章 21: Creative...
~Omnisicent Pov, The next day~
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'Where is he? He said he'd be here 15 minutes ago?' Amber looked down at her watch, feeling slightly worried about her so-called date. Unconsciously, she began tapping her feet impatiently, glancing around the sheer business outside the café.
Just as she was about to give up, she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Hey, sorry I'm late."
She turned around to see Ezra, slightly out of breath but smiling. "I had a bit of a delay, but I'm here now." He added. However, she just stared at him, and so did he. For his clothing, Ezra settled for something more towards the casual side; wearing fitted blue jeans, sneakers, as well as a longsleeved white T-shirt.
Since this was technically his first date, he didn't want to go overboard or underboard, just in between where it was just right...
On the other hand, Amber wore a dark jeans skirt, highlighting her lightly toned yet shapely legs and figure, while also sporting a long-sleeved lightning-pink top and high heels. With them on, she was just a bit taller than himself now.
Ezra stared at her for a moment, admiring her features... Her long blond hair, her blue eyes, and full lips. He had noticed her before, but not this much. She even wore a dark-glossy lipstick, obvious, ones as well, and for some reason, it gave off an exotic kind of vibe. All of this accentuated her already beautiful figure, but the only make-up she wore, was lipstick alone; yet, he felt her eyes piercing every part of his body, like she was almost teasing him in an odd sense.
While he was doing that, Amber started to admire him too. She wasn't sure if he himself noticed, but he was very well-built. She noted how he looked so sculpted, it was almost scary to her... Even now, she could see his definition through his shirt and jeans, and how lean he was, she didn't think he could get bigger, yet he did... His abs brushed just beneath the fabric of his shirt. She could see how toned his arms were as if each detail of his body was just popping out toward her...
Through all of that, Amber's initial worry melted away as she smiled back, "I was starting to think you stood me up."
Ezra chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not a chance. Shall we go?"
They walked together, the evening air filled with the sounds of the city... Ezra led her to a nearby restaurant he had picked out, one that had a cozy, intimate atmosphere. As they sat down, Amber felt her nerves settle, the tension of the earlier misunderstanding starting to dissipate.
"So, how was your day?" Ezra asked, genuinely interested.
Amber shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. "It was alright. Busy, but nothing I couldn't handle. What about you, big guy?"
Ezra paused for a moment picking up on the way she said those last two words, thinking of how to answer. "Eventful, to say the least. But I won't bore you with the details."
Amber laughed softly. "I doubt anything you say would be boring."
Their conversation flowed easily, and as the night went on, Amber found herself enjoying Ezra's company more and more. They talked about everything and nothing, sharing stories and laughing together. The initial awkwardness was gone, replaced by a growing connection.
As they finished their meal and walked back out into the cool night, Ezra looked at Amber with a soft smile. "You know... I'm kinda glad we did this." Ezra was glad his date went this well. For the first time in a long time, he actually felt a bit happy for himself...
Amber simply nodded, feeling a warmth spread through her, "Yeah, me too. It was... nice."
Ezra reached out, taking her hand gently. "I'd like to do it again sometime."
Amber squeezed his hand in return, "I'd like that..." She quickly looked back into his eyes...
They must have stood there for a minute, slowly just enjoying the quiet intimacy of the moment, but before parting ways, she suddenly spoke up... "Listen, Ezra. I've got to tell you something... I'll-I'll be leaving soon, in an hour, to be exact. And-"
But before she could say anything, he stopped her, "It's fine. That just means we can catch up on the phone. So, let's not end it on a sad note." Amber thought about what he said for a moment, and nodded; "Yeah, I agree." She then smiled. While Ezra opened his arms wide, saying "Free hugs?" Without hesitation, she took the opportunity for what may be once in a good while. After some time passing, they separated.
"The date was nice, spectacular even. I... I had a great time." Amber said, looking off into the distance.
"Yeah, I enjoyed it too..." Ezra said, picking up on her melancholy.
"So, I guess this is goodbye?" She said, Ezra smiled "Yeah for now at least."
As he said that she walked herself home which was not far from where they were, and on the way, she couldn't help but smile, feeling that maybe, just maybe, things were finally looking up for her after all those summers of nothing...
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~Omniscient Pov, a few weeks later~
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Ezra was doing finger-stand push-ups, specifically on his thumbs. His entire body was red, with light steam lightly emanating off of him...
"99,997!... 99,998!!... 99,999!!..." Ezra breathed out one last huff of air, "100,000!!" He shouted lightly, falling to his feet. As he stood upward, he huffed with a bit of smoke leaving his mouth; now feeling a bit tired from his workout.
'Damn, to think my training would be this effective... Or is it just my body adapting extremely well?' Ezra thought to himself. He was just standing still without any of his usual weights at the moment. However, sweat was pouring from every surface of his body...
After a day of reviewing, he quickly realized that weighted exercises were ineffective, and too obvious as well, especially compared to his new training regimen. At this time, he was going completely weightless.
Yet, he doesn't have any visible resistance on or outside his body, yet he was training...
Naturally, one would think it impossible to build strength without needing some level of resistance for their training, and they would be right in most cases; but, Ezra essentially found a way to do just that. However, the idea wasn't his even own.
'To think Imagination training would be this effective...' He didn't need weights to train effectively anymore, just his raw movement and self-resistance. The body was truly fascinating when pushed to its edges. It took him a full week to visualize what he needed to push himself beyond the limit.
Constantly he contracted his muscles over, and over again. And surprisingly, over time it had great effects on his physique. And a week after that, he took it to the next level by using it everywhere he went, auto-adjusting the stimuli he was feeding into his body. Now, his mind had adapted to the regimen fully, allowing him to improve hyper-efficiently.
Allowing him to work all muscle groups at once. The only downsides to this were the food intake from constantly brain-burning calories throughout the day and the sheer stamina drain both mentally, and physically-but he was adapting. However, he found it risk worthwhile in the long run. After that, his training gains skyrocketed.
When he was sleeping, he was training, when he walked, he was training, even when breathing he was training, and constantly his mind auto-adapted, only letting up when he had rested. Since his brain was powerful, the concepts and feelings were easy to grasp, and using this for the past few weeks he was able to grow leaps and bounds.
And since he could get creative, he imagined scenarios that could kill him, using ECHO's simulations and training only pushed him farther. Not only that, when he trained, he realized it was vastly easier for his body to remember movements. Like it was burned into his muscles...
However, this type of training isn't possible with regular minds. For a human brain to actively work around the clock to produce the necessary stimuli, would be deadly for the common person, especially for those who could visualize, and remember sensations like Ezra could.
Now, all of this was something he could get used to. The sense of becoming a literal self-made genius or prodigy...
He brushed some sweat off his forehead, asking "ECHO, show me my statistics page."
[Affirmative... Here, master;
Physical Age: 16 years / 682.33 Years
Height: 5'9" / 6'9.5"
Weight: 201.35 kg (Effectively 85.53kg)
Physical Strength: 223.44 Tonnes --> 3.92 Kilotons / 39.2 Kilotons
Physicality: 74.22 --> 115.1 / 311.1
Perception/Reaction speeds: Mach 632.3 --> Mach 8,421.2 / Mach 24,551.
Movement-Speed: Mach 10.34 --> Mach 94.21 / Mach 341.2
Intelligence: Low Genius / Mid Genius]
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'I've gotten fucking strong.' He said, but he frowned slightly afterward, 'But, my limits don't seem like they'll keep up with my growth rate...' He mumbled to himself.
For him, the progress rate was fine, amazing even. It showed just how adaptable his current physiology was to positive stimuli, however, he was afraid of something like this happening to him. His limits.
As much as he liked to see how strong he could get, his limits were catching up on him, he estimated that another month of this level would max him out completely. At this point, plateauing isn't something his body even remotely registers anymore. In fact, the more he strained himself, the faster he would grow.
He asked ECHO about it a few days ago, and she said that despite having a limit, the cells in his body; Specifically in regards to the density of his musculature, which have essentially been removed... Hence, they've practically reached a state where they would continue to grow, regardless of his current limitations.
This meant he would no longer have slowdowns, he could grow proportionally until he hit his ceiling, which wasn't the case until he absorbed his last victim's DNA. On that note...
[It is time for your mind training. Please to transform.] ECHO reminded him.
He sighed, "I hear you." Ezra quickly willed the restrictions off his muscles, now feeling much lighter than before. As soon as he did so, he sat on the ground, getting into a meditative position. However, he didn't stop there. Soon his body began to morph and bulk.
Soon after, his veins bulged as well, his skin darkened, and his scleras blackened...
"Fuuuh~" Ezra breathed out. His fists began to clench. But after a while, he began to relax.
[Not bad... You caught yourself well master, your mind's chemicals have gone back to normal levels, and your emotions are in good control...] ECHO commented.
Ezra stood up, slightly tired from his earlier exercise, but still having more than enough energy to do what he was about to do. With a few swift motions, he quickly positioned himself, getting into a lethwei stance.
"Ha!" He quickly began to redo the movements/katas for the martial arts he knew. However, he transitioned, using more martial arts into the mix, incorporating moves from other martial arts into his stances. Each strike, kick, and block was executed with the fluidity and power that came from his rigorous training.
As well as a body that could utilize them with perfect efficiency...
As he moved, his mind focused intensely, now visualizing each opponent, each with varying scenarios. Soon, the room around him seemed to fade out, replaced by vivid images of opponents attacking from all sides. He could almost feel their presence, the force of their blows, and the need to counter with precise movements...
His body responded to these mental cues, his muscles contracting and releasing with perfect timing. Sweat poured down his face, but he didn't let up. The combination of mental and physical training pushed him to new heights, each movement slightly more refined, each reaction slightly quicker.
ECHO on the other hand monitored his progress, noting the improvements in his speed, strength, and coordination. [Master, your efficiency has increased by 5.33% since your last session. Continue at this pace, and you will achieve your next milestone within the projected timeframe.]
Ezra simply grunted in acknowledgment, pushing himself even harder than before. The room now began humming with the gusts of wind from his sheer movements, each strike threatening to break the sound barrier. At this point, he was just rushing to max out his current limits.
However, he simply grunted once more, anyone could see it was frustration, 'I still don't feel it...' He relayed all his movements with peak master-level efficiency, at least according to ECHO. For the last year, he's trained. Throughout that time, he'd mastered well over 100 different hand-to-hand martial arts since then, but that was just on paper.
Even if his body knew every single move, and when to execute them, it was clear he'd practically hit a bottleneck/wall. He didn't just want to know how to use moves with perfection individually. He wanted to use them all perfectly in tandem. Not one switching between the other. To him, this meant he was still too green.
As the saying goes, he was a frog in the damn well... With that thought, he focused and placed back his imaginary resistances; causing his movements to slow and stiff and much more rigid more than before, and in doing so, he continued his training.
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After several more hours, he finally stopped, breathing heavily but feeling a deep sense of accomplishment. His body ached, but it was a satisfying pain, a sign of true progress in his opinion. With each session, he knew he was growing stronger, quite literally too.
He had just crossed into the 4-kiloton range of strength-
Bing!
Bing!
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Bing!
Bing!
Turning around, Ezra simply groaned in slight frustration, "You have to be kidding me... It's 11 in the night!" he exclaimed. He considered leaving the situation to either Arrow or Flash; they could likely handle it themselves... But, what if they couldn't?
"Still, nothing's wrong with making sure... Plus, it's a Friday night," he muttered, walking over to his monitor.
The screen lit up, revealing a live feed from the city's surveillance cameras. There was a disturbance downtown, a group of masked individuals causing chaos. Ezra recognized the area; it was a busy district even at this hour.
He sighed, grabbing his combat gear, "Guess I'm not done for the night yet."
In moments, he was out of his bunker and apartment and leaping across rooftops, his enhanced abilities allowing him to move swiftly through the city. As he approached the scene, he could see the extent of the damage. Cars were overturned, shop windows shattered, and civilians were running in panic.
"Alright, let's see what we're dealing with," he said to himself, landing silently on a rooftop overlooking the chaos. He focused, his senses sharpening as he scanned the area.
Down below, he spotted the group of individuals. They weren't heavily armed and appeared to be searching for something—or someone. Ezra's eyes narrowed as he noticed their leader, a somewhat tall figure with a scar running down his face...
However, he found it weird that these guys were carrying anything at all, firearms at their level are practically useless to use. So he placed the thought at the back of his mind for now.
He also shook his head and wondered why they didn't even try to hide themselves, but that wasn't his problem, 'Alright, time to put an end to this.' he said in mind, leaping down into the street.
He landed with a heavy thud, the asphalt cracking slightly under the force of his impact... The individuals turned towards him, weapons raised.
"It's past curfew, soo..." Ezra said with a smirk. "Time to go home."
Hearing that, they didn't hesitate to attack since they knew it was the Enigma, but Ezra was already ready. With a swift motion, he disarmed the first attacker, slamming him into the ground, and causing it to crack slightly. The others became slightly hesitant, but soon they rushed towards him.
Seeing the first one charge ahead, Ezra just moved with practiced precision, dodging the easily telegraphed punch, and countering strikes that sent the guy flying toward the other with enough force to knock both out at once, making both end up in a wall. The rest that saw the ordeal weighed their options and quickly decided they needed to fight anyway.
However, the little boss of their group watched from a distance, his eyes narrowing as he assessed Ezra's capabilities. After a few seconds, he quickly one-shotted the last two fodders into the pavement of the ground.
He then turned his attention to the leader, and slowly began walking towards the man, "I'm surprised you didn't run..." Ezra said, "Who are you, and what do you want?" Ezra demanded, but before the man could answer, Ezra spoke up again, "Nevermind, I don't need to know, since it won't change a damn thing."
Instead, the man in front of him grinned, a defiant look in his eyes. "Guess I don't need to explain myself then." he spat.
Instantly the man threw a punch his shirt ripping from the force; but, Ezra caught it with absolute ease... But the force behind it left a massive shockwave in its wake.
'Hmm, not bad... He's at least stronger than the guy before, maybe 500 or so tonnes of force...?' Ezra estimated. However, compared to his current strength, this was nothing. He gripped the guy's fist.
Feeling the pressure that was on his hand, the man tried to set himself free, but his hand wouldn't budge an inch. "Time to say night-night." That was the last thing the man had heard before he felt his world turn into complete darkness...
With the immediate threat neutralized, Ezra contacted the authorities, providing them with a summary of the events and the location of the incapacitated individuals over a call. As he waited for them to arrive, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bigger was at play here... It wasn't long till he stopped the last group of guys from doing something bad.
And to see them come back this quickly wasn't a good sign.
'Guess I'll just have to dig a bit deeper,' he said to himself, looking out over the city. 'But first, I need some rest...' Before he could move off, he heard something in the distance towards his left, near a dumpster...
Realizing the situation, he just sighed once again, "I know someone's out there, come out, NOW!" He finished with a tone that wasn't requesting.
"And here I thought I hid myself pretty well back there." He heard the voice and easily identified who the person was. The person leaned off the wall, unfolding his arms.
'Flash...' Ezra muttered under his breath. Now he's already regretting taking so long in dealing with those little bozos. He knew this was gonna happen, but he hoped it would've at least been another year later... And at the worst period too.
Ezra simply sighed, and shook his head in displeasure, "What do you want, speedster?"
"Well, nothing really... I just finally get to see the one they call Enigma... And I'll say; you were a tough guy to find."
'A tough guy to find? The hell? Does that mean the Justice League has been looking for me?' Ezra turned towards the speedster.
Ezra knew something was just off by the first few words... Finding him via tracking is next to an impossible mission. Plus, he isn't that famous since he knew he was more of an underdog when it came to being a vigilante or hero, even if it was for a year. Hell, the fact that the Flash was here when a crime was around his part of the city could simply boil down to the former, of them, tracking him, or two...
'He's just bluffing about the 'finding me out' a bit, and this entire meeting was just luck...' Ezra narrowed his eyes slightly at that, knowing they were likely trying to scout him out, at least as the best-case scenario.
And Ezra was leaning toward the latter. If they did truly find him out, they would have been at his doorstep to recruit him to the league since yesterday. However, with him being this young, would mean they put him in the Young Justice or Teen Titans team, so he wasn't too fond of the idea... Even if they could somewhat handle themselves.
Seeing what the scarlet speedster was trying to do, he smiled, "...I'll be seeing you around, Flash." Ezra quickly jumped in the air, and with a swift snap of his fingers, he caused an electric flash bang.
"Gah!" Having no time to properly react, the flash covered his eyes in reflex. Realizing what just happened, he hissed his teeth in annoyance...
'Yeah... That guy must be long gone by now...' He thought to himself.
However, Ezra landed a few dozen rooftops away, watching Flash's frustrated attempts to locate him. With a smirk, he silently disappeared into the shadows.
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~Omniscient Pov, a few minutes later~
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"We need to talk..." Flash announced as he walked into the large room. The table, designed to seat more than ten, had only a few occupied chairs. Said occupants were already engaged with their own tasks but looked up as Flash entered.
Batman, seated at the head of the table, raised an eyebrow. "About what?" he asked first, his tone measured and calm.
Flash then took a seat, running a hand through his hair, "I found the guy. Enigma."
This caught the attention of the room. Wonder Woman leaned forward, her eyes narrowing with a bit of interest. She's heard the rumors of Enigmas and has only seen him in brief videos; and through that, she became interested in the way he fought his opponents, and health with situations, "Enigma? The vigilante we've been hearing about for the past?"
"Yeah, the very one," Flash confirmed. "But he's not exactly easy to get a hold of. He slipped away before I could get much out of him... Which I still can't rap my head around; I can say one thing for sure, and that he's pretty fast."
Superman, who had been scanning through some reports, looked up as well, a little curious now. "What else do we know about him?"
"Not much, unfortunately..." Flash admitted. "Rumors are he's powerful, that's for sure, heck. I've seen it myself. And from what I can tell, he's probably not the type to be interested in joining any team. At least not ours. Though, to be fair, I didn't really get to ask..."
"Did he pose a threat?" Aquaman asked.
Flash shook his head. "No actually, he was easily handling the situation when I found him. Took down a group of criminals without breaking a sweat; In fact, I feel bad for those guys, they got wiped out instantly. But there's something about him... I think he's probably hiding more than we realize. Just gave that vibe ya' know?
Batman leaned back, contemplating the situation a little, "We'll need to learn more about him. If he's operating in our section of the planet, we can't afford to be in the dark about him."
Wonder Woman nodded in agreement, "Agreed, on the surface he might seem like a hero... But, it's best we approach the situation carefully. If he's a lone wolf, we don't want to push him away or provoke him. He's been hiding away from us for a year now, and not many can do that so easily for that long."
"Agreed," Superman said. "For now, let's keep an eye on him. Gather what information we can without direct confrontation. Flash, keep an ear out. If he makes another appearance, we need to know about it."
Flash nodded. "Will do. But from what I saw, he's someone we might want on our side rather than against us." If the rumors are true about his powers, he could be an issue..."
Everyone agreed, "For now, we can patrol the general area you were in tonight. We can't allow them to get to him before we do..." Batman added, leaving the room...
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END
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