The clearing was quiet except for the rustle of leaves and Zane's steady breathing.
Two months since Artemis's father… two months since everything went a little dull. He hadn't wasted a single day. If anything, he'd bled for every hour.
Now he stood in his testing ground, a patch of dirt in the middle of the woods carved out by sweat and obsession. Broken stumps, shredded beams, dented scrap metal, and craters marked the place like scars. His scars.
He adjusted the visor strapped over his eyes, the tech blinking faintly against the night. "Alright… let's see where we're at today."
His gaze drifted to the rusted shipping container he'd dragged here last week. He crouched, fingers sliding under its lip, and heaved. The steel shrieked in protest as it lifted, the visor's HUD ticking numbers in the corner of his vision.
[ Weight strain detected: 2,450 lbs ]
Zane's arms shook, sweat breaking across his forehead. "Almost twenty-five hundred. Nice." He grinned under the mask, holding the container chest-high until his muscles screamed, then dropped it with a thunderous crash that echoed through the trees.
He flexed his hands, shaking out the burn. "Two months ago, that thing would've buried me. Progress."
Next came speed. He reset the visor, crouching low at the far end of the clearing. White markers — old fence posts he'd set up — lined the dirt trail.
"Alright. Sprint test. Don't eat dirt this time."
He launched forward, dirt exploding under his shoes. The visor flashed numbers as the world blurred around him.
[ Peak velocity: 31.7 mph… 32.3… ]
Zane's breath tore out ragged. He vaulted a stump, landed clean, then skidded to a stop at the last marker. His chest heaved as he checked the visor. "Thirty-two miles per hour. Faster than Bolt in his prime." He smirked. "Not bad you know, propably better than Batman to be honest."
But strength and speed were just the warm-ups. The real test was something else.
Zane pulled the chains off his torso and set them aside. He took a breath, closed his eyes, and tapped into the pulse of the Chronos Seed. The world seemed to hold its breath with him. Then came the shift — bones cracking, claws sliding out, muscles surging as a violet glow licked across his skin. The Echo Form.
The visor blinked red warnings immediately. Heart rate spiked. Power output unreadable.
"Every damn time," Zane muttered through clenched teeth, flexing clawed fingers. The air felt heavy, electric. He walked to the steel beam he'd planted upright in the dirt and drove a punch into it.
The impact rattled the ground. The visor's HUD jumped.
[ Force output: 18.9 tons ]
Zane blinked, then barked out a laugh. "Eighteen tons? And that's not even full force."
He tested the claws next, raking them across corrugated siding. The metal shrieked as it split apart in a clean cut.
Then came the sprint. He set himself, dug claws into the dirt, and blasted forward. The trees became streaks, the night air roaring like a jet engine. His body reacted before his mind caught up — vaulting, swerving, tearing through obstacles.
The visor struggled to keep pace, flickering before finally displaying a number.
[ Velocity: Mach 9.7… Mach 10.1… warning: system overload ]
Zane slid to a stop, dirt and leaves scattering in a wave. He ripped the visor off, his breathing slighly disturbed. "Guess you weren't built for this, huh?" He looked at the sparking HUD and chuckled.
He leaned against a tree, claws retracting slowly as the violet glow faded. The Echo Form bled out of him, leaving him human again, a little sweaty but overall he was barley out of breath.
He's really grown stronger over the past 2 months, and not just his base human form but his Echo Form too.
Especially his strength, he doesnt actually know how much he can lift in Echo Form, but he can Uproot some medium sized trees pretty easily right now. So its atleast several tons.
---
The underground base smelled faintly of metal and dust. Zane leaned against a crate, loosening the straps on his suit, while the raccoons scrambled over scattered tools and scraps.
"Stop pawing through my ammo, you little thieves," he muttered, scratching behind General Crunches ears. Papa Roach climbed a beam, twitching its nose at the dangling punching bag.
"You spoil them," Artemis said from the doorway, stepping in with a bow slung casually over her shoulder. Casually walking into his secret base from tge secret lift he had installed.
"No I dont! I treat them like a Mother treats her children!"
Artemis laughed softly, strolling past him. "And thats supposee to be normal?"
He shook his head, not expecting a petless person to understand.
He refocused and let his hoodie fall to the floor, revealing the muscle lines honed from months of relentless training. Scars ran across his arms and torso — faint, pale reminders of fights survived, of bodies pushed beyond normal limits. He flexed instinctively, feeling the weight and precision of every line, every tendon.
Artemis' eyes flicked to him, just for a second, and she quickly looked away, a faint blush creeping across her cheeks. "W-what the hell are you doing?" she asked, trying to sound casual.
"Nothing much," Zane said, grinning shamelessly, "just… appreciating this fine piece of Art. Gotta keep my fans entertained."
Her ears turned pinker. "Fans? You mean… the raccoons?" she murmured, glancing down at the little creatures scrambling around.
"Ha," he said, stepping closer, voice teasing. "Maybe. But I know at least one fan who's more interested in me than them."
Artemis' blush deepened, and she ducked her head, trying to hide her smile. "You are impossible."
"And you love it," he replied without hesitation, teasing again.
She rolled her eyes but didn't pull away. "You're impossible."
"And yet here you are," he said, letting his hands grab her slender waist."Visiting the underground lair like it's your own backyard."
Not giving her a chance to think, Zane leaned in, letting his hands roam a little more boldly. One hand slid from her waist to her lower back, pulling her flush against him. The other cupped her face, thumb brushing over her cheek as he kissed her hard, teeth grazing her bottom lip just slightly.
Artemis shivered, then pressed herself closer, her hands sliding up to grip his shoulders, feeling the tense muscles beneath the armor. She let a small, breathy laugh escape when he teased her with a sly grin against her mouth.
"Hmm… you should visit more often," he murmured between kisses, letting one his left hand slide around to cup the curve of her left asscheek, fingers pressing out shapes possessively, while the other hand trailed from her cheek to her back.
Artemis's hands roamed too, brushing along his chest and down his arms, daring him to pull her even closer. She leaned up on her toes, catching his lips again, hungry and teasing.
Zane pressed her back gently against the crate, holding her firmly with both hands, thumb sliding along her hipbone. His kisses trailed down her jawline to her neck, lips brushing softly, teeth just grazing the sensitive skin.
She gasped softly, one hand threading into his hair, tugging him closer, the other sliding over his chest, trailing his muscles.
He pulled back for just a second, forehead resting against hers, smirk tugging at his lips. "You know," he murmured, shameless as ever, "this is exactly why you keep coming back."
Artemis rolled her eyes, still blushing, still smiling, but didn't pull away. "I dont see you kicking me out, Zane," she whispered, but her voice was half-laugh, half-breathless confession.
"Guilty," he replied, pressing a final teasing kiss to her temple before letting her breathe.
They still had very important stuff to do today.....
...
Patreaon
/Williamstewart