Paladin's Academy

Act II, Chapter 13: Trouble in the Neighborhood Part 4

The plan was simple. First, distract and lure Streetwise away from the facility. Next, lock down the place using Revenant's shadow powers, blocking off all communication inside and out. The alarms will detect Revenant and warn everyone inside about a possible Supervillain attack. Standard procedure dictates that in the event of a Villain attack, everyone will run to the safety bunkers and alert local heroes. Revenant then reinforces the bunker, preventing everyone inside from coming out. Beat the other two heroes who aren't Streetwise, secure the reactor, and use Revenant's teleportation power to teleport them and the reactor out of there. Simple!

Recoil reflects on the plan as he prepares for battle. At this stage of the plan, Wager should be securing the reactor, and Revenant should still be guarding the safe room. The main problem with the plan is that Revenant's shadows are finite. He is a being composed purely of darkness. Closer to a void born than a regular man. He cannot maintain his outside veil, the reinforcement on the safe room, and teleport the reactor simultaneously. There is a short window wherein he drops everything to teleport the reactor. This is why Recoil and Wager must secure the place first. And now, only one person stands in his way.

Aegis continues staring at Recoil. She calms herself and focuses on the impending fight. Since the dawn of unique abilities, fights have gotten more complicated. If it was just close-quarter combat between two nonpowered individuals, then the ceiling of strength is not that far high. But by adding a new superpowered variable, heroes like her must be careful. A villain could have literally anything up their sleeve, which is why most heroes err on the side of caution unless they're named Streetwise.

"Intruder!" A robot guard shouts, pointing its weapon at Recoil. He turns around and throws a small rock faster than a speeding bullet. It shatters the guard in two while painting the wall in liquid Zenithium.

That move! Aegis thinks. She recognizes this type of fighting style, narrowing down Recoil's possible abilities.

Recoil possesses the unique ability known as 'Governor,' which gives him the innate capacity to modify velocity. Simply put, he can adjust the speed of anything he touches, making it go faster or slower. This can affect both living and non-living objects.

Aegis uses this distraction and rushes forward. Recoil reacts by throwing more rocks at her. With a swiping wave of her arm, she opens her palm and stops all the projectiles in place, using what appears to be a transparent barrier.

This woman, her powers directly counter mine?! Recoil reacts. Aegis punches him in the chest, sending him a few feet back.

His intuition happens to be correct. Aegis has the unique ability known as 'Dichotomy," where she can create a barrier like no other. A barrier that can divide the space infinitely between someone inside and someone outside. Thus, making it so that these two things cannot interact. A perfect shield.

The barrier's default configuration is a thin bubble-colored wall, but Aegis can modify the shape into a dome or a sphere. The dome protects multiple people, and the sphere is used as a projectile. Since people can't touch the sphere, it becomes an unstoppable force. Only dissipating on Aegis' command.

However, even a powerful ability such as this has its weaknesses. While the barrier itself is invincible, the user has to maintain it using their own mental fortitude and internal energy. Aegis prefers to use her ability in quick bursts of attack and deflection.

With both combatants reaching a level of understanding of each other's abilities, they start to plan their approach differently. The crux of Recoil's ability comes from 'touching.' If he cannot make contact with his opponent, he won't be able to modify their speed. Aegis completely nullifies his abilities. But in terms of strength and speed, he outclasses her. They both must be wary, for this fight could go either way.