Shade: Unbound

After spending the afternoon with Lyra, training that night was more intensive than simple parameter testing, given that Azur and Frameshot now had an actual baseline for both Finn and Lyra to improve from. And the results were more positive than the instructors had been expecting.

Apparently, Finn’s power was among the best when it came to range, activation speed, flexibility, level of control proportional to training time invested, sensory capabilities, field communication, and stealth.

But that was it. Ultimately, colors were relatively harmless. Despite his staggering control over them, his power didn’t have any real offensive or defensive applications. It had utility, but it wouldn’t be enough to get him through a straight fight against a powered opponent on its own, as his battle against Lyra had proven.

As the lesson drew on, it became increasingly clear to him that he was reaching the end of the period of rapid growth he’d been experiencing over the past few months since first manifesting his ability.

Now that he was being confronted with his weaknesses on such a consistent basis, he could no longer deny his limits and was forced to confront reality and consider his options. He wasn’t going to give up on his goal. Obviously. However, it was becoming clear that there were certain routes closed to him at this point in time. Possibly forever.

He’d never liked that thought; that there were things he was never going to be able to do or become. It was an affront to his potential on a fundamental level. Even if he had no desire for a particular path in life, not having the ability to achieve it was still bothersome, for whatever reason.

Throughout his life, Finn had rarely consciously articulated that to himself, but now that he was paying attention to it in such a different context, it struck him just how much it resonated with so many different parts of his past. Had this aversion to limiting himself been controlling his actions? Was that the reason his power manifested with a prominent navigation aspect? To show him the way rather than have him get lost in the endless depths of possibility?

Regardless, it didn’t matter now. Ruminations on the underlying psychological mechanisms shaping his power aside, he needed to refocus. He was currently engaged in a sparring match with Frameshot, who was talking to him about the very topic he'd been thinking about.

“Listen, kid. I know what you're going through. Don't want to hear this from an adult, I’m sure, but it’ll help you,” the man said as he hooked a foot behind Finn and sent him sprawling with a shove to the chest. By the time he recovered, Frameshot was speaking again. “You’re feeling the pressure. Pressure to grow, experiment, follow that same high you got the first few months with your new power.

“Thing is, that never lasts. After those early stages, it's a steady decline in improvement until you plateau. You hit a wall. What do you do then? Well. You either accept what you’ve been given and leave it at that, or you continue to get better.” He batted Finn’s elbow strike away with contemptuous ease and kept talking, not even the slightest bit winded. “See, I’m just going to explain the second option, ‘cause the first doesn’t require me to tell you what it means, and I can tell you’re not interested in that kind of life.”

“So?” Finn pressed, panting. His double jab and hook got stopped before the second punch could even be thrown.

“So, I figure it’s best to just tell you straight up your options are limited,” Frameshot said. Then he added, “Limited, but not nonexistent. You could stay the course and keep picking up new gadgets, for one thing. Collect more credits, as you have been doing, buy better equipment. But that isn’t going to carry you to the big leagues, not by itself. Not like you’re the only person doing Aegis missions after all.”

“I know that,” Finn answered, charging again.

“Right, so you know other options you can take. You’re not a warrior type, meaning you can go for physical enhancement surgery, but a lot of people are apprehensive about that kind of thing. For good reason; it presents a lot of risks, like having the procedure botched by someone lacking the skills to do it properly. Or experiencing side effects afterward. Heard some nasty stories about that. But it’s good to keep this in mind, with Mr. Wardell’s contacts being able to guarantee quality service.”

He straightened and landed three shots on Finn’s torso with deadly accuracy, causing the blinking red lights on the field to signal the end of the match.

“The last one is a bit trickier.” He paused, and amended, “A lot trickier, I won’t lie. No one in any of my circles knows the secret to unbinding your power, even the Unbound themselves. But if you do ever reach that stage?” He shrugged. “Your power’s going to be doing things you couldn't even dream of before. Just, it's not reliable. Waiting for it to happen on its own is less than optimal as far as strategies go.”

The instructor clapped his hands together. “But that’s all for going solo. I still think you’d work best in a team. In that respect, the solution can be as simple as recruiting people whose powers synergize with yours. Looking at it from that angle, Calliope is already a good start.”

Not what Finn wanted to hear, but none of this was exactly surprising. He and Lyra worked well together, but they couldn’t always hope to stay by each other’s side. They were too likely to get separated, especially if their future enemies realized keeping them apart decreased their effectiveness considerably. And, once again, there were situations where she simply would not be present in the first place.

Apart from that last suggestion, though, Finn had considered all those options as potential avenues of growth. But when it came to actually choosing one, he didn’t want to. He saw no reason to pick. He planned to do all of those things. Even the surgery. While being unconscious and under the knife was less than desirable, the results would speak for themselves. Couple that enhanced physique with an unbound power and better equipment, and he’d be incomparably stronger than his current self.

And yet, pursuing those things would inevitably come with risks. Which was fine with him. He’d been risking his life for quite some time now, and this current period simply gave him the time to round out his skill set on the path to his goal.

“Think that’s enough,” Frameshot was saying. “Let’s go see how your partner’s doing before we move on to the next exercise, yeah?”

Finn looked over to Lyra, where she was doing target practice with Azur against a set of glowing metallic cubes suspended in midair. She hadn’t yet performed the technique she’d used to win their duel again, instead focusing on the underlying mechanics of her power and fine-tuning her techniques to improve her overall performance.

By this point, Finn was over his loss against her, having recognized that all he could do about it was improve and sulking about it would be nothing but a hindrance to his progress.

That being said, he was already thinking about how to counter her fighting style. And going by the increasing fluidity of her attacks, he was fairly sure he’d be thinking for a while longer.

*******

Casey Wardell strode through the hall and towards the indoor training field the two new vigilantes, wondering if she should try for another interruption in the intended training schedule. After a few moments of thought, she decided against it. As exciting as the fight had been, she didn’t want her father to think she was irresponsible enough to repeat her stunt from last time.

Truthfully, she hadn’t really been bored, she’d only wanted to get their measure without looking paranoid. And she had succeeded, knowing Frameshot wouldn’t actually countermand her suggestion. It had come down to the two heroes themselves, in the end. And they had not disappointed her.

Even after the videos she’d seen of their field performance online, she was positively surprised with their battle sense and apparent eagerness, though their respective styles were still rough around the edges. Still, they were here to rectify exactly that, and they would be ready for field work again soon enough, even with all the attention from the gangs they had garnered.

Whatever they ended up doing, she was invested now. Though she could only show that in this place, and not at school. Over there, she was just a normal, if privileged, girl. Here, she was… also a normal girl, but with different interests and priorities.

Initially, she’d chosen to attend a public high school to childishly differentiate herself from Aiden, but now she liked how the students there centered her. It was a nice change of pace, and she had plenty of friends there. She couldn’t say she would associate with all of them outside of school, but the general atmosphere was pleasant.

This wasn’t something as secretive as a super’s double life. That wasn’t a possibility for her, because she didn’t have powers. But at the same time, she did have some secrets. It would be rather inconvenient for everyone involved if it came out that her father was harboring vigilantes around the district and providing them with resources in exchange for protecting his assets.

Which meant she wouldn’t just go blabbering about her visits here to anyone outside the family. Not to mention, she actually had a purpose here. Her father might not have suggested or even approved of it, but she wanted to take a more hands-on role with these two in particular. If she could demonstrate her ability to manage them in a competent way in place of her father, it would indicate her capabilities were sufficient to get more involved with his operations.

She had long since realized it was going to take work if she wanted his position.

When she neared the training field, she could hear the vibrating impacts of Calliope’s attacks before she saw them. Shade was watching her with his staff in hand while Frameshot discussed something with Azur.

The girl in the bird mask was charging another concussive sound blast when Frameshot called for a timeout. She turned to him as he began to speak. Casey neared in order to catch what he was saying. In doing so, Shade glanced at her while Azur nodded in acknowledgement before returning to her notes.

“...wave has a stronger impact. That’s great, but what I want you to do is to have your attacks ride the sound waves themselves. Better than just tossing them. Got it? Right, I’ll leave you to it then.” With that, the military veteran turned vigilante stepped back and gave Calliope space to try out the advice he just gave her.

This time, she clapped her hands soundlessly once more, but didn’t push her hand out. She held it out to her side and pulled her hand back. The impact rang on multiple cubes this time, faster than Casey could turn her head and much more widespread.

She blinked. There was no denying that she was impressed, and she wanted to approach, but elected to just observe for now. She couldn’t be thoughtless about this.

As Frameshot moved to congratulate her, Casey’s attention turned to Shade, who was still standing in the same position. No indications of any potential changes in his mood. Her eyes narrowed. That was suspicious. No excitement? No jealousy? She didn’t think she was a natural at reading people, but that was irrelevant when she had spent considerable time acquiring that exact skill.

Right now, it was hard to pin down Shade’s dynamic with his teammate. Or subordinate? Calliope seemed to defer to him a lot, but that didn’t necessarily tell her much. This lack of reaction to the sudden advancement of a close associate was odd, however. She would have expected at least a bit of shock.

Granted, she couldn’t see his face, so some missed emotional cues were excusable. It was just that she did not want to leave it at that. There were a few explanations she could come up with. One being that this sort of advancement from Calliope was the norm. Another being that he actually didn’t care how far she advanced either way. And a third was that he sublime acting skills or some power controlling him. The fourth was that she was overthinking things and had simply missed a brief microexpression while looking at the girl vigilante.

She exhaled quietly, eyes drifting back to the others. It wasn’t as though she was an expert on dealing with boys herself. Her birthday party had shown everyone that much. It was annoying how much she was teased about it, though Aiden wasn’t too excessive about it, seeming quite interested in her dance partner himself for whatever reason.

No, it was more Ines and Colette who kept prodding her about it, always pushing their little spiel about finding love and her having a boyfriend and whatever. Really, she didn’t see it as anything more than a spar or a training exercise. Nothing more.

The worst part was that she wouldn’t always be safe from that here. Colette could stroll in any time and start ribbing again. She blinked and took a calming breath to clear her thoughts.

Oh well.

At least Allister wasn’t here in the room with her.