Picking Teams

[Angela Miles]

A loud THUD resonated throughout one of the large new training rooms added onto the west wing of the Ministry’s Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Angela stood over the blonde woman who was rolling over on the thick blue mat attempting to get up again. No sooner had she lifted her face off the man was it met by Angela’s fist. The Auror was out cold.

“I told ye to stay down precious,” she said wiping her hands on a nearby towel and grabbing a bottle of water. The blonde Auror came to as Angela approached the mat again, she was carried off by two guys, mumbling and holding her bloody nose. Rusty decided to take the blonde’s spot, his curly jet black hair stark against his pale skin. He may have lacked melatonin, but the one thing he certainly wasn’t lacking was muscles.

Angela caught him in a choke hold after getting in close attacking his kidneys and then wrestling with him on the ground for a few minutes. The entire fight probably took about ten minutes before Rusty tapped out. Angela rose from the mat and started shifting her weight almost bouncing back and forth on the balls of her toes, “Who’s next?” she asked.

((ooc: Anyone?))

[Andrew Holloway]

Meanwhile Andrew and a few other guys were watching. Andrew being the good sport that he was when it came to Auror competitions was taking bets. The stakes was the new reigning champion for ice queen, that and to see how many times Angela could kick someone’s arse.

“Hey,” Andrew said to one of the newcomers to their little gang huddled on the benches watching, “Who do think is going to be the new reigning champ for the title of Ice Queen around here?” he inquired, “Since Fiona has been rather defrosted by Lewis, and subsequently dethroned, she has sort of lost her title.” Of course Andrew would never be brave enough to say that to her face. “Now Sarah and that other hot blonde one… what is her name, oh right Victoria… they were always runners up for the title but I’m thinking Angela might give those fine ladies a run for their money,” he said.

“Victoria might be a psychopath…” one of the guys interjected, then glancing around in a paranoid manner as if she could somehow hear them even though she wasn’t in the room leaned in and whispered, “It’s like she doesn’t feel pain.”

“Well maybe she gets her own category then,” added Andrew noticing said blonde walk into the room, “Hey, V, V, Victoria, T, T, Tori, the Terminator Toria,” he sang. At her deadly cold blank stare Andrew gulped and shook his head with a hesitant shrug, “No, you don’t like that song, okay then,” his voice trailed off and broke a few times before Victoria turned away and walked off, merely cutting across through the room for a quicker path. Chills went up his spine, “Yeah, she’s her own category of iciness and misanthropy,” Andrew decided.

“What about Faith Lehane, she’s hot, and really kicks arse?” said one of the tech guys, “I vote on her,” he said a few other’s chimed in.

“Yeeeeah, but Faith really wins the metal for reckless, maybe-has-a-screw-loose-somewhere Auror, she’s too friendly to ever really win the title of Ice Queen,” they all nodded in agreement, Faith was probably the most shameless flirt in the Auror department, and seemingly the most dangerous and unpredictable.

“Nah, nah Starbuck wins it hands down. She’s fucking scary,” another guy piped up, glancing over at said woman who was currently beating into a punch bag.

Andrew looked over at her, “Yeah, God is scary,” he said in an amused tone of voice using her nickname, “…but Starbuck wins the title of the most kick arse girl, hell I think she is the most kick arse woman I have ever met in my life, but she’s still too fun and spontaneous to be the Ice Queen, besides she’s kinda nice, like actually nice, and she smiles and not in a sarcastic way.”

A few of them nodded, though they were slightly less convinced, but it was true, Starbuck was genuinely friendly even if she did like to push everyone’s buttons.

Heads turned, including Andrew’s, his attention returning to Angela as she took down yet another Auror. “See now Angela is cocky and sure of herself enough to be the next Ice Queen, she smiles a lot but it’s always in that I’m-mocking-you-and-being-sarcastic kind of way, she is always deliberate, and gets angry if she doesn’t have her coffee, and she lives and breathes being and Auror. She’s like younger version of Fiona. Plus she has the strong Irish accent, and she can do a lovely cockney accent as well when undercover.” Andrew may have had a mild crush on Angela. After deciding to date girls who looked nothing like Amy, ie brunettes he had been turned on to a whole new world of gorgeous women, such as his current girlfriend Hannah. He sighed, wondering how long Hannah and him were going to last. She was really sweet, and fuck, she was also really gorgeous… but he didn’t love Hannah the way he had loved Amy. He never had to feel vulnerable with Hannah. On the upside it made him feel really good and somehow very masculine without actually being tough and manly, but on the other hand she never really got to know any of his deep most inner thoughts. Their relationship was purely fun. Though to be honest that was probably for the best.

((ooc: Anyone want to join Andrew?))

[Martin Moss]

As his coworkers talked over each other, discussing all of the female Aurors' finer (and scarier) attributes, Martin sat in the corner quietly crunching numbers. He'd developed a simple (well, simple for Martin M. Moss) mathematical model with an assortment of input parameters to determine 'who could take down who' for any given group of people. He did it for science! Also, for paranoia.

"Angela," Martin said finally, before furrowing his eyebrows in confusion and punching in some new data. "Who's Starbuck again? No wait! Change my bet to Faith. Wildcard." Martin nodded confidently. He'd secretly taken Sarah's name out of the running in an attempt to hide his obvious crush on her... as if every single person in the department did not already know. He then slid over to Andrew and looked at him curiously as he listed off Angela's attributes. "I didn't account for any of those things in my formula!" he sighed at his best friend, exasperated. "It's not about who, uh, gets your servo motor hot and running, it's about who you're most afraid of beating you up! This bet has no scientific integrity whatsoever! ... Also you have a girlfriend," he realized, probably a beat too late.

[Sarah Watson]

Sarah silently slipped into the training room unnoticed, absentmindedly watching the proceedings happening in the centre, arms folded as she leaned back against the wall. She noted the group of R+D techie guys gathered around in a heated argument over, from what she could gather from the snatches of conversation she could hear, who would be the new 'ice queen' since Fiona had been 'thawed' as of late. Sarah still wouldn't piss off Fiona Hathaway though. She was intrigued at some of the names being thrown about though.

Deciding to throw her own opinion in the mix she pushed herself away from the wall and made her way round the perimeter of the room to where Martin and Andrew were sat amongst the group. She cast the bloke sitting next to Martin a look that simply said 'move' and he was wise enough to obey. Taking his place she said in a stage whisper to Martin, "How come I don't hear my name in the running? I'm quite offended, Moss, do I need to be more pissy with people to be considered 'icy'? What's a girl gotta do?" she asked mockingly with an amused smirk.

[Helen Thrace]

Starbuck was too busy murdering a punch bag to listen to the dribble being thrown around by the techie’s. Starbuck had been working with Sam earlier and Bruce before that, they were nice enough guys, and probably a few of the only guys who weren’t scared of Starbuck. Aside from Lee that is, and maybe a few others. She noticed Sarah enter, and glanced over at Angela. Merlin how she wanted to go over and smack her one and put her in her place but the girl obviously needed to get out a bit more fury and the ‘I-want-to-fuck-somebody-up’ urge, they all had ‘em.

She was wondering where Billie had gone off to, the girl was supposed to be here. Starbuck was hoping to show her a few drills. She gave the bag another swift jab at the thought. God, did she actually like that little nugget? At least she didn’t find Billie’s brown nosing enthusiasm quite as annoying as when they first met.

((ooc: This is terrible, sorry. But I figured there could be multiple conversations going on in a training room regardless. Anyone want to talk to Starbuck?))

[Lewis Michalka]

Enjoying a day of relative peace - no major catastrophes, no missions, no fights to break up - in the Auror department, Lewis had taken off for a run some time earlier due to having no classes to teach that day. Now, slowing to a jog as he headed back to the department, he strolled through the doors as he unhooked his ipod from its strap and silenced his running playlist. As he meandered past the training room he observed with some amusement the 'fights' taking place between a certain brunette and practically every other Auror who thought they could take her. He figured Starbuck, working a punchbag across the room, had restrained herself from stepping in to show Angela what was what. He ducked into the room and circled the perimeter, catching some of the conversation Martin, Andrew and now Sarah were having which made him chuckle and shake his head slightly.

Then, stepping up beside the punch bag he grabbed it and held it firm for her as Starbuck threw out some jabs on it. "You're not in the running, not icy enough to be an ice queen apparently," Lewis commented before adding in explanation, his head indicating the group gathered across the room, "They're actually betting on who is going to step up to take Fee's place. Money's on Angela apparently. Do you ever think the tech guys have too much time on their hands?" he joked offhandedly.

((ooc: Hope Lewis will do, I like writing him and Starbuck, tis fun!))

[Derek MacKinnon]

"Yer all dicks," Derek shouted back to his colleagues who'd pushed him from their group towards Angela who'd just taken out another poor poor bloke and seemed to be looking for her next opponent/victim. His mates knew fine well he thought Angela was hot, they thought it would be funny to see him wrestle with her and get promptly beaten to the ground by her. Derek didn't find it quite as an appealing prospect as they seemed to. Besides, he was trying really hard to be more sensible and responsible as of late- hot-headed and pig-headed fights were not something he should fall back into the routine of, even if it was just for fun.

With a soft sigh he stretched out his arms in preparation, "Come on then, Miles, beat my arse to the ground, give them buggers something to laugh about for a couple o' weeks," Derek announced in his usual carefree, good-humoured way as he squared up to her and took a fighting stance. He was a decent fighter, truth be told, sheer physical brawn was one of his strengths but he lacked some of the flexibility and agility ones like Angela seemed to have. Plus he could never quite bring himself to truly go for it when his opponent was a girl, just wasn't right as far as he'd been concerned when he'd grown up.

[Andrew Holloway]

Andrew nodded at Martin, “Yeah, Sarah does kick arse, but she is too nice. You know, she’s sweet with that endearing smile of hers, and I don’t think she would really beat me up you know?” He sighed, “Starbuck on the other hand hits be upside the head on a regular basis,” then noticing Sarah had appeared he smiled uneasily at her, “Heeeey Sarah,” worried she might actually hit him for remarking that she was too sweet to be considered an ice queen, it was a compliment really.

“I know I have a girlfriend and I really lo-like her a lot,” Andrew said under his breath, his words directed at Martin who sat beside him. Andrew couldn’t believe he had almost said love, when he hadn’t even told Hannah. In that moment he wondered if he did love Hannah. She was pretty perfect. When he really thought about it Hannah was very much like a brunette version of Amy. He smiled fondly at the thought of Hannah for all of a second before returning his focus to their bet. “And it has some value, it will conclude which person we should avoid most of the time, or at least avoid getting angry,” he concluded.

“Alright, if the Ice Queen title it's about who you're most afraid of beating you up then I would have to say it is clearly be Victoria. Her threats seem somehow more real than anyone else’s,” he clarified, “However if it is based on the person who slaps me on a regular basis then it would be Starbuck. Honestly though Starbuck is kick arse, not an Ice Queen, she already has a title anyways, it’s God,” he said, looking to the others. “What do you think Sarah? Should you be the Ice Queen? Who would you choose?” Glancing over at Angela as some of the guys pushed Derek forward an amused smile crossed his features. “Angela is on a rampage,” he motioned.

[Helen Thrace]

Meanwhile Starbuck was punching the punch bag and smiled at Lewis as he came round to hold it for her. She continued to jab strongly at the bag. “So it took you this long to finally man up and tell her how you felt and vice versa,” it wasn’t really a question more of a statement, “Good on you mate,” she said.

“That’s alright,” she said while exhaling and giving the bag another swift jab, “I don’t need them to fear me, just to know that I can kick their arse.” She smiled, her cheeky smile over at Lewis. “Besides I already have a label, I am God remember,” she smirked. For all her insubordination Starbuck loved making the techies and nuggets follow her directions as if it were law. She glanced over at Angela. Great, she was about to fight Derek. Well, considering Starbuck knew that Derek had a thing for Angela he was probably going to let her win. Someone was going to have to shut her down soon before her head got too big for the doorway. Then glancing back to Lewis she agreed, “Yeah, sometimes I do. And where are my new toys anyways? They said they would have something fun, but nooo, instead it’s who’s the new Ice Queen. You know Fee would go ballistic if she heard this? And you know if Angela wins she is going to rub it in her face like the smug little things she is,” concluded Starbuck. Yep, someone had to take her down a peg. Starbuck was considering walking over and punching her square in the face when someone interrupted her train of thought.

[Faith Lehane]

“You bitch!” Faith burst through the double doors into the training room. Obviously Faith had the same idea as Starbuck as she stalked over to the slim brunette and took a swing at her. Angela duked however and sent a fist into her gut. Faith stumbled back onto the ground. She kicked up from the ground. Then enraged screamed and barreled into the other girl like a bull. “You took my spot how dare you!” she yelled as she pulled at the other girls hair. They each lunged and jabbed at one another, some hitting, and some missing.

Angela had persuaded Becca and James to take Faith’s spot on a mission that night with Amelia. Faith had done a few missions with Amelia and really started to like the girl. They worked well together. Tonight was going to be epic. It should have been like a girl’s night out only with the additionally pleasure of kicking arse and detaining a few bad guys. Except Angela had taken her spot, and Faith hadn’t been on a mission in weeks due to being suspended for her last wild rendezvous which just so happened to be on a mission with Amelia as her partner. They had gotten the job done, alright. She might have damaged a bit more property than was absolutely necessary, but they deserved it.

At that Faith lunged at Angela. The two girls seemed locked in a serious fight now. Faith had a bloody lip and a few scraps here and there. Finally Faith got inside and punched Angela in the face so hard that it knocked her down. Angela was about to get up but Faith pushed her down and started beating the hell out of her.

[Angela Miles]

“Who ever said you were going to beat me?” Angela told Derek with a smirky, sarcastic smile. She put her fists up and stood in a ready stance. She was going to enjoy this. That was, she would have enjoyed it had Faith not interrupted. Angela whirled around in time to see Faith advancing on her. The other girl was walking briskly towards her and Angela smirked knowing exactly what she had done. Noticing the movement coming from Faith’s shoulder Angela dodged the punch and swung a fist into the side of Faith’s abdomen.

“Considering your last mission went tits up it was relatively easy to persuade them,” she said as they fought back and forth. That did it. Angela couldn’t get up with Faith pinning her to the ground and after a while of struggling tried to cover her face with her forearms.

Infuriated, Angela glanced back at Derek before she left, “Rain check on that whole me kicking your arse thing.”

[Helen Thrace]

Starbuck watched this interaction for a while, and looked at Lewis, “So, who do you think is going to win?” she asked as Angela seemed to be fending Faith off pretty well. Angela was a good fighter she had to admit. Not better than herself, but a good fighter nonetheless.

Finally Faith got one over on her and Angela was down. For a second Starbuck thought she would get up but Faith gave her no time and was on her in a second. Looking to Lewis, “Looks like the fun is over,” she said, running over to the two girls, “Alright that’s enough!” she yelled at them, pulling a flailing Faith off Angela. “You two, get to the infirmary, and if I can’t either of you beating each other up on the way there I will personally send you to St Mungo’s got it!” she yelled at both of them. Faith on one side, Angela on the other, both of them fuming and huffing. “Do I have to escort you nuggets myself or do either of you have a brain bigger than the size of a pea?” They each glared at her as if ready to pounce on her for insulting them, but Starbuck glared right back. Starbuck was insulting them simply by calling them nuggets, but she enjoyed calling them stupid as well. One could almost see her puffing up like a predator, sizing both of them up. Starbuck pushed them both forward towards the door, “Come on,” she said. They each plodded out reluctantly, “Oh and Angela, I’m taking that spot,” she said, Angela gave an exasperated ‘hump’ and Faith laughed, but silenced quickly as Starbuck began to speak again, “And don’t let me catch either one of you fighting like that again or it will be more than a suspension for both of you,” she warned. Starbuck had seniority so basically she could say whatever the hell she wanted, forget if it were true or not.

((ooc: Hope you don't mind that happened. But I really wanted Faith to lose it at some point, since she is sort of seen as the rebel, the one as the wildcard, the one with a screw loose a bit. Hope it's alright, I can change it if it isn't. Besides Starbuck gets to assert her authority.))

[Derek MacKinnon]

"No one, that was sort of me point," Derek countered with a laugh and a shake of his head as she took up her stance too. Just about to make his first move - namely going in for a sneaky jab to the right side - Derek lowered his hands and stood, utterly baffled, as Faith burst in and strode angrily over to Angela. "Woah, woah, easy Lehane, cool the jets-" he warned but his advice fell on deaf ears as Faith swung for the other woman. He couldn't quite believe it, hence his lack of action- well that and he knew not to get in between Faith and a personal vendetta.

Glancing back to his group of colleagues he asked, "Have I slipped into one of yer heads, full of girl-on-girl fantasies?" he said with an amused smirk, arms folded as he let the two women work things out themselves. However then Starbuck ruined all the fun (probably wisely though) and it was over as quickly as it started. "I'll look forward to it, Miles," Derek called out as the woman left the room before turning back to his mates. "Come on then Luke, if yer so desperate for a wrestle," he joked, squaring up to the other man on the mat.

[Justin Biermann]

"You're a marshmallow, Watson," Justin grinned as he sat down next to her -- he felt like they'd been through enough that he could chance a joke every now and then.

He winced visibly through Faith and Angela's fight, jumping up to try to do something before Starbuck stepped in. "What was that about?" Justin muttered to the people sitting closest to him. He was distracted quickly enough as he glanced across the room at Derek, who he'd been pretty obviously staring at for far too long.

[Lewis Michalka]

"I know it doesn't paint me as very manly but in the end it was Fiona who 'made the move' so to speak. I told her how I felt months, years ago even, and she knocked me back. Then she showed up at my house and... she finally said she loved me, well first she said she wanted me which was equally flattering, you know?" Lewis joked easily with Starbuck with a fond smile. "But thanks for the praise all the same, much appreciated, I'll stop moaning and pining and pouring my heart out to you now. I know that's a relief to hear."

"Well you can kick practically everyone's arse in this department, that's a given Thrace," Lewis shrugged matter-of-factly. " 'God', of course, well I'd say 'God' is a better label than 'Ice Queen' or 'Ice Princess' by far. But don't tell Fee I said that," he warned, making a jokingly dramatic 'oops' face at saying such a thing. "I know they've got too much free time on their hands," he corrected himself as he glanced back at that group of staff, "You think? Angela seems like Fiona mark 2 in many ways. Again, don't tell Fee I said that," he joked once more. Ever since that night he was back to his usual light-hearted self, something of his manner had brightened and it showed in every word and smile. Releasing his hold on the punch bag he stooped to borrow some of Starbuck's spare wrapping for her hands, "You don't mind, do you?" he checked as he started to unravel it and wrap it securely round his right hand in preparation for joining her in working the bag.

It was then that Faith entered the room with her usual subtlety. Closing his eyes momentarily in despair, when he opened them again it had quickly escalated into a physical confrontation and he looked to Starbuck, "I hate to say it but Faith looks ready to kill," he murmured in concern. Then, as the woman went over to break up the fight he helped in pulling Faith and Angela away from each other by standing in front of Faith and so creating a shield between her and the other woman. He simply cast her a warning look and said quietly, diplomatically, "Don't. Just calm down Faith. I mean it. You'll make it worse for yourself, trust me on that one." When she seemed to calm down to a mere huff he stepped out of her way and let Starbuck deal with the yelling at the two of them- Lewis wasn't one for asserting his authority through discipline or threats or raised voice, he was of the quiet 'I'm very disappointed in you' school of punishment. Sometimes, knowing you'd let the side down was worse than being bawled at by a superior. Of course it was possible that was more the father in Lewis winning out.