King of superheroes, p.6
King of Superheroes, page 6
I noticed how the Zeus bros snickered amongst themselves at the prospect of that, and I rolled my eyes as our trainer continued.
“Sure, some of you might even end up earning the big bucks, and some of you might even become legitimate superheroes, but it’s here, in training, where we can hone your potential,” Liam explained with that impossibly wide smile still on his face. “As Conduits, we deal in power. In all its forms. Fire, electricity, gadgets, anything that’s powered by something… We can play with it.”
“My dad works for the government,” one of the Zeus bros piped up. “Espionage. He hacks into stuff.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be harping on about it…” Frank muttered under his breath, and I swallowed a chuckle.
Though it wouldn’t have surprised me if Conduits were hired for exactly those types of jobs.
Although my fiery ability was power in a more raw form, a lot of the other Conduits dealt with electrical manipulation. Liam explained that pyromancy was almost an entirely other tangent within the pillar, and far rarer than anything electrical… Which the Zeus bros immediately tried to refute when Frank and I plastered smug grins on our faces.
Before we could get started, though, Liam wanted to know exactly what ability we’d presented during the Pillar Placing Ceremony.
Zach was the only Zeus bro who could actually produce electricity from himself, and it came shooting out of his hands like Emperor Palpatine in Return Of The Jedi, but the rest of his lackeys only had the ability to manipulate electricity. There was one who could turn lights on and off by stealing the power in the bulb filaments, there was another who could make devices bug out until they were unusable, and one of Zach’s buddies could turn himself into a walking Tesla coil, which made his hair stick up like he’d been electrocuted, but it meant he could transfer power from one thing to another.
I watched from the sidelines as my fledgling classmates all showed off their different powers, and I started to bite nervously on my bottom lip and tap my foot as it came closer and closer to being my turn.
Frank went up next and showed off his pyromancy power, though it was far weaker than mine. He had maybe a little more control over the sparks and embers that danced on the surface of his skin, but it was maybe just because of the fact they were far easier to control than a raging fire straight off the bat.
Eventually, Liam called upon me, and his cool blue eyes sparkled mischievously as I approached.
“So, you’re the prodigy, huh?” my Conduit trainer asked as he waggled his eyebrows.
“I don’t know about that…” I muttered in reply.
“Nonsense,” the Conduit trainer laughed and gave me an overly friendly smack on the shoulder.
Then he motioned with his head for the rest of the Conduit fledglings to follow us, and he guided me toward a section of the Conduit sparring area covered on all four sides in a thick foil sheeting that gleamed a bright silver, so it was like walking into a giant empty TV set from the nineties.
“Fireproof,” Liam said as he proudly smacked the makeshift foil-covered wall. “Aluminum outer layer, vacuum deposited onto military grade Nomex. You can go nuts in here.”
“Stand back everyone…” Zach said loudly and importantly. “Mark the freak is about to set the place on fire.”
“Hey,” Liam said and shot Zach a stern look. “None of that in my training area, you hear me?”
“Whatever,” Zach said with a roll of his eyes, and he folded his arms across his permanently puffed out chest. “Do your worst.”
Liam looked across at me and gave me a confident nod.
“You got this,” the black-haired trainer assured me. “Give it all you got, let us have it.”
“You’re the boss,” I said with a shrug, and I planted my feet, brought my arms up, and aimed both of my outstretched hands at the fireproof room.
I could feel the familiar buzz of power surge through my bloodstream as my power fought for release, and as I flexed my fingers, I let go of the constraints and let the energy flow freely.
A river of roiling red and orange flames exploded from my fingertips like a fully turned on faucet, and I let out a strangled gasp as the energy ripped through me. It felt like my entire life force was being expelled from my body, but despite using all of my energy, it was automatically recycled back into me, so it felt like I was constantly exhausted and exhilarated all at once.
It was overwhelming, but it was fucking fantastic.
The fire spread across the aluminum-covered Nomex and roared loudly as I kept my footing as solid as I could, and eventually, I could just hear Liam’s ecstatic voice over the rush of blood in my ears.
I balled my hands into fists and turned the faucet off, and the surge of fire was snuffed out like a candle.
“Holy shit!” Liam jumped from foot to foot and grabbed me by the shoulders. “That was awesome!”
“Geez, Mark!” Frank came up behind me and shoved me playfully in the shoulder. “I mean, he said let us have it, but damn!”
I was breathless, with a massive grin on my face, and then I realized almost every single fledgling, from every single pillar, had turned around to watch the show. Some still looked distrustful, but others now looked intrigued.
I felt a flush rush up my cheeks, and I just hoped I could pass it off as heat from my firepower.
“Good job, Mark!” Liam praised and gave me another enthusiastic thump on the shoulder. “Now, let’s see how the rest of you can control your powers, shall we?”
Liam let the rest of the Conduit fledglings filter off, and then he gently pulled me aside to talk.
“That really was impressive,” he said with a grin. “Mori’s sent instructions for you to train with all four pillars, and your Conduit ability seems strong enough to me. Head over to Abby and the Dreamers, okay?”
“Sure.” I nodded and then forced a smile onto my face.
I couldn’t help but feel automatically ostracized, but I was also excited to see how the trainers took to my faint affinity for other pillars. My fire power was raging, and I had a pretty good handle on it straight off the bat.
But with things like the super strength I displayed in Henry’s bookstore, combined with the pillar testing that Mori had put me through, I was super intrigued how I could pull those abilities out of me.
“Hey!” Abby, with her messy blonde ponytail and easy smile, waved me over. “Mark, right?”
“That’s me,” I said with a smile of my own.
“Like Liam said, my name’s Abby, I’m the Dreamer trainer.” She scratched at her messy blonde hair and put both her hands on her hips as she squinted up at me. “Have you displayed anything that might belong to my pillar?”
“I…” I hesitated for a moment, out of fear of sounding crazy.
“Hey,” Abby said with an easy giggle. “This pillar is of the mind, I know it seems maybe odd to even admit anything out loud.”
“You don’t say,” I sighed and then ran my hand through my own hair.
“You wanna just, like, check out the rest of the crew?” Abby motioned casually with her hand. “It’s pretty chill over here.”
“Okay,” I agreed with a small smile. “That’d be cool.”
Most of the Dreamer fledglings were sitting on the squishy gymnastics floor with their legs crossed, and they were speaking in hushed tones or not at all, with serene expressions of immense calm on their faces.
I spotted one girl with long blonde hair that fell in soft waves around her face, and she locked eyes with me for a moment, smirked, and then turned right back to her partner.
I shrugged it off and went to sit with a small group of the Dreamers, who were in a lopsided circle.
“We’re playing Chinese whispers,” one guy explained as I took a seat. “Without words.”
“So, you’re whispering to each other like… In your heads?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “That’s impressive.”
“You want in?” a Dreamer girl with dark brown hair chopped into a short pixie cut asked.
“Well…” I looked up at the Dreamer pillar trainer, and Abby just nodded encouragingly. “That’s sort of what I might be… Able to do. But I can’t hear properly, it’s like… Muffled, I guess?”
“Practice makes perfect,” Abby assured me. “Give it a try.”
No matter how much I focused, though, I could not pick up what the other Dreamers were trying to telepathically communicate with me. It was frustrating, because I had a sense they were actively trying to speak to me, but I just didn’t have the key to unlock the communication barrier.
“It’s no use,” I finally said with a heavy sigh. “I can’t seem to get it.”
“If you can feel it in your mind, even just slightly, then you’ll be able to eventually,” Abby said in a placating voice.
“Maybe it’s just when I’m in danger…” I said with an offhanded shrug. “Or when I’m really on edge, and the adrenaline helps it.”
“That’s absolutely possible.” Abby nodded, and her messy ponytail bounced atop her head. “It’s not uncommon for adrenaline to help a multitude of things, especially for us supers.”
I left the Dreamers to it and then headed over to the Tempests, where I had even less luck. I had no idea how my Tempest ability would properly manifest in real life. I knew I possessed the potential to unlock telekinesis, but it was just as hard to grasp as my telepathy power.
I spent the majority of the time just watching the rest of the fledglings in awe. Tempests dealt with the wind and movement, and there was a short guy that couldn’t have been older than eighteen who could teleport himself from place to place in the blink of an eye. There was also another Tempest who’d already completely mastered how to hover like a dragonfly.
I wondered if I would be able to fly one day, and that was motivation enough to keep trying.
The last Conduit training area I visited was the Corps pillar, and that was easy enough to slot into. They dealt with bodily functions, just not the gross ones, and I got to show off my super strength along with the best of them.
Maybe the Corps pillar was easier to grasp because it was a physical ability, much like my Conduit power, so it took slightly less brainpower to master.
At least that’s what I told myself.
I lifted more weight than I’d ever lifted in my life, and I even arm wrestled a giant of a guy who was at least double my size.
And I won.
But by the end of the day I was once again physically and mentally exhausted, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the comfort of the common room so I could collapse into one of the huge leather-covered bean bags by the floor-length windows and mindlessly watch as the sun went down.
When I did finally get back to the fifteenth floor, the entire fledgling common area once again fell into a quickly hushed silence as I exited the elevators. I stood there for a moment before I refused to become embarrassed by it, and I just made a beeline for the comfy seats by the windows that overlooked the bay.
I could feel all eyes on me, though, so eventually I had to look up just to see why they were all gossiping about me so much.
To my surprise, I realized this time it was mostly the girls that kept shooting me fervent looks, and they were at the very least not full of hatred. Most of them just seemed genuinely curious, maybe a little cautious, and I let out a heavy sigh as I leaned my head back into the soft leather of the bean bag.
The sun was low in the sky, and I watched as the deep orange rays rippled over the surface of the water outside. The Academy’s huge white yacht floated serenely in the harbor, and seabirds floated lazily on the soft buffets of wind as the sun continued to sink closer to the horizon.
But I could still feel eyes burning into me every second, and I eventually peeled myself away from the squishy comfort of the bean bag and decided to head to my dorm room for the night.
I’d never particularly experienced this much female attention, and it made me feel like I was the shiny new toy.
That was until I noticed one of the girls looking at me with an entirely different expression on her face.
It was the blonde Dreamer girl from before, and she didn’t have any sort of curiosity on her petite face. She actually wore a smirk, and when my eyes met her glittering blue gaze, she didn’t immediately look away.
She just grinned wider, and I immediately felt myself drawn to her.
“Dreamer, right?” I asked as I walked over and stopped in front of her.
She was leaning against one of the pool tables in the rec area of the common room, and she fiddled with the pool cue as she continued to smirk at me.
She had long blonde hair that was somehow both a mess and perfectly positioned at the same time, though she constantly seemed to play with it and push it back away from her face, or behind her ears. Her pale blue eyes were made even icier by the heavy black makeup smudged across her eyelids, and she was definitely of the grungier disposition because she wore layers of silver chains around her neck, and her fingers were decorated with stacks of silver rings.
She was dressed in a ridiculously small lace crop top in a creamy white color, with a deep ‘V’ neckline that showcased her impressive cleavage, and she had fishnet stockings on her legs and wore a tight leather skirt with crossed stitches on the side.
To be honest, she was drop-dead gorgeous, but her easy disposition seemed to rub off on me because I didn’t feel any sort of nervousness about approaching her.
“Yeah,” she finally answered and held her hand out for me. “Name’s Hannah.”
“Mark,” I said as I shook her hand.
“I know who you are,” she said with a half-joking roll of her big blue eyes.
“Right.” I nodded once. “The freak who nearly burned the place down.”
“No,” Hannah said, and she pushed herself away from the pool table so she could grin up at me. “You’re the chosen one… The one to rule them all.”
“Are you quoting Lord Of The Rings to me right now?” I asked with a surprised chuckle.
“Absolutely,” the blonde beauty giggled loudly, enough for most other girls in the general vicinity to shoot us fervent looks again, and I couldn’t help but grin even wider at her carefree confidence.
It was insanely attractive.
Hannah just hummed to herself as she looked up at me, and I felt a redness stain my cheeks when I remembered what her power was.
“Tell me you’re not reading my mind right now,” I said with a groan.
“Oh, absolutely not.” Hannah shook her head profusely and then looked up at me from behind her mess of blonde hair. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“Liar.” I shot back, though the word still had to filter through the smirk that was plastered uncontrollably over my face.
“It’s odd, though.” Hannah’s statement came as an afterthought, and she shrugged.
“What is?” I asked.
“I actually can’t get a good read on you,” the blonde said, and she pushed her hair back away from her face and then let it fall in long strands across her eyes.
I realized it was an act of mild frustration, and I felt another grin start to form on my face.
“You can’t read my mind?” I asked as I leaned against the side of the pool table.
“I can, sort of…” Hannah said and then shook her head with a chuckle. “I mean, everyone else is super clear. But it’s hazy with you. I can pick up on little things, little snippets, but that’s sort of it. It’s like you have a barrier set up.”
“I don’t mean to,” I said.
“I know,” she giggled, and then she cocked her head as she looked up at me again with a thoughtful expression on her face. “But I’ll find my way in somehow, I’m sure.”
We eventually settled into a lazy game of pool, with neither of us really setting up the situation. It just sort of happened, and we were both far more interested in talking to the other party than keeping track of who was trying to sink what color ball.
“So, do you make a habit of being the center of attention?” Hannah asked as she bent slowly down to retrieve the white ball from the pocket and line it back up again.
I had to shake my head slightly to stop myself staring at the way her leather skirt pressed against the roundness of her ass when she moved, and I cleared my throat.
“Definitely not,” I said. “Worst nightmare, actually.”
“Well, you’d better get used to it, golden boy.” Hannah flashed me a wink. “Have you seen how many girls are staring at you today? They were all really impressed with the spectacle you put on during training.”
“And yet here I am, getting hustled at pool by you,” I said.
“If you were being hustled, you’d know about it,” Hannah retorted quickly.
I clutched a hand to my chest like I’d been shot and let out a comedic groan.
“I look forward to it,” I said, and I watched as she leaned down to sink another ball.
Her breasts were barely held within the confines of her tiny lace crop top and pressed against the green velvet of the pool table, and I had to clear my throat again.
“We’ll see whether I deem you worthy of my attention,” Hannah said casually.
“Okay, well, in that case, I have a question,” I said.
“Oh, you do?” Hannah asked innocently, though I could see a smirk toying with her plump lips again.
“You’re really gonna make me ask it?” I said with an almost exasperated chuckle. “I thought you could read minds.”
“I told you,” she said with a joking pout. “I can’t read yours properly.”
“Well, you said you got little snippets, right?” I clarified. “So, what do you think my next question was gonna be?”
Hannah studied me for a long moment, and her rose-colored lips turned up into a wide smirk.
“I have an idea,” she said. “I just wanna hear you ask it.”
“Fine,” I said and held my hands up with another laugh. “Do you want to maybe go on a date… With me?”
She studied me for a second, with an almost thoughtful expression on her face, and then she just laughed and shoved me in the shoulder.
