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Peter got in touch with Noh-Varr: can he use his expertise to determine the species that made Chris' suit? It speaks to Chris and we're trying to identify and possibly find a way to learn the language.
That is the primary purpose of this, but it is also to test and compare eachother's strength and capabilities. They're going to be teammates, after all!
When the way to Noh-Varr's ship ends up being a Wardrobe in Baxter Building, a Spider-Man pulls off his mask, tucks it in his back belt, and looks profoundly weirded out. He starts muttering about Einstein-Rosen bridges, exotic matter, and tremendous amounts of energy, all the while looking around and muttering more about power sources. Still, he shrugs and follows Noh-Varr towards his simulation deck. "So, I think we should start with seeing how strong you are in the suit, Chris, against me."
"Wormhole." was Noh-Varr's only explanation as they pass through the wardrobe. Though when they arrive in his quarters on the Marvel he says "Oh, I should mention that Plex is scanning you to make sure you're trustworthy, mean no ill will toward me, and find me extremely attractive. Though that last part is a given. Plex is the ship's AI." he adds. The walk to the training area isn't long. The Marvel wasn't a huge ship to begin with and about half of it is embedded in bedrock. The training area is long and wide with lots of circuitry embedded into the walls, ceiling and floor. "Wilderness? Or do you prefer some other terrain?"
Chris follows along with Peter and Noh-Varr. The wardrobe gets an odd look, but he doesn't seem too weirded out by it, just curious as to how all this is supposed to work. And then they're on a ship, and he blinks a little and looks around, curiously wandering up to but not touching anything in particular. Plex would find that Chris is relatively harmless and doesn't seem to really harbor much ill will in general. Whatever else Plex finds out, apparently is irrelevant to his presence on the ship. He looks around at the circuitry in the walls and studies it curiously, "Wilderness works, I guess." He glances over at Peter to see if he agrees or not.
"Wormhole is the colloquial term for a fold in space-time that is scientifically called an Einstein-Rosen bridge, a phenomenon that was predicted to be possible according to the theory of general relatiivty… though the theory also suggested it would take incredible amounts of power and exotic matter— namely matter with negative mass, and no, there's no scientific reason why mass must be positive just because all we've found is matter that has zero or a positive mass—" For his part, Peter doesn't really have ill will and would read as ernest, trustworthy, loyal, determined, and just an all around Good Person Who Wants To Save The World. He hesitates at Chris, "Well, you know your simulation best. Is there a mode that could best measure our individual level of strength, or should we like..arm-wrestle. Wilderness wouldn't be useful, I can break trees with a heavy sneeze. I was going to take us out in the middle of the wilderness on earth just to get away from people who are breakable."
"Scientifically called on this planet." Noh-Varr corrects. "Most races will recognize 'wormhole', whatever it translates to in their language, regardless of who discovered it or theorized their existence." Looking at the others, he says "Plex, strength testing. Start at a ton, no upper limit. Set it on an asteroid with an atmosphere." He's only silent a moment before the walls and ceiling disappear, replaced by open an starfield. The floor has become rocky and barren, curving downward in the distance so it's not a very big asteroid. There's two sets of equipment about ten feet away: two metal frameworks are side by side, each with a metal bar on the ground. Blue energy connects the bar to the upper framework and will provide resistance.
Chris lifts his brows a little bit and seems to follow the wormhole talk, grinning a little bit at the pair of them as they go back and forth. Then he nods when some alternative location to the wilderness is picked. He seems pretty much chill and laid back about whatever is chosen, though there's a blink of surprise at suddenly standing on an asteroid, "Wow.. that's really cool." He spins around in a circle, half-expecting to see the ship still behind him, but when it isn't he only grins some more. "OKay, so… I'm going to do the change.. and I apologize if I'm a little messed up afterward. It just happens." He places his hand over his chest and beneath it there's a faint violet glow before Chris phases out and is replaced with a figure that is taller, more muscular, and sheathed in a black an silver suit with an avian mask, claws, and retractable wings that are currently not extended. When Chris speaks, his voice is definitely distorted, sounding a bit more avian in nature. The suit is Shi'ar in origin.
"Whoa." Peter sways a bit, because he's in SPACE, "That's so awesome." He laughs softly, but then he whistles over as Chris changes, "That's awesome, too. So much awesome." But Spidey shrugs and grins and heads over to one of the strength testers, reaching down with both hands to casually lift a ton as if it were nothing at all. "Ten tons." Still he shows not even the slightest strain, "Fifteen." Nope. "Twenty." Nope. "Twenty five." Nope. "Thirty." Now there's strain, and he continues until he gets to fifty, where he struggles for just a few moments before he has to let go and pant, he shakes his hands and shoulders out, "Ow that glowy strength thing kinda hurt at the end there." He steps back away and looks curiously at Chris.
Noh-Varr turns to watch Chris, curious about the change. Though once it's accomplished, his brow furrows. "What are you doing with a suit of Shi'ar Raptor armor?" he asks. "They don't just give those things away. There's not a lot of them and they're used by agents of their empire." Though as Peter starts testing his strength, he turns to watch.
"It talks to me, sortof," Chris says to Noh-Varr, "We're Darkhawk." He then moves over toward the other strength training assembly and picks up the one ton bar. He increases it to ten and is able to lift it, and then he begins to struggle a bit at twenty. When he reaches twenty-five, he can just barely lift it and then has to set it down again, taking a step back. The android armor, however, seems no worse for wear from the effort and neither pants nor seems to need to catch his breath. "I've had this one for years," he points out. "So clearly they're not using it."
Peter turns a curious look to Chris as he is tested, nodding with satisfaction; not that he's stronger but that they now know how strong Chris is. Which is pretty darn strong. He looks curiously to Noh-Varr, "Your turn. Also, Do you speak Shi'ar? Or have, like, a book on Shi'ar language? I have a theory that part of the negative feedback it puts Chris into when he takes it off is related to whatever its attempting but failing to communicate."
"I've never heard of them losing a set. But if they did, I doubt they'd ever want it known. They have no sense of humor." Noh-Varr tells Chris. "If they find out you have it, they'll want it back. No question. Fortunately, it should be easy for you to avoid traveling offworld. Just don't use it in front of any Skrulls or Kree. Or any other race that might be on your planet." To Peter, he says "I know how strong I am. And yes, I speak Shi'ar. It's one of the four major empires in this part of the universe. The difficult is probably less the language and more that human brains don't work exactly the same as Shi'ar brains so the telepathy isn't… synching properly."
Chris glances from Peter toward Noh-Varr and is curious as to the answers to those questions, himself. That impassive mask seems to focus on Noh-Varr for the answer. There's no obvious reaction to the first part of what he says other than a slight nod. But then he says, "Do you think there's any way to fix it? So that the telepathy works right? Also.. I'd really like to learn the language if that's possible, even if it's a telepathy thing, some understanding might help." He glances to Peter, as though wondering if he thinks the same thing, the mask turning in his direction.
"Yes, but _we_ don't know how strong _you_ are, and you've joined the Avengers. The Avengers knowing what its members are capable of is pretty much an important part being, you know, a team." Peter sighs with exasperation, shaking his head, but he nods his head over to Chris, "Its vocalizing words to him, so I doubt its entirely about telepathy. If its trying to communicate, there's got to be a reason."
"Oh, it's actually vocalizing?" Noh-Varr thinks for a moment, studying Chris. "All right, Plex has agreed to teach you Shi'ar if you want him to. You're probably going to have the headache from hell since it's not something he's ever done on a human and there's a big difference between mentally controlling one and teaching one." He glances over at Peter than at the machine Chris was using. "About the same as Chris. Or do you just want to watch me flex?"
Chris nods his head and says, "It's a mixture of both. There's language and then there's.. something more, almost like music but not really, and it just.. it's this noise in my mind and it starts to really fuck with me after a while." The voice isn't quite his, but that of the android armor even though it is Chris that is speaking. He says, "Thank you, Plex.." presuming that Plex can hear him, probably could hear his thoughts thanking him, but whatever. He tries to be polite. "I appreciate the help."
"You could have just said that to begin with." Peter says in a slightly pained voice, but he nods, "So about twenty five. How fast can you run?" He then looks just a touch worried, "You sure you aren't going to accidentally scramble his brain? And.. should he be in the suit— or, well, whatever, since he doesn't seem to be IN it— when this happens, or out of it?"
"I'm not really familiar with your measurements of speed." Noh-Varr tells Peter. "I'm a lot slower than the speed of sound in this atmosphere. Faster than I've seen your vehicles driving on the streets." Looking back to Chris, he says "You should definitely switch back for it, if that's what you want. So finish your testing because you're unlikely to be in anyc ondition afterwards."
"I can run probably run about a hundred miles per hour? Definitely faster than most cars on the highway," Chris says as he considers how fast he can move. "And, well, I can fly, and I can fly even faster than I can run." He then says to Peter, "My brains are already a little scrambled, to be fair. I mean, it's just learning a language, right? " He glances over to Noh-Varr and then says, "Right so.. finish testing, then learning. Got it." He looks over at Peter and asks "What else did we want to test?"
"Okay, speed. Let's all line up and race. I know I can run about sixty miles per hour, so I can make an educated guess on your speed based on how much faster then me you are." Peter moves over to line up, flex, and get ready to run. "Ready?"
"Plex, measure our speeds then estimate based on Peter's top speed being approximately sixty miles per hour." Really, Noh-Varr could have just thought it but is being polite in letting the others know. Moving to stand next to Peter, he waits for the other to give the signal. Once given, he'll take off at his top speed.
Chris moves into position with the others and prepares to take off. As soon as Peter gives the signal, he takes off, moving as fast as the suit will carry him. There's some small part of his brain that worries that he's going to smack into one of those walls at that speed, but he seems to put that aside for the sake of the race, presuming that they wouldn't be doing this if they were going to crash into some invisible barrier.
Peter is fast! He can catch cars! … but with these, he's markedly slower then either of them. Chris is almost half again faster, and Noh-Varr easily more then twice as fast. Once this becomes obvious, Peter skids to a halt and laughs softly, "Okay so I'm stronger but you two are definately faster." He does a quick estimation in his head, "I'd guess Chris is 90 to 110, and Noh-Varr is 125 to 175."
Noh-Varr nods, taking Peter at his word. "Next test? My hearing is very acute, I heal quickly, I have total control over my body and can reroute nerve impulses. I can generate toxins and administer them during hand to hand combat. Also, explosives."
"Also, explosives," Chris can't help bur repeat with a chuckle and a shake of his head. He says, "Well, as I mentioned, I can fly, very fast, and maneuver very quickly. I have telescopic eyesight and can see a very long distance, as well as in infra-red. I can concentrate the energy here," he taps the glowing dark violet gem in the center of his chest, "And send it out in a blast." Then he says, "And of course.. I showed you the weapons." He twists both wrists and suddenly a blaster appears in one hand and a blade appears in the other.
Peter listens to their abilities, thoughtful, and nods his head slowly, "I can attach myself to any surface and it takes incredible strength to detach me against my will. I'm really, really hard to hurt— though measuring durability is… uh, problematic. I heal real fast, too, if I do get hurt. Anything that doesn't outright kill me will heal in a few hours, generally." Peter muses thoughtfully, "The last ability… is hard to explain. Uh, someone try to hit me with something. Then try again. Keep trying until you land a blow or a shot or something. It doesn't have to be _hard_, the point isn't to hurt me much, just enough to make me feel it."
"Oh, right. I stick to things too." Noh-Varr adds. "And I have my own weapons as well." Really, it's not like he's ever written everything down and memorized the list. At Peter's request, he steps back and motions to Chris. All yours.
"Oh, and yeah, when I shift back out and the suit goes back where it is when it's not here, then it repairs itself and is whole again when it comes back," Chris says as he remembers his own sort of healing. "I'm uh, not sticky though." He approaches Peter then and the weapons disappear, instead swapping to hand to hand combat. He prepares for a moment and then he takes a shot at Peter, and then another, and another, attempting to hit him, not particularly hard, just to make solid contact.
As was mentioned, Peter is fast: but while his raw speed might be slower, his reflexes are incredible. He dodges out of the first blow, and then the next, and then the next. He moves like liquid around the blows. If one watches very carefully— and even if they don't, Plex might notice— Peter is in motion a fraction of a moment before Chris even commits to hitting him, and with his reaction time, that fraction of a second's advantage has him just never *there* to be hit, "The Spidey-Sense… warns me of incoming danger."
"Useful. So now we know what we can do, what can the rest of the Avengers do?" Noh-Varr asks. "I'm aware of Tony's armor but I'm not familiar with the rest of them."
Chris doesn't really have the ansewrs as to what exactly all the Avengers can do. "Captain America is super strong and fast and is a super soldier, basically." He knows that one, then glances over toward Peter, who has more experience with the rest of the team than he has.
Peter considers for a long moment, "I don't know them all either, that's kind of my current project. Well, Thor is incredibly strong and does… thunder…stuff. Rogue is strong and can fly, and if she touches you she absorbs your powers. Oh, of course, Johnny Storm is like, living fire."
"Johnny is a member?" Noh-Varr asks, sounding surprised. "He didn't mention that. I'll have to ask him next time I see him." Turning to Chris, he asks "Are you ready to get the language?"
"Yeah," Chris says when Noh-Varr asks if he's ready, "Let me just.. swap back." He places his hand over his chest once more, a wholly unnecessary but reflexive gesture and then the armor phases out and Chris phases back in. There's some disorientation, as he stumbles a little and reaches out, then stedies himself, grumbling a bit irritably, before he finally says, "Yeah.. ready now."
Peter reaches out to offer an arm to steady Chris, but then he nods to Noh-Varr, "He has other responsibilities with the Fantastic Four, so he doesn't always, but when there's no conflict, he's an Avenger." He looks between them, then goes quiet, letting them do this crazy thing.
Noh-Varr isn't going to do anything. It's all Plex' show. And once Chris changes back and says he's ready, the AI goes to work. Given the unusual circumstances of being the other half of the suit, Plex decides the better solution is a thorough grounding in the language instead of a more data dump approach. And while it doesn't take long, it might seem that way to Chris who is having his memories rewritten. Nothing's being taken away, rather the last two years are having memories of learning the language inserted into his head, building from the ground up. It is, to say the least, disorienting. Especially as it happens almost all at once.
Chris started off disoriented and irritable from coming out of the dissonance of the suit, and he does grab onto Peter's arm and holds onto it. Then suddnely his memories are being rewritten all at once. It may have been a better idea to hold out for a while til the previous effects wore of. His grip tightens on Peter's arm and he wobbles a bit and eventually just sits down on the ground, bending over and putting his head between his knees, holding his nead tightly as he feels suddenly very disoriented. Still, eventually it is over and he breathes in and out slowly, trying to get his bearings.
Helping Chris keep standing, Peter's grip is firm, but it also helps he couldn't pull away and fall if he wanted to. "I'd hold off on testing if it works until this wears off. Come on, let's get you back to your place." He nods to Noh-Varr, "Thanks."