15154/Training Titan Tanks

Training Titan Tanks
Date of Scene:	16 June 2023
Location:	The Danger Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Hank Hall joins Caitlin Fairchild for a little team tactics in the Danger Room.
Cast of Characters:	Caitlin Fairchild, Hank Hall

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Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
For the Titans, the team has largely embraced the idea of playing basic 'roles' in tactical combat. There are the ones like Wally and Donna who are the most mobile; others, like Gar and Nightwing, who bring versatility to the table. For Hank Hall and Caitlin Fairchild, the role has been a fairly obvious one: Tanking. Which is more than just taking hits, it's creating forward momentum to rob the enemy of theirs.

Caitlin is waiting for Hank on the floor of the Danger Room, wearing her usual summer attire of green shorts and a green athletic top that leaves a few inches of her abdomen exposed to air. It's brief without being immodest, and there are a few pouches and a slingpack on her hip that suggest she has some utility items at hand.

When Hank arrives, Caitlin turns and flashes a smile. Her hair's been pulled into a ponytail and pinned against itself to keep her hair out of her face. A pretty common Amazon hairstyling practice. "Hey, there he is," she congratulates Hank. "I'm just putting in the final parameters now. What's your poison, evil Daxamites or angry looking killer robots?"

Hank Hall has posed:
For his part, Hank is generally willing to assume whatever role he is assigned. While he has untapped leadership potential and seems to perform well when needed to coordinate, he is still most comfortable when his job is to be punchy. So tanking may as well be Hanking.

He arrives in a pair of grey sweat pants and a white tank top, returning the smile to Caitlin as he rolls his head around a bit on his neck. "There he is," he echoes, with a bit of a grin, as he cracks his knuckles. "Doesn't make a difference much to me. Although I do like the satisfying crunch of crinkling robots."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Roberts it is," Caitlin says, deliberately mangling the word. The blank walls of the room shift around them and it becomes their favorite old haunt: the entirely fictional intersection of Downing Street and -1th Boulevard. Which remarkably resembles a number of intersections in Manhattan that sport a mix of old factories, warehouse space, and converted residential units. The sunlight streaming in from the overhead skylights contributes to making the scenario look warmly realistic.

Another adjustment and Caitlin spawns in a dozen robots programmed into the simulation. They primarily resemble the Brainiac servitors that frequently posed such a problem for the Titans when first encountered. "All right, let's play Forward Zone," Caitlin says. A boundary line appears about fifteen feet behind the line of the drones. "We push them back or destroy them until we get across the line, then they respawn." She tosses the tablet away from her and it vanishes behind a holographic projection. "Start when you're ready," she bids Hank, and settles her weight lower to get ready for an explosive start.

Hank Hall has posed:
His minor warmups out of the way, Hank turns to regard the lay out of the robots. He nods in agreement with what Caitlin queues up. "Got it. I do like the simplicity of this one." Not that it is _easy_, by any stretch of the imagination. It is just a simple maneuver that serves as the foundation for others. And always a good one to practice with.

"You take the right," he says as he starts trotting towards them. Braniac's drones had a limited amount of his intelligence - very limited - but they should be able to identify the threats. And right now, Hank was just a normal human in sweat pants. He is hardly worth attention as he and his colleague both charge at the line. How much can a human do compared to an Amazon?

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin doesn't miss a beat, either. The moment the scenario goes live she bursts into motion with an absolutely improbable amount of acceleration. The first drone she clotheslines hard enough to take its head clear off, but it slows her enough for the main body to brace themselves. It takes a full four of the servitors to stop Caitlin's momentum, and underfoot the powerful monopole magnets can be heard straining as it artifically boosts the resistance the wall of drones can offer.

With form that could get her a walk on with any football team she starts pushing them back again, with single- and double- leg lunges that move them back a foot or two at a time. One drone overbalances and steps forward, which proves to be a fatal mistake as Caitlin grabs its leg by the lower limb and uses it as a flail to smack away the other drones coming at her. The bot breaks into pieces after a few swings but it's opened enough space for her to push on.

Hank Hall has posed:
The mere human, unthreatening, trots behind the line of robots as they focus their attention on the _very_ threatening Amazonian. Hank positions himself on the other side of the robot line from Caitlin, and waits for just the right moment. He is safely outside of their attention, so if he wants to join the fray, he needs to time this _just_ right.

He runs towards the drone that Caitlin has just effectively dismantled, right as sparks start to fly. As the danger mounts from exposure to the possibly exploding robot, Hank feels it build up. "HAWK!" he calls as he leaps forward.

In mid-air, the white and red costume coalesces around him, and by the time he slams into the robots head of Caitlin, it is with the full power of the Avatar of Chaos.

"I go high, you go low?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Sounds like a plan," Caitlin grunts in the affirmative.

Drop, heave, drop, heave-- there's a bit of a cadence to how she moves, and even while wrangling four of the servitors at once, Caitlin is making progress towards the goal. One extends a set of wicked looking claws and rakes them against Caitlin's forearm. The redhead yelps as the simulator induces a pain response, and loses half a step. One hand grabs the offending arm and she leans back to give the robot a firm kick in the chassis. It goes flying with a trail of sparks and simulated oil, and Caitlin tosses the arm in the face of another robot before piling back on. Above them, several units are positioning themselves to attack from height. One of the biggest challenges is keeping all your enemies in front of you, and the servitors will definitely put a crimp in that strategy!

Hank Hall has posed:
And much as ever, as soon as the plan is hatched, it is almost immediately rendered useless. Hank follows through with his initial thought, using a bull rush at the shoulders of some of the robots to send them off balance, but the arrival of an aerial threat is a bit more problematic.

"I guess now instead I've _got_ high and you've got low?" He waits for one to charge him and he grabs it by the throat, yanking the extended arm from the joint with a shower of sparks, and wasting no time before hurling it up in the air as a projectile to attempt to disperse the formation of the descending servitors.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Keep them off me!" Caitlin says with a strained tone. Hawk has the mobility the redhead lacks; she's strong enough but leaping into the air to try and swat at flying drones definitely puts a cramp in Caitlin's ability to hold the line. Instead she turns a shoulder down and lunges forward with a big shout of effort. It hits hard enough that the magnets can't release in time and she rips two drones apart at their waist joints, finishing them off with a savage stomp and a strong kick.

"Ten yards, Hawk, we can do it!" she calls over to Hank-- and then is promptly buried by another wave of attackers launching themselves from the hidden spawn points overhead.

Hank Hall has posed:
"Got it," replies Hawk, as he dashes off towards a street lamp. He half leaps at it, a trailing taloned hand taking a vicious slash through one of the attackers before his other hand catches the pole. He swings fully around it, gaining momentum, as he whips back around, using it to propel him into another. The force of his blow sends it from its feet and it strikes into the one next to it. A three droid game of domino, clearing a space for Caitlin...

...that lasts roughly two seconds before more are upon them. "Almost there!"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin makes full use of her opening by lunging forward with a knee strike that shatters the rib chassis of the servitor. It collapses amidst the echoing squeal of tearing metal as the lights literally dim in its photoreceptors. She reaches back to pick up one of the drones that was threatening to flank her, holds it in front of her, and uses it as a battering ram to knock down a line of the units braced to repel her attack. They're disabled with a series of swift stomps and kicks that don't quite remove them from the fight, but guarantees they don't have the mobility to impede her or slip past her guard.

With one last big step Caitlin moves to her goal: a manhole cover. One finger hooks into a lift point and she twists her hips rather violently before whipping it up at the cluster of servitors assaulting Hawk. It hits them like... well, like a hawk taking pigeons, knocking one of the fight immediately and ruining the position of the other two. "Last push!" she calls up at Hawk, and rushes for the goal line.

Hank Hall has posed:
One key element to this challenge - while they are a team, only one of them needs to get to the spot. Which means as Caitlin starts her rush, Hawk is ready to show the true meaning of Hank the Tank. "You got it!"

Doing his best impression of a Zamboni, Hawk charges at the remaining drones, using every bit of his long wingspan to catch as many as he can as he dashes by. Sure, he may not be knocking them to the ground, but just slowing them, or taking their balance away clears a pretty decent path, reducing the number that Caitlin needs to power through. By skimming off the top, it should be a very reasonal final push indeed.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Though he was gone for a good half-decade, Caitlin's never forgotten how to make the best use of Hank's talents. She knows what he's doing the second she sees those wings flare; it's a maneuver they've done in practice and in earnest dozens of times. Just like Hank trusts Caitlin to react appropriately, in turn. She plunges into the last of the robots and bursts out the other side with one of them clutched by the collar in her fingers. She comes up short two strides past the red line, which turns green and toodles a triumphant little noise of victory. The redhead rips the robot in half with her bare fingers and spikes the two pieces into the ground.

"Wooo! Go team!" she cheers and whoops, and hops a few feet in the air with a kick of her feet. The other robots dissolve into photonic bits-- and reform on the other side of the NEW goal line.

Caitlin flashes Hank a fierce grin. "Ready for second down?" It's all the invitation they need, as the two of them battle on for the better part of an hour until even they are forced to admit exhaustion has defeated them.