Greg didn’t waste anytime. As soon as he’d turned to face his audience he flipped the mental switch that would activate his power. Five of what look like mini solar-eclipses faded into existence around him. Unlike in the meeting room, however, these were significantly larger, about the size of baseballs.
“This is my power, the Feds called it ‘Energy Construct Manipulation’. Which basically means that the energy I’m using is unnatural and comes in solid form.”, Greg said nonchalantly as he waved his hand, making the orbs around him expand outwards a few meters.
This intrigued every one of the team who hadn’t seen his power before, not least of all Shane. Supers that can create energy constructs that emit light brought up…. interesting childhood memories for him.
Shane took especial interest in the motion more than the power however; It could mean that Greg’s power worked similar to his. Although he could manipulate shadows through mental effort alone, hand gestures helped greatly for bigger displays of power. Displays like the killing technique he’d demonstrated during Intramurals. But if Greg needed one just to move his orbs then it could be a weakness in the field.
“Alright, it’s certainly eye-catching, but what can you do with them?”, Jack promoted.
Greg lifted one finger in response, “I can whip them around about as fast as an average sniper bullet. I say ‘average’ because It can be faster or slower based on my concentration.” And just like that he has them whirling around him in a rotating blur. “And my control over them is nothing to sneeze at either.”, the orbs stopped their irregular orbit and went through a series of complex patterns and shapes. From a simple pentagram to an infinity sign, “They can be all physical force, so hot it gives plasma a run for its money, or a mix of both. If you want to get a sense of how much damage I can do I’ll need some targets.” He finished and then made a show of scanning the room for anything he could destroy without consequence.
“No, that won’t be necessary, we can get a feel for what kind of damage you can do tomorrow. But thank you for asking at least. It’s more than I did when I first got here.”, Jack replied quickly upon recognizing the look in the young man’s eyes. “Now; is damage all you can do or do you have any other abilities we should know about?”
“As a matter of fact, there is.”, Greg’s eyes narrowed in concentration and four orbs split off from the rest and positioned themselves in the shape of a square. Not even a second later all four flared briefly before a translucent golden barrier popped into existence in that shape. “I found out I could do this while I was taking Focus in my second year.”, the shield orbited and spun around him at impressive speed, but not as fast as the orbs could move on their own. “It can block just about as much force and heat as I can dish out, which is a damn lot.”.
Hugh breathed a mental sigh of relief that the kid hadn’t called it, “Damn near invincible”, like when they had first met.
“Alrighty then, just a few utility questions before we move on to Shane. If you’ve got as much crowd-control potential as I’ve been told then you’ll be invaluable when dealing with riots.”, Jack said.
“What would ya like to know?”, Greg prompted.
“How many orbs and shields can you summon and adequately control at once, how long can you maintain your constructs, and are you immune to or have any auxiliary abilities because of your powers?”, Jack rattled off the list of questions quickly and with a practiced tone.
“I can keep good control of twenty orbs If I push it, and can do six good shields with them all. They stay around indefinitely until I dismiss them or they’re destroyed. And, sorry to say, but I’ve got no other special abilities like the two shifters over there.”, he waved his hand with mock disdain toward the two young ladies. “The orbs can’t hurt me though; they become basically inert if they come into skin contact with me.”
“Not half bad. We’ll have the shooting range up and ready for you by tomorrow morning. Trust me, the bots will make the wait well worth it.”, Jack turned his attention toward Shane. “Get on down their kid, we need to wrap this up soon.”
Shane and Greg passed each other as they switched places, the former eyeing the black-haired young man with interest.
“You were right in saying that my power would be the least complicated of the bunch.”, Shane stood, back straight and posture relaxed, as he talked to them. “And unlike Greg’s power it’s only really good for pure offense.”, the sclera of his eyes turned pitch black and every shadow in the room rose from their surfaces and surged toward him with terrifying speed, even those of the people sitting down on the bleachers. Everyone, save for Spectrum, jumped slightly from the sudden movement coming from every direction.
The shadows stopped a mere few feet away from him, spinning around in a blurry whirlwind before settling into a veritable veritable sea of blades, twisting shadows, and dark tendrils.
“It’s shadow manipulation by the way.”, Shane smiled as he saw their slightly stunned expressions. He knew the display made him look like his sister, but sometimes it really did pay to show-off a little.
Good chapter. A few spelling and\or grammar errors. First line, should be Greg didn’t waste time, not waist. Not sure if you meant to use the word muh instead of my where you say muh concentration , maybe that’s a way to confer an accent or way of speaking? Also in paragraph 13 you use their instead of there, for get on down there kid. There are a couple places where you could consider some things as grammar errors, or creative ways of saying things so it’s more of a preference at that point. Good work, I look forward to Future updates.
You are correct on all accounts: That was a way to confer his accent.
I’ll be sure to give the chapter another look over in order to follow your last piece of advice.