2931/How to Multitask

How to Multitask
Date of Scene:	22 October 2017
Location:	Triskelion, New York City
Synopsis:	A bit of sparring between agents and agents-in-training.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Super-Man, Black Widow (Romanoff), Quake

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Melinda May has posed:
It's been several days since the group of newer SHIELD recruits and agents were put through their paces in an 'urban combat zone'. Kenan Kong, however, was unable to join the training session, so May and Romanova have agreed to work with him separately. Today is their chance to do so.

In one of the more spacious training rooms in the Triskelion, May waits in the center of the sparring area, watching as others arrive to either participate or spectate. There's a single row of benches against the wall, as is usual for this room. "ETA?" she asks of the small comlink in her ear, presumably checking with someone to see if they're going to be here.

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan is in his costume. It is not SHIELD official, but the body suit is his containment suit...and all of it is made of something pretty tough. He is also in the Elevator waiting to be let ut into the level he is supposed to be on. The Security checks these days are pretty tough (of course, he does not know how they used to be). As a result, he is a bit later than planned. He wonders what they have in mind...hopefully he is up for it.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
    "About two seconds," comes the reply from the door instead of through the communicator. Natasha comes walking into the room, dressed in her SHIELD uniform. If powers are going to be in play, the slight armor in it might be helpful. Then she thinks about Kenan's abilities and realizes that the armor is probably useless. Her wristbands are in place. She walks across the mats to meet with May in the center, offering a nod of greeting.
    "Are we all set?" she asks, having arranged this ahead of time with her fellow senior agent.

Quake has posed:
    Agent in training, Daisy Johnson is only here because she was told to be, and when Agent May says jump, usually Skye scowls and gives a little hop before smiling sweetly and asking 'was that high enough?'. Of course, these days she's almost wanting that promotion, so there's a little less surly and a lot more hop..
    Only /right/ now, right now, she's got things she's rather more invested in doing than getting her ass down to the training rooms for a little facetime with real people and less code blocks. Which is exactly why she's being made to take a break.
    Skye saunters in, dressed for what she expects will be a regular session of being thrown to the mats, giving May a forced smile, "I ate. And I'm here." As though she should be given a gold star for that.

Melinda May has posed:
With a nod to Natasha as she arrives, May looks at Kenan and then Skye as they arrive separately. "Hopefully not too recently," she responds to the hacker. Does that imply that they're going to be treating the newbies with less than kid gloves? Possibly. She's dressed as she almost always is, non-descript dark clothing and her ubiquitous black leather-ish jacket.

"Kong. Johnson. The objective is for you both to keep your feet. Do not let either of us," she indicates Natasha and herself, "knock you to the mats. If we succeed, you are sidelined for thirty seconds before you can rejoin the sparring. Understood?"

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan bows to the trainers, he was recently involved in an MMA tournament, he has years of practice with Ti Chi, but is pretty crude when it comes to combat. Right now, he concentrates on just being Kenan, so that he will have little,if any power and will not use his powers in this fight.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
The bow is returned then Natasha shifts her stance. Her right foot is brought back so her left side is presented to Kenan. She brings one arm up in front of her, the other is held at waist level in a low ready position, fingers curled into a loose fist. She doesn't attack yet, instead waiting for Skye to have an opportunity to prepare. Two-on-two. Nice, even odds.

Quake has posed:
    "If coffee counts?" Skye smiles sweetly. It's entirely likely coffee /is/ what she ate, but given the cadre of self-imposed 'make Skye eat a meal a day', it's likely food went with. If minimal food.
    She doesn't look all that impressed with the set-up, though, bracing herself in a balancing stance, giving only a shoulder forward towards her opponents. "So, mats, dead. Time out. How do we know who wins?"

Melinda May has posed:
"When either Agent Romanova or say the sparring match is over." May waits for Skye, standing in an apparently relaxed and non-combative stance. She nods to Natasha, then abruptly moves toward Kenan, going from the casual stance to rapid TaiChi-like strikes in the three steps she takes. IT's not purely the one discipline, but appears to be a mix of disciplines.

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan has mostly used Ti Chi as a form of exercise for much of his life, as it is used as such by almost everyone in China. He is, however, not inexperienced in unarmed combat. He blocks and dodges and deflects, concentrating on defense as he has much more skill defending that attacking. He knows he relies too much on strength in attacking...he was a bully not a martial arts master before his life changed.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
    As May moves, so does Natasha. She shifts her stance so she is facing Skye then drives forward with a series of punches thrown at speed but not too fast. It should be easy enough to block them. Then she is spinning, bringing up a foot in a side kick. Only, it isn't aimed at Skye. Instead it is aimed for the back of Kenan's knee. Hopefully it will catch him off guard. If it meets, she will spin around in a roundhouse kick aimed for his torso, meaning to knock him the rest of the way backwards.

Quake has posed:
    "Lovely," Skye says rather acidly under her breath. "So, when hell freezes over." Still, she readies, and as the women advance, she prepares for Natasha's blow, only to find it move away at the last moment - which gives her a moment to slip in behind and make her own attack, hoping to force Nat to fight on two fronts.

Melinda May has posed:
May uses a series of rapid attacks to keep Kenan's focus on her so that Natasha's kick will hopefully go unnoticed until it connects, and then as quick as a snake she steps past the young man and reaches to give Skye a small shove and knock her off balance. Then she's back at Kenan again, her strikes fast and precise, but not hard enough to do more than bruise an average human ever so slightly.

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan has fought against groups before...for example he fought aganst both Bat-Man and Wonder-Woman when he first got his powers. He is wise enough to not ignore one threat in the face of a second. Wise enough perhaps, but possibly not quite fast enough. He moves his leg so the blow misses his knee, glancing off slightly above as he deepened his stance, but it plsaces him rather off balance. He uses the altered balance to swing into a strong but crude fist strike at May.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
May has her covered so Natasha wasn't worried about that blow coming from Skye. She does shift her attention back to the other woman as she shifts dance partners with May again. She goes for a punch toward the face, expecting it to be blocked or dodged. Then she is stepping into the other woman's space, reaching out to tray and grab her shirt while hooking a leg behind Skye's. It's a simple maneuver but sometimes those are the most effective.

Quake has posed:
    Skye? Well, she's had SHIELD training, which means groups have been involved, but never something like this. After the last 'training' exercise, though, she's already adjusted her thinking to 'they mean business' - and really, that's how it should be. Some day, they'll be out there facing enemies that don't help you up off the mat and tell you to walk it off and take a shower... Like the recent attack by Hydra. Though, even then Skye never made it to the action.
    Thankfully, though,Skye was prepared to be hit... just not by May, however. She's not knocked off balance so much as pushed back a step. It does give her a minute to regroup before Nat's attention is on her. Perhaps unexpectedly, Skye doesn't go for the block of Nat's punch, instead moving to the side and ducking, moving to come up below Nat's arm(s) and grab, attempting to follow through with a plant, turn, and throw.
    The duck? Probably not learned on the mats. But the other? There was a lesson on that somewhere that Skye remembered. She's almost shocked herself that she's not only remembered it, but managed to use it without having to stop and think about it.

Melinda May has posed:
Interestingly enough, Skye's attempt to throw Natasha is simplistically similar to what May uses to try and counteract Kenan's thrown fist. She steps into the man's reach and promptly turns into an aikido throw, grasping the man's arm to try and toss him over and onto the mat. If it works, she holds him there for a second before stepping away quickly.

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan throws himself into the throw and lands with his feet under him...thanks to Bat-Man  and Master I-Ching, he is not quite as crude as he used to be, he attempts to keep May's grasp and reverse the throw (probably unsuccessfully, but it may make her lose her grip).

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Seems that everyone is using the same playbook. Natasha finds herself grabbed but as she is lifted from the floor, she is already shifting her body and flipping over in the air. So what should have been her landing on her back instead has her landing in a three point crouch in front of Skye. She gives the other woman a grim smile then swirls around, her foot skimming across the tops of the mats with a whisper of sound as she goes for a sweep of the other woman's ankles. She doesn't expect it to work but that isn't her only attack. She shifts her weight to her hand and one foot, firing the other leg up in a straight kick aimed for Skye's chest.

Quake has posed:
    Ah.. that one, Skye has an answer for: May says 'jump'.. Skye says..
    Skye's ankles aren't there when Nat's foot should strike, Daisy jumping up and over that sweeping foot over the mat, and while she hadn't been expecting that second kick, it is somewhat amusing that her own response is a kick of her own, one foot lifted, only to have the other come up abruptly, completing the motion. It might have better form were her arms used to provide balance to the move, but for on the spot thinking, she's not complaining.

Melinda May has posed:
Again, almost as if they planned it, May twists very similarly to Natasha so she also lands on her feet, though she does indeed lose her grip on the young man's arm. She uses that moment to step out of reach and in the same motion a wooden practice baton drops from her sleeve into her hand.

Level Two. Begin.

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan frowns when the baton comes out, this was supposed to be an unarmed combat drill. He lies himself on the mat, "I surrender, I can not fiught you when you are armed and I am not without either using my powers or risking serious harm." He will not specify harm toi whom, it could go either way.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
As the kick is knocked out of the way, Natasha hears the surrender nearby. She holds up a hand in a classic time out motion to Skye then hops to her feet, turning to look at Kenan. "You would have to connect first for there to be a danger. You are showing you either don't trust your instructors or you don't trust yourself. Or both." she points out simply. "I don't care if I pull out a rocket launcher, you never give up in a fight." She shakes her head, looking over at May then back to the recruits. "This lesson is over."

Quake has posed:
    The failure of the kick was not unexpected, but the surrender was. When she's gotten her balance and composure back, Kenan gets a frown, but surprisingly, the young woman doesn't add any trademark commentary.

Melinda May has posed:
The moment Kenan doesn't move to resume the sparring, May steps back. And then Nat calls the lesson to an end. "We'll discuss this in a debriefing in fifteen minutes. Go clean up and meet back in conference room O-6."