Super Powereds: Year 4

by Hayes, Drew

  In the room she’d left behind, the air grew thick with tension as Vince looked at Roy and Mary with apprehension, turning his body slightly so as not to be left unguarded. “What was that about wanting to fight me?”

  “Exactly what it sounded like. You think after a display like that I’m going to risk anyone else getting the chance to take you on? Hell no. I want to see what you’ve got in a real fight, Vince. No sparring, no holding back. Really testing which of us is stronger.” Roy glanced over to Mary, who was standing by patiently as the two declared their intention to battle. “Mary, you can jump in too, if you’d like. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to do this one on one, but it’s well within your right to strike if one of us is weak.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think I’d get as much out of this as either of you. How about I make certain no one interrupts?” Mary offered.

  “Are you sure?” Vince asked. “We’re all enemies at the end of the day. We all need the points.”

  “While that’s technically true, neither of you are really thinking about your scores right now. If you were, then we’d be hunting down another professor, rather than turning on one another. This is about testing yourselves with stakes on the line, and that’s something you’ll both get more out of if it’s just the two of you.” Mary allowed herself a brief, controlled smirk. “Besides, I can always take on the winner. And after this battle, that should make for a much easier fight.”

  “She’s got us there,” Roy admitted. “Vince, you need a second after that punch or are you good to go?”

  Vince turned to his side, letting Mary slip from his attention and facing Roy full-on. “I’m ready whenever you are. Truthfully, I’m glad you threw down the gauntlet. I’ve wanted to see how much stronger you’ve gotten, too.”

  “Then get ready to recharge your kinetic stash, because while I won’t kill you, I’m coming in strong enough to at least crack a few bones.”

  127.

  Dealing with Chad in combat was an interesting, oddly nostalgic experience. Although he’d never tell the boy (and Chad probably wouldn’t believe him even if he did), Sean was positive that Joshua hadn’t been this tough a fight in his senior year. While the Hero named Intra had unquestionably grown stronger in the field, as things stood now, Chad was ahead of his father in terms of ability, even while fighting unconscious.

  Awake, Chad probably would have been even more of an obstacle, and that made Sean Pendleton all the more thankful that he’d semi-neutralized him. Knocked out, Chad was still a handful, striking at Sean relentlessly. No matter what Sean did, no matter how he moved, Chad was there, followed closely by those damn blades of shadow trying to take a slice of Sean’s flesh the moment he was distracted. If it were a full-on fight, things would have ended almost as soon as they began. Physically, Sean was no match for Chad, conscious or not. The only thing that was keeping the Subtlety professor in play was his defense: shifting bits of himself to fog every time Shane or Chad landed a blow.

  It was a technique that had been born of necessity back in his own HCP days. Turning into a full-blown cloud had been too limiting, at least against his peers, so Sean had needed a way to be useful even when in a mostly human form. Reactive shifting had been the solution, and while it had taken him years to hone, the technique had saved his life in the field more times than he could count. It was not, however, a perfect strategy, especially since it left him on the defensive.

  Sean leapt back, trying to put some distance between himself and Chad, only to have the blond senior twist in place and lunge forward. Chad’s hands tried to close around Professor Pendleton’s arms, only to pass harmlessly through like they were made of smoke—which, in that moment, they were. From the corner of his eye, Sean caught sight of a dark shape flickering toward him. The shadow struck his leg, and it would have severed more than a few tendons if it hadn’t met mere fog rather than flesh. Across the room, Alex was standing motionless, eyes never wavering from Sean no matter how much the professor leapt. He still had the piece of Sean’s spine in his mental grip, the pressure noticeable even with that section turned to fog, and that was the biggest issue of all.

  Even if he’d worked hard to keep the thought from his mind lest Alex get a true sense of the situation, Sean was running a bluff. While he could turn sections of his body to smoke and still function, it was incredibly taxing to do so. Flesh and fog weren’t meant to intermingle in such a way; there was a reason he only used a few pieces of his body at a time while in cloud form. Between dealing with Chad and Shane’s assault and keeping his spine misty, Sean’s concentration was slipping. He had more tricks tucked away in his outfit, but much as it pained him to admit, the kids had done a decent job of shoving him into a corner. If only Chad had stayed down, Sean could have dodged Shane’s attacks and turned the tables on Alex. But with the number one rank in the class never letting him get more than a few feet away, Sean had to give all of himself just to stay in the fight.

  He needed to turn things around. The obvious solution was within reach; he did still have the remote control in his pocket. One quick press of a button and everything would change. Sean could go misty again, and this time he wouldn’t give them time to regroup before taking Alex out of the fight. In a real battle, with life or death on the line, Sean wouldn’t have hesitated to do so. He was a Subtlety Hero, and part of that title meant being willing to win any way he could. However, this wasn’t a real battle; it was just a test. And he hadn’t sunk so low that he would disregard a student’s sacrifice to score a hollow victory.

  Instead, Sean did something no one in the room was expecting. He charged forward, barreling into and then through Chad, turning himself into full-fog for a split second and pushing on toward Alex. If he could just take down the supposed Jedi, that would regain him control of the match. Sean would have preferred something a little more crafty and dignified than a flat-out sprint, but doing whatever it took to win didn’t always mean double-dealing and tricks. Sometimes, it just meant accepting that the classic methods were sometimes the best.

  He’d made it all of ten steps past Chad when he heard the sound of boots on concrete quickly catching up to him. Sean twisted around, ready to defend against whatever attack Chad was preparing to launch. To his surprise, it wasn’t Chad drawing close at all. This time, it was Shane who had broken into a sprint. Sean and Shane’s eyes met for a moment, just before the latter launched himself toward Sean’s torso. Of course, what he met was only fog, as Shane’s hands clutched the air uselessly. Yet he seemed undeterred, and as Sean felt the blow to his knee, it wasn’t hard to guess why.

  In the moment of confusion at seeing Shane mount a physical assault, Sean had momentarily taken his eyes off of Chad Taylor. A relatively minor error in other circumstances, but this time it had cost him dearly as he felt his knee splinter and break. Chad had managed to land a kick on Sean’s body, one he wasn’t able to defend against, and it hurt like a son of a bitch.

  Sean was already falling when he saw it, a brief flash of darkness that whipped by his face. That was when he knew. Before the sharp pain in his neck and the slight wetness trickling down to his shoulders. Before Shane’s declaration. That was the moment Sean Pendleton knew he’d lost the match.

  “Deathblow,” Shane said, voice somewhat ragged. He was more out of breath than Sean had noticed; evidently throwing around his power that much took a toll. “I just scratched you on the side of the neck, but if I’d gone deeper I could have slit your throat.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me. That was a clean kill, no question about it. I officially admit defeat to the team of Shane DeSoto and Alex Griffen.” Sean kept an eye on Chad as he spoke, watching to make sure no more attacks came through the dream-filled haze. As soon as he conceded, Chad relaxed. With an expression more peaceful than Sean could ever recall seeing on his waking face, Chad lowered himself slowly to the ground and went still.

  “I feel like Chad should get some credit, too,” Alex said.

&
nbsp; “He made his choice. It wasn’t an easy one, I saw to that, but sacrifices lose their meaning if there aren’t consequences. Don’t worry too much for him, though. Chad already had more than enough on his record to prove he can fight. Today, he proved he could use his head a little, and that he was willing to take one for the team when the occasion called for it.” Professor Pendleton paused, fighting back a fresh wave of pain that he was working tirelessly to keep off his face and out of his voice. “Alex, are you still holding on to my spine? If so, please release the grip.”

  “Whoops, sorry about that, sir.” Alex let out a long breath then nodded. “You’re free.”

  “Thank you. I need to get to a healer, and I’d much prefer to do that without walking on a broken knee. As for you two, get back into the labyrinth. You might have each gotten three points off me, but you’ll need more than that to secure victory.” With the last order given, Sean shifted his body fully over to mist-form and headed for the nearest exit.

  Much as he disliked losing in general, he still felt a measure of pride at what had taken place. Those kids had grown so much since he first saw them in their sophomore year, and Sean liked to think he’d played a small role in it. Maybe he could see why Blaine was so into this teaching thing.

  128.

  Despite both men’s brash natures, neither charged in recklessly. Vince and Roy circled one another, the room quiet aside from their shuffling feet. Both knew the other’s moves extremely well; between Hershel and Roy, Vince had spent a vast amount of time training with the Daniels brothers. But this was different. Sparring was a place to make mistakes and learn, with nothing more on the line than the momentary pain a blow might inflict. Here, in this cell with a broken wall, there were real stakes, and nothing as trivial as a single point in the test. This was a chance to push themselves, to see who was stronger. That there was a room of Heroes watching their battle only added another reason to bring all they had, not that it was needed.

  It was Vince who struck first, capitalizing on his ranged advantage with a blast of fire that leapt across the room. Roy dodged, leaping back and slamming his feet into the ground so hard the concrete fractured. Another shot from Vince, and this time Roy crouched down low to avoid it, dropping into a position like a sprinter on the starting line. That was the only warning Vince got before Roy pushed off, blasting forward like he’d been shot from a cannon and careening through the room. While he still wasn’t able to aim perfectly, Roy’s leaping skills had improved considerably over the past year. He landed within inches of Vince, who immediately hopped back. It was a good reaction, but Roy was a touch faster. Sweeping the bat around, he connected with Vince’s shin, hitting hard enough to decimate the bone.

  Instead, the blow simply stopped, all of its kinetic power flowing into Vince even as he continued to move backward. Rather than press the assault, Roy let him go, and soon the gap between them had returned.

  “Surprised you didn’t chase me.” Vince’s tone was light, even as he stared carefully at Roy, watching for any sign of movement.

  “And juice you up? Fat chance. I know better than to attack when you’re ready for it.”

  “Then you might be out of luck. Between all the training and the fact that you’ve only really got kinetic on your side, I’m not sure how you’re going to beat me, Roy.” Vince altered his footing slightly, getting into a more streamlined position.

  “It won’t be easy. That’s true,” Roy admitted. “You ain’t the only one who’s been getting stronger, though. That punch you used on the wall would have hurt like hell, but with all your kinetic used up, I’m not sure you’ve got enough of the other stuff to take me down. I’m pretty used to fire after all this time, and I can take a lot of electricity. More than you tend to keep on you.”

  “That so?” Vince’s hand began to crackle, then glow as sparks of electricity rippled off his fingers. Roy made a quick motion with his free hand, but otherwise remained unaffected by the display of power. Vince was still in the middle of charging up when he felt the sudden potent pain in his left leg. Risking a glance down, he saw a gash above his knee, the skin around it already purpling with a large bruise.

  “How in the... did you throw something?” Vince looked back at Roy, who was now tossing and catching a few irregular rocky shards in his left hand.

  “I may not come with a natural ranged attack, but if you’re strong enough, everything can be a weapon. Including broken concrete.”

  It was then Vince remembered how Roy had reacted during his first assault, breaking the concrete with his foot and then getting into a position that allowed him to scoop some up, all without ever drawing suspicion. That was well beyond unexpected. That was the sort of quick thinking that Roy generally eschewed in favor of just punching harder. Although he couldn’t be sure until they talked, Vince had a good suspicion that right now he was actually fighting two people at once: Roy and Hershel.

  “Not a bad plan,” Vince said. “One problem, though: you can’t hit what you can’t see.” The room plunged into darkness once more as Vince stopped calling on his pilfered electricity and began to absorb the light.

  “Temporary measure,” Roy called. “We both know that if you’re absorbing light, you can’t take kinetic. And I’ve got a lot of concrete here.” He lifted his bat and drove it to the ground, shattering a section of floor into small, easy-to-throw chunks.

  Vince could see Roy’s movements—at least, in a manner of speaking. Sensing the light he and Mary’s bodies threw off wasn’t quite the same as real vision, but it was a close enough approximation to get by. Vince could tell when Roy grabbed a handful of debris, and he was able to get down just in time as Roy began to hurl it about willy-nilly. He was taking a shotgun style approach, and while a few bits did break harmlessly against Mary’s defensive telekinetic bubble, none came close to Vince.

  Roy was right that this tactic wouldn’t be useful for long, but it didn’t have to be. Vince only needed to buy enough time for Roy’s eyes to adjust. That turned out to be easier said than done, though. Roy continued to fill the air with flying bits of concrete. While none of them were strong enough to do serious damage, Vince had no doubt they would make concentrating on the task at hand hard if he was hit by one. He dove and dodged, keeping as quiet as he could, counting the seconds as he moved.

  It had only been a minute when a piece of concrete clipping Vince on the shoulder, nearly causing him to lose focus. Roy was getting more accurate, which meant this strategy was too dangerous to keep using. Shifting from defense to offense, Vince darted forward, quickly closing the gap between him and Roy. From the way he was holding his bat, Roy was clearly prepared for this and could hear Vince’s approach. He was ready, and as soon as he could see, Roy would try to take Vince down. At least, that’s what Vince was hoping.

  Light filled the room once more, illuminating a curious scene. Roy was standing with his bat poised to strike, Vince only a few feet away. Rather than have his fingers curled into a fist, Vince’s hand was open, the palm directly facing Roy. For a brief second, their eyes met, and in that moment it was clear Roy realized what was about to happen. It was too late, though. There wasn’t even enough time to blink, which was extremely unfortunate.

  The blast of light caught Roy right in the eyes, his dilated pupils taking the equivalent of a full-force flash grenade. His free hand went to cover his face even as Roy released a string of swears. Vince didn’t stop or hesitate; he knew too well how quickly Roy could recover. Blinding him had never been the real goal of this assault. No, all Vince really wanted was to buy a few precious, uninterrupted seconds. That was all he needed to build a powerful electric charge in his left fist.

  “Sorry, Roy. I know how tough you are, so I’m going to have to put some real juice into this.” With no more warning than that, Vince struck his friend in the shoulder, releasing a blast of controlled lightning that he was positive would drop even the powerful Roy. Sure enough, Roy fell to his knees, eyes still closed and a small
tendril of smoke rising from the spot where Vince had landed the blow.

  That done, Vince turned to Mary, waiting to see if she would enter the fray now that his and Roy’s match was over. When Vince met her eyes, though, Mary said nothing. Instead, she only shook her head and pointed behind him. Vince turned just in time to see Roy blinking away spots from his eyes and getting back to his feet.

  “Good trick. You managed to knock me over. But if you think I’m going down for good off a hit like that, then you have severely miscalculated how much damage I can take.” Roy yanked his bat up from the ground and pointed the end of it toward Vince.

  “I hope you’ve got a lot more up your sleeve, because I’m nowhere near done yet.”

  129.

  Vince was momentarily dumbfounded. While he’d been sure not to cross the line into real danger, he also knew Roy’s endurance well enough to have put a lot of power into that last shot. If he were running with his usual amount of electricity stored up, Vince would have practically wiped out his reserves in that one attack. Yet Roy, despite some visible singeing, was shrugging the whole thing off like nothing more than a well-placed punch.

  “You’ve gotten tougher.” Obvious as it was, Vince still felt it needed to be said. He couldn’t skim past such a display without some manner of acknowledgment.

  “Like you wouldn’t believe,” Roy agreed. “After getting my ass handed to me by that suped-up strongman last May, Hershel and I have been working overtime to increase endurance as much as strength. It’s been slow going, but we’re making steady progress.”

  “That you are. I thought for sure that last attack would have taken you out.” Vince took a few steps back, reevaluating the situation. He’d thought getting off one good shot on Roy would be all that was needed; only now did he realize that he’d been severely underestimating the Daniels brothers.