Mettle, Metal, Meddle - Chapter 4 - Work out (Patreon)

Miss Martian, M’gann listened with rapt attention as I described the last few months of my life, as well as the basics of my life before. It was much easier this time, both because M’gann was a much better listener than Batman, and because I was giving the abridged, sanitized version. Even so, when I was done she was still upset.

“What kind of person does that to someone?” She asked, shaking her head. “To violate someone's mind like that, especially someone who couldn't defend themselves…”

“It was… not fun.” I admitted vaguely. “I did get the sense that the entity wasn't being malicious, like it just didn't understand what it was doing to me. Luckily they reversed the majority of the mental changes.”

“The majority?” She asked. “Do you… Uncle- Martian Manhunter might be able to help with the rest. I know you might not like the idea of someone else in your mind after what happened but...”

We both looked to the older man, who’s chair rotated around to face us.

“The offer was to be made later today.” He explained. “I would be glad to help with any residual issues, though I will not make any promises.”

Instinctively I almost said no off the cuff, the fear of being mentally influenced rising before I could fight it down. He was a well known hero and someone I could trust. I took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before releasing it.

“I… Might not like it, but I do need to know that things have settled at least.” I admitted reluctantly. “But I don't think I’m up for anything other than you just taking a peek to make sure my mind isn’t falling apart at the seams or something.”

“Whatever you are comfortable with.” He said simply. “We will most likely have time later today.”

His chair turned back forward and he focused back on the console in front of him while I turned back to M’gann. She gave me a hesitant smile, before looking a little nervous.

“If it makes you feel any better your mind feels pretty stable from the outside.” She explained before adding more. “And having a damaged mind isn't something easily hidden.”

“That… does actually make me feel better.” I admitted before continuing. “I have a feeling that it has changed some things about me, I'm feeling way too comfortable sitting on the bridge of a spaceship, talking to aliens for one thing. Uh, no offense. But I’m hoping I'm still mostly, well…me.”

The cabin was filled with silence, the depressed topic halting the conversation for a long few minutes. Eventually I coughed and looked back at M’gann.

“Soo… What about you?” I asked. “Want to tell me about yourself?”

“Oh… I’m not all that impressive…” She mumbled. “I've been on earth for about a month, working and training with Martian Manhunter.”

“Why come to Earth in the first place?” I asked. “I mean it's a pretty cool place but I gotta imagine it’s a lot to get used to.”

“It has been a learning experience.” She admitted. “But we get Earth television on Mars, so I grew up watching the same things you did.”

“You'd be surprised.” I said, not pouting at all. “Barely any of my favorite shows exist here. Thank god my memory got a massive boost other I'd be shit out of luck remembering how to Earthbend. What kind of shows did you watch?”

“Oh you know... this and that.” She answered vaguely before changing the subject. “But I stowed away on Uncle- on Martian Manhunter's ship so that I could see the real deal!It’s been a lot of fun and I’m really excited to meet the team!”

“Uh.. yeah, it will be interesting to meet people with powers our age.” I agreed, letting her subject switch slide. “Do you know who else is on the team?”

“I know there are four other members, and that we are meeting one today.” She answered. “But that's it.”

“Well… It would make sense that most of them, if not all of them would be sidekicks, so-”

“They do not like being called that. They feel they have outgrown that title.” Martian Manhunter said, cutting me off. “And you will be meeting Superboy today.”

“Superboy? Is he new?” I asked, going through all the information I knew about Superman. “I've heard of Superman but never heard anyone mention Superboy.”

“He is… new, yes.” The older martian answered, pausing for a moment before continuing. “He is a clone of Superman, flash grown to the maturity of a teenager over sixteen weeks. He was found in a secret facility two days ago by your other potential teammates.”

“A clone? Holy hell. Is that… normal here?” I ask nervously.

“No. This is something new, even more so considering Superman’s kryptonian biology.”

“Oh… Damn.”

The rest of the Journey was spent in relative silence. I was content to look out the window and watch the landscape zip by under us. We were flying across a large forest when the ship started to slow down and head towards a large rocky clearing. It was some sort of larger abandoned quarry, complete with rusted out equipment and a large warehouse. As we got closer I spotted several people standing together next to the warehouse entrance. The ship  got closer to teh ground to land, setting down close to the people.

“And we are here!” M’gann said happily before rising out of her seat. “Oh gosh I’m nervous!”

“It is… a bit nerve racking.” I admitted, standing up and stretching, feeling my muscles tense and loosen as I did. “Reminds me of the first day of school.”

“Oh gosh is this what that feels like?” She asked softly.

Martian Manhunter made his way to the back of the ship, an entrance opening up and a ramp growing down to the ground. I followed behind, M’gann following behind me. As we stepped into the bright clearing from the relatively dark ship interior my eyes adjusted quickly. Standing not far from us was a woman with blonde hair, a blue short cut jacket and gray skin tight pants, who I recognized as Black Canary,  as well as a younger looking guy with a black superman t-shirt and jeans. Black Canary turned to face us, calmly watching as we joined them, her hands on her hips.

“Mr. Reeves. It's nice to meet you, I’m Black Canary, a member of the Justice League.” She said as we got closer. “Both Flash and Batman speak highly of you.”

“It's nice to meet you Ma’am.” I responded, reaching my hand out to Black Canary, who shook it with a firm grip. “I’ll try to live up to their expectations.”

“I’m sure you will.” She said with a smile.

“So no pressure then.” I joked and replied with a smile before turning to the last person and holding out my hand. “I’m guessing your Superboy? My name is Warren Reeves.”

For a long moment I thought he wasn't going to shake my hand, but eventually he reached out and gave it a single shake, squeezing my hand just a bit too hard.

“Yeah.” He said simply, somehow already annoyed, though he turned to look at M’gann.

“Hi! I’m Miss Martian.” She said with a smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Superboy simply grunted, his arms crossed, while Black Canary greeted the young martian. It seems like they had met before, introduced when Martian Manhunter first started training her. After M’gann was done nervously trading pleasantries, Canary caught my attention again.

“I understand you haven't really had a chance to experiment with your newest ability?” She asked. “Perhaps while we measure some of Miss Martian and Superboy capabilities you would like to experiment? Then we can switch places.”

“That works for me I suppose.”

“Good. I will be observing both you and your two teammates, so don't be surprised if I come out to watch.”

“Have fun.” M’gann said nervously as the four of them walked into the warehouse towards a bunch of modern looking equipment.

I turned and looked over the quarry, at the random pile of massive stones and rusted equipment, as well as the stone cliffs that showed obvious signs of mining and drilling.

“Alright… now how the fuck do I do this.” I mumbled to myself. “I guess we should start with the classic.”

I walked away from the warehouse, towards the nearest pile of rocks. Off to the side of the pile was a massive boulder, easily a few feet taller than I was. I resisted the urge to reach out, instead I focused on my breathing as I pulled off my shoes and socks, leaving me barefoot among the large graded gravel path. I closed my eyes and felt the gravel beneath me, felt the rocks digging into my feet. For a moment I only breathed, deep slow breaths. I settled into the horse stance, my body parallel to the face of the boulder.

I pushed out, feeling the stone, feeling the earth and gravel. For a moment I stood still, feeling the reach of my senses expanding and contracting with each breath. It wasn’t Toph's seismic sense, not by a long shot. No, it was my connection to the stone around me, my bending diffusing through the ground. It glowed in my mind.

With a shout I struck out, focusing the energy through my fist. I could feel my knuckles make contact, and the rock get shoved back. It collided with another boulder after two feet, making a loud resonating sound that shook my bones.

But it had moved.

With a gleeful smile I lunged forward, this time I snapped out a kick, focusing the energy through my foot. I could feel the strain, feel the rock resisting my energy, my demand for the rock to break. But I was solid, unshakable. The rock split out from where I kicked it,  breaking through the massive roundish boulder. I spun through with the kick, now perpendicular to the rock as the top half  began to fall towards me. Reacting on instinct I spun back, lashing out with an open palm push that flung the massive top half over the pile. I caught myself after that, watching rocks tumble and fall as the top half of the rock slid down.

With a smirk I turned, jumping into the air and landing with a stomp, popping a hunk of earthen stone out of the ground. I fired a fist out, slamming into the rock and sending it rocketing over the quarry, slamming into a sheer cliff face nearly a hundred feet away. I turned and stomped again, three larger rocks popping out of the ground, and in a quick cycle, punched once, twice, three times, the stones launched into a gravel pile. With a whooping laugh I took two big leaping steps before throwing all my strength into a huge jump, sending me almost twenty feet into the air, coming back down in a long ark heading straight towards a large rock. I did a falling punch dead center of the boulder which exploded into chunks, scattering them across the yard. I laughed again, bending down and picking up a palm sized rock and crushing it in my fist, gravel falling to the ground.

“I… am so glad I picked Earthbending instead of Firebending.”

I started going through the motions again, practicing the moves I had seen in the show, slowly adapting them to myself. I quickly worked up a sweat and left pillars and slabs of rocks scattered around the quarry. Working my earthbending was providing me a better workout than any of the runs I had gone on in the past month. After a while, when I was finally done I started collapsing the mess I made, toppling pillars and working the slabs of stone back into the ground, using it as a chance to center myself.

When I eventually made my way back to the warehouse I found both Superboy and M’gann on high tech treadmills. M’gann was breathing heavily and while Superboy wasn't struggling, sweat dripped down his face. Black Canary turned as I stepped in, smiling and nodding as I walked over, sitting down at a nearby bench to put on my shoes.

“That was impressive.” She said, continuing when I looked at her and raised my eyebrow. “You didn't notice me but I came out to watch for a while. It looked like you were having fun.”

“I was, it was incredible.”

“Are you all done practicing?”

“I wish I wasn’t, but I hit a lull and figured it was a good time to come in.” I explained, taking a look around the place. “This is all pretty advanced stuff, how did it end up out here?”

“This equipment was brought out last night, by Green Lantern, after it was decided that you three needed to be tested.”

“Well it will be nice to know what version of the super serum I got, once and for all.” I admitted, watching as M’gann stumbled, lifting off of her feet to avoid falling. She floated off to a seat to recover.

‘Which version?” Black Canary asked. “I was under the impression you knew exactly who you got your powers from.”

“I do. But the reason I know is because in my home reality Steve Rogers was a comic book, movie and tv character.” I explained. “Different versions of him exist in different stories, and his capabilities vary from peak human to human plus to completely superhuman.”

“Batman did not mention that.”

“Can't say I blame him.” I admitted with a chuckle. “My origin story includes four realities and an extra-reality being . That's gotta be full debrief territory, not just a quick chat”

“In that case, would you like to start?” Black Canary asked, gesturing to what could best be described as a high tech bench press chair.

I nodded and walked to the apparatus, which was a barbell attached to a machine by two hanging robotic appendages, a large base coming up and over the setup from behind. Black Canary walked over to a panel attached to the base, tapping a few buttons.

“What would you like to start out at?”

“I’ve already warmed up so let's go with seven hundred pounds.”

The bar lowered itself into place before calling out that it was set to the proper. I put my hands onto the bar, took a breath and pushed. I could feel the weight being pushed back down, feel the strain as my muscles worked to lift the weight. When I lifted the bar the full height of a bench press I could feel it latch in place.

“Let's go up a hundred.” I called out.

And so began the long and arduous process of learning my limits. Black Canary had me working through several machines, lifting, pushing, throwing and jumping. It turns out I was somewhere above human plus, able to lift just over a full ton and jump over fifteen feet into the air. When Black Canary was satisfied testing my strength I hopped onto the treadmill, starting off at an easy run, just around twenty miles an hour. By now Superboy and M’gann had gone outside, leaving me alone with Black Canary.

“I have to say your strength is pretty impressive.” She admitted, going through the data she gathered. “Not as high as Superboy but slightly stronger than Miss Martian, though that might just be because she was holding back.”

“I was surprised too.” I admitted, talking easily at this pace. “I definitely got the good stuff. I was pretty sure I did but without much to compare it to…”

“Try going a bit faster.” She said encouragingly, taking a moment to watch before continuing. “So do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Yeah… might get short answers though.” I said, speeding up my run, hitting thirty and holding it. “Can you shut off the counter I can see?”

“Are you really eighteen?” She asked before tapping her tablet, the number on my screen vanishing. “You seem… awfully mature for eighteen.”

“I had to grow up quick.” I explained after a moment. “My bio-dad ran when I was twelve, had a little sister to take care of. Didn’t realize it at the time but mom kind of just fell apart.”

“I see, I'm sorry to hear that.”

“I’m not, mom got better eventually and my bio-dad thought fatherhood meant having a solid back hand to match his belt.” I said before pausing to focus on speeding up again. “Mom got better, I got a new dad, one who actually likes us.”

“He was the mechanic?”

“Yeah. He got me into cars.” I explained, before tuning her out, focusing on my running.

At first I pushed myself to go as fast as possible. I breathed as calmly as I could, all but throwing myself into my running. Eventually, happy that I had hit and held my top speed I slowed back down, finding a good place to run at. The rhythm of my shoes beating the treadmill took over for a moment as I pushed harder, my breathing starting to get rougher. I could feel myself slowly getting more and more fatigued, though it was slow. I held the speed for a while before Canary finally got my attention.

“That's enough!” She called out. “You can stop!”

I nodded and slowly decreased my speed, taking my time to let myself warm down. Eventually I was just walking, doing that for a few minutes before stepping off the treadmill.

“That was really impressive. Was that your top speed?”

“Just about.”

“Well you hit fifty six miles an hour at the beginning, but you ran for forty minutes at thirty five miles per hour.”

“Damn, go me.” I said with a smirk before walking to a rack of towels and drying myself off a bit. “Nice to stretch my legs a bit.”

Black Canary chuckled before shutting off the equipment and leading me out of the warehouse. We found tall, dark and grumpy sitting by himself as M’gann talked to her uncle. Suddenly her uncle morphed into some sort of lizard snake monster, before slowly shifting back.

“Damn, that was terrifying.” I said. “Glad he is a good guy.”

“You have no idea.”

I turned to Superboy, walking closer to him before stopping. With a grunt I stomp my foot and raise my palm up, pushing a stone bench out of the ground for me to sit on. I sat for a minute before turning to look at him.

“So it looks like we might be on a team together.” I said, continuing. “You’ve met the other members, what are they like?”

For a long moment, long enough that I started to wonder if he was ignoring me, he was silent. Eventually he turned to me, looked me up and down before turning back.

“They saved me from Cadmus.” He said, as if that was enough.

Though to be fair that was a pretty good start.

“I heard about that.” I said before focusing for a moment, jutting both my hands up.

A slab of rock jutted out directly behind me, forming a back to my bench, letting me lean back. I noticed him watching me out of the corner of my eye.

“Sorry, that was rude. You want a better chair?” I asked, though I didn't wait for his answer. Instead I leaned forward, stomping and throwing my hands out, raising another chair out of the ground for him.

After a moment he stood away from the uncomfortable metal bar he was leaning on, sitting back in the better chair.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Again a long pause filled the air. I had already figured out that he wasn't much of a talker, so I figured it was best to keep it to a minimum for now. Eventually however i got bored and asked a stupid question.

“Wanna do some sparring?” I asked. “I haven't really gotten a chance to use my earthbending in a fight and well it looks like you've got some… energy to burn off.”

“You sure you want to?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, just a simple spar.” I said, standing up and stretching my back. “No reason to hurt each other.”

“You say that like you could.” It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. I turned and gestured down the path. “There is a nice spot just about a hundred feet that way.”

“Alright, but don't come crying to me when you lose.”