Chapter 6: The Final Exam
Grant, Allyson, and I made our way to the cafeteria, where we pigged out on burgers, fries, ribs, pizza, the whole nine yards. I can honestly say that I have never been so hungry in all my life. I blew through five plates filled to the brim with food and still had more room (before you judge me, I did run faster than the speed of sound, so I burned a lot of calories). I could tell that Grant and Allyson wanted to talk about everything that happened today, and so did I, but right now it didn't matter. Nobody talked, nobody asked any questions. Right now food was all that mattered, and we ate until we couldn't eat anymore.
"So what do you guys wanna do now?" Grant asked once we were done feasting.
Allyson and I shrugged. Like I said, eating was the only priority at the moment. We didn't exactly plan on what to do later.
"Ok," said Grant. "Well, do you guys wanna come over to my room? I have a huge flat screen. We can watch TV together, talk about stuff, and just hang out."
"I'm cool with that," said Allyson. "How about you, Jason?"
"I'm in," I said. "What room do you stay in, bro?"
"Room 337B," Grant smirked. "It's not too far from here. All we have to do is take the elevator and walk around a corner. Let's go!"
We all got up, put away our many trays, and went towards the elevator. Once inside, Grant pressed the 3rd floor button, and we shot upwards. After getting out, we all took a right turn around a corner, and walked five doors down until we got to room 337B. Grant took out his key card, put it in the slot, and opened the door, letting us in. Grant's room wasn't too different from mine. We had the exact same bed, drawers, closets, even the same TV. The only difference was that Grant's room had a sofa, a recliner chair, and a beanbag seat. I guess Fury knew he would be the one that would have guests over. Probably why my room didn't have any fancy furniture. Anyway, Grant got a green shirt and some white shorts out of his drawers (he was still wearing his tattered clothes at the time), and went into his bathroom to change.
"Nice room, huh?" I asked Allyson.
"Yeah," she said. "Mine doesn't have that cool bean bag chair. By the way, dibs."
She quickly plopped on the bean bag chair (I wanted to sit on the beanbag chair), and made herself at home. Because my only other option was to sit on a sofa meant for two, and because I really didn't feel that close to Grant yet, I grabbed the remote, flipped on the TV, and claimed the recliner chair.
"What do you wanna watch, Allyson?" I asked her.
"Hmmm," she thought for a moment. "Teennick, see what's on Teennick."
"Sure bolts,"
"HAHAHA!" she laughed. "Good one, Jason."
At first I thought I'd have to turn to the TV Guide or something to find the channels, but as it turned out S.H.I.E.L.D. had Direct TV. I had that back at home, so I already knew where Teennick was. I turned there, checked the time listings, and saw nothing but Drake & Josh for the next 4 hours.
"Hey, Allyson," I said. "There's a Drake & Josh marathon starting next. Wanna watch?"
"Totally," she said in a voice that said "Did you even need to ask?". "Who doesn't love Drake & Josh?"
"Losers," said Grant, who was just getting through with changing.
I noticed that he trashed his ruined pants, but held on to the remains of his jersey. Poor guy. Must have been hard for him to get kicked off the team like that. I pretended like I didn't see the jersey.
"You know what?" he asked. "I wanted the beanbag chair, Allyson."
"Get in line dude," I told him.
"See, I would move," said Allyson. "But this chair is super comfy, sooo…."
We all laughed until I heard the Drake & Josh theme song play.
"Hey guys it's on," I said. "Sit down and enjoy, Grant."
"But the beanbag chair!" he said in a fake whiny voice.
"Dude, it's your room, she has to leave at some point."
"Or do I?" Allyson asked in a playfully seductive tone.
"OOOHHHHHH!" Grant and I screamed.
I gave Grant a fist bump as we both laughed hysterically at Allyson. Ignoring my minor feelings of jealousy.
"But then again," said Allyson. "I hear Jason does have a bigger bed than you, Grant. Maybe i'll spend the night there."
Grant screamed again. I probably would have too, but I was too busy blushing my head off. After we laughed the dirty jokes out of our system we settled down. Grant took a seat on his sofa, and we started to watch the Drake & Josh marathon. Even though I had seen all of these episodes like a million times, when I was watching them with Grant and Allyson everything seemed newer for some reason. Little funny things I was already used to suddenly became hilarious. Episodes that were so old, I could recite everything word for word, suddenly had that new appeal, as if today was the first day I watched them. For like 3 three hours everyone just watched TV, laughed it up, and just enjoyed each other's company. We probably could have stayed that way all night, but out of nowhere Grant asked:
"Hey guys, if we're a team, then who's the leader?"
"Jason of course." Allyson said before I could even comprehend the question.
"What?" I asked her.
"Oh don't look at me like that, it's obvious. You were so good at giving orders when we were fighting that robot army. You're fair, balanced, and cool under fire. If we are a team you are so our leader."
I looked at Grant, hoping for some kind of a disagreement in his eyes. I didn't wanna lead some ragtag team of mutants, I just wanted to go home. Unfortunately, Grant shrugged and smiled. He was at an unspoken agreement with Allyson. Whether I liked it or not, I was the new leader now (I really hate democracy).
"Ok then," said Grant. "So what's our team name gonna be?"
"Dude, why does that matter?" I asked him.
"Because every awesome superhero team needs a name, bro. That way people remember us when we save the world and stuff."
"First off all, we are not superheroes, we're mutants. The rest of the world hates and fears us."
"Hey, come on man, we may be mutants but we're still gonna do good with our powers, right? By default that makes us heroes, no matter what others say. So come on, let's think of a cool name."
What was with this guy? Did his parents teach him how to be this optimistic, or was he born like this?
"Oh, I know," said Allyson. "How about Delta Force?"
"Nah, way too military type," said Grant. "Good name, but too military type."
"Ok then, how about the Teen Avengers?"
"Too similar to the Young Avengers. Besides, we wanna be original, not another branch of a franchise."
"Ok, then you think of a name."
"How about Team Grant?! Just kidding. How about team Starbolt?"
"Catchy name," I said. "But none of us, aside from Allyson, have star or space related powers. It wouldn't work."
We went through names for like an hour, before eventually coming to terms that it wasn't working out, and put a pin in it. For now, we would go with Delta Force as a prototype name.
"Ok, now for individual names," said Grant.
"Oh God," I said.
"Come on, Jason," said Allyson. "Don't be a downer, this is fun."
She hit me with that cute smile she always does when she gets excited about stuff. I knew I couldn't disappoint her even if I wanted to, so I joined in on the name making fun.
"Ok me first," said Grant. "How about Super Dude?"
"You stole that from Kenan & Kel," said Allyson. "Try again."
"Mega Man?"
"Literally a video game character," I said. "Ever heard of Trademarks?"
"Also too plain," Allyson said. "Anybody can think of that."
"Uhhh, Power Guy." Grant continued.
"Come on, Grant, you're not even trying anymore. Dig deep. You can do this."
Grant thought hard for a while (I think I saw smoke coming from his head), before blurting out:
"SUPER-G!"
We all thought about this for a while.
"Why Super-G?" I asked.
"Because, it stands for Super Grant, but without saying my name. I mean G can stand for anything, right?"
"That's true, but you should put a pin in that bro. Super-G is a cool name, good to start with, but you deserve better."
"Thanks man. Alright, now for your name. Personally I think Thunder-Man, Thundersprint, or Lightning Guy is an awesome name."
"Uhhh, for right now i'll go with Thunder-Man. It's a good starting name. Who knows, it may catch on."
"Alright, Thunder-Man lives! Allyson, it's your turn."
Grant and Allyson went through a bunch of names. Some of the names that came up were: Sun Girl, Sun Princess, Solar Woman, and even Sun Power for some reason.
"Sunbird," I finally said.
Grant and Allyson stopped talking. Either the name was really good, or really bad, but it got their attention.
"Sunbird?" Allyson asked me; seemingly digging the name. "Why?"
"Well," I started. "Obviously, the word 'Sun' should be a part of your hero name. Combine that with the fact that you can heal people by singing beautiful songs, plus the name sounds really mythological and cool, Sunbird is what I came up with."
Allyson thought about this for a little bit. My heart was hammering fiercely for some reason.
"I love it," she finally said. "In fact, I'll keep it permanently."
"Awesome sauce!" said Grant. "Super-G, Thunder Man, and Sunbird of Team Delta Force are officially a go! Hands in everybody!"
Grant thrust his palm in front of him, and looked at me and Allyson in gleeful expectation. I couldn't help but laugh. I may have been chosen to lead the team, but Grant was the heart and soul of it. I put my hand in with Allyson.
"Ready guys?!" he asked us.
"Ready," I said.
"Heck yeah!" said Allyson.
"Alright then, on the count of three, we scream BREAK! 6,4,3…
We all screamed BREAK, and thrusted out hands into the air, laughing uncontrollably, and living in the moment. After we calmed down, we spent another hour talking about possibilities for our final exam, like what would Fury have us doing, how we could work together better as a team, and making plans for possible scenarios. We even messed around with our powers a bit to see if our plans were possible. Luckily, we didn't blow anything up. After a while I checked the time:11:30 P.M.
"Hey guys," I said. "We should probably get some sleep now. It's getting late, and we need all of our energy for the exam tomorrow."
"Spoken like a true leader," said Allyson. "Alright, i'm going now. Jason, you can walk me to my room if you want."
"Sure bolts,"
Allyson snickered.
"Bye, Grant," I said before leaving. "See ya tomorrow."
"Sure thing, bro," he waved. "See you two in the A.M."
"Sleep tight," said Allyson. "Don't let Nick Fury bite."
We all had one more good laugh before Allyson and I left Grant's room. I then followed Allyson to the elevator, where she pressed the number two button, and we shot downwards. I followed Allyson to her room, 259Y ,and watched her as she opened her door. I took a brief look inside her room which was about the same as mine and Grant's, except for the fact that she had a reading desk with a few chairs, and a chandelier (why would she need that?).
"Thanks for walking me here, Jason," she said.
"No problem," I said. "But before I go, can I ask you a few questions?"
"Sure. Come inside. We can talk for as long as you want."
I hesitated, and my reaction must have been visible, because Allyson laughed, and playfully hit me on the arm.
"Not in THAT way, you idiot!" she wheezed. "We'll just sit down and talk. Nothing more, ok?
"Ok," I nodded. " Sure. I mean, that's what I was thinking the whole time anyway."
Once inside, I pulled two chairs in front of the TV area, and sat down next to Allyson.
"Before we start," she said. "I wanna say thanks for the awesome name. I hope you and Grant find yours too."
"No problem," I said. "So, my first question is did you mean all that stuff you said about me being a good leader?"
"Of course, Jason, you're a natural! I may have just met you today, but I know you're a good and dependable friend. With you leading us, this team will go places. Why do you doubt yourself?
"Well for starters, i've never really had friends. Ever since my parents died, when I was seven, i've never made an attempt to be social. I really like you and Grant. I just don't wanna mislead you or get you hurt."
I wasn't looking at Allyson when I said this, and was completely surprised when I saw tears streaming down her face! I made a move to get her a tissue or something, but she waved me off, saying that she was ok.
"God, Jason," she started. "I didn't know. I'm so sorry."
"It's fine," I said, trying for a smile. "My foster mom, Doris, has been so good to me ever since. I miss my parents, but I always have Doris; my other mom."
"That's good. Good for you Jason. So, what was your other question?"
"What do you think of this whole hero thing? I mean us being a hero team. I know you and Grant would be awesome heroes, but do you think i'm cut out for it?"
"Well, let me ask you this, if you saw some guy mugging a family at gunpoint what would you do?"
"I would use my speed to disarm the mugger, knock him out, and return everything he stole to the family."
"Why? You don't know that family, you owe them nothing, and this isn't any of your business."
"Because I have the power to help them, and as long as it is in my power to help those who need it, i'll do everything I can."
"Then that's your answer, Jason. You may not want to be a superhero, but you are a hero at heart. So yes, you are cut out for it, you just don't know it yet."
I thought on that for a moment. Maybe Allyson was right, but it still doesn't change the fact that I was on the verge of becoming the very thing I hated. Heroes never help when you need them, they're always busy saving the world, but they can't save the little guys.
"Hey," Allyson shook me out of my thought bubble. "You'll see Jason. You may not think so, but you are a hero. It's what you were meant to be."
"Thanks, Allyson," I said, getting up to leave. "Sorry for making you cry."
"It's ok, it's just…. I couldn't imagine life without my mom and dad. I'm so sorry you lost yours, and at such a young age. It's so not fair."
"Hey life isn't all bad. I met you and Grant after all."
She smiled and reached out to hug me. It felt good to hug her. Like I was wrapping my arms around the sun itself.
"Alright," I said after forcing myself to let go. "I'm gonna go to bed now. Sleep tight, Allyson."
"Don't let Nick Fury bite, Jason," she said as she took out her PJ's and went into her bathroom to get ready for bed.
I made my way back to my room, took a quick shower, slipped into my own PJ's, and climbed into my bed. Before drifting off to sleep, I thought to myself: Can I really be a superhero?
My alarm woke me up the next day at 7 A.M. It also shot me a hologram message, saying the exam would take place at 10 A.M. in room 150G, and that our trainers would be available in that room for extra training until then. Because I had extra time, I took a quick shower, before putting on some black workout pants, an orange T-shirt with the S.H.I.E.L.D emblem on it, and a black warm up jacket.
I met Grant and Allyson for breakfast. They were already sitting in our usual spot, eating their food. It seemed like we were all on one accord with the dress code, because Grant was dressed in black workout pants, and a black muscle shirt, with Allyson mimicking the attire, although her shirt was yellow.
"What's up, guys?" I said as I sat down to eat (btw, I was eating the same thing from yesterday, but today I added blueberry muffins).
"It's all good," said Grant. "Ready to kick this exam in the face?"
"Whoever they put us up against, they won't know what hit em'."
"Sure they will," said Allyson. "Three high schoolers, who just happen to be superheroes in training."
We all chuckled, although I did notice that when I glanced at Allyson, she kind of avoided my gaze. I didn't blame her. I mean, we did get in pretty deep about some personal stuff last night. I just hoped I didn't make anything weird between us.
"So are you guys gonna do that extra training thing?" asked Grant.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm gonna do some sword fighting stuff with Nightcrawler to get warmed up. What about you two?"
"I'm gonna do some sparring with Luke and Ms. Marvel for a bit, and if you're free, I'd like to work some speed combat with you. Don't worry, i'll dial back the punches. Wouldn't wanna take out my teammate on the day we really need him."
"Whatever, dude. What about you, Allyson?"
"I'm just gonna practice some of those moves we worked on last night," she said. "If you two muscle heads wanna wear yourselves out, be my guest."
After breakfast, we all made our way to room 150G, where sure enough, the heroes were waiting for us. Well…..almost all of them.
"Nightcrawler?" I asked as I approached him. "Where-
"She's still recovering, Jason. You did quite a number on her, but do not worry, she'll be fine and back on her feet by tomorrow."
Wow, in less than three days, I had put two people in hospital beds. My hero meter wasn't feeling very full at the moment.
"Hey, do not blame yourself mein friend," said Nightcrawler. "Everything will be ok. You came to practice swordplay, no?"
"Uhh yeah," I said. "I wanted to see about learning some new moves, and practicing new skills. Can you help me?"
"Of course, grab a blade, we'll get started."
Nightcrawler and I practiced the many different aspects of sword fighting for about an hour. From different ways to parry strikes, dodging and countering attacks, he even taught me how to use backflips and sword throwing to defeat opponents. You'd think that it would take me a long time to learn this kind of stuff, but I was a natural. Each lesson only took like five minutes tops. Maybe it was the fact that I had a secret passion for sword fighting, or maybe it was my super speed and reflexes helping me along, but the point was that I was a sword fighting machine, and there was no stopping me!
Nightcrawler and I took small 2 minute breaks during subject changes. During these breaks, I was able to check on Grant and Allyson's individual practice courses.
Grant and Luke were pretty much doing the same thing Nightcrawler and I were, except Grant was learning takedown moves, arm grabs, wrestling type moves, and how to do effective drop kicks. They spared a few times, but now that Grant had speed and strength, the fight was pretty one-sided.
Allyson, though she promised not to do it, was in an intense power battle with Storm (probably because she didn't want Storm to feel left out. That's so Allyson). I realized that Storm was holding back on Allyson yesterday (then again, who wasn't), because today Storm was using everything she had. From lightning, to wind, even hail and blizzards at one point. During the 2 minute intervals that I tuned into the fight, Storm and Allyson were keeping each other at bay, while also trying to get a decisive hold on one another. At one point it seemed as though Allyson was gonna lose, when Storm summoned a blizzard so powerful, it blanketed the entire room in frost, making me very sorry I didn't wear a jacket or a hoodie that day. I saw what Storm was trying to do. Use the blizzard to extinguish Allyson's light (I assume Storm thought her light was based off of heat), and make her powerless. This plan worked for maybe a few seconds, as Allyson did flicker on and off a few times. However, just when it seemed that she was going to go out, she released a big wave of solar energy, knocking Storm off balance, and turning off the blizzard. Her wave was so powerful, and as it turned out, so full of heat, that it evaporated the residual frost, and left me feeling like I had just walked out of a dryer! Allyson would eventually win the fight when she created a solar force field around Storm, which looked like a mini sun. When Storm tried to blast her way out, the energy rebounded throughout the force field, and fried her. Also, to add insult to injury, Allyson made the force field implode on itself, and cause a massive explosion, taking Storm out of commission. Luckily for Storm, Allyson could heal just as fast as she could hurt, and after a few heavenly verses, Storm was up on her feet again, good as new.
At 9:30, Nightcrawler and I decided to stop the lessons, and get down to the sparring. The first match was pretty even, considering that I wasn't making as many rookie mistakes as I did the previous day. Nightcrawler pushed me way harder though, and I had to really focus so as to not fall for any of his fancy tricks. For example, at one point during all off the slashing, blocking, and countering, Nightcrawler made a motion to stab at me. Lucky for me, we already went over feinting moves, and I saw the trick coming from a mile away. I stepped back, and when he brought the blade around for a horizontal slash, I parried, while simultaneously kicking him in the head Shawn Michaels style. This put him off balance long enough for me to attack him with a flurry of stabs and slashes. Unfortunately, I underestimated Nightcrawler's recovery time, and while I was on the attack, he dodged one of my slashes, and when I tried for another stab, he locked my blade in the hilt of his sword, and quickly disarmed me, throwing it to the far left. Unfortunate, but if I played my hand right, I could retrieve it. When Nightcrawler slashed at me again, I side flipped over his blade (LIKE A BOSS!) and upon landing, jumped to the left, grabbed my sword, and rolled away, knowing that blue boy would try a teleport take down. Our match went on for another five minutes, until I decided to try that backflip move Nightcrawler showed me. I put the pressure on slashing, stabbing, and feinting moves, until I found a golden opportunity where Nightcrawler was distracted enough for me to do a surprise backflip. Unfortunately, where his chin was supposed to be, I felt nothing but air. When I landed, I felt the impact of a dull sword pelting me in the chest.
"What happened Jason?" Nightcrawler asked me.
"I messed up, I thought you wouldn't be expecting the backflip move."
"I wasn't, but you made it obvious that you were going to do it."
"How?"
"You let your guard down, and your body language depicted that you would try for that move. As a swordsman, your greatest ally, other than skill, is surprise. Try to mask your moves more, so that your opponent does not read them like an open book."
"Alright, i'll work on it. Come on, I have 15 minutes until it's time for my exam. We can squeeze one more fight in."
The second fight was pretty much like the first, except a lot better for me. I took Nightcrawler's advice and made an attempt to not look so predictable. For example, I noticed that I make a face when I do, or am about to do, certain moves. When I am about to parry a strike, I look at the blade. Nightcrawler always sees this, and changes the direction of his strikes, nearly cutting me. When I tried for a feint move, I scrunch up my face in concentration, and it alerts Nightcrawler to my tricks. After I realized I was doing this, I made a conscious effort to change it. I focused on one face of concentration, and made a mental effort to hold this face no matter what. At first, it was a little difficult, but I found that the trick wasn't to focus on what I was doing, but why I was doing this. I was doing this because I wanted to be a better swordsman, because if nothing else, I wanted to beat Nightcrawler at least one time. My face change worked. Even though I still wasn't able to hit him, because of my more or less poker face, Nightcrawler was predicting my next attacks way less than he did before. This allowed me to take the offensive more often, and put the pressure on him. I slashed at him horizontally with my sword, and when he parried my strike, I quickly stepped in and kneed him in the gut. While he was tumbling backwards I quickly baseball slid, and swept his legs out from under him. Knowing Nightcrawler for the acrobatic genius he was, I knew full well that he would land on his feet. So, I tapped into my Speed Mode, just enough to make me go a little faster, and quickly pushed myself off of the floor, and into a power kick, landing perfectly on Nightcrawler's chest. Just as I had him pinned down, he teleported away, which I totally knew he would. I Immediately went into Speed Mode Supreme and moved away from the spot I was standing. Right where I would have been, I saw a cloud of blue smoke appear and the slow mo vision of Nightcrawler re-materializing out of it. I quickly got behind him, turned my Speed Mode off and slashed him across the back.
"Finally beat you," I said as I helped Nightcrawler get on his feet.
"Good job, mein friend," he said smiling, (that still unnerves me). "You are getting better, but you still have much to learn."
"Good thing I have such a great teacher then."
Nightcrawler chuckled.
"I guess so," he said. "By the way, you only have five minutes left before your exam. Good luck. Hopefully you'll pass, and we can continue crossing swords in the future."
I didn't like the way he said 'hopefully', but I thanked him for the support, and went to find Grant, so that we could use the remaining time to practice speed combat. To be honest, I couldn't tell you who was winning the fight. Everything was way too fast, plus Grant and I got some pretty good hits in each other. Although I will admit, one time he did score a major blow by grabbing my arm, twisting it behind my back. Then, after getting a lock on me, he abruptly stopped while twisting, and threw me across the room. Only my reflexes kept me from ramming back first into the wall. After that, we both decided to call it a draw, and rest up for the main event.
We took a seat next to Allyson, who was also resting up by sitting on a bench.
"Hey guys," she said. "Ready for the exam?"
I noticed she was breathing rather heavily, and so was Grant.
"Are you two nervous?" I asked them.
They both flustered around trying to answer my question, laughing nervously, and mumbling their words. Oh yeah, they were nervous. If they were to go into battle this way, we'd never stand a chance, so as the leader, I decided to give my teammates some words of encouragement.
"Guys, you're acting like wimps," I started. "Come on, we're more than ready for this! What's wrong with you two?"
"Nothing, man," said Grant. "Just nerves before the big game, happens to everyone."
"I'm just afraid of failing," said Allyson. "I've never made anything lower than an A in all my life."
I fought back the urge to say 'overachiever'.
"It's ok you guys, we won't fail." I said. "We're Delta Force, remember?"
"That's only a temporary name," said Allyson.
"Not the point," I snapped. "The point is that together we're an unstoppable team. As long as we stick together, nothing can beat us, so come on let's do this!"
I thrust my hand out.
"Delta Force on three?" I asked.
Grant and Allyson slowly broke into grins, and thrust their hands on top of mine.
"6,4,3, DELTA FORCE!" We all shouted.
I was better at this whole leader thing than I thought.
"Attention trainees," Nick Fury said over the intercom. "Your exam will begin in 20 seconds. Prepare yourselves now."
Grant, Allyson, and I got up, stretched for a few seconds, did some jumping around to shake off the remaining nerves we had, and got into our various battle defensive stances. We all had a pretty good idea of what was coming at us, and even if it wasn't what we thought it was, we were prepared for many more alternate scenarios. All that was left was for the showdown to begin. The countdown reached 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.
A flash of light engulfed the entire room. Allyson and I immediately put up barriers. Good thing, because we were under some CRAZY laser fire! Through the glare of Allyson's barrier, and the electric surge of mine, I saw an army of robots. Runts and Titans blasting away at us like there was no tomorrow. I may have been exaggerating a bit, but by the looks of it, there had to be at least 2,000 robots on our asses. Before you ridicule me, or say that's impossible, just know that the room we were in was really really big. Some rooms in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier are like that; bigger on the inside than you'd think judging on the outside entrance. Anyway, this was exactly the kind of scenario we were ready for.
"Allyson, you think you can hold your barrier while I do my thing?" I asked her.
"Yeah no problem," she said. "Just make it quick. These are a lot of robots shooting at me after all."
I let my barrier drop, closed my eyes, and focused. So far, I could cause lightning strikes easily, but what I was going to do now was going to be way over the top. I imagined a thunderstorm right over the robot army. I willed this thunderstorm to be big, to have lightning striking in all directions, but to hit only the robots. I felt the power build in me like a giant wave getting ready to crash on the shore. I pulled my arms back in, and with a yell, thrust them back out (this time that actually was necessary)! I don't exactly know what happened, as I kept my eyes closed the whole time, however, I did hear thunder, like really loud thunder booms, as well as lightning striking metal in all directions. The noise was actually quite deafening. I didn't know how many robots I had destroyed already, but I knew it wasn't enough, and kept up the thunderstorm for as long as I could, about 20 seconds, before I dropped to my knees, completely exhausted. Before you criticize my plan, saying that it was stupid of me to blow my energy like that all at once, just know that I thought of that in advance. Before unleashing that thunderstorm, I imagined a small bit of power being reserved in me, like a little ball of electricity, locked in my chest. Upon hitting rock bottom in the energy department, I imagined that ball of lightning exploding, and spreading electricity throughout my body. I willed the electricity to double back through my body, giving me more energy. Finally, when I had enough juice, I powered up like a Super Saiyan, electricity surging like crazy around me, refueling me completely!
"Alright everyone," I said, feeling way stronger than I ever had in my life. "Right now, there's way too many robots for us to divide them in sections, so for now were just gonna focus on demolition. Grant, i'm gonna give you a Thunder Blade. Allyson will give you a Sun Blade. Together, we're gonna use our speed to mow down as many robots as we can on the left side. Allyson, do that sun gravity thing you were working on last night, and trash as many bots on the right side as you can. After we reduce the numbers down a bit, we'll divide into sections and finish the fight off. Everyone ready?
"Yeah," said Allyson.
"I need those blades first," said Grant.
Allyson and I created the swords for him.
"Explosive waves on three? I asked Allyson.
"Why wait?" she responded.
We both thrusted our hands out releasing a huge wave of solar and electric energy, trashing maybe 100 robots, plus the 300 or so I had trashed with my thunderstorm. Afterwards, Grant and I dashed to the left side of the room and went to work.
With our speed and combined efforts, Grant and I completely decimated our enemies. I went into Speed Mode Supreme, created two thunderbolts, and went hacking away at any robot that I came in contact with. Because I was making my lightning double back through my body, I didn't have to worry about losing power or momentum, making it easier for me to enjoy slicing and dicing the robots. With my thunderbolts and my speed, I struck down maybe 10 or twenty robots per second! Even Titans didn't stand a chance of surviving when I cut them in half at the waist!
Grant was also doing his thing pretty well, slicing robots in half and even using his swords to create a clothesline; mowing down robots like grass. We must have taken out like 500 robots together! talk about teamwork! By the way, I think it's worth mentioning that even with his super speed, Grant was still moving at slightly less than normal speed from my perspective in Speed Mode Supreme.
Anyway, as we were mowing down robots together, I checked on Allyson's progress (i'll tell the events in normal speed time to avoid confusion). I couldn't tell you how she was doing physically speaking, because I couldn't exactly see her. However, I could see what she was doing, and boy was it scary. Remember when I told her to do that sun gravity thing? Well the thing about that was, last night, we figured if she has sun powers, she should be able to make her own personal miniature sun. The thing about a sun is, it has a huge gravitational pull, and if used as a weapon, especially when it came to defeating huge amounts of enemies, a huge ball of fire that can pull enemies in would come in handy. When we were hanging out in Grant's room, Allyson tried this out. She created a mini sun, about the size of a ping pong ball, and used it to attract and torch the hell out of some paper clips. Allyson was doing the exact same thing, except this time, she created a sun that was about the size of the world that was on the shoulders of Atlas at the Rockefeller Center, which by the way is pretty big. Because I couldn't see her anywhere, I assumed she was inside of her own sun, which was actually as good for defense as well as offense, considering the fact that the lasers the robots shot at her didn't get past the barrier. Allyson's sun was so powerful that I felt the room's temperature increase by at least 50 degrees. To make matters worse for the robots, Allyson's sun literally pulled them off the ground, and towards the flaming ball of death. Upon reaching contact with the mini-sun, the robots were either melted like popsicles, burned to a charred metal crisp, or crumpled like a soda can, due to the intense gravity. The robo death toll had to be around another 500 on Allyson's part.
After the range of the robots reached about 500, I ordered the team to execute plan Sector. Plan Sector basically meant that we would do the thing we did yesterday, when Allyson took the outside robots, I took the mid range ones, and Grant took the inside ones.
The battle wasn't even close. The three of us finished off the remaining robots in less than 5 minutes. A new personal best, however, even I knew that this was too easy. We would have a lot more incoming challenges before our exam was over.
Because I have an annoying habit of being right about the worst $#!+, another huge wave of light flashed, and more enemies appeared. Now don't get me wrong, I was ready for Giants to come sooner or later, but I didn't expect them to throw ten giants at us all at once! Lucky for me and Grant, Allyson wasn't as frozen up as we were. Before any of the Giants could take a shot, one of them on the left started to break down, or should I say in. It was like he was being swallowed and digested by his own stomach (if robots can have stomachs)! When it finally digested itself, I was pleasantly surprised to see one of Allyson's mini-sun's remaining! She kept up the momentum by willing said mini-sun to fly through another Giant, and repeat the same process.
"GUYS!" Allyson screamed at us. "DO SOMETHING!"
That shook me and Grant out of our fear freeze.
Grant was still holding his blades, I made one for myself, and gave him a look. He nodded, and at the same time, we broke into a run. No matter how many Giants there were, I was so glad that they all stayed completely still when I went into Speed Mode Supreme so that I could hack them to pieces. For maybe 10 seconds total, I ran from Giant to Giant, hacking off limbs, cutting off heads, and you know, doing the whole being totally awesome thing. Oh, and Grant was doing good too. I saw him hacking away, and stuff like that.
After Grant and I were done killing Giants (I finished first), we were gonna help Allyson, who was probably being overwhelmed at the moment.
Yeah….no she wasn't.
While I was looking the other way, Allyson's mini-sun grew to be not so mini anymore. I was standing next to Grant, looking at a burning ball of fire 5 times the size it used to be (if you need help visualizing, imagine a sun the size of a small mansion)! Together, Grant and I took out six Giants, leaving four for Allyson. Her sun was so hot, the heat slapped my body, making me feel like I was in a dryer, inside a sauna, inside of a volcano, and that wasn't the worst part! The gravity from the sun was so intense, it was literally pulling the remaining four Giants limb from limb (not that i'm complaining, but why weren't me and Grant affected), they didn't even have a chance of fighting back. The robot pieces were obliterated into nothingness upon collision with the sun, and when it was all said and done, Allyson willed it to shrink down to the size of an apple. Good thing too, because new Giants flashed in at that very moment, ten in total, at least until Allyson did her thing.
She threw her apple sized sun at the nearest Giant, and upon impact, the sun regrew to it's massive form. This time, instead of breaking off piece by piece, the robots were just sucked into Allyson's sun, and melted into metal soup. The one thing I wasn't ready for, was when the sun exploded in a giant wave of fire that was going to burn me to a crisp! The flames were moving slow, so at first I thought that I had activated my Speed Mode again, but that wasn't the case. The flames redirected their course, and flew towards Allyson, who absorbed the energy back into herself. Her face was intense, angry even, which was ten times more scary when she was in her Sun Form. I could tell that no amount of robots would be able to stop her. Not even Grant and I could take her when she was like this. Grant and I exchanged glances, looked at Allyson, and looked at each other again. We both got the message: Do not f*(# with Allyson.
Allyson landed next to us, and turned off her Sun Form.
"Well that was fun," she said in her usual perky voice (somehow that scared me even more).
"What do you mean, 'was'?" I asked her. "This isn't over yet."
"What makes you say that?"
"Look around you."
The room was changing. Literally.
A ripple traveled through the room, as if it were made of water, and when it had settled, the room was totally different. Grant, Allyson, and I were looking at a battlefield, about the size of two football fields, with a bunch of metal war barricades spanning across the flat landscape. At the end of the room were four metal towers positioned in the rough shape of a square. On those towers were huge, and I mean HUGE, cannons that probably shot lasers that could blast through titanium. As if this wasn't bad enough, in between those towers, on top of metal steps the size of houses, was a flag, a big neon green flag just waiting to be captured.
"Part two, kiddies," said Fury. "Your job is to get that flag over yonder, without being blasted to bits by these awesome laser cannons I have installed just for you to play with. Try not to break them too badly; I didn't get the extended warranty. Oh, and I forgot to mention, standing in your way will be an unending, and I do mean unending, army of robots with laser guns and stuff like that. Oh, and you all have to grab the flag at the same time or else you all fail, so no using that super speed to try and cheat your way into winning. Finally, you all have to get the flag without letting the robot army grab your flag, or you all fail. Any questions? Didn't think so. Begin simulation."
A huge flash of light enveloped the farther half of the room. When the light dissipated, the affected area was swarmed with platoons of Runts. There were easily more than a thousand of em' on the field, and more were coming by the second! I looked for the back of the army, but didn't see one. They would just keep coming until we were completely overwhelmed! Usually this is the part where i'm supposed to freak out and panic, or something like that, but oddly enough, I was super calm. At least I was, until the tower cannons started shooting at us!
The first shot barely missed us, and we had to run like hell to get behind one of the barricades that was 50 meters ahead of us! Lucky for us, the barricade held up well against high pressure laser cannons, but they wouldn't hold for long, plus the longer we waited to act, the closer the robot army were to overrunning us, and taking our flag. I closed my eyes and concentrated, trying to sense anything dealing with my powers that could help us. What I felt was an army of robots. Not their actual bodies, but their energy. Every last one of those things were powered by electricity, which meant that I could do whatever I wanted to them. I peered over the edge, and focused on a robot that was in the center of the oncoming wave. I imagined all of the power inside of it overloading to the point of explosion. It took a few seconds, but the robot soon started to surge like crazy, and exploded into scrap! And just like that, I had a plan!
"Guys!" I said to Grant and Allyson, who were screaming their heads off. "Calm down, I have a plan! Allyson, create a barrier to block out the lasers! It'll buy me some time to do my thing. Afterwards, focus on creating that small sun explodey thing you did a while ago. If everything goes the way I think it will, we'll be finished with this in less than five minutes."
"Wait a minute," said Grant. "What do I do?"
"For now," I said. "Stay under the barrier, don't worry your time will come."
Grant didn't look too happy about that, but did as I instructed. Allyson created a wall of solar energy, blocking the laser blasts from doing more damage to our barricade, which was on the brink of being destroyed.
"Hurry up, Jason!" said Allyson, her voice full of strain. "I don't know how long I can hold this up!"
I closed my eyes, and focused on the vast amount of energy locked in the robot army. I imagined a wave of electricity spreading through the army, making them all overload and combust into scrap metal. The power welling up in me was painful and kind of scary, but I held it for a few more moments, giving it time to increase. Finally, when I couldn't hold it in anymore, I thrust my hands outward with a yell, and hoped for the best.
The result was better than I could have ever hoped for. The robot army started to overload and explode in mass numbers! It was like an invisible blade was sweeping through their ranks, taking them out by the hundreds as it swept through! Unfortunately, Allyson's sun barrier broke under the pressure of the laser barrage. The force of the crash blew us off of our feet and threw us several feet backwards, enough to be in shooting range. Also, I was winded. Not exhausted, but worn down enough to where I couldn't get up quick enough to dodge a laser cannon blast, and Allyson was the same way. In the distance, I saw a laser cannon lock onto our position and fire. Before I had time to think: "Oh crap, this is it", I felt a strong hand grab me by the waist, and in less than a second I was safely behind another barricade 100 meters ahead of the crumbling one I previously was camped behind. The sudden change of speed was enough to shake me out of my daze. When I looked around, I saw Allyson lying next to me, breathing heavily. Also Grant, who was also breathing heavily, but had a wild look in his eyes. Immediately, I knew what happened. Allyson and I were about to be blasted to dust, but Grant stepped in and saved us in the nick of time. I was so grateful to him at that moment, I took back anything bad I ever said or thought about him (I know that's only one day's worth, but still).
"GUYS!" he shouted. "ARE Y'ALL OK?!"
"First of all," I started, after my vision focused. "Stop yelling, I can hear you just fine. And yeah, were good thanks to you, bro."
"Yeah," said Allyson. "Thanks for the save, Super-G."
We all chuckled. Amazing how we could find the time to laugh and joke around in a time like this.
"Ok bro," said Grant. "What's the rest of your plan?"
"See for yourself," I told him.
I peered over the edge to survey the damage. That stunt I had just pulled had worked to perfection. The ground was littered with the remains of the fallen. More robots were on the way, but it was way less intimidating to see a platoon of 300 rather than 2,000 or more. Anyway, I imagined two giant electric hands scooping up the scattered robot debris and compacting them into a giant ball. My powers responded beautifully, as two giant hands made of electricity appeared, mimicked my hand movements, and compacted the robot remains into a giant metal ball, taking a lot of functional robots along for the ride as well. After I had my giant robot ball, I willed the electric hands to surge, spreading energy to the metal ball. Finally, I set my sights on one of the laser towers on the left side, and mimicked throwing an object at it. My electric hands copied the movement, and launched the metal ball at the tower. At the last moment, the tower tried to shoot the ball down, but by then the ball had already smashed into it. The force from the clogged laser cannon was enough to destroy the tower from the inside out. One down, three to go.
"Awesome job, Thunder-Man," said Grant. "But what about the other three?"
"Allyson." I said.
"Oh, right," she said. "I'm on it."
She put her hands together, and her face constricted in concentration. It took about 10 seconds, but she finally produced a small sun, about the size of a fist.
"And you're sure that'll explode on contact?" I asked her.
"I never doubted that you could create a thunderstorm," she said. "Why do you doubt me of all people? I've had my powers longer than any of you."
"Ohhh," said Grant. "Buuuuurrrrrrrrrnnnnnn."
"Sorry, Allyson," I said. "By the way, speaking of burning, can Grant touch that thing without burning up?"
"As long as I don't want it to, then yes," said Allyson.
"Grant," I said. "Grab it, and throw it to that tower on the right."
"But what if I get burned?" he asked me.
"Were you not listening?" Allyson scoffed. "I don't want it to, so it won't. Don't worry, you'll be fine."
Grant grabbed the mini-sun (after inching his hand in slowly like a little wimp), and after making sure that the coast was clear, threw it at the right tower so fast, I almost couldn't track it. Upon impact, the mini-sun grew 5x it's size, taking out one of the right towers completely. Even better, the gravity of the sun pulled the remaining two towers apart, which was so cool, cuz in case you didn't realize, the three of us were constantly under fire, and all the stuff we did was way harder than we let on.
With the four towers out of the way, all that was left was for us to get up giant metal steps and snag the flag (ugh, bad rhyme). I thought about it for a second. I couldn't fly. Grant could, but he'd be shot down within seconds if he tried to fly us all up there, we'd all need to be moving faster than the robots could see. I had a plan.
"Grant," I said. "Grab Allyson. We're gonna book it to the steps. Before we get there, grab me, fly us all up to the top, and we'll grab the flag together. Ready?"
The only one who seemed to have a problem with this plan was Allyson. I shot Grant a look, and he nodded. He picked Allyson up bridal style, and we raced down the field together. I read somewhere online that it would take a normal person about a full minute to run the length of two football fields. Life must totally suck for them. Grant and I cleared the distance in less than a second. Before reaching the steps, Grant grabbed me by the arm, and flew us all up the steps. If the robots knew that we had infiltrated their base, it was too late. Grant, Allyson, and I grabbed the pole of the flag (which turned out to be a hologram), and the room changed back to it's default setting. By the way, Allyson was SUPER pissed that Grant grabbed her, and carried her off. She punched him in the chest a good few times, which probably would have hurt him, if it wasn't for the whole invulnerable thing he does.
"Last test," said Fury over the intercom. "Each of you will go one on one with an opponent I have picked for you. Your goal is to either beat them, or survive the fight for five minutes. Grant, you're up first."
Allyson and I were instantly transported into an empty room that had an overhead view of the room we were just in. If Grant was surprised by this, he didn't let on. He simply stretched his arms and got ready to meet his opponent. Light flashed in the room again, and some guy wearing a black X-Man suit appeared. At first I didn't recognize him, until his skin turned into steel, and he grew an entire foot taller!
It was Colossus! Grant had to fight Colossus!
(Grant's perspective)
What's up readers? Enjoying the story so far? Well get ready, because it's about to get 10x better!
So for the final part of my test, I had to fight Colossus of all people. I knew who Colossus was. Everyone knew who Colossus was. Strongest of the X-Men, metal skin, Russian, and now I had to fight him for five minutes, just so I could pass an exam. Sure wish I studied up for this part. Ok, so I knew the guy was strong when he was in his metal form, but the thing is, so was I. Jason may not have told you this yet, but I can lift over 50 tons and can punch with enough force to get through titanium walls. In fact, whenever I fight, unless it's against robots, I only use 45% of my actual strength, otherwise I might accidentally kill someone. Lucky for me, Colossus was made of steel. He could probably take whatever I could dish out, and then some. I made a conscious effort to use 70% of my full strength for now. If he was able to take more, I would steadily increase that number. Colossus and I stared each other down for 10 seconds, mostly because Captain Eyepatch was counting us down until the fight began. But more than that, we were sizing each other up. Colossus was big, strong, and smart, but when all the numbers added up, all he really had was strength. I on the other hand had strength, speed, plus I could fly. If this was a game of only strength, then maybe Colossus would have the upper hand, maybe. But it wasn't. I was a three in one wrecking machine! If Colossus was underestimating me in that clunky tin can skull of his, he was about to get the shock of his life.
"5,4,3,2,1,"
It was crunch time.
Starting out, I charged Colossus on foot. I did this because I knew that's what would expect me to do. That may sound stupid, but it made him lower his guard. He charged right at me, his shiny fists raised for a fight, just like I wanted him to. Right before we collided, I took off into the air, rammed him in the chest, flying him straight into the wall, and began to pound him with my fists. By the way, you don't know how my flight powers work do you? Well long story short, I just imagine myself flying, and that's what happens. At first it didn't work that way, or at least that's not how it worked back at my last football practice. But after a few hours of practice in my backyard, I got the hang of it. Anyway, i'm getting off topic, back to the epic superhero fight.
I pounded on Colossus for like ten seconds, until he managed to catch one of my punches. He grabbed my other arm, pulled them apart and reared his head back. I already knew what was coming, but instead of trying to get away, I reared my head back too, and Colossus and I quite literally butted heads. The impact was enough to send me staggering backwards a few feet. You'd probably think that after headbutting a steel muscle man, i'd have some kind of a headache right? Well, thanks to my handy dandy invulnerability, I barely felt it.
For the sake of knowledge, i'll fill ya in a little more. The way my super duper invulnerability works is…..well, it just does. I still feel the impact if an opponent strikes me, but the impact is only 40% of what it normally would be in terms of personal damage. For example, when I was getting buried under laser pressure, it wasn't the blasts that hurt me, although they did sting a great deal. It was the pressure of the laser cannons, combined with the heat and time I spent under fire. Basically, unless Colossus got a hold of me, and started to pound me relentlessly, maybe it would start to hurt after a while. Unfortunately for him, Colossus was never gonna get a chance like that.
After our headbutt battle, Colossus charged at me again, but the guy was moving slower than a slug. Ever since I got super speed, the world kinda moves slower, which was good for me, but bad for the dude in front of me. By the way, I heard Jason calls it Speed Mode or something like that. Don't tell him I said this, but that is super lame. Anyway, I rushed at Colossus at like 200 mph, and gave him a running uppercut, knocking him a good 10 feet in the air. While he was airborne, I took flight, grabbed him by his feet, swung him around a few times, and launched him across the room. Thanks to my super speed, he was still moving at the speed of a glacier, so I quickly flew across the room, and kicked him in another direction. Then, while he was still in motion, I flew under him and double uppercutted him with my crazy strength. I did this for a while, until I got tired of playing Colossus volleyball, and finally punched him super hard, sending him crashing to the floor, making a very satisfying boom!
For a good three minutes, Colossus and I went at it like beasts. I'll give it to the guy, he could throw some crazy punches, and he could take a beating. For example, one time Colossus countered one of my punches, and boy did I suffer for it! He twisted my arm around and brought his elbow on it HARD! Even with my invulnerability, that really hurt a lot! Colossus capitalized by attacking me with a furious barrage of punches and kicks. The punches were so hard, they were as loud as cannon fire! Colossus wailed on me for a good while, but just as his hits were starting to hurt, I grabbed his arms, did a flying backflip kick, and while he was still staggering backwards, did a flying dropkick that sent him flying into a wall! Colossus and I would once again resume our back and forth power struggle for another minute or so. Now I could have played it smart, and lasted him out for another minute, but I wanted to win! With 40 seconds left in the fight, I made my hail mary move. When Colossus punched at me with a right hook I dodged, grabbed the arm, twisted it, and kicked him in the chest with a powerful roundhouse kick that sent him tumbling backwards. Next, I used my super speed to pound Colossus in a furious barrage of punches. From the face, chest, back, whatever, I hit Colossus ten times per second in an unrelenting beatdown! Finally, I made a conscious choice to use all of my strength, and finish him off in one more attack! I uppercutted him high into the air, flew up, kicked him across the room, flew around his back and kicked him back the way he came. Finally, in an epic display of awesomeness, I finished Colossus off with a furious aerial rush attack followed by a mega punch that sent him crashing to the floor! Before he could even think about recovering, I landed on his chest, and hit him as hard as I could in the face with a powerful right fist! The hit was so powerful, the walls shook, and the looking glass rooms cracked! Colossus was lying spread eagle on the floor, unconscious, and breathing heavily. Poor guy, he never stood a chance.
"Good job, Mr. Jackson," said Nick Fury over the intercom. "Impressive effort. You can hit the showers now."
"Thanks, sir," I said.
He pressed a button on his wrist watch, and spoke into it.
"Allyson, you're next."
Before I could say anything, I was teleported away in a flash of light, which felt super weird, and was suddenly in a room with a view of the room I was just in. Jason was already here waiting for me, and there was no sign of Allyson.
(Allyson's perspective)
Hiya readers, I'm Allyson Grace, but I guess you already knew that, huh? You can call me Allyson, or Ally, or Sunbird if you wanna, but uhh I guess now you wanna hear about the fight, don'tcha? Ok here we go.
After Colonel Fury said that it was my turn, I was immediately whisked away from Jason and found myself back in the exam room. Another light flashed in front of me, and when it dissipated I was left with this guy, who looked about 25, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a very confident smile, several feet away from me. He was wearing an X-Man suit, but for some reason, I couldn't place my finger on who he was.
"Hi there," I said to him, putting on my best smile. "How ya doin?"
"I'm chill," he said. "Yourself?"
"Pretty good. So do we start fighting now or what?"
"Eager beaver," he said with a chuckle. "Wait for the countdown, then we'll fight for as long as you can survive."
I scowled. It was always the same with everyone. No matter what I did, I was always 'little miss princess', who needed to be watched and guarded over, like some precious, fragile jewel. My parents coddled me so much when I got my powers, I might as well have been three. Don't get me wrong, I loved my parents, and was so glad that they accepted, and helped me master my mutant powers, but was it too much to ask for a little space, freedom, or respect? Don't hate me for saying this, but I was kind of glad when S.H.I.E.L.D took me away for this hero thing. Finally, I could get some space, and have a chance to explore who I was without my parents constantly breathing down my neck. Now this guy was looking at me the exact same way that everyone back at home does. He only saw me as a weak little girl who was way in over her head; I made a promise right then and there that I would beat him, no matter what it took.
Fury counted down: 5,4,3,2,1,..Begin
Time for the Sunbird to shine.
I didn't start out so hot.. I was going to hit the guy with an energy blast, but before I could, he winked, and suddenly I was frozen in ice! I realized at that moment that I was dealing with Iceman, one of the most well known X-Men in history! He followed up the flash freeze by creating a hammer made of ice, but before he could swing it at me, I burst into my Sun Form, melted my ice prison, and his hammer construct!
So, quick answer to my most FAQ: Are my powers light related or heat related? The answer is yes on both accounts. I absorb light and heat from the sun, so I am able to use both aspects if I wish to. I usually don't use the heat related side, simply because it's really dangerous, and if it gets out of hand I could burn up an entire city, but right now I needed a little heat if I wanted to stand a chance of winning.
Anyway, after escaping my icy bonds, I retaliated by creating mini-sun balls to lob at Iceman. I set the balls to explode on contact, which was effective in keeping Iceman off balance, while also keeping the temperature warm enough to weaken his power a bit. This helped me out for a good while. Any time Iceman tried to trap me in ice, his prisons melted into steam before they could even touch me. If Iceman tried to block my sun balls by creating a shield, and/or freezing them, he was unpleasantly surprised when his defenses evaporated, and he was blasted halfway across the room! However, after my brief moment of triumph, Iceman turned it up a notch….or two. Well, seven is probably more accurate.
Iceman transformed his entire body into ice, and then things got really, REALLY cold. The temperature in the room dropped at least 60 degrees, and Iceman began to assault me with an onslaught of hail, ice blasts, and even giant fists made of snow! Now the thing about my powers is, when it gets below freezing, the heat aspect begins to considerably weaken. It's still there, and I still have access to the light aspects of my powers, but light is mostly good for concussive force blasts. Right now I needed heat, and something told me Iceman wasn't going to let me have it without a fight.
Thanks to the inner heat I had stored in me, my light constructs, and my will not to lose, I was just able to hold my own. Iceman pelted me with an endless shower of hail and snow, but I created a solar barrier that protected me from the brunt of the damage. While in my barrier, Iceman created lots of ice knives and shot them at me. It wasn't the fact that my barrier was failing, but I couldn't just stay like a turtle forever, so I took a different course of action. I transformed my barrier into a roman-like shield; big enough for me to be protected from the knives, yet transparent, so I could see where I was going. Even with my clear view, the blizzard Iceman had created, made it really hard to see. To help even the odds, I tapped into a small bit of my energy reserves, and created a massive solar explosive wave. Because it was so cold, the wave didn't survive for very long, or damage Iceman in any way. However, the wave was strong enough to melt enough of the blizzard, for me to see that Iceman was on my lower left still trying to pelt me with ice daggers. I flew straight into him using my shield to make a bigger impact. The force of the blow was enough to knock Iceman's concentration offbeat, long enough for me to once again take control of the fight. I focused on trapping Iceman in a solar barrier, kind of like the one I trapped Storm in when I sparred with her. The only difference this time was that instead of just light, I trapped Iceman in a miniature sun. Yeah I know, that sounds brutal given the circumstances of his powers, but hey, I couldn't let him do that frozen tundra stuff anymore! Anyway, Iceman was trapped in there for a good 30 seconds, but it wasn't like he went out quietly. Because our fight had only just transferred from a blizzard, Iceman still had a lot of strength left in him. Likewise, I was still bouncing back from the cold. Iceman fought against my prison, trying to freeze it from the inside out. It was all I could do to keep him in there. Normally, a situation like this wouldn't be a problem for me. I have tons of Sun Energy stored in my body, due to the fact that i've been absorbing it for almost a year. If this battle was happening outside, I could just make myself absorb more energy to make myself stronger, or better yet use the energy to make my constructs stronger. Unfortunately, we were in a metal-enforced room that had no windows that were open to the outside. I was completely marooned, and had to rely on my inner strength.
I kept Iceman in the mini-sun for as long as I could, hoping to weaken him enough that I could score a big hit when he got out. However, when he did get out, Iceman made it extremely clear that he was just getting warmed up….or chilled up in his case.
After escaping, Iceman created a giant tornado made of ice and snow! The pull was way too strong for me to resist, and I was sucked in for the ride! On instinct, I locked myself in a solar barrier, which protected me from the ice shards, but did little to help when I was thrown into a metal wall. Iceman didn't let up on me, as he continued his assault with another barrage of hail, ice daggers, ice blasts, ice hammers, giant icicles, and even an army of snowmen wielding ice clubs! I had no heat energy left, and was completely reliant on my light barrier to keep me from getting pelted into a snow cone, but it wasn't going to be enough. I was completely helpless and Iceman knew it, as he stopped actively attacking, rather than create an ice throne to sit on, and start toying with me! The arrogant little jerk spread his arms, covering the floor in frost, from which an ice army rose! They were vaguely humanoid, with jagged ice spikes coming from their arms and backs. There had to be at least 100 of them, and more were rising by the second! I knew what Iceman was planning. Either I would be defeated hiding under this barrier or I would lose trying to fight back.
The chances of me winning were not so hot, but I knew I had to at least fight. If nothing else, I only had 2 minutes left, and if I put everything I had into it, maybe I could survive to the end with my pride in one piece. I lowered the barrier and created a giant sledgehammer. I could control my constructs by mind, so I didn't have to actually hold it. As the ice soldiers stepped up, I swatted 20 of em' down with each swing. It went on like this for 20 seconds, but, just as I was starting to feel hopeful, my feet started to freeze, and the ice started rising!
I kept up my swings for as long as I could, but the soldiers were getting closer, and I would soon be overpowered. I ditched the hammer and created a laser cannon, like the ones those stupid robots always use. I put as much of my energy as I could into the laser cannon and fired a blast so powerful it ripped right through the ice army, and even knocked the ice twerp off of his stupid throne! Of course the blast didn't take Iceman out, rather than seriously tick him off. When he got up, his eyes glowed like blue flames, and the ice, which had already spread up to my waist, felt so cold, it started to burn!
The ice spread all over my body at a steady rate, burning like crazy, which in itself was a surreal experience. The ice reached my neck, and by then I was getting desperate! If only I had more heat, I could melt the ice right off of my body. I closed my eyes and concentrated; ignoring the pain that was engulfing my body. I focused on the sun, on its power and heat. That's what I needed right now. So what if I wasn't in direct contact with the sun? The sun was a part of me! In me! Was me! I focused hard, imagining the blazing heat of that beautiful star building inside of me, waiting to burst. Just when it seemed that I would be completely immersed in the ice, I screamed a crazy, spoiled brat, tantrum-like scream. I wanted this ice off of me, I wanted it to be warm in here, and I wanted it right now!
When I screamed, the temperature in the room drastically rose. Any and all glass in range was immediately shattered into bits. In fact, the room where Jason and I watched Grant fight was now exposed. Of course, I heard Jason and Grant panicking and cussing like sailors. Jesus, those two were idiots. Anyway, my stunt had worked. I had successfully channeled the power of the sun, and it was resonating from my mouth in the form of a sonic scream! The newfound warmth restored my powers to full, and I easily shattered my icy bonds. After escaping, I created my own army of Sun Warriors, as well as two awesome looking Solar Blades, and charged at Iceman. Iceman, though weakened, was not down and out yet, he created another ice army, and we clashed in an epic battle of ice and fire!
I left the ice warriors to my army, and charged Iceman directly. He had also created two ice blades, but I could tell he had no idea how to use them. I slashed at him from two different directions, and when he blocked my strikes, I kneed him in the chest, sending him staggering backwards. I relentlessly attacked Iceman with a flurry of slashes, kicks, and stabs. It was so funny to watch him fumble around, trying to stop me from hitting him but ultimately, he was outclassed. By the way, did I forget to mention that i've been practicing fencing and Kung-Fu since I was six? Hmmm, must have slipped my mind. Anyway, I slashed Iceman down in a flurry of strikes to the arms, chest, legs, and by crashing the butt of my sword into his thick, pigheaded skull. Finally, I created a not so miniature sun, pulled him inside, I made the sun explode, unleashing an unbelievable blaze that threw Iceman so high, he crashed into the ceiling! He would have hit the floor if I didn't help him, but I wasn't that mean. I created a bed made of light to catch him, and he landed safely. Even if he was a jerk, I felt bad about hurting him. Maybe this was a part of an act, maybe he was just goading me so that I could learn to use my full power. I made myself a promise to apologize to him as soon as he woke up. Sure, he was a little mean but everyone deserves a second chance for a good impression.
"Well done Allyson," said Fury's voice over the intercom. "You had me worried for a moment but you held in there and pulled through. Good job. Final test. Jason Fuller, you're up."
I was immediately whisked away to the looking room with Grant. Jason was now on the floor getting ready for battle. Whoever he had to fight against, the poor soul wouldn't stand a chance.
(Jason's perspective)
Hey guys, did you miss me (don't answer that)? So those were some pretty good fights, huh? Grant was a total beast, Allyson was a survivor, and pulled through in the end, and now it was my turn. A flash of light dropped off my opponent. The guy looked like an X-Man, but was strangely different. He had silver hair that was pushed back, like the guy used a super fan to blow dry his hair. He was wearing a black leather battle suit that had a lightning bolt stretching diagonally across his chest. At first this made me a little on edge, because if this guy had lightning powers, either I would win really quickly, or the entire room was gonna be blown to electrical shreds. I couldn't focus on that though, as Fury had already begun to countdown, and I needed to get into my battle zone. I took a deep breath, steeled my nerves, and took a few seconds to think. If went into Speed Mode (yes, I know Grant thinks the name is stupid) then I could easily take this guy out before there was any trouble, and the fight would end in less than a second. Easy plan. Simple and effective. The countdown ended, and I charged at the guy for all I was worth.
Would you believe me if I told you that the fight lasted only a minute and thirty seconds? Cuz that was true, yet it was still one of the most intense, most brutal fights I had ever been in, in my entire life.
I charged at the silver haired guy, who charged back with speed to match. Fury set me up to fight another speedster, this was gonna be sooo much fun.
We clashed and exchanged blows. In less than a second we had both: punched at each other 100 times, ran all across the room 10 times, and had run up and down the walls at least 5 times. I quickly realized that this guy was fast. Not just fast fast, I mean REALLY FAST. He blocked, countered, and dodged my moves with ease, and was probably holding back to make the fight more fair. When he punched at me, I had to block and dodge like crazy. Even at my best, he still got in more than a few good hits to my chest, face and gut. No way was I gonna be able to beat him with speed alone, and clearly this guy was ONLY meant for speed.
Once we got past the half minute mark, which felt more like a minute thirty, I pulled out my Voltage Fists. I punched at him about twenty times, still decking nothin' but air, tho I did notice that he was blocking me at the arms, and making use of dodging more often than he used to. I take it that he knew lightning hurts. I used this as bait, and refrained from attacking him, waiting for him to make the next move. When he rushed me again with a punch barrage, I dodged as many as I could, but when he did manage to hit me in the gut, I grabbed his arm like it was a life line, shot a crazy amount of voltage up his arm, then, while still running, twisted his arm, yanked it, and hit him in the face with a hard right fist! The guy flew sideways several feet, and because he was knocked off of the ground, he was moving in slow motion! I quickly took advantage of the situation and pounced on him with a super speed, Voltage Fist, beatdown; hitting him at least 30 times, before he finally hit the ground! Once he did, I continued my assault, hitting him another 50 times. All of this happened in 2 seconds, and we were only 32 seconds into the fight.
The silver haired guy didn't take too kindly to my attack, and managed to stop one of my strikes, uppercut me hard under my chin, and drop kick me across the room. How he managed to kick me so far, I don't know. I did know that he would be on me faster than I could think, so as soon I hit the floor I created an electric barrier around myself. Not fast enough tho, as the guy was inside my barrier, and had already begun to attack. I managed to get up on my feet to defend myself before the guy had a chance to beat up on me. For 5 seconds, we were locked in a furious battle under my electrical force field. Silver Hair attacked me with a barrage of punches, but I dodged, or blocked all of them. In fact, now that I thought about it, being under this barrier was good for me. This guy needed space to be dominant in a fight. Trapped under this barrier, he couldn't run, and had less room to maneuver. I was about to use this to my advantage.
After blocking his attacks, I kicked at the guy, and when he caught my leg, I quickly used my other foot to kick him in the face, forcing him to drop me, and then used my arms to propel myself off of the ground, into a flying kick, sending him flying straight into the electric barrier! After he recovered from getting shocked and spazzing up on the floor, I kicked him in the chest, and through the barrier! The kick had a lightning bolt coming out of my foot, so it was pretty powerful. At this point I thought I had the fight won, so I summoned a thunderstrike to finish him. Instead of getting a crispy speedster, I saw lightning strike a metal floor, and felt the impact of a high speed punch find it's way to my face!
We fought like demons for the next 40 seconds. I was getting better at speedster fighting, as Silver Hair wasn't hitting me as much, but I still wasn't making much progress. For every time I hit him once, he hit me another 10 times. If I tried for any grab moves, he'd escape easily. I tried blasting him with lightning, but even that failed, as they were way too slow. Don't get me started on thunderbolts and lightning strikes. If I couldn't hit this guy with lightning blasts, what makes you think I could land a hit with a lightning strike from above, or a spear made of voltage? Anyway, I did eventually manage to hit him with a good combo. As we were speed fighting, Silver Hair threw a barrage of speed punches at me, maybe twenty strikes in half a sec. I blocked ten of the punches, avoided three, and got six planted in my face, and gut I managed to catch the last punch, grab the guy's arm, and hit him across the face with a thunder charged back hand! I held on to him and stopped abruptly; using our shared momentum to throw him several feet across the room in a painful face slide manner. Of course, the guy still wasn't done, and got back up for more, charging me faster than I could even react. He punched me in the face, gut, and wherever more times than I could count. He kicked me around the floor, and in the stomach so many times, I eventually stopped feeling the pain. What really took the cake was when he stood me up and attacked me with an onslaught of speed punches. How many times he hit me, I didn't know, but I was seriously pissed off, and wanted to pound this guy into the next century! I screamed at the top of my lungs and an electric shock wave, bigger than any other I had ever produced, erupted, knocking Silver Hair off his feet.
This time I was not gonna let him get his balance back as I went into Speed Mode Supreme, and charged the guy with some serious rage! I ran around his back, and kicked him hard, and sent him flying with my signature lighting blast out of my foot. While he was flying towards a wall, I caught up to him, kicked him to the right, then left, forward, backwards, into the air, and finished the wombo combo by summoning a lightning strike to plant him into the ground. This was probably enough to finish him, or at least slow him down enough for me to finish up, but I didn't want it to be that easy. I didn't know why, but I was really, really angry. Angrier than I had ever been in my life. Maybe it was the fact that I had never been as outclassed in a fight before, other than by Grant or Nightcrawler; and even then it was different. When Grant and I fought, we had a mutual level of respect for one another in terms of skills and power. We both realized that Grant was the superior fighter, due to his OP strength, but at the same time, Grant didn't let it go to his head. Likewise, Nightcrawler was my swordplay mentor, and even though I had a lot left to learn, Nightcrawler praised my achievements, and politely corrected my mistakes. The guy I was fighting now was not like that. I could tell he thought of me as a lesser person, a slower person, and that I had no right to even be in the same room as him. People like him made me so unbelievably angry! For the first time in a while, I remembered what it was like to want to hurt someone not because I had to, but because I could.
While still in Speed Mode Supreme, I charged silver dude, and attacked him with a Voltage Fist beatdown. In slow people time, the beatdown lasted about 20 seconds. I completely rage quit all over his sorry ass, hitting every inch of flesh I could. I didn't bother to redouble my energy to keep my speed going. I just dedicated that time to using the energy to inflict as much pain on the guy as inhumanly possible. To be honest, I think….no, i'm CERTAIN something temporarily snapped in my mind.
After I ran out of speed, I slammed my fists into the ground, causing a geyser of lightning to erupt under Silver Hair's feet, and launch him into the air. As he was flailing, I created a thunderbolt. I must have been more enraged than I thought, because my thunderbolt was way more than supercharged. Before the rational side of my brain had time to ask: 'Wait a second, couldn't this kill him?', I hurled the death bolt at him.
The explosion was so powerful, the blowback thrusted me into a wall. Nothin' like a hard hit to the back of your skull to knock you out of a frenzy. I heard Allyson scream, and with a jolt of guilt remembered that the windows were all shattered! I might have hurt her! I quickly got up and, thank God, saw that she was flying down unhurt over to Silver Hair. Grant came over to me, and gave me a pat on the shoulder. I heard Allyson sing over Silver Hair's body and with another pang of guilt, realized how much power I had unleashed through that thunderbolt. I remembered what the energy felt like. Basically two times the power of the Final Flash I blasted Ms. Marvel, who had super durability, with. I wasn't sure Silver Hair had as much resistance to lightning. I was pretty sure I had killed him. Thankfully after Allyson was done singing, he got up to his feet and began to walk….well limp anyway. Before I could go over to check on him, the voice of Fury spread over the intercom.
"Wow, Fuller," he said. "Good job I guess, but save that kind of firepower for the enemy, ok? Task force operation: Secret Warriors is now approved. Report to the command center for mission briefing."
Before I could figure out what that meant, Grant, Alyson, and I were teleported into a different room.