"So, uh, what do I do?"
Ever since he showed me his Flame Impact, I've been standing around, brainstorming potential moves and attacks. But nothing came to mind, so I was standing like an idiot while Gavin watched me. He shrugged.
"It's your own attack. Try to be creative."
"I'm not creative."
"Yeah, I can see that."
I scoffed, rolling my eyes. I walked around with my hands on my hips. I've been thinking of potential ways to use my powers creatively for the past five minutes, and yet I find my head empty. I sat down on the broken concrete floor, closing my eyes and replaying the memory of Gavin using his special attack. The purpose of the attack is to increase his attack potency temporarily with the move. While I could technically replicate the attack, I'm already plenty strong enough.
And Gavin said that if I copied his move, he would sue for copyright infringement. But the way Gavin spun. He looked like a mini-tornado. Maybe...I got up, and I saw Gavin in peripheral vision, perking up. I bounced a little bit before taking a deep breath and thrusting both of my hands to the side like I was about to give someone a big hug. Like Gavin, I began to spin around quickly.
According to my Mind's Eye, which, if I focus enough, gives me a 3d omnidirectional view of myself. Right now, I look like a blur slowly forming a tornado. I could feel the wind around me picking up, but before anything significant could happen, I yelped as the ground gave way, stopping my spin. The tornado I was making with my body vanished quickly, and I ended up on the ground. My lower torso was deep in the ground while my upper half remained on the surface. I scowled as I heard the joyful laughter of Gavin, who walked up to me, shaking his head.
"I said to make a special attack, not something that would land in the circus!" He laughs.
"Oh, put a sock in it," I growled, as I pushed myself off the hole I made.
"I think, I know what you're doing, but you shouldn't start spinning when you're on the ground, you're going to drill a hole in the earth."
I grunt, looking away. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment from my failure, hopefully, Gavin will forget about this.
"T-then why didn't it happen to you?" I mumbled under my breath.
Gavin ruffles my hair. "Because you went too fast, kid!"
I bat his arm away, heeding his advice to take to the air. I took a deep breath, I briefly glanced at him, seeing him move back before giving me a thumbs up. Then I started to spin, a bit slower this time. It didn't take long for me to gain speed, then eventually a tornado formed around me. Thanks to my Mind's Eye, I was still able to see the area around me.
It certainly helped since my vision is an absolute mess, even with my great eyesight, the chaos is making it all messed up. Those pieces of concrete rocks were sucked into the tornado I created, it spun around me, and it wasn't just that. Dust started to pick up, making the area even less visible. Gavin was struggling not to get sucked in, and he punched his arm into the ground to hold himself.
I guess that's enough. After all, if I go even faster, not only will Gavin just get pulled in, but it might attract some unwanted attention. I gradually slowed down, which made the tornado slow down too, before it eventually vanished like it wasn't there. The only sign that it was there was the rocks that fell from the air and the thick dust that covered the area. I flew down in front of Gavin, who got up, coughing.
"Well, I guess that works."
"Yeah, pretty, awesome, eh?"
The dust clears. Gavin looks around, looking at the area anatomically. He puts a hand on his chin thinking.
"An impressive special move, not only is it good for crowd control, but the dust from the aftermath is good to limit visibility for enemies, even if they possess special gear like SEE goggles. But with your Mind's Eye, it's no problem. It may not be wise to use in a city setting, but in a place outside of that?"
Gavin grins, slapping my back. "Not bad, kid. What are you going to call it?"
I looked at him, confused. Call what? You mean my special move?
"I'm not naming it, that's just dumb," I say, shaking my head.
But Gavin looked like me, like I was the dumb one.
"You have to name it, otherwise what's the difference between that and your regular punches!?"
"Ugh, fine. Wind break, are you happy?"
"Heck no! That sounds like me when I have too many tacos!"
"Alright!" I say irritably, thinking of potential names in my head.
"Tornado Break-no. What about Cyclone Breaker?"
Gavin nods his head. "Better, but you better shout the name before doing the move."
I pursed my lips. Who the heck does he think I am, an anime character? And besides, screaming my attack out loud doesn't provide any combat advantage whatsoever; it's not going to increase my attack somehow. But seeing his intense look, I knew convincing him was a fruitless endeavour. My shoulders drop as I let out a tired sigh.
"Okay."
Gavin cheered loudly, again acting like a boy my age instead of the old geezer he actually is. I rolled my eyes as I suppressed a dumb grin that formed on my face.
"That was very impressive, your speed really gives you a lot of abilities. First vibration invisibility and now creating a tornado!? Heck, maybe one day you create after images and even phase through matter!"
I blinked, excuse me? I wanted to ask about what he meant by 'Phasing' and 'Afterimage', but suddenly his face shifted to a more calm, serious one. Halting the words in my throat, that cheery atmosphere quickly disappeared.
"W-what?"
Gavin didn't say anything for a bit before he finally opened his mouth.
"Listen, kid, tomorrow, we're going to fight."
I blinked, before sighing in relief, punching lightly in the thigh. "Oh, just more sparring, don't scare me like that, you butthole. I thought something more serious was going to happen."
He shakes his head. "Ben, we're going to fight for real. No sparring and no holding back. Full power. A full-on brawl between Ben, also known as Red Justice, and me, one of America's greatest soldiers: The Fang."
I gaped at him. I was confused and a bit scared. A full-on fight between me and him? The last time that happened was a couple of weeks ago. Though I had a feeling he was holding back, both of us were to some extent. I gulped before replying.
"W-what brought this up?" I say, cursing internally at my shaking voice.
"I talked with Jason last night. It was more than we thought, not only were there more troops than expected, but some of his spies said NWO are preparing for your arrival, not only that, they've been training and planning. It's dangerous."
"W-well, duh! I'm not going to someone's birthday party after all."
Gavin pursed his lip, ignoring my jest. "After thinking about it all week. I decided to bench you and let me handle it."
My eyes shot open, and my mouth became wide. I shook my head.
"No way! I said I'll handle it, didn't I? I thought you believed in me."
Gavin looks away, taking a deep breath.
"I do believe you. You could do the mission better than I have, but...this isn't like stopping a maniac like Atlas or fighting a sympathetic supervillain like Kinetic. This is a battlefield of soldiers, a place no child should be in, superpowered or not."
I scoffed, feeling heated by the fact that he underestimated me. True, a kid should never be in this kind of thing, but I'm capable of it. I have superpowers, for god sake! I glared, putting a hand to my chest.
"Listen, whatever they got, I could survive, in the off chance I got hurt, my healing factor would take care of any wounds!"
Gavin frowns. "You're being cocky. Confidence is one thing, but you're being arrogant; do not do that. Regardless, it's not because you're helpless, but an innocent kid going to a soldier's battlefield will leave scars."
"I could heal-"
"I'm not talking about physical ones."
That made me pause. I bit my lip, thinking of other reasons to convince him that I could do this, that I had this handled. He puts a hand on my shoulder.
"You're still a kid, enjoy your youth. Let the older generation fix this."
I tightened my lips, I gently removed his hand from my shoulder and summoned my best courageous look.
"I refuse. I'm going to fight Arc's New World Order, even if I have to fight the SURVIVOR."
Gavin's eyes became sad momentarily before he steeled them. "Very well, I'll leave you here. But be back here tomorrow morning for our fight. If you win, I'll let you handle this, but if not, you're out."
He turns around and begins walking away, but it doesn't take him ten steps before turning his head to face me.
"Practice creating new moves, it won't be an easy fight like last time."
With that, Gavin walks away, going inside his truck before driving away. Leaving me there with a clenched fist. My heart was hammering, but I took a deep breath, allowing me to return to a somewhat normal state. I believed him, it's a fight that wouldn't be as easy as last time, so this means I'll work hard to beat him. I can't allow him in the field.
Perhaps he's right, that going to Russia might leave me scarred mentally, but I won't allow him to potentially die. He's my godfather, that's why I have to do this. I cracked my neck, ready to make up some more special attacks.