Drop… Drop… Drop…
"Sorry, but I can't allow you to pass out on me like that."
Excruciating pain devoured through my nerves. I wish I could've acted though, but the torture was too severe. There's no way in hell I would have been able to put up a front. I felt the throb of my heart pounding at the back of my throat when the scorching metal slithered into my severed limb. Barf was forcing its way out of my mouth and sinus as I felt the iron weld with the inside of my wound. My irises were burning from the excessive flow of blood pulsating in the veins of my eyes. I might have slit my gums open from grinding my teeth in agony. I can't feel it, I'm just assuming from the amount of blood seeping through my mouth. I couldn't think. Or even breathe. I felt my lungs crisping in misery.
Drop… Drop… Drop…
My blood was gushing out now that they tore the rod out of me, dripping on the floor. The strain was still atrocious though. I could feel the suffering echoing into the marrow of my bones. The entirety of my body was trembling. I peed myself. That was smart of them though. The body usually shuts itself down in case of extreme trauma. But what I was experiencing was above that. I'm not passing out now.
"You can't even imagine how long I've waited for this. The feeling you get when you're anticipating something for so fucking long. When you keep waiting and waiting and waiting. This eager feeling of awaiting your solstice. But then, finally, the apogee presents itself. The exhilarating satisfaction born from the time passed to come is a feeling like no other: complete salvation."
Drop… Drop… Drop…
I may not pass out, but I might die of blood loss. I don't know how long I've been there. I'm guessing a good while because, after the severe beating and the tireless torture I have endured, I had time to recover enough to be able to think straight. I know who he is now. I know what I'm doing here. That bastard. He won. He completely shut down my will to live. I lost. All that's left is loneliness and sorrow. Staying alive would mean walking a path of grief and despair. I can't do that. Now that I lost everything. Now that I have lost everyone. I cannot walk this path alone. Death plundered the lives of all the people I have ever loved. Since I have stared at mortality as a kid, I have been begging for death to put an end to my misery. I cannot start to describe the sentiment I had to endure seeing all of my family, and all of my friends passing, when I'm the one who wanted to die this whole time. After living my whole life solely to protect everyone, this is how I'm rewarded? I guess it really is all I get from trying to do good: unforgiving inequity. I am defeated.
"Kill me."
"As your God, I will decide on that."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6 hours before The Training.
"Code names?"
As the hologram was glowing over his bracelet, James moved to the edge of his seat, staring with confused eyes at what he was seeing. He kept switching his glaze between the glowing document and the confident eyes of the old scientist, begging for some clarifications.
"Names, young man, not code names."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I have chosen you to be my right-hand man this very year. There are a lot of things you do not know, James. Outsiders are very different from us. You see, even though for us, names are at the root of our lives. We don't even think about it. We are bestowed names as we are born into this world. That's just how it is. But it isn't for them. They just gave up on giving names to their children centuries ago. This young generation probably doesn't understand what names are. Not only that, you may have realized they don't know how to read or count. But that's not really it, young man. They don't even know the very concepts of letters and numbers. They have no acknowledgement of their existence. And they need not to know. Their sole purpose is to produce kids for us. Once they grow up they are engulfed into The Foundation. Alphabet and numbers, they are unnecessary for any of them outside the walls. They have no purpose in being alive. That's until I give them a purpose.»
Are you even listening to yourself? They are unaware of the very concept of letters and numbers? What kind of brainwashing and knowledge cleansing has our ancestry been through? That's fucked up. You are. Every time I'm reminded that you're invested in so much dark shit, you just keep outdoing yourself. I'm no better. I'm a coward. I know too well that if I just start digging, I'm gonna find atrocities. Exactly why I don't. I'm just enjoying my comfy seat here. Eyes closed.
"All these soldiers are gonna play a part in a war to win back our rights. Only because I gave them powers. Hence, what you are reading, is the list of names I came up with for them. For being the one who gave them a rebirth, I shall be the one dubbing them with fitting names."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6 hours later.
The mood in the room is strange. I can feel desire and indignation. I can feel the eagerness and resentment from the others. I guess they are both looking forward to training and angry at The Foundation. I don't know what they've been through. I don't necessarily care either honestly. I'm just looking forward to seeing the extent of my abilities. I think he's ready to start now.
How am I supposed to go on with this? Well, shit.
"Ok, kids. I have to do this before we do anything else. I'll give you names. That's the thing that.. you know.. what you guys are gonna... you know. Call each other. So you guys better learn them. At least remember your own, the rest is gonna just work out. Probably. Hopefully. Anyways. I'm just gonna go through the list."
Let's see here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#2: Richter
#3: Chuck
#9: Mute
#13: Sprout
#16: Drool
#21: Savvy
#26: Blister
#31: Bass
#35: Bang
#42: Lunchbox
#43: Butcher
#47: Spike
#48: Undead
#51: Nuke
#56: Jab
#67: Cortex
#84: Morph
#88: Rouge
#89: Kage
#91: Flow
#98: Gum
#101: Akuma
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akuma? What does that mean? That sounds so weird. I haven't heard anything that sounds like that before. I quite didn't catch all the other words. I only really listened when he talked to the people in our group. Well. Their group. I still don't think I deserve to say I'm in that group. Well, at least that's not for me to decide. But anyway. So the loud guy is Jab. The big guy is Mute. I guess those make sense. Savvy is the blonde, Rouge is the girl in bad shape and Spike is the smiley one. It'll be easier now to refer to them like that. Short and easy. But now that makes me wonder. Is it because we're soldiers? That girl, the Commander, they refer to her as Blue right? So that must mean we get those names once we become full-fledged soldiers? I'm just assuming.
"That's so lame! I refuse to acknowledge any of these! I'm the one who named you! Drunky, Key, Blondie, Talkie and Ballsy Creep!"
James frowned at Spike's outburst.
She had nicknames for her friends? Weren't they supposed to not know what names are? I mean, I guess it's not so hard to imagine that there would be leaks in a brainwashing operation of such a scope. Or maybe she truly didn't know and it's just her human nature? It doesn't matter.
"Anyway. Do try to remember those. If anything, come ask me again. Just not too much. Also, a valuable piece of information for you guys. Those are based on your medical status. Which are directly tied to your powers. I'm not so much of an expert in that field, so I will pass it to who knows it all."
Related to our powers? What does Akuma mean then? That doesn't help at all. What about the others? Jab? It has to do with his arm. Mute? What does being mute have to do with superhuman abilities? As for Savvy and Rouge, it's just like mine. I don't know these words. I'm in the dark. This will be bad. Doc is entering. Jab is gonna snap. Ok. That's good. Savvy is calming him down. He's not the only one angry, though. Just the loudest.
"Hello, Soldiers. I am glad to see so many of my new Soldiers gathered, ready to enter the new phase. This is an important day for The Foundation. The powers that have been bestowed upon you from my very hands are what we will rely on for our survival. They are the blades that will behead humanity's most frightening treath that are the Hollows. You will live your life, honing that blade to its utmost capacity, hunting down those monsters until none are setting foot on our ground. And for that to happen, I need to educate you on them. If you are to forget anything I have said during this meeting, at least remember the major rule of these powers: the greater the loss, the greater the gain. This simple principle is closely tied to the biological concept of human adaptation. If you lose a hand, you'll learn to use the other. Logical. However, if you stretch that postulate over a greater period of time, it completely changes its nature. It is not adaptation anymore, it's evolution. If humans were deprived of a hand since their birth, through generations and generations and generations, they would slowly evolve into a new version of humans. This new form would possess an individual hand, but it would be much stronger than if they still had the pair. Now take this immense phenomenon spread over a tremendous period, and condense it in a singular, small and trivial syringe. The serum is a compacted and compressed form of that evolution, injected in a sole human. It is but to be expected that such tremendous circumstances would result in such a reaction from the human body, leading to the casualties that we are sadly all familiar with."
"Don't you fucking dare cry their deaths. Not you. You don't own the right to do so."
Nobody tried to stop Jab. In fact, I think they are all grateful. They all feel the same, but nobody would've had the guts to say anything, to stand up for their deceased friends.
That fucking kid.
"Silence. Next time I am interrupted by any of you, the culprit will receive a proper sanction. As I was saying. The strong reaction of the human body is to be expected. However, the risk pays off. In the case somebody can withstand the injection, it is a complete win for us. They are now worth more than an entire army of normal humans. Now, for the abilities. As I mentioned, it is based on the principle of evolution and adaptation. Loss and gain. To illustrate that, here's an example. Jab, over there, has so tragically lost his arm."
His yelling is muffled by Mute's hand who's covering his mouth. If it wasn't for him shutting him up, Jab would've gotten in trouble. Doc is smirking.
"I can't begin to imagine the hardship that has caused you, young man. However, rejoice. Since that left arm of yours is gone, as an effect of that cause, your right arm is now immensely stronger. The same thing applies to your right eye. It is now more acute and perceptive. That type is called equal exchange. One gains something to counter the loss. This is by far the most common of all the types. For the luckier people, they get what we call a direct causal link. The soldier acquires a new ability after a change in its body. For its survival. No direct loss is needed. To illustrate that, we have Nuke here. When she got the injection, her internal body temperature became chaotic and entered a phase of heat overdrive. To survive, her body evolved to be able to rework the components of her sweat, giving it an extremely low temperature. This new sweat adapted, allowing it to cool down her body. Therefore, her body now produces an ice-cold substance that can damage her body if too cold. In contrast to the most common type, she did not have to lose something to gain power, but instead earned an ability through a direct causal reaction. But, there is another type. A type that cannot be explained. Its rarity plays a part in that. I won't say more about that. Now, I believe important for me to clarify something. All the types hold good to each other. Types have nothing to do with how powerful you are. It all depends on how you use them. However, you need to learn what your abilities are. Even I do not know about that. You all have to figure it out on your own. That is the exact purpose of these trainings. Let's not waste more time. You will start with an advanced close combat segment. You've learned the basic techniques of fist fights, alone against a singular target. But now, you will practice under circumstances closer to the actual missions you will be affected by, which is teaming up against the enemy. You will exercise in melee, grouping against the same target. I have already prepared teams for this portion of the drills based on your development as Rookies and the results of the tests you took not long ago. So the better you are at close combat, the stronger your sparring companion will be. James here will take care of that. Train hard. Become people you are proud to be. Be useful to the Foundation. Be useful to humanity. That is all for me."
James clapped his hands.
"Alright kids, you heard the man. Let's get started."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Swift's Group: Flow, Chuck, Bang, Butcher
Rowdy's Group: Kage, Nuke, Mute, Spike
Blue's Group: Jab, Akuma, Lunchbox, Morph
Mohs's Group: Undead, Gum, Drool
Bowie's Group: Sprout, Bass, Blister
Gale's Group: Savvy, Rouge, Richter
It's the first time I'm around people who aren't from the main gang. Jab is still there. He seemed disappointed about being stuck with me. The others look chill. The girl is a bit closed on herself, she doesn't talk, while the guy is a bit more outgoing. All the groups are split up around the Coliseum. They are all getting pitched the rules. Blue is about to explain to us.
"Alright gang. If any of you were holding a grudge against me for wasting you during the tests, this is the time you can pay it back. It's pretty straightforward. The sound cue rings and you all come at me trying to take me down."
"Isn't that unfair? All of us against you?"
Lunchbox was it? I think so. Looks like he's pretty confident, saying that to her face.
"You're wrong. It's now a fair match-up. For me to train that is."
"Don't underestimate me. I can fight back now, I'll make sure to lend a good hit on you."
Jab sounds bitter from getting laid down on the first punch.
"Yeah right. Just make sure to put action behind that lousy mouth of yours. Anyway. After a while, another sound cue will ring. That means we stop. I will then individually give you my thoughts on your techniques, and try to help you guys improve. And we start again. We will be doing that for the next few days. Just don't forget this: I'm genuinely here to help you guys. We Outsiders gotta stick together in this shit. Okay? Now let's do this."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Normies double-checked if her ponytail was firmly held by the hair tie crowning the back of her head. She took her time to position her headphones, meticulously choosing the song. Once the first notes whistled a breeze in her ears, she entered her zone. The cue echoed. She already left her spot.
Blue proposed herself to the only other woman in the group. She planned to take her down first. Nobody had time to react, that The Normie was already in Morph's face. Before any of them realized she wasn't behind the cloud of smoke she created with her leap, she cocked her arm. She was sure to land a hit before her target could notice. She did lend her punch, but it wasn't unnoticed.
She saw the pupils in Morph's eyes sharpen, and point directly at the attack. At the last instant, the young soldier blocked the blow, before being launched back. Blue's momentum was immediately stopped in its tracks when she realized she was facing targets stronger than she anticipated. She smiled.
I sent her far enough. It'll be a bit before she joins back the fight. Now I need t-
As the blue-haired girl was drawing back her punch, a fist was already threatening her temple. As her eye saw the knuckles dangerously approaching her head, she knew she had to dodge; the punch was coming from Jab. She heard from the tests; he packs a punch. She had to give him that.
As his fist touched her skin, she swiftly contortioned her body and let the power of the punch roll off her face. She continued her flow of action to sweep along his forearm and lend a powerful strike to Jab's jaw with the back of her hand, sending him flying. Before she could fill her lungs with oxygen again, she finished her rotation and found herself looking straight at the sole of Lunchbox's boot. He was already onto her.
She rapidly brought her hands in front of her, aiming to catch the imminent blow. However, her arms got locked in their motion from behind. Akuma rushed to hold her down. She didn't even fret. Blue had already processed a counterattack. She used the body holding her down from the back to lean her weight on it, press her foot against her target's sole and push to jump. Lunchbox's momentum suddenly changed direction and was now aimed directly towards the ground, making him lose balance. Blue made use of her jump motion to connect a powerful kick on Lunchbox's chin, causing important damage.
The Commander broke off from Akuma's grab and graciously wrapped her legs around his neck, effectively locking his throat. Once she was secured on his shoulders, she started to throw a voracious barrage of blows, switching from hammer punch to elbow strikes, on the man's head. They seemed to have no effect.
I knew he was resilient, but that's pushing it. I even made sure to not hold back on him as I did for the others too.
She could only manage a few attacks on her unfazed prey before she felt her azure stripes being firmly pulled. Jab's goal was to take her off his fighting partner. Humbly knowing she couldn't possibly shake down his grip, The Normie quickly shifted her placement and smoothly reproduced the same technique around Jab's neck. Hoping to make him let go of her hair, she strongly started to choke him with her lower limbs. To her surprise, Jab didn't act as she envisioned. He didn't interpret the situation like he was the one stuck. She was.
Jab then did the best he could to march towards his companions while his brain's flow of blood was drastically starting to decrease. Akuma immediately caught on to Jab's idea, and he immediately turned to face the Commander. Her hair gripped, she couldn't escape. Luckily for her, Jab was already starting to lose strength. She used this opportunity to grab the root of her ponytail and pull it out of the loosening grip. She undid the lock and jumped off of Jab's hovering body, pushing him into Akuma.
Morph and Lunchbox were coming back for some more. They immediately split up, flanking The Normie on both sides. The Commander dropped her center of gravity down and swiped Lunchbox's legs with a robust sweeping kick, throwing him on his back. Blue then instantly rose mid-rotation and stormed Morph with effective and vigorous jabs. She was immensely astonished to see her target was autonomously blocking every single hit. Even though they were blocked, Morph's defence was still weak, and she couldn't keep up with Blue's speed. That allowed the Commander to launch a heavy hook to her liver, forcing her down to her knees, coughing blood. The Normie kicked her in the face, blasting her away.
Before Blue could throw her finishing blow on Lunchbox as he was on the ground, Akuma and Jab dashed at her. The Normie didn't flinch and immediately issued a barrage of punches and kicks, giving an equal beating to both of them back and forth, alternatively. They were hardly holding their ground, trying to slip some punches on their assailant. Without avail. Blue effortlessly shook and rolled off all of them. After a short one-sided exchange of blows, Lunchbox was back on his feet, positioning himself to blitz the Commander in her back as she was already busy. Without looking, she sensed the attack menacing her rear.
She taped in her vast insight of martial arts to shift mid-fight to a more flowy style. She graciously took control of the strike aimed at her back and adroitly manipulated the force and momentum of her foe's attack to reroute his punch into Jab's sternum, forcing bile and saliva out of his mouth, splashing her shoulder. She didn't waste a second to stop her forward motion and recoil her elbow, and the force in it, to pummel Lunchbox's diaphragm, knocking him out of the bout. The two soldiers were left on the ground, gasping for air. She immediately had to duck Akuma's hook that was coming her way. He wasn't going to let her catch her breath. He immediately followed up with a kick, which she easily dodged.
He's resilient, but he sucks at close combat. He has no idea what he's doing. It's almost as if.. he forgot how to fight. As he is now, he's nothing more than a punching bag.
The blue-haired Commander shifted up her engine. She was throwing countless blows per second. Morph, who was coming back to attack while wiping the blood seeping out of her nose, hesitated for a moment as she saw The Normie. Akuma was tanking the hits. But something changed in him.
It's like last time.
The young man's eyes shunned red. He was no longer only taking the hits, he was blocking them. The young woman responded as instinctively as Akuma was intercepting those moves. She leaped at Blue, spinning in the air to collect momentum. The Normie saw that kick coming from her peripheral. She extended her arm in the middle of her barrage of blows to catch Morph's leg. However, before she could extend it enough, she felt her forearm getting squeezed. Since she got distracted for an instant, Akuma was able to break through her overwhelming rush and catch both her arms. Blue was shocked, she could feel the two ruby spheres staring at her.
My arms are getting crushed from his grip!? And this feeling he's letting off... What is he?!
Blue immediately snapped out of it and bounced off the ground. She was now preparing a heavy kick in order to counter the one that was coming her way.
There's no way these kids are gonna lend a hit on m-!
Her foot was forcefully brought back to the ground. She felt a painful squeeze around her ankle. Jab had crawled to her to grab her ankle and pin her down.
"You're not escaping this time!"
Well damn, that wasn't half bad for a bunch of newbies. However...
Akuma and Jab felt something change under their grip. Blue bulked up and flexed-busted out of her jail. In a blink, she disappeared. She immediately appeared in front of all of them, suspended in the air. She violently gripped Morph's throat before she could land. The Normie then brutally slammed the girl on the ground with her hand still firmly gripped around her neck, forming a crater at impact. Morph couldn't breathe for a short time; her vision went black. Feeling a dangerous threat all of a sudden, Akuma's body instinctively leaped back.
The Commander immediately went after the one-armed soldier on the ground. She crouched in front of him and picked up his long hair from his scalp. She stood up, one-handedly lifting him from the ground. Jab squinted his face and tried to throw a hook on her cheek. Blue headbutted the drunkster's nose, dodging his punch at the same time. She let go of her grip, watching him crumble on the floor. The Normie looked around. Akuma was behind her, and Lunchbox was in front. Lucky for them, the bell rang.
Blue paused the song playing and removed her headphones. She waved at them to gather around her.
"Honestly, that was pretty good. I was bummed to have to do this training thing, thinking it was going to be a waste of time. But I'm glad you proved me wrong, this looks like it's gonna be good training for me too. Obviously, you guys have room for improvement. Lunchbox, you didn't get the chance to do much. Don't take it personally, I'm your opponent after all. You had good form, but I'd say you need to learn to work more in a team.
"You went against all of us and we couldn't even hit you. You got my respect."
"You're talking like your respect is something valuable to me, but thanks anyway. Morph. It didn't matter how strong any of you were since nobody was gonna lend a hit on me, that's why I planned to go at the target that was easiest to blast away. I thought that was you, but I couldn't have been more wrong. You have amazing reflexes, and your intuition is on point. I heard from Adam that you don't really speak. I don't know if that has to do with something, but I'd say your natural instinct might be related to your powers."
"Hm."
"Right. Now, Akuma. You're tough. I don't think I really hurt you, did I?"
"Not really, no."
"I could tell. Your defence sucks, don't get it twisted. You block with your face, you have no technique. That's until your eyes change. When they glow red, you turn to an automated machine. That's when you start to block for real. However, you're trash when it comes to offence. You don't look like you know what you're doing. I don't know the details, but I get that you're kind of a special case. I'll help you, starting back with the basics."
"Thanks."
"Jab. You're not bad, but you're not great. And I mean, it's not your fault. Missing an arm immensely decreases both your defence and your attack. Having said that, you're still doing good. You've got guts, and you're the only soldier in this group who could knock me down if you actually hit me. But then again, with only an arm, it's hard to hit your target. I'll try to help you with that."
"Don't worry. I stand true to my words. Just give me a few more rounds."
"I'll be looking forward to that. Now. Use this opportunity to recover. If you have any bad injuries just tell me, we will get Venom to look at you. How's everybody?"
The drunkster scoffed through his swollen nose, smiling.
"This is nothing."
Blue looked him in the eyes. She smiled. She looked at the others. They're all determined.
"Glad to hear it. I'm barely heated up."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~