Practice makes perfect | open

Melanie hadn't had a day off in weeks, but she was still restless. That was how she had ended up back at the Rockwell for the first time since she had attempted it with Deacon. The wall appeared to be completely deserted, which she almost preferred. No spectators, no distractions. Serting the wall for level five, she looked around to be certain that no one else would want to join this round. Right before she hit the last button to start the wall, a list of the levels and their effects caught her eye. Maybe she would take a moment to read that before she started. 

Level five was a sound bet, though she could probably take it up a notch or two without many issues. Still, during the time she had been reading, a figure had appeared in the distance. She wasn't quite sure who they were or what they were up to, but it could be an interesting afternoon. 

As the First Captain for the Pheonix Brigade, Finley had to keep his body in tip top shape. He trained often, and found himself at the climbing wall often. Fin would never admit this out loud, but he was rather afraid of heights. The climbing wall was a good place for him to overcome that fear, whilst using his body to the best of his ability. He was on his way there when he saw Melanie, the Head of the Garrisons Intelligence Department, off in the distance.

A smile appeared on his face as he approached her. "Hey, Mel. Are you about to climb or did you just finish?" a part of him wanted someone to climb with, but another part of him really didn't want to let anyone see him get to the top. He was still working on overcome the minor panic attack that happened once he got up there...

"Hey, Finley." Melanie greeted, happy to see that it wasn't someone else from the Garrison. Though Finley was technically her commanding officer, she wasn't quite as worried about being informal with him outside of the office as she was some of the others. "I just got here. Up for a round?" Though last time had been a disaster, maybe it would be more fun with Finley. She did have a list of the levels for reference."

"What level do you normally run it at?" She still had time to change it before the settings were locked in, so it didn't bother her to change it now. "I've tried it at 10 before, but they didn't have this nifty sign then. That was an adventure and a half. Right now it's set at five. We can take it higher though, if you want."

"Sure," Fin was always up for a round of any sort of competition. Especially with someone who was in the Garrison as well. It was kind of nice to informally spar with people and be able to give them a little push and see how they do when they aren't in technical training. Many people behaved differently outside of work. Plus, it was good to see how the Intelligence team was doing considering they didn't do as much combat as the others.

"Hmm..." he stepped forward to survey the sign. It really was quite useful, wasn't it? "Let's do seven?" he suggested. It was a good middle ground for his ambition and his fear of heights. He liked the mid levels because they caused him to go quickly, without causing him to panic too much.

"Seven it is." Melanie replied with a smirk. Hitting the final few buttons, Melanie made her way towards the starting points. The red pegs caught her eye, so she moved over to their place on the wall. She looked over at Finley one more time before taking a deep breathe. The buzzer sounded before she could say anything else, prompting her to move quickly up the wall. She knew that she only had twenty seconds at most on each peg now, so she kept herself moving at all times. Not water scalded her hand a few pegs in, causing her to lose her grip on the peg for a moment. Hopefully Finley didn't notice.

Fin waited for Mel to do the settings before walking over to the wall with her. He smiled encouragingly at her as she looked back at him before looking up at the wall himself. When the buzzer went off, he went forth with the most speed he could muster, trying his best not to look down. He was too focused on his own journey to really catch anything Melanie may have missed. A shooting arrow grazed the side of his head at one point, causing him to turn momentarily and look down at the ground. He was only twenty feet up, maybe, but his heart started to pound. He forced himself to shut his eyes tightly before turning back to the wall and climbing at an even faster rate, somewhat desperate to get this over with and get back on solid ground.

The top was almost in reach when Melanie finally got caught by one of those infernal spikes for the first time. it barely grazed her this time, as she had been ready for it to make its appearance. Hoisting herself up the final few pegs, she slid quickly over the edge to position herself along the top of the wall. She took a deep breath, assessing the situation as she went. Finley was close, so she would wait for him to reach the top before activating the button for the next stage. Bracing herself in case the water started before he could make it, she waited.

Finley moved quickly and didn't really pay attention to what he was doing, which was a good thing. His body went into survival mode when he was frightened and heights scared the living daylights out of him. So, soon her was to the top, at least the place where they were stopping before the next stage. "Go ahead Mel. You good?" he asked, noticing that she her clothes were a little ripped where something had cut her. Obviously the wall was dangerous, so it wasn't a surprise that she had been injured. Plus, it didn't look that bad.

"I'm good. " Mel called back. She was barely scratched. If this slowed her down now, she'd be dead in the field. Hitting the button, she grabbed the repelling line and began making the decent, dodging flames and spouts of water. The fire she could handle, but the water was getting in her way. That, and the wall seemed to be taller now than it was when they had started. Deciding to challenge herself a bit more, she let go of the repelling line and grabbed back on to the wall, deciding to climb down manually.

Good. She was fine. And even if she wasn't, she probably would have kept going anyway. Well, if she was anything like him. He prepared himself for the button to be pressed again and grabbed his repel line, going down. This was the hardest part for Fin, going down. He felt his heart pounding in his chest and could hear the sound banging against his ear drums. The water was easy for him to avoid or to just go straight through, but the fire pushed his limits a little. He had singed his left leg already, using water to cool the pain all while moving down. He glanced over just in time to see her climb manually. His heart pounded even louder. He looked down. At that was his mistake.

He froze, breathing deeply through his nose and trying not to let his weakness show. One. Two. Three. He was back at it again, heading down quickly and ready for this to be over. But he was doing better than the last time, and that was what mattered.

The wall wasn't quite as hard whenever you knew what to expect, Melanie decided as she neared the ground. Sure, she was a little banged up. It wasn't anything that would require a healer and she would be good as new by tomorrow morning. Her descent was slow, which put Finley closer to her than the last time she had looked up. She had to admit, this was almost fun.

About ten feet away from the bottom, Melanie decided to go on ahead and take the leap that would get her the rest of the way to the ground. Pushing off of the wall, she landed gracefully at the bottom, years of practice ensuring that she did it without broken bones.

Fin was about five feet from the bottom when Mel jumped off. His heart leaped out of his chest, figuratively of course, as she did that. Ten feet wasn't that far though, so he was sure she was fine. She probably wasn't scared of heights at all. He kicked off the wall, landing on the ground with his feet firmly planted. "You're quite talented, Mel. Good work," he said. She really had been impressive today. Granted, Fin found anyone who could handle those heights and all that stuff trying to knock you down impressive.

"You weren't bad yourself. This thing is definitely a work out. I may have to send some of the agents over here to practice." Kneeling down in the grass, she took a minute to catch her breath. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, which was almost disappointing. It was something that she lived for, especially if she was alone or in a controlled environment.

"So, how have you been, Captain? I haven't been on the island in a while." She said conversationally. It was true. She had been gone for back to back to back missions for almost three months with a few quick trips back in between. There was so much she could miss here in that kind of time.

"Not a bad idea. Actually, I've been thinking we need to make this a part of our training routine. A lot of us come here on our individual schedules, but I think it needs to be a regular thing. Think we should make that happen?" He suggested, his smile quite large for his feet were back on the ground. He sat in the grass beside her, catching his breath as well.

"You and your agents do seem to be gone a lot. I've been... Well for the most part. I mean, I'm doing what I know and I love it. Routine is easy. But a bit boring," he admitted. "What about you? How's the world out there?"

"I'd recommend it. It's good for the agility training that some of the Garrison doesn't get as often as they need it." She commented as he sat down beside her. Having a commanding officer that she could actually talk to without fear of reproach was always refreshing, especially when she had to work with Braxton Wyatt. "I'd suggest taking it up with Colonel Wyatt or the Commander. Wyatt would take it from you easier."

"We've been running down leads for Camp Bast constantly for three months. It's like the chatter has gone crazy." That was her other favorite thing about Fin. He had the clearance to hear just about anything she had to say where most people didn't. "Most of them are false and we've walked in to several traps. Not to mention that the monsters seem to be going crazy without anyone out there doing population control."