by Hayes, Drew
The ground didn’t fall away from Alice at all; in fact it did quite the opposite. Hands made of rock shot up, reaching for Alice’s arms and legs, trying to pull her down. A single one would probably be strong enough to keep her grounded, and from there it would be a simple matter of pulling her into the floor just like he’d done to Chad. Even worse, the damn hands were fast. So quick, in fact, that if Alice had tried to fly away they would have easily caught her. But Alice wasn’t trying to fly off at all. She was still standing there, staring at Conrad, not moving a muscle.
There was no warning, no taunt. One second the hands were nearly to her, the next they were slamming violently to the ground, no longer able to hold themselves up. Trying to keep her from getting airborne was the smart move. The trouble was that Alice could also figure out those smart moves, and how to counter them. Eyes still locked on Conrad, she rose up from the floor, positioning herself twenty feet in the air, halfway to the ceiling, putting as much room between her body and any source of rock or stone as possible.
“I get it now. Gravity control. I had my suspicions after hearing about your last match, but that proves it. Incredible, really. And with a mind smart enough to handle a Subtlety major as well. One thing I must say about Lander, they clearly sent us their very best.” As he spoke, Alice noticed that the floor was moving again, this time around Conrad himself. It shot up his legs, forming around his whole body. Smart; he’d locked himself to the floor, meaning she couldn’t send him pinballing around the room. It was a similar move to what Thomas had pulled during their mid-year exam. That was the thing about fighting others with environmental powers; they were used to thinking of how to control a battlefield. “But you should know, Sizemore also sent those with their sights set on victory. I’m glad it went this way, though. A semi-finals with three Lander students and just me. Imagine the respect people will have for Sizemore when I defeat the best Lander has to offer.”
“Bit of a chatterbox, aren’t you?” While Conrad was going on, Alice had chosen her next move. There was no point in not showing off now, so she decided it was best to try and end this quickly. With a burst of focus, she increased the gravity around Conrad. Using as much as she had on the rock-hands would be dangerous, but she could make him too heavy to stand, even with the coating of stone. Once he was struggling to move and his focus was broken, it would be a short matter of tweaking the gravity until he was completely paralyzed. It felt somewhat fitting to beat him by holding him helpless, just like Conrad had trapped Chad.
The sound of scraping rocks echoed through the air as Conrad, completely engulfed in his suit of rubble, fell forward, landing at an awkward squat with his feet still rooted to the floor. He still managed to look up at her, that rock-covered face somehow managing to produce an eerie version of a smile. “No. I’m not.”
From above, two stones fired out of the ceiling, directly toward Alice’s torso. It was an incredible shot with pinpoint accuracy; obviously Conrad had been lining up the strike while talking to Alice. Pity for him, this wasn’t the first surprise attack Alice had ever dealt with. As the stones approached, much too fast to be dodged, they suddenly veered to the left, going off course and smashing harmlessly against the floor.
More burst out of the wall behind her. These fired even harder, but again they suddenly turned, coming nowhere near Alice.
“Damn you. Creating a field of gravity pushing directly back on anything coming in could be overpowered with enough force, but you’re got a bubble moving everything to a slightly different angle, making sure it never comes near you. The momentum of the rocks becomes the very thing that helps carry them out of the way.” Despite the dire situation, Conrad didn’t seem especially bothered. If anything, he sounded like he was trying to suppress laughter. “I wonder how much it can withstand.”
Alice increased the gravity around Conrad, unsure of what he meant but damn positive she didn’t want to find out. Instead of driving him further down, however, Conrad’s whole body suddenly cracked and shattered, crumbling to chunks right before her eyes. For a fleeting moment Alice was sure she’d killed him, but seconds later it became clear that Conrad was still very much in this fight.
All around her, the room began to shake. Cracks appeared through the walls, floors, and ceiling, as soft laughter rang out from within them. The stone was so malleable it rolled like waves, the terrain shifting as spires of stone began to sprout from every surface, the laughter growing steadily louder.
It wasn’t hard to figure out what happened. Conrad had made her think he was covering himself with a rock suit, when in reality he’d used it as camouflage to slip away into the floor, leaving a stone shell behind. Too bad that in this case knowing wasn’t particularly helpful.
Conrad’s power had a much larger range than Alice had anticipated, and that was bad. But far, far worse was the fact that he was hiding in the very element he could control, and she’d yet to think of an idea for how to pull him out without killing him.
Dire as the situation seemed, she fought to keep her cool, sure that she’d come up with something in a few moments. Unfortunately, just as she was settling her nerves, the entire room attacked her at once.
282.
Massive spikes of stone shot forth from the walls, ceiling, and floor, several on a crash course with Alice. Worse, they stayed rooted to their sources, so the damn things would be able to power through her gravity defense field. The defense had been designed for projectiles, not aspiring mountains, and Alice wasn’t sure how much force it would take to knock something so huge askew.
For once, Alice found herself glad she’d spent the early part of her HCP career unable to do anything but fly. While it had tremendously limited her capabilities in terms of offense, the one benefit to being airborne and useless was that Alice had learned to dodge like a motherfucker. She zipped through the air, nimbly avoiding the rising obstacles as they tried to get close. Already, she could see the rock-hands forming on the sides of the spires, hands that would grab her if she drew near. Alice had assumed that she might be able to break out from a stone prison with opposing gravity strong enough to shove the rocks away from her body, but that had been before she saw how much stone Conrad could manipulate. It was insane; he must have been born with an amazing talent and then worked his ass off for years to have this level of control. Conrad wasn’t just strong or dangerous. He was overwhelming: the very idea of fighting him felt like trying to box a force of nature.
Alice couldn’t help but wonder if this was what it felt like for the others to fight some of Lander’s best. If so, then she had a great deal of empathy for them, but she didn’t want to share in the same fate. Conrad had an amazing power, there was no doubt about it. The thing was, Alice controlled a fundamental force of the goddamned universe. She wasn’t going out that easy.
Still zipping around, doing her best to keep distance, Alice began to create new gravity fields. These were just like the ones she used to break limbs, two forces pulling strongly in opposite directions. Only Alice wasn’t going after something as meager as bones. The first spire snapped within seconds, falling off a wall and crashing heavily to the floor. It went easier than she expected; maybe all of the shifting and reforming of the stones had left them weakened. More soon followed as Alice turned her focus, breaking each spire at the base and making sure to steer clear of the raining debris. Conrad might have been able to fill the whole cell with obstacles, but in less than a minute Alice had torn them all down.
The laughter, she noticed, had also stopped. Maybe he’d been trying to play mind games, maybe he’d just been tickled at the idea of getting to finally cut loose. She could understand that; fighting in Intramurals was like tying your own hand behind your back. So much constant measuring of what should be revealed versus how to win; there was a sense of relief to being able to fight full-out. Plus, judging from the fact that Conrad was the only Sizemore student left, it seemed like a fair bet no one in his class had been able to properly challenge him i
n a long while.
“A fight that comes down to multi-tasking. Not how I saw it going, but I’m not complaining. You’re really giving me a chance to show what the best of Sizemore is capable of.” Conrad’s voice seemed to exist as an echo now, coming from several directions at once. When she squinted, Alice could see small holes dotting the walls, almost like stone speakers. If Conrad was working this hard to mask where his voice was coming from, then it probably meant he had a reason to hide. There was a chance he couldn’t fully turn into stone, which meant he’d be vulnerable. Maybes and ifs, that was all Alice had at this point. No matter what turned out to be true, she had to draw him out, or this was going to be a fight with her constantly on the defensive.
Sadly, there wasn’t much time to think about that. The broken spires were being absorbed into the ground, and several had already started to regrow. Just as Alice was about to knock them down, a blast of rocks came firing at her from the ceiling again, this time managing to graze a leg as they rocketed past. She’d let her projectile defense weaken as she focused on dealing with the spires, and Conrad had just made her pay for that. Quick as she could, Alice recreated it, but while she was distracted the spires continued to form, filling the cell once again.
More stony crests were forming this time. Conrad had seen her avoid the first wave and was cutting off her mobility. Alice set to snapping them, flying at high speeds while ever-larger showers of projectile rocks rained down on her, the debris steered away by her gravity field. He was attacking on every front, yanking her concentration in multiple different directions, daring her to make a single mistake. But Alice refused to yield. She doubled down on cracking the spires, putting in a few extra seconds of effort to make the ones she broke off go slamming into other spires, doubling her destructive output. Up and down, left and right, she rocketed through the cell, whipping about and knocking back everything Conrad threw at her. Abilities took effort and energy to use, and something on this scale had to be draining Conrad’s endurance. If she could outlast him, wear him down, then Alice would have a chance at taking the offensive when he rested.
For a few minutes, it seemed the pair had managed to stalemate each other. However, such a balance was impossible to maintain; eventually one of them would make a mistake. As Alice tore through the room, being sure to give the spires ample room so they couldn’t snare her, she briefly ended up near a flat section of a wall. In her dodging, she’d come close to such surfaces before. It was nigh-impossible to avoid them when darting around the spires. But this time, she was just a little slower as she tried to plot her next angle of attack – a little slower and just close enough that the wall was inside her projectile reorienting field.
A single rock fired off, smashing into the side of Alice’s head and sending her spinning through the air. It wasn’t enough to do serious damage, no stronger than a good punch would have been, but it still broke her concentration. Not for long, not for long at all. It happened, though, and that was the moment Conrad had been waiting for.
By the time Alice shook the stars from her eyes, it was already too late. Stone hands had reached out from a nearby spire and pulled her in, encasing everything but her head. Alice struggled, trying to snap the spire at its base or create enough gravity to crack open the stone shell. Conrad wasn’t giving her the chance, however. The spire shot back down into the floor, taking Alice with it. Hard as she tried, the pain in her head and overall mental exhaustion was slowing her down, and she wasn’t quite fast enough to break free before being sealed in the ground. She kept fighting, even then, refusing to accept the end. Trying to find a way to break free, to use just the right amount of gravity to crack the stone floor without seriously hurting herself. It was a fierce, valiant effort, just as Chad’s had been. And ultimately, it came to the same result.
“That is three minutes, meaning Conrad Booker of Sizemore has just won his third match,” Victor announced. “Thank you both for putting on an incredible show, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we can’t wait to see the final bout. Whoever wins this next fight has their work cut out for them. Now off to the medical rooms, both of you.”
Alice felt the ground shift as her body started to rise, like it was being pushed from below. Across the room, Conrad was doing the same, lifting from the floor without so much as a scratch or a bruise to show for the entire fight. She did note, however, that he was still quite human.
Conrad met Alice’s eyes and gave her a polite nod. “That was an excellent match. I have to say, I thought Chad would be the toughest of you all, since the rumors indicated he was the best. But you were a much harder challenge. Perhaps Lander should re-evaluate its ranking methodology.”
“I might have more raw power than Chad, but he’s the most consistent fighter in our entire class. He’s a man you can trust and rely on, no matter the situation. Don’t you dare talk about him like he was a mere stepping stone. You got lucky, Conrad. Your power happened to be a perfect counter to his.” Alice walked forward, shaking off the dust still clinging to her uniform. “And your information is out of date. Chad lost the top spot earlier this year. So if Shane wins against Vince, you get to fight the current top rank at Lander, and I have a feeling he’s not going down as easily as you might hope.”
“If he’s the top rank, shouldn’t it be a forgone conclusion that he’ll win?” Conrad pointed out.
This time, it was Alice that laughed, although there was nothing theatrical or taunting about it. “You’ve been the top of your class since freshman year, haven’t you?”
Conrad was silent for several seconds, visibly annoyed by her laughter. “As someone who just witnessed my power, I think you can figure it out on your own.”
“See, that’s going to be a problem for you. Because at Lander, we’ve all been fighting, clawing, and scraping to get a little bit stronger, to come a hair closer to being the best. We’ve all lost, all felt the pain of being not good enough. You think once the best is done, you’ve got smooth sailing, but in all honesty, I don’t even know who Lander’s strongest is anymore.”
In truth, Alice really wasn’t sure how effective Vince or Shane could be against a power like stone manipulation. All she knew was that she refused to let him belittle her class. The fight was lost, there was no changing that, but Alice was still a Subtlety major. She could put a touch of fear into him, if nothing else.
Alice kept walking, going right up to and then past Conrad as she headed for the exit. “But whichever one of them is still left will be coming for you with everything they’ve got. Rest up, Conrad. Your hardest fight of this tournament has yet to come.”
283.
Awareness was Globe’s greatest weakness, and few knew that better than Charles Adair. Globe could stop, change, and react to nearly anything inside his sphere of power, but only with intent. Sure, setting up a small barrier around himself required little concentration to maintain, but in a battle this chaotic there were always more elements to consider.
The new Supers entering the fray demonstrated powers that would have made them exceptional Heroes if they weren’t displaying the telltale control issues of someone using enhancement. That was a symptom Globe could easily recognize, obviously, as he was keenly aware of how much training it took to wield amplified abilities with the same skill as one’s normal set. It was hard to be mad at Charles for using an enhancer; if nothing else, it proved that they still thought alike, just as one would expect from brothers.
No, what annoyed Globe were the numerous traps, devices, and shifting hallways that not only made navigating the underground space slow and tedious, but also split Globe’s attention in a half-dozen directions at any given time. The goal was clear: Charles knew Globe would be doing more than just attacking, he’d also be working to keep his team safe. As Raze destroyed a reinforced door with a mere touch, avoiding the walls lest the structural integrity of the subterranean base be compromised, Globe kept a wild blast of energy and a wave of acid from getting anywhere near Raze or
the door. It was like that all over; his team was amazing, but the sheer number of threats they were facing made it virtually impossible for them to deal with each new one that cropped up.
The door in front of Raze turned to dust, revealing a team of four Supers, ready and waiting to strike. They weren’t the only ones who were prepared, though. As soon as Globe saw them and how close they were, he made a small effort of will and all four slumped to the ground. They were alive – temporarily comatose, but alive. Most of the guards had figured out that their best bet was attacking from a long distance, however it seemed a few were still slow to respond.
Not ten seconds after the guards dropped, automated turrets popped out from the floor. They locked on to the nearest targets, some pointing at Raze while others aimed for the guards on the ground. Globe turned them all the scrap with a quick wave, then spun around to block a giant axe that was spinning toward George’s back from seemingly out of nowhere. So many fronts to keep track of, so many people to protect. It wasn’t enough to stop them, but it was slowing their progress.
That was a dangerous game to play. Once Globe and his team’s enhancements wore off, this would be a much more dire fight. Not to mention that the longer this went on, the better a chance of someone out there noticing. If the DVA or local cops showed up, Globe wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep them all safe. Maybe Charles had safeguards in place, or maybe he was going to try and pin all of this on Globe when the dust settled.
None of that mattered, though. The only mission they had, the only purpose of this fight, was to get proof and bring the truth to light. Until that was done or he was dead, Globe would keep going, and he knew his team felt the same.
They surged through the opening Raze had created. Once they were all through, Globe paused briefly to will metal debris into the hole where the door once stood, then fused it together into a solid lump. It wasn’t much, but it might buy them some time. At this point, every minute they could steal was vital. For them, and perhaps for the world.