It was food for thought, Mr.Richards made some good points but it was stuff to ponder later. For now, my interest was piqued for the testing process. I’ve been setting my expectations at not even getting powers so if or when I don’t receive them I won’t be as crushed. But I let myself wonder what it would be like, and what the testing would be like.

“The process of testing will certainly be informative as well as entertaining,” Jayden said calmly.

“I wonder how they do the testing though, do they change it per power or is it more general?” I questioned him as we followed the crowd down the hall.

“Most likely it will vary per since an Elementalist will have different strengths and weaknesses than say someone who can influence time.” I nodded in agreement since he had a good point.

“Maybe he’ll have super speed!” Julian quipped.

“Or maybe she will have telekinesis,” A familiar voice said from behind us emphasizing on the word she.

Julian face turned a slight red at hearing this “Yeah that too…”. Ashley moved from behind us and to

Ashley moved from behind us and to our side as we turned another corner. “Chase are you okay? Yesterday you seemed kinda outta whack” She asked. When she looked at me I saw a flicker in her face as she noticed the redness in my skin, but unlike Julian, she had the courtesy not to comment on it as she probably figured I knew.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it” I waved her off with a smile. I lapsed into silence while Ashely and Jayden talked about what they thought what the testing would be like. After another minute we finally made it to the metal viewing room door. We all stopped and crowded around Mr.Richard who typed in a code into the lock pad next to the door and swung the door open.

We quickly entered the room and filtered around. The room was was spacious with a massive window in front of us which allowed us to see beyond into what I assumed was the dark testing area. Everyone had just enough space so we could stand side by side and a small desk. Mr.Richards stood and waited while the rest of the group’s conversations died down.

“Since this project is all in all an experiment we like to keep the variables the same throughout our patients during testing as possible. That’s why the young man now getting ready to start will not be able to hear or see you during his tests. The walls are soundproof and the glass you see is one-sided.”

We all looked back to the testing area where the lights were turned on and a guy now stood in the center stretching. He was tall around 6’4 with a tan massive frame with not unimpressive muscles that the suit did little of hiding. I don’t know how I missed him before, but by the way some of the girls were giggling I’m sure they noticed.

“Arnold here is a presumed classic strongman. Can anyone tell me what areas are going to be tested on him?” Mr.Richards questioned.

I glanced around the group, I had an inkling of what some of those may be but since it was my first day I may have missed something from yesterday. After a few more seconds of silence, someone spoke up.

“I would assume you would test most physical areas of any human such as strength, speed, endurance, and durability but would also test for any advanced form of healing as some strongmen tend to have an enhanced healing factor”

Without missing a beat Mr.Richards continued “And how would you test these areas?”

“For strength, I would obviously test how much his maximum lift is, for speed I would use a sprint, for endurance I would test him in a very long run or run him through some exercises nonstop, for durability and healing would fairly the same hit him harder and harder and record the results.” Jayden finished as though he already thought this through the night before. Though the way he was I’m just going to assume he’s just an intellectual. Or the rest of us are stupid, either way the same outcome would happen.

“Good answer, at least someone here half-competent” he complimented. Mr.Richards turned to the desk next to him and grabbed a tablet. He looked through it for a few seconds than addressed us once again “We test strength first as we like the patient to be well rested, we use the deadlift to measure overall strength. The deadlift involves all of the major muscle groups but enough of me chatting let’s begin.”

He grabbed a walkie-talkie from his belt and spoke a few words into it and gestured back to the window where we all turned to face. Arnold was done stretching and now was facing the barbell and a plate on either side. That was weird, he expected ten plates on either side or something, not a hundred and thirty-five pounds, that was lightweight for a deadlift.

But before I spoke up I heard the smug voice of Mack call out “Ha only one plate on each side? Even my sister could lift that”.

The gruff voice of Mr.Richards responded instantly with a scowl on his face “The barbell is one hundred pounds, and each plate is composed of a highly-dense material resulting in each being a hundred pounds. Don’t talk about what you don’t know boy”

Low “oooh”s rung throughout the room causing Mack to turn slightly red, a vein was popping out on his forehead. I grinned at his displeasure, that’s what he gets for being a jerk. Then Arnold got into the form to deadlift and started easily he brought up the bar and down. By my highly intense calculations that were three hundred. I could tell by his technique just like he had worked out for years. Mr.Richards typed the results into his tablet while two other men in protective gear put on another plate on each side which he then lifted albeit not as fast.

They kept going at this several more times until his final lift was nine plates on each side, I watched him approach the bar and grab it. Each lift beforehand got a little slower on the way up, though I was confident he could pull this off. And ever so slowly the bar raised, veins bulged all across his body as his body shuddered under the weight. Finally, he brought it all the way straitening his back as his face turned dark red from the effort.

“That was approximately half the weight of the average car for those wondering. Now to bring up a few topics while Arnold is taking a break. Some of you may be thinking that since he is a common super that can lift a couple thousand pounds is alright but nothing too exciting. He may not be shooting lasers out of his eyes or spewing lava out of his ass, but he is useful.” His eyes narrowed in on Mach who was glaring back.

“This is only the start for him as well, like any muscle in the body most powers grow with use, adapting to new hardships. Imagine Arnold in a year or decade of training, not just a couple hours since he got his. Most of you want to be a hero, and the gritty reality of that is being useful, because of the second you aren’t you’ll fall straight on your ass. But the few who think he’s just a boring strongman look back to the testing area now.”

He murmured a few words into his walkie-talkie and hit a button on his tablet. We glanced back at Arnold who was nodding to one of the workers there and started walking toward a wall slightly lighter than the rest. When we arrived we watched closely wondering what he was going to do.

Arnold took a few steps back and rushed forward, his steps cracking the concrete below him as he drew closer to the wall. Since it appeared that the sound was turned on I heard the slight booms of his feet, then his barbaric yell as he swung his fist forward driving his momentum through his body and fist and into the wall. The blast was deafening even with the filtered sound through the speakers. Arnold’s fist was buried deep into the wall chunks of rock exploded outward from around his fist as it entered.

He ripped his arm out of the hole he created and swung again and again, he hit the wall in various ways, adding to the chunks of concrete around him. He then stopped suddenly noticing a boulder the size of him that broke off in the destruction. Grabbing the lower part of the boulder on each side like he was hugging it he clutched it, digging his fingers into the stone. His feet sunk into the floor creating slight depressions where his feet were creating perfect footprints. In another yell, he raised it over his head like Atlas holding up the world.

After a few seconds, he swung the boulder like chunk into the last undestroyed part of the wall. I felt the vibrations all the way in the viewing room, the entire wall was rubble both the boulder of concrete and the wall were demolished leaving a panting Arnold standing in the mist of the ruined wall. Which was now just a crater, any doubts I may have had towards the strongman type was immediately dismissed at that moment as well as others.

“Now I hope you have a different understanding of what it means to be a super and what it means not to underestimate. Though I’m sure some of you are thinking some different thoughts right now” He said amused as he stared at the cluster of girls gawking unabashedly at Arnold who waded his way through the concrete. From what I could see his hands were bleeding as well as bruised.

A person, no an animal to be respected.

One that if, no when he had the chance he would test himself against him.