KILLJOY

Chapter 4: Up to Speed

As the three of them stood inside the large chamber, Mayeda was looking at them sharply— sizing them up.

"So, none of you three possess a TICK, correct?"

All three of them nodded, as they saw Mayeda break in to a small smirk. The same one that he saw before he got put to sleep a day ago. This wasn't going to go well, was it?

"Well, guess I shouldn't go too hard on you three then. Try and guard best you can, I'll knock you on your ass eventually. Don't get cocky."

The next sign he received that he was probably not going to have a good was the first strike he made— against Liv. As he raised one of his feet up to take a step, he quickly boosted forwards, pretty quickly, as he finished his step behind her, trying to strike her from behind. She narrowly managed to turn around and raise her arm to block by the time he had done all that, and it left a mark nonetheless. That let him know one thing about him that he wanted to confirm since that night— his power wasn't to teleport. He was just able to move really damn fast, although he didn't know the specifics yet.

As soon as they managed to assess just how outmatched they were, they quickly lost all hope of going offensive, and went on the defence, raising an arm to try and block any incoming strike.

"Well, you three definitely have the most common sense I've seen in a while."

His next target was Eli, who he seemed to be a bit more interested in. This interest showed itself a few seconds later in his next step, when his speed increased even further, going too far for Eli to brace against as he shot back a few feet, skidding against the ground before coming to a stop. Mayeda just stood there as he waited for him to regain his balance, shifting his focus to Liam.

He began to worry a bit as he saw his eyes shift to his direction. Would he even be able to block a hit like that? Mayeda looked a bit unimpressed as he saw his expression fill with anxiety, speaking up.

"Hey, pussy. Said you're doing this for your Ma' right? Then get out of your damn head and work!"

As he snapped out of his worry, Mayeda rushed at him, equal speed to when he blasted Eli. By some miracle, he managed to guess where he was about to get hit, and managed to properly block the hit, only pushing back by a couple feet as Mayeda smiled.

"Well, guess you're the fastest out of these three. Good job, it's been a couple batches since someone blocked that!"

Mayeda backed off for a moment after he managed to block him (barely), before quickly appearing in front of the group, but not to attack.

"See that speed? If you don't want to get outclassed by anyone who has a TICK, you need to react to that, and block it. If you can't, then you have no potential. It's that simple."

That was certainly... reassuring. He kept at it with them for a while, testing their reaction times, which while we're slowly improving, definitely weren't on his level of speed yet. After around half an hour of smacking them around, he just sighed.

"Well, I suppose a break's in order before we continue. Also Max, stop hiding on the fuckin' roof."

"Did I really do that bad a job at hiding?"

"No, I'm just experienced."

The annoying boy dropped down from the roof, removing the blade he supported himself with as he landed softly. He briefly glanced at the other three before shifting his attention to Mayeda.

"Lemme take a swing at ya'. I could show these recruits how people with TICKs fight proper."

Mayeda looked at him, a bit annoyed at his boldness towards him.

"Didn't I teach you not to be cocky?"

"Yeah, just didn't listen," he said smugly, still waiting for an answer to his request.

Mayeda just chuckled as he looked at Max. He really wanted to humble that little piece of shit.

"Alright then, go summon whatever weapons you want. I'll knock you on your ass."

Max held his hand out as he summoned a dagger into his hand, as he darted towards Mayeda at a pretty high speed— best described as superhuman. Then again, with all the supernatural abilities that surely resided here, the people also having some supernatural strength didn't feel that out of place at that point. Mayeda quickly slid out of the way, darting left... but without moving his legs at all. He stopped his momentum with a similar lack of movement a moment later as he aimed a punch right at Max's jaw. Max quickly intercepted by summoning a shield in midair, bracing it with his arm as it impacted, minimizing the damage.

Mayeda had to admit— he was pretty impressed. While Max was rough around the edges, he would be a capable operative if he could get some of his more undesirable personality traits in check— notably his distaste of his allies. Once a smirk formed on Max's face however, he started getting annoyed again. He wanted to humble him again. He waited for another opportunity to avoid him, which came swiftly as he went for another simple stab of his dagger. As if an invisible force carried him, he quickly slid out of the way as a blur, quickly throwing a punch at similar speed at Max's face. He barely had time to turn to face it when he stopped mere inches from impacting him.

"I suppose I've won then? Get your shit together, upstart. As for the rest of you, try to be as strong as him, but less of an asshole."

Max just grumbled as he walked out of the training room, a bit shaken by the demonstration. He was unaware that Mayeda could move that fast. More alarmingly to him, however, was the fact that it still felt like he was holding back.