Project: Strato

Chapter 2: Affliction

Early in the morning(The time they awaken us), We began to place on our attire for the King of the Hill Matches, Which consists of a black T-shirt, white Joggers, and white open-toed athletic shoes. Let's see... we were forced to "train" With subjects by defeating each other with combat and our abilities in battle in this gym-like room with E.S.P monitors held the Authority to know when someone was spiking from the use of their power.

When we were done, V led Me, Annabeth, and Dylan to the indoor football-like stadium with the other subjects waiting on the other remaining Authority members and the subject sectors. They came in right after us, leaving us no time to separate ourselves from the others. We watched as other teens like us fought and brutalized each other. I turned to my friends and started"Guys, This could be our shot, we could finally get closer to leaving". "Del, don't hold out hope for something that's clearly not happening", said Annabeth. "There's no room for hope in a place like this", Annabeth ended. "Quiet, now" a member of Authority said. As I Looked up I somewhat recognized the features of the man standing before me. He has multiple scars covering his face,...... [Did I do that] was all I could begin to think. He was the man from yesterday's incident. [How could I have done this].

"Watch and observe" The Scarred man said. I guess I was trapped in my own thoughts because I didn't notice Annabeth participate in the match and come back with a light bruise under her eye.[Are you ok], Annabeth asked me telepathically. "Yea, Of course, I am" I silently whispered back to her. "Annabeth why didn't you use your powers", Dylan whispered to us. "Seriously, Dyl, you know why" she whispered back. "I know using them makes you feel bad, but you were getting hurt and yet you still didn't use it", Dylan said. Annabeth just elbowed him mildly, Dylan chuckled and went back to watching the match. [It wasn't your fault y'know], she started talking in my head. [Thought you promised not to read my mind], I communicated back to her. She looked at me and made a face of contempt, Then thought to me [I didn't read your mind and you zoned out with a face of sorrow... Then I recognized the man's scars from what you told me what happened and knew it was him ], She finished. [Listen thanks for caring, but I'm ok, really], I thought to her smiling. She gave me a worried look, but eventually looked to the match and... wait. "Is that a bruise, are you ok?" I loudly whispered. She looked at me and was about to say something but just then... "Subject 13, you're up" We looked at Dylan immediately, but he assured us that he remembered both of our points and he would be ok, and win.

He headed up to the reigning "Queen" of the hill, preparing to send her toppling off her throne. Dylan got into his stance almost in an instant. He flexed his arms and his hands crackled with visual blue static. Subject 3 did the same with no hesitation visible. She waited for Dylan to throw the first punch and he did with no more time wasted. Dylan threw a static-filled punch at the right side of her face, But Subject 3 looked as if she knew he would throw it and slipped under his attack and threw one of her own, an uppercut, which connected with the left side of his gut and made him stumble back a bit. Dylan, shocked at what just happened, decided to throw another punch, but before he even got it up Subject 3  kicked his shin, which caused him to lose his footing on his left leg and kneel on his right. Subject 3 was moving and countering Dylan like she was in his head calling the plays herself and countering them. Dylan tried to use his left leg to get back up after getting punched and countered again and again, but subject 3 landed a kick on the bottom of his right leg which caused him to lean forward just a bit, but when he did, she landed a two-legged drop kick to his chest, which caused him to literally fly backward.

Just then, it was like Annabeth jumped to life and said "She's reading his mind and fighting him at the same time!!" she exclaimed. "I thought you could'nt do that, it causes too much stress" I asked her. "You're not, it's too hard to use more than one ability at a time" she told me."Only the most skilled telepaths are able to do that and not faint from a migraine". Something grabs our attention from our conversation, we started to see electronics go haywire as Dylan absorbed power from them. Dylan's entire left arm was covered in static electricity just trying to land a hit on subject 3...but to no avail. She grabbed Dylan's right arm and twisted around his back while dodging his left arm's attacks. As soon as she got it behind his back, she kicked the back of his left knee, then twisted his arm up to his shoulder blade, lifting him up by it alone and slamming him down through the air backwards, breaking his arm in the process.