Chapter 53 : On the road to success

[Author note : Visit my Patréon page to read ahead and more ! Search for Cathbel. That's it ! Enjoy !]

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The TA (Teen Army) was overseen by Winston and Mel mostly, with Solstice, Aaron and Kid Flash leading them in their training. The latter was the most exuberant of the group, of course, followed closely by the Indian girl. Aaron was dead last, only motivated when angry thinking about his capture, imprisonment or treatment. Even the mention of getting back to his family didn't really motivate him.

Needless to say, this worried his handlers. Winston and Mel felt like he was on the cusp of turning into a villain… Or rather, in the case of a wizard like him, going 'Dark'. As was usual for the squib, he left the 'annoying parts' of the Superhero life to his children. In this case, making sure these kids stayed safe and grew stronger for their objective.

Meanwhile, he had gotten back to his smithing training. According to Hephaestus, his godly teacher, Ned wasn't far from being able to forge Eighth Metal. So, of course, he devoted his every waking moment to this particular task. What did a bunch of snot-nosed brats have to do with him (even though he was barely a few years older than them…) ? With Eighth Metal, he felt like he would truly join the ranks of powerhouses like Wonder Woman and Superman ! He couldn't waste time now, no matter how noble or just the goal of taking down N.O.W.H.E.R.E. was. Besides, most of the kids were just out there for revenge anyway…

Besides, attacking and dismantling the organization would be easier once he had mastered the way to smith Eighth Metal. Not right away, since smithing and enchanting were two different disciplines, and he also had to figure out how to do that… It shouldn't be much different but perhaps, a Godly metal needed Godly runes ? Wizarding ones, the ones he used mostly, might not do the trick. That said, they might. Among his numerous researches, the study of ancient runes had helped greatly. However, unlike in schools where the study was broad and skin-deep, he had pushed it in-depths. Gathering books on the subject from every country he could, translating them to the best of his abilities, Ned used not only the ancient Wizarding runes (those studied in Hogwarts), but those of the Celts, Egyptians, Scandinavian, even Asians, Hebraic and Aramaic ! He thought that maybe, the last two might be usable…

Of course, his knowledge was neither complete, nor was it necessarily accurate. Between the translations, and the possibly flawed understanding of the original authors, Ned had discovered quite a few runes that either didn't work or worked differently than what he expected.

It was not really a problem however. Quite the contrary, as Ned always enjoyed a good puzzle from time to time, and working with runes or enchanting in general was just that, if a bit more complicated.

Ned was in the personal smithy offered by his teacher for the time of his apprenticeship, in Sicily, near the heart of a volcano. In this particular place, Ned knew that the leylines of the Earth converged (in fact, in most volcanos it was the case), allowing for the smith to imbue a greater deal of magic that would have been normally possible in other places. This concentration of magic was actually one of the prerequisite to create Eighth Metal : a high and pure concentration of magic. That, and the spark of Divinity present here…

Those two things made it difficult, if not outright impossible for Ned to modernize the forging of Eighth Metal… For now ! He had… ideas and theories to try out. But that would wait until later. For now, he still had to master the actual process of forging Eighth Metal.

Ned was hammering a large round and slightly curve sheet of what he hoped would become a shield, preferably made of the Divine Metal. The reason why he decided on a shield was rather simple… He already had all the weapons he would ever need installed on his armors ! Sure, he could and would upgrade them once he was confident in his forging… However, right now, he wanted to experiment with an idea he had for a shield.

Truth be told, it was mostly inspired by Captain America's indestructible shield, with the idea that it should also protect against the Killing Curse or any instant death effect. The indestructible part couldn't be overlooked however… After all, what would be the point of protecting against the Killing Curse if a rock thrown slightly powerfully could dent or even pierce his mighty shield ? In addition to this, he also had another few ideas to incorporated for when it was completed.

So, Ned continued to work hard, most of his body soaked in sweat because of the heat and efforts he exerted. However, the manic gleam in his eyes only intensified as he himself felt that he was getting closer and closer to reach one of his many self-imposed goals. With this, very soon, he wouldn't have to fear (as much) facing off against powerhouses like Circe and Brainiac. With this, most villains would come to fear him…

* * * * *

Robin and Bunker had come to a truce. Not that the young vigilante trusted any of what the young Mexican was selling… The coincidence was just to big for him to swallow the story as is. According to him, Miguel had snuck on-board this train to immigrate to the US… The same train he and Celine had infiltrated themselves to escape from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (before the girl started to turn the cargo container into a giant spider house). Yeah… No, he wasn't buying it !

However, as long as 'Bunker' didn't reveal himself one of the organizations' goon, he would leave it alone. In any case, Robin was expecting two things from the young Mexican. One, he was simply sent to spy on him… It was safe to assume that, with his self-appointed mission to help the young Metahuman that N.O.W.H.E.R.E. was after, he would come to meet quite a few of them… Sending someone to infiltrate his inner circle was the smart thing to do.

Or, Bunker could simply be waiting for Robin to drop his guard, before deciding to drop him and kidnap his insectoid friend. Well… Friend might be to good a word. Celine hadn't talked much since the events from the sewers. When she had spun her cocoon, Robin wasn't even sure that she was truly conscious.

So, yeah… For now, Robin would give the teen the benefit of the doubt. However, as soon as he did something shady, he would knock his ass out and leave him right here, alone, in the middle of the Badlands. Good luck finding his way back to civilization after the Boy Wonder has taken every single piece of tech from him… He'd be lucky to even survive out here. They weren't called the Badlands for nothing, after all.

Meanwhile, Miguel had no idea what was going through Robin's mind. The silence had been so awkward and heavy, he felt the need to fill it up with his chatter. An incessant chatter from which Robin could gleam a lot of information… If any of it was true, anyway.

« So, yeah… I've learned English by watching TV shows. You've got some amazing ones in your country, Hermano ! Not that Mexico doesn't have any… We do. But compared to American shows, we're lacking in actors and means. There's this show I love… I don't know if you know it ? It's about three witch sisters discovering their heritage… The story's pretty good, though a little girly-girly and the actresses are pretty too. Not my taste but, hey ! » He smiled a little shyly when he said that. Miguel was gay and although he was usually open about it, people could react pretty strongly when they found out. He really didn't want his idol and possible new friend to start to avoid him…

Suddenly, they felt the train slow down rather forcefully, jolting them toward the front of the train. Robin immediately tensed up, glancing at Bunker from the corner of his eyes as his other senses gathered information about his situation. According to the plan he studied, the train was supposed to pass through quite a few cities and villages, one of which they were scheduled to reach… right about now. Normally, they should have just passed through it. Why were they stopping ?

Miguel wasn't paying attention to the vigilante anymore. If the Mexican kid really was Robin's enemy, he was a pretty crappy one. Or on the contrary, if he was a spy, he was prety good. With his back turned to him and his face pressed up against the metal panel of their freight car, he was utterly and totally open and defenseless.

« Ay, ay, ay ! Madre dios ! It's like Night of the Living Dead, out there… » Miguel commented in a frightened and subdued tone of voice as he was looking through a small hole in the metal panel. Outside, bodies were shambling along, moaning and groaning. Their postures were all wrong, their movements choppy and uncoordinated.

He turned to his new friend, the expert in these kinds of situation and asked, a little panicky :

« What do we do ? »