easily appeared to inside, be a mask. "Good to see you haven't changed your mind." He joked. "Now I do have a good place in mind...."

---

On the Seal Rocks off the coast of San Francisco, California, the two men stood. Charlie now had his mask on, and Zhu had shifted his eufiber into his gi. Both men were tensing and ready. Charlie threw a salute to Zhu, before leaping in with a quick chop and a blazing fast kick.

The wind hurtled around him protectively, and Air Rat was set to show his skills.

Click to reveal.. (The PLACE!)

Google Maps- Seal Rocks

[Stargaizer]

Zhu wasn't expecting Cole to be as fast as he was, though in hind sight it wasn't all that surprising, being affiliated with the air element and all.

Cole's first punch caught Zhu off guard, but he was still able to twist and move with it, so it just barely hurt. The kick he was ready for, and he was able to completely redirect its' energy.

His retaliation was swift, but controlled. He didn't actually want to hurt Cole, but the only way to see what he could handle was to try. With him being a novus as well, Zhu figured that he was tougher than ye-average student, and decided to not pull any of his punches until Cole was actually in danger... of course, if emotions ran too high, that could come quicker than realized.

His first attack was a quick strike that, while it actually made contact, with all the swirling air he could tell didn't do any damage. He followed that up quickly with a roundhouse kick, but he wasn't trying to connect with the kick, instead he used it to focus his energy to send off a fireball. But, with all the wind whipping around, it simply ended up careening off course.

With a quick swirl of his hands, Zhu spun the wind around himself, providing the same protection to himself that Cole had. Then he prepared for the counterattack. He wouldn't be caught off guard this time.

[Charlie Cole]

So Zhu was definitely playing tough, Charlie noted. Time to kick it up a notch. Though the air shield of Zhu's was strong, Charlie knew his winds had to be stronger and simply released a powerful burst of air that spread out, yet retained much of it's quantum infused power.

Rather than press his attacks, Charlie settled into a defensive stance again, feeling he could win, it just would be attrition.

[Stargaizer]

Cole was fairly good at both offense and defense. As the ball of air burst through and caught Zhu in the side, his skill and practice at offense were undeniable. However, while his injuries didn't hurt him, he knew that he was nearing the limits of his endurance.

It was time to try something new. He could see that Cole had readied himself versus another attack, but it was time to see how long he could last before being thrown off balance and thus vulnerable.

Zhu raised his arms, then thrust both palms at the Air Rat as he exhaled. He wasn't even close to making physical contact, but he wasn't trying to physically connect. In response to his motions, the Pacific Ocean started flying into a rage, spraying water everywhere on and around Cole. But it didn't stop there, the drops of water kept going, taking on a life of their own, swirling around so fast that they stung when they made contact with bare skin, the salt water burned as it ran into his eyes, and the fury of the water in the air blurred his vision.

That didn't stop Cole from seeing the seething ball of orange flame heading his way. He was able to dodge out of the way, just in the nick of time, as it boiled and hissed as it passed through the water and singed some hairs, it was so close.

Just as soon as Zhu sent the fireball careening towards Cole, he let go of the concentration and power that was keeping the storm of sea water raging. Instead he kneels down on one knee, and thrusts his hand up in the air. Corresponding to his action, a hand of rock springs up from the jagged crags that had been there just seconds before. This hand wraps its' fingers around Cole and drag him down underground, leaving just his head above the surface.

The sea was calming, and for the moment the combat had stopped. Cole was trapped and for that moment Zhu was in charge. So he took it. He dropped down so that he was on both knees, in front of Cole, and spoke. "You are obviously very proficient at your job, but like everybody, neither of us is perfect. But, I think that my students might be able to learn something from you."

With that, Zhu gives his foot a slight twist, and the stone that was covering Cole retreated away. He was still in a hole that wasn't but maybe a millimeter larger than his body, but at least he wasn't imprisoned there anymore. We'll still have some things to go over before you start, but we can cover the details later.

So, when do you think you'd be able to come and visit?"

Zhu knew that it would take him just under an hour of rest to recover from the hits he had taken, so he was more than happy to end the spar. He had never intended for either of them to get hurt, so he was glad that most of the bruises ended up being his.

Hopefully Cole would still be as amiable after this.

[Charlie Cole]

Cole pushed his way outside of the hole, with a little grunt of effort, and didn't look worse for war, at least significantly. Unfazed by the trap maneuver, he calmly smiled and extended his hand to Zhu.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you find me a worthwhile teacher. I'll communicate with DeVries, let them know that you'll be engaging your services, and I figure anytime in the next few days will be good."

[Stargaizer]

Joe was a little surprised at Cole's offer. He had been expecting at least a month, for all the paperwork and preparation... but he could make it work. Or at least his disciples could.

He didn't let it into his voice though. "I wasn't expecting something so soon; you sure don't waste time. That's a good quality, though." He offered his hand for a shake, "We'll see you in three days or so?"