Gar walked into the training room to see Rachel and Jaime finishing up on a mat that looked to be used for martial arts training. Glancing to his left, he saw Shae with Muhammad on the treadmills working up a sweat. Jaime was the first to see Gar and called out to him.
"Hey Gar, you come down to train?"
Giving his friend a nod, he responded.
"Slade called me down. Said he wanted to test some things out."
Jaime noticed his friend's attire and chuckled.
"You might want to change. You're gonna ruin your clothes."
Before Gar could respond, Slade voiced his presence.
"That'll be unnecessary. We aren't going to be doing any physical training."
His voice caused Jaime and Rachel to jump; Gar having caught against him all those years knew to expect him at to show up at any time.
He turned to see Slade making his way over with a data pad and some books. Getting a glance at the books, they seemed to be of ancient mythology and prehistoric time periods. Allowing his curiosity to peak, he spoke to Slade.
"What do you have for me?"
Slade put the books down on a table near Gar and turned to him.
"How do you gain forms?"
Gar shrugged his shoulders and spoke.
"I typically study them and get used to their shape and features. Once I have a good understanding of how they look, I can transform into them."
Nodding his head, Slade gestures for Gar to the books on the table.
"Then in your down time, I want you to look at these books. Make sure to read them and go over them to the point where you can recite each animal you read about in your sleep. These forms will help you add to your repertoire."
After getting a good look at the books, Gar nodded his head and set them aside. Focusing now on the tablet in his hand, Gar pointed at it and spoke up.
"What's on there?"
Turning it on, Slade turned it to Gar. On it was a picture of a bat and a lion. Glancing at it curiously, Gar turned back to Slade to get a better idea of what he was trying to get at.
"Okay I'll bite. What do those two have in common?"
Slade chuckled before pulling up another screen on the tablet.
"Nothing that you would think of. But think for a second. What does a bat use to locate?"
Not even hesitating, Gar gave his answer.
"Their screech. Echolocation."
Slade nodded.
"That's right. Now, what do lions use to assert their authority?"
Again with no hesitation, Gar responded.
"Their roar. It's one of the loudest and most powerful in the animal kingdom."
Slade nodded his head again at his answer.
"That's right again. Now from what I've come up with, if we can find a way to mix both of them, we could use it as a way to incorporate it into your fighting."
Gar looked at Slade confused.
"How can we do that?"
Slade once again changed images on the screen. This was depicted a humanoid representation of Gar screaming and what looked like a powerful wave coming out of his mouth.
"If we can find a way to combine the two, we can have you be able to use it as a way of a super scream. It could be powerful enough to knock down buildings if we perfect it the way I think we can."
Gar gave it some thought. It would be very helpful if he had to be honest. It would save the bullets and energy of his teammates. He just needed to know if it was possible.
"Alright, I'll give it a shot. Where are we gonna test it at?"
Slade gestured to the room, which now has become empty. Gar was amazed that he didn't even notice the other four leave to go clean up. He had become so intrigued in what Slade had brought up, he forgot to keep his senses alert.
"Stand over at the center of the room. I'll set up some objects that help resemble some buildings of sort."
Gar nodded his head and walked over to where Slade directed him. As he did so, Slade tapped a few buttons on his tablet. In a few brief seconds, a couple of tall cylinder like objects were in front of Gar. Thankfully, whoever designed this room made it huge, because they towered over Gar.
Once everything was set up, Slade walked over to Gar again to explain a couple more things to Gar.
"The key is to try and channel all your rage and hate into it. Focus on those two animals and allow the emotions to flow through you."
Gar nodded and got ready. Focusing on the animals, he felt a deep growl coming from within. He allowed the anger to flow through him as he breathed. With one last huge breath, he let out a long deep roar.
Impressively, it caused the room and objects to shake all around him. Slade was amazed at the power of it, as it was better than he expected. Truthfully, he figured it would take some time. But the first roar was indeed a good start.
"Not bad. But like I said, you will need to channel your hate. Think of something that would bring that to the forefront of your thoughts and allow it to feed your power."
Gar gave a nod and got ready again. He thought of his parents death and how he felt when it happened. He instantly felt the hate begin to grow inside him. He brought up the memory of Madame Rogue and what she did to him, his hate growing stronger. He then thought of Rose and how he would feel off some fool had the audacity to ever hurt her; his hate reaching its peak.
Rachel and Jaime had walked back in to see what the commotion was that caused the room to shudder a few seconds ago. They saw Gar at the center of the room in front of a group of two a three story tall objects. They glanced at Slade who stood by watching with a curious expression. What happened next sent him and the two flying against a wall.
Gar let out a demonic and powerful roar that sent the objects flying back as if they were made out of paper. The visible waves of sound vibrated off the wall and around the room. His roar continued, shattering the objects, until his breath finally left him. His emotions were still there as he surveyed the room.
His sole targets were taken care of, as well as some of the workout equipment. The gun range was in disarray as well, with guns either being broken or scattered across the room. Turning back to Slade, his eyes caught the figures of two of his teammates.
Picking themselves up, the three looked out to Gar. They noticed his skin had darkened a bit, almost a mossy color instead of his typical emerald. His eyes were a good color as well. Shaking the shock from themselves, Jaime finally spoke.
"Jesus, what the hell was that?"
Slade wiped himself off before turning to the expressive boy.
"An experiment we were working on. Needless to say, I think we blew it out of the water."
Gar, in spite of himself, smirked at the remark. He looked around again sheepishly to survey his surroundings, now that his emotions had calmed down. Turning back to Slade, he finally spoke.
"I can take care of the damage if need be. Guess we're gonna have to work on controlling it."
Slade waved a dismissive hand at him and chuckled.
"No worries dear boy. When you have you use it, you won't be in an enclosed room like this one. Therefore, it won't have as much of an effect on everyone around you. As for all the damage, Jaime will take care of it."
Rachel chuckled in amusement as Jaime groaned and face palmed.
"Why is it always me who has to fix everything that people break?"
Patting his shoulder, she responded a little to consoling to him.
"Because you're our inventory guy. It's your job."
He gave her a glare and shrugged off her hand. She chuckled as she watched him begin to take count of what was broken and needed replaced and what could still be used. Slade walked up to Gar who was still catching his breath.
"Are you alright Gar?"
Giving a nod, the boy in question responded as Beast as he could.
"Yeah, just took a lot out of me. Guess I'll have to work on that."
Slade nodded before calling over Rachel.
"Rachel, check Gar over. Make sure he's okay."
The girl did as requested and placed a hand on Gar's head. She let her powers run over the boys body, checking for any internal damage that they may not know about. Finding none, she retracted her hand and gave her report to Slade.
"Nothing serious, just some exhaustion."
A small smirk worked it's way onto her face as she turned back to Gar to add something quietly.
"Nothing Rose can't take care of."
Gar's eyes narrowed into a playful glare.
"Don't make me kill you."
She threw her head back in laughter at the response before helping him up. As he got to his feet, Grant came into the room followed by Muhammad.
"Hey Gar, it's time to interrogate the-"
He cut himself off as he glanced around the room. He saw the same thing that the other four occupants had seen happen just minutes before and became slack jawed. Muhammad was in no better state as he was at a loss for words as well. As their eyes landed back on Gar, Grant was the first to speak.
"What happened in here?"
Gar walked over with Rachel and Slade in tow.
"Just some testing. What's up?"
Muhammad shook his head in amazement.
"Some test. Hope I'm not subjected to anything like that."
His remark got smirks out of Gar and Rachel, as Slade just stood their stoically in his mask.
"We're supposed to interrogate the terrorist we got earlier. You still down?"
Nodding his head, Gar gave a smile.
"Sure, let me grab something real quick and I'll meet ya up there."
The boys nodded and left the room. Slade went to go help Jaime figure out what could be salvaged and Gar went over to the books that were still on the table. As he picked them up, he heard Rachel walk over and take a glance.
"What ya got there?"
Turning so she could get a better look, he showed her the books that Slade gave him.
"Just some books that Slade wanted me to take a look over. Hopefully, I can add these forms into my memory so I can use them when necessary."
Noticing the book on prehistoric animals, she looked at him curiously.
"You mean you don't have any forms related to dinosaurs? I figured at the age you gained your powers that would be one of the first things you'd try to learn."
He chuckled at her comment before speaking.
"I have a couple, but there's still some I'd like to add. Besides, not all animals from this time were dinosaurs. Many of the animals from this book are mammals and sea creatures."
She gave a thoughtful nod, before turning to look around at the damage done to the training room.
"Honestly, you might not need any more forms. What you just put on display would solve a lot of issues we'd have if we ever got stuck in another gun fight."
He smiled at her before shaking his head.
"I'll admit it is a very good thing to have stashed away in case I have to use it but it's very draining. If something else were to go down, I'd probably be out for a while and you guys would be down a teammate."
She nodded before smirking at him.
"More importantly our leader."
He grinned before tucking the books and patting her on the shoulder.
"Then it'd be your job to keep the team safe Rae."
She raised a brow and looked shocked.
"You want me as your second in command?"
He shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
"I'll be honest, I thought about Grant. But you seem to have the same problem I do."
She quirked her eyebrow again and looked for him to elaborate.
"What do you mean?"
He turned to look at the mess again, which had begun to look a little better. The workout machines that were able to be salvaged were put back and the gun range looked to be intact again. Everything that was broken was put in a neat pile that had been separated from guns to training equipment.
"We'd rather be the ones to take the bullet than anyone else."
Her face melted into a look of understanding. Giving him a smile, she patted him on the back and nodded her head towards the door.
"Why don't we get up there so you can help Grant out with that worm sitting in the interrogation room. I'm sure he's just dying to get started."
He smiled and nodded his head. With one last look at the two figures cleaning house, he followed Rachel out the door. He took the time to send a text to Rose to let her know that he was going to be interrogating the terrorist with her brother and for her to meet him there.
Thanks for being patient guys. Sorry for the long layoff. I got COVID and have been taking forever to get back to normal. I'll update again as soon as possible for you all. Thanks again so much and feel free to read and review.
