Under Fire (Warriors: S1B2)

Chapter 1

My name is Jay. And my life is weird.

It wasn't always weird, still isn't to some degree. I still go to school. I hang out with friends. I have hobbies. 

Granted, one of those hobbies is being a superhero.

You read that right.

It all started when a black rock crashed through my window. When I picked it up, I fainted, and when I woke up, I couldn't stop breaking things. Then a few of my other friends showed me they had powers, too. Then an alien attacked my school, and my principal helped us stop it with a grenade launcher.

I'm making this sound weird. Er, weirder.

The point is, I'm Earth's primary defense against whatever comes from beyond the stars. 

Earth date: 09/03/11, 12:54

My phone rang. I checked the caller ID. Alex Mackenzie.

I picked up and said, "Hey dude, I'm in the middle of something. Can't talk long."

"Hey, man. You wanna come over for dinner on Tuesday?"

"Your dad having one of his friends over?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, I'll be there."

"Cool, cool. Where are you right now?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's, like, a bunch of static."

"Oh. Uh, dropped my phone outside. Didn't break, but now it's all staticky whenever I take a call.'

Silence.

"Yeah, man, gotta get back to it. But I'll be there." I hung up and shoved my phone back in my pocket. "Sorry about that."

Mr. Cole nodded, then held up the weight. "Go on, take it."

"Why?"

"Because I'm telling you to."

I looked around at the other six people in the room. They all looked as confused as I felt. "I feel like this is a set-up," I said.

"You won't know until you take the weight." He held it out to me. I reluctantly took it. It was a 40-pounder. Since my black rock-induced seizure, I could have juggled ten of those. Or crushed one of them like a pop can. 

His hands free, Mr. Cole walked to the side of me, where there was some kind of switch on a track built into the wall. "Mr. Cole, what's the de--" Mr. Cole pulled the switch along the track. "----eeeeeealOHMIGOD!" The weight seemed to go from 40 pounds to 40,000. I dropped it and jumped back, and the weight hit the ground with a sound less like a weight being racked and more like a fender bender.

I looked at my friends, then at the weight on the ground, then at Mr. Cole. "What was that?" 

He pulled the switch back to its original position. "That was the gravity increasing."

"The gravity increasing? Seriously?" Frazz said.

"Seriously. Jay, you can get stronger, but no conventional workout will be a challenge to you. Hence, training in increased gravity."

"Doesn't increasing the gravity mess with time?" Daphne asked quietly.

"It does. That's what the ear pieces are for."

I touched the curve of metal behind my ear. "How?"

"The miracles of reverse-engineering alien technology. Let's find Will."

We filed out of the room, me swinging my arm. Holding a ten ton weight with no warning can really make your biceps feel tight.

I've gotten this far without introducing everyone else. Ahem.

You've already met Daphne. I don't really know what to make of her. She's new to the neighborhood. I've seen her around, but my first time meeting her was when a lightning alien attacked my school. Go figure. Then there's Joey. Also new to the neighborhood. Grade-A badass: that's the only description fitting of a guy who charged a lightning alien. There's Max. Also a grade-A badass, which he proved by beating the snot out of somebody last year. Don't bring it up to him, though. Frazz: stupidly tall, also stupid, as in, would probably make jokes about his own funeral if he could. Margaret: she hates Frazz, with good reason. I wouldn't care so much if she didn't hate me too, with no good reason. And Kristi, who really needs to lay off the coffee. 

We walked into a larger room, where Will stood on a training mat. Mr. Cole remained at the door while my group walked deeper into the room. "Around the mat," Will said. Our group broke up, making a loose circle around the training mat. Will turned and pointed at me. "Jay, on the mat."

I stepped forward. 

"Hit me," he said.

I blinked. "I'm not sure you want me to do that, Will."

"Yeah, I do."

"Really bad things will happen if I hit you."

"One punch. Come on."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

I looked at him. His expression was unreadable. I put my dukes up and threw a punch at Will's stomach. Will sidestepped my punch and dodged behind me. His hands wrapped around my waist, and he yanked me off my feet. He lifted me over his head and slammed me back-first on the ground, then leaped back to his feet. 

I groaned from the Jayprint in the mat. "Does anyone else have something they want to test out on me? Any cars that need a crash dummy? Any bulletproof vests?" I sat up. "What was that?"

"That..." Will offered a hand and helped me to my feet. "...was a German suplex. One of the most basic wrestling moves."

"Wrestling?" I said.

Will nodded. "My purpose here is to combat-train you, all of you. Wrestling isn't as flashy or as revered as Eastern martial arts, but it's a good gateway. You're all going to learn the basics, but I want to spend extra time on it with you, Jay."

"Why?"

"I'm going to teach you some of the fancy stuff."

"Isn't most of that stuff fake?"

Will chuckled. "It has to be. Even the biggest beefcakes in the WWE aren't strong enough to pull their moves off without the other guy's help. You don't have that problem. None of you do." Addressing the group as a whole, he said, "So, shall we begin?"

I nodded my head and crouched into a fighting position. "Give me your best shot."