Chapter 33 The Greatest Strength Part 1

“Please sit down while I monologue my master plan for stealing the Royal Crown Jewels.” - Megalovania, S-Class Super Villain.

Trist Brake knew this scene.

It had been played out in front of her countless times already. Students, knowing from the day they were born that they could access a power normal humans couldn’t, that they were on some fundamental level intrinsically better than most of the population.

Even if it were true, it was not exactly a healthy mindset to carry on into adulthood.

Yesterday, the Principal General had to stop the attempted lynching of a student who was in this very class. The sheer audacity to even consider such an act.

Most of the students here were a molotov mix of inherited power, arrogance, and coddling. Well, coddling was perhaps too harsh, Trist admitted. The fact their families were mostly Genelines naturally meant they had statistically more stable upbringings, unlike most who might lose their entire family overnight.

She did not desire a society where children needed to fend for themselves, yet seeing the scores of arrogant teenagers pass her by, she couldn’t help but feel resentful, while still hoping such a world would not come to pass.

One thing her job as an educator required was to teach the taste of failure. When a child strolled through life, either due to talent, rich upbringing, or simply always having their wishes fulfilled, it left an incomplete person. A person so used to winning they didn’t understand that sometimes they need to work hard towards a goal. To bite the bullet and pull themselves out of the mud, just so they would not fail when it really mattered.

In this class, there were four- no, five students who understood the feeling of failure. From those that self-classified as ‘weak’, the boy with his right arm in a cast, Aiden, and the short girl with sleek black hair, Lutrin Aya. From the self-classified as ‘strong’, the girl with the oni mask, Jun, the freckled girl with brown pigtails, Judy, and the boy with a mop of red hair, Christian.

Five of twenty, and only three of them were Manifested, two were from Genelines, this class was overachieving.

“Now,” she held up an open palm, “my power works by…”

A hand was raised right next to Aiden, coming from a lanky boy with tousled brown hair.

“Yes Sterling?” Trist asked, putting down her own hand.

“Is it fine if I don’t want to listen to it?” he asked.

The teacher grinned, “Of course, anyone who doesn’t wish to hear the specifics of my ability may go into the backroom, I’ll call you once I’m done.”

Sterling glanced towards one of the two girls in the weak group, a short girl with sleek black hair.

He whispered in her ear, low enough Aiden barely caught it.

“Lutrin, she might be Revealing her Hand, me and Tusk are gonna wait.”

Without confirming if she heard that, he waved at a boy in the first group, and both boys entered the backroom, leaving the girl behind.

Following half a step behind them was the boy called Vince, a pale girl he knew from roll calls was called Lilian, and the pigtailed girl named Judy whom Aiden recognised from his other classes.

“That’s cautious,” Darius muttered beside him, though before Aiden could ask him to elaborate, Trist continued her explanation.

Raising her palm, she said, “My power works through my palms, by touching something with my palms, I can lock them in a ‘Frame’ that is frozen in place.”

She took a ball out of a nearby basket, letting it lie in her palm before she spun it.

And it froze in its movement, leaving nothing but a still, two-dimensional frame in her palm, with the ball in the middle, completely frozen.

It’s appearance reminded Aiden of a single frame from a movie reel.

She took her hand away, letting the frame float in mid air, “Once it’s frozen, it’s completely locked in space until I release it.”

The frame disappeared and the ball fell into Trist’s waiting hand, still spinning. She tossed it in the air a few times as she continued to talk. “When an object is in its frame form, I can flip to previous or future frames of it, almost like an animation reel.”

She let the ball rest in her hand, before turning it to a frame. Touching the surface of the frame, she swiped to one side, much like you would do with a phone, and the image of the ball changed, appearing to slowly spin as she flipped through the different frames.

Trist released it, and the ball flew in the air, despite her not throwing it.

Putting the ball away, she took out a piece of paper, their roll call, “Through rewinding, I can also repair objects, though when I do so, I need to have the majority of the object’s body.”

She ripped up the roll call, letting a few pieces of paper fall to the ground, before she turned the remainder in her hand into a frame.

Flipping through it, they saw the motions of it being ripped go in reverse, until there was once again a whole paper.

“I can affect living things as well, though they remain fully conscious and aware when in a frame. I can’t rewind or speed up a person’s state of mind, though I can affect their body. The number of things I can lock in a frame is two, one for each hand. And if a hand has something already locked in a frame then I can’t create a new one with that hand unless I release the previous one. It becomes more difficult for me to rewind or speed up things the further it is. My limit is about two days in either direction, and it takes more time and more Hume the further I go.”

Her limit is two, that meant that by offering to tie one of her hands, she was restricting half her ability, Aiden realised.

“Hah! I thought you had something strong but it’s just a trick-”

“Hyde, get down and do fifty more pushups.”

Hyde paused in his speech, before angrily getting down. Something in his eyes told Aiden he planned on fully using the opportunity to fight a teacher.

Trist turned to the backroom door, “I’m done now!” she yelled.

The other students started streaming out of the backroom, and the teacher continued, “Feel free to discuss this while I tie my hand behind my back. Afterwards, come at me in any order.”

Hearing the offer, the classroom broke into quiet chatter, groups already forming.

Jun sped towards them, “How’dyouthinkweshouldbeather?”

“Slow down,” Darius said, “I’m not participating, my ability isn’t good for fights, and everyone else I know is in class.”

“Aiden?” Jun asked, rapidly turning to him.

“This seems like a dumb idea,” he answered, watching the teacher walk back in with a length of rope. “Don’t get touched by her is the obvious plan, but it seems too simple.”

The teacher quickly tied her hand behind her back, then started doing some weird warm up exercises. Jumping in place, doing some acrobatics, posing in various ways and throwing out a few palm strikes into the air in every direction.

“I heard the boy called Sterling whisper something about ‘Revealing her Hand’,” he began, glancing at the three man group of him, Lutrin Aya and Tusk.

“Oh that?” Darius answered, “Yeah, the teach might’ve done it.”

“What is it?”

Jun spoke, “You know how I said Geneline kids have to add conditions and stuff to get their ability to work?”

Aiden nodded.

“You can just keep adding that stuff to keep powering up your ability,” Jun said. “Like you don’t have to stop once you have super powers.”

“Revealing your Hand is a common condition,” Darius said, also nodding. “Since conditions give more power the more difficult they are to fulfil or how detrimental they are to your purposes. Straight up telling an opponent what your ability is could power it up. Since almost everyone with half a brain cell understands it's a complete loss on your part. Though most people don’t have it as a required condition.”

“More of an optional mid fight power up,” Jun finished.

“Then what would not hearing it do?” Aiden asked, glancing at the people who left, now interspersed amongst different groups.

“Because it needs you to tell them,” Darius answered. “The main two ways to stop this kind of power up is either not listening to it or knowing the power beforehand.”

Within the chatter, the few students that left had already gathered what her power was.

“Then why didn’t everybody leave?” he asked.

“There’s a chance she wasn’t Revealing her Hand, just telling us normally,” Darius answered.

“They’re overconfident,” Jun answered at the same time.

“That might be it as well,” Darius conceded.

“Not might, I’m right,” she murmured, glancing behind her to the other groups.

Aiden raised an eyebrow, “One of these days I need to pick your brains for everything you know about this crazy stuff.”

Darius shrugged, “It’s not that crazy, Wren and I both require tools as mediums for our powers to work, and mine needs other people to know how it works for it to work.”

“But back on topic,” Jun said, “how are we beating her?”

Aiden raised his hand and cast, “I’m not joining in on this stupidity, she’s more experienced, probably isn’t telling us everything about her power, and most importantly, I am not fighting a teacher.”

“Boo, stupidgoodytwoshoes.” Jun said, pulling an eyelid down at him, and also probably sticking out her tongue, though the mask made it difficult to see.

“I’ll do thisalonethen,” she said, glancing at the teacher, who was still doing her weird warmup exercises.

She had tied her hand first, before doing those warmups, Aiden noted.

“Sheonlysaidwecanstartonceshe’s tied her hand right?”

“Yeah?”

Jun grinned, and before he could stop her, she blurred. Aiden’s eyes could only just barely catch the flash that sped towards and behind the teacher.

“VICTORYGOESTOTHEFIRSTTHATSTRIKES!”

Jun had caught her completely unaware, Trist was still standing, her one hand was still stretched in the air, and Jun was behind her, crouching down to jab at the back of her legs.

Jun froze, stuck in a 2D frame as a palm was placed directly on her face.

For some reason, Trist was no longer standing and stretching, in a brief instant that surpassed Aiden’s perception and sight, a perception that had kept up with Jun, she had shifted position to be also crouching and touching Jun’s face with her one free hand.

It had appeared as if she had instantaneously changed to that posture.

“I cannot agree with you more, Jun,” Trist said. With a smooth motion, she spun behind Jun, leg sweeping the ground in a kick.

In the instant before the kick made contact, Trist released the ability, sweeping Jun’s legs under her, knocking her slightly airborne.

Jun fell to the ground with a grunt, unable to do anything, her eyes slowly freezing in shock as she realised.

She was taken out in less than three seconds.

“In my experience, there are three types of enemies that give you despair,” Trist began. “Bricks, rampaging tanks that you can barely damage. Attackers who outrange you completely, or attack in a method that you cannot respond to.”

“And finally the speedster,” she said, offering a hand to pull Jun up, “who could slit your throat in the time it takes you to blink.”

Jun took the hand, letting the other woman help her up.

“You will all learn countermeasures to such opponents,” Trist finished. “But that will happen later, for now, next.”

Hyde confidently stepped up.

Tall, blonde haired and handsome, only a few beads of sweat from his earlier exercise showed any evidence of imperfection.

“I’ll show you what a real power is,” he almost snarled.

“Go ahead,” Trist answered, “make my day.”

When his hands began to glow with golden light, Aiden began suspect who he was.

Then when he took off and started flying in the air, he knew for certain.

The Glory family was almost the archetypical superhero, the ideal cape. A flying brick who shot energy blasts from their hands, there was almost no way you could go any simpler.

Sure there were power differences amongst every Glory, but in the end, all of their powers could be boiled down to that.

Simple, powerful, effective.

Hyde’s energy blasts manifested paper thin streaks of light. Two of them fired at the same time, missing Trist by mere centimetres, leaving deep, smoking lines in the gym floor.

“Isn’t the gym reinforced for metas?”

“He managed to do that?”

Whispers sprung up within the students.

Flying in the air, above all of them, Hyde spoke, “Give up ‘teacher’, your power works by touch, and you can’t get to me up here.”

Trist tilted her head, face appearing… curious. “You’re going to give a better argument than that.”

Another blade of light shot out, this time close enough to cut strands of Trist’s hair.

The teacher did not flinch or blink.

“I’ll throw a real one next!”

Trist assumed a runner’s starting position, “Then do so, I did say you can use anything.”

“Then don’t blame me for this!” he yelled, hands glowing as he fired.

Trist’s athletic body shot off like a spring released, slower than Jun, but still fast. Probably nearing the natural limit of the human body fast. Blades of light struck dangerously close right behind her as she ran, not towards Hyde, but the numerous monkey bars placed on the walls at the corner of the massive gym.

Hyde saw it, then immediately fired at them. Slicing the bars off of their supports.

Then had to immediately dodge a thrown metal bar.

In that moment, he lost track of Trist, only the other students, watching the whole thing go on, saw where she moved.

She leapt onto the side of the wall corner, then jumped off, landing on the other wall of the gym. Repeating this until she reached the railing of the second floor.

Hyde noticed her then, following the eyes of the students, he saw her jump off the second floor and towards him.

“Mistake!” he yelled, a blade of light slicing out.

It would cut her in half, Aiden realised, and she couldn’t dodge in midair.

Then her pose shifted, suddenly she didn’t appear to be falling in mid air, instead, she appeared crouched, and the blade of light passed under her, slicing dozens of gym equipment behind her, but completely missing Trist.

Hyde froze in a frame as Trist’s hand clipped his foot. She fell to the ground rolling, before she sprang up with a flourish.

“I’ll admit, you made me sweat a bit, but your dodging problem is still there.”

She seemed to examine the frozen frame floating in midair with disapproval, “I see doing a few pushups made you sweat, we’ll need to work on your physical abilities more as well.”

Aiden gaped.

Most of the class gaped.

“Do you have a physique power Mam?” someone called out.

She glanced at him, “Only a good exercise routine. After all, discounting your ability, you still have a physical body you need to keep in healthy shape.”

And looking at her toned muscles, Aiden believed her. Those were the results of real work.

“Now to get that idiot down…”

A person stepped in, the boy called Sterling. “We’re next.”

The boy called Tusk, along with the girl called Lutrin Aya stepped up beside him. The latter seeming a bit nervous.

Trist laughed, “Oh, now you’re finally thinking.”

“She’s rewinding herself,” Sterling said to his teammates. “The hand she tied behind her back is getting used on herself, so that she can rewind to any of the postures and positions she had when doing those warmup exercises.”

“I thought she said she wouldn’t use that hand?” Lutrin Aya nervously asked.

“I only said I would tie it behind my back.”

“She can only have one thing locked in frame for each hand,” Sterling glanced at the floating frame in the air, “And until you knock him down onto the ground, Hyde is still in.”

“Correct,” Trist replied.

Over Tusk’s body, blue scales appeared, not tattoo like scales that Aiden had, but real, physical scales that burst through his skin and began overlapping his entire body.

Meanwhile, the girl called Lutrin Aya just glanced between Sterling and the teacher nervously.

“The main threat for close range fighters like you two is getting frozen in a frame,” Sterling continued, “she can’t do that without freeing Hyde, so you two are safe to engage up close.”

“What about her other arm?” Lutrin Aya asked.

“I’ll keep it tied,” Trist answered.

“Assume she can get into any position instantly, and that she can instantly hit anyone in a sphere around her,” Sterling finished. “Since its behind her, she can focus on changing herself rather than other people.”

Tusk started walking forward, armoured in blue scales, and Lutrin Aya followed, nervous and hesitating behind him.

“That is a very generous presumption you have,” Trist said. “Assuming your opponent wouldn’t lie to you about the number of targets they can affect.”

Tusk paused for a step, and Lutrin Aya skidded to a halt behind him. Tusk looked back at Sterling.

“Continue,” Sterling said, “she’s trying to psych us out, there’s no reason for her to reveal a trump card like that.”

“Are you sure?” Trist asked, “Maybe I thought that you would think that, and go after me even more recklessly than before.”

Lutrin Aya’s eyes darted between the two of them, worry and anxiety clear on her face.

“Then we’ll be extra careful.”

“Do you really think you can match against a teacher with only ‘care’? This class only has a few powerhouses and I just took out two of them with barely a sweat. Do you think all three of you are a match for a speedster you can barely see, or a Glory?”

“Don’t listen to her,” Sterling said, voice hesitating, “she’s buying time for something… We need to attack now!”

The last bit came out with a fraction of desperation, though it was enough to spur Tusk to action. The boy rushed forward to meet Trist, fist flying.

Trist tsked, then in the instant before the scaled fist met her, her body changed position, crouched with one leg outstretched, which she quickly transitioned into a-

Someone yawned.

A symbol appeared on Trist’s cheek. A circle with a triangle cut out, instantly, she flipped to another position, jumping back, the symbol still on her cheek.

Aiden turned back to Sterling, who was yawning, loudly, Darius did too, along with a number of students.

The same symbols appeared on their cheek.

Aiden felt an urge to yawn, even though he wasn’t tired, he drank a lot of coffee in the morning. Darius yawned though, and he instantly slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

More yawns around him, the other students were dropping asleep as Tusk tried to land a blow on the slippery teacher. She kept rewinding herself, though the symbol on her cheek remained.

Then she looked away from Tusk and Sterling.

Aiden realised something and he quickly looked away from the still yawning Sterling.

The trio positioned themselves in a way that allowed Trist sight of Sterling, and required her to look at him if she also wanted to see the other two. Only Tusk and Lutrin Aya, whose backs were facing Sterling didn’t have the mark on their faces.

Jun tried to look at Sterling but Aiden quickly stopped her, then crouched down to softly wake Darius, he groggily opened his eyes, the sleep wasn’t supernatural it seemed, even if its cause was.

The symbol was still on his cheek, feeling it, it seemed to be a physical thing, a bump in his very flesh.

Trist was on the backfoot now, she was looking down on the ground, barely avoiding Tusk by guessing his movements from his feet, and Lutrin Aya was slowly closing in. Her hair had elongated into a smooth velvety thing, and a long, smooth furred tail that tapered off into a straight edge had grown from her backside.

“When someone observes me yawning,” Sterling began, “they will gain the symbol on any visible part of their body. That indicates they are ‘Carriers’.”

He was explaining his ability, Revealing his Hand.

“Carriers will become new vectors of my ability, they will feel the extreme urge to yawn, and once they do so they’ll instantly fall asleep. Anyone who observes a Carrier yawning will also become a Carrier themselves, gaining the same effect, they will fall asleep when they yawn and spread the ability to any observers. This ability can be counteracted with stuff like coffee, or sheer willpower, but physical stimulation also works.”

Trist risked a look at the two approaching her, using the brief window where Sterling was explaining his ability.

In that instant, she frame-shifted into a sweeping kick, knocking Tusk off balance. Aiden understood, that no matter how tough his outside skin, his physical body and balance was still human.

Lutrin Aya was different however, she had a tail that slammed into the ground, keeping her balance as she bounced away.

Sterling was walking closer to Trist now, though still keeping a good distance away. “The symbol stays for a few minutes or until the Carrier falls asleep, whichever happens first. However, I have a secondary ability that takes effect in a twenty-five metre radius around me. I can only do it once per day, but it instantly forces anyone with the symbol to sleep, and activates upon-”

In that second, Jun grabbed Aiden, who still had the symbol on his cheek, dragging him away from Sterling.

But Trist was too close, Sterling had gotten a good handle of her speed in the previous fight, she couldn’t move out of range fast enough, he had won.

“-finishing my explanation of my ability.”

A pulse of Hume rang out of him, undetectable to anyone but a metahuman or advanced sensor, and the remaining symbols detonated. Only the few that had gotten far enough away from Sterling were unaffected.

A few students fell to the ground, fast asleep.

But Trist didn’t.

Sterling looked up, not believing his eyes.

Trist was flying in mid air.

No, flying was the wrong term. She appeared to crouch in a frame, be released and then jump, freezing mid jump and rewinding back to the moment she crouched, releasing and jumping up again, despite there being no ground to push off of.

She did the same thing with the ball, Sterling realised. Even when she didn’t throw it, the ball still flew in the air when all she did was rewind a few frames.

That must mean that even though the target’s spatial position doesn’t rewind or go forward when frozen with her power, it kept the velocity state it had when released. That was what she was doing, looping back to the start of the same jumping motion that got her in the air for maybe a metre at most, freezing herself mid air to save her position, then looping back to jump up another metre. Looking at her uneven feet, she wasn’t actually jumping off anything, but rewinding to the exact moment her feet left the ground, making the most of the increased upward velocity.

And she was quick enough to get out of his circular radius.

Trist fell on him, and Sterling tried one last yawn, but her hand grabbed his arm, twisting it behind him and forcing him to the ground. Lutrin Aya rushed in, but she was a were-otter. Not even some ferocious creature, but a meek and cute thing good only for fur scarves. Unlike Sterling’s power, which was powerful under very narrow conditions, she was a generalist that was mediocre in every aspect.

“Don’t attempt to use your one-shot ability unless you are absolutely sure it will hit,” Trist said, almost chiding Sterling as he got up and watched the fight between her and Lutrin Aya.

Trist was the superior hand to hand fighter, far better than they were. If discounting powers, she could brawl with everyone in the room and come out on top with no question.

Without Sterling as cover, or Tusk to help, Lutrin Aya was soon knocked to the ground.