Emergence 2.7

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

HAPPY HARBOR, RHODE ISLAND

July 28, 2010

9:22 EDT

He wasn't surprised when Conner walked out to watch him.

Not really.

Conner often behaved a lot younger than the age he looked, spurred along by his curiosity more than anything else. The half-Kryptonian seemed to learn simply by observation of everything and everyone around him; keen blue eyes taking in so much of the world that he was still rather new to.

So, no, Zeke wasn't at all surprised when Conner made his way out of the cave, gaze locked on him from the moment he cleared the entrance. What was surprising was how quickly the clone caught up to him, Conner slowing his pace until he appeared to be almost walking compared to Zeke's hurried strides.

"Hey." Seemingly uninterested eyes locked onto his as Zeke glanced over at the taller boy to his right. This path through the forest surrounding Mount Justice was rather well-maintained, easily wide enough for several people to walk without touching any of the trees. A good thing too or Superboy's sudden rush forward might have seen a quick rise in Happy Harbor's logging industry.

"H-hey, Kon." Both syllables came out in rather hurried breaths, his lungs pushing himself just that extra bit to force out the words. "Wh-what's up?"

Conner didn't answer, simply continuing to watch him as he kept up that frighteningly casual stride as he kept up with Zeke's twenty mile an hour jog. "Nothing."

That was the usual response, again something that didn't manage to surprise Zeke. At the least, it was certainly an improvement from the days not too long ago where the young clone would simply look skywards when presented with the question.

What again managed to surprise Zeke was Conner's reply. "What are you doing?"

Barely holding himself back from widening his eyes at his running partner's sudden interest, Zeke opened his mouth and responded with the first thing he could think of. "T-training."

That seemed to satisfy Conner's curiosity, at least for a few moments, before the clone spoke up yet again with another question. "Why are you wearing that bag?"

Zeke glanced back at the backpack in question, suddenly feeling the weight inside it a great deal more as Superboy called his attention to it again. It was heavy, yes, but not too heavy; not so much that he couldn't maintain this pace at least. Adjusting the straps on his shoulders again, Zeke flashed Superboy a slightly tired grin.

"T-training."

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

July 30, 2010

10:45 EDT

Beads of sweat had built up on his brow over the last forty-five minutes, the fat, heavy drops just moments away from breaking free and trailing down his skin to merge with the damp mess that was his already-drenched shirt. Slick with sweat as much as the rest of him, his arms trembled like branches in a windstorm.

Push-ups aren't really all that hard, Zeke recalled the thought that had gone through his mind earlier this morning, just shortly after finishing his Superboy-partnered run that seemed like it might become an ongoing thing. It was just lifting some of your body weight off the ground. Not much of a workout, really.

So, he had decided to turn it into more of one.

Two-hundred and fifty pounds rested on his back now, in the form of five solid weight plates sitting in the same backpack he used for jogging. Each individual plate was a solid fifty pounds, resulting in a total that was more than double the amount he used for his warm-up laps around the mountain.

His breath came in quick pants, arms struggling slightly to hold himself in the plank position that he had managed to maintain for the last ten minutes. Thirty minutes of non-stop pushups with this weight felt bad enough, but staying like this, more than anything else, just felt like murder. If he spared a moment to focus, he knew for a fact that he would be able to feel his Will literally ticking down with each moment. While he wasn't able to do that at the moment, what he could feel were his muscles effectively screaming for release the longer he stayed like this.

Zeke could only thank whatever common sense he had rattling around in his brain that he hadn't gone with his original plan. If a load double his body weight was already killing him, starting off with three hundred pounds of the stuff would have had him in an early grave. Mr. Grant's advice seemed to ring in his head as he struggled to steady his breathing.

'Make sure you don't push yourself too hard. You think I went from being a scrawny puke to this in a couple days, runt? Nah, this stuff takes time.'

He wasn't quite sure Wildcat would say starting with two-hundred pounds was "taking his time".

Still, he winced and let out a grunt, both arms suddenly weakening beneath him. Too late for that now.

July 29, 2010

1:15 EDT

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

He had spent the first ten minutes of the hour face-down on the padded floor within one of the larger unused rooms within the cave; one that he had come to deem his "Fortress of Solitude". Mainly, because it was far enough from the main area of the cave that any minor noise was unable to disturb him but also due to the fact that it was also far enough away that no one could simply stumble across it without actively knowing where he was.

"Uggggh…" was the noise that left him as he finally raised his head from the ground. Staring blearily at the bare walls of the cave room, Ezekiel could only be thankful that the walls weren't mirrored like a great many of the exercise rooms within Mount Justice. He honestly had no desire to see how utterly worn out he looked after pushing himself to the limit. Training himself as hard as physically possible over the last few days, pushing himself and resting only when he could barely even move – his Will having been drained almost to the point of emptiness – and then getting up and doing it again could only be described as an inhuman idea when it came to exercise.

As a result, neither Miss Martian nor Superboy thought it was anything out of the ordinary.

The one good result of working himself to the brink of exhaustion and emptying his Will over and over was that meditation seemed to come so much easier, at least in one aspect. His lungs still burned, his arms and left felt entirely numb and his body felt so weak with his Will barely a spark of the burning flame it usually felt like, that his mana seemed to shine that much brighter in comparison, making it far easier for him to focus on the calming blue light within him.

Meditation was honestly a good deal easier now, at least compared to the relative struggle it had been at first with M'Gann having to walk him through it. This drained of all other energy, he could do it almost at a moment's notice, simply drawing his attention inwards to the strongest of the twin sensations he could feel deep within himself. Zeke wouldn't quite call it instant, but it was definitely faster than he would have imagined at the start.

Sitting up now, legs folded and both fists pressed together, he held himself in that half-asleep state that could only be described as meditation. His eyes were closed but that didn't keep him from seeing, his mind's-eye easily able to visualize the cobalt blue river that was his mana.

This sort of internal focus seemed to come much easier when he only had to pay attention to one form; the cool nature of Mana so much more pliable than the denser, vibrant Willpower he used to enhance his speed, leaps or strikes. The longer he focused on it – noting how his mana seemed to flow slowly throughout his body unlike the tight way his physical energy seemed to clump together – the easier manipulating it seemed to be.

Huh...

July 31, 2010

4:10 EDT

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Ezekiel opened his eyes, suddenly hyper-aware of the fact that he had just held the exact same position for most of the day. It was always like this when he let himself drift off while meditating. With an audible grunt, Zeke tried to get cramped muscles to obey as he pulled himself up from his lotus position, muscles audibly cracking as he did so.

A few seconds later, Zeke flexed his not-so-tired muscles and held up his right hand, eyes locked on his empty palm. He stared at it for a moment and then a moment more, recalling what he had first realized during a session like this two days ago.

He felt his palm tingle as he held up that hand even higher. Fingers curled up into a claw-like shape, a speck of blue light burst to life, quickly growing at an exponential rate until it took the shape of a baseball-sized sphere. He let out a grunt, not out of pain but from slight annoyance, as the tingling sensation only increased the longer he held it in his palm.

It felt rather uncomfortable, the power resisting his attempts to rein it in despite how much he tried to control it. Mana wanted to be free, to escape out into the world, that much Zeke he could tell every time he called on it. Much like his physical energy, it seemed to be at its most uncontrollable when he tried to bring it out; each one for its own reasons.

"Will snaps right back when I try to use it," he mused aloud, staring at the ball of energy as it seemed to bubble like a pot of water at boiling point. "But mana… Mana wants to be free…"

Ezekiel's mouth dropped, the boy's eyes blinking as an idea suddenly hit him.

If this works… His shocked expression switched to an excited grin.

"Oh, we're getting somewhere now."

August 2, 2010

6:10 EDT

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

"You have reached the voicemail box of 'Cameron Scott'. At the tone, please record your voice message. When you are finished recording, you may hang up or press Pound for more options." The air was silent for a moment, a calm pause as he tried to find the words.

"Hey, Cap- Nate." He couldn't help but wince at that slip-up, face twisted up for a second as he cringed at himself. Almost called him Captain Atom on a public phone… genius.

Taking in another breath, he opened both eyes and spoke up again. "Hey, it's me… Zeke. Not that you didn't already know that but... uh… I just want to say thanks for the day trip yesterday. Um, I had fun and it was good training too… So, uhhhh, I was just calling to check in since you didn't pick up the video call from earlier. Also, the calls I left yesterday and the one before that and the one before that, I guess. Hope everything's going good with the… uh, business."

A hand raised itself to the back of his neck, Zeke rubbing the spot between his left shoulder blade and jaw as he tried to come up with something else to fill the silence. When he couldn't think of anything else, he simply stifled a groan and spoke up again, voice much lower and words barely audible. "That's basically it, pretty much. See you soon." — click

His room in the cave was silent again, Zeke staring at the bare walls with a half-lidded stare as his S.T.A.R. Tab sat in his lap. "Wow…" he finally managed to say. "Are voicemails always that awkward or is it just me?"

August 2, 2010

7:10 EDT

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

He swung.

Again.

Again.

Hands moved in a solid, steady rhythm as Zeke repeated the same set of punches that had been worked into him almost a week ago.

Not too fast, not too slow; both his upper extremities worked in sync as the young teenager patiently drummed the semi-pliable target in front of him with somewhat amateurish skill.

Tightly wrapped fists met the padded form of the combat dummy that served as his immobile opponent over and over in repeating rhythms.

Five evenings spent introducing the padded form of the combat dummy to his clenched fists over and over in repeating rhythms. The white hand-wraps he wore at Wildcat's insistence proved their worth each time they spared him extra pain when he chose to unleash a particularly vicious haymaker or uppercut.

Jab.

Again.

Jab.

Right. Left.

Jab.

One. Two.

Thousands of punches during five days of workouts like this had made the actions completely routine. Thoughts of Bane flitting through his mind during each and every one of these hour-long practice sessions had left him with almost endless amounts of raw frustration to use as motivation. The sheer casualness in how the muscle-bound drug lord had slapped him to the ground combined with the man's pure smug had provided Zeke with a goal, a level to surpass.

With that infuriating smile and mocking laugh spurring him on, he had pushed himself even further into his training over the last week. Increasing his weights day-by-day, running faster and further with Superboy at his side every other day, spending long hours hunched over and folded up in meditation…

It was a lot, yeah.

Still, he was on a team of heroes now. He couldn't let himself be the weak link, after all. He might be far from the strongest but that didn't mean he had to be the liability either. Zeke paused his onslaught of punches and slumped forward unto the combat dummy. Leaning atop the head of the featureless target, he wiped his brow with the back of his wrapped fists, a tired but satisfied smile on his face.

Almost there.

STR Up!

31 → 45

SPD Up!

39 → 50

VIT Up!

38 → 44

INT Up!

38 → 42 [Basic Martial Arts] Lvl Up!

8 → 16

[Acrobatics] Lvl Up!

4 → 6

[Meditation] Lvl Up!

7 → 12 [Mana Burst] Lvl Up!

17 → 24

[Power Leap] Lvl Up!

5 → 10

[Power Sprint] Lvl Up!

11 → 16

[Power Strike] Lvl Up!

7 → MAX New Skill: [???]