Something Greater
Disclaimer: Guys, I don't own DC. I know, sad.
Training Starts
Kent, Irea and Josh arrived at the old Hall of Justice. Once they entered, the first thing they saw was the big round table. Several chairs were around it, each with the emblems of the old heroes on them. Kent's eyes sadly landed on two adjacent chairs. His parents'. The lightning bolt and the symbol of El were still bright on the chairs. He sighed to himself, before heading further into the huge building, where there was an assembly stage, with some old heroes there. He spotted Oliver Queen, standing there in regular clothing, minus his right arm, of course. Clark was there too, also in regular clothing. He looked normal, but he could see the veins of green on his skin, the remnants of his liquid Kryptonite induction. Next was the Martian Manhunter. The green alien telepathic shapeshifter. He was in his suit, the red X boldly visible across his black suit. Wally was there at the back as well. His suit was yet another reminder of the hero that was his father, the Flash, but he moved past it.
"Dad!" Irea yelled from beside Kent, waving wildly.
"Hey Rea!" Wally yelled back, speeding in and pulling her into a hug. "Hey Josh. Kent." He said when he broke the hug, patting Kent on the shoulder.
"Hey, Uncle Wally." Kent smiled. Wally was the one who'd taught him how to control his speed when he was first learning in the absence of his parents.
"Welcome to the Hall of Justice, guys." Wally grinned. He was as spontaneous as ever.
Kent continued surveying the place. In a separate room, he could see what he guessed were VR pods, several of them. He reckoned they must be for training the new recruits. A Physical Training area was in the adjacent room, with gym equipment and more advanced stuff. A few computers were there in each room, most likely to monitor their progress.
Presently, Kent heard a couple new voices, and turned to see Kate Kane come in with a red haired girl, about his age from the looks of her.
"Everyone." Kent suddenly heard Oliver's voice across the hall. "Head to the staging area."
Kent sighed as he, Irea and Josh headed to the staging area. It was time for introductions, it seemed.
Kent could see Cisco and Caitlin already there, along with Cynthia as well. Sara Lance was there too. He didn't know her well, considering she was always away, but he knew she was good friends with his father. Beside her was Ray Palmer. He was someone Kent actually read up on a great deal, being one of the foremost scientific minds of his time. Carter and Kendra Hall were present as well.
Caitlin stepped forward, standing dead centre of the staging area, addressing the new recruits, whom Kent was now beginning to notice. There were several kids here, mostly of his age from appearance.
"Good Morning, everyone. Thank you all for coming. I assume you know why we're here, especially the younger people." Caitlin began. "We're here to make sure that all of you are on the right path, the path to becoming the heroes you clearly wish to be, since you're here. So, I'd like all of you to join me over here and introduce yourself, one by one, for the future teammates you have yet to meet." She finished.
First was a blonde girl, walking over beside Oliver. "Hello. I'm Mia Queen, Oliver Queen's daughter." She said curtly.
A boy with messy black hair that he knew well all but flew to the centre. Kent smiled as he looked at his younger cousin, wearing a jacket with the House of El Crest on it. "Hi everybody! I'm Jonathan Kent, son of Superman!" his grin brighter than anyone he'd ever seen. Kind of like his mother's. Not surprising, he thought, considering it was her nephew.
The red haired girl from earlier came up now. "Hello. I'm Barbara Gordon. Happy to be here." She said, looking plenty awkward. Kent couldn't help but smile from her visible awkwardness.
Josh now took the stage. "Hi. My name is Josh Ramone. Nice to meet everyone. Yoroshiku."
"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" Kent yelled from his place. He couldn't leave Josh, his fellow anime lover, to be awkward by himself. Besides, speaking Japanese every now and then is cool.
Irea snickered beside him, as a glossy, crimson haired girl now stood in the centre. "Hello everyone. I'm Frankie Kane. I'm not related to any heroes, but I want to be a good one."
Kent smiled. He could tell she was passionate about this. Just as he was. He turned his attention to the centre again, smiling as he saw Irea run to it. "Hi. I'm Irea West, daughter of Kid Flash and Jesse Quick. We're gonna be great heroes, just you wait. All of us."
Kent chuckled. Irea was always energetic and incredibly passionate, as well as very extroverted so she's always good at making friends.
Now he knew it was his turn. He slowly walked a few steps towards the centre before floating the rest of the way, hands in his pockets. "Hello. Kent Allen, son of Supergirl and the Flash. I hope we can be good teammates." He curtly and quickly finished, before floating back to his spot beside Irea and Josh.
"A few more members will join you soon. Unfortunately, they're delayed for some unavoidable circumstances. You'll meet them soon enough. For now introductions are complete, follow me everyone." Caitlin now said from her place, now walking and leading them towards the VR chambers that Kent had spotted with his super vision.
"Hey Kent!" Kent turned to see Jon flying to him.
"Hey Jon. How are you?" he said as Jon flew into a hug with him.
"I'm good." Jon said as he let go, grinning. This boy was always smiling.
"Hey Uncle Clark." Kent said as he noticed him approaching from behind.
"Hey Kent. Doing good I hope." Clark said.
"Plenty, Uncle Clark. No worries." Kent said reassuringly.
"Good." Clark said, smiling.
The young recruits now entered the VR room, with almost a dozen VR pods lined up.
"This is where you'll be training for the most part. Regular training will be conducted through VR, although occasionally it will be conducted in real life out there." Caitlin said, pointing at the big hall they were in. "Now the next thing. For our first training, you will all enter the VR pods, and you will go up against one of the very best." She finished as Clark stepped forward.
"Wait, isn't he depowered?" Barbara asked.
"Not in VR. Here, everything is possible, plus we can fight with no holds barred." Clark smirked.
"Come on now. Inside your pods." Cisco now said. "I designed them myself."
Josh and Kent walked to adjacent pods, picking up the helmets as they sat in the egg like pods. Josh looked the helmet over and smirked.
"Hey dad, NerveGear?" he said, and Kent snickered.
"What have I done?" Cisco feigned mock despair. "Put on the helmet, young man."
"Alright, alright." Josh said, as both he and Kent out on their helmets, and fell asleep.
.
.
Kent was standing in an open field. He looked around and saw the others standing around as well, scattered here and there. Suddenly, something flew in, landing hard in the midst of them. As the dust settled, Kent saw Superman stand up from, in all his former glory. This VR was way more advanced than commercial models, to the point of it almost seeming real.
"Well, we're all here. Now, here's your first training exercise. Stop me from taking you out. I'll come at you. You can attack me all at once, no problems with that. Get ready." He said, looking serious. This was one hell of an opening lesson.
Superman flew up, zooming towards Mia and Barbara. They barely dodged, before Mia let loose an explosive arrow, which burst in Superman's face, giving them a second to fall back. Of course, it didn't affect him at all. The next second, he shot out his heat vision, straight at Mia, only for Jon to fly in the middle and shoot his own. For a second, he looked like he was holding it down well. But slowly, Superman was gaining ground. Jon's beams got shorter as his father's got longer. That's when Kent sprung into action. He raced to Jon's side, before letting loose his own heat vision, the white a sharp change from the red that both Jon and his father shot out. With both Jon and Kent now against him, Clark's heat vision was easily being overpowered, and he quickly shut it off, flying away, before he flew straight at Irea. He hit empty ground, as Irea circled around him, her golden lightning sparking off her.
"Everyone, rally up!" Kent yelled, and everyone gathered up in one group. "Jon and I can take direct hits. Unpowered ones, keep distracting him, and if you have any Kryptonite, use it when you have perfect shots. Irea Josh, if he tries to attack anyone who can't fight him, get them out of the way. You help them too, Frankie."
"Who made you the boss?" Mia yelled.
"He's right! We don't have time to argue. Superman's coming at us!" Barbara and Irea yelled.
"Fine!" Mia said, as she shot an arrow straight at Superman's face. He caught it like a toy, only for it to explode, spewing smoke everywhere around it.
"Lead smoke. Impressive." He said. "But not the most effective." He added, as he clapped his hands with his strength, blowing the smoke away. However, as soon as the smoke cleared, he could already see Kent and Jon in front of, both their fists flying at him. The punches sent him flying back, before he got up, smiling. "That's good teamwork there. And good planning, Kent."
"Thanks, Superman." Kent said, getting ready for another round of attacks, and sure enough, in it came. Superman sped in, unleashing a flurry of punches. However, Kent was able to block or deflect all of them, and threw in some of his own.
"He's going toe to toe with Superman." Frankie said from afar, as everyone watched Kent and Clark go ham. Neither could land a solid hit just yet, until finally Kent landed a jab straight to Superman's face, knocking him back.
Clark sighed once. "You're strong. And fast."
"Benefits of being a Kryptonian Speedster." Kent shrugged, ready with his stance.
"Let's see what else you have." Clark said, before suddenly flying up and going for Josh.
"Josh!" Kent yelled. It wasn't surprise or despair, however, but encouragement that laced his voice. Josh was no slouch. He quickly opened a breach, and Superman flew in, unable to stop at that distance.
"Kent!" Josh now yelled, opening the exit breach in front of Kent. Kent winded up a punch, and threw as soon as Superman flew out. If it were a regular Kryptonian, he may have been able to dodge it. Kent, however, was a speedster too. His punches were far faster than regular Kryptonian punches. At that distance and travel speed, Clark could do little but fly into the punch, as he was knocked back yet again.
"Dude, they're going crazy!" Barbara said from behind.
"Well we can't just wait around! Come on." Mia said, nocking some arrows, and shooting them at Clark. He just stood there, taking the hits as the arrows bounced off him. "Damn it. I should have gotten some Kryptonite." Mia said.
"Mia look out!" Mia heard Frankie's voice as she saw Clark fly at her with blinding speed. She close her eyes waiting for the attack, only to never feel one. Opening her eyes, she saw Clark suspended in the air, and turned to see Frankie, her hands raised in Clark's direction, clearly straining herself.
"I can't hold him for long!" Frankie yelled. Kent and Jon sped in again, landing their punches right on, as Superman had to step back for a moment.
"That's good control, Frankie. Keep it up." Superman said. "Now…" He added, trailing off, as he now zoomed into Irea, throwing some punches already.
Irea dodged them, circling around. She knew she couldn't hurt him physically, so she kept dodging and circling, keeping him distracted. "Uncle Clark, honestly." She taunted, as she dodged a couple more of his punches, now behind him again. "I'm fast, aren't I?" she said.
Superman threw a backhand as Irea was trying to circle behind him again. She moved out of the punch's range, but then she saw his hand stick out a finger. This she didn't account for, and it hit her in the face, sending her spiralling back, as she landed on her back.
"Confidence is good. Overconfidence, not so much." Superman smirked, ready to drive in the knockout blow, but he hit solid ground as white lightning flashed in front of him. He turned to see Kent, standing Irea up.
"You okay?" he asked Irea, a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah." She answered, shaking her head.
"Don't get cocky. This is Superman we're facing. One of the greatest heroes of his time. Our predecessor. Even if you're faster than him objectively, which I'm not saying, always be careful." He said, his tone serious.
"Well, it's time we finish this, wouldn't you guys say?" Clark smirked. Then, he zoomed around at incredible speed. Throwing attacks at everyone. Kent wasted no time. He sped around as well, his white lightning trailing behind him. Irea moved as well. Kent blocked blows that were aimed at his teammates, saving Mia, Barbara and everyone. Clark paused for a moment, then sped in again, only this time, while aiming a punch at Josh, he shot his heat vision at Mia. Kent blocked the heat vision, but couldn't get to Josh in time. However, Josh instinctively opened a breach, and it made the punch go to Frankie, knocking her out. A second punch was enough to put Josh out of commission as well. Clark now punched the ground, and a massive cloud of dust rose up, blocking everyone vision. Kent and Irea quickly blew it away, but when their vision cleared, Mia and Barbara were on the ground, unconscious.
"Four left." Superman said, cracking his knuckled. He shot two separate bouts of heat vision, aimed at Frankie and Jon.
Kent went to protect Frankie, shielding her with his body, barely making it. Jon deflected the beams coming at him by himself, but then his father sped in and unleashed a flurry of attacks. Jon blocked some of them, but was eventually overwhelmed.
Superman now locked in a battle of heat vision with Kent. Kent was easily holding his own, when suddenly, he sped towards Frankie, who was right next to Irea. Irea used her speed to get Frankie out of the way, but Clark's foot hit hers, dislocating her ankle. She screamed in pain, but still got Frankie out of harm's way.
"Irea!" Kent ran to their side, standing between them and Superman. "Can you get up?"
"I'll need a few moments. It's dislocated." She said, wincing.
"We need to finish this." Kent said, gritting his teeth. He then walked forward, calming himself. "Don't we, Uncle Clark?" he now said to Superman.
"Yes we do." He smirked, before he shot heat vision at Kent only to be met with Kent's own twin white beams once again. This time, however, they were stronger. Clark's heat vision was actually getting overpowered, as Clark noticed sparks of white lightning around his beams of heat vision.
"You're using your speed to make your heat vision go faster." He said, his voice revealing the strain he was under. Kent's heat vision was stronger.
"Well, the faster things travel, the more force and energy they pack. Simple physics, right?" Kent said, some strain in his own voice. Eventually, the beams beat Clark's, and hit him in the chest, knocking him back. Clark was surprised, but he stood up and rushed Kent. Kent responded in kind.
As Irea healed, both she and Frankie saw the great fight. Kent was faster than Clark, and because of that, he was stronger as well, since his punches travelled faster. He dodged every one of Clark's hits, while Clark couldn't completely dodge all of his.
Kent landed a decisive blow to Clark's chest, sending him sprawling back. That was when Clark used his freeze breath on Kent. He dodged most of it, but his left leg caught a bit of ice, slowing him down. Clark took advantage punched Kent in the face, sending him flying into Frankie behind.
That was when the simulation ended. Kent took off his helmet to see everyone except himself, Frankie, Irea and Clark up at the big screen.
"Dude you almost beat my dad!" Jon yelled, flying to him. "I guess being the Flash and Supergirl's kid has benefits, huh?"
Kent smiled sadly. He wanted to say that he'd give up all his powers to have them back, but he knew that would he a bit too hard on Jon, especially since he was younger, and had no ill intention saying it. He was just complimenting him.
"Not bad, Kent." Irea said, already out of her pod. Kent smiled again as he got out of his pod.
"Thanks for protecting me." Frankie said.
"Hey, it's the job. Sorry for crashing into you." Kent said.
"Well, it was a good first training." Caitlin said to everyone. "But from now on, it's only going to get harder. For all of you." She ended.
"You all are still weak. Plenty of gaps in all of your attacks and defenses. Start plugging them right now. At this moment, I think we can all agree that Kent is the only one who could have taken down Clark, although he couldn't in time." Kate Kane said.
"Kent." Oliver now began, coming up. "You have great instincts. You have trained yourself well, to the point where you're close to us, and that is no joke. We're all proud of you. But… you're too defensive. There were many times when you reacted slower than you could have. Sometimes, you've got to leap before you think, or innocent people get hurt. Understand?" he finished, and Kent nodded.
"I'll work on it, Uncle Oliver." Kent said.
"One other thing. Some of you know this, but we'd like Kent to be your leader for now. Make sure you take his orders well, and Kent, make sure you lead them well." Clark said. Several groans were heard.
"A leader from the start?" Mia complained. Irea was huffing to herself as well. Cisco and Caitlin had already told her and Josh about the decision with Kent.
"Simmer down. He'll still take orders from us. But you'll take orders from him." Clark said.
"Why?" Irea asked, glaring at Kent, who only shrugged in a 'Not my fault, sorry' manner.
"Because he's… you know?" Mia asked. Everyone knew what she was saying. She only didn't say the words to not hurt Kent, which he appreciated.
"The fact that you would think that shows how unprepared you are." Oliver said, surprising Mia. "You're my own daughter. Clark has his own son here. All of your parents and guardians are here. Then why do you think we're choosing Kent?" he asked. The kids looked down. Jon however was smiling at Kent, pride shining in his bright blue eyes. "I'll tell you why, although I'm sure you already know." Oliver continued. "It's because like it or not, intentional or not, you guys already followed his instructions, because of something you realised. Kent makes the best decisions out of all of you. He didn't fold under pressure, and he calculated your moves properly. While trading blows with Superman. You guys were behind him, and you still weren't thinking well." He finished.
"In this world, there is no room for error, guys." Clark said. "It's one plain and simple job. Protect everyone. It doesn't matter who you are, what your powers are, if you even have powers or not, what your skills are. If you can't protect the people, you're a failure."
"Even that doesn't matter." J'onn now spoke. "If you can't do your job right, somebody dies. If that happens, their death is on you. That is what we are training you for. Our first priority as heroes is the safety of the civilians. Innocent people who can't protect themselves against large threats. We take those on so they can be safe. That's all there is. Leaders are there so we are more efficient and not just running around, doing whatever we think is best." He finished.
"It's unanimous from all of us. Kent is your leader for now. You want his spot, get better than him." Kate spoke. "That goes for all of you. Being a leader doesn't require superpowers. It requires leadership skills, some of which Oliver mentioned earlier."
"Now, put on your suits. We are going to do some drills. Of course, they'll be suited to each of you, according to what weaknesses you seemed to have." Caitlin said, leading them out of the VR room.
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Training continued for quite some time, until finally, it was time to close up shop.
"Good first day guys." Caitlin said cheerfully. "You're going to keep reporting everyday at the same time for training, unless there are emergencies, of course."
"Also, you're getting your own communicators. They're so you can stay in touch with your team and us the entire time. Treat them with respect." Cisco said.
"Shouldn't it be 'Treat them with care'?" Barbara asked.
"Respect my creations." Cisco said, his voice laced with an uncharacteristic sternness.
"Got it." Kent said, throwing Barbara a wink. She seemed to get it and quietened down, walking away. Kent noticed everyone's suits. Barbara had a batsuit, of course, but it had deep golden accents instead of the red that Kate Kane had on hers.
Mia had her own green leather suit, just like her father's, but it seemed incomplete. Maybe she had further plans with it.
Frankie was currently the only one without a suit. Of course, knowing his Uncle Cisco, he'll get right on it.
"Everyone had changed into regular clothes, as Kent sat in a chair, eating one of his calorie bars.
"Hey Kent, come on." Josh said, holding a breach open as he and Irea were standing beside it.
"You guys go ahead. I'll run home." He told them, and they jumped in. Kent sat there, looking at his parents' chairs at the round table.
He was however, shook out of his trance when the other walked past him. Everyone was leaving, so he had to as well. Cisco led them out of the Hall, before locking up and breaching out. Oliver and Kate led Mia and Barbara to their cars.
"See you guys tomorrow." Kent said, and Mia and Barbara both waved back.
Kent turned to Frankie. "Well how are you getting home?"
"I don't know. I guess I'll take a bus." She said, her voice low. She avoided direct eye contact. Kent could tell she was introverted. Until her words hit him.
"Wait, bus? The nearest stop is a mile away! Is that how you came here?" he asked.
Frankie nodded. Kent watched as she started walking, before settling on a decision. He ran up beside her.
"Where do you live?" he asked her.
"Oh, um… National City." Frankie answered.
"What a coincidence! So do I. Where?" Kent asked again.
"Um, off of the waterfront. Fifth Reumann Avenue." Frankie answered.
"That's just a few blocks from my house! I'll drop you off." Kent said.
"It's really not necessary." Frankie said nervously.
"It's no trouble. I just need permission to carry you. Do I have it?" Kent said, extending his hand with a smile.
Frankie nodded, smiling for the first time since he'd seen her, taking his hand. Kent quickly picked her up, bridal style, and ran off, stopping right on the roof of her block.
He slowly let Frankie down. Looking at her, her hair was now disheveled from the speed he was travelling at. "Your hair, here let me." Kent said as he went ahead and fixed up her hair a bit a little better than before. Frankie smiled again. "Thanks, Kent."
Kent was starting to find her smile… cute. As cliché as that was. However, he quickly dismissed the notion.
"I'm going to come here everyday at 7:55, five minutes before our training starts. Be ready here and I'll take you to the Hall." Kent said, authoritatively.
"Um, okay." Frankie said, before quickly going in to her building. Kent ran back to his apartment. He did live about three streets away from Frankie. He went home and drank some orange juice, opening up another protein bar. He carefully placed his mother's glasses and his father's ring in their places on his nightstand.
"I'm on my way, Mom, Dad. I'll make you proud, just you wait." Kent said to the glasses and the ring. He sighed, before going back to his calorie bar and orange juice.
)))))=====(((((
Well, training is underway! I do have some more members of the team coming up, they're delayed, as Caitlin said. Kent, as a Kryptonian Speedster is indeed very powerful, enough to singlehandedly defeat Clark, maybe others as well, but that's what this is about, is it? They're learning fundamentals about the hero business.
Just so we're clear, Frankie Kane here is the same one shown in season 3 of the Flash. Only here, she was born later, and has lesser evil personality tendencies, so Barry didn't face her in his time.
As always, review to let me know what y'all think about the chapter, I'll see you guys next time. Peace!
PS. I'm having a bit of a writer's block, so I'll probably be slower to update for some time. No worries though, I'll get back to speed in... a Flash!