Golden Opportunities

The situation could've been much more awkward. "One would think." Phoenix said also looking up at the sky feeling the first drop of rain hit his forehead, and run down his face. The girl seemed to be getting a little bashful, maybe from here costume? "Are you embarrassed?" Phoenix asked in a joking tone to try and lighten the mood.
"Psychic too?" Phoenix asked pointing up at the flood gates opening. The rain was coming down hard and fast.
"We should get out of here" Phoenix said as lighting stuck in the sky above them. "I can drive you home if you'd like, cats hate water right?" Andrew said with a smile. Him and his new teammate seemed to get along great. "I left my car back at the yoga studio." Phoenix said giving this new girl's eyes one final look.

He turned towards the edge of the building, slamming his katana into the side, he looked back at his fellow Talon. "You coming?" he asked over his shoulder. He secretly hoped she'd say yes. He was enjoying hanging with this girl, and she was quickly growing on him.

"I'm sure your bike is fine just toss it in my trunk." Phoenix said as he saw her bolt down the fire escape. He grabbed his own mask off the ground and slid down the soaking wet building. Coming to the ground he rolled and came up fine. Once he adjusted himself, Tyuki jabbed his shoulder yelling "you're it" running towards his car. One of Phoenix's powers was superspeed, however he insisted holding back both to be a gentleman, and because he enjoyed the rain and wanted to feel it a little longer.

Once at his mustang he opened the door for her to hop inside, and then he popped open his trunk. Not much was in it but his yoga gear. He closed the trunk and threw on his muscle shirt. His hair was wet and so was some of his upper body as his shirt became a little damp. "Throw on any station you'd like, and if you don't mind just directing me on where to go, we can get you home." he said turning to her with a wide smile.

"So tell me a little about yourself. What are your hobbies, favorite bands, that type of deal." Andrew asked, backing out of the yoga parking lot. He gave the girl a glance up and down. She was something else, however now she was a Talon so he'd have to behave himself. He stopped at the red light and waited for some of her answers. Tonight had gone well, and he looked forward to more nights like this with Nightingale. The two had good chemistry and that's what a solid team needed. He felt heard his phone go off and chose to ignore it.

"Sum 41 huh?" Andrew asked as he went on the green light. "I love these dude's." The girl didn't seem to want to go home yet. "Yea sure that's cool. there's a few places we could hang. One being our virtual base." he said nonchalantly, not trying to come across as cocky.
Andrew thought that he had made a good impression seeing as the girl didn't want to just go home.
"We'el drop your bike their if you'd like, and you could change out of your wet clothes. We just gotta go back to my dorm to get to the base. Plus, I want to change too." he said

Jimmy Eat World came on after, another one of Andrew's favorites. "It just takes some time little girl you're in the middle." he sang along with it. Apart from being a crime fighter Andrew did have his band, so he was vocally talented. "So how long you been at the hero thing?" he asked looking over to Tyuki then back to the road.
The rain wasn't letting up, and he had his windshield wipers on full. Turning onto a back road, Phoenix shifted gears and started speeding up. It was night time and no one was one the roads back here, so it was safe. Approaching nearly 100 miles per hour he came to a stop sign. Shifting down from 4 to 3 then 2 , he braked and smoothy coasted into the intersection.

"What a character" Andrew said under his breath as the girl jumped out of the car. He sat listening to some more Sum 41 waiting for her to change and get ready. His favorite song ended and he started flipping through channels until he came across a classic, Bob Marley. "One live, one heart, let's get together and feel alright." he sang along with the legend. He saw the girl coming and hr brother chasing behind her. "This is just like one of those movies." he thought to himself.

Tyuki told him to go and he peeled out of her driveway, laughing looking back in his mirror. "That dude isn't gunna be happy." he said laughing some more. Phoenix drove through some back streets and made some more small talk until arriving at his dorm. Parking his mustang he got out of the car first, opening the door for the lady. Pressing the button on his key chain the car locked and made a beep beep sound.

Walking up to the door of his dorm, he held it open for Tyuki, following in after her. Going to the elevator he pressed the up button. He was on the 10th floor. Filing into the elevator he pressed the 10 button and leaned up against the rail inside. He was pretty soaked and was pumped to change inside. He walked out of the elevator once it reached his destination and walked down the hallway to room 1012. Putting the key in the hole, he opened up his dorm and turned on the light.
Luckily for Andrew he had cleaned it the day before so it wasn't a mess, and it actually looked nice.

"Not much, but all I need." Phoenix said walking towards his bedroom. "Just take a seat on the coach, I'm gunna change real quick." Walking into his bedroom he pulled off his soaked shirt and pants and boxers. Throwing on warm clothes felt great. Putting on a pair of his favorite jeans and a tight red v neck that showed off his figure well he threw on a pair of vans and walked out of his room.
"Alright, so you ready to see the base?" he asked preparing the equipment needed to get there.

Andrew walked out into his living room to see Tyuki smoking a joint. "You work fast huh?" he asked her laughing a little. taking the joint from her, Phoenix took a hit then sat down on his couch, sinking into the cool leather. Opening the console between the two couch cushions, he pulled out a separate visor for the girl. He always kept an extra around. Turning both pairs on, he handed her one and the weed."You ever been in the virtual world before?" he asked relaxed coughing a little. Finally letting go of his hit, he began to tell her some things.

"So to start, it's a rough landing the first time, so you might want to hold my hand." Andrew said leaving his hand opened on his arm rest if she wanted it. "If not, that's cool too, just be ready for the other side. It's just our minds crossing over, not our body. Expect to feel the weird change. Other than that, there's not much to tell you." Andrew finished putting the visor over his eyes. "They're both on, just press the button on the side when I get to 1."

Andrew looked over at Tyuki one more time with a smile. "Good luck, see you on the other side" Andrew leaned back into the couch and began his countdown. "3.." the room fell silent. "2..." he was feeling the machine kicking in. "1...." Andrew pressed his button. There was a quick high pitched sound and his mind vanished into the base.

The last thing Phoenix felt before entering the base was Tyuki's hand. Once he opened his eyes, they were sitting on a couch in the base. "We made it!" Andrew said turning to Eclipse to see how she liked the journey. "Now i'll show you around, your room, blah blah blah." Andrew said standing up and letting go of the girl's hand. Heading down a long hallway with labeled doors with member's named above them. At the very end of the hallway was Phoenix's room. Opening his door with a touch, he stepped inside to show her what a completely decked out room looked like. In his room was a large bed, computer and desk, a map with thumbtacks all over it, and large flat screen TV. On the walls were posters of his favorite bands and TV shows.

"So this is what a decked out room looks like, yours starts out bland. Don't worry, you can fuck with it all you want. Touch any wall and options will appear in front of you. Press them like a touch screen. I'll take you there."
Walking out of his room, the door closing behind them, he took her to a door. It was the one on the left of Phoenix, Forewave's old room. Opening the door, the room appeared to be small and white, with nothing in it. Walking back out of her room he continued to the fighting simulator room. He walked in through two large doors. It was a large room with only a control panel in the middle.

Messing the the settings of the machine he set it to robots attacking New York. "This is where we practice for the baddies." Suddenly the large room morphed into the entire city of New York, robots surrounding the two.
Phoenix looked at Tyuki and smiled. "Take a step back." he said with a grin, as a blast shield surrounded his fellow Talon. "Just showing how it works, you can take a whack at it after."
Setting both arms ablaze Phoenix had a stare down with 25 Robots surrounding him.

Sending out a wave of fire, and taking out 5 he dashed at the pack. Dodging their blasters and blades, Phoenix continued his onslaught, a katana appearing on his back. Pulling out his favorite sword, he sliced a robot in half, blasting a fireball from his foot. The fireball hit a near robot in the chest and went straight through it, destroying the one behind it as well. Phoenix had enough of this and only wanted to make a quick example. Andrew started spinning around quickly, releasing fire from his hands. Approaching maximum speed, a tornado of fire formed around the hero.

Once the tornado his maximum power, it started moving towards the pack. Taking out the remainder of the robots, Phoenix stopped spinning and made the fire subside. The asphalt below him burning and him facing away from Tyuki. The blast shield went down and the cityscape turned back into a room.
"How you liking this place so far?" he asked turning back around to Tyuki.

Phoenix smiled "That's right, it's almost like the bleeding effect. If you can do it in here, you can do it out there." He heard Tyuki's stomach growl, and he laughed a little. "Munchies huh?" he said with a grin, "I feel your pain." Andrew said grabbing his stomach. "Eating here will satisfy you here. Same with everything. If you get punched here you'll feel it here. You smoke weed here.... which reminds me... but i'll get back to that, you get stoned here." Andrew gave Tyuki the run down of how it worked. "When we go back there though, we'el still be hungry, not punched, and sober. Anyways follow me to my room, there's something you gotta try out here."

Phoenix walked out of the fight simulator and took Tyuki to his room. The door closing behind them, he clapped and a display of crazy lights went off. Next, from his floor a 2 foot bong rose up. Skrillex started playing. "Not not" Andrew laughed changing the song to Three Little Birds by the great Bob Marley. Opening his desk, he grabbed some of his virtual bud. "Like I said, it won't effect us out there, but in here you'll get roasted."

Andrew picked up the bond, and crawled onto his bed. Leaning against the wall behind him he started backing the bong, and talking to Tyuki. "So this has been one hell of a meeting. I see you in Yoga, stop a bank robbery, get chased by your brother, smoked a joint, and went to the virtual world. You my friend, are one of a kind." Andrew said shaking his head and laughing at the day he had. Finishing the bowl pack, he handed the full bong to Tyuki. "Greens for the lady." he said with a wink and then cracked a smile, not able to keep a straight face.

"Big Bertha!" Phoenix laughed taking the bong back. "That is fucking perfect." Andrew put his finger over the bowl pack, and created a small flame. Inhaling quite possibly the largest hit he ever took, he held it in for about 5 seconds. He let out a cough, and passed the bong back. Turning up the music he looked over at Tyuki. "You like Marley?" he asked as he saw her emerald eyes becoming red .

Andrew was having one of the greatest times of his life with this chic, and he just met her today. "One thing I gotta add is time is totally screwed up here. One day here is a minute in the real world. Time still feels like it's passing but it's almost standing still in all actuality." The Marley music stopped and a slow song kicked in. "Ok this is not a school dance!" Andrew joked .

Andrew went to change the song and he accidentally crushed the remote in his hand. "Fuck. Gotta have A.I. make me a new one. Speaking of that guy, I haven't heard from him since before yoga. I wonder where he took off to?" Andrew said with a puzzled look forming across his face.

"I totally forgot about this, I promised myself I'd toke these with the next person I brought in here." Andrew hopped up of his bed. Shutting off the slow dancing music on his way by the speakers, he opened his drawer again. Pulling out two blunts about the size of a cigar each he lit one, passing the other to Tyuki.
"You ready to get BAKED?" Phoenix asked, opening his laptop on his bed, looking through more music. Throwing on Kryptonite by Three Doors Down, he leaned back against the wall, this time closer to Tyuki. Noticing just how close her really was, he took a small scoot back not to be right on top of her. Making a flame above his pointer finger, he held it in place for when Tyuki needed to light her joint.