The Professor has me start training with a guy named Havok the next day.
When I tell them at breakfast that morning, Nathaniel informs me that Havok's his uncle.
"Are you related to everyone here?" I ask.
"Only the Summers'," He shrugs.
"He basically grew up here," Illyanna says, "He was here when I came, and that was six years ago."
"Hold on, you came when you were nine?" I ask.
She nods, "My brother, Pyotr, brought me here. He's also a mutant."
"Does he teleport too?"
"No, his skin turns to metal."
Weirdly, that doesn't freak me out. Man has my life changed in the past few days.
I meet Havok in what they call the "Danger Room". We walked passed it when Nathaniel gave me the tour a few days ago, but he said that he didn't have access to get inside. When I get down to it, the door is wide open. A man, who I'm assuming is Havok, stands in the middle of a large, round room with metal paneled walls, holding up his phone towards the sky. A clipboard lays at his feet.
His eyes are deep-set and sapphire blue, and blond hair is tied back in a ponytail. I remember seeing up at the staff table in the cafeteria, but he hasn't taught any of my classes. He wears a blue and white plaid flannel overtop a t-shirt with a graphic of a shark and a pair of blue jeans.
I stand in the doorway for a long time before he notices me. "Oh, hey." he says, putting his phone to his side, "Artemis I'm assuming?"
"Yeah," I say, "You're Havok?"
"The one and only," He smirks. "So, the Professor told me you have good aim?"
I nod and he continues, "great. So I've set up some targets," He points to a table of dart boards and clay pigeons. "I want you to shoot at them," He goes over to the wall and puts a code into a keypad. With a beep, a panel opens and a shelf full of weapons slides outs. He selects a pistol from the rack. "Is this good?" he asks.
Abuela is against guns, and I grew up with the understanding that they were bad too. I hesitate, "I don't know how to use one," I say. I go over beside him. There were other things besides the guns on the rack. Swords, Katanas, than a handful of bows and sheaths of arrows tucked to one side.
When I was younger, my Aunt Victoria paid my way to a week-long summer camp. They had a time where the campers were allowed to practice shooting bows at a bullseye. I hadn't done so poorly.
"What about these?" I ask, taking a silver one from its bounds and weighing it in my hand.
"Are you sure? Bows are harder to work with," Havok says.
"I have a basic idea of how to use one," I say, "But I have no idea what I'm doing with that thing," I gesture towards the gun.
"You seem sure," He takes the sheath down and hands it over. I sling it over my shoulder.
"Now if only my hair was in a braid," I joke.
"Alright," he says, "you see that line on the floor," He points at a slot in between two panels. I stand by it. "Not that one, that one." I step over to the next one ahead.
He picks up his clipboard and writes something down. "Okay, so, let's aim for the center of the bullseye," He says, pointing towards the table of targets.
I stand sideways with my feet planted firmly on the ground. I take an arrow from the bunch and string it into the bow. I pull back, aim, and let go. It flies… like three feet before clattering to the ground.
"Try again," He encourages.
I string another arrow in. It soars farther than its predecessor, but not far enough that it even hit the table.
"Maybe try stepping closer," Havok suggests, scribbling on his clipboard.
I take one step closer to the target. I wasn't going to look like an idiot who can't shoot an arrow from a long distance.
Havok chuckles.
I aim another arrow. It flies through the air and hits the target right in the middle.
He applauds, cradling the clipboard in the croak of his elbow. "Bravo! I guess that two inches really made a difference."
My cheeks grew pink.
I practice shooting arrows for another twenty minutes. I pin clay pigeons between the eyes, impale jelly dummies right in the heart, and of course, a gain a perfect score on the bullseye.
"Great!" Havok says after the arrow implants itself in the center circle for the around the eleventh time. "Let's move onto the moving targets." He tramps across the gym floor and puts in a command on a glowing screen. A panel slides out from the ceiling and another rack of clay pigeons follows. He puts in another command and the rack begins to spin.
"Try to hit one," He tells me.
I look at him like he just swore in church. Not only was the rack at least 10 feet up, it was moving at like fifty miles an hour. Even if my mutation is excellent aim, that's way too fast.
"Watch," He nods to the rack and points his fist at it. His knuckles glow and a blue-white ray shoots at the pigeon. A crack echoes off the metal walls and he stops the targets from moving with another tap of the screen. I gap at him. "That was insane," I say. The beige pigeon has a scorching, black mark on its side.
"Energy blasts," he says, waving his hand.
"Still, your precision is amazing!" I exclaim, not being able to take my eyes off the target.
He shrugs and starts the rack to spin again. "Try shooting," He says.
I string another arrow and point it blindly towards the whirling targets. I think I hit one at first until it flies out seconds later and lands, bent, on the floor.
"Practice makes perfect!" Havok sings.
I shoot and shoot, but with no success. The targets are just too fast. After a quiver's worth of arrows is shot, I'm frustrated.
"You have to shoot the target before they expect you," He says, calmly, "try to shoot it towards a side, not the center."
"Can't you slow the damn thing down?" I snap.
"No, Artemis. The enemy won't slow down for you. You have to learn to adjust to their speed, not your own." For being a twenty-something-year-old in a shark t-shirt he can spit out some wise words sometimes.
On my way back up to the main floor, I hear the rumble of thunder overhead. When I get to my bedroom, I settle down with The Forgetting, an interesting Young adult novel I found in the library, and wait for dinner.
To Be Continued...
AN: Just a super quick chapter demonstrating her powers. I have a few ideas of how I want to go with this, but any other ideas would be awesome! Don't hesitate to suggest scenes. Pretty please don't forget to F&F and of course review! I'm having a really fun time writing this so I hope you all like it.
Ps. I totally accedenly published the wrong chapter last time... It wasn't even to this story. Oops sorry!