The Second Layer

Chapter 28: Ryan

Chapter 28: Ryan

"You're certain you want to do this now?" Vryce asked.

"Absolutely certain," Ryan stated firmly as he drove the car they were both seated in.

It had been a week since he'd first started training. Within three days he'd mastered being able to use his speed whenever he wanted to. By the fourth day he'd figured out how to control just how much of his speed and strength became active when he used them. Since then he'd been practicing fighting using them, though he'd had no opponent to spar with. As a result, the abandoned building that had been set to be demolished next month was now already half-demolished, as he'd occasionally chosen to test his blows against a physical target. It was an eye-opening experience when you first discovered that you could punch through doors and walls without pain, and even that while only using a fraction of your strength.

He'd also managed to figure out how to exhibit fine-control over his healing abilities. At least, in so much as he could forcibly stop them from working for short periods. Injuries were far more painful when he delayed his abilities, and he couldn't do it for very long, but temporarily at least he could make his wounds stay wounds. When he'd mentioned it to Vryce he'd been told that many freaks did eventually learn to control their healing abilities to some extent, though he'd learned it faster than most did.

Then when he'd finally called Vryce the night before and told him that he was ready, the man had come to the abandoned building himself to see the results of his training. For an hour the two had sparred. While neither had been trying to do serious injury to the other, the fighting had been incredibly intense. Not only was Vryce faster and a bit stronger than him, but the man was far far more experienced at fighting like this. He'd pulled moves, such as jumping to, taking a few steps across, and then pushing off from the ceiling to change directions, that would've left Ryan gaping in shock if they hadn't been in the middle of combat.

It had quickly become clear that if they'd been fighting for real, Vryce would've torn him apart, but when Ryan faltered Vryce wouldn't let him give up, he'd made him keep going. And as the fighting went on, Ryan had begun to adjust to combat at those kinds of speeds and with that kind of strength, and had even managed to pull off a few impressive moves of his own.

Finally Vryce had pronounced him ready. He'd told him that while he still had a great deal to learn, with the kind of speed and strength advantage he'd have over Blaze, Blaze would have little chance in a fight between the two of them. Ryan had been so pumped on adrenaline he'd wanted to go out and confront Blaze right that instant, but Vryce had talked him into waiting at least one more day. At first he'd wanted Ryan to wait even longer than that, as Blaze had apparently not been returning to his home much lately, and he'd thought it would be better for Ryan to wait for a time when he'd be able to surprise Blaze there in the middle of the night, but Ryan had been adamant.

"Alright, here's the plan. We want you to fight Blaze at his home. It's an out of the way place and there's very little chance of any other freaks coming across you and interfering while you fight there. Since it would be extremely difficult to lure him to another location as out of the way as that, his house is our best option. However, as I told you last night, he hasn't been there much lately, he's probably been into something that's been keeping him away. But since you're not willing to wait until he starts spending a lot of time there again, we need something that we know for sure will make him go back there. And I have just the idea.

"We're going to make him think he's in danger, and want to run. Once a week, at the same time, without fail, he goes to a house owned by a freak named Ray Siren that we all use as a bar. So I know he'll be there tonight. First you'll go in and lay the groundwork. No matter what you do, make no direct threats. But make it clear you're very hostile towards him. Give off the vibe that you would like very much to see him die painfully, given the way you feel that shouldn't be hard, but make sure that there's no way he can miss it. You need to place the idea into his head that you may well make a move to hurt him soon, without actually threatening to do so. Get him as nervous and worried as you can.