by Hayes, Drew
It was far from likely, but that was the thing about Heroes: they always had the potential to surprise.
* * *
While a ten-count was no doubt meant to hurry him along and impede his decision making, for Chad it was ample time to think. Speeding up his perception, he was able to calmly analyze the situation from every angle his brain could find, rather than hurtling blindly along based on instinct. Unfortunately, even if he’d been given an entire day Chad wasn’t certain he could have found a good solution to the dilemma facing him.
At his top speed, Chad could move incredibly fast, but there was still no way he could reach either of his teammates before Professor Pendleton took them out of the fight for good. Without Alex, there would be functionally no way to harm or stop the teacher in cloud form. However, they were only his teammates in the context of this fight. Looking at the trial as a whole, they were opponents he’d have to strike down eventually. If Chad sacrificed them now, he would at least have a chance to keep fighting. Perhaps he could manage a draw with Professor Pendleton and be freed back out into the labyrinth to battle his fellow students.
From a purely analytical standpoint, letting Shane and Alex be knocked out held the most potential gain for Chad, and as a freshman there was no question he would have elected to take that route. But now… the idea of sacrificing people who were counting on him, trusting him, even if only for the span of this one match, filled him with an undeniable sense of disgust. If he was the sort of Hero who could only win by climbing over the backs of his friends, then he’d prefer to walk away here and now.
Besides, when he looked at this situation as a mock-battle with a villain, then the priorities shifted. Alex and Shane were far more valuable. They had a real shot at stopping Professor Pendleton, even if it would be harder with one man down. The right choice, the only choice, was to let himself be eliminated. Yet Chad knew he couldn’t accept the professor’s terms without failing this test. He needed to do something different, something that showed outside-the-box thinking. And while the idea he had wasn’t especially spectacular, it was something only he could do.
“I’ll knock myself out,” Chad declared, only an instant after Professor Pendleton reached the count of six.
“The self-sacrifice move, huh? Well, you might not be swift, but at least you’re not a heartless bastard. Fair warning, though, we’re monitoring everyone’s vitals, brain waves included—so don’t think you can just fall down and I’ll take you at your word. I’m waiting until I receive confirmation that you’re out before I let these two go. And make sure you don’t try to wake up and interfere; if you become conscious, that remote is fair game again.”
Chad nodded. He hadn’t been sure how Professor Pendleton would check this sort of thing, but he’d never doubted that bluffing was off the table. And he had no intent to do so, either. Reaching deep within his brain, Chad activated the same process that he used every night to put himself into a restful slumber.
Well, almost the same process, anyway.
There was a muffled thud as Chad slipped to the ground. Seconds later, a voice in Professor Pendleton’s ear confirmed that Chad Taylor had gone unconscious and was therefore eliminated from the trial. Shaking his head, Professor Pendleton took his hand off the remote and slipped it back into his pocket. It had been a tough choice to make, and while Chad hadn’t shown any unexpected thinking skills, at least he’d proven that he could care more about others than himself. For a kid who started out as a tin man, that was something Professor Pendleton was glad to see.
Slowly, Alex and Shane rose to their feet. As they moved, they reached around to their necks and back respectively, ripping off the electrodes that had been used to keep them down.
“Well boys, it looks like Chad bought you both a second bite at the apple. Try to make the most of it, will you? I’d hate to see such a noble—”
Professor Pendleton was interrupted by sudden movement. Between Shane and Alex, Chad leapt back to his feet in a single fluid motion. Was he really trying a double cross? And here Professor Pendleton was beginning to think a little better of his decision-making skills. It wasn’t even like his friends had gotten enough time to find and remove all of the electrodes yet. Professor Pendleton’s hand was plunging into his pocket when Dr. Moran’s voice echoed through his comm.
“None of that, Sean. I’m still watching Chad’s brainwave activity, and he’s passed out. You touch that remote, and you’re the one who went back on his word.”
“How the hell is he passed… oh, you sneaky little bastard.” Now that he was paying closer attention, Professor Pendleton noticed the way Chad swayed uncertainly on his feet, and how his eyes were unfocused even with an opponent standing right before him. “You put yourself in a dream and kept your body active. Even if you can’t get any credit for it, you still want to help your buddies take me down, huh?”
It was with a smile that Professor Pendleton removed his hand from his pocket, absent of the remote control. He’d wanted to see if Chad could think in a direction other than straight ahead, and that was exactly what the kid had managed.
“Well then, looks like it’s still three on one,” Professor Pendleton said. “That should keep things interesting.”
125.
Professor Pendleton had been telling the truth; the shocks undoubtedly looked worse than they felt. However, that didn’t mean the experience had been pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. Alex finally shook off the last of the pain, trying to take in stride the fact that not only had Chad sacrificed himself, but he’d done it in a way that still let him help out. Touching as the gesture was, it would be for nothing if Alex and Shane couldn’t capitalize on it to pull out a win.
Across the room, Professor Pendleton was still solid, though for how long was anyone’s guess. Alex could theoretically contain him if he went into fog-mode again, but between the effort of last time and the stress to his system from the shocks, he was starting to feel mentally drained. If Alex really pushed himself, he could probably pull the same trick off once more, but that would be it. He’d be wiped out: an easy target if the professor escaped, or if Shane decided to fully liquidate the team once the fight was over. He wouldn’t even be able to blame Shane for the decision; at that point Alex would be nothing but deadweight.
Besides, only an idiot would assume those electrodes were the sole trick Professor Pendleton had up his sleeve. Fighting him so straightforwardly put them at a disadvantage; they were dealing with the Subtlety teacher, after all. It was time to start thinking non-conventionally.
The one thing they did know was that Professor Pendleton’s physical body could still be injured; the bloody end of a missing fingertip on his left hand proved that point well. Chad had chopped it off when the hand formed from the fog, so as long as Professor Pendleton was solid, they should be able to do some damage. Deep down, Alex had known it might come to this from the moment he accepted Shane and Chad’s offer to join. Part of him had feared the possibility, while another piece had hoped for it. He’d been refining his control for months, ever since the night he lost Sasha, ready to make sure he didn’t fall short again. Scary as it was to finally put one of his new techniques into action, this was also the best shot he was going to get. There were some things that Sims just didn’t cut it for.
Alex narrowed his focus, all too aware that Professor Pendleton was expecting to be bound once more so that he couldn’t engulf the whole room. But this time, Alex was conjuring a much smaller area of force. Like a tiny, powerful fist, it squeezed on the cluster of nerves Alex was targeting. Professor Pendleton was still staring at them, cocky grin on his face, when his legs suddenly gave way beneath him.
“Shane, surround him with shadows!” Alex yelled. They weren’t going to have long: only a few precious seconds where, for once, Professor Pendleton was the one confused.
“What in the hell… I can’t feel my fucking legs.” It was the first time any of them had ever seen genuine worry on Professor Pen
dleton’s face, and bad as Alex felt for inflicting the wound, it was an expression that filled him with a small measure of accomplishment.
“That’s because I’m pressing down between the vertebrae of your spinal column,” Alex replied. “I could sever them outright, if I had to, but I think this works better. See, your hand didn’t regrow that finger Chad lopped off. So I don’t think you can reshape your body however you see fit when you reform. If I hold on to a specific body part’s worth of smoke when you shift, then, if you turn back without it, you’ll be missing that piece. Something tells me you don’t want to be separated from a section of your own spine.”
“I’m impressed, and a little surprised,” Professor Pendleton admitted. “This is a far more ruthless tactic than I expected out of you, Alex.”
“I’ve learned the importance of stopping my enemies, even if they’re stronger than I am.” Alex’s brain flashed back against his will to that night when he’d tried to hold a Super with enhanced speed up in the air. If only he’d been more prepared, if only he’d been able to end that fight before it started, there would be one more student in the class this year. Alex wasn’t dwelling on his failure anymore; he’d accepted the loss and was slowly moving on from it. But that sure as shit didn’t mean he planned to make the mistake again further down the line.
“Clearly,” Professor Pendleton replied. “So, what now then? Are you going to break my spine?”
“No. If I snap it and lose my grip, you can turn into smoke without fear of me ripping the part out. Besides, this takes a lot of concentration. I don’t think I could do anything else even if I wanted to. They, on the other hand, are a different story.” Alex nodded to Shane and the still unsteady Chad. “While I make sure you don’t turn to smoke, they’re going to take you down.”
“Fascinating.” Professor Pendleton was smiling again, although this was nothing like the cocky smirk he’d donned when delivering an ultimatum to Chad. It was a surprising reaction, but it had nothing on what came next. In one swift motion, Professor Pendleton hopped to his feet, seemingly unbothered by the pressure Alex was still exerting on his spinal column. “I must admit, Alex, you’ve impressed me. I never thought I’d actually have to show off this aspect of my abilities.”
“The hell? Your spine should still be pinched.”
“And pinched it is,” Professor Pendleton agreed. “But just as I can turn the fog back into flesh selectively, I can also shift parts of my body to mist. They still function in that form, albeit not as well as normal, and it’s not something I can keep up indefinitely. So congratulations, you’ve functionally neutralized my ability to shift entirely. But if you want victory, these two are still going to have to best me to take it.”
“No argument here.” Shane made a quick motion with his hand, and three shadows struck the professor simultaneously. All three hit his legs, specifically targeting groups of muscles that would ideally leave him hamstrung and helpless—or at least hurt if nothing else. The dark blades hit their marks without error, yet even as they passed through, Alex could feel the disturbance in Shane’s mind.
None of the strikes had drawn so much as a drop of blood. From Alex’s vantage point, he could just make out a few wisps of fog trailing the final shadow as it pulled away from Professor Pendleton’s unmarred flesh.
“Come on, did you really think it was that easy? I just told you I can turn my body to fog as needed. Did you forget I graduated with the Class of Legends? I had to learn to react to attacks much faster and stronger than that.”
Alex looked at Shane, who was staring back at him. They’d managed to limit the professor’s movements, and with the situation laid out as it was, there was only one viable option: overwhelm him with attacks so they could hit before he could react. For Shane alone, it would have been a tough battle. But, luckily for them, they weren’t in this fight alone. Even through the haze of slumber, Alex could still feel Chad deep within his dream, just waiting for the call to lend aid. The time had come to make one last push with everything they had. If this didn’t work, then they were out of options.
“Chad, I know you’re in there, and I hope you can hear me okay,” Alex called. “We need you to fight Professor Pendleton as best as—”
Chad’s charge across the room was instantaneous, his unfocused eyes locked in Professor Pendleton’s direction.
Well, at least they didn’t need to worry about whether or not he could take orders.
126.
Dean Blaine really needed a drink. He’d thought Vince was as bad as it would get, putting on a primal display of raw power that drew the attention of nearly every Hero present. But no, he was not so fortunate as to merely have dozens of Heroes whispering about an astounding, yet singular, feat. Now he had the joy of dealing with the fallout from one of his students grabbing a teacher by the spinal cord, inducing temporary paralysis and threatening to rip out a section of Professor Pendleton’s nervous system. At this point, if people didn’t leave calling his seniors the Class of Bloodbaths Dean Blaine would claim it as a victory.
The one component offsetting such brutal tactics was how controlled everyone had been in using them. Yes, Vince had smashed through a wall he shouldn’t have been able to dent, but he’d made certain no one was in danger from debris first. And while Alex’s stunt was definitely going to have people talking after the match, no one could deny that he was using the technique delicately. He could have grabbed a place higher up on the spine to drop Professor Pendleton’s entire body, or simply snapped the nerve from the outset to try and cripple his opponent. Instead, Alex had gone for the capture, and that hadn’t escaped anyone’s notice.
How the fight turned out would all come down to endurance and precision. As one of Sean Pendleton’s oldest friends, Blaine was well aware of how adept the man could be in close combat. And while Chad, even sleeping, was not to be taken lightly, Sean had dealt with similarly skilled opponents many times in his own HCP days.
After all, he’d been forced to face off with the original Intra: Joshua Taylor.
* * *
Alice heard the scuff of a foot in the darkness. She readied her gravity field, drifting back carefully. She’d already managed to bring down Will thanks to a poorly-timed misstep coming around a corner, but Alice wasn’t counting on luck to see her through the rest of this competition. Floating silently, she listened, waiting for a sound that would reveal her opponent’s exact location. It came sooner than she was expecting and was far more familiar than she would have preferred.
“Alice?” Camille’s voice was whispered, but unmistakable. “Is that you?”
“Um… yes.” While she wasn’t entirely sure if she should confirm her identity or not, the words slipped out automatically. A greeting from a friend came with certain ingrained responses, and Alice made a mental note to get better control over them.
“Oh. I thought I saw something up there. So… having much luck?”
“Got Rich and Will,” Alice said.
“Adam and Selena,” Camille replied.
“Selena? How’d you manage that?”
“As soon as I caught the first notes of her song, I broke one of my own fingers so I’d have something else to focus on. After that, it was just a matter of getting close enough to touch her before she noticed I wasn’t compelled. Not the most fun strategy, but it worked.” Camille paused, hesitant to continue the conversation. It wasn’t especially hard to figure out why; there was an elephant in the room that neither was sure how to deal with. “Only four down then, that we know of. Still plenty of points left to be had.”
“Yeah,” Alice agreed. “Lots of other students to defeat.”
“I’m… going to keep on moving, then. See if I can track some more down.”
“Ditto.” Alice held her breath as she listened to the steps continue moving in the darkness, slowly fading away bit by bit. While she was almost certain she could have taken Camille in a fight—after all, the girl was pure melee—Alice didn’t feel particu
larly compelled to test the theory just yet. When she was sure the pickings were lean, it would be another matter, but for now there was no reason not to let her friend pad her score a bit before the inevitable end.
Besides which, Alice paid close attention to people. She’d taken note long ago that when someone underestimated Camille Belden, they often ended up unconscious and with a few broken bones. True, she couldn’t imagine what sort of tactic the diminutive damage absorber would employ against a field of gravity, but she was in no hurry to find out.
Peace and alliances were also a strategy of battle. Temporary ones, yes, but useful all the same. For now, anyway.
* * *
“Hey, Professor Cole. Since you’re eliminated, and we sort of wrecked the place, is it okay if we use this room?” Roy’s words came only seconds after the sound of the doors unlocking had finished ringing through the chamber. It was a far less impressive noise now that there was a hole punched through a nearby wall, but it sounded like victory all the same.
“If you mean as a spot to hunker down and rest, feel free, but between the window Vince opened and the unlocked doors, I can’t promise you anything in the way of privacy,” Professor Cole told him. She’d rewrapped herself in the bandages, dozens of weapons once more hidden under layers of cloth.
Roy shook his head. “No, I don’t want to take a break. Far from it. I want to fight Vince, right here and now, and I’d prefer a place with nice lighting and room to move. Just wanted to make sure it wasn’t breaking the rules to do this here, instead of in the dark halls.”
“With me eliminated, this is nothing but an empty room. Do with it as you will.” Professor Cole walked to the metal door, which opened at her approach, and stepped through, vanishing into the shadows of the labyrinth.
