1964-10-22 - The Bat, the Star, and Hope
Summary: Cap, Bruce, and Hope do some sparring
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
hope steve-rogers wayne 


Steve is beating the hell out of a punching bag.

His fists are wrapped in that white tape that boxers use to keep their wrists from giving out. Whatever sort of aggression he seems to be getting out seems to have been bothering him because he's putting a little extra into his training today. Finally, he relents and slowly walks over to the table where his bag sits to grab his towel and dry his face.


Hope occupies an odd place here at the mansion. She's not quite independent, but there's not really anyone who's responsible for her, either. Luckily, Hope is generally pretty responsible for herself. If she's not out exploring the city, then she's down in the lab tinkering with someone's scraps, and if she's not there, then she's keeping up with her own training. Dressed in sweatpants and a tank top, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she's stepping into the gym just as Steve is finishing up with the bag, her wrists already wrapped.

"Heya, Cap," she greets as she comes in, giving him a quick look before she quirks a brow. "Everything okay?"


Steve gives one of half smiles as he chuckles under his breath. "Fine. Just one of those days. I'm sure you've been there." There's an upwards nod in her direction as his eyes meet hers. "How about you?" he asks as he begins to unwrap his wrists.


"Um…" Hope heads over to the bag, starting to tap at it lightly. She doesn't wear gloves - not something she's had access to in her life. "Most of my days are…kind of free of things that could cause me a lot of frustration, short of the constant knowledge that my world could be falling apart back home without me." That earns a slightly harder blow to the bag. "What's making yours one of those days?"


"Nothing that's worth talking about, I'm afraid," Steve replies as he walks over towards where she's punching and leans against the wall, folding his arms. "Have you made any headway on finding your way back, at all?"


"Not really," Hope grimaces, continuing to take blows at the bag. She's not limited to her fists, though, throwing elbows and knees in quick succession. She definitely fights dirty. "I met a teleporter who seems to be here from another future. And someone who was talking about Shi'ar tech, which could potentially be useful if we actually had access to it. But nothing that's a solid line on really being able to get home. You guys might be stuck with me for a while."


"Well, there are worse things in the world," Steve says with a shrug. "I've never actually asked how well you like it here. Hope it's been tolerable so far. I guess the good thing about getting back to the future is that the timetable isn't that important." He watches her, "Where'd you learn to fight?"


After hearing sounds coming from the training area, where it turns out Steve was kicking the crap out of a punching back, and then Hope where she's practicing her own fighting skills, The Batman would come down to the area, wearing a black T-shirt, white wraps over his hands, and black sweatpants. No Cowl, so they get Bruce Wayne today.

"Captain. Hope." he greets in that eternally stoic voice of his as he moves towards the middle of the room. "Room for one more, or am I interrupting training." he asks inquisitively, though goodnaturedly, if one could tell.


"It's…I mean, there are things here that are pretty great," Hope answers as she continues to work the bag. "Peanut butter. Ice cream. It's gonna sound dumb, but if the worst thing facing mutants here is that people are rude to them on the street, you're still ahead of the curve, you know? Though there's dumb stuff, too. The way lots of people get treated like crap. Tech's kind of disappointing."

At the question of where she learned to fight, she snaps a jumping kick into the bag, followed with a sharp jab of the side of her bare hand. "Nathan taught me. My…My dad, in every way that counted. He's the one who took me ahead when I was just a baby. Kept me safe." When Bruce comes in, she takes a step back from the bag, offering a faint smile. "Big room."


"Seems like he did a pretty good job," Steve replies vaguely as she beats on the bag. He turns slightly, looking over at Bruce with a nod, "Mornin'." The greeting is chipper, almost in opposition to Batman's tough exterior. Out of all of the teammates, Steve knows him perhaps the least and is still working to figure this guy out. He's pretty damn good in a fight, though. "More gabbing than working, to be honest," he adds to Bruce with a chuckle.


Bruce gives Hope a nod when she admits that he can join in, and he sets his water down as he moves to a punching bag, entering some kind of Kung Fu fighting stance, practicing his kicks against the bag which make good impacts. Bruce was no joke when it came to combat. He does eventually turn his attention to Captain America. "To me, as long as training is being had." he nods faintly to Captain America, his polar opposite out of the Avengers, but they both had the same goal. So getting along was never a problem.

Though his eyes does lock on Steve's, and as such, he asks the question. "I haven't tested my skills against you yet Captain. Perhaps we will learn from each other if we have a friendly spar." he suggests lightly. but his tone of voice remains the same as the Batman.


"He'd've been proud to hear that from you," Hope turns a faint smile on Cap, stepping back from the bag to make room for Bruce. "When he was younger, he led a mission to recover your shield, you know." She looks between Steve and Bruce, gaze sharp as she measures the differences between the two of them. "I'd be interested in seeing that," she offers.


"Recover it?" Steve raises his eyebrows. "Not sure I'm ready to hear that story, yet." The blonde gives a nod to Bruce, "You know, I've been wondering the same thing." He reaches to pull off his white t-shirt, still damp from his earlier workout. "Just promise you'll go easy on me," he adds with a chuckle as he moves out toward the middle of the mat.


Wayne would look between Hope and Steve as they talk about recovering the latters shield. "Careful how you share events of the future." he says to Hope, not wanting to cause any time continueum mess, but then again, Hope being there was a time thing, so maybe they were fine. Still, better safe than sorry.

He moves to the middle of the room a few feet away from Rogers, and at his words, Bruce merely smirks "I was going to say the same thing to you." he says as he enters a stance, definately not going to take Captain America lightly. "Your move."


"Far enough in the future that it didn't really have anything to do with you," Hope assures Steve, smirking as she steps back to watch the pair. Arms crossed over her chest, she starts to pace slowly around the mats, all the better to assesss the pair of them.


"I can't tell if that's reassuring or not," Steve says as he turns to her and grins. But then his focus is back on Bruce. He gives a hard sniff as he approaches, looking for an opening. His hands come up to protect his face and after a bit of dancing he throws a punch towards Bruce's chest.


Bruce would watch Captain America's movements, his feet almost constantly moving, but his stance is sturdy, a hand towards Cap and a hand held close to Bruce's chest for defense. When Cap throws a punch at him, Bruce almost easily moves his head out of the way, gliding his body along caps arm to attempt to give the star-spangled man with a plan an elbow to the gut.


Hope's steps are careful and quiet, the smile fading from her features to something more serious as she watches the fight. For all she's a young girl, it's clear that her life hasn't been a typical little girl's life. She's been raised by a soldier as a soldier.


Steve is quick, nearly superhumanly so. He knocks Bruce's elbow downward with his wrist. Sensing the immediate response from Bruce, the Star Spangled One brings his other arm up to block his face, but is clearly on the defensive now, not even responding.


Bruce took into account Steve's ridiculously fast reaction time the first time they worked together. But Bruce stays on task, moving to roll past Steve when he knocked his elbow downard with his wrist, rising to his feet just as fast to enter a stance again.

Bruce watches Cap's steps, his footwork, trying to get into his head a little as he throws a few feigns to see if he reacts….eventually, the Dark Knight would move forward, throwing a flurry of boxing style punches towards Steve to try to measure an opening.


Bruce has technique on his side, but Cap has the super soldier serum adding speed and power to his blows. Both have experience. In a fight with the support of others, Hope would definitely give the advantage to Cap. Here, one on one…it's a closer match.


Steve does a good job of parrying the shots at first, but Bruce is better than anyone he's ever faced. Eventually the Dark Knight lands a solid punch, right to Steve's kisser. The Brooklyn native's head snaps back. But in addition to being fast, he's tough. Even as some blood begins to fill his mouth, Steve comes right back with a right hand aimed at Bruce.


Bruce takes note that he was able to hit Steve right in the mush, but he is prepared somewhat for the retaliation, though he tries to lean his head out of the way, Steve still manages to clip him on the chin. However, the Bat uses this to his advantage, taking the momentum of the punch to spin and try to roundhouse kick Rogers in the side of the head.

But hope was right, if Cap had help, the Bat would be at a disadvantage.


Hope winces when Steve takes the hit to the jaw, a slight shift to her posture as she works through both of their moves in her mind, laying out her own responses.


Cap's arm has to lower in order to bring it back and that's where Bruce hits him, hard with the roundhouse. The knock staggers Steve as the heel connects right on his cheek bone. And it's all over. "That one got me. Nice kick," Steve says as he backs away, knowing he's beaten. He also knows he's going to have one hell of a bruise. "No mas, no mas."


After the kick and the consequent surrender, Bruce would lower his hands and be relaxed. "You leave yourself open too much. Something we'll work on." Bruce says, his way of offering to teach Captain America some advanced training in combat, more than Cap already has, but then again, it is just an offer. "Aside from that, well done." he gives him a simple nod.


"He can take the hits," Hope points out from the sidelines. "He's just got to last long enough to get in a solid one of his own. There's a reason he carries a shield." A faint smile quirks as she steps onto the mats, passing a towel to Steve.


Steve chuckles at Bruce's advice as the towel hits him in the chest. He grabs it before it slides downward and nods in thanks to Hope. "Could have gone worse. I'm headed to the showers. I'll see you both at chow time if you're still around."


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