Hero-Grey Ghost: Heritage Incarnate

As Grey marched into the training center, several other students were already sparring with teachers, other students, and even mechanical sparring trainers. However, Grey's training wasn't on display for the others to see. When Grey applied, he was listed as a "useless class" high school student. However, this was before even the number one hero in the world, who just so happened to be the guest star of the Benning High School's battle tournament, took interest in the twenty-four-year-old hero and his power. 

There was a lot of speculation as to what his power was, but nobody had even heard him name it. Nobody except a retired pro-hero who was training him. "Good Afternoon, Grey Ghost." Said the retired pro. Grey nodded, "Good Afternoon to you too, Surge-Splitter." 

The old pro had stretched before Grey arrived, so the match instantly began. Surge-Splitter closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. His fist aimed at Grey's face, but with a frightening display of skill, Grey countered the punch. Once Surge-Splitter emerged from the cloud of dust, Grey blitzed at him with frightening levels of speed after muttering, "Damnatio Memoriae... Charlie Wiggins & John Henry." Suddenly, Grey Ghost's upper body became charged with crimson-red luminescent energy, while his lower body became charged with lightning-blue energy. The two then exchanged a series of heavy-hitting blows, all of which strong enough to shake the sealed-off room they were in. After about fifteen minutes of back-and-forth shockwave blows, Grey lunged at Surge-Splitter, energy coursing through his veins, ready to land a punch. Surge-Splitter panicked, "Crap, he's too close to dodge... gotta block this..."

However, just before the Grey Ghost's attack landed, Grey substituted one of the names he'd called out. "Wiggins out, R.W. Williams & the Duchess Arlene... engage." The blue energy evaporated into thin air, and a dandelion-yellow energy appeared. Both the red and yellow energies began to instantly mingle, then came the fist's contact. Grey's dually-charged fist slams into the retired pro-hero as Grey yells out the name of this move, "RED-STEEL WEPS!".

Now, in addition to the substitution before Grey's fist made contact, the kinetic mask went to work. It hard-spiked the level of "Kerosene-X", the orange chemical from earlier, to a bloodstream concentrate level of one hundred-ninety percent. It would later become known to Grey that this high-level spike was due to the use of WEPS or War-Emergency-Power, referring to the aircraft known as Duchess Arlene's ability to push its engine well past one hundred percent for a limited time. In other words, Grey had punched the retired pro with one hundred-ninety percent of both his strength and that of the historical ghosts of John Henry, the legendary Steel-Driver, and R.W. Williams, Tuskegee Pilot of the P-51 Mustang, the Duchess Arlene.

However, it wasn't the punch that surprised the both of them... it was the aftermath. Surge-Splitter did his best to tank the punch, but his efforts weren't remotely even enough to stop the punch. Surge-Splitter was set through the wall of the off-limits training facility, through the main training center, and planted into a crater, over five hundred feet away from that building. Everyone who'd been training immediately rushed to see who'd caused the entire building to shake with such force. On one side, there lay Surge-Splitter in his crater, alive and breathing, but too beat up to keep going. On the other... "No way that history nerd could do that to Surge... Right?" 

However, Grey had no interest in tolerating the variety of disparaging comments any longer. He cracked his neck and then raised his fists. "Why don't you come and see what I can do... up close and personal." 

The other students backed away from the lone jock, a friend of Lennox's, as the seemingly quiet nerd marched through the intense dust and debris. His footfalls commanded the ever-rising tension of the room. However, another presence entered the room and filled it with concern. "Grey, come with me. We must get Surge-Splitter checked out by the nurse." Ordered the number one, globally recognized pro-hero, Tsar Fusion. Grey powered down the energy arcing from his body and escorted Surge to the nurse's office. 

"Everyone else, go get cleaned up. K.P. University's New-Heroes-Expo is in two hours, and I expect to see all of you there. Get modifications made, alterations, what have you, but you will all be there in costume. We Pros, tonight, will pick sidekicks and paper pushers from the lot of you new heroes." Tsar waves to them and says one last thing before heading to see Surge. "Make a good impression, or you'll never succeed in our world... the Pro-Hero World." 

After he left the students, he made a B-line not for the nurse's office, but for Grey who'd dropped off Surge and was heading to the development wing. However, he never made it as Tsar appeared directly in his path and stopped him, in his battle stance.

"You are going to tell me exactly how you beat Surge... or I'll fuse your body and the concrete floor here into one dead new hero. Oh, and don't bother lying, I have ways to tell if you are."