Whoosh!
A blur tore into the clearing raising a cloud of dust and debris into the air. Victor figure came to a sharp halt, boots grinding into the earth.
Jennifer lay cradled in his arms, held securely in a princess carry. Her hair shifted from the leftover wind of their speed, brushing lightly against his forearm.
Even after they came to a halt, Jennifer remained out of focus. She stared absently at the sun, letting its warmth wash over her, leaving her in a hazy, almost blissful state. If Victor didn't know better, he might have thought she was drunk.
Her body was starving. Every cell drank in the sunlight greedily, converting it into something it desperately lacked, replenishing reserves she hadn't even known were empty.
Victor stared at her for a moment, then sighed. The state she was in would last a while, at least until her reserves climbed to five percent. Only then would she be able to resist the pull of the stars.
Her abilities were tied entirely to how much energy she absorbed. The more she took in, the more powers awakened. Enhanced strength, speed, durability, and endurance came first, followed by senses pushed to their limits, sight, hearing, smell, even taste.
Once her energy surged past a certain threshold, her biofield would stabilize and strengthen, granting her the ability to take flight. After that, other abilities would start showing themselves, cold breath, heat vision, gifts of the power already flowing through her.
There were more abilities waiting beyond those, unlocked only as she absorbed greater amounts of energy, but for now they were out of reach.
And while Victor could have granted her those abilities immediately, without months of solar absorption, he chose not to. He wanted her to start at a level she could control, to grow gradually instead of suffering a sudden spike in power.
Beginning from a baseline would let her adjust safely, step by step. He had thought it through carefully, and one conclusion was obvious: giving someone the strength to lift a thousand tons in a single moment was not a good idea. It was a recipe for disaster.
At the time, he had two options: grant her the full template at once, restrained by a subconscious limiter, or allow a gradual rollout that made integration easier. He chose the latter without hesitation.
After laying her gently against a tree, he walked off into the clearing, needing space to think. His thoughts drifted, as they often did, to his own abilities and their limits, especially his inability to manipulate inorganic matter.
He had considered the problem and arrived at one solution, perhaps the only one. Firestorm. A meta born from the fusion of Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein. Their identities didn't interest him, only their ability, the power to manipulate, transmute, and rearrange inorganic matter.
If he had that, his own power set would finally be complete. Organic or inorganic, there would be virtually nothing beyond his reach.
He closed his eyes and tapped into the network that rested quietly at the back of his mind. With a thought, he issued a command, scanning for signs of a burning man or anyone unstable enough to match the profile.
In a Central City park, a pigeon pecking at grubs suddenly froze. Its dull eyes sharpened with awareness. A moment later, it took flight, leaving the park behind as it began its search for the target it had been given.
Similar scenes unfolded across the city. It wasn't just birds. Rats hidden deep in the sewers, reptiles tucked out of sight, insects crawling through cracks and shadows, all moved with a single purpose, searching for one man.
Back in the forest, Victor nodded in satisfaction before another thought surfaced. The last meta he had subdued. Man-Bat. And the template it had yielded.
That template had given him deeper insight into how animal and human DNA could coexist. It wasn't particularly useful to him, not yet, but it could prove valuable if he ever decided to build an organization. The idea lingered.
"That'd be an interesting side quest," Victor muttered, not entirely dismissing it. An organization of were-animals answering to him didn't sound so bad. He did have a lot of free time on his hands.
For now, he pushed the thought aside. He would come back to it later. Right now, he had things to do.
Once he confirmed Jennifer was still absentminded, Victor triggered the bio-gear and began transferring the flight data. His body had a strict limit on how many templates it could carry, but the bio-gear's storage far exceeded that, functioning as his external reserve.
With his feet planted firmly on the ground, Victor let the sensation rise from within. He closed his eyes and allowed it to flood his being, a feeling of freedom, of slipping loose from gravity's grip. The air around him warped subtly, bending as an invisible field enveloped his body.
Branches and leaves began to stir, then slowly lifted, drawn upward by the manifesting force. A moment later, Victor's figure rose from the forest floor.
The sensation settled into place, precise and controlled. A grin spread across his face. This was flight, true flight, the constraints of gravity meant nothing now. It felt like he was swimming through air.
His gaze lifted to the sky, his grin widening with excitement. He rose higher, hovering above the forest canopy, taking in the view for a brief moment before his speed surged.
His body blurred into an afterimage as he shot forward, wind roaring in his wake. The flight was unstable at first. He struggled to adjust mentally to the new mode of movement. It felt like learning to walk and immediately trying to sprint.
The adjustment came quickly and seamlessly. By the third minute, any discomfort had vanished, replaced by unrestrained excitement and a sense of bliss. It was intoxicating.
In the iconic Superman pose, his silhouette sliced through the clouds at increasing speed, sonic booms erupting in his wake.
Seconds later, he pierced through the edge of Earth's atmosphere and came to a stop in the vacuum of space. The absolute silence was jarring. The absence of oxygen even more so. Not that he needed it.
The sun's radiation was far more potent beyond Earth's atmosphere, unfiltered and relentless. It washed over him in raw waves of energy, denser, purer, almost tangible against his skin.
He let the solar energy seep into him, his reserves swelling with each pulse of warmth. Minutes stretched in near silence, the void around him humming faintly, before he finally pivoted and descended toward Earth.
His landing was smooth, almost effortless, in the clearing where his aunt remained frozen in her trance, the sunlight catching the edges of her hair like liquid gold.
A quiet sigh escaped him. Kneeling slightly, he placed his palms lightly on her shoulders. Slowly, deliberately, he began channeling the excess solar energy he had absorbed, letting it flow into her in a gentle, controlled stream.
Jennifer's vacant gaze snapped into focus, clarity flooding her eyes as the energy coursed through her. She blinked rapidly, as if shaking off the fog of a deep sleep.
"Rise and shine," Victor said, a hint of amusement curling at his lips.
Without fully realizing it, Jennifer launched herself toward him, propelled by the strength she didn't yet understand. Victor reacted instantly, catching her gently in his arms.
"Careful," he warned, lowering her back to solid ground.
Jennifer froze, eyes darting to the spot she had just leapt from. The earth beneath the tree bore two deep impressions, deep and heavy, a stark reminder of the sudden, explosive power she had just unleashed.
"What was that?" Jennifer asked, fascination glittering in her eyes. She clenched her fists tightly, flexing her newly awakened strength, feeling the muscles coil and hum beneath her skin. She didn't wait for Victor's answer.
She strode over to a heavy log lying nearby and wrapped her arms around it. Bracing herself, she expected it to resist, to challenge her. Instead, the log lifted as if it weighed nothing at all, light as a feather in her hands.
A bold grin formed on her face, and in the next second, she hurled it skyward, sending it sailing several meters before it crashed harmlessly back down.
Victor watched with a mix of amusement and pride. Her strength was already formidable. With her energy reserves filled to ten percent, tossing a car like a ragdoll would take her almost no effort.
"Catch," Victor said, forming a small orb of chilling mist that coalesced in an instant and shot toward her at a speed no ordinary human could track.
Jennifer's ears twitched at the faint rush of air—a sound sharp enough to pierce through the chaos of her own senses. Reflexively, she spun, hands shooting out. The icy orb landed firmly in her palm.
Heightened senses check, Victor thought, impressed at how quickly she was adapting.
Her eyes snapped to his with sudden fire. Arms pulled back, she flung the orb straight at him.
Victor sidestepped easily, brow furrowing. "What was that for?"
Jennifer snorted, mock irritation dancing in her voice. "I should be asking you that."
Victor sighed, shaking his head. "It was a test," he admitted, waving it off. "Forget it. You have a lot of adjusting to do." A smile crept across his face, widening as he watched her energy and focus sharpen under the bright sun.
Beneath the cloudless sky, the air shimmered with the warmth of early-afternoon heat as Victor and Jennifer began the next stage of their training.
The clearing stretched wide around them, a secluded pocket of earth carved between tall trees whose leaves whispered with every stir of the wind.
The grass swayed lazily under the weight of the sun, mingling with the faint scent of soil and sap, and all around, there was nothing but open space, and the promise of progress.