Corpies (Super Powereds Spinoff Book 1) (24 page)

“Whenever you’re both ready, the room is clear,” Gale called from her corner. Ostensibly it was her letting them know they were safe to proceed, but in reality it was her way of telling them to get the damn show on the road.

“You good to go?” Granite asked.

“Ready when you are,” Owen confirmed.

Granite gave a nod, then stood up tall and began to speak to those watching on the other end of the cameras.

“We will now commence the offense portion of the power assessment. Titan’s goal is to break through my durable body as much as possible, incapacitating me if he’s able. This portion of the assessment will be timed, lasting only two minutes. Since this is purely testing his destructive potential, I will not be fighting back. If, at any point, I feel I am in genuine danger, I am allowed to call ‘stop’ and the assessment will be halted. Titan, are you ready?”

“Hell yes,” Titan replied, giving his knuckles a good cracking for emphasis. A little showmanship wouldn’t be such a bad idea here and there.

“Then let the assessment begin!”

The words were scarcely out of Granite’s mouth when Titan’s first punch connected. It was a straightforward jab to the massive slab of rock that constituted Granite’s torso. There was barely time to register what had happened before the several tons of stone that composed Granite’s body were hurled backward, slamming into the wall with enough force to crack both it and Granite.

“Holy shit,” Spring said, eyes widening as one of the strongest, heaviest Supers she knew got chunked across the room. “That’s a hell of a punch.”

“We’ve always known Titan was strong,” Gale replied, working hard to keep her tone neutral. “It’s part of what he’s renowned for.”

“Still. . ..”

As she spoke, Titan walked over to the wall where Granite was pulling himself back to a standing position. The big stone man had barely gotten to his feet before he felt another blow to his torso. He was pinned against the wall as Titan drove his fingers forward, burrowing each digit into Granite’s chest.

“This doesn’t hurt you, right?” Titan asked.

“It doesn’t feel like a fucking Thai massage.” Granite winced, more at the language than discomfort. Even though it would be bleeped, the bleep would still be there, and Gale was going to ride his ass hard for swearing on camera.

“Just cry uncle if it gets too bad.” Using his drilled grip on Granite’s torso, Titan lifted the stone giant up and began slamming him violently into the wall, over and over as concrete and pieces of Granite rained down at his feet. He kept this up for nearly half a minute then flung his fractured opponent across the room, slamming him into another wall.

“Okay. . . that kind of sucked,” Granite coughed out. Even as his body reshaped itself, he could see Titan’s approaching feet. “Credit where it’s due: those stories about you weren’t all talk. You hit pretty freaking hard.”

Titan grabbed Granite’s leg, gripping so hard that cracks shot through it. “Hitting hard isn’t that big of a deal. Lots of Supers can do it. What makes a good fighter is how well you think through your battles. Also, and I say this as nicely as I can, you haven’t even seen me hit hard yet.”

With that, he swung the massive stone Super over his shoulder like he was doing little more than hoisting a sack of flour. He smashed Granite into the floor. Like he had on the wall earlier, he continued the assault for some time, creating all manner of craters and debris in the previously immaculate floor. Eventually the leg came off in Titan’s hands, so he went back to pummeling Granite’s torso across the walls, only to change it up a few seconds later.

At long last, Gale’s voice rang through the training arena. “Time’s up!”

Titan stopped mid-blow, standing up and giving a small bow to his opponent. Then he handed back the stone arm that he’d been using to attack Granite’s head. Granite accepted the appendage begrudgingly, pulling himself slowly back together now that the onslaught had finally ceased.

“You really don’t go halfway with your attacks, do you?” Granite asked.

Titan flashed him a smile that made Granite feel uneasy in the pit of his reforming stomach. “You might be surprised. Maybe one day you’ll see me in a not-so-friendly environment.”

“Well, I hope you can get as well as you give,” Granite said. “Defense is next, and I know who you’re going against.”

“Let me guess: Gale.”

“Ha! You wish,” Granite said, shaking his large rocky noggin. “No such luck, old man. We’re putting you against our heaviest damage dealer. You have to survive Birdsman.”

44.

Birdsman stepped forward from behind the barrier while as Granite wandered back that direction. The barrier wouldn’t hide his substantial bulk, but given that he’d just survived a two-minute lashing from Titan and knew his teammate’s power well, he wasn’t too worried about catching any crossfire.

Birdsman moved slowly, a man whose age had slowed him the way that no enterprising criminal had been able to. His plodding pace would have been comforting to his opponent, if Titan had been an idiot. He’d read up extensively on Elemental Fury and knew all too well that this man’s physique had nothing to do with his power.

“As you inquired with Granite, so I must now ask of you: do you have any vulnerabilities that I should take care to avoid?” Birdsman spoke these words softly when he drew close, his voice weathered yet still tough, like finely tanned leather.

“Not unless you’ve got a secret ability you’re holding in reserve,” Titan replied. For a Hero who had been around as long as Birdsman, it was highly unlikely that he’d kept a hidden ace up his sleeve. Unlikely, but not impossible.

“If I did, I’d hardly show it off over a thing like this.” The older man gave him a wry smile then walked back across the room. As he did, he started speaking to the cameras, filling his voice with volume and authority.

“We will now commence the defensive portion of the assessment. I shall attack Titan for two minutes or until he calls for me to stop. He is free to dodge or negate my attacks however he pleases, though he may not counterattack me in any way. When time is up, we shall assess how adept he was at defending against the onslaught. Titan, are you ready?”

“One quick question: I’ve never fought a Super of your kind in one of these before, so is it just you that I can’t attack?”

The older Hero gave a small nod. “You are to move and act purely defensively during this portion of the assessment. No exceptions. Any more questions?”

“No, sir. Ready whenever you are.” Titan kept his tone a touch more respectful with Birdsman; the man had been a Hero when Owen was still in the Sizemore Tech HCP, and the number of lives he’d saved through the years was commendable.

“The timer starts with my first attack.” Birdsman raised his arms, palms facing Titan and fingers outstretched. “Fire Eagle! Lightning Falcon!”

Bursting forth from the thin air a few inches in front of Birdsman’s hands came a pair of glowing avian creatures, each so bright it strained the eyes to look at them directly. They soared through the confined space, one made of flames, the other composed of crackling electricity. Each did a single lap around the room then dove directly for Titan.

In the back of his mind, Titan hoped Hexcellent was paying attention to Birdman’s style. The man was an experienced summoner; even a Hero who’d been on the job for years could learn from the way he controlled his creatures. Titan didn’t let this sentiment distract him, however, and he sidestepped Fire Eagle, causing the flaming bird to sear the concrete before returning to the sky. Lighting Falcon hit him square in the shoulder, burying its talons in his flesh; it moved too fast for anyone without super-speed to dodge.

Titan threw himself back toward a wall as Lightning Eagle released its grip. He couldn’t do much, but he hoped he could at least minimize the angles they’d be able to attack from. The large man bounced off the concrete wall, sending a fair bit of debris cascading down it just as Fire Eagle took another shot at him.

This time it didn’t bother diving; instead it unleashed a wide cone of flame from its beak. Titan managed to scramble away, taking another strike from Lightning Eagle in the process. He had to hand it to Birdsman: the man was managing to keep him totally off guard. And this was only with two of his summons.

As Titan put some distance between himself and the avian attackers, he heard Birdsman say something else. Unfortunately, the crackling bolts of energy that Lightning Eagle hurled from its wings made it impossible for Titan to make out the actual words. He was able to put it together a few seconds later when he was struck from behind with such heat and force that he stumbled forward.

Turning around, Titan already knew the back of his uniform was toast. Whatever had hit him was far more powerful than lighting or fire. Given that he hadn’t been knocked clean across the room, there was only one remaining summon that could have done it.

Floating in the air, burning too hot to look at dead-on, was Plasma Hawk. It flapped its narrow wings once and a lance of energy struck out toward Titan. He jerked to the side, reflexes stepping in where basic processing failed. The beam struck one of the far walls. It lasted only a second, but where it had hit the concrete was gone, revealing a now white-hot metal reinforcement. Even the area around it was bubbling, concrete dripping slowly to the floor.

“Holy sh- crap.” Titan said. “I’ve seen videos, but that thing is
intense
up close.”

“You did say you could handle everything in my repertoire,” Birdsman pointed out. “Which makes me wonder, why are you jumping around so much?”

“Because unlike some people, I have to pay to replace these damn costumes.” Titan leapt up and back as he spoke, dodging a strike from Plasma Hawk, but falling right into Fire Eagle and Lighting Falcon’s clutches. The two tore at him until he hit the ground and recovered himself, just in time to narrowly avoid another blast from Plasma Hawk.

By the time the two minutes had finally passed, Titan’s outfit was halfway to shambles. His shirt was more rags than covering, and one of the legs of his pants had burned off below the knee. Only his mask, no doubt at Birdsman’s direction, had been left unassaulted. The room itself had taken a few knocks as well; the attacks Titan managed to dodge had scorched and melted the concrete. It spoke great lengths about Birdsman’s control that the corner where his team was watching remained perfectly unscathed. The only thing in the room completely unharmed, aside from those hidden behind a barrier, was Titan himself. Despite the birds’ constant barrage, he’d come through without so much as mild shock or burn.

Gale had watched his refusal to be injured with the same passively detached face she’d worn throughout the entire offensive assessment. They’d known it was a longshot that Birdsman might be able to do even a little visible damage to Titan, but she’d still held on to hope.

In the end, it didn’t matter, though. She’d never counted on showing up Titan in either of the first two categories. No, she’d staked their pride on the final part of the assessment, and as she walked out from behind the barrier, Gale found it hard to keep down her grin.

She was going to break the will of a threat to her city and increase the prestige of her team all in a single blow. This would be a good day.

45.

               Elemental Fury followed Gale as she moved away from the barrier, fanning out with each step. Birdsman’s summons floated back over to him, hovering a few feet above his head. Titan watched all of this with careful eyes, keeping track of as many Supers’ positions as possible. By his guess, when things started, he wouldn’t have much margin of error to work in.

“Clearly, you did well on the first two assessments,” Gale said. “Your strength and endurance are still renowned to this day. However, there is more to being a Hero than brute force. And there is more than one way to be taken down. For the last portion of your exam, I think we would like to see how you fare against a myriad of threats, ones you cannot simply punch your way through.”

All five members of Elemental Fury were facing him, spread out in three quarters of a circle. When their assault came, it would be fast and coordinated. These weren’t a bunch of kids or amateurs; this was a seasoned team used to working with and relying on one another. Titan’s eyes quickly swept his surroundings. He’d done all the prep work he could; now what remained was to see if it would be enough.

“In order to test how you think on your feet, we’ve decided to do the trial of AMBUSH!”

Gale screamed the last word, and Titan dove toward the floor. He barely avoided the blast of wind as his fingers raced across the ground. Quickly rolling to his feet, he looked up to see where the next attack was coming from. Unfortunately, it was at exactly that moment that his world went black. There was no light, no shapes, not so much as a speck of movement, despite the sounds of motion he could clearly hear around him.

The darkness meant he wasn’t able to see the next of Gale’s attacks, which struck him in the chest and lifting him off his feet. No sooner was he in air than the humming clatter of footsteps filled his ears. Too fast for a normal person, which meant Spring was racing around him. Titan’s mind darted back to the sash she wore that clashed with her outfit. He thrust his right arm up in the air just as Spring turned his legs, left arm, and torso into a tightly coiled cocoon; thankfully, the arm remained free. Then she was gone. In her place came the thundering sound of wind in his ears. He was being lifted off the ground into the air by what he could only assume was a localized tornado.