<<< Mind your surroundings, Sneak

[Warpath]

December 15

4:45 p.m.

It was almost unbearably cold to begin with and the wind only made it worse. Th lake at Xavier's had been frozen solid for nearly two weeks now and a light snow two days ago had peppered the ice with a thin powder that swirled around as the biting gale tossed it to and fro. Seemingly alone out in the middle of the ice, James Proudstar sat, legs crossed rather ironically into the "Indian style" of sitting. His eyes were shut and he was not moving, save for his hair that was billowing out as the winds howled through his locks.

He was seemingly alone, in a sort of meditative state. But he was far from lax. Out of nowhere, a grim smile broke his stony visage and he rolled over to his side, chuckling slightly as a disembodied voice breathed a curse and a loud thump caused the ice a few feet in front of him to crack slightly. James spoke, his eyes remaining shut. "You got excited, RJ. You got close and you got sloppy. Take as much care when you are near your target as when you first begin. If not more." His steps upon the ice had been harder as he had rushed Warpath, he had tried to close the gap quickly and lost his composure. "And remember, control your breathing. Don't let it control you." James demonstrated, breathing in a shallow yet consistent rhythm, moving his hand up and down in time.

It had been a few months since that fateful day the Rodney McCain had his run in with Proudstar that had prompted these individual training sessions. They had started simpler at first, as James had declared Rodney's physical state deplorable and had begun him on a training regime which involved getting up early for a lot of long distance running and multitudes of pushups and sit-ups in the mornings and work on special techniques in the evenings. He had complained at first and sometimes he still did about the harshness of James' workouts. It was true. They were hard. But as much as Rodney had complained and backtalked him over the past months, James had to give the kid credit. He hadn't given up. Which was a good sign. The training was starting to show as well. Rodney, while not being a very thick kid to begin with, had slimmed down a little further but his weight was actually up. The kid had put on a lot of lean muscle already. Once he got a bit older and James felt like his body was ready to lift weights, Proudstar was pretty confident that he would be strong as well. That was still a ways off though.

The latest technique that James was working with Rodney on was his ability to stalk prey, whether it be an animal or in this case a human target. The kid's ability to turn himself invisible gave him an immediate knack for it but he had relied on it for too long and it had made other areas of his sneaking sloppy. James was tracking Rodney with his ears, not his eyes. Drilling Sneak over and over in the woods, they had graduated to a more challenging course, the frozen over lake.

James lifted up his hand and beckoned. "Start over, and remember - heel to toe, keep the weight centered. Begin again."

[Rodney McCain]

Not to brag, but Rodney could kick all y'alls asses. Yeah, you, behind the computer screen. Don't start nuthin', 'cause RJ was here to regulate. RJ was never a fatass, he wasn't like some of his friends that got McDonalds every day for dinner. Sure, sometimes he didn't get dinner, 'cause Mom was too strung out to care, but a lot of times, it meant that Grandpa Jeremiah would cook. RJ spent a lot of afternoons listening to that old coot talk, because he made sure RJ didn't get in trouble. Anyways, RJ was never fat, but now he was cut. Like a diamond.

He had charged Mr. Proudstar. Maybe not the smartest thing, because he probably couldn't take Mr. Proudstar on in a fight. "Mr. Proudstar, if I move slowly, you'll just hear my heartbeat instead of my feet. Isn't it smarter for me to at least get a few shots in before you take me out?"

He was snippy and a little cold, and the giant parka that he was wearing wasn't helping. Turning that son of a bitch invisible was like lugging an extra 20 pounds on his back. Turning a lot of stuff invisible in addition to himself was stressful. He needed to do it, to get better with his powers, but that fact didn't make it any easier to do.

"You know, lash out and get my prey when I have the chance?"

[Warpath]

"Rodney with the wind whipping every which way about me out here, I could hardly hear you feet even when you were lumbering at me like a clumsy elephant and huffing and puffing like you were trying to blow down the three little pig's house. There's a reason we are doing this now. This weather is your friend. You've got to learn to use your surroundings to your advantage. We are working on stalking here, not the take down I have a few tricks I can teach you for the actual fighting part but for right now let's work on the approach some more. We have to walk before we run." James's little speech would no doubt be frustrating to the boy, a fact he knew all too well. It wasn't that long ago that he was the impatient, frustrated one and Johnny had been the pain in the ass instructor with an answer to every question. My how the tables had turned.

Resettling on a patch of ice, James tapped the ice in front of him and the corner's of his mouth twitched. It was the easiest way for Rodney to approach him, but the ice was thin. All James would have to do is flick his wrist hard at the frozen water for it to collapse. The question now was, of course, if Rodney would notice this and act accordingly or if he would be too wrapped up in his breathing and footwork. It was difficult to keep everything in mind but James hoped that most of it would come second nature to the boy if he drilled him hard enough. He would much rather Rodney get caught by him a hundred times than get caught when it actually counted.

"Alright Rodney, go again." He closed his eyes and let the rest of his senses take over, feeling out for where RJ would approach.

[Rodney McCain]

So that's the thing about the wind today. It was coming in all directions and shifting all the time, which made the approach harder than usual. At least with constant wind, you could always approach downwind from them, and that way, your prey wouldn't smell you coming. (Granted, this only was a factor if you were actually hunting animals or one of a couple handful of mutants with enhanced noses, but Mr. Proudstar was one of those handfuls, so you know, stick that in your pipe.)

So that meant that Rodney couldn't use it to his advantage. He kind of had to take his chances, and hope the wind didn't fuck him. Mr. Proudstar said that he could barely Rodney thanks to the wind, but Rodney didn't trust that. That was another lesson that Mr. Proudstar had taught him. Don't trust your opponent. Just because Mr. Proudstar said something was true, since this was part of the assignment, didn't mean that it was true.

Rodney took in a deep breath, and took off away from Mr. Proudstar. What he needed to find was a small rock, a pebble or something. A stick might work if it was aerodynamic enough.

After a few minutes, he had two or three good ones. He approached Mr. Proudstar from behind. He figured that even if the wind was uncooperative, this way, it'd take another half a second for his scent to reach Mr. Proudstar's nose.

He held his breath as he inched closer. Finally, when he was close enough, he took one of his rocks, this one slightly bigger than his fist. He figured it hitting the ice would sound close enough to a footstep to make him hesitate.

He throw it high in the air, and continued to inch forward. The rock landed a few feet in front of James, as RJ continued to inch towards his back.

[Warpath]

He was learning. If James could take pride in anything in the short time that he had worked with Rodney it was the progress the boy had made, both physically and mentally. A grin broke through his visage, hopefully RJ was behind him and he wouldn't see it. James didn't want him to think that he wasn't taking things seriously. The kid still had that edge, the chip on his shoulder that made him go. Yet he was beginning to learn how to harness it and channel it into something more constructive. It was a glimpse into the boy's potential, something that James was incredibly excited about.

A few days ago, James had offhandedly mentioned to some of the faculty that he wouldn't be at all surprised if in thirty years from now when they were are long gone, Rodney would be leading a field team of X-Men. Most of them had taken it as a bit of a joke and laughed it off. James had been completely serious. Rodney was incredibly smart, at least when he wanted to be, and his mutant ability would make him a major asset in the field one day. He was the proverbial diamond in the rough. James held no illusions; he was very, very, rough but he was going to polish him up if it was the last thing he did.

Impressed as he was at Rodney's tactics, they both had underestimated one crucial element: just exactly how thin the ice in front of James was. When Rodney threw the rock a few paces in front of where James was facing to try and trick him, it landed with a soft thud and made a slight crack in the ice. Now in hindsight, James would realize how dumb it was for someone of his stature and weight to be out on a lake with only a thin layer of ice between him and the water. Even as he shifted his own weight in preparation of the boy's attempt to tackle him, he felt the ice give a little.

Eye's snapping open in a panic, James scrambled to move back towards the thicker ice as it cracked and gave way beneath him. "Look out, RJ," he called as the ice under their feet began to give way. His weight was finally too much for the ice to hold and he plunged through the ice to the cold water below. The initial shock of the freezing water rushed over him and he looked wildly around to make sure his young charge hadn't fallen in with him.

[Rodney McCain]

Yeah, Rodney was pretty proud of his move. It was outside the box, it didn't put himself in danger, and it was using what he knew about Mr. Proudstar against him. That's like, a hat trick in superheroing. Seriously, Rodney might not be able to go into the NFL or NBA or get a rap career, but he was pretty sure he could make it in the superhero biz. Maybe even branch out, go independent from the X-Men. If he couldn't get into the Avengers, he could at least go into his own private spy-for-hire business. Maybe as a mercenary. He'd need a cool name, even cooler than Sneak. Maybe the Silent Killer.

RJ was more than a little caught up in his own head when he realized just exactly what was going on. The rock's impact, combined with Mr. Proudstar's weight was a bit more than the ice could handle. Which, considering how cut Rodney was getting, he wanted to say something about the jelly donuts Mr. Proudstar liked. But there wasn't really time for that. You know, ice crumbling and the lake going from frozen back to being a lake.

Luckily, Rodney was more than a couple steps away from Mr. Proudstar, which meant he had more than a second or two to turn tail and run. It was a bit cowardly, but he didn't want to get wet, and Mr. Proudstar knew how to take care of himself.

"I'd help you out, but I don't want to get wet."