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Chapter 26: Tales of Training and The Kadian Beat

  ‘Okay... Maybe I regret accepting that offer.’

  Not even a second into a training spar and already Seth was in over his head. It was just Kaze, he thought. He’d seen what he could do. He’d trained alongside him for a good dozen or so remedial Aegis sessions. What could-

  *SHEEEINGKAKAKAKAKAKAng*

  Samurai had allowed the suit, and then allowed his son to stop holding back. The point of his sword disappeared into a flash of light for the second time, and suddenly it was sparking across his arm and stabbing rapid fire. The guard was simple reflex, more instinct then expectation. More fear because there was no way in hell he was going to see what was slicing the outer layers off his armor. The rest was just on his own resolve, because each hit was like a metal baseball bat swinging for the fences. Seth was on his shiny metal ass before he even knew what was hitting him. Till Samurai’s happy go luck smile was leaning over just as bright as the sky.

  “Hey you did good! You blocked one of the strikes! You just need to counter the other 16 and you’ll be all warmed up.”

  “There were 16!?”

  Regret wasn’t a big enough word. But now that he at least had a count, and the narrowest amount of expectation in what the hell he was up against, Seth was shaking off the shellshock and getting up again. He had a month till graduation after all, so why not spend it getting better like he supposed to.

  For the week, Seth spent all his time either dodging swords, training on his own, or watching the other trainees go through their own intensive training regimens. Mostly from the stands, but a few times he’d shared the floor with the others and seen how they were faring. Pretty good, at least comparably. He, Speaker, and Threat got to go back to some semblance of fight watching, so had plenty analyze.

  The lucky few who got multiple trainers to choose from either made a choice or split their time among each to approach their powers from as many angles. Kabar obviously was spoiled, but had a lot to learn from each of his five fucking masters! The few times Seth had watched, from the comfort and needed distance of the stands, it was clear he was getting put through the ringer. But he wasn’t backing down from retaining all of their different methods.

  “Heh… burnout.”

  “Careful, this one seems to have the stamina to hold up this regimen.”

  ‘Yeah… but at what cost?’

  David chose Depthcharge, wanting to get stronger over learning to maximize his powers. Also Seth overheard that they were a friend of his mom, so it felt right. Their powers were fairly similar, Depth’s attacks using hydrodynamics as both counter weight and pressure jet propulsion. They just had a lot more weight to throw around. And storage space.

  ‘That suit’s a sponge. Kinda makes you wonder what they are like inside it.’

  “Mariner has a few amps on something called a ceph- cephela…”

  “Cephalopod.”

  ‘A squid?’

  “Yeah, but I’ve got mine on another water elemental.”

  ‘Eh, probably a compressed one anyway.’

  Tabby ended up choosing Paleorus, either wanting to enhance her transformations to their highest levels, or just not wanting to go back to overbearing ballet class. Though Seth saw her take a timeslot on the weekends, so she was still retaining Malerina as just a coach. So her skills didn’t get dull.

  “A good balance. Better to hold to the etiquette then to let it slip under… that one’s sensibilities.”

  “Yeah, but it still seems boring as hell.”

  ‘You’d call someone with a skull permanently painted on their face boring?’

  Maya’s statuesque… statue, taught her fine control of her constructing. Mixing sand or concrete and slathering it on your hands wasn’t good enough for a full blow fight, so Strata taught her how to fully control her materials. Levitating them and shaping them at will as constructs and not just weapons. Though she never really bothered lightening her load. She wanted to get stronger as well, which was kind of frightening.

  “She’s throwing buildings in her future.”

  ‘Yup.’

  “Definitively.”

  Zeleny thrived under Phazer Shock’s tutelage. After a few kinda frilly showings, it became clear that her lasers drew visible light in from anything colorful around her. So the more vibrant her immediate area, the more damage her laser could do. It was probably why she was so damn green, so she had a more concentrated base to work with. Under Phazer though she learned to use her lasers tactically, dazzling and disrupting as well as destroying. That was her specialty after all, bending and empowering photons until they either became too bright to ignore or outright became lasers.

  ‘Neat. Too bad I can’t do stuff like that.’

  “Eh, you could theoretically …I think.”

  “That minutia will need quite the lecture to facilitate.”

  ‘Yeah… never mind.’

  Jacob learned to ice sculpt from Glacial Glaz, creating solid structures as needed was his specialty after all. Ice spikes, barricades, and even a bit of armor if it came down to it. A good amount of their training came down to learning to mix this defense with offence, how best to support and yet not leave yourself out of the fight. He also took some ques from Makani Samurai and trained up Jacob’s reaction time. Apparently Glaz was another of those high percentile heroes. Though it was a little annoying that their training didn’t involve getting pelted by sword strikes too bright to see coming in the first place!

  ‘Kaz!!’

  “Do not bemoan your failings. You will no doubt catch up to their rather… excessive level.”

  ‘Still… All he has to dodge is snowba-‘

  *CRAckkckck*

  ‘Never mind, that was an ice grenade. I no longer feel as bad.’

  Razor learned some neat knife techniques from Blade Tone, but also learned to use his knife creation as a more refined tool. It wasn’t a main topic, but Blade saw him struggling to replenish and set that as a goal over learning yet more knife fighting. They worked at it pretty hard, and eventually he was able to create full sword length razors. He even learned to retain some of the metal he produced and basically secrete armor for himself. Though it seemed kinda out of place when he first dropped it on Blade Tone.

  ‘Thin metal strips were one thing, but pulling an armored plate out of the palm of your hand seems like either an oversight or something he’d just learned. And they weren’t working on that.’

  “This one is trying to hide something.”

  “Or someone.”

  ‘Oh dear god don’t tell me he’s actually…’

  “Quite.”

  “Indubitably.”

  Alex learned sneaking and stealth techniques from Marvelous, who was one of the League’s premier infiltrators. How she caught her attention Seth couldn’t understand, though that field has been a little lean in recent years. Not many with the right power sets and not much need. No big bad organizations to blow up from the inside anymore. Still they seemed to hit it off and Alex was getting a lot of instruction. How to track eye lines, mimic voices, blend into shadows most others would disregard.

  ‘I mean being a doppelganger is one thing, but a ninja as well.’

  She also refined her copying even more, using her target’s powers more effectively. Seeing two clouds of smoke playing hide and seek on the arena floor was kinda funny.

  “Careful, she may be watching you more than you think.”

  “I think we can cross off that worry about her copying our power though. She’s way too into people watching to have not gotten caught yet.”

  “She has to have been caught for that to be true.”

  Kaz just honed his skills with his dad, in between using Seth as a punching bag. It sure felt like he didn’t really need the training, just the excuse to let loose. Though when they were training without him, they never sparred. Just ran through the motions in increasing tempos till it was hard to see where one started and another began. And in perfect unison too. Also, Seth couldn’t quite shake the feeling that there was a tension bound up between them.

  ‘Like when they actually fight each other it will be to the death or something… I sure hope not.’

  “There is a loss felt here. That, I am certain of.”

  “Yeah… make sure to take a few more hits next time you spar.”

  ‘Wha- Like I have a choice!?’

  Marco, under Master Da Feng, learned to harness the air around him to scary levels. And not just through straight up attacks. He learned to fly, at least to a limited degree. It took serious concentration from the look on Marco’s face, but he was hovering and then outright flying after a few days of working at it. He also learned to create vacuums, forcing air out of an area till it was all under his control. This was a major pain point though, and was taking him a lot longer to get. Mostly because Master Da Feng was using Go as way to teach him.

  ‘How the hell do you play it anyway? And why the hell are you taking up a timeslot to just play a board game in the middle of the arena!?’

  “Such noble pursuits have many uses. This teacher very much deserves his titles.”

  “Nah, I’m with Seth. What the fuck is the point of this?”

  ”Hmph… savage”

  Cleo, by contrast, learned some straight forward and dangerous things from Pharaoh Shephten. The full on art of constricting enemies with bindings was his domain. But his near intangibility made him wily as well. He ended up helping her become even more adaptive with her leather straps, and even taught her some means to dye your hair with gold.

  ‘Seriously, how is his fucking hair gold like that? Does he shampoo with gold dust? Does he just have gold sand for hair? How damnit!? How!?’

  “It’s okay brother… It’ll probably go back to normal. Eventually.”

  ‘HOOOOOOOOOW!?!?’

  At any rate, she learned to use her straps more offensively and defensively, beyond just what she’d managed before. Outright crafting the leather into more discrete forms, as well as adding strength to the ones she already used. Some of them were even starting to get massive. But that was just on the floor. At least once, when Seth passed her room on the periphery, it sounded odd. And not leather odd. He couldn’t place it, but it was like she had a window open… in a windowless room surrounded by three feet on concrete.

  ‘Why must everything about her be terrifying?’

  “Her demeanor is like that of her name sake. You should always hold a bit of fear for those of noble bearing. Even if they seem to squander it.”

  “Especially if they squander it. Cruelty is a pastime for noble brats.”

  Speaking of, Ohm for the most part was unchanged compared to the rest. Which wasn’t a good thing. Under his father he barely learned anything he didn’t already know, which was odd since their power sets were somewhat different. Zeus’ Strike was an electrical manipulator, less actual using and more literally molding electricity into shapes or attacks. Chains, bolts, even a few barriers. Though that last one was more of a kill field than a wall. But compared to his son it was night and day, until it came down to physical prowess. Their speeds were phenomenal, both using the same techniques to propel or enhance their moves. Which was weird because Seth had to remind Ohm to do that, maybe he was actually softening up. That’s all he really needed to do in the end, get his head out of his ass. He did seem to learn to better regulate his intake though, no good losing control just because you needed a few extra joules.

  “This one may try to rival you. Be wary of similarities in his approach.”

  “Nah, different holds. No uptake, just all utilization. He uses power, he doesn’t feel it.”

  ‘Huh…?’

  “Yes, now I am confused. Since when were you this analytical?”

  “What? We’re made of this stuff. How can I not understand it on that kind of level?”

  And so lastly, came Seth’s improvement. Dodging attacks soon turned into learning to fight back at the same time. Seventeen strikes became an even thirty. Learning from Aegis was easy, all she could do was hit you if you weren’t fast enough. But with the suit keeping Seth safe and without any restraint, Kaze could slash away and send him spiraling. Which was bad on days they shared a floor with Kabar’s group. He at least started to anticipate, react in time for the strikes coming in. It just became a slog to land a hit in the hail of steel coming at him. How he didn’t chip or dull that blade after a week of this was ridiculous. It was just annoying that this was all they could do. The Samurai and Kaz were on a serious level at all times… and Seth could only hit his at the worst of times.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Watching everyone else train at least took his mind off that worry. Some familiarity to distract him, like he was back on that roof watching the Elite beat the shit out of Terrorfirma. Like he was back watching countless fights as he and the Garkah learned what a hero was in reality. Not just on TV. Some small catharsis in the nostalgia. Some small shame in the voyeurism. Some… compounding…

  “Hughhh…”

  It was all so thinly veiled and he knew it. He knew he was avoiding it, what he had to do but couldn’t bring himself to even think through. That darkness, that feeling like something was smothering him, eating away at him and dictating everything. As he watch everyone learn and grow and become better, he was stuck dreading ever moving forward. He’d always heard bits and pieces of what Threat was like before, what he became, but seeing a fraction of a fraction of it for himself was… It felt better to live in ignorance. Because at least it felt like living.

  But still he knew. It was only a matter of time till he had to commit. Till he had to take that thing inside him down. And it was keeping his butt in that stadium seat watching, in his room focusing in the quiet, on the floor holding back so his world didn’t collapse in on itself. While everyone else got to experience just what they could really do. Eventually leaving him as the week thinned out, as trainers signed off and patrols were allowed. Letting them loose at their sides to see what the world was like as a real hero. While he could barely let himself breath.

  ‘I hope they have fun at least.’

  Walking the streets of Kadia was such a ubiquitous notion that is was hard to understand why people still had cars. Sure if you needed to get across it at a pace better than subjective leisure it made sense. But once you realize how close most everything was you just kinda stop seeing it. Though that may just be the heat getting to Maya. She never liked working in the sun all day, but patrols still had to patrol. Rain or shine. Or waning summer simmer.

  Baked concrete under foot, stark monoliths of architectural heat trap, asphalt in general just exuding all it absorbed. Maya liked her powers, but when everything just seemed to be designed to radiate heat it just became intolerable. Add in her family’s work ethic of just never fucking stopping… All the animosity just kinda came into fuller frame.

  Still, at least she was doing what she’d rather do. Being what Enrique hoped for. Some of that intolerance waned as she remembered him showing her how to turn bedrock into gravel so they could work it better. How he once took her to see the part of The Wall he was helping build. That one time he’d bent a steel girder and almost gave their papa a heart attack. Her complaints were drowned as it all came back again. That need to be just like him, if not better. So his memory wasn’t left by the wayside.

  Like she was right now.

  Strata had taken her out to walk around the business rings, passing plenty of high-class high-rises and boojie facades. Like he wanted her to regret being a critic by forcing her to be around such god awful architecture.

  ‘Some of these things are just asking to fall over!’

  She could feel the expanses of elevating steel and concrete. Could hear the reverb of the rebar. Smell the mixtures of cladding and insulation. If it could be made into a structure, it was all hers. And seeing the shoddy cost cutting looming over and squatting behind her just ground her unwanted gears.

  The concrete was nearly all hard grain sand and hardly crushed rock because ‘cobble chic was in’. The rebar was half an inch off optimal spread to save money. She gagged at the asbestos still clogging the walls like proper codes were too much of a hassle. But hey the outside looked… ‘Looked’ nice! Fine molding and brickwork. Towering windows. Elegant framing. All crap that would just come down hard once an earthquake hit. Or Terrorfirma escaped again.

  But she was stuck looking at it all, as she waited for Strata to get done inside the boutique behind her. Apparently patrols with him include waiting around for his side job as a sculptor / big and tall model. Anyone needing the services of a literal living granite countertop would get a stop on his route through the district. Whether they needed a new fountain fixture or center piece or just a nice stop-in to show that heroes frequent their establishment by the metric ton.

  “Uggehh…”

  Maya just plain hated it here. Stuck getting leered at by shmancy rich folks too cheap to build their buildings right. Standing in the hot sun that was getting hotter by the hour. And worst of all nothing was ever coming of all this walking around anyw-

  “STOP!! THIE-“

  *POOOFFF*

  A jeweler just down the street suddenly burst open with a cloud of grey smoke and… sparkles? Not glass or any of the frame just… The smoke was glittering! And a figure was absconding through without a care in the world for the mess they were undoubtedly making. A dash into the street trailing bags of accoutrements and wisps of their sudden exit strategy telling all that-

  “You just been robbed by the Majestic Screen!! So let this be a lesson to you luxury lovers and uptight layme-“

  *cur-CRakk*

  Yeah Maya wasn’t having any of that. A sudden new curb rose just before his ‘dashing’ foot. And sent him careening into the real one face first. Turning this masked thief into a slumped puddle of broken teeth before he could spiel her to death. When there were just too many heroes to contend with, some villains just ended up a little crazy. Trying to be lighthearted compared to the contemporary.

  And that just pissed Maya off even more.

  Sending her drooping to the curb on her side of the street. Now stuck waiting for Strata get out of his stupid boutique to deal with the unconscious idiot she’d put a stop to. Since trainees couldn’t really arrest people, or be trusted with their own coms to call for an officer.

  “I hate this stupid city.”

  “I love it here!”

  The beachfront plazas and small scale condos of Kadia’s west slid almost precariously toward the ocean. Though the water was commonly cold as ice throughout the year, the coast still attracted many a tourist to its leisurely relief. Hard sands mixed with volcanic ash giving it a softer feel than warranted of a rock strewn approach. But still the traffic came, both by boat and by land. A small marina carved out of the mouth of the Terrace River, with larger ships able to dock further into its turbulence. Saves fuel on the launch if you just get pushed out to sea.

  But the commercial side of things wasn’t what Zeleny was admiring. Instead it was the neon and placards of the boardwalk swirling around her. And giving Jacob a headache. Their trainers had forgone individualized patrols and just opted to make their excursions into basically double dates. The first time coming off awkward. The second and third times just sounding like they preferred to always be by each other’s sides. The fifth time… well it all just stopped being about patrolling.

  Especially since they’d decided, rather unilaterally, that the beach needed looking after on apparently the last day of the tourist season. You know, before all the attractions start closing up ahead of the wet season and all the people thought less of spending the day sitting around looking at the frigid hypothermia inducing waves crashing closer and closer to your huddled together forms. So why not enjoy the last day before all that.

  Though, like all the other patrols with Phazer and Glaz, it resembled more of a romantic outing than an official beat. The two practically locked together by the hand, stopping at every scenic view or cozy café. But Jacob and Zeleny had gotten used to it by now. Not to mention this weight of numbers dissuading anyone from trying anything certainly kept their routes quiet. But also kept Jacob quiet.

  “Can we ride the Ferris wheel?”

  Zeleny was making up for this though.

  “You can fly. Why do you need to ride it?”

  “Because it’s not much fun to be alone all the way up there. Also you’d have to carry poor Jacob up with you, and that would just be strenuous for the both of you.”

  Glaz and Phazer walked ahead of them with teasing smiles and barely a care in the world between them. Leaving the damn near forced together trainees to flatly grimace off the repeated attempts at pushing them together. At least this time they were somewhere they could actually have fun, and not just some place scenic or barren of all but the most necessary distractions. The ‘patrol’ up the north side of the Terrace along the conveniently paved walking path really stretched definitions and their sanities. But now there were carnival games.

  Games that seemed a little… empty.

  The lovey dovey duo ahead had all but tuned out the world, Zeleny had taken in all the lights and colors, but Jacob couldn’t help but keep an eye to the people around him. Training under his mom forced through a lot of watchful habits. Knowing where exits were, where dangers were, what people around him were doing. Living under the rule of safety training made him sharp, perceptive, but also quiet. At least until it was called for. And this…

  “Where is everybody?”

  There should be crowds trying to take in all they could before the end of the season. Beach goers enjoying the water while it was hot out. Tourists taking in the sights. Even the odd fishers heading for the far end of the pier. But instead it was… empty. And his headache was getting worse.

  But the message got through, Zeleny’s smile turned down to the barren boards and empty stalls. Phazer Shock turning away from her husband and toward the cleared out food courts and lines. And Glacial Glaz scanning toward the still arguably full parking lot. There should be lots of people here, but there was not. And maybe Jacob’s headache wasn’t just his.

  Glaz leveled a hand down and a fog materialized into a pillar of ice down to the ground. Clear crystal that spread out as it touched. Splaying wide and thin around everyone’s feet. Till it was wobbling oddly. Insistently. Almost… mesmerizingly.

  “Honey. About three degrees off of your 2 O’clock. That arcade window.”

  “Ah! I see it now. You kids ready? Things are about to kick off in a second.”

  Zeleny and Jacob both stared in middling horror befitting the situation, even as their trainers both smiled back in smirking enjoyment for what was about to happen.

  For Phazer suddenly whamming her hand like a catapult bearing a small mote of sunlight. Striking the glass of that targeted window with plasma hot enough to refute its shattering. And send that headache into blaring reverb for the second it took the speaker behind it to die. Spiking a wince from the heroes and a full eared regret from the trainees. And a frustrated crashing of a set of headphones out from a stall.

  “Gyahh!! You bitch! You even know how expensive that was?!”

  An aged man in full spec ops black stomped out into the light. Tactical vest and padding all but in orderly fashion. And yet the dad bod beneath it said that professionalism didn’t really stick very deep. Or was long past its prime.

  “Oh, Major Rem! What, is Hightower’s budget not good enough to get two copies of Malfeasance’s greatest hits?”

  “No you damn destructive asshole! The speaker! That was an analogue original! You can’t get stuff like that now a days! It’s all digitized crap that ruins the memetics!”

  All four of them turned flat as the villain fuming… grumbling before them shook a fist at the passage of time. And roused the rest of his cohort out from their hides.

  “Eh, just knock over a record store the next time you’re out. Or better yet, get a job and pay for it for once.”

  Glaz sneered a little but turned back to the spare tires on this rapidly deteriorating date.

  “The people should all be sequestered below us. Under the pier. Just hang a left down the stairs over there and look for a door labeled employees only.”

  “W-why do I feel like you know that too well?”

  “Oh hush, you know full well why.”

  Phazer squared up as the legions of balaclava bearing minions finally made their way fully out into the light. All in the same trained and set dress, yet all barely fitting the part as soldiers. Let alone mercs. Some too thin, most a little over, and a lot just plain looking weak by comparison. And all of them bearing little more than maybe a stun baton or a cattle prod here and there.

  “We can take care of these bozos all on our own. You two run along now and keep the people safe.”

  Zeleny and Jacob both looked at each other, almost sharing the resentment at being sidelined like this. But important jobs, experience before bravado. All that spirit drooping justification.

  “Well… at least we get to do something finally.”

  “Y-yeah! And uh… we’re gonna have to fight through these guys aren’t we?”

  “If we even get to.”

  And just like that, the sheet of ice at their feet scrunched and shot wider into the crowds rearing to fight for what pride they had as unpowered villains. Pride dashed as many had their feet knocked out from under them.

  ‘Ugh… we never get to do anything.’

  ‘Why do I have to be here?’

  The waters of the Terrace rushed like rapids as they cut down into Kadia’s city limits. Wasting boulders to pebbles and banks to cliff faces. A true master of weathering and hydrodynamics. This worked out in some regards. It meant you didn’t need to dig up a place to build up a foundation before plopping down a deep water port. Just pour concrete over that cliff and seal it tight. But it also cost most shipping companies fuel and time fighting their way upriver to said port.

  There had been a few attempts to alleviate this more substantially, though most proved untenable. A few super strength and aquatic supers had offered to pull cargo liners through the worst sections. But then the harbor authority, and namely the pilot boat union, got annoyed that all their training and safety procedures were going to waste. So that ended quick. But it gave leeway for them to help in a better way.

  If, say for instance, a boulder survived getting rolled all the way down from the mountains that started this white water thoroughfare, that would put a large dampener on the city’s logistics. As said wet rock would lodge and build up sediment along the deeper routes and would end make the whole river shallower if not outright keel cracking. So, every so often, a few heroes made a sweep of the river bed. Teams of dredgers and breakers and divers without need for air. And one unlucky David dragged alongside to the bottom.

  A curtain of clean water coated his form as he took step after step along the river’s bed. The brown of dirt and still leaking ash keeping the lower depths dark despite the speed of its flow. A constant angle accelerating all this water all the way down from its estuaries, even as it leveled out some on its final leg to the ocean. But eccentricities weren’t on his mind, the constant need to keep his footing and focus on the thin wall of controlled water around him was. Because if he slipped up, he’d be in the Pacific before anyone even knew he was gone from behind them.

  Though Depthcharge would probably have a say in that. If they ever talked.

  ^_^

  A proud, yet silent, look illuminated the darkness at David’s back. No need for a water shield when you were just too damn heavy to budge. Thankfully their face wasn’t the only bright spot down here. A line of harsh flares bubbled along the silt. And several headlamps scanned back and forth for anything in need of a good removing. The other divers along for this job more muscle than water willing. They even got full diving suits. All David got was some spare scuba equipment. So at the very least he wouldn’t drown instantly if his control wavered. Or if his feet hit a loose patch of silt. Or if a boulder came at just the wrong time. Or if…

  David stopped in his tracks, sediment already building up over his boots. The darkness was almost getting darker on its own. The red of those staked in flares getting too red. His breaths hit short erratic beats against the pounding in his chest. The bubble of his personal space inflated and wavered off into a gurgling tail, as he used up his tank just standing there.

  And yet felt rubble against his back.

  Felt the air grinding between teeth around him.

  Felt blood drain from his useless arms.

  Saw those shining red eyes surround him on all sides just waiting to-

  His personal space was invaded by a heavy spongy hand, and the nightmare of that test popped. Was out shown by… by…

  0_0

  By a concern that didn’t need words to be expressed. That looked down on his shivering face turned to accept it and finally take a deep enough breathe to cut through the darkness.

  “*bfff* He okay back there Depth? *bfff* We’ve still got a ways to go to that sonar contact.”

  A light had turned back and shined over the both of them. Tugging gently at the tether strung between them till Depthcharge gave a thick gloved thumbs up and David nodded through his regained steady. Till step by step they continued on toward what they had been sent to clear up.

  A gradual process of flare dropping and floor scanning. Of each step proving just as slippery as the last. Of constant holding of that barrier of water he knew was his and his alone. Feeling it conform around him to what he wanted from it, yet still feeling it drag out and flap in the rush surrounding. But he was strong, David knew he was strong. He knew he could do this. It wasn’t anything like that test. Nowhere near as scary. And he wasn’t alone here. And all he ever had to do was hold that water back. Not make it from nothing and tax his stamina. Not bear it all and bring it to a stop. Just hold it back. Make a bubble when needed, and just hold it. He could do that.

  “*bffff* shit… We’re here!”

  He… he could do that. He knew he could.

  “*bfffucking hell. What is that doing here?”

  He knew he could he knew he could he knew he could-

  “Davy! We need that bubble. Do your thing.”

  That heavy gloved hand narrowly made it to his shoulder again. To snap him out of the obvious consternation bringing him to another stand still. But it didn’t make it in time. Because David was already taking a deep leveling breath and shifting to face what was just downstream from him and Depthcharge.

  Flexing his control over his power, over the clear water that denied the suspension surrounding. Feeling and seeing nothing but the surface of that expanding space he had brought down with him. That thick layer of water all his and his all. As it rounded out of his form and over the lights ahead of him. Over the hard pressure suits and flares. Over the silt and rocks and rushed flat river floor. Over the obtuse edges that they had come to clear away and restore trusted water ways. Over the…

  The jagged metal… that stuck out and bent back over itself. Over concrete rounded and cracked at its base.

  Over… over something that hadn’t rolled all the way down from the mountains.

  David opened his eyes, having closed them and yet seen more than ever. Turning up into the quieted space he had made. The air was thin and harsh against his skin, but the flares would fill it out and the tank on his back would keep him conscious. Even if he didn’t want to be.

  The team ahead was stopped in their tracks, headlamps all turned up to the obstruction. Illuminating it unduly and making things worse by the second. Making the twisted rolled mass of arched steel look like a something from a horror story. Like the wreckage of a disaster they didn’t know anything about yet.

  But they did know… unfortunately. As one light stayed put on the still surviving reflective green of a road sign. Bolted to the lower end just above the concrete. Eaten away by water and impacts, yet still reading unmistakably.

  Welcome to Brighton

  O_O

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