Citadel (Book 1): Training in Necessity

by Clevenger, J.

  At least she had that girl's impromptu speech. It would make a good focus for the story, especially if she framed it right.

  * * *

  Sparring Fields

  Death.

  That was what George had seen. If someone had asked him earlier, he'd have told them that that wouldn't be such a big deal. With the kind of training the Citadel did... frankly, he'd thought he was going to die on more than one occasion. Since he couldn't remember that one exercise, and with the way Retcon's power was supposed to work, it was likely that he actually had. But when he'd looked into Jason's eyes... He'd flat out known the other trainee could kill him. Not thought, not feared or understood, he'd known it. Of course he'd yielded.

  The other trainees he spoke to didn't get it. They watched the same thing happen a few times, spoke to Jason's opponents, and they decided it was a trick. Obviously he'd been holding out, waiting till the last phase of training to show off part of his power set. The popular theory was that he had a more specialized version of Warp's ability. It wasn't until Jason's ninth fight of the day that someone tested it.

  Benjamin Stone's terrakinesis was powerful, versatile and capable of affecting a wide area. It was generally assumed that if he'd had any interest in the challenge rankings, he'd have wound up in the top ten.

  His classmates watched as Jason beat him effortlessly. Ben kept his eyes closed, relying on what he called his 'tremorsense' instead. He pulled stone walls from the ground to slow his opponent's advance, formed the earth into spikes then launched them at Jason with incredible force and made a kind of rocky armor to protect himself and effectively magnify his own strength.

  The spikes tore through Jason's body but he healed instantly. The walls were taken down with a single, casual kick each. The fight ended when Jason methodically tore the armor from his body and placed a hand on his neck. He didn't squeeze, but no one doubted that if he had, Ben would've died. After that, Jason gained three ranks without a fight. His opponents forfeited rather than step into the dome.

  Samantha Soar couldn't fight with her eyes closed and she refused to surrender. She still regretted yielding to Kerry without even trying. As soon as the match started, she drew two pistols and opened fire while flitting around the dome. She must have gotten at least a brief glimpse of his eyes because she had tears streaming down her face and her whole body was trembling. There was no indication that it affected her aim.

  Between the shots, it took Jason almost two minutes to pull out the magnesium flare and set it off. Sammy screamed, dropped the guns and collided with a wall. By the time she recovered, Jason had his hand on her.

  Michael's forcefields barely slowed Jason down. Fred Ghost couldn't phase his entire body at once and he still needed to breathe. Jason just set off a tear gas canister and waited, ignoring the other boy's repeated, though successful, attempts to rip out several of his internal organs. As soon as the fight started, Kelly just collapsed to the ground and didn't move again for several minutes.

  That was how it went for a time. Most opponents Jason faced either yielded without a fight or were beaten through sheer, overwhelming power. The handful with abilities that should have given them a chance were all neutralized by some kind of trick from one of Hectors' bags. Somewhere along the line, people just stopped trying. It wasn't that they yielded, just that their fighting was... half-hearted.

  That changed when he hit the top ranks.

  * * *

  In the first second of their fight, Drew left Jason covered with dozens of stab wounds. They disappeared and reappeared so quickly that he seemed to be a fountain of red. Jason was able to set off a smoke bomb and the wounds stopped appearing. For some reason, Drew was unwilling to enter the slowly spreading cloud of gas. Instead, he elected to use a pistol. Simultaneously, at least thirty bullets struck Jason in the head, essentially decapitating him. This was a traditional method of neutralizing high end regenerators but it did no more lasting harm to Jason than the knife had. Drew yielded when Jason prepared to supplement the smoke bomb with a pair of grenades.

  Duncan was not present. No one had seen him since some time during the week.

  Isaac's fight completely terrified the watchers. His aura was silver-white and brighter than anyone but Hector had ever seen. There were no clever tricks or stratagems to this encounter. The two simply walked up and hit each other, once. The image displayed on the dome's side cut out immediately.

  Their Healer stopped the fight to find the dome's interior riddled with cracks, some reached halfway through the wall. Anna Insight reported that there wasn't so much as a single square inch of the inner surface that was undamaged. When the Healer entered, the two were standing in the center of the dome, casually speaking to each other. Isaac calmly conceded the match. If he was bothered by Jason's gaze or the blood leaking from his own ears and nose, he gave no sign of it.

  Gregory Warp came the closest to winning. Jason fell to the ground as soon as the match started, completely limp. Warp approached cautiously and reached down to cover Jason's mouth and nose with his hand. No one had tried suffocation yet. It might have worked if that had not been the moment when the flash bang in Jason's hand went off.

  The disorientation it caused was enough to free Jason from the grip of Warp's power. By the time the other boy recovered, Jason had a hand on his shin and...

  Saying that a limb or a bone is broken implies a whole object with ends that have been fully or partially separated by the damage. After Jason squeezed, Greg's leg was not a whole object, damaged or otherwise. It was a badly leaking container of red mush.

  Greg yielded.

  Anna's fight was odd, though not if one were familiar with their first encounter. Before the Healer had given his speech, Jason asked her a question.

  "Can you tell how many?"

  "Four hundred thirty two thousand nine hundred and twelve." she answered, followed by, "I yield."

  Keridwyn Dragon's fight was odd in a different way. Before approaching the Healer, Jason put his dark glasses back on. More accurately, he put on a replacement pair. Two of Hector's five bags had proven to contain replacement uniforms and accessories. Jason's ability instantly eliminated any damage to his body but it did nothing to protect his wardrobe.

  It caused an expression on Keridwyn's face that he judged to be 'curiosity.' When she confirmed this by asking him a question, he was quite pleased.

  "Why the glasses?"

  "Your previous reaction was somewhat... excessive." he told her.

  "My what? When did I...?"

  He was momentarily puzzled but soon realized the source of confusion. "It occurred during the full class training session, roughly two weeks ago."

  "The one no one remembers?" Her voice was less forceful than usual.

  "It is a side effect of Senior Operative Retcon's power." he reminded her. "Anyone she revives is returned to the same state they were in at the time of initial exposure, both physically and mentally."

  "You're... you're saying I died. Someone... managed to..."

  "Yes. The majority of the class was killed in the course of the exercise."

  Jason was accustomed to thinking of the petite redhead as quite pale. However, in the wake of his statement, she grew even more so. He was mildly surprised that she did not ask how he was able to remember the event. Even those who had not fallen during the exercise had been 'Retconned' after Keridwyn's... adverse reaction.

  The fight itself was quite short. Keridwyn summoned her dragon to take her place and it vanished immediately. This happened three times as Jason strode from one end of the dome to the other. When he reached her, she was still unusually pale. Her eyes were wide. She was making a series of small trembling motions.

  Jason placed his hand on her shoulder. He did not exert any pressure. By now it should have been clear that touching his opponent was tantamount to a victory.

  "That's not your real power, is it? The strength, I mean." Keridwyn's voice came slower and more quietly than her norm. H
e simply gave the smile that Hector had once called creepy.

  Obviously, his final match was against Jenny Awesome. They met in front of their Healer. Jenny spoke first.

  "You could take them off again, if you wanted."

  Momentarily puzzled, Jason soon realized what she wanted and removed his sunglasses. He also smiled at her. The expression was not meant to communicate anything in particular. Jason did not smile to elicit a response from Jenny. He simply... smiled at her. It felt nice.

  Jenny's return expression was far more than just a smile. Although she did also smile, just a little. Her eyes were not open quite as wide as they were a moment before. She stopped standing perfectly straight, lowering her shoulders and resting her weight on the flat of her feet rather than mostly on the balls. The near constant, minor motions disappeared entirely. In short, Jenny went from a near perfect picture of vibrant energy to happy, or perhaps content.

  "Why do you do that?" he asked, genuinely curious. "I know what people see when they look into my eyes. Why do you respond so differently?"

  "Hm?" She sounded distracted.

  Jason repeated himself.

  "It's personal." she said.

  "Oh." Jason had not expected the rebuff. "You do not need to..."

  She giggled. "No. I mean... it really is personal. You could kill me. Every time I look... it's a reminder that you could kill me. Any time you wanted to."

  Jason blinked. "I fail to see why that gives you such pleasure."

  "No?" She was still smiling. "Jason, if you decided to do it, then I'd just die. There's nothing my power could do to save me. And it really would be your decision. It can't influence you or... I don't know. It makes sense to me." She looked down, losing some of that contentment.

  "Maybe it's that dying like that, it's a guarantee that I'd be free of its control? And... and if there's one thing it can't control, there must be others. I guess... when I look into your eyes, I feel like things could work out okay for me."

  He thought about it for a moment.

  "I am not certain that I follow your logic, but I suppose that is not necessary. If my power... my gaze, can help you..." He thought about it for a moment, decided he had the right word. "...then I am happy."

  The two stood there, quietly smiling. Eventually, like all good things, it came to an end.

  "Um, I'm sorry to interrupt you, Trainee Grim, Trainee Awesome, but the match..." The Healer's posture was slightly hunched, his voice low and hesitant, but he was correct.

  "I am sorry Jenny, but it is time to start. I believe I will be free tomorrow, if you wish to spend more time together."

  "I'd like that." she said, nodding. "We can start, I guess. There's... there's just one thing I wanna do first." She turned to face the nearby crowd of trainees and shouted. "Hey! Hey guys!" Shortly, all eyes were on her. "Um... look, this is kind of hard to explain, but... I need you all to do something for me. It's gonna sound a little weird but I think we're all friends by now so I hope you'll just trust me on this."

  Jason watched as Jenny spoke. Many of his classmates nodded or spoke very quietly in response to her request.

  "Me and Jason, well… this fight's kind of personal. I know you all want to watch, but... please don't. For me? If you want to stay and show your support or something, that's cool and I really appreciate it. Could you just... turn your backs or something? Please?"

  It took Jason a moment to understand what she intended. Once he had, he approached Hector while Jenny spoke to the Healer. His other friend had helped him a great deal, providing information on their classmates' abilities, mindsets and commonly used tactics. He had also developed many of the battle plans that Jason had employed to defeat those who would otherwise have been likely to negate Jason's power. He had not been able to come up with anything to give Jason an edge over Jenny.

  This was why the duplicator was so surprised when Jason requested such an innocuous item. Hector couldn't even remember why he'd brought it.

  As Jason approached his entrance, he saw the Healer turn his back on their combat dome as well. Once the doors closed, he raised the item. It was a common cigarette lighter. He used it to produce a small flame. It required a great deal of care to avoid shattering the device in his hand. Once it was lit, he held his hand in the heat for several minutes.

  After he let the flame die, he showed Jenny his hand. The palm had a small blister.

  Jenny wanted this fight to be personal. She had done her best to insure that her power would not interfere. Now, Jason had done the same. If such a simple thing could make Jenny happy, then Jason would do it for her. After all, she was Awesome.

  * * *

  "Your final exercise begins today." Coach Achala said.

  Kelly could practically hear the capitals. She was used to her instructor's ways by now, or so she'd thought, and didn't like the impression she was getting.

  "The premise is much like your simulation exercises."

  The class had met first thing in the morning at the Sparring Field. Rather than rows of combat domes, there was a single enormous one. Kelly wasn't certain but she thought it was at least a mile high and much, much wider. Well, not really a perfect dome then, but still...

  "This will be your city. For the next three days, you will be its Citadel. Your duty is to protect it. Please make every effort to treat this exercise as if it were real."

  Coach Achala hadn't smiled during his short speech. Rather than serene, he seemed controlled. The difference wasn't huge but it seemed really important to Kelly. Her classmates were moving as a group, slowly entering the dome. As she joined them, she couldn't help but wonder. Making a bunch of kids strip naked and beat the hell out of each other had been enough to give Coach Achala's ever present aura of peace a mildly sad undertone. What did it take to remove that peace altogether?

  * * *

  Under the Dome

  The first day was kind of fun.

  It might have been their first cooperative exercise on such a large scale, but the trainees had enough experience at this point to know how they should start out. Scouts were sent to explore their new environment while the rest of them concentrated on the immediate area.

  No one felt like arguing when Jenny described the dome's interior as 'Awesome.' At the center, there was a four story replica of the Tower. South of it, the same area that the trainees had entered from, there was a mock-up of a suburban neighborhood. None of the houses had more than a single story. To the mini-Tower's west, there was a commercial center filled with buildings that were clearly meant to be stores and shops. Most of them were only one story but a few had a second.

  To the north and east there was scrubland and a heavy metro area. The scrub was mostly sand and loose dirt with a few scattered patches of grass and the occasional small hill or bush to break up the monotony. The metro area was... odd. It was filled with skyscrapers and office buildings that were only two, sometimes three, stories tall.

  It was the level of detail that was the most impressive. The trainees were used to simulated environments that were clearly... well, simulated. Usually, they were primarily made of stone with a few scattered plants. Windows and doors would be absent and any bystanders would be played by Hector. He'd probably show up in that role before too long, since he wasn't among the trainees and no one thought he'd been held back for 'further development' like Duncan.

  This simulation was almost perfect. The suburban residences had neatly trimmed lawns with an average of one tree each and a car in every driveway or parked at the curb. A few houses even had bikes or children's toys on their porches. The other regions were every bit as complete.

  The incredible level of detail in their surroundings meant that the trainees found the lack of civilians a little unsettling. The exercise environment felt like a ghost town. Maybe that was why they didn't have much of a discussion before the group headed for the central tower? It could also have been that it was tall enough to provide a useful view and, even without its resemblance
to the Citadel Hub's famous Tower, it was the obvious focal point of the exercise area.

  Of course, even more importantly, Anna Insight reported that there was a group of five people inside, each wearing the traditional Healer greys and facemasks.

  * * *

  "Hi. Rick- I mean, I'm Rick Regrowth."

  Kelly couldn't hold back a grin as she looked up at the nervous young healer. He had sandy blond hair, green eyes that weren't quite the same shade as each other and a little scar under his left lip. She didn't know why but, for some reason, the little imperfections stood out on him. Well, that and the fact that she didn't have to look up very far, that was pretty rare with guys.

  "Kelly. Nice to meet you." she said, as friendly as she could. This guy seemed to be the spokesman for the group of healer trainees they'd met and he'd been going around, introducing himself to the operative trainees for a while now. She reached out to shake his hand and the guy's eyes went wide as a soon as he touched her.

  "What the-" he said.

  Kelly pulled the hand back, confused.

  "Sorry, sorry, I..." Rick stammered. "It's my power. I, uh, I kinda have this sense? When I touch someone I can see inside them and... you're sort of weird."

  "Am I?" Kelly almost growled. She wasn't going to change to her combat form just to slap the guy but even her walking around bodies were pretty heavily modified. She'd have to be careful not to- Oh. "You mean my Empowerment."

  Rick swallowed, visibly nervous. "Um... yeah? What else would I...?"

  Kelly sighed. "Sorry, everyone here's been pretty cool but, really, I just have some leftover issues. Not your problem though. Like I said, sorry." She could tell he was still curious, maybe too nervous to ask, and she felt bad about almost taking off his head, so...