Thursday 19th August 2010, 19:30.
Rhode Island,
Happy Harbour,
Mount Justice.
Parrying a blow to one side, Esau ducked under a cross from Superboy before coming up with a swipe that the topless clone leaned back to avoid. Not letting this rare opportunity of space go by, Esau stepped forwards while simultaneously spinning around as to slam a spinning back kick into Superboy's exposed chest.
However, despite still being a heavy brawler that focused more on power than technique, Superboy was far from as vulnerable as his form might lead one to believe. His time spent training with Esau, Aqualad, Black Canary and the rest of the team had helped him build up a great deal of experience, but more importantly, reflexes. These, aided by his natural powers gave Superboy all the necessary ability to handle little openings like these with ease that covered for his mistakes.
He timed it perfectly, hands swinging around faster than Esau could react so that as soon as the blonde's foot impacted his chest, both of Superboy's hands had wrapped around his ankles. The two remained rooted there for nary a moment, Superboy's smirk of victory clear to see as he lifted Esau into the air and swung him around, slamming him onto the floor.
"Fail, Maelstrom."
"Good one." Esau grunted out, cracking his neck before accepting Superboy's hand, allowing the clone to pull him to his feet. "That puts it at 13-3 in your favour." Esau said, suppressing his power and returning back to his original or as Wally had coined, his base state.
"You are getting better." Kaldur congratulated as he came up and clasped one hand on Superboy's shoulder in congratulations on his victory.
Superboy, despite his victory still wasn't overly pleased. "Yeah, but only because of my powers. No offence Esau, but not even in that form can you match me in a battle of strength or speed. It was less a victory due to my skill and more down to the difference in our powers."
"None taken." Esau shrugged. "But don't put yourself down. You're right that the difference in our powers is definitely the reason for my loss. You yourself getting stronger by being exposed to sunlight, but even so, it's obvious to all of us that you're becoming a more skilled fighter. You're sure as hell better than I was at your age." The running gag about Superboy's actual age never failed to get a smile from either of them. "Anyway, I think it's time for you two to go at it, I'm going to rest."
While not as physically taxing on his body anymore, a definite sign that he was getting better at controlling his power, using them still took a physical and mental toll on his body. More so mental than physical now, but even then, trying to concentrate on a fight as well as ignoring the rage that came with his powers was draining.
"Alright, my friend." Kaldur agreed, patting Esau on the back as he stepped out of the ring leaving Kaldur and Superboy behind while moving to sit down on one of the benches they had brought from the changing rooms. It was shoved to one side and lining it were a few towels and bottles of water that he happily helped himself to.
Picking up one towel, Esau dried off his sweaty face and rubbed the back of his neck while taking a sip from one of the water bottles. As he did so, he turned back to look at Kaldur and Superboy, watching as the two circled one another cautiously.
"Initiate, combat training. In 3, 2, 1." As soon as the computer finished speaking, both fighters charged at one another.
Superboy came out with a first strike like always, the straight jab avoided easily by Kaldur who ducked underneath, coming up quickly with a jab-cross combo. Superboy himself managed to bring back his right hand in time to parry Kaldur's own jab before blocking the cross and ducking underneath the jumping roundhouse kick to the temple.
Weaker than him he may be, but Superboy had learned not to underestimate Kaldur at all.
Even so, it didn't stop him from coming right back at Kaldur with a wild cross that the Atlantean masterfully dodged with a back handspring, quickly meeting Superboy's follow-up charge.
As always, the opening salvo was relatively equal, it always was between the three of them and that was in regard to how they fought and the way they worked against one another. Superboy was a brawler, straight and simple, intending to overwhelm his opponents with raw power before relying upon a technique to win him the day if that didn't work. It was a weakness that both he and Kaldur had told the clone about, but he was set in his ways and it was one of those things he was stubborn about changing.
Not that Esau expected Superboy to be willing to listen to everything immediately, it would be hypocritical of him to expect that when Esau knew he had been no different. For now, in regards to things like that, changes would come with actual experiences, not lessons and Superboy seemed fine with that, so he wasn't going to interfere with that anymore.
However, it was clear to see that Superboy was becoming more skilled, moving very much like a boxer as he began to rely more upon his technique against Kaldur who was picking up the pace. Yet there were elements of Muay Thai in his movements that added just enough variety that it was beginning to make Superboy a dangerous striker that in the future would be difficult to handle for either of them. If he began to gain some headway in his grappling lessons then Esau had no doubt Superboy would become a very dangerous hand-to-hand combatant when combined with his powers.
It was why Esau kept losing.
He was very much similar to Superboy in regards to striking first, but he was much more cautious in his approach as a result of personal experiences and lessons at the hands of others. Esau had learnt not to go all out from the beginning of a fight to avoid not only revealing everything he had immediately but also to avoid tiring himself out too soon.
Superboy didn't suffer from that and so, Esau needed to act accordingly which was precisely what Superboy wanted.
Yet, Esau was clearly more skilled and even while fighting against his rage at the same time, the blonde was able to match Superboy for quite some time before it became too much. The difference in powers was a deciding factor and there was only so long that while fighting himself, Esau could bridge that gap with skill alone.
Kaldur though was different as right now, he was beginning to take the fight back to Superboy pressuring him with a series of dangerous and precise strikes. He was aiming to turn this into grappling, an area where with the proper technique, Kaldur could negate Superboy's physical superiority much more easily and with less risk. But it was not like this in the beginning, Kaldur instead preferring to fight more cautiously, seemingly appearing to be on the backfoot but in fact, studying his opponents while doing just enough to drag out the fight.
It was an intuitive way of fighting that Esau had developed elements of and twisted to suit himself, but one he could never fully embrace, nor could Superboy. The three were different, in the way they fought and as a result, each were seeing massive improvements in different ways, though today was proving to be a day of surprises that none had expected.
"Fail, Aqualad."
Superboy stood there dusting his hands off, a happy smile on his face while Aqualad lay there befuddled. "Black Canary taught me that." Superboy admitted, a look of proud accomplishment on his face, and why wouldn't he have such a look? For the first time since joining the team, someone had finally managed to defeat Kaldur, ending his unbeaten record finally.
Esau meanwhile rushed over nought but moments later, wrapping one arm around Superboy's neck. "Yes, Supes! That's what I'm talking about!"
Kaldur shook his head, an equally large smile on his face as the one shared by the other two. "I admit, that was a good one." He rose to his feet and despite his loss, seemed happier for Superboy's success than wallowing in his defeat.
But before anything more could be said, Red Tornado then descended from the hatch above.
All of them anxiously watched Red Tornado land and begin walking away as while it had only been a short while since their previous mission, just under two weeks, all were eager for another. Especially those who hadn't performed as well or done as much as they would have hoped or liked to have done on the previous one.
After the first incident, they had waited a mere hour before the news reached them about Wayne Tech coming under attack. In response, Maelstrom had ordered Aqualad, Robin, and Artemis to go stop them leaving him, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Batgirl and Superboy behind. As they had expected, they had come under attack by the three assassins, which had later been identified as Cheshire, Black Spider and Hook, again.
This time, despite having fewer numbers, they performed much better.
Miss Martian took out Hook relatively quickly while Kid Flash took care of a Black Spider.
Batgirl, herself keeping a Cheshire busy long enough for them to receive news that the Fog has been taken care of, RRobin having downloaded the virus Roquette had finished directly into the Fog through Wayne Techs computers.
All the while Aqualad and Artemis took care of Professor Ojo and the Assassins acting as his escort.
The mission had been a success and everything worked out in the end.
However, they were now all eager for another.
"Do you have a mission for us?" Wally asked as he rushed in front of Red Tornado.
"Mission assignments are Batman's responsibility." Red Tornado replied monotonously.
Still not deterred, Wally continued, the rest of the team grouping up together behind him. "Yeah well, the Batman is with Robin doing the whole dynamic duo thing in Gotham, but you're heading somewhere, right? Hot date or, eh, a mission?" He questioned, Aqualad himself taking a more diplomatic approach, just as eager but more professional and subdued.
"If we can be of help?" He left it open-ended on purpose, trusting Red Tornado to understand not only what he meant, but that they were ready.
Red Tornado seemed to consider it for a few moments, before eventually turning to open up the holographic computer, the rest of the team forming up to look curiously at what he was going to give them. "This is Kent Nelson. A friend." The android clarified, all looking upon the image of a well-dressed, elderly man holding a cane. "He is hundred and six years old."
"Guy doesn't look a day over ninety." Wally whispered, going ignored by the vast majority of those present.
Red Tornado was one such individual. "And he has been missing for three days. Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your Justice League." Over the image of Kent Nelson, a man clad in a black and gold outfit took shape.
The image of this man seemed to spark realisation in Aqualad, a measure of awe in his voice as he spoke. "Of course, Nelson was Earth's sorcerer supreme. He was Doctor Fate!" Esau himself turned back to look at the image of Kent Nelson, or Doctor Fate as he now knew him in a new light.
He of course knew who the Justice Society was, he doubted there was no one in this world who didn't know of them and their exploits. They had proved instrumental in the battle against the Nazis in World War 2, fighting against many superpowered villains that had taken the side of fascism for one reason or another. But beyond that, they had continued to fight for the rights of all men, fighting in many wars and conflicts across the world, battling to stop villains of all shapes and sizes.
They had protected the world long before the Justice League was even imagined, before the likes of Superman and Batman even became a thing. The Justice Society was the original team of heroes, once the greatest heroes of all time, surpassed only recently in fame and prestige by the Justice League.
But amongst their members, Doctor Fate was one of them.
He had been a rare figure from what Esau remembered, yet as a child, he had been a huge fan of their exploits that like many, especially Barbara, they had followed religiously. All the films, all the tv shows, all the comic books, he had tried his best to get his hands on them all just so he could follow the stories of some of his favourite heroes.
While most of the team seemed to share Esau's sentiments, Wally did not. "Pfft, more like Doctor Fake. Guy knows a little advanced science and Dumbledore's it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes."
Once again, Red Tornado either didn't hear or choose to ignore Wally. "Kent may simply be on one of his...walkabouts. But he is caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctors' mystic might and it's unwise to leave such power unguarded."
"He's like the great sorcerer priests and priestess of Mars. I would be honoured to help find him." M'gann volunteered happily, in equal awe of Doctor Fate as Aqualad and much like Esau and the others had expected, Wally instantly volunteered as well, suddenly changing his tune about magic.
Ignoring him, Esau walked forwards. "Take this, it's the key to the Tower of Faith." Red Tornado explained, presenting the key that Esau took.