Grind Part 1

When you have eyes as well as mine, you tend to notice specific patterns. We, humans, are habitual creatures after all; even when we make a change, base routines usually influence them, which means that I'm the only one in the world that probably knows The Cons better than they know themselves.

This means I know that while Gum is the one that gets the proverbial "ball" rolling, Eternus is the one that keeps it gyrating. This is why despite our years of lethargy, we've finally taken the effort to train both our bodies and minds as we plan our campaign of crime on the middle levels of Krimo for the new year.

Since in this superhuman society, we have to work harder than anyone else to do what comes naturally for others. Because we are the worst of the worst, and we may no longer want to be the worst. And if I don't figure out this recent mutation of my ability, I might "frag" any chance I have to call myself one of The Cons.

This dilemma amassed every vision in my mind, especially when there were obvious reminders and deadlines all around me. Finally, with my lucky early morning explosion, I came in early for once to eat my breakfast at a relatively safe distance. From there, I was able to fully witness what quickly became the new clockwork of my teammates.

On one end of the living room, Eternus and Fury entered in a frequent frenzy of frenetic fighting. Accounting for the obvious risk of such a decision, Fury wore a heavy set of mix-matched sparring gear that we took from various scrapyards. Yet even with her obvious hesitation and heavy gear, she was learning fast as she unleashed hearty hook after hook against an Eternus who was putting everything into evasion. Both seemed to get more accurate by the action.

This pattern went on for half a minute straight, and just as Eternus was about to unleash a counter-attack upon the umpteenth right hook, Fury quickly unveiled an expert feint, closing in the last second. Then delivered a split-second uppercut to his jaw with her other hand!

Shock and surprise infected all 3 of us as Eternus started to stumble back more from dumbfoundedness than actual pain. Fury was about to engage in another set of her worriedly trademark apologies, but Eternus interrupted her with a single raised finger before she could even begin. A hint of mental compensation and frustration took over his face as he took a kinder tone to answer Fury's obvious caution.

"What did we say about apologies, Fury," he said as he quickly got back up.

With that mental note taken, Fury's acting ability resurfaced while she put on another mask. Through my interested eyes, I saw dozens of hidden microexpressions come alive like fireworks as Fury uncomfortably stretched her throat to perform something that I was still trying to get used to.

"The only thing I'm sorry for is not hitting your pansy-ass sooner and harder! Mess up a second time, and I swear I'll knock you into next week!" she said in a threateningly gruff manner.

With that, Eternus gave a small approving smirk all while saying.

"Seems we both got something to work on," he said as he readied his fighting stance once again.

Off to the side, a very different type of training took place. Our arsenal of gadgets and gizmos has skyrocketed in recent weeks between our newly acquired cash and new reputation. However, tests, calculations, and predictions can only get you so far. And Gum was more than willing to test out all of Port's inventions.

In a scene incredibly congruent to a Western Gum and Port stared with arms raised in a shootout for the ages. Then, using a mad combination of both a master remote control and game console, Port puppeteered two drones that quickly circled Gum while firing speeding bolas.

Under the heat of said fire, Gum once again reacted towards the seemingly umpteenth round, constricting her movements just enough to either dodge when needed or divert the course just enough. And while the rampant regiment gave Gum all the sweat she required, her stamina quickly started to suffer.

The drones swooped in and fired off each bola consecutively in a combined pincer attack. With that, Gum launched herself in a proactive role, dodging most of the shots and giving her just enough time to shoot out some strands from her fingertips. Once these strands latched onto the drone to the right, Gum collected just enough of her waning strength to throw the drones into each other!

Unfortunately, despite the dynamics of the move, Gum was still too slow to stop the last fried shot from the left drone. As a result, by the time they destroyed both, she got clocked in the head by said projectile! Alarmed, Port and I were about to check to see if she was okay. However, just about as soon as she fell, Gum got back up to reassure both of us.

"I'm fine; my pride is honestly getting more hurt than anything; let's go another round," she said with a clear bump on her head.

"Believe me, I would if I could, just for the payback alone. But you just about wrecked everything I have, so why don't you take five. It's clear I still got some work to do," she said while dismissively walking off and salvaging the pieces.

Despite getting up with a hissing pain and getting her training interrupted, Gum still managed to carry herself with a small sense of pride in the form of a small smirk. That one motion was more than enough to remind me of my current situation. Because all my life, I never had anything to take pride in. I never got the chance to while trapped in my former home.

And while I've always valued silence above all else, it was mainly due to finding peace in my complacency. However, ever since that fight with Knuckle and Quill, that peace has escaped me because, for the first time amongst thousands of others, my power behaved in a way that I didn't predict, and it felt amazing. Because for the most fleeting of moments: I had a choice again.

That, for once, the concussive burst worked in my favor. However, every day since then has made me hypothesize that the incident may have been nothing more than an insignificant exception to the blatant fact. Try as I might, it seems that I can't replicate the event, which means that once again, I was silent, sterile, and stagnant. At the same time, the rest of my comrades seemed to take control of their fate. Well, all but one, it seems.