The next day came, and school passed in a flash. Felicia went off with Gwen and Peter; the dude was the third wheel, following after them. I, on the other hand, had an appointment. Felicia didn't like that I wasn't joining them, but she understood the importance of my meeting.
Ding~
The elevator opened up with a satisfying chime. The familiar high-class modern floor greeted me. As I walked in, I saw Ms. Sue sitting on the couch, completely ignoring me. If I were a villain, I'm pretty sure I could have killed her with how out of it she looked.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Sue."
"Julius!" She snapped out of whatever caused her pensive face. "How was school?"
"If I didn't have a lovely girlfriend or friends, I would drop out and do guardian work full-time."
Ms. Sue giggled, her gentle blue eyes understanding my pain. I could tell she knew how much it killed me to waste my time with something so mundane.
"Now. Now. You have to finish school even if you don't want to. You have to have a civilian life outside of hero life."
"Yes, Ma'am." I gave her a half-hearted salute. My curiosity about the look on her face a few moments ago piqued. "Are you okay? You looked tense a second ago."
She sighed, "It's just politics and stuff."
"Really? You guys care about that stuff…"
"Well, it was about whether or not we should do things and hide them behind the backs of the governments."
"I vote yes!"
"Pfft. You have no say, you mischievous little rascal." She took a sip of her drink from the glass coffee table in front of her. "But I agree. Stark and a few other members agreed, while a few others were hesitant. The rest didn't like the idea. It was a 40/40/20 split."
I almost hesitated to say what I wanted to. However, Ms. Sue looked like she could use some support. I kind of wish Reed were here, but perhaps he was still dealing with the meeting.
"If you can hide it from the government, you can hide it from them." I shrugged.
Her blue eyes widened. She actually seemed to give it some thought before shaking her head.
"We need trust between our organizations. We can't afford to trick our allies like the governments tend to do."
"Fair enough."
"Enough of that! Let me bring you to the training room." She got up; her body was beautiful, with every curve enhancing the others. Blinking, I refocused, as my observations were just natural, with no real feelings behind them.
We walked over. Her fingers were dancing over the keypad as the door slid open.
"Reed built you the perfect sparring partner."
I looked at the human-looking robot in the center of the room.
"He really put a lot of effort into it. It only reacts to your presence, and he actually put failsafes in the thing!"
"Why are you so excited about that? Does he not normally?"
She turned and gripped my shoulders with fake tears.
"No! You would think his super intelligence would account for such things, but knowledge didn't mean one had wisdom."
I nodded, "You must have it rough… do you play the big sister role for the group?"
"Just for Reed and Johnny. Ben typically doesn't cause many problems, but I'm there for him if he needs."
"You're amazing." I meant what I said. If I were in her shoes, I wouldn't be sure if I could be so nice about things. I felt like I would be much harsher in my ways, but who knows.
Her fake tears switched back to a warm smile, "Thank you! Should we start now?"
"Yes. Felicia might kill me if I'm not home when I said I would be."
"Hehe~ don't want to make your girlfriend mad." She handed me a small book of notes. "Reed wrote this. It contains all the info on this guy. Go ahead and read before you start. I'll be watching on the sidelines to make sure everything goes smoothly."
I flipped through the tiny book, reading through all the info.
'This guy really does only react to me.' It felt weird having my own personal robot.
Sliding the notebook into my pocket, I said the activation word.
"Arise."
The eyes flicked open. A vibrant blue almost matching the intensity of my six eyes. His build was the same as mine. It was like looking at another me, but without hair.
'Ew.'
The thought was making me shiver.
"Good evening, Master."
"Whoa, no need for the master part. Just call me Julius."
"Understood, Julius."
"Tell me, how well can you implement the data given to you?"
"I have access to all fighting styles of all heroes, the energy to manipulate the basic elements, and the ability to learn through our sessions."
"I don't believe that answers the question."
"Sorry, Julius. I can implement 100% of the data given to me. I can operate at 100% for 5 hours before entering cool-down mode."
"Gotcha." I stood a bit away from my training robot. "I think I'll name you, Adam."
"If that's what you wish."
It copied me. Both of us getting into a stance without a word about starting.
'System.'
[Yeah?]
'Nothing. Just wanted to say, Eve might be a pretty good name for you.'
[It doesn't really matter to me.]
'Figures.'
I smiled at how much it didn't care. You had to love a system that just fulfilled its purpose and didn't do much more. It made it easy to get along with and trust.
"Ready, Adam?"
"Always, Julius."
I kicked off the ground, rushing towards him without any hesitation. Adam reacted swiftly as he side-stepped out of the way, pivoting on his foot, delivering a swift kick toward my side.
Dodging was simple.
Crackle~!
'Whoa!'
A bolt of lightning shot towards me without warning. The smell of it burning the air tickled my nose.
I coated my hands in red. The force sent Adam further away as I waved my hand to enhance the repulsion. It didn't matter, though. Adam channeled flames at the bottom of his feet, flying towards me.
He swung with a fire-enhanced kick, breaking the air above my head. I channeled a mini red exploding it to disrupt the chain combo. Adam pushed off the air with a burst of wind, following with a hammer kick.
Activating infinity, I punched forward with no additional red or blue to follow. The fist connected without problem, but Adam wasn't a human. The pain didn't make him flinch; he ruthlessly moved to his next move.
"O-OOF! Fuck that hurt man."
A wind-enhanced fist assaulted my gut.
"Sorry, Julius."
BOOM!
Adam didn't hesitate to explode a volatile flame. This time thankfully, i got infintiy off in time. If I had it automated like Satoru, then I wouldn't have caught the fist earlier.
"Please spare me."
"Hell no."
BANG!
I channeled red into my fist, exploding it on contact. Adam recovered perfectly once again.
'Damn, Reed. You built a beast of a robot.'
The two of us stood in silence.
'Should I use dismantle?'
My pain point was hopefully testing it out against Reed, but I didn't want to destroy Adam. Domain expansion wasn't out of the picture, malovent shrine or unlimited void.
'Man, I hate to say, but I really need a real threat where I can go all out without remorse.'
"Round 2?" I asked.
"If you wish."
Despite the limitations, it was a great training session!