Day 16/30, Day Of Rebirth:
I wake up and do my warm-ups, which have now been doubled five times. But I only have one thing on my mind. My late-night excursion.
The training that day is a blur. At this point, I can match Miss Claire at her current level of exertion. But my mental barriers are probably what's stopping her from upping the tempo; she wants me to get over them before we proceed.
As soon as our sparring ends, Miss Claire helps me up because she knocked me down. She gives me a tight hug and says, "I just wanted you to know that even though you were a total idiot for issuing the one-month challenge to Ironhide. You're my little idiot, and I'm really proud of the progress you've been making. We'll see to it that you're prepped to win when the day comes."
She lets go before saying, "Now enjoy your evening. I'll be in my room reading if you need me."
When I verify that she's gone and in her room, I run over to the coat rack where my black cloak and mask are, putting them on. I step into the elevator, and some old 80s rock is playing as the elevator ascends. When the elevator reaches the top, I exit the elevator.
The boy from yesterday said they were at the northern dock of the city? That's the opposite side of the warehouse. The southern dock is abandoned for some reason. No one typically goes here aside from Miss Claire and me. And Mr. Eun-ji, when he visits.
I start making my way to the northern docks. Rushing through the city, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. Looking down, I see the boy from yesterday patrolling around the area where we bumped into each other yesterday. I suppose he's at it again.
I arrive at the northern dock. I don't see anyone. I make sure to have my eyes softened since I'm using Mr. Eun-ji's power. It's a habit I've been trying to get into since using his power has been my default for the past sixteen days. I'm not to the point where I can use multiple powers; however, I can switch between the three I have learned relatively easily. Ironhide's power is less so, because I have barely worked on my proficiency with it.
After walking as stealthily as possible through all the large metal containers, I eventually find the five heroes sitting in an incoherent circle across a few containers.
The first one to speak is the one I recognize as Klein. "So, do any of you know when the others are coming?" He says.
One hero that I have never seen before is the next to speak. "Isn't it amazing how Ironhide amassed every single C and D rank hero alongside you two?" He says, motioning to Cain and Klein.
"Our mission is simple. In a few weeks, Ironhide has a fight with a villain named Chameleon. We just need to stop Wraith from interfering. I mean, what is she gonna do? She's probably all washed up, having done nothing for the past two years." Cain says, chiming in.
Klein gives him a dirty look. Before pulling out a bag of chips and opening it. He begins to eat.
I'm unsure when to step in. Ideally, I will be able to take out one of the C ranks with a sneak attack. I'm curious about how the new me will fare against the top two B ranks. Regardless, I slowly sneak around behind the metal container that one of the C ranks is sitting on.
I swiftly hop up and switch to Miss Claire's power. Before any of them can react, I send three shadow tendrils straight through the C rank hero that I was right behind. As he falls to the floor limp, I see the shock enter the four remaining faces of the heroes.
Switching back to Mr. Eun-ji's power, I hear Cain speak up, clearly excited, "Those tendrils! Hey, hey! Klein! It's the Bag Boy!"
"Chameleon." I correct him.
"So the Bag Boy was this so-called Chameleon, huh? You didn't put up much of a fight back then. Are you really a threat that Ironhide has to deal with himself?" Klein says with a smirk, using his short-distance teleport power to appear in front of me and swing at me. I sidestep the hit and grab his arm, kneeing him in the stomach. He teleports away from me, and Cain shouts at me, knocking me back right next to one of the C rank heroes, who palm strikes me, which sends an electric shock into my body.
Before I can stand up, Klein is at my side, kicking me in the stomach when I'm down. I managed to make a portal that I fell into as I got knocked back from the force of the kick. I appear above Cain and knee him in the nose, and then throw two shadow tendrils at him. He dodges them, but I move in where he dodged, and I throw a punch to his stomach. It connects as I throw a shadow tendril at him.
The tendril pierces through his left arm, severing it. But instead of him reacting to it, I feel a course of pain through my body, as if my arm was severed. I switch right back to Mr. Eun-ji's power and look around.
The C rank who shocked me earlier speaks up, "My power isn't electricity. The initial electric shock was my power entering your system. Until I purposefully deactivate it, or I die. All pain you inflict on anything will be redirected to you, although it doesn't stop any damage you inflict."
No idea why he felt the need to explain it. Moron.
I deliver a kick to the C rank's side, and it connects. But the pain I feel is felt tenfold. "Oh, by the way, the pain my targets feel gets stronger if I tell them about my power." He explains.
Oh, of course it does. How convenient.
I go to hit a spinning kick to his head, but a bubble appears around him, and I get sent spinning back in the other direction the moment my foot connects with it. Not giving me any reprieve, Klein is back in front of me. He grabs my neck and throws me towards Cain, who shouts me back towards Klein, who proceeds to punch me in the stomach, then kicks me straight down to the ground.
Was that bubble from the other C rank? What does it even do? Can I even win this? Was I too presumptuous?
As those questions entered my mind, the seeds of doubt began to sow themselves throughout the very essence of my soul. And I freeze up. The exact mental barriers Miss Claire was telling me about. The moment that fear enters my mind, I freeze up even if the situation is winnable. This is still winnable, right? I can still beat them, right?
I won't die… right?
The thought of the possibility of death enters my mind, and my heart starts beating faster as Klein picks me up and throws me against a metal container. It knocks the wind out of me, breaking a few of my ribs, and my vision gets hazy.
It's as if time freezes around me, my life flashes before my eyes, as I slowly tune my surroundings out, I suddenly see nothing except for a boy a few years younger than me, he is wearing tattered clothes, with bruises and cuts all over him.
I recognize the boy as myself from the past. A time that I wanted to forget.
"We can give up now, can't we?" he says, following it up with: "We did enough, we tried enough. We can't do this. We're powerless like always, aren't we?"
"Shut up," I say weakly.
"Don't lie to yourself. You know it's true. We always were powerless against our betters. Powers or no powers, we still have no worth," he says.
"I said, shut up," I retort again, my voice regaining a little strength.
"We were always an inconvenience to them. We deserved what we got. How cruel Miss Claire is, giving us false hope that we could be useful, that we could accomplish anything. We're going to stay the same; we can't change. Isn't it better if we just die here? It would end everything and not put us in these scary situations anymore. And we'd stop being a nuisance to Miss Cla-"
"I said shut the hell up!" I shout, interrupting his prattling. I grab his neck and bring us both to the ground. I hear the voices of Miss Claire and Mr. Eun-ji ringing in my ear, "Reinvent yourself or die." Their voices repeat those words over and over as I loom over him with my left hand wrapped around his neck. I began to slam my right fist into his face.
WHAM!
"You weak!"
WHAM!
"Pathetic!"
WHAM!
"Shallow-minded!"
WHAM!
"Waste of space!"
WHAM!
"You who sit around and just submit!"
WHAM!
"You who just let us get hurt over and over!"
WHAM!
"You're the inconvenience to Miss Claire!"
WHAM!
"You're the powerless one!"
WHAM!
"You're the one who can't change!"
WHAM!
"Die."
WHAM!
"Die."
WHAM!
"Die!"
WHAM!
"DIE!"
WHAM!
"DIE SO I CAN BE REBORN!"
WHAM!
I stand up, as what lies below me is what was formerly myself. His head is a beat in mess of flesh, blood, and pieces of brain. All of the pieces that made up his head oozed out in front of me, even touching my feet.
I refuse to be weak anymore. I refuse to be an inconvenience to those around me. I refuse to give up when cornered.
I refuse to die.
As my vision clears up and I regain my senses of my real surroundings. Cain, Klein, and the two C ranks are surrounding me in a semicircle. As if it were intuitive, suddenly I see the outline of Klein teleport towards me and swing at me with his fists in a one-two combo before front kicking me, even though he is still standing right there.
As if on cue, Klein teleports in. I dodge his one-two combo with as little movement as possible. I sidestep the following front kick before switching to Miss Claire's power and grab Cain's leg with a tendril, slamming him into Klein, who is right in front of me. It knocks them both into the metal container, denting it in the shape of their combined bodies. I feel the pain, but I push through it regardless. I must move forward.
As my inside thoughts turn into outside thoughts. I can't help but say the first thing that comes to mind in the breathy tone that I can muster in my current state,
"So that's how you do it… Mr. Eun-ji…"