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Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 41 - Familiar ground
🕑 Added 2022-11-02 15:28:18 +0000 UTCThe team was at the tail end of sparring when the Zeta-Tube started spinning up. I was fully encased in stone and sand, sparring with Kaldur, using my armor to tank his heavy strikes and divert blasts of water. I would have struggled to spar with him one on one before, but with access to sand and stone, I was able to hold my own. With a shout he rolled under a disk of stone that I had launched at him, before smashing me with another blast of water, this time forcing me back to the edge of the projected ring. He followed the blast up with a strike from his waterbearers, both of them looking like maces minus the spikes. Just as he got close, swinging both of them in a wide ark, I solidified the stone along my lower legs, connected it to the ground, and bent backward, imitating Neo and leaning back at ninety degrees.
Kaldur, not expecting me to dodge so completely, swung through until he was just barely off-center, letting me reach up and yank him out of the ring. The light representing the boundary pulsed red twice before fading, the words “Aqualad - Ring Out” flashing directly above us. Once he had recovered he stood up straight, while I let my earth armor drop.
“I did not see that coming,” Aqualad said. “That is an interesting application of your armor.”
“It might not work as fast if I tried to use it on dirt or sand, but thanks,” I said with a smile. “Mind going to greet our guest while I clean up?”
Kaldur nodded and turned with the rest of the team to go to the Zeta-Tube. While they left, M’gann sent me a proud mental hug, and while mentally returning it I started gathering up all of the sand in the ring and redistributing it along the trench I had carved last night.
Not long after the Colonel had left I had sent a message to Batman, inquiring about how the massive projection setup in the main room, its sensor system, and how both of them worked. His response was a short description and a series of files containing the systems blueprints.
With permission and all the details we needed, Kaldur and I carefully started putting together a plan, sketching out some ideas in the dining room. The final design, which I spent about an hour carving into the ground was two large trench-shaped rings, with the edges facing in toward the ring rounded out to keep anyone from cracking their skulls open. I filled the first trench with sand, while Kaldur filled the second with water, along with eight holes for stone disks set into the ground, arranged in a circle. There were also small grooves and a gentle, barely noticeable swell going outwards to help water flow away from the ring. We also had plans for places to put water access from inside the ring, but we would need solid metal grates for that.
When we were done I sent Batman a file with the new designs, as well as a request to have the ring padded and turned into a proper sparring ring instead of a stone floored space with a ring projected on it. He responded with a brief confirmation and a promise to look into it.
With everything cleaned up I made my way to the Zeta-Tube, joining everyone else just in time for it to flash and deposit the Colonel into the cave. He stepped forward and nodded.
“Ah, good. I was worried some of you might not be here this early,” He admitted limping further into the cave. “Is there somewhere we can all sit down and have a discussion?”
“The library would be the best place, Sir,” I answered. “Or the conference room if you're looking for something formal.”
“Library will do fine I think.”
I led him and the team through the base to the library, turning to the slow-moving veteran as we walked.
“Just to be clear there is a member missing Sir, you haven't met him yet,” I explained. “Superboy is away on a family emergency.”
“I’ve been briefed on his… family issues,” Colonel Cladin responded with a nod. “He can catch up when he returns.”
I internally wondered what exactly he would need to catch up on, considering what the Colonel had said just yesterday. We continued down the halls until we reached the library, the Colonel taking a look around before heading to the far end and taking a seat along one of the tables, with the rest of the team joining him.
“Alright, yesterday we discussed how this concept is new for everyone, myself included,” The Colonel said, leaning back in his chair. “I did get the sense that you had hoped to start training right off the bat, but unfortunately that just isn’t possible. That said, I do have a general idea of where we can start.”
Colonel Cladin started off with the basics, explaining that the US military, and most other modern militaries, broke down their forces into squads, which were then further broken down into fire teams, usually divided into eight and four members. He went over that each squad had a general purpose which dictated what type of soldier was in each squad. It varied from squad to squad and branch to branch. Roles like rifleman, heavy or automatic rifleman, grenadier, medic, marksman, or explosive expert were the most common.
“The goal is to tailor the squad to its role without removing its flexibility. A squad focused on explosives is useless if the second it comes under fire none of them have the weapons or knowledge to deal with it,” Our instructor explained. “This is probably the easiest aspect for us to adapt, but also one that isn't much use at the moment.”
“What do you mean… Sir.” Wally asked, this time remembering to add the sir without prompting.
“The New Titans only has enough members for a single squad, there's no point in working out special roles when there is no one to fill them,” He explained easily. “As to how it's the easiest to apply, it would just take some consideration into abilities when forming a squad. Fill a squad with people who are fireproof and you have a group capable of responding to raging fires or pyrokenetics.”
As the Colonel talked I started to realize that while he might not have all the answers, the older man at least put plenty of thought into the challenge. His experience came through as well as he explained his reasoning.
“By filling a squad with metahumans whose abilities lend themself to stealth, you now have an infiltration squad. How specialized they are depends on how much flexibility you are willing to sacrifice. If no one in the stealth squad has super strength or durability, you’ve just greatly reduced their ability to respond to certain threats. Imagine if no one on your team had enhanced strength or high-damage abilities on your previous mission?”
I couldn’t help but wince at the image. While I had no doubt a full hypothetical squad could take down a singular Kobra Venom mutant, taking on four at the same time would have been a bit riskier and probably a lot less clean.
“Now the next step is a bit more complicated, because while the idea of building a squad for a specific purpose is pretty simple, how you structure it something that doesn’t translate perfectly.” Colonel Clanid continued, fiddling with his cane. “There are basics I can teach you without any real restructuring. Methods of synchronizing attack patterns, covering fire, flanking maneuvers, and ambush tactics. Those can function without specific roles, though they might lose some of their effectiveness.”
“And the more advanced things?” Tora asked.
“We will have to come up with new roles,” He answered with a shrug. “All of you are flexible enough that you fit many roles, and it's not dictated by the weapon you’re carrying either. I think the solution is to redefine a new set of roles, train each of you in each role you are capable of, and let you specialize in whatever direction you match with.”
“And what would these new roles be?” Kaldur asked.
“Melee, Ranged, Tank, Technical, Stealth, and Defensive,” He answered decisively. “Those are what I have come up with so far. They are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll go over them anyway. Ranged would be fighting from a distance. Anyone capable of launching attacks from a distance can fill in that role. Melee is up close and personal, a Tank is someone who can take damage, Defensive is someone who can defend an area and a Technical is someone who can interface with technology. Stealth would be regulated to anyone with sufficient ability to blend in, hide or sneak around.”
“So Tora would be ranged?” Wally asked.
“She could fill that role, yes, but she could also fill…” He trailed off and looked around, clearly waiting for someone to speak up.
“I could play Defensive as well,” Tora herself volunteered. “With a few seconds, I can create ice barriers that are thick enough to stop rifle rounds.”
“Precisely!” The older veteran said, smiling. “Now not every mission would need her, or anyone, to play Defensive. Other missions would need extra Defensive roles filled. Perhaps you are escorting a VIP or rescuing hostages.”
“So, your plan is to help us find our roles, train in them, and then come up with tactics that use those roles?”
“That's right. I envision a playbook to train each of you in so that your squad or team leader can assign roles before or during a fight and then call them out when necessary.”
“It will give us plenty of flexibility at least…” I admitted. “But I’m worried that having multiple roles might be hard to remember, especially in the middle of an intense fight. It would mean we need to not only remember one role for each ‘play’ but multiple roles.”
“Would we though?” Robin asked. “If we know what the role is, know what we are capable of, and know what our teammates are capable of, then being assigned to a role wouldn’t necessarily require detailed knowledge of say defense or ranged. Kaldur would call out a play, and assign roles, if the roles are even necessary for what we are doing, and we act. Knowing what kind of things you would do when in a defensive role and what the actual play entails is all you would need to know.”
“That would mean I would be in charge of knowing what everyone is capable of exactly and what our plays would be.” Kaldur pointed out.
The room was quiet for a moment as we all thought about what Robin and Kaldur had pointed out. The Colonel nodded to the two heroes, the younger one simply shrugging in response.
“It has as much chance of working as anything else,” Wally pointed out. “I say give we give it a shot. We can always scrap the idea down and start over again if it doesn't work.”
We discussed it for a few more minutes before deciding to try it out. Colonel Cladin looked annoyed that we were basically discussing whether or not to listen to him, but by the time we decided he had calmed down. Which was good, because as much as I might respect his service we were not his to order around. If he couldn’t separate us from the service men he trained then he would have to go eventually. Still, he seemed to accept it, so we moved on.
When we had all finally agreed we headed back to the main room and through the Zeta-Tube, stepping back into a familiar warehouse, led by the Colonel.
“Goddammit,” I said, shaking my head as we stepped out of the warehouse. “Batman must have been laughing his ass off knowing we were working on those upgrades with this already set up.”
The Zeta-Tube had deposited us in the same quarry we had used for our three-on-two sparring as well as the team tryouts. The warehouse itself looked slightly refurbished and there was a new room built into one of the far corners, but the exterior looked exactly like it had before… until we turned around.
“How… How the fuck did they make that?” I asked.
Set up behind the warehouse, which had previously been a wooded area, was a brand-new structure. It looked like some sort of compound, but the longer I looked at it, the more I realized that it was a dummy structure, a shoot house, built as absolutely bare bones as possible to run drills through. This one was three floors, though the top floor had no roof and only had limited waist-high cover. As we got closer we could see that the woods surrounded the structure completely, but that there was a fifty to seventy-five foot gap between the treeline and the exterior “wall” which was sturdy but not enough to stop any serious force.
“Why did they build this?” I asked, turning to look at the Colonel. “Assuming the League did build this.”
“I don’t rightly know who funded it, but I told Batman I needed a place to teach you how to assault a building,” He explained. “I figured he would find a shitty building somewhere, not build one from scratch. Still, it's good work and will suit us for a while.”
“Once I get good enough at metalbending I can add more,” I pointed out. “I won't be able to make roofs reliably with just earthbending.”
“That is far way away from now son. For now-”
“Don’t call me that,” I said, maybe a bit harsher than I meant. “Sir.”
The man turned and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, only nodding in response.
“Let's start by running through some drills…”
Colonel Clanid started us off by having Kaldur leading three or four of us at a time in what was essentially a smash-and-grab through the shoot house. Whoever wasn’t on the attacking team would defend. The defenders had paintball guns, while the attackers could only tag us to knock us out. Every few runs the Colonel would add a modifier. Past the second run, the attackers weren't allowed to touch the defenders and past the fifth, they couldn’t use any powers past their own constitution. By the eleventh run attacking started to feel frustrating and pointless while defending felt pointlessly easy.
Even then, however, Colonel was pointing out issues, making suggestions on how to fix them. While I had been worried he didn’t know what he was doing or at least wasn't taking this seriously, everything he said was good advice. He clearly had an extremely firm grip on tactics and could see right through everything we attempted. When we were finally done he called us back to the warehouse.
“Alright, I think I have a pretty good sense of where all of you are at,” He said. “Tomorrow you will have the day off, I need time to think this all through and get it down on paper. The day after tomorrow we start the training for real.”
Without another word he turned and headed to the Zeta-Tube, leaving with another flash of light.
“Okay… Thoughts?” I asked everyone, looking around.
“He clearly knows what he is talking about,” Kaldur stated. “Every piece of advice he gave us was clear and correct. I feel as if we have already improved, even if the training was… frustrating.”
“I wouldn't go that far but he knows his stuff,” Wally said with a nod. “As far as I can tell at least.”
“Do you not agree?” Kaldur asked, focusing on me.
“I agree, I was just curious what everyone thought,” I explained. “We handed him a tall order and he is doing a pretty good job breaking it down to make filling it easier. He was also clearly testing you today, Kaldur, as much as any of us.”
“What?” Wally asked, looking confused.
“He kept Kaldur on the losing team the entire time. He won twice in the beginning and then not a single time after that,” Robin pointed out, answering for me. “He was probably testing his patience or how he reacted to failure. Probably wondering if was good enough to be our combat leader or something.”
“Think he will test Warren at some point?” Tora asked.
“Probably not actively,” Kaldur answered, looking at me. “Your tasks are more passive. Simply observing the state of our base and our cohesion is enough to see how Warren is fulfilling his position.”
We continued to chat for a while, eventually heading back to the cave through the Zeta-Tube. Despite the fact that it wasn't that late, we all wordlessly agreed to spend the rest of the day unwinding from the few hours of constant fake fighting in the shoot house.
Comments
Bat
Great chapter! I can see how this is going to greatly improve things in the future when we get to “season 2” when there are multiple teams worth of people.
