Sorry this is a bit late. The contractor was here and his electrician kept turning off the electricity without warning. Fortunately, my computer is on a UPS but I still shut it down while they were doing electrical work.

Part Eight

Vic checked the mats, then straightened and nodded.

"You've done that three times, already," said Michelle, rolling her eyes. Both were in their white aikido gi and ready to show their hosts how it was done. "I understand that you're nervous, but enough. This is the second day of classes. You should be settling down, not getting even more on edge."

"Okay, okay," said Vic, grinning. "Message received and understood. Anyway, we've got people coming in, so it's time to get ready to teach."

"Good," Michelle muttered. She tugged absent-mindedly at her black belt. "You're making me nervous."

At least Vic's students seemed more respectful, after the previous lesson and demonstration. Though how much of that was because they respected what she was teaching and how much was because they were now aware of what she could do was as yet unknown.

The warm-up went smoothly. The Vic had her students sit on the edge of the mat while she gave her demonstration of the day.

"Part of what our system of martial arts teaches is knowing when to resist force with force and knowing when to yield to it. As an example of the latter, let's say you're shoved from behind."

Vic nodded to Michelle, who moved behind her and shoved her in the back. Vic took three quick steps forward and pivoted smoothly around. She now stood in a combat stance, facing Michelle. Vic held the pose for a moment, then moved back to where she had been.

"Of course, shoves come in various sizes. So if you're shoved really hard..."

She again stood facing facing away from her partner. This time Michelle pushed hard against Vic's back with both hands. Instead of stepping away from the force, Vic went into a left shoulder roll, popped deftly into the air from that and did a half turn before she landed in a fighting stance, now facing Michelle.

"You need to train until this is a reflex," she said, relaxing. "The basic technique can be used for shoves in all directions. Or against trips. Deliberate or accidental."

This time she stood facing Michelle. At the shove Vic went into a back roll. From that she popped up, to land in a defensive stance, again facing her partner, now from a safe distance. She relaxed, and looked at her class.

"That's one of the things you can do with the rolling and tumbling I'm teaching you. It's called 'yielding to the attack.' That is, you go with the shove, using the energy you gain from an attack to help you get some distance from your attacker. All right, get with your partner..."

* * *

The next couple of days went very well for Vic and Michelle. Both in the gym and on the island as a whole.

For the fourth day of special classes Vic focused on hardware. That included showing off her armor. However, before she started some of her students had questions.

"So far all you've taught us is basic self-defense with an emphasis on non-strength techniques," said Captain Lawford. He was polite this class, but still seemed skeptical.

"Trust me, you don't want to try and match strength against someone with even mild physical enhancements," said Vic, smiling a bit. "'Soft' techniques work much better."

"She knows what she's talking about," said Michelle, defensively. "Vic has taken down supers who can bench-press eighteen wheelers. Which is not bad for someone who is within human physical limits."

Well, Vic had done that with a great deal of help from the Purple Art, which was still officially secret. Besides, people of such puissance were rare, so T.O.W.E.R. rarely had to deal with them.

"I'm also here to teach you about what we've found to be effective against low-level supers, without having to resort to a neutralizer," said Vic. She gave them a grim smile. "Since the Bureau's main useful tool against rogue supers is other supers, neutralizers are a bad idea for us until after the suspect is contained, anyway. So, I'm gonna tell you about things like ordered polymer, fibre-reinforced flex-cuffs for restraint and doped graphene underarmor with gel lining for your protection. As well as learn what you folks in T.O.W.E.R. recommend - both hardware and procedures - for such situations."

Vic had actually done her research, and already knew a great deal about what the T.O.W.E.R. personnel used. However, she didn't know everything, and getting them to teach her would help them feel involved in the class.

In many ways the technology T.O.W.E.R. used was years behind the state of the art for supers. They didn't have the budget for the latest large items - they only had two hoppers for the entire organization, different older models purchased used from different teams which were upgrading - but they should be able to afford the smaller items Vic was talking about.

"Oh..." said Captain Lawford, a bit startled. "Well, that's all good for us to know."

"In the meantime though, it's past time to bow on. So, let's get busy."

* * *

Michelle and Vic had decided to treat their time on the island as a second honeymoon. A working second honeymoon. As they had expected, they had a lot of time to themselves, and most of the rest of their non-teaching time was with people assigned to keep them occupied. Just now the pair from Detroit were riding in an open-topped, open-sided vehicle which on good pavement could just about travel as fast as a running human. Unfortunately, there wasn't much good pavement on the island. As usual, their guide - who also as usual served double duty as their driver - was Lieutenant Spivak. Along for the ride was a mostly silent Major Lee.

Vic and Michelle had just been warned again not to enter any of the taped-off buildings... which was most of them. Those structures had not been made safe for casual exploration. However, while talking with the Lieutenant, the pair also learned that there were several mysteries on the island. Those included tales of people who had gone missing. Some of those stories had been floating around since well before Mobutu was deposed. One thing which was verified was that the last manager of island resort construction project had mysteriously disappeared, as they were closing down operations. After a pause which started with the UN moving in (though there were rumors of people from the mainland supposedly going to the island even during that period and never returning) the disappearances had supposedly resumed. Nearly all, though, involved people who were not part of the UN force on the island.

"Most likely," said Spivak, "what's happening in at least some of these cases is that someone who is in some sort of trouble at home tells people he's coming here, then goes somewhere else to start over.

"That doesn't mean people haven't gone missing, with no explanation. Even a few members of the UN staff have disappeared without a trace since we took over the island. Most likely these are due to misadventures in damaged buildings and undeveloped sections of the island. Which is why all casual exploration is discouraged. However, we know that drug dealers and their customers are still using parts of the island for deals. In spite of patrols to keep them away.

"Making things more complicated, several of the UN personnel stationed on the island have a hobby of recovering and refurbishing abandoned vehicles. Hence our current ride, which was originally a golf cart. Unfortunately, this means they go around looking for abandoned cars, trucks and vans to work on. It's unfortunate because sometimes they find other things... and sometimes other things find them. I'm not just talking about drug dealers, either."

"There are even rumors of a few mad science creatures roaming around hidden tunnels." The Lieutenant patted his sidearm. "So personnel are urged to go armed whenever they're away from a known safe area."

Vic and Michelle were both a bit spooked by hearing this. Especially Vic, given her recent experiences with badgerbears. At the moment, however, the pair was also a bit of a captive audience. Additionally, they generally appreciated these tours and the oral history related by the Lieutenant. These sessions helped fill the hours between classes, training and meals. However, not all was rosy.

"I just wish I could call my folks back home more easily," said Michelle, with a tired sigh, as they rounded yet another corner in the decrepit subdivision.

The duo from Detroit had already discovered that any phone service outside the hotel and convention center was pretty sporadic, in spite of promises that the island had full satellite access. As it turned out, there were no cell towers. There was an island-wide telephone network, but it operated through an old exchange which was barely kept running by UN techs. Something which Lieutenant Spivak sympathized with. They had to resort to VOIP to place calls to people they knew, which neither of them was familiar with. Combined with the time zone difference, that meant they usually resorted to e-mail.

"We are eventually supposed to have a state of the art cell phone system and computer network installed at no charge by the Gill Bates Foundation, but so far the system we have is very sub-par," said Spivak. "Our techs insist they have already installed multiple telephone substations, with at least one in each building the UN has had refurbished. They also claim they have laid fiber-optic cables between the structures, for an intranet computer system. However, we aren't seeing much improvement. So far the UN have refused to even send anyone more qualified than the people we already have to look at the system to see what's wrong, since it's all due to be replaced Real Soon Now. They just keep insisting we must have things configured wrong. So, yes, the UN presence on the island is definitely a work in progress. Especially in the area of communications."

"The UN brass keep saying they're going to bring in one of the portable telephone communication centers normally used in disaster areas," said Major Lee, who until how had kept mostly quiet. "Only they keep needing them for actual disasters. We don't have the budget to buy even a used one. So we wind up using our radios a lot, not only in training and on missions but in day-to-day operations. We therefore don't normally need cell phone service. Besides, that's too easy to eavesdrop on."

"So there was a phone system already on the island?" said Vic.

"A very primitive one, just to keep various construction offices in contact with each other and their bosses," said Spivak. "It belonged to the contractors, and they took most of it with them when they left. What's still here is a corroded mess. Some of our techs work almost constantly to keep it running."

"I understand that there's a lot of resentment against this base from some mainlanders," said Vic, suspecting that the problems which had been described to them might be due to sabotage or just mundane theft.

"Among other things, this island and the waters around it have been declared a wildlife refuge," said Major Lee. "No hunting, no fishing - not even recreational, to the disappointment of several of those assigned here - and we enforce this. So there is some bad blood with the locals. Especially those who previously earned a large part of their income through illegal trading in endangered sea life."

They were currently tooling along at a jogging pace through an area which had already seen some demolition. As a result, there were many foundations here which were filled with rubble and dirt and partially overgrown. The roads were worse than even what was typical for the island, in part due to their use by the heavy equipment which had performed the demolition. Fortunately, while not actually an off-road vehicle, the converted golf cart had good suspension.

"This area is marked for expansion very soon," said Major Lee. "We'll be putting up new buildings for this, to our specifications, rather that reusing existing structures. Of course, that all depends on the upcoming budget."

They rounded a corner and came across a small group of UN soldiers, most of them in T.O.W.E.R. uniforms. Vic could feel the two T.O.W.E.R. officers with her and Michelle tense, and came to full alertness herself. The cart braked to a stop, and Major Lee jumped out.

"You men! What are you doing?!"

"Ah, soap nuts," said Corporal Mazurkiewicz. He and those with him came to attention and saluted. "Begging the Major's pardon SIR! We are using our free time to scout for an ATV one of the contractors told us he saw in a garage somewhere in this area!"

He and Major Lee exchanged quiet but heated words while the other soldiers remained at attention. The only thing Vic could understand from the exchange was Lee's "If it wouldn't make a bad impression on our guests I'd ream you out here and now. As it is, take your men and get back to your barracks!"

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"

* * *

Vic was not dissembling when she told her classes she wanted to learn what equipment T.O.W.E.R. used. Major Lee - as one of the few successes of the organization's artificial super program - was assigned the task of showing Vic some of their personal defensive and offensive equipment. As well as how they trained with it. All this took place in a different section of the same repurposed auditorium which Vic used for her classes.

"These, in particular, are wickedly effective," the Major said, handing her a pair of heavy gloves. "Especially for me. They're built super tough, too, so they stand up to super use."

"I've used weighted gloves before," said Vic, nodding. "Including riot gloves. They didn't hold up very well, because they weren't made for supers."

"I think you'll find that these are particularly durable. Try them against that simulant, over there."

The object he indicated was one of a series of rubber-covered, life-size simulated human torsos, each with a head on a thick neck. Vic had seen similar training aides before, but never used one.

"I particularly like the way the straps cinch those gloves onto the hands and forearms," said Major Lee, showing Vic how they went on. "These are our version of riot gloves, and they have been very useful in our work. They have just under a kilo of powdered iron distributed through the back of each glove. We can't wash them with water; the powdered iron rusts. We have to clean them by soaking in alcohol. Then we have to make sure they're thoroughly dry, since alcohol attracts water from the air."

Indeed, the gloves fit better than any pair of sap gloves or weighted training gloves Vic had previously tried. At the major's direction, she pulled the straps tight and flexed her hands.

"Nice. There's little hindrance to movement. Though these long sleeves feel odd."

"The forearm pieces are made from a combination of stainless steel mesh and ballistic cloth," Lee explained. "The same manufacturer uses similar materials to make safety gloves for workers at slaughter houses. They're blade resistant, and will even help some against things like ice picks. The forearm pieces therefore act as guards against blades and some powers."

"I like the way these have the weight distributed," said Vic, throwing practice punches and trying blocks. "I mean, the gloves on my armor are heavier than these, and have hard striking surfaces, but this is different. They're more like the first pair of riot gloves I had. Only better. A lot better."

With the weighted gloves properly fitted, Vic moved to one of the practice dummies in the T.O.W.E.R. training area which the Major had recommended. She took a couple of trial swings to check balance and distance, then struck the dummy under the chin with a rising backfist. The head came completely off, flew up, lightly struck a roof truss in the gymnasium, and dropped back to the floor. Where it landed with a muffled thud and only a bit of bounce.

Vic looked at the dummy. Looked at the detached head. Looked back at the dummy. The gloves, fortunately, were undamaged.

"Uh... Wow... You don't... normally see that with a rising backfist," she said, feeling embarrassed.

"I'll say," said Major Lee, just as obviously impressed as Vic was embarrassed. "We've had a lot of people hit that thing in various ways, including uppercuts and the sort of strike you just used, with those riot gloves. Only some of the physical superhumans have done that much damage, before. Even I only managed to knock the whole simulant over."

Vic felt a bit better at learning she wasn't the first to do that to one of their dummies, but decided to stick with striking pads and boards for the rest of her testing of the gloves.