One more strike to the face left Nino's head spinning like a dreidel. How many hits had that made now? Forty? Fifty? Was he even counting at this point? He had no idea. Was there a reason he was trying to keep count? God knew. A knee strike shot the small amount of oxygen he had left in him right out with a blood filled cough. As he tried to gather more air into his lungs, his face was gripped by a night black palm, and slammed against the wall he was being beaten against.
Trying to gather liquid here was absolutely fruitless. He'd managed to pool a small glop of water in his palms, and fired it at the highest force he could muster against this pure black figure with demonic red eyes, but it had just phased right through him, like he wasn't even there. He. It. Whatever this person was. Kuragaro? Was that his name? Korogaru? Did it even matter at this point?
What the hell was he even thinking? Nino's mind was in absolute shambled right now, the only real thing he could focus on was the pain each and every strike seemed to fill him with. Sure, it beat getting writhed in flames, but this wasn't exactly fun. There wasn't much he could do, due to his own inability to generate water, or control his own blood. What use was mastery over all liquids if you couldn't even use your own liquids to fight?
One second, He'd been looking at Adrien, about to ask him why he looked like he did when they first watched Alien together, and the next, he could taste blood coming from the multitude of cuts inside his mouth. His head hurt. His stomach hurt. A creature that looked like a shadow, with blood red eyes and teeth was wailing on him without remorse.
All because Nino had made one offhanded comment. One he hadn't meant any offense by.
The truth was, he'd meant it in the opposite manner as it had come out. Kuragari - He was convinced that was his name - Did look like a Villain, there wasn't any way to get around that fact. And there was no doubt that he had been told that. Many, many times throughout his childhood. That at many points, he was accused of wrongdoings he never committed, based on the appearance he had. Nino had thoughts of him being accused of being a thief in stores, even when he hadn't touched anything.
And here he was.
Trying to become a Hero.
"You want a Villain, do ya?!" Kuragari yelled, striking Nino's jaw once more.
The world wanted to call him a Villain. But Kuragari was here to prove them wrong. He wanted to show that he could help people. That he could be a Hero, and prove everyone wrong. That had to be the reason why he was here, didn't it?
And even here, someone had made the comment of him looking like a Villain.
Nino couldn't blame the guy for losing his shit like this. The same thing had happened to Nino when people learned how limited his Trait was. How he couldn't hope to be a Hero if his power didn't let him create his own water. How he would be useless without other Heroes there to back him up. How he should be a lifeguard, and put his Trait to better use. Use that was better suited for someone who couldn't even generate the elements they wielded.
And look where he was now. A proud member of the Hero course. Why was he here? The honest reason? He had wanted to prove those people wrong. That he could become a Hero with this power of his, no matter how limited it was.
"Damn Hero!" An elbow strike to the cheek.
Not exactly as romantic of an image as people made it out to be. As it turned out, Heroism wasn't always a straight line towards victory. Often times, it really freaking hurt. But it was why he was here. To prove the people who mocked him and how power were wrong. That he could be someone people could rely on to help them, even if he was at a disadvantage.
So he felt shame that he couldn't be there when Adrien and Shinuya were obviously going to need him.
Having exerted every bit of energy he had in him, his breathing had turned heavy, and ragged, Kuragari let Nino drop, the dark skinned teenager falling to his knees, and then flat on his face, not making any effort to stop gravity from slamming his face into the ground. He almost felt numb to the pain now. Like his body had shut down his sense of touch to prevent him from going insane with the pain.
"Fucking... Prick..." Kuragari rasped, taking deep breaths between the gasps. He began to walk away, hurling abuse at Nino as he left the beaten teen to his own devices, considering him defeated. "I'm not... A Villain... Got it?... I'm gonna be... A Raider... And show you..."
A Raider...
The Raiders were a very elite group of Heroes. Best of the best. Elite of the Elite. They specialized in hostage rescue, and in Villain suppression. Heavy combat. Very dangerous roles in this sort of line of work. And what was more, you couldn't apply to join them. They came to you. To want to join them...
"You're a joke."
The footsteps stopped, as Nino knew they would.
"The Raiders? Hah... You're kidding, right?" This was a very dangerous bridge to be burning, and Nino knew it perfectly well, but there wasn't anything else he could do. Doing nothing would be leaving Adrien and Shinuya to deal with this guy, and he didn't know if they could take this guy right now, and gathering water wasn't going to work against this guy.... What else could he do?
He wasn't going to be able to re-join his allies in the fight any time soon. He was too badly beaten up. And even if he was able to join the fight, there wasn't going to be a single thing he could do against the Intangibly Trait user in front of him. He might as well not have a Trait.
But what he could do... Was he could stall for time.
"What makes you think that the Raiders are gonna want someone who loses their cool over an offhanded comment?" Nino shot insults at Kuragari's pride, knowing full well that he wasn't going to let them go unanswered. Without the Human thinking, the footsteps returned, coming ever closer to Nino. He pressed further. "Someone who loses their mind over a comment like that... Hah! You'd be as much use as an ice cube is against an avalanche!"
He felt himself being picked up, and slammed against the wall once more. Doing so made him violently cough up blood, but he didn't even feel much pain from it anymore. In front of him he saw the face of someone livid beyond comprehension, and in a way, Nino sympathized with him. But he was an enemy right now. He would apologize later.
"I'm gonna enjoy beating you down." Kuragari spat. The silhouette that may or may not be his hand opened up, preparing to fire off a flurry of open-palm strikes.
Nino just smiled. 'How is this for catching up with your selfless habits, Adrien?' He thought, remembering back to the previous day. How Adrien's altruistic habits got him into the CFD. And how Adrien had jokingly told him to catch up. Nino felt that this qualified. 'Good luck, buddy. Hope you win this for us... Cause I'm not gonna be much help after this.'
There certainly had been a mood change for the students who had watched the battle unfold in front of them, particularly for the students in the Hero Course. Jaws dropped, and eyes shot wide open. The majority couldn't even comprehend what had just happened in front of them as they watched it happen. The speed of it had gone by way too quick for anyone to be able to confidently say what they saw, but looking at Adrien now, it was clear enough.
His right arm was gone. Ripped right off his body, leaving in its place not even a stump. Just an armless shoulder.
"Adrien!" Marinette had stood up in an instant, looking in absolute horror at what she had just witnessed. Her eyes were wide, and shimmering in the light, as her tears were clear and obvious to anyone who looked at her. Her lips trembled, and her body shook. She felt ill, and weak. She was going to be sick. Oh God.
This was supposed to be training! Sparring! How had this happened?!
The Primal who had done this was still standing, and had added Adrien's arm to his mass of flesh that now hovered around him. Somehow, he wasn't sick to the stomach of himself, as his grin still was visible past his mess of green hair! How could he even stand himself?!
"Oh my God..." Alya was only able to whisper, standing up and trying to help Marinette sit down before she wound up collapsing. She too, was utterly freaked out by what had just happened.
Mylene on the other hand, simply couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen anymore, but it was clear she was mortified. How couldn't she be? How couldn't anyone be? Her lips were apart, and her mouth open, all discipline totally gone. And it wasn't just her. Nathaniel, Alix, Kim, Lila, everyone watched what was happening clearly hadn't been prepared to see such a sight. And it wasn't surprising either to see these reactions. No one had expected to see this sort of injury on the first fight of the day!
Some of the other students were expressing just as much surprise. A few even activated their powers in surprise, as a flinch reaction.
"Jesus Christ, will you fucking fangirls shut it?!"
An explosively and aggressively loud voice suddenly boomed from behind the Hero Course students. One student they had never seen before was stood up, towering above the group, due to being a few pews higher than them. One look at him revealed an intimidating exterior, and what sounded like an equally intimidating interior. Somehow, everyone just knew that this student was a member of the Elite class. His very presence spoke endless limits about his strength and of his powers.
Appearance wise, the male student was a very muscular student, whom sported a dark crimson colour of hair, similar to that of blood. It all stood on end, giving him a spiky hairstyle that was cut off at the front, leaving his eyes free of any of his hair. That aside, compared to other members of society, he looked totally normal. Like a regular Human being, except when it came to his hands. His hands were like those of an average Human, four fingers and a thumb, except that his palm, and the underside of each of his fingers, was black, covered in calluses and hardened blisters, like they had been burned. Many obvious attempts at stitching the normal fleshy parts of his hands and these hardened bits of his flesh had been made, but none successful.
His gym clothes were akin to those of a traditional martial artists, only in black and red, with his left arm being totally covered, and his right arm left totally exposed from the shoulder down. It showed the impressive array of muscles that his arms possessed, each part of him arm being bulky and strong. His forearms in particular were impressive in size for someone of his age, although he was easily outshone by one of his classmates sitting not too far away from him.
He gritted his teeth and snarled at the Hero course students. "Have you damn people never even seen a proper fucking fight?" Marinette couldn't help but think that she'd seen a lot more real fights than this student, whoever he was, but her thoughts were a hell of a lot more focused one what the hell was happening to Adrien than she was thinking about one-upping some annoying scumbag a few seats up. "If Fleisch wanted to damage the fucking model, he'd've done it."
"Maybe calm it down a little, eh, dude?" A student sat next to him suggested. This student's body was split down the centre, the left side being made of pure water, and the right side being made out of pure fire. Somehow, his clothing didn't destroy itself, nor did the two elements collide and cancel one another out.
This student made those of the Hero course who took extra note realize something - Every other student in the room seemed totally calm. Relaxed. Like they had known that this was going to happen. Like they were used to it, and that they knew something that the Heroes didn't know.
"Screw that!" The angry student declared. "I'm sick of listening to them running their damn mouths. 'Waaa, noo, Adrien' Over and fucking over!" As he mocked, the foul mouthed student flailed his arms around over extravagantly. "That fucking kids fine! I'm more pissed about why Fleisch is even bothering to hold back!" As he spoke, from his clawed palms, two explosions detonated, clearly from his Trait being activated. It explained why his palms looked like they had been seared apart, since the detonation and impact site seemed to be from the palms of the colourfully-mouthed student. "Why the fuck're you holding back, Fleisch?!"
How was Adrien fine?... Marinette's eyes suddenly shot back to the television screen, shocked at what she saw.
There was no blood.
And Adrien was still standing.
The weird thing that Adrien noticed as he watched his arm suddenly grow smaller as he and Shinuya got further away from it, was that it didn't hurt. At all. He didn't feel a single bit of pain. Like it didn't even happen at all. There wasn't any blood - Instead, there was what looked like an already corderized hole where there should be blood vessels leaking his bodily liquids all over the floor. But none ever came.
And surprisingly, he didn't even feel the effects of a phantom limb - The effect of still feeling your body part despite having lost it. He didn't feel that. Well, he did to a minor extent, but not nearly as much as someone else who lost their arm would have done.
Of course, he was still absolutely mortified.
His hand was freaking gone! How couldn't he be freaked out?!
Shinuya came to a skidding half along the floor, stopping just before he and Adrien skidded into a wall. While he was dragging Adrien with his right hand, the Japanese teenager was loading up his left hand with another clump of Explosive Blood, firing it at the Primal behind them. He thrusted the blood towards his opponent, it extending into a solid line of nitroglycerine-laced blood at it rocketed towards Fleisch. "Get back!"
The attack connected, but was absorbed, and its explosion contained by the flesh that the Primal controlled, Adrien's arm now dissolved into it and flowing alongside the orange-opaque semi-liquid semi-solid object. The flesh expanded, but the explosive power was contained, bubbling the meat a little, but not doing any damage of merit.
"Not good enough, Shinuya!" Fleish yelled with a laugh over the amalgamation. The sentient tidal wave of meat began to move, swirling towards the duo. With Adrien's arm added to the mix, his monster of a creation was far stronger, and far chunkier than it was before. Such was the nature of his powers.
Fleisch Quartz - Primality - Meat Grinder - Fleisch's power allows him to control flesh of any kind via physical contact, including his own. If he is able to touch meat, he is able to turn it into a semi-liquid form, which he can then make extremely durable and resistant, as well as sharp and other such versatile states of matter. He can also manipulate more flesh by using the already manipulated flesh to gather more for him. The more flesh he controls at one time, the more powerful his Primality becomes. However, with this, the more meat his obtains, the more difficult he finds it to control. During this process, individuals he has added to his mass of meat may be able to regain their independence. Upon the deactivation of this power, the meat returns to its previous form. If he has absorbed an entire individual, that person shall be released unharmed. However, while still a part of his Primality, they will still feel pain.
"Damn it!" Shinuya exclaimed with a grunt. Fleish had a power that could negate his own, and with enough force, could easily overpower him. Meat Grinder was a powerful counter to the Japanese teenager's multitude of powers. It was probably one of the worst match-up's he could have asked for.
"What the hell?..." Adrien was basically whispering his question, his left hand clutching area his right arm should have been, where his shoulder should have been. Surprisingly, he was still stood up, which impressed Shinuya, if nothing else. Anyone else would have serious psychological damage to losing such a vital limb. He stumbled a bit on his feet, but for the most part, he was actually dealing with it admirably well.
"We need to get out of here. Reassess our plans." Shinuya decided on the spot. As he did so, he threw a few more explosive rounds at the Meat Grinder power behind them, doing what he could to keep it at bay. While it was able to suppress Shinuya's powers, it wasn't able to push straight past them. The more explosions Shinuya threw, the more suppressed Fleisch's Primality was.
"W-Wait... What about Nino?"
"Trust me, we aren't gonna find him! Not with Kuragari having hold of him!" Another large blast, this one filling the entire corridor of its impact.
"We can't just leave him!"
"You wanna be a Hero, right?" Launching yet another two tendrils of detonating blood, Shinuya yelled at the French teenager. "If you wanna be a Hero, then you're gonna need to learn when we have to leave someone behind to have better chance at succeeding!"
"That's... That's Villain talk!"
"What do you think we are, Chat?!"
Using Vigilante names in this circumstance... They were lucky audio wasn't being transmitted, and that the continuous sounds of shelling's form Shinuya's Trait were negating a huge amount of the sound that they made. It was extremely unlikely anyone would be able to hear them over the continuous shelling that Shinuya was unleashing upon the wall of Human flesh.
Though Adrien never liked to think about it, he was a Villain. Vigilantism was illegal, and he was using his powers, not in a lawful way, but in the spirit of the law... That made him a Villain. And while he wanted to be a Hero...
"...We won't win this fight unless we re-strategize! Nino can look after himself!" Shinuya yelled once more.
The blond boy couldn't help but notice that the gap between explosions was now lengthening. Shinuya would normally throw a new round of blood every few seconds, but now the length between the previous one, and the one he was charging up, was about ten seconds. The more he used this power, the less he could put out continuously. He needed time to replenish.
And at this rate, the Primal's power would consume them if they didn't leave. It seemed that as time passed, the Primal seemed to become stronger and stronger, like he was putting out more and more.
To further add to the current predicament, Fleisch was clearly enjoying himself. "I can see you over there!" He laughed, having closed the distance enough to be able to glare at the opponents he was facing through the small gaps between the Primality. That grin could be seen from a mile away, and could probably be used to signal helicopters, Adrien thought to himself.
But right now, he was faced with a choice. And thinking about it... It was a very harsh choice to consider. One a Hero may be forced to make. One a Vigilante would have to make. Leave Nino behind, and regroup, and maybe have a better chance at victory, or stay and fight someone who has a clear power advantage, to look for a teammate whom where they have no idea is located.
Of course, everyone wanted to look for their friend in that scenario... But the overwhelming power Fleisch had... And the noticeable lack of their third teammate, the Abnormal... Heroes were always told that they had to choose to save as many people as possible... But no one ever liked to talk about the ones they had to leave behind. But now that he was faced with that...
Adrien made a painful split second choice.
"God - Fucking - Damn it!" Adrien gritted his teeth, and gripped a tight hold of Shinuya's shoulder with his left hand. He looked at the encroaching lump of orange liquid one last time, hoping to see Nino running away from it towards them, but he saw no such thing.
'Sorry, Nino!' He thought to himself, before Teleporting him and Shinuya several floors away, just before being added to the collection of meat. He didn't have a choice. That's what he kept telling himself.
Not that it made what he'd done any easier.
"You want me to take on the Abnormal?"
Primarily speaking, Adrien was right handed. Functionally speaking, like in a fist fight, he was pretty ambidextrous, his left not totally useless, but when it came to things, he heavily preferred the right side of his body. So obviously, losing the right arm of his was a fairly major loss to his abilities. He wasn't in the best place to fight.
But according to Shinuya, he still had some value.
The Trait Absorber nodded. "Yeah. You could probably take Rex on in a fight and have a chance." As he spoke, he peaked around the corner, checking the corridor for enemies encroaching on their position on the fourth floor. "Rex isn't exactly a huge hand-to-hand fighter."
"And I'm not exactly great at fighting with one hand!" Adrien reminded his teammate with a sarcastic quip. His left hand still clutched where his shoulder would be, still expecting to feel it back there, like it had never left. But it was still gone. Caught up in whatever the hell Fleisch had done with it.
It was understandable to be concerned in this situation, Shinya supposed. The loss of a limb was a major deal for anyone, no matter who they were, and how strong they were. Once you lost a limb, bar some extreme luck, you were crippled in the ability to do some of the most basic functions in society. Even Heroes and Soldiers were faced with such brutal maimings to their person, and many never fully recovered. He'd explained how Fleisch's Primality worked, that his arm would return, but it wasn't exactly comforting right now. How could it be?
"Rex doesn't have a lot he can use at close range. His powers require him to either make an object that will fight for him, or he attacks from a distance. You can get in close, take him out while I deal with Fleisch."
"And when - If - I manage to beat Rex?" Adrien asked. Part of him was amazed he was even considering this as a possibility.
"Nothing. That's you done. Go look for Nino, I don't care." Shinuya said, checking around another corner. "If Fleisch gets you into his meat-tsunami, then his power gains strength. More meat he has, the stronger he gets. He gets you, then I'm not gonna be able to do much against him. So just avoid him."
Adrien could have almost laughed. He was being tasked with fighting an Abnormal, who possessed many powers, despite having lost his right hand, his dominant arm, while Shinuya tried taking down a one Primal man-of-war with his Explosive Blood and can-do attitude, all while they were missing a member of their team who was kidnapped by someone who looked like he came straight out of a Supervillain comic.
In fact, he did have to suppress a chuckle at the near absurdity of the situation. "This what it's like during combat drills often?"
"It's a lot more intense when I'm Ripoff." Shinuya said, referring to his Vigilante persona as an alternate state of mind. Adrien did have to admit, Shinuya seemed a lot more jovial and sarcastic when he was Shinuya, and a bit more focused when he was doing his Vigilante business. Perhaps both were ways of dealing with the stress of the other. To simply treat them as if they were entirely different people.
"Well... This is what we signed up for." For some reason now, the prospect of a challenge filled Adrien with a sense of excitement. In this world, it was impossible to know exactly what to expect from each and every opponent. Fighting with his weaker arm could actually prove to be invaluable practice.
"Ah, suicidal confidence." Shinuya joked with a smirk, allowing his focus to drop for just a nanosecond. "That'll do well against the Villains."
As much as Adrien agreed, he was still worried about finding Nino. He sent a quick mental prayer to anyone or anything that happened to be listening, hoping that he'd be safe.
"Targets located."
Both the Vigilante's frozen when they heard that robotic tone. Behind them was Rex, the Abnormal, stood ready, and waiting to strike. Both turned to see the pale student, his red eyes hidden slightly, visible only by the gaps of his blue hair. How long had he been stood there? Had he heard about their Vigilantism?
No. they couldn't worry about that. Not now. If he had heard about them, he would have done something. He must have just gotten there. How had he figured out though...
"How'd you find us?" Adrien asked, trying to stand strong. Without the addition of a right arm to speak of, he didn't look too threatening.
"One of my Abnormality's is the ability to integrate my consciousness into the Digital world. I process all the information within it, and take that back to my physical body. You have remained in this area for so long, I was able to just follow you here." Rex told them. He had followed them via the cameras? That seemed to be what he was implying.
Rex was Adrien's opponent. That was what had been agreed upon, hadn't it? Shinuya seemed to look at Adrien, giving him a look that asked if he felt confident enough in taking on the Abnormal.
If Adrien was being honest, he wasn't. It was one of the first times in his life where he really didn't feel too good about taking on an opponent. He'd taken on Molecular in a spur. He'd fought Terawatt on an impulse. He'd battles Sunstreak as Chat Noir alongside Ladybug, even when it was a losing battle.
But the loss of his limb had shattered his confidence... But...
That was what a Hero did, wasn't it? Fought even when all seemed lost, to defend those who couldn't defend themselves. When put like that, Adrien knew that he had better get confident, and get confident quickly, lest he allow his lack of faith in himself to cost him the fight.
"Go take out the Primal guy." Adrien told Shinuya. As he did so, his Destruction Trait activated in his left hand, and he stood in a fighting stance, right leg forward, back arched slightly, and rigid in structure. When he fought, he tended to favour ridged structure in martial arts stance, making sure each of his muscles were tense. With his Teleporting powers, he could use this to maximize his strength levels. "I'll try and hold off this guy."
Nodding, Shinuya turned the corner and ran. For a brief moment, Rex's cog irises whirred, but then stopped, like he was preparing to psyche himself up for the combat he was about the engage in. Almost like his body contained a number of cogs, and that they all needed to rotate to prepare Rex for the fight he was about instigate.
The two stared at one another, the Abnormal looking at Adrien with a calm expression, while Adrien glared, his lips masking his stress with a grin that spoke courageous volumes, but hid his concern. While he was sure he could at the very least buy time, he wasn't sure if that was going to be enough.
"Where's Nino?" He asked, breaking the silence between the two combatants. Although when he received no response, from the animatronic-like person in front of him, he paused for a second. Part of him feared the answer, even though they were students. He knew nothing fatal was happening to his best friend, but the image of Nino being hit by explosions as Shinuya fought Fleisch didn't ease Adrien's stomach. But he pressed on. "What did your teammate do with him?
"Adrien Agreste." Rex spoke suddenly. "Age fifteen. Sex, male. Occupation, Student, and model." He sounded like he was reading off a list of information that he had lifted off the internet. It caused Adrien to back up a bit, slightly unnerved by the way that this guy was talking. Of course, this was all very public knowledge, but to bring it up so randomly, in a combat situation... "Possessor of the rare Dual Trait. Can perform Teleportation, and Destruction. Good grades. A hopeful future in Heroism."
"What, are you reading my live journal?" Adrien joked, mostly to assure himself of the danger this Abnormal posed.
"Traits activated at age four. One day after the other." Wait, what? "Secondary Trait activated at TACTIC. Resulted in death of mother, yet continues to use secondary Trait to this day." A small smile appeared on Rex's lips. "Am I accurate?"
This shook Adrien, and he visually shivered. Never, ever, ever, had he told anyone what had happened to his mother that day. He kept it to himself, too ashamed to ever confine his guilt to any other living being on the planet. He couldn't even dream of doing that. The thoughts of what would happen if he did... And even just remembering it made him want to throw up. He could practically taste the iron of his mother's choked-up blood whenever he thought about it. So how... How did Rex...
"The day after the incident, the news reported it. To many, it was an accident, and overlooked, hence you not being placed in jail. Accidents happen during the activation of our powers." Rex continued. "However, information was spread across the World Wide Web. Again, overlooked, yet if one digs deep enough, they can find anything they desire in the Digital World." With another smirk, Rex added, "You jokingly asked if I was reading your live journal. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that I was. All the information available about you online, I processed in less than ten seconds. Information, after all, is the ultimate power."
Abnormals truly possessed some interesting abilities, Adrien had to confess. Still, he felt ill... Sick, reminded of such an event. He hated it... Oh how he would never stop expressing how he hated it... He hated it so...
"I do not intend to judge you." Rex stated suddenly. "Youthful things happen. In this world, we are constantly in danger of our own powers. Humanity in particular. Your kind are prone to accidents. Failures. And worst of all, repetition. Making the same failures, again and again. The Great Trait War. The Human-Primal War. And the Human attempted Genocide of Abnormals." Rex listed off, one by one, some of the biggest failures of Humanity, and some of their biggest disgraces, throughout history. Ones Adrien was keenly aware of. "Yet you learned, at such a young age. You learned how dangerous you were. And you took steps to prevent it. So it is not my place to judge your past actions." his eyes whirred once more. As he spoke, he remained motionless, only blinking, and moving his lips. He was really like an animatronic.
"Information, however, as I said, is the ultimate weapon. With knowledge, I can figure out ways to defeat my opponents with ease. With it, you possess countless battle strategies and tricks your opponent will never be able to guess. It is the treasure that will never weight you down... But you... You intrigue me."
"How so?..." Adrien asked, his teeth biting down on his lower lip until he could taste the iron in his bloodstream.
"Many Humans who harm an individual upon the activation of their powers are traumatized. This does not happen to Abnormals or Primals due to our higher states of desensitization to violence and trauma. For your kind, however, many swear off their powers. You however, actively kept using yours, making no effort to stop using it. In fact, you kept trying to improve it." Rex scanned his eyes at Adrien's left hand, looking at the ripples on his arm where the grey broke, revealing his natural skin tone, before turning dark charcoal again. "I am a gatherer of information. I process data that I receive, and store it to improve myself. I desire to know two things. One; Why you keep using your secondary Trait, and two; Why you desire to walk the path of violence after having butchered your own mother."
The sheer bluntness of that second statement suddenly left Adrien enraged. It wasn't bad enough that this guy brought up his mother, but now went on to say that he'd butchered her? He knew it was true, but the mere reminder, and that term, 'butchered', implying that he had meant to do such a horrific thing, drove him into a frenzy!
He Teleported right in front of Rex, and swung a back-leg roundhouse kick to the jaw, sending every single surge of energy that he had in his body into the kick. He wanted to make sure that he broke the jaw with this strike, and he yelled as he did so, allowing the trapped air to escape his lungs. "Raaarrrrrgh!"
Though he felt the kick connect, he was stunned to discover that he had been blocked by Rex's arm, simply pulling up into a guard block right his forearm. Suddenly, a sharp pain ran up Adrien's leg. Closer inspection revealed that Rex had crafted a metal brace that wrapped itself around the skin of the arm, hidden by the long sleeves of his white shirt.
Suddenly, his body began to crackle, and static electricity began to generate. Within seconds, the entire Abnormal's body was covered in a thick layer of Electricity, thanks to his Electrokinesis, reaching up to current levels of 100 MA. Rex discharged these currents to Adrien, with the aim of knocking out the Human from the fight. He used far more power than needed for that. Being hit at a current of this level could easily kill Adrien.
Luckily, Adrien's Destruction Trait was still active, and as always, acted as his ground-wire. Absorbing all the impact of the huge electrical shock, Adrien was able to escape the situation totally unharmed. He teleported backwards quickly, aiming to get a distance between him and his opponent.
'The guy controls Technology, as well as Electricity... He must've built that bracer from tech he found around the building...' Adrien thought to himself. 'So, as long as I keep Destruction activated, I should be okay... My first goal needs to be destroying those metal bracers he's wearing... Then he shouldn't be able to block me as easily... Leaving his head exposed to a roundhouse!'
Rex simply sighed. "It appears as though I won't get my answers today." He frowned as well, and his eyes whirred once more. "We're finished here."
"The hell are you talking abou-" Suddenly, a huge explosion enwrapped itself around Adrien's right leg, enveloping him in a huge cloud and damage and debris. The explosion had caught him so off guard, and had been so instant, Adrien hadn't even known what had happened until a few seconds afterwards. "Aaaargh!"
The impact sent him flying to the side, crashing into a wall, and left him utterly broken, slamming face down onto the floor. He was out of commission. He tried so very hard to Teleport away, to get up to face Rex, but his body refused to adhere to any commands that its master gave him, no matter how much the electrical synapses from his brain yelled at his limbs to do so. "H-How the hell?..."
Rex stood, towering above Adrien, looking seriously disappointed by the blond model. He sighed, showing his tire of the current fight, before he suddenly pointed his finger at Adrien's eyes, and from it, a very small, tiny robotic creature flew from his body and in front of Adrien.
It looked like a small robotic mosquito. Aside from being made of metal and bits of technology, it looked like an exact replica, except only it was much smaller than the real life species. It buzzed its wings, just in front of Adrien's hazy eyes. "A robot?..."
"My Technopathy allows me to create marvels, so long as I understand what is needed in each creation." Rex explained. Though he didn't say it, Rex was fully aware that he possessed a genius level intellect, far exceeding the vast majority of his fellow students. He remained humble and reserved about it however, never flaunting it in their faces. Still, he had defeated Adrien. He felt no guilt nor had obligation to explain what happened to Adrien during the course of their fight. But he did so anyway. "Ever notice how my irises whirred occasionally during our encounter?"
"Yeah?..." Adrien replied, feeling lightheaded. He wasn't going to be able to stay awake much longer at this rate. Shock, damage, and his lack of his right arm were all playing a role in his inability to remain conscious.
"Each time that happened, I was sending a command to my drones. While we spoke, I was keeping you distracted from their movements. I took the liberty of setting one on your ally too. Speaking of which..." A whirr, and an explosion later, it was clear that Shinuya had lost his ability to fight. If the explosion hadn't taken care of him, Fleisch's Primality would have done. And with Nino AWOL, and unable to contribute to the fight... "This match is over. Our group claims victory."
"Damn... It..." Adrien muttered to himself. He made a fist with his hand, gripping onto whatever was nearby as he realized that they had lost... He'd failed... distracted by a conversation about his mother... Some Hero he turned out to be...
Had all that training... All that preparation... All of it... Had it been for nothing?... He had passed the CFD introduction course, sure... But it was painfully obvious he knew far too little about the world as it worked right now. Primals... Abnormals... And even other Humans had abilities he couldn't dream of... He needed to become stronger... He had a lot to learn...
He fought off the tiredness he felt... Or at least he tried to. He wanted to know... He needed to know... "Mom..."
"I didn't lie about anything I said earlier." The Abnormal said, unaware of what the Human has just said. He walked away as he spoke, leaving Adrien in a pile of battered limbs and self-pity. "I do have a genuine interest as to what your reasons for walking this path are. Why you chose to continue using your secondary Trait. My pessimism to Humankind knows no bounds, I make no secret of that. Your kind are on a path to self-destruction, for which there shall not be a salvation... But you hold some genuine interest to me..."
This was all Adrien was able to hear before he passed out.
Marinette had sat by Adrien's side when he was brought back to the main room, still unconscious. He hadn't received any injuries that needed medical attention, the explosion Rex had set of thankfully had been mostly concussive, and not all that forceful. He had been sat alongside his fellow Hero course students, propped up against the pew they were sat at. Marinette tended to him, while another group went through their regiment.
Some people in their world of superpowers displayed animalistic tendencies. Many of those people were Primals. But it was never that cut and dry. Humans also displayed some animal like quirks. Marinette had assumed Adrien didn't have any, like she didn't. She was wrong however.
Despite the beat down he had received, and despite the fact he was unconscious, he must have been resting fairly well, because Marinette heard him purring in his sleep. Purring, like a cat. The revelation would have made her laugh if she weren't distracted by the fact he was still missing his right arm.
She hadn't expected Adrien to have such a quirk. Perhaps it was due to a member of his family having a feline Trait of some description that he had inherited, or perhaps that was all it was. A quirk. Something unique to him and him alone. Who knew with this world? So much variety and uniqueness to every single person...
If she hadn't been stressed over making sure he was okay, she would have found it cute.
"How's he doing?" Came a voice from a green haired Primal. It was Fleisch, and behind him was still the remnants of his semi-liquid power. Seeing the look Marinette gave him, he raised his hands in a mock surrender. "Chill, blue. I only came to return the guys arm to him."
"Return his arm?..."
The liquid began to attach itself to Adrien's sleeping body, and briefly, Marinette considered covering the Primal in a steel casing and leaving him to suffocate, until she noticed that the meat began to take shape on Adrien's body. Once Fleisch deactivated his power, Adrien's right arm was back in place, like nothing had ever happened to it.
"I used my power the way it was intended to be used. I never intended to do any permanent damage to the guy." Fleisch explained to Marinette, who was still staring at her crush in marvel, and in gratitude that he wouldn't live the rest of his life without his right limb. "I get that it must've been a shock to you to see a power like mine... So, I'm sorry if I freak you guys out." Fleisch's personality had done a total one-eighty. He now spoke in a polite, friendlier manner. He sheepishly added, "I like to fight. Sometimes I get a bit heated when I'm in a battle."
"I think Mari's just worried about her crush over there." Alya joked to the side. Secretly, had Fleisch not just explained himself to them, she would have most likely sent a Wi-Fi signal so strong into his torso that it would have ripped him apart. But when she heard his explanation and reminded herself that to not use a power as was intended because to may freak some people out was... Stupid, she regained her composure. That didn't mean she had to like it... But when she thought about it, why should he have held back?
Fleisch looked at the blue haired girl, and at the blond boy. Now that he looked at the two of them, and the way the girl with the pigtails was still fussing over him and trying to make sure he was comfortable, even though he wasn't conscious... He smiled. "Ah. I guess that explains why she looked like she wanted to kill me." He turned to Alya again and asked, "How's the other one?"
Nino was also knocked out, and seemed to be in a worse state than Adrien was. He had suffered a lot more beatings than Adrien had, like someone had gone fully brutality on him for an extended period of time. Well, they knew that Kuragari had, because he had admitted to it. He wasn't punished, however, since in a real world situation, he probably should have kept going until his opponent was dead or unconscious. Technically speaking, because he'd done nothing wrong in terms of the exercise, punishment was out of the question for him.
"He's... Okay. Just out for now." Alya sighed. "I guess we didn't realize how brutal this was all gonna be."
"It's fun though, don't you think?" The Primal said with a grin. "Going full out... And learning where our boundaries are, just too smash them apart... It's something I live for. It's the world we live in."
"I guess so."
"The match is over." Fuel Tank said on the loudspeakers, announcing the end of the current fight. Suddenly each member of the conversation was listening to the announcements for the next team to fight. "Group One is victorious. The next members of the exercise are as follows - Group One, Marinette-Dupain-Cheng, Rose Lavillant, and Markus Hashro, versus Group Two, which shall be made up of Juleka Coffaine, Brynne Brenton, and Getkuu Kato."
Upon hearing her name, Marinette visually froze for a second, not wanting to leave Adrien's side. She knew she had to leave, but she shot a look at Alya, whom nodded, informing her friend that she'd make sure to look after Adrien. Reassured, Marinette made her way over to meet with Rose.
The softly spoken and polite blonde haired girl smiled upon seeing Marinette. "I guess it's our turn, huh?"
"Looks like it. We're fighting Juleka, right?"
"Yeah..." The petite girl sighed at that comment. Juleka was currently her girlfriend, and previously, her best friend of five years. The two cared for one another, even if they were awkward about displaying said affections in public, even though their entire class knew about them perfectly well. Understandably, she didn't desire any combat against the other girl, but knew that she didn't have much of a choice, unless she just forfeited the match right here and now.
Marinette would have liked to comfort her classmate, but she wasn't entirely sure what she could say. She couldn't imagine that anything she could say would help Rose feel better of the impending opponent that she had to fight. Instead, she just asked, "So, where's this Markus guy?"
"Where's Group One?" She heard a gruff voice call out, looking for them. That must have been him.
Raising her hand, and keeping her index finger rigid while folding the rest in, she looked around "Group One over here!"
Upon seeing Markus, she wished she'd kept her hand down.
The foul mouthed, black palmed student whom kept his left arm wrapped up in clothing, stood before them, with an equal look of disgust on his face. Letting out a small explosion in his palms, he muttered, "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me."