5393/The most dangerous game.

The most dangerous game.
Date of Scene:	01 March 2021
Location:	Pugsley Creek
Synopsis:	Laura stops by Xavier's to give her clone sibling Gabby an unscheduled training exercise.
Cast of Characters:	Gabby Kinney, Laura Kinney

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Gabby Kinney has posed:
It wasn't too early, but it was early enough that most of the school was just starting to stir. Those that were devoted to their training were likely doing just that as well. Which is precisely why Gabby is out running through the woods. It's not so much a jog as an endurance run at this point: She's wearing her full body armor suit which she rarely wore anymore. The extra weight of even the light armor just added to her routine.

She sprints past a fallen log, nearly stepping on a poor toad who had just worked it's way out of the frozen mud earning a croak of complaint as she corrects course split-second to avoid it. "Sorry!" It's blurted out in spite of it being to a little toad and no one else was around to hear. It was just Gabby. Barely skipping stride she regains her proper footing to hop over a tree stump that had seen better days as she continues on. While her breathing was heavy it wasn't labored--Got to love healing factors.

Laura Kinney has posed:
It's pretty rare for Laura to stop by at Xavier's School. And when she does it's usually not through the front gate. No Laura likes to take a more indirect route in. Locating a gap in the perimeter, ghosting her way through the forest, then getting as close to the building as possible.

Today of course is different. Because today she's here to see Gabby and that means one thing. Surprise skill testing.

X-23 has found a nice little hiding spot where the wind won't carry her scent and is wearing a ghillie suit plus full cameo gear. She's been waiting, who knows how long, looking down the sights of what is thankfully a paintball gun. Waiting for a moment when Gabby isn't paying attention to take her shot.

Of course she has left subtle clues in the environment. Disturbances in the trail, broken twigs and a few unexpected scents that suggest something is not quite right. It wouldn't be sporting otherwise.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Scents... Were not something that Gabby noticed. But she wasn't also known as 'Scout' for no reason. Though it was a title more than a name, and one she hadn't really let the others know about. Being kept out of the killing side of things by her deceased sisters meant she was the scout. With good reason as her eyes flash to the signs of others being here. This wasn't too far from Logan's campsite but... he wouldn't leave such marks. Especially not off the path.

Though she's tempted to look around like an idiot she resists it and instead lets her eyes move to scan around as she continues to run. It's not a straight line as she 'hops' over rocks or branches, ducks below others, and then as she passes a large tree...

She doesn't come out the other side.

The trunk of the tree made a suitable amount of cover to block her from sight, and the shrubs around would provide cover, too. Quietly clambering up the tree she makes use of the cover and her new vantage to scan anew.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney doesn't immediately react, adjusting her 'rifle' very carefully to avoid rustling leaves, following Gabby as she darts about. So far so good. No stopping in the open, moving to a protected vantage point, and at a decent pace despite the armour. Plus up a tree is a pretty tricky place to leave traps. So Gabby doesn't run into any of the snare traps she can likely pick out from her new position.

Still Laura's test isn't over just yet as somewhere nearby a cellphone starts to ring...

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The phone going off was a distraction. That was obvious, but it could be a distraction of two sorts: To distract her, or if it was legitimately whoever was stalking her and setting traps, a distraction for them as well. Gabby uses this time to act. A blur of motion comes from the treetop barreling toward the nearby water. A solid splash can be heard, even partially seen, and the dark shadow of something beneath the water moving away with the current back toward the relative 'safety' of the lake and school.

Of course this was just Gabby throwing off her armored vest to distract and potentially lure out the hunter. She's hoping the sight was blocked enough to make it seem she'd opted to swim back the way she came.

Laura Kinney has posed:
There are a series of snap-hiss-pops as Gabby throws her vest into the water. Not so much because Laura was fooled but because it was a good distraction and worthy of at least some response. The attacks don't sound like any guns, silenced or otherwise, that Gabby might remember from her training and field experience. And the splashes of red paint left behind on leaves are perhaps a big hint as to what is going on.

The cellphone continues to ring. Careful checking might reveal it's sitting on top of a very well concealed pit trap. Now who might Gabby know who would think it's normal to sneak onto school grounds in the dead of night and dig a huge pit?

Slowly Laura begins to move to her second firing position.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Oh Gabby has an idea. Especially when the hiss of a CO2 cartridge comes along with those splashes of paint. Ah ha. Non-lethal, always good, which means this is a test. Of course the myriad of traps along the route was also a hint of that. Up a tree, and without any long range weaponry of her own, Gabby has to glance around debating what to do from here. Either way she knew one thing: A shooter would not remain in the same spot after revealing their location.

While Laura moves, so too does Gabby. She launches herself in a leap to another tree nearby. It was difficult to miss the noise of her grabbing hold of branches that scrape and scratch as she makes her way through the canopy, but it would also mean she could get out of sight again. Don't let her surround her.

"Really hate trees," she mutters quietly to herself being more of a city combatant than a woodsy one. That was left to others usually. Popping out a claw she hack at a branch above her breaking it off. It's this she then throws toward the next tree creating just as big a ruckus as before. And she slides down the trunk back to the ground hunched low while the tree branches on the next tree over shake and quiver fro the impact.

Skirting along she hunkers down practically crawling through some brambles as quietly as possible. At the very least she's able to get her hands on a rock that might come in handy.

Laura Kinney has posed:
A few paintballs skim through the canopy, some hitting tree branches or leaves, with the majority finding their way into the tree trunks. Typically in spots Gabby has just vacated. Thankfully for Xavier's the paint Laura has picked is marketed as being harmless to the environment. And the next time it rains those marks will simply fade away.

From the angle of the shots and the locations of various traps it'll be hard for Gabby not to get the sense she's being herded in a specific direction.

Still that direction is towards the shooter. On the far side of a clearing in the woods. Just a short sprint through open ground and it'll all be over.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Ah well. With the path worked out, that meant there was really only one way for this to go: Right into the trap. Sometimes that was necessary. Sometimes. Gabby bides her time, and when she thinks she's got just the right timing, she dashes from her cover to rebound off the trunk of a tree. Parkour! Right into the air, claws drawn, heading for Laura's position.
Sheure she might get hit, but the momentum was already there. Even if she got hit she was about to plow right into Laura.

Laura Kinney has posed:
The second Gabby gets into that clearing there will be a sudden BANG. Not explosion loud but far louder than a paintball gun. As a series of paintballing safe claymores all go off at once. Turning the whole area into a big cloud of red. Gabby is at least much higher off the ground than these paintbombs are directed, so she won't get entirely coated, but it does mean her running clothes will perhaps require a laundry run sooner rather than later!

Laura, bundled up in her ghillie suit, can't or won't move fast enough to escape from the leaping Honey Badger. But the bang and the cloud of paint is just about enough time to throw the paintball gun to one side and ready her own claws.

Not so much to stab the incoming Gabby but to block any strikes and ward off grapples - at least while that paint is wet. Military grade camouflage gear customized for someone Laura's size isn't cheap you know!

"I see you've been keeping up with your training," Laura finally says with a nod of approval. "Sorry I have not been to visit recently. One of my Gotham associates had been kidnapped."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney actually laughs at the explosions that spatter her clothes with a myriad of paintball colors. Some high-def neon spatters weren't going to really make her hesitate, but she did look as if she'd been through a color run. "Of course! I'm still planning on doing the hero stuff in the future so..." She shrugs as she steps back not intending to continue the fight. Her claws were no match for Laura's being just bone.

More seriously she asks, "They okay? Still missing?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
"No we recovered her," Laura says with a shake of her head. "I don't know if she is okay though. It is looking like some long lost family member was behind it. Although they have eluded capture. For now at least." Because Laura isn't going to forget a thing like that and she has all the time in the world to hunt.

"Physically she is unharmed but mentally..." Another shrug. "How have you been? I understand there has been some disruption amongst the students. Anti-mutant violence."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney stretches out a little with one hand going back to her neck giving it a good side to side roll. She also withdraws a twig that had been itching her beneath her collar to toss aside. "Yeah that can really hurt a person. Been there, done that," she admits knowingly of kidnapping. Rather than delve further into it though she flashes her older sister a bright grin.

"Nothing we can't handle, though it has been troublesome. Last one was at a school in Mutant Town. We got the kids out safely." There was more there than just that, but that was her mission of the day. "School got wrecked and a few people died, but not on our side. Or by us," she adds as her eyebrows scrunch together in a frown. "Looked more like they were killing each other and trying to blame us. I didn't get a good look though. Too much going on at once. I blockaded the school from the inside so they could pound on the doors all they wanted. Kids were out, though."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney stands up and stretches too. A night spent digging holes and hiding in bushes take a toll even on someone with a healing factor. "If anything ever goes wrong remember that you can always use the various stashes I have around the city." Her stashes range from a simple bag of cash at a bus station to rented garages with vehicles, body armour, explosives and guns in.

She makes a nod of approval.

"But it's good to know you have things in hand. The way the school does things is not always.. optimal.. but I think it is probably for the best that they try to do things in a non-lethal way."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney grins again, and reaches out to offer Laura a hand up. Even though she might not need it. "That's why they were looking at forming alternate teams for other reasons. I'm trying not to use that as a first resort though. Our entire family has had too much of that, after all," she points out with a ghost of a frown. It only lasts a moment or two. "Guess I'm the lucky one in that regard. I get a choice."

"You hungry? Breakfast is probably about done being made back at the mansion. Though I'm gonna have to take a cold dip to get my armor back first." A glance is cast at the creek with a frown. Hmm.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney accepts the helping hand up. It's not about needing help and more about acknowledging the offer. "Unless you are being mentally controlled there are always choices," she points out. "It's just that some are a lot harder to make than others. Still it is good that neither of us are currently taking lives."

Killing people in Gotham is a sure fire way to draw attention from Batman after all and that's far more trouble than it's worth!

"I could eat. I have only consumed an energy bar since I set up position... And it will prepare me to fill in that pit trap later this afternoon." Fingers crossed no-one falls in before then. But at least if they do they can call for help on the cellphone... "I can hold your things while you go for a swim. That was a good diversion by the way. Water doesn't stop scent trails nearly as well as movies would have people believe. But a loud splash will draw attention and if you are lucky they will waste bullets firing into the water."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney nod solemnly in agreement to that. "Thanks. Also helped to pinpoint your location. Hard to pick out a ghille suit in the woods even for us," she reasons with another cheery grin. "That sounds good. Let's go then!" And with that she starts down toward the creek.