She did not know how but after a few short weeks and more than enough near death experiences, Eli Proof had become one of her best friends. And what scared her is that in her mind and her heart, he was becoming something even more than that.
Eli hugged her back and rested his cheek on the top of her head. Then, unexpectedly, he kissed her forehead.
It wasn’t the most intimate of actions, but it lit Taia up like an inferno. She felt the part where his lips had met her skin erupt in comforting flames. She did not know if this was part of Eli’s ability or something that Eli just did to her, but that small action meant the world to Taia. And it was over all too soon.
“I think that’s enough for tonight Taia,” Eli said.
“Yea, I agree,” Taia said sadly, breaking away from Eli.
When the pair had arrived back in Eli’s cell and Taia made her way to leave Eli spoke. “Tomorrow, we’re moving on. Good job Taia.”
Taia smiled to herself and left the cell without a word.
Chapter 17
The next day was Saturday and this met that it was the weekend. This meant that most of the business and institutions that were usually open in the Sector were not open; this included the Academy.
This did not mean all that much to Eli, however. In the Core, the weekends meant nothing, they were just like any other day. The officers still had to work and perform their duties as required. Therefore he and Taia would still have their private lessons that night. But it was also why the first weekend that Eli was allowed to roam relatively freely in the Sector was so weird for him.
On his true first true Saturday in the Sector, when Eli had initially arrived, he was in the Stockade still being questioned by the General. On his next one however, he was supposed to be following his schedule where he was picked up by Jesse at 0530 hours.
So Eli did what he had done the previous days that week when he was supposed to meet Jesse. Eli woke up at 0500 hours. He took a shower, brushed his teeth and got dressed.
The doors to Eli’s cell opened automatically at 0520 hours as they always did. And Eli exited them as he always did.
Instead of the normal 4 soldiers in the Stockade guarding Eli, today there were only 2. Ignoring this, Eli sat down on the same bench that he had in previous days and waited for Jesse.
But when 0530 hours came, Jesse was nowhere to be found. An hour passed. And another. And Jesse still hadn’t come. It was nearly noon when Jesse finally trudged into the Stockade yawning.
“What the hell Bonner?” Eli asked angrily. “I’ve missed half my courses.”
Jesse looked at Eli in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re late,” Eli replied. “Extremely late.”
“For what?”
“For the Academy!”
Jesse paused before laughing. “Oh, come on man,” Jesse said. “It’s the weekend! The Academy isn’t open!”
“Huh?” Eli didn’t understand. “What does it being the weekend have to do with anything?”
“It means we get the day off,” Jesse answered. “It’s why it’s only two soldiers here guarding the Stockade today. The Sector’s much more lax on the weekend. Not lax enough, but still. Don’t people get days off on the weekend where you’re from?”
“Not soldiers,” Eli replied. The Core never got days off. The Core worked every day from dawn till dusk, from morning to morning. The Regime would never give the Core a day off. That privilege was only reserved for civilians.
Ever since that day, Eli tried his best to sleep in on the weekends, though it hardly worked. He would spend his two days of the week off hanging out with Taia, Jesse, and Kate. They spent most of their time in the park with Jesse sleeping and Eli reading while the girls conversed. But this day was different.
Jesse, Eli and Taia were already in the park late in the afternoon when Kate came running toward them.
“Guys!” she exclaimed, smiling widely. “I’ve got the best news.”
No one responded. “Guys!” Kate said louder.
“Yes Kate?” Jesse said irritably, eyes still closed.
“Guess?” she asked.
“No.” was Jesse’s reply.
“Fine,” Kate pouted. “You’re such a party pooper. But they’re showing ‘Superman’ as a film tonight!”
“No way,” Taia said smiling widely.
“Superman?” Eli asked confusedly.
“Yep,” Taia said excitedly. “You ever seen it?”
“Not a movie but I’ve read about him,” Eli replied.
“Oh you have to see it man,” Jesse said sitting up. “It’s about some guy who’s basically a Supe and everyone else is human. But he’s actually protecting them. It was made before Supes actually existed. Shows us humans back then didn’t know anything about anything.”
Jesse and Taia thought the premise of the film was ridiculous. First of all, it was made some time during the 20th Century so it was beyond corny. And second, why would an all-powerful being decide to protect humans and help them? If someone really had that kind of power he would try to take everything for himself. That was clear by the current state of the world.
Admittedly, Kate just genuinely enjoyed the film and didn’t watch it for the humor’s sake due to a cynical view like her friends did.
“Wait,” Eli said to Taia. “You know who Superman is but you don’t know who Batman is?”
“Who?” Jesse and Kate asked simultaneously.
“Wait, you guys don’t know who Batman is either?” Eli asked them.
“No,” Jesse said. “Is he a Supe like Superman?”
“Yes,” Eli said. “Well no, not really. He’s a Superhero like Superman but he doesn’t have any powers. He’s just a human who fights crime. But he and Superman are friends.”
Taia, Blake and Kate stared at him blankly.
“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Jesse said. “A Superhero that’s not a Supe? How is that possible?”
“Are you sure that he actually exists?” Kate asked Eli skeptically.
“Never mind,” Eli said.
They all then left the park and headed into the city. The city streets of the Sector were much busier on the weekends.
The group stopped at a small building and headed inside. There was a projector in the center of room pointed at a blank white wall.
The room was already filled with people sitting in individual chairs. It was clear that a lot of people had come out to watch this film.
Taia led them to four empty chairs and they all sat down. Soon the lights in the room went out and the projector started up.
Everyone in the room stared cheering when the movie came up on the wall. This was obviously a favorite of the Sector.
It was clear that the humor that the citizens of Sector 6 saw in this movie was because of a cynical view of the world that they had developed over the years concerning Supes.
Whenever the ‘Superman’ character saved someone or made some line about caring about humans, the room would erupt in laughter. Usually, Taia would have laughed too, but today she didn’t. She was too busy watching Eli Proof.
Eli did not laugh at the same parts in the movie that the citizens of Sector 6 did. Nor did he seem to be enjoying the movie as it was intended to be enjoyed like Kate was. Instead the movie seemed to be causing him anxiety.
During the film, he had a look of calculating despair. Taia could not figure out why or what was causing it, but the movie seemed to be stressing Eli out.
Before long, Eli could not take anymore and he immediately left the building. Jesse reluctantly got up to follow him but Taia grabbed him and shook her head. She then hurried out of the building after her friend.
“Eli!” she called running up to him as he walked. “Are you okay?”
Eli ignored her and did not say anything.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Taia continued. “I should have known that them laughing like that would make you uncomfortable. But you have to understand why a Supe acti
ng like that could be funny to all of them. They don’t know how you are.”
“No Taia,” Eli said shaking his head. “It wasn’t them laughing that got to me. I’ve heard your people call Transcendeds much worse things over the past few weeks.”
“Then what is it Eli?” Taia asked.
“That guy,” Eli explained. “Superman. He reminds me so much of Commander Gates. Blake’s father was just like that.”
“What do you mean? You said he worked for the Core.”
“He did,” Eli said. “But he was a good man. He didn’t believe in killing humans just for the sport of it. In fact, he wanted humans to live in better conditions than they were. He believed that we could coexist. He tried saving humans and even Transcendeds that didn’t have the most effective abilities. He tried to save them all. He was a real life Superman. So if he was Superman, doesn’t that make me the bad guy?”
Taia could tell that Eli was getting emotional. And she now understood why. The man on the screen was just like his surrogate father. A man that he had a hand in killing.
“Eli that wasn’t your fault,” Taia said. “You were just following orders. It was nothing you could have done about that.”
“I could have not followed orders,” Eli said to Taia. “I could have been better than that. But I wasn’t. And a good man died because of it.”
“Well then be better now,” Taia replied.
Eli sighed and looked up at the sky towards the sun. He seemed to be thinking about something. “I don’t think we should practice tonight Taia. I need to get some rest.” He then walked back into the building to finish watching the movie.
Taia gave Eli a few days before she came back to his cell for what was now a night time ritual for them. They just saw each other throughout the day and soon, Eli seemed like he was back to his normal self. And when she did come back, Eli was sitting on his bed expectantly.
“About time,” he said. “Did you enjoy your time off?”
Taia gaped at him. “What?” she asked.
“Well you didn’t come here for a few days,” Eli replied. “I thought you were giving up on me.”
She couldn’t believe it. She had given him a few days because she thought he was having a hard time and he had assumed that she was being lazy. Just who did he think he was? Who did he think she was?
Eli crawled into the trap door and Taia followed after him silently.
The two arrived at the other side of the tunnel and began walking toward their usual training spot, with Eli leading the pair.
“So what are we doing today?” Taia asked Eli.
“We’re going to go over how to neutralize Supes,” he responded.
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Eli began. “You remember the incident in the plant right?”
How could Taia forget? She nodded silently.
“Okay,” Eli continued. “So tell me. Other than the fact that you guys were ambushed, what was the main reason that you all didn’t stand a chance against the Core?”
Taia thought about the incident. All of her friends dying and how she was powerless to stop it. Nothing that she did had an effect on the Supes.
“We couldn’t hurt them,” Taia responded.
“Right,” Eli said turning to look at Taia. “I’ve seen you all. And you’re trained well. You know how to fight and your weapons are effective, but you guys just don’t know what you’re up against.”
Taia nodded. This was true. The Sector had only experienced one Supe in decades. And based off everything that she had seen in Carthage, that experience was not enough to have an idea of what the Regime was capable of.
“And if you don’t know what you’re up against, you don’t know how to respond to certain situations,” Eli said. “So you end up dead. Imagine what could’ve happened if you and those other cadets knew how to analyze the abilities of those Core Officers.”
“But we did,” Taia said. “We have an analytics class Eli. You know that.”
“You all use analytics too loosely. You guys have an ‘identify super powers’ class. You learn how to determine the different powers that a Transcended may have but you don’t analyze anything.”
“What’s the difference?”
“The difference is whatever the difference is between life and death,” Eli said. “Remember Carter? The guy who could turn his entire body into solid rock?”
Taia nodded.
“In that rock form he was impervious to you all’s weapons. On the outside of his body.”
“Right,” Taia said. “I remember. You shot him in the mouth because the inside of his body wasn’t the same as the outside.”
“Exactly,” Eli replied. “And you would have been able to notice that if you knew what to look for. If you truly knew how to analyze and not just identify what someone’s powers were, you would have noticed his weakness too.”
“So that’s what you’re going to do?” Taia asked. “You’re going to teach me how to analyze powers and weaknesses of Supes?"
It seemed rather pointless to Taia. Sure, she didn’t see the weaknesses in Supes like Eli did, but he didn’t have to waste their training doing this. He could teach her how to do this another time. Eli could sense Taia’s reluctance.
“It’s more than that,” he said. “You’re going to learn how to use both their weaknesses and powers against them. Now come on.”
Eli beckoned Taia over to him.
“Okay,” he said. “Remember when I said that Super Strength was one of the most common abilities of Supes and that a lot of Core officers have it? Well we’re going to start with learning how to fight a Supe with Super Strength.”
Taia laughed. “What’s the point of that? I know I wouldn’t stand a chance against fighting them, so I’d just shoot them,” she then pulled out her pistol and started acting like she was firing shots.
Eli raised his hand and manipulated gravity to pull the pistol towards him. “Now you don’t have your gun,” he said. “What are you going to do now?”
Taia glared at her friend. “How about you tell me what I should do Eli?”
“No,” Eli said simply. “I told you, that’s not how I teach,” he then walked up to Taia.
“We’re going to spar,” he began. “And I’m going to use my gravitational abilities to simulate Super Strength. And you have to stop me,” Eli then immediately got into a fighting stance.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Taia exclaimed. “Are you crazy? You’re going to come at me with Super Strength?”
“Yes,” Eli replied. He then threw a punch at Taia and she dived out of the way. His fist hit a tree which cracked on impact.
“You actually did it!” Taia all but screamed. “What if that hit me? Even if I blocked it you would have broken my arm!”
Eli stared at her. “I knew you were going to dodge it Taia,” he said. “I’ve seen you fight. I know your style. But you’re learning. You understand that you can’t block a Transcendeds strikes that has heightened strength because you’ll still end up hurt.”
Eli then launched himself at Taia again with a flurry of punches. But Taia dodged every one of them. She didn’t even try to stay close to Eli, she kept leaping far out of his reach and even though he tried his best, Eli couldn’t hit her.
“Good,” Eli said, stopping his attack. “You’re learning.”
But if anything, Taia was more lost than ever. “Learning what exactly?” she asked breathlessly.
“Seriously?” Eli asked.
“Eli,” Taia chastised. “This isn’t the Core. Just tell me what I’m supposed to be learning.”
Eli sighed. “You’re dodging all of my punches. That’s because you’re faster than me. So what does that tell you about someone with Super Strength?”
“That they don’t have Super Speed?” Taia asked.
“Right,” Eli said. “And they don’t have Super Stamina either. Transcendeds only have one base power. So they’ll get tired. But that’s not enough to stop them
. So what are you going to do to stop them?
“Shoot them?” Taia replied, smiling.
“No gun,” Eli said with a smirk. He then leapt at Taia with a Superman punch. Dodging again, Taia dove to the ground.
“What are you going to do Morris?” Eli asked between attacks. He then ran at her arm cocked back. Taia responded with a turning kick to Eli’s ribs, actually trying to hit him for the first time that night.
Eli flew back from the force of the kick and rolled over on the ground.
“Finally,” he groaned, grabbing his ribs where Taia had hit him, struggling to get up.
“Huh?” Taia asked. She didn’t understand.
“It took you long enough to attack me,” Eli said, sitting down on the ground nursing his ribs.
“But—“
“But you thought an attack wouldn’t affect me?” Eli asked. He then shook his head. “I was only simulating Super Strength. That was my base power. I couldn’t have any other ability like reinforced skin. Super Strength doesn’t mean normal attacks can’t hurt me.”
This made sense. For some reason, Taia had assumed that just because a Supe would have super strength, he wouldn’t be susceptible to attacks from a human. She thought he would be bullet proof or something but that wasn’t necessarily true.
“What about someone like Carter?” Taia asked.
“Well his power wasn’t Super Strength” Eli said. “It was that he could make himself a rock avatar. And with that came different abilities like Super Strength and extra hard, rock-like skin. But an ability like that is rare. And it still has its weaknesses.”
That fact was something that Taia knew very well as Eli had shown it to her first hand when dealing with Carter.
“You can’t give Supes powers they don’t have,” Eli added. “They’re dangerous enough as it is. Just know what their abilities are and figure out the best way to take them out. And sometimes the best way to do that is a simple, hard kick to the ribs.”
The way that Eli looked at fighting Supes was so different than what she had been taught her entire life. All she was taught was to figure out what made a Supe dangerous, for some reason assume this power made this Supe a god, and shoot it and hope that it works. But Taia had learned this was not effective in the real world. At all.
Becoming Super Page 20
