The next morning, the safe house basement didn't look like a gym. It looked like a war zone waiting to happen.
Punching bags lined the walls. Concrete floor scorched black from who- know- past experiments. A small generator hummed in the corner, feeding power into strange machines that looked like they belonged more in a mad scientist's garage than a superhero training ground.
Zeke stood in the center, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His hands sparked faintly, unsteady. Maya leaned against the railing above, arms folded, watching. She looked worried. He looked terrified.
And Cadmen? Cadmen looked like a man about to enjoy himself.
" Morning, sunshine," Cadmen said, clapping his hands. " Hope you didn't have plans for your body today. Because by the time I'm done, you won't be able to feel it."
" uh , inspiring," Zeke muttered, dragging his sneakers across the floor.
Cadmen ignored the sarcasm. " We don't have the luxury of slow growth. Harbinger's loose. Cross made her move. That means you - our little patient zero - need to stop fumbling around with static sparks and start controlling that nuclear reactor in your chest."
Zeke swallowed. " And if I can't."
Cadmen smiled grimly. " Then you die. And so does everyone else."
Trial one : endurance
Cadmen snapped his fingers. Two drones zipped down from the rafters, sleek metal spheres armed with stun cannons.
"First lesson: don't pass out when you get hot."
Before Zeke could ask what that meant, one drone fired. A jolt of electricity smacked him in the ribs, throwing him to the ground. His body arced with light.
"Hey!" Zeke groaned, clutching his side.
"That's cheating!"
" Life's cheating," Cadmen shot back. "Get up!"
Another blast. Zeke rolled, sparks flaring across his skin. His powers fired off wildly, shorting a nearby light bulb. He scrambled to his feet, panting.
"Control it, Zeke!" Cadmen barked. " Don't let the energy use you. Use it!"
Zeke raised his hands, tried to focus, and... BOOM!
A bolt of lightning surged from his palm, ricocheting off the wall and frying the second drone into a smoking husk. The first drone higher, beeping aggressively. Zeke grinned. "Did you see that? I..."
The remaining drone nailed him in the chest, sending him sprawling again. Maya winced. " This feels like child abuse."
Cadmen cupped his hands around his mouth. " Shut up and let him suffer. I6 build character!"
Trial two: control
An hour later, Zeke was drenched in sweat, clothes singed. Yh basement smelled like burned copper.
" okay," Cadmen said, pacing. "You've got raw power. Great. So does a lightning storm. But storms are random. We need precision."
He pointed at a row of glass bottles perched on a ledge. " I want you to hit the one on the far left. Only that one. No collateral damage."
Zeke squinted, lifted his hand, and concerntrated. Sparks gathered, his skin buzzing. He fired.
All six bottles exploded.
Maya clapped slowly. " Impressive. If the goal was mass destruction."
" Shut up, Maya," Zeke muttered.
Cadmen sighed." Again ."
The repeated the drill. And again. And again. Sometimes Zeke's bolts fizzled out .Sometimes it blasted holes in the wall. Once, he nearly fried Cadmen's hat clean off .
By the twentieth try, Zeke managed to crack the far- left bottle cleanly , leaving the rest untouched.
He raised both fists, triumphant. "Yes! Nailed it!"
Cadmen didn't look impressed. "Congratulations .you reached the skill level of a parlor trick."
Zeke scowled . "Man, you're like the world's worst life coach."
Trial 3 ":The crucible
Cadmen finally put out the big guns. Literally. He wheeled in a hulking metal suit, remote controlled, with growing joints and a face that looked like a cross between the bulldozer and a medieval knight .
"Meet my favorite toy: the Crucible," Cadmen said. " It's designed to push you to your absolute limit. If you can survive ten minutes against it, Harbinger will tear you apart like tissue paper."
The suit's eye flared red. It stomped forward ,each step shaking the floor.
Zeke's throat went dry.
"I don't suppose this thing has an off switch?"Cadmen grinned.
"Oh ,it has one. You just have to find it before a crushes your spine."
The crucible lunged . Zeke screamed and dove aside as a metal fist cratered the concrete where he'd been standing.
Sparks leapt from his skin in panic.
" Focus!" Cadmen yelled.
Zeke rolled, flung a bolt of lightning at the suit's chest. The energy crackled across its armor but barely slowed it down. It swung again, clipping his shoulders and sending him tumbling.
Pain screamed through his body. But beneath it, something else burned. Anger. Fear. Power .
Zeke roared ,pushing both palms forward. This time the bolt wasn't a stray spark - it was a torrent, a controlled river of energy that blasted the crucible back into the wall, cracking its armor.
The suit staggered , Zeke stood, panting, electricity dancing across his arms.
"Not... So... random... now," he gasped.
Maya's jaw dropped . Cadmen , for once, looked genuinely impressed.
The crucible powered down, smoke hissing from its joints.
Cadmen nodded slowly. "Maybe... just maybe.. you won't die after all."
The shadow watching
But far across town, in the wreckage of last night's Warehouse, Harbinger tilted his head. His circuitry pulsed brightly, as though, he'd just felt the ripple of Zeke's breakdown. And for the first time, he spoke.
"Soon."