I was walking toward the blue shimmering portal when one of Josh's lackeys called out to me,

"Mr. Collins, wait a minute, can we have a real quick spar? I am also a pure physical super like you."

Quirking a brow at the man, "Oh, How Old Are You?"

"I turned fifty-seven last month," the man proudly states.

I heard Joshua chuckling off to the side, "boy Slate here was older than you when the first super child was born." when Josh let out that little tidbit, I could hear murmurs from the crowd. One woman even got the guts to speak up. "Is he even older than you, sir?"

"Yes, by seven years," I reply, not waiting for josh, "listen, kid powers don't stop growing. Trust me in all my years, these powers have never even slowed down."

"Sorry Slate, I hate to burst your belief, but only freaks like you and the Twins have never plateaued," said an irritated looking Josh.

I glance over to josh, confused. "That's not what the theories I've kept up on are saying."

Josh just smirks, "they tell people what we want, you know how it is, if the villains believe we are still getting stronger, they're less likely to test our legends."

That won't last forever, I thought. Eventually, someone is going to figure this out. Rolling my eyes at their stop-gap method, I turn my head back to the young man, "still want to test me?" He nods excitedly, and I sigh, "someone lend me their belt."

Josh snaps a finger, and one goon takes off his plain brown leather belt, tossing it toward me, dropping a good five feet in front of Josh. He looks up, glares at the man, "pick it up and hand it to him."

Rushing forward, the guy snatches the belt with shaking hands, giving it to me then retreating immediately. "Brave bunch," I remark.

Josh grunts, "get on with it,"

I also noticed the portal summoner was sweating, making me grin more. Turning to the kid, I look him up and down. He is a good eight feet tall and half that wide. Wearing a disgustingly tight pair of what I would call bicycle shorts and a pair of white sneakers, no socks. Finally, I ask, "do you really go out into public like this?"

Causing a snicker from Joshua, who, like me, is wearing a suit. He says, "I think in this age, you're not considered an adult till you pass your first century, so leave the children alone, Slate."

Peering around at the onlookers, I Can see many red faces, but most just seemed confused.

Passing my aura into the belt, I hold it out like a sword and wave the man-child over with a wave.

"My name is Rock," he proclaims as he swings a massive sword, around seven feet long, a good foot wide and at least three inches thick, down on my head. Casually lifting my hand, I catch the sword on the very end of my belt, watching it come to a stop. Before the fight started, I had spread my aura under my feet in a fifteen-foot radius. When the sword hit, we sunk six feet into the earth. Now we stood in a perfectly circular depression, surrounded by a gaping federation death squad. Smiling at the flabbergasted giant, I grab the end of his sword with my free hand and slice up with the other, cutting the man's sword in half.

Jumping out of the hole, I casually begin walking toward the portal made by the now trembling man. When I had one more step to take, I turned to the one who loaned me the belt, pulled back, and threw it like a javelin, making the man flinch.

But right before it would have impaled, it slowed, loosened, threaded through his belt loops before clasping. After everyone saw this, True fear finally seeped into their minds. They had seen no one with that much control over their aura.

Even Joshua gawked at the scene quickly, turning to ask how I did it, but too late, I had already stepped through.

When I touched the portal, I instantly knew something was off. When my belt and ear stud began reacting to the doorway, making sparks and shifting colors, dance before my sight. Also, I have traveled by portal before, and it has never taken more than an instant. Does distance play a part in duration? I wonder. Having never traveled beyond the Mars colonies, I can't say for sure. If that is the case, how far can they send me, and how powerful was the man who summoned the portal? I noticed a stinging in my ear and felt the stud merge with my skin. Not a pleasant thought, as you can't move during portal travel. I Can't reach up to check.

While disturbed by what felt like wires and circuits, spreading throughout my ear and continuing inside. That only held my attention until my cerulean belt unfolded, enveloping my entire body, eventually merging my suit with my body. See if I buy from those crazy twins again. This was my first thought. The second was, holy shit, how long is this portal going to take.

Meanwhile, back in the Rockies, "what the hell was that," Stellarman calmly asked the portal mage. (as everyone started calling those like him recently)

"Sir, I do not understand. Something interfered with the doorway once Mr. Collins stepped inside. It felt like the twins' techno powers if I had to guess."

"So, where did he go?"

The portal mage shrugged, "he could be anywhere, might have gone right where we wanted. Or walked into a star for all I know. The portals have never reacted like that before."

"Alright, everyone back to headquarters." When all but Joshua left, he looked at the boulder that crushed Amelia, smirked, floated into the air, reached toward space. After a few seconds, he began flying away toward the west coast. Ten minutes later, the entire section of the Rockies got hit with a massive rock, turning the sky black for hundreds of miles.

Joshua flew toward what used to be Sacramento, California, but is now just a tiny part of West Coast City. Heading toward a two-mile tall building shaped like a needle. Landing in the eye, he looked into the camera, at the only door leading inside. "Mike, let me in. We need to talk about Slate." A second later, the door slid sideways with a hum, "come in, Stellarman." Walking inside, he straightened his tie while waiting for the scan to run its course. The wall before him slid into the floor, allowing him to walk down a short flight of stairs.

Entering the room at the bottom, he sees Francis, Mikes's twin waiting for him nodding at the man, "Francis, is Mike not here?"

"No, he is away on business, I'm afraid, I will help you this fine evening. Are you here to shop or business."

"Business, government salary and all, you know how it is."

"Right ok to business, you mentioned Slate. What dastardly deed has he committed, maybe an evil cult of orphans, or a diabolical charity that pays for people's houses?"

"Cute no, we needed his help on a distant colony, but when he walked into the portal, it glitched, and all the portal mage could sense was your technomancy."

"That is strange. Are you accusing us? Also, how did you get Slate to work for you? I didn't think the federation could afford him. He is, after all, richer than all of it combined. Well, maybe not the entire federation, considering the taxes, but any ten people in the inner circle." Joshua blinked, "that's news to me. He named a price, and we paid in advance."

Francis grinned "you gave him Amelia, didn't you? Not surprised that got him to go for whatever you're wanting. She burned around fifty of his orphanages to the ground with the children and staff."

"That's classified,-- do you know what happened to the portal?"

"Tell me what happened, leading up to the glitch," responded a now serious Francis.

Raising an eyebrow, Joshua explained every detail, including what Slate ate for breakfast this morning.

Thinking for a few minutes, Francis makes a call putting Mike on a conference. After going over everything again, they do tests and simulations on their state-of-the-art equipment. Nearly a full day later, they both turn to a still-standing Josh and say simultaneously, "we don't know."

Joshua sighed, turns on his heels, and left the building.