Bad Beat - Chapter 54 - Light (Patreon)

With barely a flick of his willpower, his power activated.

Gabriel felt the energy traverse through his body, starting from the hidden tank of reserves somewhere inside him, moving through a channel that was there and wasn’t there at the same time. He felt it surge through his body, leaving behind echoes of its passing, before his hand lit up with white light. It started from his palm, then spread to his fingers for a brief moment, before he released the energy and directed it straight forward at a pile of discarded scraps.

A small, misshapen ball of light – or maybe energy – flew straight forward without any deviation or dip in height and slammed into a twisted amalgamation of cans and other food refuse. It sent them flying, further bent and crushed, scattering them across the ground as the noise of the metal echoed around the empty warehouse.

Pretty straightforward.

Nodding to himself, now that the warm-up was done, Gabriel reached into the well of energy inside him and began pulling more and more.

Thankfully, after his run-in with Bombshell, his reserves were topped off. He didn’t think he could have absorbed much more. Hell, sometimes he even felt similar to when he ate just a bit more than his stomach could handle. Not painful, but there was certainly a feeling that something was being stretched to its utmost limit.

Now that he began siphoning off that energy, he could feel that sensation decrease, and a small sigh of relief left his mouth. It was only now, after the feeling vanished, that Gabriel realized how taut his body had been with the energy brimming beneath the surface.

He was pretty sure that if Bombshell had hit him once more that day, he would have exploded if he had tried to absorb the energy contained in her fist.

Still, the stretching of his reserve tank implied that with enough work, he could increase its size. Maybe once it was stretched to its limits, it would stay that way, allowing him to absorb more and more energy.

“Like a muscle, I suppose…” he mumbled as the energy began to gather in his palm.

But all of this was conjecture and simple ideas. Gabriel would have to see if his theories held water. For now, he had to test the destructive potential of the power.

The light on his hand began to grow and grow until it completely swallowed his hand. Strangely, he didn’t feel any heat or any other physical clue that he was using his power. The only feedback he received came from his secondary energy system, aside from the light almost blinding him.

When he felt that his reserves had lost around one percent, and his metaphysical channels were brimming with pulsating energy, he once again targeted the pile of refuse.

There was no sound or wind made by the projectile. He let go of the mental switch holding it in place, and the projectile flew forward at an incredible speed.

The first one had flown like a wibbly-wobbly baseball thrown by someone whose heart wasn’t in the game. This one flew like it had been launched by a machine engineered to fire baseballs as fast and precisely as possible.

Gabriel didn’t even have time to blink before the ball of light smashed into the pile, passed through it, and slammed into the ground. He had aimed slightly downward, and the projectile carved a perfectly circular hole into the concrete floor.

Without making a sound.

Well, aside from the pile collapsing into itself as it lost some of the pieces holding it together.

Ignoring that, he walked around it and squatted down to inspect the hole.

It was circular, angled, and the walls were smooth as butter. It continued for a dozen inches before the power seemingly petered out. The concrete was still missing, but the walls gradually became rougher until the hole finally ended.

“Alright, that’s powerful,” he muttered as he did some rough calculations.

That was, at his best estimate, around one percent of his reserves.

One percent.

And it carved through inches of concrete as if it were air.

Gabriel shuddered.

‘What would have happened if I used that on a person?’ he thought, dread pooling in his stomach.

Standing up and making an effort to ignore Sparky’s repeated requests to fire a few more shots for science, he walked back to his original spot and summoned the same amount of energy to his hand.

Interestingly, as he focused on the process, he could feel the energy move toward his hand just a bit more easily. Not by much, but with his total concentration, it was still noticeable.

As his hand began to glow, he focused on the energy in his palm and considered the possibilities.

His main hope was that he could learn how to shape the energy.

Because while flinging around balls of deadly light was a powerful superpower, it was still quite lame. And very one-dimensional.

Focusing on the energy, Gabriel was heartened to see and feel it become somewhat malleable under his attention.

Briefly concentrating, he waited until the image he wanted was firmly fixed in his mind’s eye before letting the energy fly.

A soundless, elongated blob flew forward, first moving straight, then beginning to wobble. The wobble transformed into a spinning dervish that passed through the pile of trash, erased another part of it, and created a very strange-shaped hole in the ground upon impact.

“Alright. Clearly, I need to practice,” Gabriel muttered.

It took Gabriel several more shots before he could shape the projectile with any confidence. At first, it was simply a rod flying through the air, but then he got a bit creative and started shaping it like an arrow, then as a crescent, and then as a big, cartoony bullet.

He tried a few more shapes, including a giant ball with a mouth and eyes while making waka-waka sounds himself, but aside from that, everything just flew forward and dissipated after eating through a few inches of concrete.

Gabriel nodded to himself as Sparky replayed a best-of montage of her favorite shapes on his screen.

“Transforming is possible; now let’s see if I can do something else with it…” he spoke softly as he once again reached into his slightly diminished energy reserves, the motion and action already almost as natural as breathing.

The energy pooled in his hand, and instead of firing it toward the target, he let it go while keeping hold of it. Or at least, he tried.

The energy seemed to struggle for a moment before slipping through his metaphysical grasp and flying forward, scattering the trash pile even further.

“Damn. Let’s try it again…”

Energy gathered, his willpower shaped it, but it slipped away again, destroying more trash.

“Ugh… This is going to take some time…” he grumbled.

Half an hour later, a small pane of white light hovered in the air in front of him. Beneath his mask, he was perspiring and breathing heavily.

But otherwise, he was grinning.

“Zap me!” he exclaimed.

One of the drones, temporarily relieved of its previous duties, rose into the air and released a small bolt of electricity straight at him.

The electricity zapped through the air and struck the wall of light. Gabriel felt the foreign energy collide with his own, and he almost let it go from the surprise, but he managed to hold it together at the last moment. Even then, the pane of light pulsed slightly and deformed around the edges before his willpower clamped down, forcing it straight again.

“Promising…” he whispered before calling out again. “Again! Don’t stop until it’s destroyed.”

Electricity was released, and he had to focus on keeping the shield in front of him intact.

One zap.

Two.

By the third, he lost his hold, and the pane of light lost its cohesion, turning into a cloud of sparkling white stars for a brief moment before the electricity hit his body. Thankfully, while his armor didn’t protect him from it, his power allowed him to absorb it, very slightly refilling his reserves.

They tried it a few more times until Gabriel managed to hold the shield in front of him without needing to fully focus on maintaining it. Sadly, shaping it still took at least a few seconds, so it was practically useless in a high-stakes, high-speed fight. However, at least he knew it was possible, and with practice, he would eventually improve.

Gauging his reserves, Gabriel spent a few minutes resting, checking in with Sparky, and munching on a dry energy bar while drinking some water. It didn’t refill his energy reserves, but it helped with his hunger.

Finished with that, Gabriel stepped back into the empty space and prepared for the next experiment.

He had already seen that externally, the energy was capable of being shaped, transformed, and directed. Speed was also a variable.

However, it was time to see if he could also do it internally.

“Time to see if I’m a wizard…” Gabriel said with a chuckle.

Focusing on the energy inside him, he summoned it. However, instead of letting it leave his body through the now-familiar channels, he stopped it and let it pool inside his body, but outside his reserves.

He felt it stop flowing as it tried to find purchase on something, before his body erupted into a light show as the power fled, leaving him feeling strangely empty.

Blinking in surprise, Gabriel frowned.

He tried it again, focusing on keeping the energy inside his body. But it seemed determined to either return to his reserves or find a gap in his control and escape his body.

For some time, he tried, but in the end, he had to conclude that the energy was meant for external use only.

Letting out a sad sigh, he vented his frustration by destroying the last remnants of the trash pile.

He spent the rest of the allocated practice time trying to cut down the time needed to summon his shield. By his – well, mostly Sparky’s – calculations, the shield, if he managed to summon it in time, would protect him from at least one bullet.

Granted, it would be counterproductive for stealth, but if somebody was shooting at him, stealth was already out of the picture.

But now, at least, he had a tool to use when he was attacked.

As he was turning to finish up, he had a brainwave.

Summoning another batch of energy into his hand, he let it pool around him, then slowed down the instinct to let it fly and started shaping it. It squirmed in his palm, but torturously slowly, it began to take shape. First a handle, then a short blade.

After five minutes of focusing, he was holding a small sword, more like a pocket knife, made out of dense light.

Grabbing it, he found it felt solid to the touch, but there was an undercurrent of a feeling that at any moment, he could will it to fly forward or explode into twinkling stars of light.

Tightening his hold over the construct, he slowly squatted down, making sure to maintain his focus. A few times, the cohesion of the knife threatened to collapse, but he managed to maintain the shape.

Gabriel took a deep breath, then, with two quick movements, slashed toward the ground.

A satisfied smile appeared on his face as he felt his energy dip slightly. The knife drew more from his reserves, and the concrete vanished where he had slashed.

“Cool…”

Letting the knife in his hand dissipate, he stood up and dusted off his hands. He had learned a lot, but there was one last thing to try.

Gabriel walked to the far wall, next to the giant loading doors, and turned to face the empty space.

Summoning his energy as he raised his hand, he began to channel it. It only took him a second to channel one percent, the highest percentage he had tried so far. Then he easily surpassed it, energy thrumming beneath his skin.

Three percent.

Five.

He could feel his body strain as it tried to keep hold of the energy.

But he still pushed for more

Six.

Seven.

Gabriel could feel his body shake and his ears ring. He had to grab his wrist with his other hand to keep it steady and in the air.

Yet, he continued.

He needed to know.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten percent.

Reaching that amount, he could feel his bones itching, his head throbbing, and he knew without a doubt that if he drew even a drop more, something horrible would happen to him.

The light in front of him was so intense that he couldn’t see anything else.

Barely able to hold it together, he let out a shaky breath, aimed it toward the ground where he had fired all his previous projectiles, and, without shaping it or doing anything else, let it go.

Once again, there was no sound.

Light washed over the warehouse, and by the time he could see again, he was staring dumbfounded. His entire body was drenched in sweat, shaking, and he could feel a migraine coming, but the sight before him was more important.

Taking a shaky step forward, he stared at the giant hole he had just made.

At least thirty feet in diameter, it led deep underground.

Deep enough that he could hear water gurgling and splashing.

“I think… I need to leave…” he muttered as he began to stagger toward the same vent he had entered. “I probably need to practice that more…”

A/N: So here is his power. No internal reinforcement, just absorbing energy and expelling with some control that can improve with training.