Metropolis

“It’s a little tight” Talon stated,


Sarcasm was laced into the statement, as the outfit she was wearing was more than tight, rather it was skin fitting. The colors seemed to be on the cool side of the spectrum, while the main material was spandex. What interested her most was the mask though, as it covered half her face and made the costume that less embarrassing.


So, after her hair was unusually put up, she made sure to pull on the mask to stay incognito. Her boots clicked when she finally stepped out of the change room and she only spared a glance down before looking expectantly at the scientists.


“It looks like a perfect fit!” one exclaimed,


It was at that moment she felt like decking him in the face, but the guards that stood at the door way gave reason not to. Although she was unsure of what exactly she could do, she didn’t think stopping a bullet was possible…


“Now what?” She questioned,


The group of them seemed to be arguing over something or another, and finally one of them looked at her again.


“We’ll start on something fairly light” baldy explained,


Talon could only quirk a brow,


“Something fairly light?” she questioned


They looked in between each other, before laughing at her


“That doctor’s pretty lazy, not even telling you what sort of powers you have” the female doctor noted.


“What powers do I have?” she asked,


“Mass or Weight Manipulation” the same doctor, responded


“Mass manipulation” she trailed, finally connecting the dots.


“So what am I going to lift…?” she asked, looking around again


“Nothing” baldy stated,


“Nothing?” she questioned


“You’re going to drop something” he explained.


Then he guided her over to the training are, drew a multitude of leaves out and threw it over a tunnel fan. They immediately flew into the surrounding area, most of them sticking to the high ceiling.


“You see that Yellow Leaf? You’re going to make that fall...and nothing else” he finished,


Talon focused on the piece of greenery that seemed stuck to the ceiling and then all the other leaves that were flying around with it. It seemed like a lot of air was pushing around up there, and she would have to focus to get it right.


“You might want to get out of the way…” she warned the scientists, widening her stance subconsciously.
 
The doctor had explained her training, basically knocking things over and lifting things with her powers. She was sure there was more she could do with them but she had to learn how to use them first and this sounded like a good start. It sounded like they were going to try to help her learn to use the wings sticking out of her back but she wasn't sure what they could do. She just had to get used to them, didn't she? Well whatever, it wasn't like she had anywhere to be anyway.


"Are you ready?" the doctor asked.


"Yep."


"Are you sure?"


He looked skeptical "Am I not supposed to be?" she asked curiously.


"I'm just making sure... after what happened."


"I feel much better." she assured him. The skin on her back was still sore, but it was nothing compared to before. It felt so much better that she was sure she could easily hide it from anyone and everyone.


"In that case, I need to grab something for you. Wait here."


Where was she supposed to go? She hopped down from the bed again, but this time she was looking for something, for a few things really. She figured her belongings had to be here somewhere unless they had a cubby or something for her somewhere. The room wasn't very big and there wasn't much in it so it didn't take her long to decide that her belongings weren't in this room. But just as she gave up the doctor returned carrying a small box with some folded clothes on top.


"Here," he told her, setting the box on the bed "These are all of your things and a change of clothes."


"Clothes?"


"Your back bled and it stained your shirt. These will also be better for training than what you're wearing now."


She thanked him and he gave her some privacy so that she could change. After watching him exit the room she took the folded clothes on top of everything else in the box. As she did, something caught her eye and she set the clothes aside. There was a note or something sticking out of the jacket in the box. She hadn't been carrying anything like that when she came in.


It didn't take her long to figure out what to do with it. Before she knew it she was reading it. It was a cryptic note signed 'Robby.' She didn't know any Robbies. Maybe it had been placed in her things by mistake. She stared at it for a minute then folded it back up and put it back in her jacket. She wasn't sure what to do about the note, but she would have to start asking around, maybe she could figure out who Robby was.


By the time the doctor returned she was changed into the tight-fitting outfit he had given her. The fit wasn't much different from her usual attire, she did wear skin tight clothes a lot of the time. It looked like a superhero's costume more than a change of clothes. Even so, she sorta liked it. The doctor only entered far enough into the room so that he could hold the door open. Obviously he wanted her to follow him and she grabbed the box of her things and exited the room.


He relieved her of the box, assuring her that her belongings would be safe and that they would be returned to her later. He led her to the training grounds and now it looked like he was going to hand her off to someone else "Good luck, Scarlett."


"Thanks... Robby?" She guessed, it was as good a guess as any at this point.


"Max." he corrected.


He left and Scarlett turned to the less attractive man she was with now "Wow that wasn't even close. I could've sworn I heard someone introduce himself as Robby..." She did a little fishing.


"I don't know any but there are a lot of people here, it wouldn't be surprising."
 
Changing rather quickly into the....revealing outfit, Gear had to cringe. Really? This is what she was reduced too? A skimpy odd coloured suit with weird shoes and a top hat....lovely. Oh well, it was...interesting at least. And reminded her a lot of someone...


"And uh, what's the point of this?" She asked out loud.


"Only flame retardant thing we have in your size." The answer cracked through. A bit bemused really, as if it could sense how uncomfortable she was.


"Then shouldn't it, Oh I don't know, cover all of the skin?"


"We have a theory about your skin we'd like to test."


Shaking her head, she was pulled out of the box, and put over to a glass container like thing, as she was put in, almost instantly she could feel the air was different. It was more pure. Like all of it was oxygen.


"If you could, try and contain your flames inside this tube."


Gear blinked a few times, were they serious? Getting a bit afraid, she held out a hand palm up and focused on making a flame before suddenly, the entire tube erupted into a fiery death trap.
 
"You are here to learn how to control your powers." Superman said.


Still holding onto Alex, Superman pulled him away from the wall and they disappeared from the hallway. As superman traveled at high speed while still holding the kid, Alex's vision blurred a little but he could still vaguely see where they were going. As they appeared in the training grounds, Superman still held Alex up and off the ground while standing in front of one of the scientists.


"Put me down you barbarian!" Alex yelled out as he took a swing at Superman.


Reaching his hand up, Superman grabbed the punch easily and bared down on Alex's fist. Was he trying to break his fist, or just his pride?


"Shut it, You need to keep your mouth shut until you can respect the people that are putting their lives on the line to help you." Superman replied back to Alex with a scornful tone.


Looking past Alex, Superman proceeded to talk to one of the scientists.


"We have another candidate that needs to be tested. So far the power that we know about off hand is that he has super strength." Superman said as he continued to hold Alex up and off the ground.
 
A ruckus at the doorway snapped Talon out of the thought process; trying to focus all her energy on the leaf. She turned, having to get used to facing the wind before she could see who was at the doorway.


“Is that superman?” she asked,


Although her voice was drowned out by the noise, her eyes were not failing her.


Superman was standing at the doorway, holding a man who looked a little bit worse for wear and talking to the scientists. Despite wanting to meet the man, she made sure to stay put, unsure if she would get pulled into the air intake with the wrong step. If the two were staying here though, they would probably make their way towards her... eventually.


With that thought on mind, she turned back towards the task at hand and suddenly felt her feet slip out from underneath her. Frowning as she fell backwards, she expected to land on her elbow, which shot out unconsciously


“What the-” she started,


Before a total reverse in gravity happened and the fan lifted her straight into the ceiling,


“Fgjukhue” she managed to murmur out, recovering from the face-on collision.
 
Scarlett stepped out on to the training area accompanied by her new acquaintance, Dr. Scientist. She was only half paying attention to him right now though, the other half of her attention was spent examining her new surroundings and the other people in the area, and Superman with the guy she'd seen before. It looked like he was going to be training here as well. She didn't know what they expected her to do here though, it more like a place someone would go to build muscle and do generally buff things. "So..."


"Let me finish." the scientist abruptly butted in. Had she interrupted him? She hadn't even noticed but she let him finish whatever he had been saying. "You can manipulate the air around you, right?"


She nodded "It seems that way."


"We brought you here because there are plenty of things for you to focus on that you can blow over." he explained "We also plan on this place getting trashed, so don't worry about making a mess."


First it'd seemed like there wouldn't be anything she could do, but suddenly she could see endless possibilities here "Sounds good. Where do I start?" she asked.


The scientist directed her attention to a plank with four legs attached to it, angled out to hold it up with stability. It was like a very very narrow table, or a crude wooden horse with no neck or head. Next to it was a blue bin. "We'll start small." He walked over and reached into the bin, pulling out an empty soda can. He set it on the plank.


"Knock it down?" She asked before giving him a chance to explain. She was about to give it a try before he told her to wait. He led her back aways, away from the can.


"Now try it."


"I thought we were starting off small." She was a good fifty feet away now. He shrugged, not offering any explanation this time, just waiting for her to use her power. She didn't even really know how to use her power, she'd only ever done it once. She gave it a try anyway though. She took a deep breath and tried to blow the can over... from fifty feet away. She'd been able to manipulate the air like this before, but this time it wasn't enough. Maybe she needed more practice, or maybe she needed to come at this a different way.
 
The doctor piped up, "Must've been Superman. He's taken to hanging around here,for some reason." After a moment's pause,the doctor shivered. "Why is it so cold in here...?" He glanced at Artemis ans sighed. He then addressed the guard, "Get the boy to the training grounds,and have the man escorted to the lobby."


"No. Wherever Artemis goes,I go." Butler's face looked as if it were carved from stone,and his tone radiated with conviction. "Fine...Just...Get out of here...I'll need to call a tech to fix the AC."


The guard escorted Artemis and Butler to the training grounds,and said, "Get in there and follow instructions. This is for your own good." Artemis nodded,and walked into the room,with Butler following closely behind.
 
As the fire raged on, the intercmoe sparked to life, "Ma'am?" It called, before getting no response. Outside, men started forming to put out the hellish nightmare inside the tube. Inside the heat, with fire a mere inch from her skin, Gear was laughing. Sure it was hot, but she wasn't burning, and if she moved her hand out, the fire moved around it. It was literally emanating from her.


"Which means..." She held out one hand and kept perfectly still, focosing on solely that part of her hand, the fire whipped down and condensed onto it. As the same moment they men busted down the tube door and attempted spraying the air. Which in the end, just created a foaming room, and an annoyed Gear.
 
Alex growled at the pain he was currently receiving. He knew he was still new at this super power thing, but there was that much power difference between him and superman? If that was truly the case, then he will need to go along with this whole training thing and learn how to harness this power for his own good.


"All right, all right, you can let go of me. I will listen to you and start my training. Just let go of me." Alex said as he awaited superman's response.


"Ok then, if you think that you are ready." Superman replied as he let go of Alex's fist and set him on the ground.


Looking past Alex, Superman nodded at the scientist. The scientist smiled in response to Superman. Getting up out of his chair, the man walked around the closet and grabbed out a training jump suit. Turning back around and holding it out to Alex, the scientist cleared his throat. Looking at the man, Alex glared.


"I am not going to wear that." Alex said with a hateful tone.
 
As soon as the door closed behind Artemis and Butler,an intercom speaker crackled to life. "Subject name,Artemis Fowl II. Tested powers,technomancy with suspect of technokenisis and teleportation. Now,Master Fowl,if you'd please put that on,we'll begin training you in use of your powers."


There was a pneumatic hiss beside Artemis and Butler,and inside was a ridiculous technicolour spandex suit,with an equally ridiculous and technicolour emblem emblazoned upon the chest. Artemis groaned as Butler began to do a thorough search of the suit for anything that could harm his Principal. Artemis turned to the two-way mirror that consumed an entire wall,and said,not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice, "And what exactly does that revolting outfit do to help me control my powers? I can deduce,just by looking at it,it has no way to help me harness or control my powers,so I can only come to the conclusion that it has been designed solely to paint me as a 'super'. I preffer to remain anonymous."


Although Artemis couldn't see it,he knew that the scientist balked. The panel started to slide back into place,and Butler stepped out of the compartment. "Fair point. Now,let us begin."
 
As the scientist looked up and down Artemis, he smirked.


"So you are the one that has some sort of power, huh?" he asked as he looked between the butler and artemis.


Looking back at artemis, the scientist cleared his throat.


"Yes, you must put that suit on." he said with a firm tone.
 
Artemis scoffed. "I refuse to wear such an impractical piece of clothing. It doesn't even possess pockets. With my suit,I remain anonymous,can carry whatever I can fit into the pockets,and have a full range of movement. And,I can assume that Butler didn't find anything but spandex in that suit."


Butler simply nodded. The man was massive,just over seven feet tall,with massive shoulders,and equally massive muscles,all of which contained in an Armani suit. Although he possessed no powers,he did beat the planet's perfect predator,which had three feet on him,in a fistfght.
 
Still standing there with his clipboard in hand, the man awaited a logical excuse for why artemis did not want to wear the suit.


"If you want something interesting, I can just strip you of your powers, how about that." The scientist said before taking a seat.
 
Artemis smirked. "We both know that's impossible. These powers are very recent,and if the military did have the capacity to remove the powers from transhumans,then why didn't they perform this treatment upon captured transhuman criminals? This is simply a sad attempt at a bluff,that would only fool a less-than-average child."


Then,Butler chimed in. "Furthermore,if you attempt to harm Artemis in any way,I'll intervene. And I've survived being shot in the chest at point blank range,Doctor." This statement was only partialy true. Technicaly,he was killed by the shot,but Artemis's quick thinking saved him from a permanent death. Hours later,he was alive again,and a day after he was concious. Older,but concious. Butler had no doubt that he would be more than a match for any single person in the building in a fight...Maybe except Superman.
 
"Oh, your trivial pursuit of the truth humors me. I never said anything about harming artemis. And for you big fella, We have a nice weapon that can counter you." The scientist replied with a more sinical tone.
 
Butler smiled. This is an incredibly rare occurence,and when he smiles,other people are going to frown very soon. "There were only four things that brought me down before,and only one of them human,and he's rotting in prison now. Do you really want to chance this?" Butler stepped between Artemis and the doctor. Always protect the Principal.


Artemis,meanwhile,was very prtrubed by the doctor's arrogance. "Trivial? Good doctor,I just put more holes in your argument than a Dutch dam made of Swiss cheese. Keep your pointless suit. Recycle it for someone who wants to be a terget. My weapon is best used from anonymity."
 
Red X stood on a building, looking over the city's nighttime landscape. He grinned inside the skull-like helmet of his incredibly advanced suit.


This was his city now.


To play with in whatever way he could imagine.


Leaping from the top, he plummeted a sudden seven stories, and then hung in midair, disappearing. Reappearing inside of the building, inside the level he'd been at before teleporting, he chuckled.


"Teleportation works well. But, I'll avoid using that again tonight, wouldn't wanna drain the battery." He said to himself.


Initiating the cloaking function, he strolled casually through the hallways, avoiding guards and other simple minded labourers. Making his way to the heart of the building, he found the control room.


His grin under the suit only got bigger.


Reaching a computer in the control room, he started tapping away at the keyboard, and connected a drive on his wrist to the USB port. Suddenly, the system for the Channel 4 News Station of Metropolis was his.


Putting up the picture he'd created for this event, he changed the Channel 4 News Station's broadcasting into the 'Standby Screen', with a picture of him giving the thumbs up super-imposed over-top of it, with the message, 'Red-X is in town, get ready for some fun!' underneath.


Releasing the system, he made his way out of the building, with no guards even realizing he's been there. Strolling out the front door in his camo, he released it, and leaped away, from rooftop to rooftop.


MAN, he loved this suit.
 
On the opposite rooftop,a figure clad in a jumpsuit that reflected the surroundings,a helmet,and a backpack observed the man. "Did you see that!?" "I did! Switch to X-Ray!" "Done. Hmm...Either the occupants know this guy,or he's invisible." "Impossible! Even I hadn't perfected non-magical invisibility! No Mud Man could ever out tech me!" The helmeted figure chuckled,then replied, "If a goblin can do it..." "Ha-ha,Short...Just track him! And remember to shield!"


Short smirked under her helmet,then vibrated out of the visible spectrum. The term "shield" is a misnomer. It's actually a form of invisibility;the user vibrates faster than most eyes can track. Only rats,high frames/second cameras,and one species of monkey can spot her now. End the cameras would have to pause the tape to see her. A pair of metallic wings slid out of the backpack,and persued the man,flying above him. I hope he doesn't see me...
 
The sensors going off in his helmet, Red-X's suit automatically adjusted his vision for the accounted levels of energy on the light spectrum for he surrounding area, bringing his pursuer into view for his own vision.


Whipping around, Red-X was delighted someone was on his tail. Leaping backwards, facing his pursuer while still going his original direction, he smiled ear to ear under his helmet.


"This is my first chase! Is there a protocol or something for the bad guy, er, for me to follow?" He asked mockingly.
 
Short was surprised that the man spotted her so quickly. Suddenly,the voice on the other end of the line said, "No choice now,Holly. Gonna have to zap him." Holly drew a platnium handgun from her belt,and flicked the setting up to three,or "Well Done",then buzzed out of her shield so her aim wouldn't be off. She taken quick aim,then fired. A beam of blue light erupted from her pistol,and moved at the speed of light towards the mystery man.
 
Red-X's hands, each palm also emblazoned with a 'red x' suddenly created shurikens of energy, and he hurled them. One intercepting the laser fired at him, one headed at his pursuer.


"Heh, the only thing I'm missing is a witty exit line!" He shouted with gusto, doing a backflip, down into an alley, and disappearing from view, and the immediate area.
 
Holly's suit absorbed the blast,but the force behind it caused her to do a roll. When she recovered,the man was already putting distance between them. She sped after him,catching up quickly. She swooped down and clamped one hand on either side of his head,and planted her feet on his chest. Her visor popped open with a pneumatic hiss,revealing one hazel eye,and one blue eye,as well as nut brown skin.


"Stop running." Her voice was layered with the bass tones of the hypnotic mesmer. It only worked through eye contact,and if the victim could her her...And if they weren't wearing mirrored lenses.
 
Red-X blinked within his suit.


"Okay, I'll stop running." He said, sounding energetic, picking his pursuer up by her shoulders, and tossing her to the side with a retarded amount of strength, easily superhuman.


He shook his head.


"..... Don't play the hero. I haven't even done anything that wrong." He spat.
 
Holly landed in a heap in some garbage cans,her suit taking the impact. Her helmet fell off,revealing a slightly cherubic face,and an aburn crew cut. She groaned as blue sparks flew all over her body,focusing on the neck region.
 
Red-X grinned within his suit.


"What're your powers, anyways?" He asked, slightly curious.
 
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