No Heroes Left Behind (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Shut Up You Imbecile

"Okay kids. Let's get this party started!" Rancor's robotic voice says as he claps his hands. The eighteen superhero trainees stand in front of the trainers with tired expressions. And I mean, yeah, I get it. We have to be here at seven in the morning.

Rancor walks up to Zeus and stands right in his face, looking directly into his eyes. "You all are going to partner up and spar. No using powers yet. Just hand-to-hand combat for now. Powers will come later."

Rancor, El Diablo, Maximus, Ghost and I all watch as the heroes partner up and spread out across the room. Once everyone is partnered up, Rancor grabs my hand and pulls me into the centre of the room. "Okay, here is what I want you all to do. One person will be offence, the other defence, then when Scarlet or I say so, you'll switch. So here's what the offensive are going to do." Rancor demonstrates a simple combination of punches and kicks into the air. "So then the defence are going to do this." This time he gets me involved and immediately I know how to block each strike.

"So it's simple guys. Just remember, offence: punch, punch, left hook, kick, punch, uppercut. And defence: dodge, dodge, duck, block, dodge, backwards step. Okay guys, now it's your turn... And remember, no powers!"

I walk out of the middle of the circular formation around the room and stand along the wall next to El Diablo. He inches himself away from me, sending me a dirty look out of the corner of his eye and scrunching up his nose. I roll my eyes. Are all former villains turned good this childish?

"Hey! What the hell!?" Some girl shouts from across the room. She lays down on the ground gripping her hand, her face turning red and a vein popping out of her forehead.

I super speed next to the pair and glance at the partner who is still standing. He has his arms crossed over his chest and an annoyed look in his eyes. "What happened?" I ask him.

He opens his mouth to talk but the loud mouthed girl on the ground butts in. "He used his powers, that's what happened!" She yells.

I feel the left corner of my lips twitch and I crack my neck as I turn to look at her. "Was I asking you?" I say calmly. She glares at me. "No, I wasn't." I turn back to face him. "What's your name, kid?" I ask.

"I don't really have one. My friends call me Man of Steel but... that's already taken."

I purse my lips. "What's your power?"

"I can turn my entire body into Ranodium and deflect bullets, heat, cold, lasers and obviously don't feel pain, but instead inflict it on those who try to hurt me." He glances down at the girl who still sits on the floor, clasping her bruising hand in her non-injured one.

"Okay, we will call you... Hmm... How about StoneWall?" I suggest, fully aware of how stupid that sounds.

He scoffs, "that's idiotic."

I smirk at this and put my hands on my hips. "It's better than ripping off someone else's name." I retort, fire swirling in my eyes as my patience dwindles. He goes to say something in his defence but thinks better of it.

I smile victoriously. "No using your powers. Got it?" He nods his head and helps up his partner from the floor. I super speed back to the wall where I was before and cross my arms over my chest.

I sense El Diablo's eyes piercing into the side of my head. I look up at him. "What?" I spit out at him.

He shrugs his shoulders and looks away. "You're hot when you're angry." He replies simply. I smirk at the irony of that statement.

I look back at the other heroes sparring around the room. "Yeah... Literally."  I reply. He doesn't say anything but I can see him fighting off a smirk.