A woman stepped out of the pod this time. She steadied herself against the rim, eyes adjusting to the brightness of the lab. "C-02 can you hear me clearly?, how do you feel?". She flexed her hands, stretching backwards before answering "yes, I feel good….i feel like I have all this power tightening in me, ready to explode..". "That must feel great, see that? Lift it" Percy said, gesturing toward the weighted steel block positioned at the center of the testing area, It weighed close to a ton. She crouched slightly, slid her hands beneath it, and lifted. The force of her feet leaving a dent. "Set it down." Percy made a note before asking "did you try to use your muscles to lift? Or all your body? Try focusing and directing that 'power' towards your arms". The woman looked at her hands squeezing them to het a feel while nodding. She lifted it again except this time, there was no dent. She looked surprised, more like she controlled It without causing a dent on the surface, Percy made a note.
C-03 was another female, Slim build, she looked Quiet. She was placed a few feet away from multiple automatic golf ball launchers lined up. "Stacy, is it? I'm not quite sure how your powers will work or how they do work but the golf launchers in front of you will fire at random first then slowly increase speed " Percy informed. She nodded slowly…then the first round fired. She shifted her body, the ball missed but the next one came almost immediately, she shifted again. Nimble this time, moving as if she had no weight. "Percy was inspecting her closely, he clicked a button and a launcher fired behind her, without turning around she still managed to dodge it which confirmed what Percy thought. "Seems like you have Abit of foresight, how far into the future you can see is what I'm not sure of" he said to her as she kept pacing through the incoming golf balls.
————————————————-
The testing went on for a while as they went through the remaining 7 constructs. They weren't identical, they had different powers but they were all stable, the first set of successful constructs. Percy reviewed the compiled results. He was sure he was ready to report back to the board."Prepare the report," he said. He finally put a conference through to the board "All 10 constructs are stable, they have control over their powers" Percy said "And behavior??" "The Nbl hasn't shown any signs of degradation or fault whatsoever And besides that, they seem cooperative."
A brief pause before a member of the board finally said "There's a new facility that's just become operational which is good timing, we'll be moving them there " one of them said. "We'll be Transferring them today since they'll be no need for any delay, They'll begin future training but first they need to be registered with AHQ and take the RARS before settling into the facility." Percy was nodding along as he was glancing down at them through the glass. C-02 — the woman who lifted the steel block — was examining her palms thoughtfully. C-05 stood near the chamber exit, calm despite the frost radiating off him. C-03 leaned against the wall, watching the room like she was accessing everyone or maybe Just shy. "They're my best creation, they'll adapt" Percy said.
————————————————
The RARS building looked like any other government building, it wasn't extremely flashy but you could tell it apart from regular buildings, people walked in and out, Awakeners waiting in line, the Constructs walked in like everyone else.One by one, they were assessed, Power demonstrations, Control checks and other scenarios.
Results were finalized by evening, all 10 of them were rank b.
——
C-01 — Purple Concussive Pulse (Steve) (rank b)
concussive blasts from his hands, pure force.
C-02 — Distributive Super Strength (Chloe) (rank b)
Can redistribute her strength output across limbs. Focused power where needed.
C-03 — Foresight (Stacy) (rank b)
predictive insight in combat or in general, interval unknown.
C-04 — Kinetic Redirection (Jesse) (rank b)
Absorbs incoming force and redirects it or reuses
C-05 — Ice / Frost (Bobby) (rank b)
Control and can influence ice, can also effect the attribute to other things
C-06 — Kinetic Stockpile (Faj) (rank b)
Repeatedly performing a physical motion causing energy that can be stored and released
C-07 — Energy Conversion (Tyler) (rank b)
Converts any force into raw output
C-08 — Sensory Amplification (Jean) (rank b)
Heightens one sense at a time to extreme levels
C-09 — Bio-Acceleration (Alec) (rank b)
Overclocks his body: speed, strength, healing, Pushes past limits but leaves him exhausted after.
C-10 — Repel / Force Push (Mai) (rank b)
Emits outward force to push enemies away.
Can create a short-radius force zone/barrier, keeps people outside- strength of barrier unknown
———
AHQ stood only a few blocks from the RARS', Taller, Glass front, reinforced framing, The Awakeners Headquarters logo sat above the entrance. Inside was organized chaos, screens tracking deployments, names cycling through active missions, agents guiding newly registered Awakeners toward clearance stations, They were midway through final registration when alarms cut through the building. Red banners lit up across the main display.
ACTIVE INCIDENT — DISTRICT 12 PLAZA
"Rogue Awakeners confirmed. Two hostiles and…."NCA:H." An agent nearby muttered, "NCA… great." ( The NCA — Non-Compliant Awakeners, Unregistered or defected. Usually unstable. Usually violent.) Ranks flashed on screen: NCA:Rank H, NCA: Rank H, NCA:Rank D. Location feed appeared —District 12 transit plaza. Civilian dense area. Civilians running. Concrete ruptured. One rogue Awakener tearing apart vehicles like scrap. Steve looked at the screen first. "I can handle it." Chloe chimed in also "I'm here also, I can help" An AHQ officer stepped in. "You're newly registered. Deployment authorization hasn't—" "we're both rank b, I'm sure I don't need to speak more on that" Steve said, his look getting intense. The officer paused before finally stepping aside, "you know where they are" Steve nodded as he was walking towards the exit while Chloe was following behind him. Steve pushed through the glass doors of AHQ and stepped out onto the street. Chloe followed right behind him. Neither of them said anything, they weren't really familiar with each other to begin with. "The plaza isn't far from here" Chloe muttered to herself as she began crouching and gathering strength to her calves, the ground beneath her trembling before erupting as she lept scaling the building in front of her. "I didn't even expect that to work, but I'm glad it did"Chloe thought to herself. Steve stepped back with surprise and somewhat shock on his face "she can do that??!!"
Inside AHQ, the large display continued broadcasting the situation live. The plaza looked worse now. Cars overturned. Pavement split open. Civilians running in every direction. Stacy stood still, watching before taking out her phone to call Percy, He answered quickly. "I assume you're calling about what's happening at District 12 plaza." "Steve I think and a blonde haired lady left to engage already, I think"Stacy said calmly. "Blonde hair…must be Chloe" Percy speculated "Two Rank H NCA and one Rank D" Percy sighed before continuing "what about the others? Has anyone else made a move to leave?" "No, so far everyone else has made a move and I don't think anyone will in a while." "Okay, thank you for the report Stacy, update me if anything else later."
—————————————————-
Percy sat back slightly before opening a secure line to the board. A huge screen lit up across Percy as the members of the board were displayed across it. Before Percy could speak, a member started "The district 12 plaza isn't far from the AHQ building, so I assume you're updating about this" the member asks almost confidently "yes, Stacy called me to report it. Apparently Steve and Chloe left to enga-" before he could finish, the man displayed the largest on screen interrupted "Steve and Chloe?" "C-01 and C-02…." Percy replied. "Let's see how they play this out" with that, the man ended the line.
—————————————————-
Back at AHQ, the remaining constructs were still watching the broadcast. Alec crossed his arms."Those two should be there by now but against Two Rank H?" he muttered. "The Rank D might not be as strong but he will certainly be difficult as-well." Bobby was watching the broadcast intently "That man went first, he might be trying to cement his position as someone who steps up and make the others think of him as the leader, and I won't stand for that or let alone him be leader" he said clenching his fist causing the ice radiating off him to be more intense "but then again if anything I think it'll be up to the board or 'creator' to choose a leader." Jesse who was near him felt a chill and instinctively turned towards the source, she shot him a dirty look before fixating her eyes back on the screen. Jean, even though she wasn't near him could hear Bobby's rant by amplifying her hearing just enough it up.
Mai looked uneasy. "That area will definitely be packed with people, even if I wanted to help-" while muttering to herself she was cutoff by Alec "You might not get there fast enough. that's what you were about to say, wasn't it?" She stared back with a blank expression befoe replying "shouldn't we do something, aren't we like them? We were mad in a sense…I think to combat them" "what else would we use these powers for if not that" faj interrupted as he closed in on them stretching his arms slightly. "I do agree we should do something but no one else except those two from before has made a move, but I say screw it. Let's do what we want, they can wait around trying to assess each other" Alec finished mockingly "if you do want to help, I think there's a way I can get us there quick enough, my powers essentially makes me a superhuman, or so I was told and from the test rank assessments earlier I was lightly pacing at 50 mph, I'd say that's faster than any human"
Alec led them outside "I should be able to carry….." looking at Mai expecting her to introduce herself "oh, you can call me Mai" "I should be able to carry Mai but I don't know about you" he looked at faj "oh don't worry about me, I can get there myself and my name's faj" "I'm Alec" Alec replied as they shook hands. Mai climbed onto Alec's back "the plaza is about 1.2miles away I think, I should be able to get there in a minute and some seconds and also beyond what I said earlier about my powers, it also lets me push my body to the peak of human limit and beyond to a point but anything past the edge I don't know yet since I don't actually know my limit, but since I'm a superhuman, it's safe to say it's more than most. I've been wanting to test it out as well" "so you're banking my safety and probably yours on testing your limit?" Mia said with an almost confused look. "Well we'll just have to see, hold on tight" Alec said as he took off, kicking up the concrete road.
—————————————————-
Across the city, in a workshop filled with scattered equipment and half-assembled devices, a television mounted to the wall was broadcasting the same emergency coverage."Breaking news: Rogue Awakeners confirmed in District 12 plaza. Authorities have confirmed two high-rank NCAs are involved—" Evan was leaning against a workbench staring at the broadcast intensely. The broadcast was showing the collapsing plaza, Then a purple blast exploded across the screen as Steve intercepted a flying vehicle sending it into a nearby building and causing it to cave in. Beric, one of the men in the workshop looked up. "Look at that. Heroes again." He shook his head. "Every time Awakeners fight, the whole city pays for it." The broadcast showed more destruction in the plaza, people screaming and running away "they didn't even bother clearing out everyone before engaging" jones, the other man in the workshop said before continuing "Do you know what happened to my sister? It was the same day he lost his family, we both lost someone precious to us that day, I met him at a bar, where he was 'preaching' about the so called heroes" he said pointing to Evan. Evan was still staring at the television intensely as the news camera shook from another impact, Another crash echoed from the broadcast. Evan turned away from the TV and walked back towards the workbench the 2 men were leaning on. "Every time they fight they think they're protecting people but they end up doing more damage" He picked up an assembled set of titanium spinal plates sitting on the workbench.The engineer, beric folded his arms. "So we're doing this?"Evan looked down for a moment while fondling the plates, Then he nodded "Yes." beric sighed slightly. "Once we start, there's no going back." Evan placed the spinal plates back onto the workbench. "I know." He looked at both of them. "It's time to move forward with the plan."