metalogs | ( open ) hunger games, bats ver

( accelerator steps forward, and jason reaches a hand out to grab onto the back of his shirt. it's not a hard hold, just - one meant to stop him. )

Ace.

( more to get his attention than anything else. he wants accelerator to listen to him. )

Places like that're built to fuck you over. They're gonna find a weakness, they're gonna jab at it until it splits you open, and then they're gonna put it on display for everyone to see. I'm not going to stop you, but - just know what you're getting into.

[The grabbing of his shirt causes him to pause, and Accelerator glances over questioningly.

Wow, he sounds really serious. Like, damn, that is bleak. He honestly isn't sure if Jason is exaggerating or something, but it makes the reasonable part of him want to be more cautious. It's fighting the part of him that wants to just get in there and do some violent venting, and the part of him that's growing increasingly unsure about his choker battery.]

... You sure you're not just overthinking this?

High chance I am, but a higher one the paranoia's coming from somewhere.

( when given time, jason always overthinks. it's habit, ingrained into him through years and years of training - not just with bruce, but it'd been him who had started it. and it'd been reasonable, hadn't it? things always go south, and when shit hits the fan it's better to know exactly what to expect and have four dozen plans for each scenario.

fuck, he hates bruce.

but he's letting go of accelerator's shirt, shoving his hand back into his jacket pocket. )

I'll tag along with you.

[There's so many unknowns about this situation that Accelerator nods slightly. It's at least smart to be cautious, even if he does really want to get ahold of whatever supplies this tournament thing is offering.]

Okay. Let's go.

[Jason can handle himself in a fight, and if there's any hugely supernatural opponents he can take care of them. It's fine, it's all fine.

He's going to head into the tournament ring. Apparently this round is a king of the hill situation, big hill in the middle and all, with both other contestants and natural fauna from the island.

AKA monsters. Contestants have two minutes to get situated at the base of the hill. Accelerator glances over as he makes his way there.]

I'm pretty pissed off, so I'm going to vent a little. As a warning.

( one hand comes out of his pocket, reaches for the mask that fits over his nose and mouth to strap it on under his domino mask. and jason settles into something - a lot closer to his red hood persona over the lax way he generally acts around accelerator: his voice gets a little deeper, a little closer to a growl. shoulders straighten, and the gait he walks with shifts, too: more of an arrogant saunter, footsteps intentionally loud enough to be heard whereas jason's usual gait is silent. )

No killing blows. ( head tilting in towards accelerator. ) I know you don't need 'em.

[Accelerator hasn't gotten to see this Jason's Red Hood side before. He's seen the younger Jason, but this doesn't feel like the same thing. It reminds him of... himself, honestly. How he changes his behaviour when he's doing his villain thing. It's a little reassuring, knowing that he isn't the only one who's going to be putting on an act.

He exhales softly, giving a nod.]

... Yeah. I'll still go easy on them.

[No killing. He can do that. He doesn't want to actually kill anyone, if he can help it.

Hitting the switch on his choker, he lifts a foot and stomps it down, that one movement causing the ground in the entire arena to shudder and crack. A number of other contestants, particularly speedsters who aren't fast enough to react to their footing being thrown off, are tossed off balance. Accelerator, of course, avoids a circular area directly around Jason, so he can take advantage of the chaos.]

( this is where jason excels.

he's got his own set of meta abilities now, sure, but he intentionally never uses them where anyone's going to see. and he doesn't need them, not here. accelerator gives him a leg up by not hitting him, which - jason would've told him not to bother, but he'll take advantage of it anyway. he slips forward, shoving his knee into the sternum one of the contestants who just happened to get close enough. throws them down to the ground with his weight on top of them, then cuts the edges of his palms against the outside of their neck. it's enough to hurt and disorientate them, but not enough to cause any permanent damage. the next closest doesn't get the same treatment.

a throwing knife's pulled out of his jacket, but he's not throwing it. he's shouldering into the next big guy who comes his way, then shoving the blade down deep just behind his collarbone. it'll bleed especially bad if he pulls it out - otherwise, it's just a real big pain. especially given jason's kicking him over two seconds after, straight down to the ground.

it's meticulous - the way he approaches each of his opponents, hurting them just enough to keep them down. the monsters are treated less gently, using thin wire connected to knives to trap their limbs down against the ground that'll bite hard if they struggle too much. a few of the bigger competitors get the same treatment when they prove a little too much to keep down with more direct strikes.

and the hits jason takes? he takes them just right: moves his body into the motion moments before it connects to keep the damage to a minimum, uses their momentum against them. energy blasts, lightning, and all the fun other abilities people throw at him - some get luckier than others, catching him across the cheek here, burning a hole through his suit in his side that'll sting later, but it never catches him enough to slow him down. )

[Jason steps forward, and Accelerator takes a small step back. Then there's a loud sonic boom, accompanied by a blast of wind, as he launches himself straight to the top of the hill. He can use a lot more precision when moving, but that isn't what he's going for. Being careful isn't very dramatic, after all.

He lets out an exceptionally villainous cackle as he lands at the top, denting the earth, his voice high and squeaky. If these bastards want a show, then he'll give 'em a show.]

What's with all these fucking third strings?! How boring!!

[Unsurprisingly, making himself a huge derisive target causes a few long distance magic attacks sent his way. They're all basic shit though - fireballs, some ice spears - so some bounce off his reflection and rocket into the sky harmlessly rather than back at their sources, and others explode into bursts of light. He hasn't fully figured out how to control his reflection when it comes to magic, but whatever, no one's dying so it's fine.

All the while he's keeping an eye on where Jason is. Partly because it's the easiest way to take his positioning into account when manipulating vectors for attacks and counterattacks (namely, to keep the effects away from him), and partly because it's kind of cool seeing someone so efficiently taking opponents down in a fight. Being entirely reliant on his ability and mind in a fight, Accelerator has no real physical skills himself, so it's interesting to watch someone who does. Even that Level 0 isn't this good.

Once some of those larger monsters start gaining ground and getting in close to him he'll throw some punches. His form is total dogshit - he might have gotten slightly better at taking a punch, but he still isn't very good at throwing them. Regardless, he's laughing like some crazed maniac all the while, and combine that with seeing some twig of a kid knock an armoured rhino-esque creature straight out of the ring with only his fist is kind of absurd.

Which is the entire point. Freak everyone else out so they're too scared to attack and just forfeit instead.]

( the cackle is almost, almost close enough to another laugh that jason really hates. luckily, the cracky, high-pitched, almost squeaky quality of it is all accelerator. he'd snark at him for it, but they're a little busy right now. and while pinning down some of the closer-to-human bodies was nothing special, the bigger beasts are in a weight class of their own. one runs straight for him, and jason just barely, barely manages to step out of it's trajectory, avoiding what would have been a real nasty wound via goat-like horns. it turns back around and starts towards him, which jason takes as cue enough to reach into his jacket and pull out a few small capsules. with his mask on, there's no risk to dropping them hard on the ground as it runs straight for him again - a light-colored smoke drifting up into the air around them.

the beast drops, knocked out cold at jason's feet, which gives him plenty of time to take several throwing knives attached with wire to pin it down to the ground, too. one them, he presses a switch close to the hilt of it, setting off the electrical current that runs through the blade and also through the wire itself as soon as it's jostled at all.

it'll keep it down for a bit. hopefully.

and it gives jason space to turn his attention to accelerator who's throwing a punch that would've broken knuckles on anyone who wasn't relying on vectors to do the punching for him. jason almost, almost winces at it, but knows better than to show it.

instead, tilts his head to the side and puts a hand on his hip. )

That's gonna hurt later.

[Wow, just how many gadgets does Jason have? Accelerator is still keeping an eye on where he is, so he sees the capsules containing some kind of knockout gas, and the wired knives. The guy must be prepared for just about anything at all times. Guess you have to be, when you're normally a regular human without a versatile power to rely on. He might have to ask about what else he brought along later, after this dumb tournament thing is over.

He's about to go slam his fist into another opponent when Jason's remark makes him pause. Normally, not a great move in the middle of a fight, but with his reflection up the other contestant just hits him and breaks their arm.

He glances over in Jason's direction, brows knitted together, his right hand still forming a fist. Looking down at it, he's confused.]

Hah? The hell are you talking about?

[Did you not see how far he punched that thing, that was cool. What's with the sass!!]

Thumb.

( and he even raises his hand, to demonstrate: fingers extended, before he's curling four in tight so the tip of each finger touches the base of itself, then curls his hand in tight, thumb over the second knuckle of his index and middle fingers. )

You hit like that without powering up, it's gonna fuck up your entire hand.

( this sounds like a perfectly reasonable time to go over the proper way to make a fist. you know, while the speakers behind them are rambling on about how the game's not over until only one contestant is left standing. )

[Holy shit is he receiving constructive criticism in the middle of a fight? Only Jason would do something so ridiculous. Still, Accelerator patiently listens to him, because punching is in fact very, very important to him, even if he doesn't want to admit it.

Looking over how Jason has his fingers arranged, he frowns a little, then turns his attention back down to his own fist. He'll fix the positioning of his thumb, all the while mumbling under his breath.]

............. I thought I was doing the same thing as that Level 0.....

[... Well, anyways. He's turning suddenly and giving this a try, punching a speedster that had been approaching from behind square in the solar plexus. The guy stops dead in his tracks and collapses, not dead but oof, that's going to hurt for a while. Accelerator clicks his tongue - it doesn't feel any different since he's still relying entirely on his vector manipulation, but his technique is at least slightly improved.]

That better?

Edited 2024-01-31 19:15 (UTC)

You're not hitting with your fist.

( a roll of his eyes, visible because of how jason moves his neck into it - over dramatic to a fault, but it works out for him well more often than not. the poor speedster goes down, and jason makes a note to see if wally can keep up with accelerator if he comes back around. for the fun of it.

he's betting in that fight, wally'd win. ace is only as fast as he can think, and jason knows damn well the speedsters he's familiar with can outthink most of them. could be on accelerator before he even managed to switch on that collar of his.

they can work on it. for now? jason's taking several big steps over towards accelerator. stops a few feet away, ignoring the rest of the chaos around them. )

Hit me.

[Okay, he was expecting something more like "not terrible." Not this.

There's the chaos of other fights going on around them but Accelerator ignores most of it, only paying enough attention to the occasional attack of magic glancing off his reflection to send it ricocheting into the air so it doesn't kill anyone.]

Are you serious?

[He... he isn't that bad at this, is he???

(Why are that Level 0's words coming back to him right now??? You’ve never lost. And that is why you’re weak! You defeat all of your enemies in a single strike and you can easily reflect any attack. There’s no way you would actually know how to fight!)]

Only one of us is coming out of here a winner, right?

( head tipping back to the mess behind them. they've got a few more to take out still before it's just the two of them, but. jason's point still stands. )

You're pulling too much on your power. Without it, what're you gonna do? Break a few knuckles trying to get a good hit in? Keel over an' give up? Come on, kid. I know you're better than that. Hit. Me.

( with a gesture down to himself. he's right here, primed and ready. )

Or are you scared you'll fuck it up?

( accelerator cackles, he laughs and snarks. jason? antagonizes to get what he wants. )

.....

[That very suggestion makes Accelerator bristle. Physical fighting has never been his forte, not even before the brain injury. This is why he has the gun, though he didn't have the dumb thing on his person when he was teleported here, so he can't rely on it right now.

Not that he'd want to. He wouldn't want to shoot Jason, just like he doesn't want to punch him. He remembers, back home, leveling his gun at Yomikawa, how he didn't want to but thought he was willing to injure he because she wouldn't get out of his way. Thanks to that fucking #2 interrupting he hadn't actually had to make that decision, though. He doesn't have that luxury here.

But shooting someone isn't the same as punching them, not when he hold his ability back and just function like a regular person. So -- he shouldn't be scared, like Jason is claiming. Right?]

Fine.

[Jason's already whitelisted in his reflection, so it's fine. Totally fine. Not like he's been deliberately angling all his attacks and reflections away from him the whole time or anything.

He launches himself, still using his power to cover the distance between them, but refraining from using the calculations that his mind naturally comes up with for the actual punch, so there's momentum behind it but not a whole lot of muscle power. He's aiming for Jason's solar plexus too, since that's just common sense - it's a weak point and, frankly, he's too short to get a good hit in on his face.]

( part of learning is getting to practice those skills, and accelerator isn't going to learn anything if he doesn't adjust to the feeling of his knuckles digging into someone else's body. making a fist is one thing, actually using it is something else entirely. and jason? figures there's no time like the present to learn. the momentum behind the hit would be enough to take out a normal person, but jason isn't exactly normal and he's armored up; he doesn't dodge the hit, but forces his body to go slack when it slams into him. lets his body move with the momentum instead of trying to force himself to stay upright, because it - lessens the damage.

and grins behind his mask, even if accelerator can't see it. he's half-bent forward, fingers lowering to wrap around accelerator's wrist. not too tightly, just - tight enough to hold onto him. )

Good job, kid. See? Knew you had it in you. But you're gonna want to focus more on keeping your wrist straight. More power that way.

( just as an fyi. jason's free hand raises, fingers curled into a fist. swings it towards accelerator, but - stops before it could even get close to touching him. )

Like that.

[Even though he's the one throwing the punch and even though his form is slightly improved, Accelerator's hand still screams at the impact. Unfortunately for him, it turns out having underused nerves doesn't go away overnight. This doesn't hurt as much as his fight with that Level 0 (that pain had been unimaginable, even though that kid had been throwing speedy jabs for most of it), or the fight with Amata, but he can tell from the way his whole arm twitches that his hand is going to be sore for a while after this.

Is it even worth it? He isn't sure, he's getting praised, which is nice for about a second before the usual disgust caused by his self-loathing settles in. Accelerator tries to ignore it and focuses on Jason's voice. Keep his wrist straight. Who knows if that Level 0 was thinking about that kind of thing in the switchyard.

That thought doesn't last for long. He sees Jason's fist and despite it stopping well before it can hit him he still flinches. It can hit him, is the thing. He isn't inclined to re-blacklist someone after they've been whitelisted, certainly not someone like Jason, so he could have easily followed through on the punch.]

... Yeah. I get it.

[He tries to keep his voice level, at least able to acknowledge what Jason is trying to show him here, as he pulls his own hand back.]

( accelerator flinches, and jason - understands where it's coming from. he's used to communicating with fists and violence with his family, that's just how they are. or how jason is, at least. accelerator isn't one of them, not really, even if jason has taken him in under his wing. he's used to not being hit, given his own powerset.

his hand uncurls from the fist he'd made with it. reaches out to ruffle accelerator's hair, choreographing every movement so accelerator could pull away if he wanted to. )

'll clear out a few more, then you're gonna have to take me down.

( to finish the game. jason isn't precious about winning and losing as long as he reaches his end goal, and he's not taking down accelerator here. they'll - talk through ace's reaction to jason swinging at him later, this isn't the place for it. )

[... Honestly, as embarrassing to him as it is, the hair ruffle helps settle his mind down a bit. Which is probably part of the reason why it's embarrassing to him -- an esper with a mind that's rattled or unstable is dangerous, and given how much more powerful he is than the typical esper, that's downright deadly for him.

So he doesn't move, just clicks his tongue and looks away.]

What a pain in the ass.

[And then, because feelings are hard, he's darting away from Jason and lunging at the nearest opponent, just grabbing them and throwing them straight into another fight that's going on.

When in doubt, violence against strangers!]

( ah well. jason doesn't care if accelerator runs for it. he figures - they've got a bit of people to remove from the equation before they have to worry about it. so he turns around, and refocuses on other targets. takes them down, knocks them out, does whatever's reasonable to get them out of the game. he keeps an eye out for accelerator, but doesn't go out of his way to keep close to him. ace is a smart kid, he doesn't need jason backing him up.

by the time he's cleared out everyone closer to his level, jason's - beat up. there's a few nicks in his suit and a nasty bruise forming at the corner of an eye, but the point of wearing gear that covers most of him? the bruising isn't visible, no one can see the harsh twist of his lips as he starts to wear down because his mouth's covered and the voice modulator covers any strain audible when he speaks.

he's running out of tricks up his sleeves, too, which - hadn't been planned at this point, but eh. could be worse. a meta with super strength runs at him, and jason easily twists out of the way of the hit, before grabbing onto their arm and flipping them straight over him, foot coming down hard on their sternum once they're down on the ground.

turns his attention back towards accelerator after, idly taking count of how many they've got left before it's down to just them. )

[It's a hell of a lot easier focusing on the remaining contestants than thinking about having to take Jason out. While the other fighting that's been going on has whittled their numbers down there are still some opponents left, either the tougher or the smarter ones. Accelerator had said he needed to vent before -- he really needs to vent now.

So he focuses on the more powerful opponents. There aren't any he's sure he can go all out against, which means he's still keeping his own power reigned in, but it's kind of nice to be able to beat the shit out of someone and not worry about the morality of it. Throughout the rest of the fight he's back to his crazed laughter and the occasional bad joke or pun (apparently he has a sense of humour under all that grumpiness, and it's terrible).

By the end of it he's looking the exact same as when he walked in, not even so much as a speck of dust on his clothes. Hell, he doesn't even look tired. The only real change is what's been going on in his head, and the fact that his choker's battery has run low. Acutely aware of that, he's kicking up a massive, nearly hurricane-level wind around the last couple of competitors, knocking them into the nearby trees.

Which leaves just him and Jason.

Once he realizes that he drops the whole villain schtick. There's no point to it anymore, and whatever enjoyment he gets out of being theatrical has faded, just leaving him feeling sick and hollow.

This isn't fair. This really isn't fair. He's only doing this for the slim chance he can get some equipment for his choker. It's selfish, but he doesn't want it to run down to nothing. It's not like he asked to get kidnapped and dumped on some shitty island game show.

It's even worse when it comes to Jason. He should've told the guy off and done this on his own. He doesn't want to fight him. It's incredibly unfair to expect a normal person (who looks beat up) to be able to take on the #1 Level 5 and not die. If that announcer was able to give his full title earlier, then they should be aware of that.

It's unfair. It's unfair and cruel and it makes him want to destroy this whole island and rip apart every person who made this whole thing.]

This is bullshit.

( and then there were two.

for all intents and purposes, jason looks completely unbothered. he's fought gods before, aliens, he's wrestled with supergirl on occasion. accelerator's abilities are a little different than he's used to, but ace has already given him his weakness: all jason has to do is outlast him. he's mouthy, knows how to get the hell out of dodge when he needs to, how to maneuver his way around those with meta abilities without taking his own into account. he's good at it. would have died a long time ago if he wasn't.

it's no big deal. hitting and punching each other, breaking a few bones, going hard during a fight to make it seem real, that's just - all part of the job, isn't it? he's fucked up tim worse for less. taken down bigger and badder than what should have been in his weight class because jason's hardy. or more like, he's too stubborn to let anyone take him out.

but none of that matters right now. jason doesn't need to go hard right now, because he doesn't need to win.

so he raises a hand to gesture accelerator to come closer instead. )

You can't hurt me unless I let you. You know that, don't you?

( it's not a lie as far as jason's concerned. but it's also a hint: he'll go down as easily as he expects would be seen as reasonable, given all the damage he just did. )

[Accelerator isn't sure if it's better or worse that Jason looks unbothered. The kinds of people he's used to fighting are the terrified ones, the ones who realized they're up against an unstoppable force, and the ones with too much confidence, and that confidence was always temporary. There were a couple outliers - they were the ones who could actually beat him.

So he doesn't like it. His expression is tense, curling his hands into fists before stepping towards Jason.]

Shut up.

[That's the kind of thing Kihara Amata would say to him, and the last thing he wants to do is start conflating Jason with that bastard. Better to just get this over with quickly, though he's pulling the same move as before - launching himself straight at Jason to punch him, though this time he has a proper fist and he's keeping his wrist straight.]

( jason's not a statistics guy, that's what he has tim for. he's an alright strategist, but he's not the best of the best. he's a trained detective, but he'd argue he's not all that great at that either. there's always someone better. better trained, faster, more clever, and he's just fine with that. but this?

this is his area of expertise. he could just let accelerator have it, but that'd be way too easy. instead, he's waiting for the kid to get closer. counts down the seconds as that fist gets nearer, when it almost, almost manages to slam straight into his solar plexus again.

but jason doesn't let it. at the last moment, he's sidestepping the hit and reaching out for accelerator himself. knows already from his earlier fakeout that his guard isn't up against jason despite them being in a fight ring, so he takes advantage to try and grab hold of his wrist and twist it around accelerator's front. a means to pin him against jason's chest with both arms wrapped around his scrawny frame, if accelerator doesn't throw him off first. )

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levelshift - 2024-02-03 00:59 (UTC) - Expand