Chương 17: R&R Ch. 17 — Dog and Pony Show

To the roars of the cheering crowd, Nicholas and Jasmine stepped out of the waiting room in their full hero attire. Nicholas, unprepared for what was to come, balked at the sound of them chanting Retort and Retribution. Their names. His had been a no brainer, it wasn't like he had a frontrunner for a name, and the fact it had come from the verbal beat down of that prick had amused him highly. So Retort worked well for his purposes.

Jasmine had yet to explain why she went with the name Retribution, but he supposed it fit her even if he didn't understand it fully. As they reached the center stage, Nicholas raised his hand and gave them all a wave. They had gotten some preparation for this, most of it boiling down to don't be someone you're not. The viewers will learn eventually. And Jasmine had told him to just go with the man of few words, heart of gold look. That wasn't what he considered himself to be, but that was fine.

He preferred not talking, and that preference had only grown as his words gained the power to shape reality. Jasmine, on the other hand, flew around to the cheers of the crowds as she pulled out little bombs that did little more than explode into colored smoke. Either way, they ate it up, as Nicholas could feel power flowing into him. Not everyone here would have been part of the pool that was his belief, but there was something tangible about the hero being in front of you and in costume that made you believe.

He was sure he wasn't getting half of the belief Jasmine was gaining, but he had a surprise prepared for them if they got to the meet and greet afterwards. That wouldn't be unveiled for hours, though he couldn't risk running on empty in the middle of the fight, so he would wait. The other supers didn't get nearly the response, but that was intentional. The lowest-rated supers in their class were on the same stage as Nicholas and Jasmine. Ostensibly so that they got the best chance to be seen.

Nicholas and Jasmine had both agreed privately that it was stupid. There was no chance that they would get more view time because they were next to them. Maybe it worked that way sometimes, but not in this case. The scenario was perfectly tailored for them. And at this point, they were the best supers by miles as they continued to grow.

"You ready?" Jasmine asked through the earpiece they were both wearing. She had made them recently. Her first attempt at a communication device had backfired spectacularly, knocking out both of them. So she had gone back to the drawing board and landed on these, which were more a magical version of regular means to communicate than something like a true telepathy relay. Maybe they would go back to it, but not yet.

It still gave them a way to communicate, and Nicholas didn't have to worry about accidentally saying something he shouldn't. While there was no two-way telepathic connection, either party could send messages by thinking. The other just heard it as speech.

"Ready," Nicholas said as he continued to smile and wave.

"I'll do the opening move as planned, so support me."

"Always." He tried to ignore the feeling in his soul. Ten days wasn't enough time to recover fully, and using his power was like a kick to the teeth for words he was familiar with. Most of it would rely on Jasmine. But to the world, they had to pretend he was fine, just like last week, even though the idea of using his power had almost made him vomit. He was better now. It wouldn't be too hard to manage this. He hoped. The Beyonders would be stronger than what they had fought the first time, but not by much.

This was supposed to be a show after all. Even though he wanted to fight against the system, today was his first chance to save lives. Even if it was because of the powers that be and the system they endorse that made it so. It made him wary. He got it. They needed to garner belief and karma safely so they could see. Protect the new and weak. It made sense. But how far did that stretch? With Astra watching, just how close to real danger would people be? Nicholas laughed internally while keeping his exterior cold.

And despite feeling that he was forced to dance along.

"When we reach the peak, we will stop this, right?" Nicholas sent to Jasmine.

"For sure." Nicholas nodded. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. It wasn't wrong to participate in a system if it was the only option you had. They just had to change it once they could. He just wasn't sure how. Jasmine touched down next to him and gently touched his arm.

"Ready?" She asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. That annoyed him. That was the other part of the soul damage he had been struggling with. On top of feeling empty and a worsening of his usual symptoms of depression, it kept making him lose track. Jasmine was helping a lot with all fronts, but it still bothered him that he was struggling with his grip on reality. Though more than that, his guilt about not doing better to help her own soul damage hurt even more.

But now that he had firsthand knowledge of what it was like, it gave him a lot of opportunity to help.

"Let's do this," Nicholas said, firming his will as he looked out to where the snarling Beyonders were held in cages. It wouldn't be long. A minute at most. Jasmine was only going to touch down when it was crunch time.

"Alright, ready for the buff," Jasmine said, striding forward as energy crackled along her hammer and armor, overclocking it to the highest extreme they could without breaking it. He was going to push it farther. As the gates were raised, Nicholas spoke his word warping reality." Maximize" Jasmine shot off like a bullet, power rippling through her as she raised her hammer for a massive strike as gravity pulled all of her enemies to her.

Monsters flew to meet her challenge, some of them with flight of their own and some because the warping gravity and force caused the lighter ones to fly. For Nicholas's part, he continued pouring power into his working. His soul didn't really struggle to maintain power, just switching it constantly, which had made the finalization of his first buffing word fortuitous. With it, he could help the team without straining his soul too much.

"Twelve of them have escaped your range from the gate you attacked," Nicholas relayed as he tracked the battlefield. The Beyonders were running for the civilians, and the civilians cheered in delight. They wanted the danger of being saved by one of the newest heroes. For the first time, Nicholas wondered if it had been a mistake to crush their peers at every opportunity. This could very well be one of the worst combat-trained classes the academies have ever had, and he was definitely a factor.

"I should be cleaned up here soon; how long till you have to switch?" Jasmine asked as her hammer spun through the air, crackling with green lightning that launched any who touched it into the sky. Nicholas did some quick mental math to figure out how much time he had before subtracting a few extra seconds to increase his wiggle room.

"Thirty seconds, then I'm switching to defense," Nicholas relayed. Jasmine moved faster, pushing her armor to its limit to pull out all the power she could as her soul burned. She was going to be in this state for another thirty seconds. She would crush everything she could and make it so Nicholas didn't have to do the work all on his own. Jasmine locked eyes with the biggest Beyonder she could feel with her nascent senses.

It wouldn't be until the next tier that she could actually feel them fully, but she was close, close enough to get a taste, and it wasn't hard to feel something that felt stronger than her. The boss, so to speak.

"Fifteen seconds," Nicholas called.

"I'm going for the big one, whatever you have give it to me!" Jasmine called, soaring through the sky. Energy poured into her, and Jasmine could tell she was processing better. Her whole body sang to her as she twisted around lances of energy, as she continued to build power. She wasn't sure if Nicholas knew, but maximize didn't just increase the power of her hammer and armor. It maximized everything positive about the target.

She was stronger, faster, learned quicker, and had the absolute limit of her potential in this state. A Beyonder only a tier above her at best stood no chance. With the wrath of an angry god, she brought her hammer down to bear as she plummeted onto the head of the giant bear like Beyonder. The beast had enough speed to react, but not enough to save it from the strike. Though she imagined it would take a crushed shoulder over skull any day. Not that it changed anything.

Hammer spinning, she activated the power in her armor, dragging the beast to the ground. For lighter enemies, it was usually more effective to shoot them up, but with something this big, it would make her lose a lot of speed.

"I've got ten seconds, bear," Jasmine said before racing forward. As it swiped through the air, she moved to the side of its busted arm, peppering its flank with blows, each one strong enough to shatter concrete. She didn't have time to play or have fun; she needed to break it. Gravity and force wove together, giving her power considerable to a strongman. Jasmine danced like an acrobat as she brought down the beast. Three seconds. That's what she had left. It had to be enough.

As her hammer crushed the skull, she felt nausea hit her as power left her all at once. Her own power, which she had been burning bright, was low; the power Nicholas had been giving her was gone. She panted that had been her hardest fight to date, even if she was unharmed. She could still fly, though, which meant she had a job to do. Amber light blazed as she pulled out two satchels before flying into the sky. She couldn't switch to her lone wanderer gear, which meant she wasn't packing nearly the punch she could.

There was something to be said about her flying around dropping explosives on the enemies; however, that suited her just fine." Barrier" Jasmine watched as the silver barrier formed interlocking panels just as the Beyonders got close to the stands. There Nicholas stood, hand outstretched, as power poured off him in visible waves to keep the barrier reinforced. She wished he could use that level of power to buff her, but they had found maximizing didn't work as just an additional bonus.

It was the maximum she could do. So after a certain point, he couldn't add power. The barrier, though? That could handle as much as he could give it, though she knew he was most likely already beginning to bleed from the eyes as he channeled more power at once than anyone at their rank should. If he was going to do that, she wouldn't stop either. Riding on her hammer like it was a surfboard, Jasmine dropped bombs down upon their enemies, cackling in delight as the explosions rocked the battlefield.

Part of her was still mad at the setup to put actual people in danger so that they would get the karma needed to rank up? There was something fundamentally wrong about it. Wasn't the hero system meant so that they could protect people? Not put their lives in danger? The cheers helped. She could feel her power grow, and there was a part of her that wanted to say that it was all worth it. The ends justify the means, and if they risk their lives, now she would protect more in the future.

Besides, they weren't actually in danger. She and Nicholas would handle this even if they were both leaking their brains by the time they were done. No. Jasmine refused to let that be her truth. She would not be like that. She was going to be the hero she wanted to be. Deep in her soul, a doorway formed.