The next morning, Slade rose early to train by himself. Just as he was exiting his room, however, he heard footsteps down the hall signifying that a certain young girl was awake and out of her room as well. He walked all the way to the training room before turning and spotting her behind him. When Terra saw that he was looking his way, she paused, blushed, looked over her shoulder, then coughed once and hesitantly approached him. Slade noticed that she looked paler than usual.
"So, when are we going to train?" Terra asked.
Slade turned away from her. "Training will be postponed for several days due to your recent injury." Not even a fool could've missed the disappointment in her voice.
"Oh," she said. "Okay."
"However, I will allow you to perform light stretching in the training room while I perform my regimen," Slade said.
"Really?" Terra looked as though she'd just received word that her powers were of no danger to others any more. "For real?!"
Slade held back a smile. She'd been watching him for the past two weeks anyway. It was hard to ignore the small holes Terra had made in the walls of the training room at eye level. He cared little if she saw his training regimen, but it was still quite amusing nonetheless. "Follow."
Terra bounded into the training room and sat down on the floor, her eyes glowing with excitement. Then, realizing how she must've looked, she blushed, got up, and began stretching.
Slade walked over to a control panel hidden next to the door of the room. After shutting the door, he walked over to Terra and, using his bowstaff, marked a circle around her. "Do not exit out of this circle," he said. "If you remain there, the attacks will not hurt you."
Terra nodded with a grin.
Satisfied, Slade stood in the center of the room, glancing once more at Terra before speaking to the computer. "Begin training regimen. Level eight."
Instantly, four blasters appeared on his left and he dodged the blasts, rolling to his feet and flipping away from a large circular saw that swung down from the ceiling.
Slade heard Terra shout in amazement behind him, but it barely registered with him as he continued dodging the various attacks that were thrown at him. Fire on the left, blasters on the right, and fake floors beneath him which gave way to dangerous spike pits required all his concentration. Each time he dodged out of a deadly situation, he heard Terra's cheering and clapping behind him.
If Slade had been one to enjoy praise, Terra's shouts of awe and excited squeals might've touched something within him. He, however, was not. Being above the praise and adoration of others allowed him complete and utter focus in any and all situations. Though Terra complimented him several times, such things had no effect on him. To him, compliments were about as stimulating to him as was watching an ant march by his feet.
Finally, Slade relaxed. He stood up and let out a single breath.
"Wow!" Terra shouted, stepping forward with her mouth open in awe. "Slade, that was super amazin — "
"Stop!" Slade shouted. But it was too late. The instant her foot left the circle Slade drew for her, she stepped on an invisible trip wire that sent three razors shooting toward her. Her eyes widened in surprise, and in an instant, Slade was in front of her. He put his hands in front of his chest and deflected the razors, but one of the deflected attacks hit a panel in one corner of the room. Slade's eye widened as he realized what the panel did. Seeing every floor square of the room except one light up briefly, Slade knew he had only seconds. Grabbing Terra around the waist, he leaped into the only safe square in the room; a corner on the other side of the room. Pressing Terra into the wall, Slade himself barely had time to protect her using his own body before the trap went off and the entire room, save their own small square, lit up in flames.
The only thing louder than the roar of flames directly behind him was Terra's scream. Though Slade knew he could take both the flames themselves and the suffocating heat due to having trained in this situation hundreds of times before, Slade could see Terra crumbling. She couldn't take the heat. She could barely breathe.