Issue 1, Scene 3: Trials and Training

Moment's later, the male heroes stood in front of a large steel door. Chevron was standing before the door, arms crossed.  
 
"Finally. This is the training area, something of a cross between the X-Men's rumored Danger Room and the 's old training
room."   
 
Turning, Chevron stared into a small eye scanner. The door immediately slid open. Chevron lead the way into a large grey room.

 
"I'm sure you've all seen Star Trek reruns. Think of the Training Area like that holodeck they have. Computer, Chevron scenario Alpha."

 
Immediately, the room lost it's sense of size. The heroes now stood before a ten story apartment building, one that was on fire. They
could feel the warmth of the fire and hear sirens in the distance. Something crashed through a nine story window and the heroes had to
leap aside as a bowling ball slammed into the sidewalk.

 
"Help! I can't get out!"  
 
From the broken window the heroes could see a waving arm. Smoke poured out into the night from the room beyond.

 
"Freeze," uttered Chevron and everything in the scenario went completely still, even the smoke.

 
"If you geniuses haven't guessed, the goal is to rescue the civilian from the fire. Best time wins. Anyone want to try their luck and go first?" Chevron glared at his trainees as if daring them to try.  

MC Squared contemplated volunteering but decided to wait and see if someone else stepped up.  He wasn't worried about the fire because his
powers would protect him.  The handkerchief he was wearing as part of his "costume" would offer him some protection from the smoke, too.
No, his reluctance to volunteer resulted in how he would get the victim safely out.  Despite all his powers, he had nothing that really aided him in traveling.  Even if he could get up there quickly, he had no way of getting her down safely...at least, not yet. Then, he remembered from orientation that the guy in the blue spandex could create hovering disks.

 
"Yo, frisbee boy.  How 'bout you hover on up there and grab her so we can move on to a 'real' challenge?"

  
Before Venture could accept the challenge, Karate Kommander stepped forward. "Pardon me, but I believe a demonstration of my power
was requested. Allow me to take on this challenge."

 
Chevron nodded. "Complete the task and then wait over by the far wall. Don't tell anyone what happens. Now... go!"  

The fire roared up again and the woman screamed for help. Karate Kommander bound up the front stairs of the building and kicked in the door. Despite the heat, he disappeared into the building. Moments later he appeared at the window next to the woman, surprisingly he pulled her back inside the room. A few minutes later a second story window exploded outward, and the Karate Kommander leapt through the window with the woman in his arms. Landing with catlike agility, he set the woman on the ground. As he did, the scenario reset, the woman shimmered and for a moment a robot appeared in her place. The robot's facade returned, and the woman headed back into the building, ready to be rescued again.

 
"Next!" called Chevron.

 
"I can't let Bruce over there hog all the glory.  I'll go next."

 
As MC Squared stepped forward, he activated his ability to "read" the nearby molecules.  First, he was checking to see if Karate Kommander
used any of his super powers.  Second, he tried to "talk" to the molecules up in the burning room to see if he could see what the situation was like up there.

 
As his perception changed, MC Squared could see what waited within the building. His power seemed to cut through the illusion, or perhaps the illusion would only begin once someone actually entered the building. The building seemed to be filled with devices. Flame projectors, holo-projectors and interestingly enough, robots. MC Squared counted at least three additional robots besides the one he was supposed to rescue.

 
Though his sight had changed, MC Squared's hearing had not. He could hear Chevron yelling at him. "Get in there and get that civilian, Baggypants!"

Another reason MC Squared could hear Chevron so easily was that he was yelling about two inches away from MC Squared's ear.

 
When he saw the additional robots, it confirmed MC Squared's suspicion that there was more to this challenge than just a simple rescue.
Still, he couldn't let the Karate Kommander show him up.  Taking up his trusty crowbar, he dashed headlong into the burning building and
bounded up the stairs.

The door was locked, but MC Squared's crowbar quickly took care of that little issue. Bounding inside, MC Squared was struck by a wave of heat and light, the 'fake' fire felt extremely realistic to all of his senses. Spotting some relatively clear stairs to his right, he headed up to the next landing. As he did, he spotted two thugs covered with weapons. One wore a flamethrower on his back and had a pistol strapped to his thigh. The nozzle to the flamethrower was in his hands and pointed straight at MC Squared. The other carried a machine pistol and had swords strapped across his back.

 
"Well, well. Looks like a do-gooder wants to bust up our party. Interupting Maggia business it a poor decision, Baggypants."

 
It was quite clear to MC Squared who had a hand in programming the thug robots. The bullets pinged off MC Squared's skin as the machine pistol flashed. The thugs looked surprised. "Try the flamer!"

MC Squared couldn't help but smile as the kinetic energy of the bullets was reflected away from him, causing the bullets to fall harmlessly to the floor.  He never got tired of that.  Focusing again on the molecules of the air, he condensed them into a ball and hurled it at the thug with the flamethrower.  If it didn't phase the punk this time, he would have to try something else.  As he fought, he continued to work his way toward the door that would take him to the woman.  If nothing else, perhaps he could trap them behind while he saved her.

 
This time the missile struck the flame-wielding thug, knocking him out. The other man had seen his bullets hadn't harmed the hero, so he blasted away at the ceiling above MC Squared, causing a rain of plaster and wood to fall on the hero, obscuring his vision and effectively wrecking the aged stairwell.

MC Squared knew he had to take out the other gunman quick if he was to have any chance of besting the Karate Kommander's time.  Satisfied
that his stun bolts were effective enough, he hurled another at the remaining gunman following it up with a charge.

The stun bolt flew past the gunman, striking the wall behind him. The gunman had realized MC Squared couldn't be harmed by bullets. Encouraged by
his success with the ceiling, the gunman opened fire on the floor between himself and the charging hero. MC Squared could hear the floor
creaking dangerously as he advanced on the attacker.

Seeing the gunman's new strategy, MC Squared only hoped to reach him before the floor broke.  He leapt over the worst of the broken floor and tried a new tactic.  Focusing on gun itself, he attempted to change it into mercury (which he remembered from physics class is a liquid at room temperature).  He also readied his crowbar for when he got close.

The gunman turned to run, moving down the old hallways as fast as he could. As he did, his weapon seemed to melt away in his hand.

Although MC Squared would have preferred to feel his crowbar dent the robot thug's head, he figured he had better stick to the mission objectives.  He quickly scanned the hall for another set of stairs.  If he couldn't find one, he would have to climb what remained of the old stairs.

At the other end of the hall MC Squared found an identical flight of stairs, this one still intact. Racing to the correct floor he discovered the entire ninth floor seemed encased in flame, including the door he presumed to be the correct apartment.

Wasting no time, MC Squared dashed through the flames, using his powers to redirect the heat away from him.  He plowed full force into the door to the room where he had last seen the woman.

The woman turned from the living room window with a frightened scream when her door smashed in. "Who are you? Please help me!" she cried.

Puffing out his chest a bit, he proudly stated, "I'm MC Squared, your knight in shining armor.  Let's get you out of here."

He approached the robot woman and helped her to her feet.  He wasn't quite sure how he was going to get her back down through the fire.  He quickly scanned the room for any way to put out the fire.

MC Squared couldn't see a fire extinguisher, but her did spot a blanket on a sofa that hadn't caught fire yet. The main part of the fire seemed to be at the front of the apartment, blocking the exit. Smoke rapidly filled the room, and the woman began to cough uncontrollably. Eli could see the open doors to the bathroom, bedroom and a small kitchenette from where he stood. The kitchen was filled with flames.

 
Knowing he had no time to spare, MC Squared grabbed the blanket off the sofa and wrapped it around the woman.  Even though he knew she wasn't real, he figured "Sarge" was evesdropping so he had to make it look good.

 
"Ok, we are going to dash through those flames as quick as we can. Don't stop for anything.  The blanket should protect you for a moment.  As soon as we break through, ditch the blanket in case it caught on fire.  Then, follow me as quickly as you can back to the stairs.  Got it?"

 
Without waiting any longer, he covered her from head to toe, scooped her into his arms and dashed through the fire.  He used his abilities to deflect as much of the heat as possible away from them.

 
MC Squared's plan worked. He and the woman made it down the back stairs, all nine flights, just in time. As soon as they stepped out, the scenario reset.

 
"Join Karate Kommander and keep your mouth shut," ordered Chevron. As Eli moved to join the martial artists, he thought he spotted a view port high in the mulitilevel wall of the training area. Though it he thought he spotted the shadowy outline of two people. One seemed to be wearing a helmet and cape, obviously the Black Knight. The other was a mystery, and didn't resemble anyone Eli had seen before. The person was obviously a man and towered over the Black Knight. He was powerfully built, but not as bulky as Chevron.

 
Quickly the "smoke" obscured the area as the scenario returned to it's beginning.

 
Once MC Squared was safely away, Chevron turned to the remaining candidates and barked out more orders.

 
"Whoever's next step on up, I don't have all day!  If Baggypants can do this, it ought to be a walk in the park.  Move! Move!"