The man hovered just above the street, listening. Robin's footsteps were uneven now, heavier on the right side. Microfractures in the pavement told him how much mass Robin had pulled into himself. Too much. Way too much and yet he was still standing.
Why? The man had hit him with enough force to shatter bone, rupture organs. He'd heard the impacts. Felt them through the air. Any normal Awakener with simple material absorption would've collapsed by now.
Robin straightened, steel shifting and locking into place again, That's when the man realized it. Robin wasn't just wearing metal, He was distributing damage through it. Every hit didn't land in one place, it spread. Force diffused across his entire structure, bleeding impact into the material he'd absorbed. The more steel he carried, the less any single blow could cripple him. Pain still existed, but to leave an injury? That would take work. "He's turning mass into a shock sink" the man thought to himself-, Robin reached down and grabbed a truck, the whole thing. Steel clanged as he tore it free from the street and swung, hurling it towards the man .
The man shot forward, meeting the truck mid-air and struck it dead center, a sharp, focused blow. The force redirected instead of stopping it. The truck twisted, screamed past him, and sailed two streets over—
The man didn't slow, He slammed into Robin again. This time, he stayed close, too close for robin to throw things. Robin swung, Missed. The man anticipated the punch before it landed and wasn't there when it did. He hammered Robin's joints; knees, elbows, the points where moving mass had to articulate. Each hit landed faster than the last, force stacked with precision instead of brute power. Steel began to warp, Robin tried to reinforce, dragging more material into himself, but it came slower now. The man felt it, the lag, the strain. Robin was reaching the limit of how much mass he could actively control. The man grabbed him by the chest and drove him straight down, They hit the street like a meteor. The ground collapsed. Fire still blazing, the aftermath and sorry state of the buildings and the streets all around. The noise died down to a ringing hush.
Robin twitched, steel cracked and buckled, body half-buried in the crater he'd made. The man stood over him, breathing hard, fists trembling from the effort. He listened, Robin's heart was still beating. The man stepped back, lifting off the ground again. "You're tough," he said as he grabbed robin by the ankle, "but no more havoc for you" then slammed him down with so much force it sent shockwaves, knocking out robin finally. The material he absorbed and mass all started flowing off him like liquid.
————————————————————
Heavy transports, Reinforced rotors, Magnetic clamps, Suppression tech humming under armored hulls.
"It's AHQ."
One of the amoured men dropped down beside robin to access his condition, "Relax, I didn't kill him. He's only knocked out, I don't know how long though" he said as AHQ carriers thundered overhead, descending in controlled arcs. The first hit the street with a heavy impact, stabilizers firing to anchor it in place. Armed responders poured out They spread, formed angles, raised containment gear. Suppressor pylons slammed into the ground around the crater, humming as energy fields snapped into place. "Thank you for your help B rank hero(elite), Jace fern." The man who let the Squadron from AHQ said before continuing "we don't know if this will work, we still don't know how to fully contain your-"
"My kind? He's knocked out, I think that should hold him down for now. He absorbs structural materials," Jace retorted before continuing. "Spreads impact across mass."
AHQ moved in,Cables locked onto Robin's limbs, magnetic restraints biting into steel and not letting go. A containment collar clamped around his neck, humming as it synced with the suppressor field. The street was quiet in a way it hadn't been since the first punch landed, AHQ agents secured the perimeter, More Medivac and ambulances arriving, medics pulling survivors from the edges of the destruction. Fires were being contained. Screams faded to distant echoes.
"I think my work here is done then, you know how to reach me." Jace said as he began to lift off slowly, hovering just above the ground as AHQ finished locking Robin down.
Above them, far away now, cameras kept rolling. The city could see the damage and loss. knowing the media, how will they spin this? Will the public be glad they have heroes or will they start to spite all Awakeners alike.