Gavin jumped back, pulling his heavy pistol, which he used against me in sparring. It looks a bit different; it looks like he modified it before the fight. He fired several shots, which forced Arc to shell up, grunting as the bullets bounced off his body, but grunted as each projectile hit him. While clearly not piercing him, it was still hurting him enough to just power through. Gavin fired more shots; this time, Arc ran to the side, avoiding them. The Cyborg Super-Soldier grabbed something behind him and threw it at Gavin, who shot at it.
Almost instantly, a large cloud of smoke formed, obscuring mine and Gavin's view of the area. I looked around, squinting my eyes as if to penetrate the thick smoke, but to no avail. The fact that I couldn't see where Arc was made my heart pound. I frantically turned my head, trying to look for him, meanwhile Gavin didn't seem fazed, not annoyed, angry or surprised. He just calmly waited for Arc to show himself. His eyes widened slightly, and he quickly rolled away just as Arc's metallic whip, covered in electricity, slammed into the ground.
Gavin had to jump high in the air just to avoid another metallic whip trying to hit him vertically, cutting the smoke to reveal Arc with his whips out, trying to hit Gavin. Arc's whips went back to his gauntlet and instead fired his mini rockets at Gavin, who had to shoot them with his pistol. While it wasn't a direct hit, the force of the explosion caused him to lose balance and tumble in the sand. By the time he got up, Arc was already throwing a right hook, which landed. Arc followed up with a front kick, but Gavin grabbed the foot and spun around to slam Arc to the sand.
He roars as he lifts him again to slam him. Gavin was about to do it a third time, but Arc used his rocket boots to fly out of his grip. Though he didn't get far as Gavin fired his grappling, which caught Arc's boots and, with a mighty pull, made Arc crash on the ground. Gavin pants, sweat covered his forehead, he regained his breathing and locked in. Arc got up, looking like any attacks previously didn't hurt him as much.
"You've been training, I see, as expected of the Fang of America. Back then, when it came to raw strength and skill, you were better than me. But things are different now." Arc praised.
Gavin snorts. "It doesn't matter what you pull, I'm still going to be the one on top."
Arc grunts. "Let's find out then."
They both charged at each other. Arc landed a sweeping heel kick on the jaw, but that wasn't enough to stun Gavin as he played back with the kick by using his elbow on Arc's helmet, which caused him to step back. A punch to the gut by Gavin, then a kick to the rib by Arc. By now, they were moving so fast it was a blur to me. I could barely keep track of anything; they were just so fast!
My eyes were working overtime. Eventually, after a few moments, Arc won the exchange. A hard hit caused Gavin to fly back and skid to the ground, his nose and the corner of his mouth bleeding. He wipes the blood and fiercely glares at Arc, who was charging at him. Gavin spins around with his arm outstretched, and soon his fist caught fire from how fast he was going.
My heart pounded, hope filling me. Of course, his supermove: Flame Impact! That attack will certainly knock Arc out next week! Because of the speed, his usual punch force increases, and additionally, the fire on Gavin's armour won't feel good for anyone who is on the receiving end. Even a super-cryborg like Arc couldn't take it head-on, either being knocked or getting heavily injured from the attack.
But to my horror, Arc also starts spinning his fist, catching fire. Are you kidding me? He knows it, too!?
"Flame Impact!"
"Flame Impact!"
The two flaming fists collided with one another, resulting in an even bigger shockwave than last time, which blew me back, sending my butt to the ground. I got up quickly, seeing to my horror that Arc overpowered Gavin with his own move, launching Gavin further back. Gavin groaned as he got back up with wobbly legs and coughing blood.
"Gavin!" I moved to rush forward and help him, but one glare held me in place.
"Stay away!"
He returned his focus to Arc, but unfortunately, he didn't have time to dodge as Arc's whips cut his chest. It wasn't too deep as Gavin jumped away, but I heard him grunt as the blade dug past his armour and went to his skin. Droplets of blood spilled in sand, causing me to yelp and back away. To Gavin's credit, he only looks annoyed rather than grimacing at his injury. Gavin had to go low as the whip came back, barely avoiding his head.
He rushed in, grabbing his heavy pistol, which he started firing at Arc, who moved to the side to evade the projectiles. Gavin kept on firing while he dodged; eventually, after several rounds, the gun clicked. No more ammo left. Gavin's eyes furrowed before throwing the empty gun at Arc, who bats it away, and they charge at each other. Punches and kicks landed; none of them are slowing down. It didn't matter what hit connected; they kept going.
Eventually, Arc threw a monstrous right hook, which finally made Gavin falter, allowing several jabs to the chest and face, which made my mentor stagger back trying to regain his balance, but not before Arc performed a spinning back kick, which sent him crashing to the sand. Now his face is full of cuts and bruises. I bit my lip; it's clear that while they were both strong, Arc was stronger and had better stamina. Gavin couldn't even use his mastered martial art prowess to his avantage since Arc was no slouch in the fist department either. There isn't much Gavin could do against him!
I wanted to run and help him. To deck Arc on his dumb helmet, but what could I do? I may be a little stronger than the average ten-year-old and am a better hand-to-hand fighter than anyone my age. But so what? What does a young boy, at best skilled as a blue belt martial artist, do to Arc a superhuman!?
I'm useless without my powers. The pill was hard to swallow, but it's the truth. Gavin groans, getting back up, his legs shaking but ready to fight regardless of his wounds. I could see Arc's frown behind his helmet. He deployed his whips again and started to hit Gavin, who had to guard or tank it. The metallic whips cut him, spraying blood everywhere. Gavin tried to guard and block it, but they were just too fast.
In only a minute, Gavin was reduced to a bloody mess, his legs shaking as he tried to block the whips fruitlessly. I couldn't take it anymore, and I screamed.
"Leave him alone!!"
I didn't care if I had my powers; no one was going to hurt my Godfather in front of me and get away with it. Arc turned to me and moved his arm to swing his whips at me. I was too slow to react; it was coming right for me! Though Gavin came to me and shielded my body with his own. We both collapse to the ground, groaning. Gavin crawled off me, trying to get up, but couldn't, and I know the reason why. There was a large gash behind him, his armour barely protected him, and now blood poured from his big wound.
"No, no, no," I repeated as I crawled to Gavin, panicking as I didn't know what to do.
I could see his eyes closed. "No, please."
Tears welled up in my eyes as he closed his eyes. I could feel a shadow envelope us. I turned around to see Arc pointing his arm at me, ready to fire a rocket at point-blank range. His arm was shaking; it looked like Gavin did some damage. I couldn't say anything; the words welled up in my throat. There is nothing I can do to convince him or stop him, and so I just hugged Gavin as I waited for the inevitable.
But I heard footsteps moving away, growing fainter. I moved to face Arc, who was walking away. Using his boots to fly and launching a grappling hook from his gauntlet to grab the core, h4 flew out of the beach and out of sight. Tears stung my eyes more as I held Gavin, not even caring as blood soaked me.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"
I didn't know how much time had passed; I could only pray that one of Gavin's powers was not bleeding out and then dying. I hated the fact that his healing factor isn't as fast or as strong as mine. Why couldn't these powers be in the hands of someone better? Why is it that I, weak, short and a social wreck, am I given these powers?
I don't deserve this power. I don't deserve Gavin as a mentor. After knowing the past, I heard a chopper flying and dropping to the ground near us.
"Ben, Gavin!" Shouted Jason.
Jason was using another drone, and with my help, we managed to put Gavin in the chopper. Since it was remote-controlled, I didn't have to worry about a pilot. While flying there, Jason gave me instructions to apply bandages and medicine to help the unconscious Gavin. We were nearly back at the hideout. During the ride, I couldn't help but think of other candidates in my class who would be better in my situation.
I wasn't special; anyone could be a hero. It just so happened that the screw up ends up with the one with the powers. What a joke. Not only is Gavin out of commission, but Arc now possesses the final core to power the SURVIVOR Version 4. I failed.