Rachel hadn't shown up for training, the day before, and he hadn't reallyexpected her to. That's why he was going to fetch her from her room, and calmly explain that however skilled she was, with her abilities, she still had to train. If that didn't work, then he had a few more tactics up his sleeve.
He knocked on the door and waited.
Pouring over her books, Rachel heard the knock at her door. She grumbled slightly and got up from her desk chair. She really hoped it wasn't another idiot playing some stupid prank on her. The telepath was at her wits end, but it did seem like people were beginning to get the drift and back off. Grabbing the doorknob, she pulled open the door and glared at the person in front of her for a moment.
"Oh, it's you. Hello, Puck. Is that really your name...?" she furrowed her brows for a moment before shaking her head. "No matter. What brings you here? I'm a little busy catching up on the pre-requisites for the subjects I'm taking, so if you could make this quick I'd appreciate it."
Puck huffed out a laugh. "No, not really." That was all he had to say on the topic of his name.
"Well, you're about to be late to a mandatory training session, from which unauthorised absences, may result in your expulsion. The negation of your status as a student at this school might render your urgent studies, unnecessary. Wouldn't you agree?" Puck smirked. He was deliberately using some of the bigger words in his vocabulary. Sometimes, if you wanted to get through to people, you had to speak their language. "You already have one strike against you, so move your ass."
Glowering, Rachel turned and moved to mark the pages in her books. "Seriously? I really don't need a training session. I've been training all of my life...in the real world, where things can kill you if you're not quick enough," she crossed her arms and turned to glare at Puck. "I'll come...if you tell me your name." She smiled sweetly at the boy in front of her waiting to hear his response.
Puck rolled his eyes. "I'm really gonna have to bribe you to come train with me? You're worse than me, and I blackmailed Dr Shuester into buying me an xbox, by refusing to stop using my powers in biology," he shook his head and laughed. "Fine. My name isn't some sort of government secret, for God's sake. It's Noah. Now come on."
"That wasn't so hard, was it Noah?" she grinned broadly and stepped out of her room, closing the door behind her. "Where to, Sergeant?"
Puck looked down at the short girl. "You're gonna be an interesting one, I can tell," he said. "My other charges are afraid of me, and that's just getting old."
He started down the hallway. "Well, seeing as your power is totally an active one... To the bunker."
Laughing at his comment, Rachel began following Puck. "I'm afraid of very few things, Noah. I do hope to keep things lively though," she winked and chuckled. "A bunker? How militant. What exactly is the purpose of all this?" She was curious as to why she would need training. Dr. Schuester knew of her background...well, most of it. He should know that she had complete control over her abilities.
Puck shrugged. "You'd be surprised how necessary the bunker is. I just doused the place in gas and tried to get a novice pyrokinetic to light the place up... Necessary," he confirmed. "The point, short-stack, is to learn when to use your powers." He pulled a file from his bag, as they walked. "Know what this is?"
"Sounds like fun...in a dangerous sort of way," Rachel arched an eyebrow at her companion. "Already familiar enough to call me nicknames, hmmm? You know, greater men have come away injured in doing so, Noah." She quirked her lips in a smirk. For some reason though, Rachel felt comfortable enough with the guy beside her to allow him a certain amount of leeway.
"I could easily find out what that is by delving inside your head, but I refrain from using my gift if I can just ask nicely...or if I already have a good idea as to the answer," she sniffed and shrugged. "It's my file. I'm guessing Schuester gave it to you since you're my mentor and all."
"It's your file alright. But he actually only gave me some of it, so I had to break into his office for the good stuff... I mean come on. Nobody's file is just a name, date of birth, list of powers and a blank space for medical history, right?" He pulled out a smaller file from the back of it, and handed it to her. It was marked FOR URGENT ATTENTION. "Witness statements, from students claiming that you assaulted them, using your powers. Count them."
Rolling her eyes, Rachel handed the documents back to Puck. "I'm not going to count them. I know what I've done and why I've done it, Noah. People look at me and see a short girl who is easy to pick on and push around. Most of the time, I let it go. I can take insults, but I won't be physically attacked. I've learned the consequences of that before," she stated sharply. "You should have kept your nose out of my file. If doc didn't give you the information, then you didn't need to know and he obviously trusts me to handle myself."
She didn't like other people nosing around in her business, but thankfully the only thing Puck had seen was her incidents at the school and nothing about her past. "I never harmed anyone, I moved them out of my way and went about my own business," the brunette said.
Puck sighed and put the files away. "You're lucky I did" he said. "For urgent attention? You're gonna get kicked out Rachel. Already. Nobody physically attacked you, did they? If they had, they wouldn't have gone crying to my dad about you stopping them." He opened a door for her and waited for her to go through, before following.
"McKinley is a safe place. Certainly the safest place for people like us." He thought so, anyway. This was the only home he'd ever known, and it certainly felt safe to him. "The people who were in your way were just feelin out the new kid. I should know, I'd have done the same, probably." He walked out of the door and into the court yard.
"It doesn't matter if you hurt anybody or not. We don't use out powers on other people without permission. Even I don't. This isn't the outside, and there are rules."
Rachel stepped through the door and turned around to speak to her mentor. "Are you for real? Do you even listen to yourself? Tell me...if your masculinity was called into question by a girl and a girl like me no less, you wouldn't try to get back at me? They went crying to your adoptive father because that was the only way they could do anything to me," she shook her head in distaste. "Bullies will be bullies whether they are gifted or not."
"As for feeling me out? I have been perfectly polite to every student I've come into contact with. I've either been insulted, laughed at, ignored, or intimidated. I don't do intimidation, Noah," she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Look, if Dr. Schuester wants me out, then I will be glad to speak with him and pack my bags if necessary. I don't do anything without thinking it through first and I certainly don't harm people unnecessarily."
The brunette was unhappy with the situation. It was always her motives being called into question. Yes, she had a powerful gift. She knew that though. She hadn't physically harmed anyone since her father...even when her life was on the line. "Oh and by the way, Puckerman...that file has way too many reports. I know every mind I've touched and I can tell you right now that many of those are false claims."
Puck just gritted his teeth and listened to her angry rant. Did she not see that he was trying to help her? That he wasn't the enemy? It was clear from not only the way she was talking to him, but her body language, that she thought he was. This wasn't merely her being a little defensive, and it was quickly becoming clear to him, how the incidents in the file, had happened.
He believed her about the false reports, though. He knew everyone who'd made a claim against her, and for the most part, he didn't trust 90% of them any further than he could throw themm, certainly less than he trusted Rachel, and he'd known her for all of ten minutes.
He handed the file back to her. "Which ones are made up?"
"Does it matter? It's my word against theirs and the incidents have already been filed," Rachel laughed dismissively at the idea. "Look just show me whatever training you want me to do and I'll do it, okay? I'd like to get this underway so that I can go back to my studies. It's been a long time since I've had peace and quiet to read."
The brunette gently handed the file back and turned around. She began to run around the perimeter of the bunker to warm up and stretched once she felt she'd run enough laps. It had been easy enough to keep herself in shape and slacking off could be detrimental to her future when she was on her own. Living at the school was no different. She still planned to keep up her training and if it was set at mandatory times, so be it.
"Well I was hardly gonna have them called in to see Dr. Shue. Do I look like faculty, or some shit?" He asked rhetorically. "Fine" he put the file back in his bag. "I'll be warming up inside. Don't be too long," he instructed, before rolling up the door and ducking under it.
Once inside, he backed against the wall and faded out.
It took her fifteen minutes to complete her warm up and stretches before Rachel entered the bunker. She looked around for Puck, but couldn't find him. "I do not have time for this..." she sighed and walked around. "Noah? Where are you? I'm tired and I don't really feel like stretching my power to hear your thoughts to see if you're even still in here." She shook her head slightly and began some of her own training, slipping into different forms of combat as she practiced her attacks and dodges.
She patiently waited for the boy to show again. If he didn't, she'd simply spend the time training and then leave. At least Dr. Schuester couldn't be mad at her then. She'd have spent the required time. It's not her fault Puck had gone AWOL.
She'd passed her first test by staying in the bunker, and her second by starting her training without him. Now it was time for the third. He snuck up behind her, adjusted his stance so he'd keep his balance easier, and tapped her on the shoulder. He as ready to dodge out of the way, should she attempt to attack what looked like thin air.
Rachel's senses were pretty attuned to combat. She'd been through enough to know. Her ears picked up the slight sound of footsteps behind her. She felt the tap on her shoulder and smirked, whirling in place to face...nothing. Since she now knew the boy was in the vicinity, she pushed her gift to capture the thoughts of others. The brunette hated doing it, but Puck could be phasing or teleporting or something else. It put the most strain on her mind, but it was a necessary evil sometimes.
As soon as his thoughts hit her she shook her head and raised her hand to his forehead, flicking him right between his eyebrows with her middle finger. "Invisibility? How useful...I hope you have a reason for giving me a migraine," she relaxed her stance and crossed her arms.
"I certainly do," he replied, as he reappeared. "Gimme a sec," he said, dropping his bag by the wall, pulling his jacket off and kicking off his sneakers.
He sniffed at the air. "I really should have cleaned this place up better after my last class. It stinks." He was pretty sure the fumes do him much harm, but he was a little concerned for Rachel. "We should take this outside. We're not exactly blowing anything up." The bunker had all of the crash mats and other equipment, but they'd make do.
Smirking and rubbing her forehead, Rachel allowed Puck to ready himself for whatever training he believed she required. She hated stretching her mind like that. It always ended up making her head hurt. Other things would as well, but she'd never used that much power for a while. "I agree...the smell isn't helping my head. Remind me to choose dates to train when the pyro isn't around," she joked, walking out of the bunker.
"I believe we've just found something about your abilities to work on, for the future," he rolled the door up for her. "They're not supposed to hurt."
"You know I train you both, every day," he rolled his eyes. "If you want, I can ask him to switch session times with you, so that you're first, if you want? Sam probably won't mind, and he isn't in class right now."
Rachel looked over at Puck and smirked. "We can try, but I don't know if it'll fix anything. The mind is quite different than the body, Noah. You strain your senses enough and it comes back to bite you. We may be gifted, but we're certainly not all powerful," she stated, rolling her neck to release some tension. "Delving into a person's mind, hearing their thoughts...it can be painful. I'm not sure I want to learn to be free of that reminder. It's like my warning bell." Where would she be if everything was so effortless? If she hadn't passed out when she was a child, what might have happened? The brunette didn't really want to over think it.
"Being first would be good since I clearly have more control than the Human Torch does. I'd rather not have to smell the fruits of his labor every time we get together. Do we really have to do this every day? For how long?" she frowned and sighed, pushing some hair back from her face.
"Oh, trust me, I know" he said. "My healing power still knocks me around like I've gone 10 rounds with a block of cement, if I have to use it too much. Last year, my buddy... fell off a roof" he said, circumnavigating the truth, deftly. "Got hurt really bad. I healed him just fine. But he then had to haul my ass back to the infirmary, so I could sleep for two days." He frowned at the memory of how ill he'd felt. He'd deserved it, but that hadn't made it suck any less.
"But if I'd tried that a few years before... I'd have died, I'm sure of it. Practice isn't gonna make it easy. Not by any stretch of the imagination. But it makes it more managable. That'swhat we'll work on." He looked at her, as if to ask her if she agreed with him. "There's no way I want you to take your abilities for granted. That was my point earlier, but my job is to make you stronger. As long as you have your feet on the ground, there's nothing wrong with that." He offered her an encouraging smile.
"I'll talk to Sam tonight," he confirmed. "And I'll let you know what he said in the morning." He rushed through a few stretches. He'd already been sparring with Sam, before he'd gone to find Rachel - well kicking his ass, actually - so he didn't need much of a warm up.
"Yes, we do. For as long as I say, Short Stack." He said, trying to rile her up just a little. "Now," he took a firm, starting stance for their sparring session. He'd read her file, of course, and was well aware that she'd know how to take care of herself. "Let's see what you got."
Rachel listened to Puck talk about his own past experiences. It sounded like the boy had quite an experience healing his friend. She wanted to tell him that she didn't want to get any stronger. It was already scary enough having this power inside of her. It had forced her to leave her family. It had made her live alone for most of her life. She didn't want to deter her mentor though so she just nodded along.
"Whatever," she rolled her eyes at his nickname. The brunette eased herself into a defensive fighting stance and awaited Puck's attack. She'd dealt with many guys like him more times than she could count. She really didn't relish having to do this every day. The telepath began to rethink coming to the school.
Reminding himself not to go too easy on her, just because she was so small, he launched his attack. He threw a few jabs at her, which she blocked easily, before finding a gap to retaliate. She managed to back him up enough to find the space to swipe her foot at his head. He barely ducked it, spun out of her way and scowled at her for a moment, before regrouping and starting again.
Feeling herself fall into the ease of sparring with someone else, Rachel danced with Puck. She allowed him to push her back a few feet before she would do the same to him. He wasn't bad on his feet and he certainly had some skill, but she could tell his life had been at the school. She'd had to fight people who wanted to kill her. The brunette would never use her power on someone who didn't deserve it and especially when training with someone.
It didn't matter. She wouldn't have to with Puck. When she saw an opening, she took it. Rachel barely picked it up, but her senses were well-trained and when he went to feint she easily knew his next move. As his fist passed by her, she moved to grab his wrist, giving him a quick slap to the face to give him the heads up he'd have been clocked before using his own momentum against him and tossing him over her hip onto the ground.
"Not bad, Noah. You just need to make sure you don't give yourself away before you make your move. I almost didn't catch it," she smirked and stepped back from him, running a hand through her hair.
"Cute," Puck said, with a roll of his eyes, before flipping onto his feet. "Again," he anounced, before going for her, once more, putting a little more effort into it this time.
Rachel danced with Puck as they sparred with one another, both learning from each other as the time passed. After a while, the brunette flipped away from the boy. "Are we done now? We've been at it for over an hour. I'm tired, sore, and I really have some reading I need to catch up on," she wiped sweat from her brow, taking a few deep breaths to calm her racing pulse.
Puck checked his watch. Turns out, she was right. "Yeah," he panted. "Sorry. I'll set an alarm on my phone tomorrow."
Waving Puck off, Rachel allowed herself to relax and began winding down. "Don't worry about it. I wasn't paying much attention because you were actually keeping up with me and it's been a while since I've had a decent sparring partner," she smiled at him. "Thanks for the lessons, Teach..." She chuckled lightly and winked at him.
"I suppose I'll see you tomorrow. Let me know if the time has changed," she straightened out her hair and clothes as best as she could, getting ready to leave.
Puck nodded. "I'll come find you at breakfast," he confirmed, before grabbing his stuff from the bunker and reappearing moments later. "What's the betting Sam's used all of the hot water, after training?" he asked Rachel, as if she actually knew.
"I guess it sucks that you're not the pyro then, hmmm?" Rachel laughed and waved to her mentor as she began to head back to her room. "Have a good evening, Noah."