Setinel - Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3

Adam, or rather Sentinel, as he needed to get used to referring to himself in costume, looked at the fresh ticket for being out in his costume for the first time. He smirked, “Roll the gold ticket.”

[ROLLING!]

[Thermal Balance, Rare Trait, You are always thermally balanced to be at a comfortable temperature, as long as the temperature isn't hotter than 1000°C or colder than -100°C, your body will always keep an optimal body temperature.]

Sentinel looked at the result of his roll and grinned behind his mask, “Awesome.”

While he wouldn't be able to fly into the sun or anything like that, it was another layer of protection he could enjoy that would help ease his mother's concerns.

He gently lifted off the ground and flew into the city to look for someone in need of help.

-----Line Break-----

Sarah Cross looked up from her computer screen at the sound of a knock on her door frame. She paused at the sight of the man standing there. The man was middle-aged with a lean build, shoulder-length silver hair that was balding on the top, and a large scar along the left side of his jaw.

Sarah's eyes narrowed slightly, and she spoke with a cautious tone, “Cecil.”

The man, Cecil, gave Sarah a nod of his head, “Sarah. It's been a while.”

Leaning back in her seat, Sarah crossed her arms beneath her bust and stared at the man, “I can only think of one reason why you would be here after all these years.”

He answered for her, “Adam.”

A deep sigh was the response Sarah gave him, “So you already figured out who he was. Can't say I'm surprised. What do you want, Cecil?”

“I wanted to speak to you first before making an approach to Adam.”

“Sentinel.”

“Pardon?”

Sarah huffed, “His hero name is Sentinel.”

Cecil smiled slightly at it, “A guard, lookout, or soldier stationed to guard something. That's a damned fine name. It reminds me of his father.”

Unable to avoid the proud look at the comment, Sarah pushed the topic on, “I appreciate the approach. I didn't always approve of when Allan worked for you and the GDA, but he said you were good people. If you want to approach Sentinel, I won't stop you. The decision will be up to him on what he wants to do.”

“I appreciate that, Sarah. I'll do right by your kid.”

Cecil vanished in a flash of white light from his personal teleportation device. Sarah sat at her desk for a few moments wondering if she'd done the right thing. In the end, it was up to Adam. He was a grown man now; even if he would always be her little boy, he needed to make his own decisions.

That didn't mean she wasn't going to spend the entire time he was out there worrying for him.

-----Line Break-----

Sentinel laughed as he flew through the air. The feeling of the wind whipping through his hair was amazing. His new mask was so much better than wearing that stupid ski mask. The feeling of the skin-tight suit took a little getting used to, but he'd seen what he looked like in the mirror at Art's place and he'd loved it. He looked like a true hero, finally!

He flipped over onto his back to look up into the bright blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. He didn't do it for long. After righting himself, he flew a little higher and looked over the city for something to do. It's not like there were terrible fires and bank robberies on a daily basis.

The sound of tires squealing and metal crashing into metal reached him.

Car crashes, on the other hand? Those happened all the time! Especially during rush hour. He turned sharply and dove down to where the accident had happened. This time it looked like the accident wasn't on the highway, but one of the busier city streets. Same difference, though in Sentinel's opinion.

When he arrived, he found an SUV and a sedan had crashed into one another. He dropped out of the sky and landed near the sedan. Looking inside the driver's window, he saw the airbag deployed and the driver leaning to the side, unconscious. Reaching down, he grabbed the door handle and tried to open it, but it was stuck fast. That wasn't a problem; he repositioned his hand and dug it in between the door and the frame, breaking the locking mechanism. From there, ripping the door open was fairly easy, if loud.

After shoving the airbag out of the way, he finally got a good look at the man who'd been driving the sedan. He was out cold with a bloody nose. Ripping the seat belt apart released the unconscious man from the car and allowed Sentinel to gently lift him out. Rather than walk, he floated away from the accident scene to keep from jostling him in case there were other injuries.

While gently laying the man on the road, he could hear the sounds of sirens. That was a sound he would have to become very familiar with, it seemed. Once the man was lying down, he took off into the air and flew over to the SUV and looked inside its windows. The SUV driver was another man, though he was conscious and groaning.

“Hey, can you hear me?”

The driver shifted with a groan and looked at Sentinel, “Yeah, I can.”

“I know you're not okay, so we can skip that one.” The driver chuckled, and Sentinel continued, “Is there anything that really hurts?”

The man grunted and shifted, “My chest and leg, stuck, I can't move.”

Checking the door revealed it was as stuck as the sedans had been, “Alright, I need to get this door open, it's going to be loud.”

Sentinel wasn't lying, the sound of tearing metal as he ripped the door open was deafening. With it open, he could now see that the front of the vehicle had been crushed, pressing the dashboard and steering wheel against the man, pinning him to his seat.

“Alright, I think I can get you out of this. Hang on.”

After saying so, Sentinel went to the back door and ripped it open so he could see the back of the man's seat. It would be a hell of a lot easier to pull the seat back than try and uncrumple the front end of the vehicle. From the back seat of the SUV, he reached down and grabbed the seat. With a slow but inevitable pull, he ripped the seat backwards.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Sentinel stopped pulling at the sound of the man's screaming. He quickly moved to the front to check on the man and almost gagged at what he saw. The man's shin bone had broken through the skin and was clearly visible. Worse, it was bleeding heavily.

“Shit shit shit.”

Sentinel had no idea what to do and froze while his mind tried to dig up something, anything. It finally came, he needed to stop the bleeding! He quickly lifted his wrist and aimed it at the man's leg. Webbing streamed out and coated the injury to stop the bleeding.

“Okay, that should stop the bleeding. We need to get you out of here.” He lifted his head and sniffed the air, the scent of gas had been growing stronger.

With the seat already broken free, Sentinel decided the best course of action would be to remove the whole thing and leave the man sitting in it, for the time being. He ripped the seat out of the SUV and carefully lifted it so he could carry the man safely. As he arrived at the spot where he'd left the first victim, the first ambulance was just pulling up.

The EMTs charged out of the ambulance and right toward Sentinel. An older man took the lead and gestured toward the gurney a pair of younger EMT's were pushing, “We need to get him on the stretcher! Be gentle about it!”

Sentinel carefully lifted the seat into the air until the man's legs were above the stretcher, then slowly lowered him while pulling back, essentially sliding the man out of the seat like sliding an omelet out of a pan. The man screamed from the small jostling of his leg, but there was nothing to be done to prevent that.

Once the man was fully on the stretcher, the lead EMT turned to Sentinel, “Who are you?”

“I'm Sentinel.”

“Cute name. Look, kid, I appreciate the help, but you gotta be extra careful with this shit. If either of them has neck injuries, then moving them wrong could do some serious damage.”

He squirmed for a moment under the intense gaze of the clearly experienced older man, “Sorry, but I could smell gas and was worried.”

“We've got stuff for that. We spend a lot of time in school and getting training. You can't just rip a car apart with your bare hands and pull people out without risking some serious damage. Still, you did good with the man's leg.”

A police officer came up to them at that moment and addressed Sentinel, “Hey, think you could move the wrecks out of the way so the traffic can move through and we can get some wreckers on scene?”

Sentinel felt a wave of deja-vu at the question, but nodded, “Yeah, I can do that easily.”

As he moved the wrecks to one side of the road, he thought over what he was doing. He wanted to help people; that was his main goal, but he could hurt them just as easily by accident. The EMT hadn't said it straight out, but Sentinel clearly didn't know what he was doing, and he needed to change that.

He needed training. Proper supervised training from people who knew what they were doing. Wanting to do the right thing was fine, but he needed to do the right thing the proper way. He'd make sure to look into it... somehow, once he got home.

After getting the wrecks out of the way, he took off into the air and flew toward whatever might happen next.

-----Line Break-----

Adam sighed in mild pleasure while hot water cascaded over his neck and shoulders. Eleven car wrecks. He'd helped clear eleven car accidents of varying levels of destruction. It was repetitive and kind of annoying, if he was being honest. Granted, he'd gotten a single silver ticket after clearing a total of ten wrecks.

Ten seemed to be a magic number for the gacha system, or at least multiples of ten. He'd gotten a roll for saving ten lives. Though clearly the severity of the feat affected the value of the roll. Ten lives got him a gold ticket while ten car accidents got him silver. Frankly, he'd value lives more than cars too.

Still, the result was pretty nice.

[Lightning Catcher, Uncommon Trait, You are one with a will to catch lightning itself, you are somewhat more resistant toward Electricity-based effects, and your Electricity-based abilities and spells are somewhat more efficient.]

More resistance to electricity was always a nice thing. Even more interesting, if he ever got his hands on lightning magic, it would be improved by the effect, and it would all further improve his Lightning Breathing. He inhaled deeply and took a moment to revel in the feeling of power just breathing that way gave him when he focused on feeling it.

Adam shut the water off when it started to cool down on him. He might have super strength and super durability, but stress was stress, and dealing with angry drivers who just survived a car accident was stressful.

He dried himself off, then wrapped the towel around his waist. This was exactly why he'd wanted to live on his own: the freedom to do as he pleased when he pleased. It was life-changing to not have to fight with Eve over the shower in the morning.

Stepping out of the bathroom, he was hit with a wall of cold air that sent a pleasant shiver down his spine. He made it halfway to his bedroom door before he realized there was something wrong. He paused and slowly turned toward his living room.

Standing there, casual as could be, was a man in a suit that he'd never seen before. He'd definitely remember meeting a man with shoulder-length silver hair and a nasty-looking scar on his jaw. After clenching his fists, he stared at the man, “What are you doing in here?”

The man held his hands up in a sign of surrender, “Relax kid, I'm not here to cause you any trouble. My name is Cecil Stedman, I'm the Director of the GDA.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

Cecil grimaced slightly, “I take it your mother didn't mention me. The GDA is the Global Defense Agency. Your father used to do some work for us.”

“And you just decided to let yourself into my apartment to, what? Wax poetic about the past?”

Cecil slowly shook his head, “No, kid. I came because we know about your powers.” He paused when Adam stiffened, “It's alright, kid. We're not going to tell the world or anything. I'm actually here to make you an offer.”

Adam studied Cecil for a moment, then sighed, “Do you mind if I get some pants on before we talk any more?”

“Yeah, sure. I'll wait here.”

Adam kept his eyes on Cecil while walking backward into his bedroom. The moment he closed the door, he moved at super speed to get dressed while calling his mother. She picked up on the second ring, and he immediately asked, “Mom, do you know a guy named Cecil Stedman?”

There was a pause on the other end before she sighed, “Yes. Your father worked with him and the GDA often enough at disaster sites.”

Adam thought for a moment, “Do you trust him?”

Sarah was silent for a moment, then explained, “Not really. He's part of the government and was always trying to get your father to work with him full time. If he offers you help, you should take it, but beware that there might be strings attached. You're an adult now and need to make choices, just be very careful about those choices.”

They both remained silent for a bit, then Adam nodded to himself, “Thanks, Mom. I'll be careful. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He hung up and set the phone down while taking a deep breath. He stepped back out of his room fully dressed and found Cecil still standing in the same spot he'd left him at. He studied the man while asking, “So, what's this offer?”

“We've been watching you since your first night out, and we like what we see. I think you could be an amazing hero, but you need training and testing to learn your limits. On top of training, if you work with us, we can guide you to where you're really needed, where you can save the most lives. Instead of wasting your time cleaning up traffic accidents.”

A frown adorned Adam's face, “What's wrong with helping deal with traffic accidents?”

“Nothing, but compared to what you could be doing, it's small beans. Today you saved, what, three people in actual danger? The rest of the time you were just acting as a superhero tow-truck moving the vehicles. Meanwhile, within five hundred miles there were three villain attacks, seven dangerous fires, and one building collapse. You might not have been able to help with all of that, but you could have handled some of it. I'm not trying to guilt trip you, but you could be doing so much more.”

The words bounced around in Adam's head. He did want to do more, so much more. He could do it too. He'd just been thinking about needing to get some training; now the opportunity was before him. What reason was there to not accept?

“I'll accept the training and testing, I know I need that. I especially want to help people anywhere I can, but I don't think I want to join you. Not yet, and not without knowing more.”

“That's acceptable.” Cecil dug into his pocket and pulled out a device that resembled a watch, “This is a teleporter beacon. As long as you're wearing it, we can teleport you to the GDA facility. How about we do some testing tomorrow morning, say ten? You can even do it in full costume and heroic persona if you want.”

Adam slowly nodded while walking forward to accept the teleporter beacon from Cecil, “Sounds good. I'll be ready at ten.”

Cecil handed over the beacon and nodded, “See you then.”

In a flash of white light and electricity, Cecil vanished from Adam's apartment. Adam slowly let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. That had been kind of intense for him. Cecil had a... presence about him that was fairly intimidating.

It took a bit, but eventually he smiled at the idea of testing his abilities and getting some proper training in their use.

[Feat Achieved! Agree to get proper training. +1 Bronze Gacha Ticket.]

[Feat Achieved! Agree to work with the GDA. +1 Bronze Gacha Ticket.]

And then there was that. He shrugged his shoulders, “Roll the first ticket.”

[ROLLING!]

[Burner, Uncommon Trait, You are one with a will to burn, baby. You are more resistant against heat and fire-based effects, while at the same time, your fire-based abilities and spells are somewhat more efficient.]

“Huh. First electricity and now fire? Not going to complain about even more defensive traits. Roll the next ticket.”

[ROLLING!]

[Nascent Esper, Rare Trait, You are an Esper who has just started blooming your latent talent. You train and master abilities slightly faster and have a better instinct for how to handle and use them. All ability cooldowns are decreased by 20%.]

The moment he received Nascent Esper, he felt an immediate difference within himself. He'd been very careful with his super strength and everything else since he'd gotten them. It was all too easy for him to destroy things, but now he just knew how to control his abilities slightly better. Not to mention it came in at a perfect time since he was about to begin training. Mastering his Super ability just a little bit quicker could make all the difference in the world.

Between Nascent Esper and Like the Wind, his coordination with his abilities would soon be off the charts. That brought a smile to his face. While none of his recent rolls had directly increased his powers, they had made him better, which made him thankful.

“Right, time for some dinner...” He paused to consider for a moment and then grinned, “Pizza.”

-----Line Break-----

Adam had to fight down the urge to giggle as he took a big bite of his bubbling hot pizza direct from New York City. A quick search had listed several popular New York pizza places, so he'd picked one and flown to New York City. Thanks to his super high-tech insulation device, a Styrofoam cooler, the pizza hadn't suffered from the cold wind from high-speed flight. Some might call it an abuse of power, he just considered it good usage.

He flipped on his older television with the remote and started skipping through channels to look for something interesting to watch. He paused in his perusal of channels when he spotted his own hero costume. He paused on the channel, a local news channel, and smiled.

“Earlier this evening, our city's newest hero, Sentinel, spent hours moving from car accident to car accident, helping move vehicle wrecks out of the way as well as rescuing anyone in need from their vehicle. It was helpful, but some people have suggested that there might, perhaps, be a better use for his time as, despite his efforts, traffic flow was hardly improved.”

Adam frowned slightly at the words of the news anchor. He quickly flipped the channel only to find another news channel discussing him. His frown grew when he realized why he was even on the news, his Celebrity curse. With that in mind, he flipped from local news channels to national news. He grimaced when he found an image of himself on the fifth station he checked. He was already going national, that was probably not good and definitely way more attention than he wanted.

The pizza didn't taste quite as good anymore.

[Feat Achieved! Become nationally known. +1 Gold Gacha Ticket]

…

“Just... roll the ticket.”

[ROLLING!]

[Minotaur, Elite Ability, You are able to transform into a minotaur, or partially into one. As the minotaur, the beast of the labyrinth, you have massively enhanced strength, stamina, and durability in exchange for losing your inhibitions. You also possess formidable regeneration. With training, you might be able to retain your control over this form better.]

“Another transformation?” He rolled his eyes, “At least this one offers something unique, regeneration.”

Who would say no to the ability to heal themselves rapidly? The only downside was the loss of inhibitions. He didn't know how bad that would be, but it could be fairly bad. So... emergencies only? That or he'd need to head to a desert or something to train in controlling it. Nascent Esper should definitely help with that. Something to worry about later.

Being famous could be a bigger problem, but it didn't stop him from eating the whole pizza while watching cartoons.

-----Line Break-----

When the bright white light cleared from his vision, Sentinel found himself looking around in curiosity. The place he found himself in was kind of... well, bland. Everything was white and silver. There were a couple of people in lab coats waiting for the arrival of himself and Cecil. There were multiple machines arrayed around the room that Sentinel was certain were meant to test his limits.

Cecil gestured to the room and its occupants, “This is where you'll do your testing. These guys will find the limits of your powers. After that, we can give you proper training in how to use them.”

Sentinel nodded, “Alright. Let's do this.”

“That's what I like to hear. Dr. Roman, I'll leave Sentinel in your capable hands.” After saying so, Cecil teleported out of the room.

The man he'd named as Dr. Roman walked up to Sentinel and held his hand out, “As Cecil said, I'm Dr. Roman. What do you say we start off easy? How about some weight lifting?”

Sentinel grinned in excitement at the prospect of seeing his lifting limit, “Let's do it.”

Dr. Roman led him over to a machine that looked like a high-tech bench press, “Lay down and we'll see what you can bench. We'll start small, say ten tons?”

Laughter was Sentinel's response, “Alright!”

He quickly lay down on the bench and grabbed the barbell. It took some effort to lift it, but not nearly enough to be a struggle. He lowered and raised it a few times, bench pressing ten tons like it was ten pounds, “This is easy.”

“Alright, we'll up the weight to fifteen tons.”

Sentinel immediately felt the difference in the weight, and it was a little tougher, but not enough, “More! Double it!”

Dr. Roman chuckled, “That's not how it works. We do this carefully and methodically.”

Sentinel did not pout. He didn't! Pouting or not, it was half an hour of slowly increasing the weight until it became a struggle for him. His arms shook as he pushed the weight all the way up, “It's getting pretty difficult now."

After he pushed the weight up completely, the weight vanished. He dropped his arms and let out a sigh of relief, “How'd I do?”

Dr. Roman looked at the readings on the computer screen he'd been watching like a hawk, “You maxed out the machine; it's only rated to five hundred tons.”

Adam shot up in surprise, “Seriously?!”

Dr. Roman nodded while the other two silent observers made notes. He flipped the screen around when Sentinel approached, “Yup. I think you could go a little higher, but that looks to be about your limit, for now.” The doctor looked up from the screen, “How about we test your speed next?”

Even with the mask covering the lower half of his face, anyone would have been able to tell Sentinel was smiling broadly. The machine Dr. Roman led Sentinel over to looked like a treadmill on steroids. After gesturing to it, Sentinel climbed aboard.

Dr. Roman took a few steps back, “Alright, just run until you can't go any faster or the machine breaks.”

Sentinel paused and turned to look at Dr. Roman in surprise, “Wait! Seriously?”

Dr. Roman laughed, “You'd be shocked at how many times Red Rush has broken similar machines trying to test his speed.”

Hearing that the fastest man in the world had broken similar machines was kind of shocking to Sentinel. Then again, it probably shouldn't have been. No one was sure who was faster, Red Rush or Omni-Man. Compared to them, Sentinel just hoped he didn't embarrass himself in the speed department.

Sentinel began running. It took him a while to slowly build up speed. He'd never done any long-distance running with his super speed before, just short bursts at emergency sites. Even then, he'd known he wasn't going full speed because he was worried about hurting the people he was either carrying or that were nearby. He might not know what kind of damage an up close and personal encounter with a sonic boom would do to a person, but he doubted it would be nice.

It took him a few minutes to work up to his maximum speed, mostly because he needed to get used to the bodily coordination needed. He was always amazed at how fast some heroes were. He never realized how much focus it actually took not to trip over your own feet when they were moving that fast!

Pushing himself to the limit had Sentinel actually feeling the burn. He was called to a stop after a few more minutes of running pretty steadily without being able to draw out more speed. He jumped off of the treadmill and let it keep running while he came to an immediate stop on the floor of the lab.

“Well done, you peaked at nineteen hundred miles per hour. That's around mach two point five.”

Sentinel could barely hide his excitement at that, “Really?!”

Dr. Roman nodded, “Really. It's pretty impressive. Let's move on.”

They spent the next four hours doing various tests. Sentinel turned out to be more than bulletproof. They'd hit him with a fifty caliber machine gun, and he'd barely felt it. Using anything bigger required heading outside. He survived several explosions of growing power, though his suit was starting to look a little haggard. The doctor promised to get him a replacement.

Sentinel's favorite test was his flight speed test. They gave him a helmet and oxygen tank, then told him to fly up as high and fast as he could, then, if he could break the atmosphere, to head toward the moon at his top speed. They could track him and would get a reading on his speed.

His flight speed impressed everyone as he hit Mach thirty-five in-atmosphere, escape velocity.

Floating below Sentinel was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Hovering on the edge of space, some sixty-five miles above the surface of the Earth. The big blue and green ball covered in fluffy white clouds was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He remained in the air, ignoring the calls from the people on the ground through his headset. He just couldn't take his eyes off of the sight. He was probably one of, if not the, youngest people to ever see their home planet from his current view.

“SENTINEL!”

He jerked at the sudden shout in his ear, “I'm here! Sorry. The view just caught me.”

There was a chuckle over the line, “How is the view?”

“Beautiful. I've seen pictures before but this... this is something else.”

“Alright, Sentinel, enough sightseeing. You can look at it more later if you want. Right now, I want you to aim toward the moon and fly as fast as you possibly can.”

Sentinel nodded his head and slowly turned until he could see the big white ball floating in the sky. He aimed himself at the moon and poured all his concentration into flying toward it as fast as he could. He immediately felt the strain, but it was hard to describe. When running, the strain was on the legs and lungs. Flying... it felt like his whole body was getting a workout. In minutes he was panting heavily while the moon grew bigger in his vision.

The thing about space was, he couldn't even begin to guess how fast he was going. There was no feeling of movement, no wind, no gravity, nothing but the sight of the moon growing bigger.

“Alright Sentinel, that's good enough. How are you feeling? The monitors are showing some strain.”

Sentinel took a few moments to catch his breath before he answered, “That was... a lot. How fast was I going?”

There was a pause then, “Roughly nine hundred and fifteen thousand miles per hour. At that speed it would take you about fifteen minutes to reach the moon. Not too shabby.”

Sentinel huffed, “How fast is Omni-Man?”

There was another pause, the signal taking just a little while to reach the ground and then for them to reply due to sheer distance, “We're not certain on his maximum, but we've registered him easily going ten times as fast. He could reach the moon in just a minute or so.”

Sentinel let out a low whistle. He was nowhere near as powerful as the most powerful man in the world. Which, while obvious, was still daunting.

“Return to Earth. Remember to be careful on reentry into the atmosphere.” There was a small chuckle, “We hope you paid good attention in geography class.”

Sentinel turned and aimed back toward the Earth. As he picked up speed, another message came through, “Oh, on the way back we want you to go as fast as you can without straining yourself. In other words, your best cruising speed.”

Not seeing a problem with that, Sentinel complied and increased his speed until he felt a little strain, then slowed until he felt none. He maintained that speed while heading home. For obvious reasons, it took him longer to get home than to leave.

Suddenly a voice came over the communications system, “Looks like your cruising speed is about half your maximum. Impressive. Don't ever try to fly this fast in atmosphere; the last thing we need is for you to destroy the world.”

Sentinel chuckled, “Roger that, but I don't think I can fly this fast in the atmosphere. My durability might not be able to keep up with the friction.”

“True enough. We're still not sure how durable you are.”

And didn't that just suck?

It took another forty-five minutes for Sentinel to find his way back to where he'd taken off from. Navigating from the air was a whole new experience that was going to take a whole lot of getting used to for him. Re-entry, on the other hand, had been a strange experience. Being surrounded by fire and merely feeling warm was just odd. On the bright side, Art did amazing work as his costume hadn't burned up on re-entry.

The flight test had been his last test of the day, so he was released to head home with a firm suggestion to get some rest after all the stress testing he went through. In all honesty, he was feeling tired for the first time since he got his powers, physically tired that is. So, he left for home.

[Feat Achieved! Get your powers tested. +1 Silver Gacha Ticket.]

[Feat Achieved! Impress Cecil Stedman. +1 Gold Gacha Ticket.]

Sentinel hummed at the feats. He'd never complain about more chances to get some power to help more people, “Roll the silver ticket.”

[ROLLING!]

[Hunger, Uncommon Trait, You recover energy and health slightly faster by eating food; the more nutritious the food you eat, the better the recovery.]

He blinked at the result of the roll. Well, it was way better than nothing and could come in handy. Especially if he got hurt. He was sure Cecil could find a way to jam as many calories as possible into his body to help him recover faster from any injuries.

“Roll the gold ticket.”

[ROLLING!]

[Radiation Absorption, Elite Ability, Allows you to absorb radiation and convert it into energy, and also permanently increase your energy reserves by absorbing large amounts of radiation over time.]

His speed slowly fell away until he came to a complete stop and hovered in the air, staring at the result of his latest roll. His newest power... it changed a LOT. Radiation was always a horrific thing. Radioactive waste from all kinds of fucked up things... And he could clean it up while getting stronger at the same time.

With some reluctance, but more resolve, he pulled out the phone the GDA had given him, which he was super sure was bugged ten ways to Sunday, and dialed the only number in it. After it was answered by an operator, it took some quick talking to get transferred directly to Cecil.

“I hope this is important, Kid.”

Sentinel hesitated for a moment before answering, “I guess that depends on how you feel about me permanently absorbing and removing radiation from any nasty polluted sites you can point me toward.”

“Wait. You can absorb radiation? Why didn't you tell Dr. Roman and the others?! That's a pretty big thing to just forget.”

Sentinel grimaced, “I didn't forget.”

Cecil's tone turned sarcastic, “So, what? You just randomly gained a whole new power out of nowhere?” He sighed, “Look, Kid, I get it, mistakes happen, and things get forgotten, but you have to be a little more on the ball with things like this.”

Sentinel let out a deep sigh, “I didn't forget it, I swear. I really did just gain the ability.”

There was a long pause, and Sentinel could swear he could see Cecil pinching the bridge of his nose from hundreds of miles away. Finally, the man spoke, “Explain. Now.”

He sighed deeply and explained as clearly as he could, “I need to stress that I only have one power. That power gives me abilities, traits, skills, and items. What I get is completely and utterly random. One time it could be an ability that gives me the median powers of a flying brick. The next time it might give me a Calligraphy skill that makes my handwriting pretty.”

“Kid... that's...”

“Wait, there's more.”

“Jesus. Okay, continue.”

“Right. Uhm. So. What I get, totally random, when I get it, not as much. Sometimes when I complete a worthwhile task, say saving my first civilian life, I achieve a 'Feat' and am given a chance to gain something random in exchange. The feats are ranked in tiers, and the greater the feat, the higher the tier of reward. Repeating the same feat doesn't work, though sometimes a higher tier of the same feat can happen, like getting another random thing when I saved ten lives total.”

Another long pause happened while Cecil digested the information he'd just been given. Finally, he said, “Just how many powers do you have?”

Sentinel clicked his tongue, “I told you, I only have one power. If you mean my abilities like Super, which grants me my super speed, strength, durability, and flight, nine. There's a thing with abilities though. I have a limited number of slots. I started with just one, then I get one more for every five abilities I have. That means I currently have two slots, but will get a third when I get one more ability. Lastly, I can swap them at will, but I have to wait five minutes between each swap.”

“Why the HELL didn't you tell Dr. Roman and the others about this?! You have EIGHT entire abilities we haven't seen you use or had tested?!”

Sentinel clears his throat.

“... What now?”

“It's just... two of those abilities are sealed, never to see the light of day, or the world might turn on me and condemn me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?! Explain! Now! I want to know every single one of your abilities right this second.”

Sentinel grimaced and carefully made his way down to a roof so he could sit and explain. He took the time to explain each of his abilities. Super was already known, so that just left explaining Minotaur, Fishman Form, White Tiger Form, Radiation Absorption, Explosive Sweat, and Sticky Icky.

When he finished with those, Cecil growled, “There's still two more.”

Sentinel let out a long, deep sigh, “Are you sure you want to know? The last two are truly dark and terrible things that should not see the light of day.”

Cecil scoffed derisively, “Kid, I've seen horrors you couldn't possibly imagine. There is nothing you could say that will bother me.”

“If you're sure...”

“I am, now explain!”

“Fine. My last two abilities are Induce Baldness and Induce Lactation. Both are EXACTLY what they sound like.”

The silence stretched for nearly a minute before Cecil spoke once more, “You were right. Those are unholy abilities, and I never want to find out you used them on anyone. Agreed?”

Sentinel nodded solemnly, “Agreed.”

Cecil let out a relieved breath, “Good. Go get your rest. But don't think we won't be talking about this again in more detail.”

“About those radioactive sites?”

“I'll have a list made for you.” Cecil hung up before Sentinel could say anything else. Not that he had anything to add, yet.

Sentinel lifted off of the roof and made his way toward his apartment. He definitely needed to get some serious rest.

-----Line Break-----

Cecil stood behind a one-way mirror watching Sentinel working on his final exam with an experienced EMT trainer. For the last month, the kid had been coming into the GDA and listening to his instructors without complaint. If half the heroes he knew were even half as serious as the kid about learning to do things the right way, things would be a lot better in the world.

On the other hand, the kid's power made no goddamn sense. He'd had Sentinel explain it, in detail, three times, and Cecil still thought it was all pure bullshit. Getting random powers based on accomplishing 'feats'? Oh, right, not powers. Sentinel only had one power, and a dozen abilities, nearly as many traits, some skills, and a few items.

The tech geeks were going insane trying to figure out why a simple-looking rock was so indestructible while the bio-lab people were losing their minds over the literally limitless bowl of spaghetti. Said noodles had been run through every test imaginable, and they all agreed: the spaghetti was run-of-the-mill spaghetti with a decent sauce.

He'd even tried some, it was alright but nothing special. Which was just plain crazy. They planned to take some and just let it sit and rot before he was willing to do what Sentinel wanted to do with it. Frankly, the fact that the kid wanted to donate the food to homeless shelters and food banks was just another reason Cecil liked him.

Oh, he thought it was naive, even though it wasn't the greatest spaghetti ever, he had a limitless amount of it. He could sell cans of the stuff for fifty cents a pop and make millions of dollars easily. Cheap canned food would always have a place in the economy.

He moved on to the other thing the kid had pulled out that was driving his materials science people crazy, Chlorophyte metal. A metal that made zero sense and made analysis equipment go mental. Flexible, more durable than their toughest alloys, and capable of converting sunlight into usable energy. The fact Sentinel got a new bar every eight hours meant he had a fairly large supply of it and was always getting more.

At least when it came to the metal, the kid had been smart enough to ask for payment in both cash, and any information they came up with on turning it into wire. Apparently he wanted to lace his suit with it, which was wise. Cecil could already see a dozen uses for the new metal to improve and enhance already existing projects.

Copying the web shooters and web fluid had proven remarkably difficult to pull off, but once they had it too opened a lot of new options. One Sentinel requested would be a good source of income for Sentinel and the GDA, web grenades for capturing targets. The webbing had a higher tensile strength than steel, making it perfect for capturing anyone incapable of ripping steel with their bare hands. That didn't matter when it was being sold to police in order to non-lethally restrain the average criminal. Hell, it would even work on plenty of super villains that lacked super strength.

“So, what's the prognosis, Donald?”

Cecil's second in command and right-hand man stood next to him watching the same scene, “He won't qualify as an EMT, but he can deal with the basics and make sure he's not exacerbating a problem. His training for emergency situations is as good as we can get it in a compressed time frame. Anything better would take a college education, and we know how he would feel about that.”

Cecil snorted, “Yeah, I can't see him sitting still long enough to learn anything worthwhile. It's not like he'll ever have a normal job. How's his growth been?”

“Steady. Almost mathematically perfect in its pace. We're expecting to see a massive spike in growth once he's cleared to use his Radiation Absorption power.” Donald frowned, “Why are we holding off on that still?”

Cecil sighed, “Because I wanted to see if he would push for it, be impatient, or demand it. So far it almost seems like he's forgotten about it. Not that I would blame him if he had. The sheer number of abilities he has makes it possible.”

“Understandable.” Donald chuckled, then became serious, “There is one issue, though it's no fault of Sentinel's. His popularity is... strange. Even though he is currently doing so little, people who have been canvassed still recognize him. Additionally, his national fame is strangely pervasive for a local hero.”

Donald looked down at his clipboard, “Aside from that...” He paused and listened to a voice over his earpiece, “Sir, it looks like we have an opportunity. The Elephant is attacking a Burger Mart in Chicago.”

Cecil hummed and slowly nodded while reaching out to push a button on the wall, “Sentinel, we've got a job for you.”

-----Line Break-----

Sentinel couldn't keep the grin off of his face as he flew through the air toward the Burger Mart currently being attacked by The Elephant. The GDA had teleported him to a roof nearby, so the flight took little time at all, sadly. On the other hand, it got him to the scene faster, and what a scene it was.

The Elephant was a small-time villain wearing an Elephant costume that looked pretty ridiculous. Overall, The Elephant wore a full-body suit that resembled an elephant. The suit was bulky and gray, mimicking the thick hide of an elephant. He had a large, stylized elephant head as a mask, complete with a trunk hanging from his chin and tusks on either side of it.

The only things he had going for him were his size, superhuman strength, and superhuman durability, making it impossible for local authorities to handle him. He also wasn't known for needlessly hurting or killing people, making him rather tame compared to many other villains. His whole shtick was acting as muscle for hire or attacking places that served meat due to his extreme vegetarianism.

When he arrived on scene, it was just in time for him to witness The Elephant ripping a bench out of the concrete ground and throwing it at the Burger Mart. Sentinel accelerated and intercepted the bench and quickly, but carefully, set the bench down.

“Who the hell are you, little man?! You can't stop me! Burger Mart is evil! It's responsible for the deaths of thousands of cows!”

Sentinel sighed and raised his hands to show he was unarmed, not that it mattered, “I respect your right to eat what you want to eat. But you shouldn't be trying to force others. All that will do is make them work against you.”

The Elephant huffed, “They can't eat here if I destroy it!”

Putting actions to his words, he stomped over and grabbed a nearby parking meter and ripped it out of the ground. He spun around and threw it right at Sentinel, “Get out of the way!”

Sentinel grabbed the parking meter out of the air and set it down. When it came to speed, strength, and coordination, he completely outclassed The Elephant. He sighed, “The hard way it is. I'm a little sorry about this.”

The Elephant scoffed loudly, “Sorry about what?”

His answer was Sentinel's fist slamming into the bottom of his jaw with enough force to launch him straight up into the air hundreds of feet. Cheers came from the nearby civilians who had witnessed the whole thing. Some watched, some filmed. Sentinel fell back on some of the PR lessons he'd received and struck a heroic pose, then crouched before blasting into the air.

A moment later he caught The Elephant by the trunk and flew a little higher up while ignoring the man's shouts. Once he was a few thousand feet in the air, he tapped the earpiece in his ear, “Sentinel to control, I've got him. Where should I take him?”

Cecil's voice came through the earpiece, “We've got a containment team en route. Just wait a minute, and we'll tell you where to drop him off.”

“Copy.”

Sentinel looked at the message floating in front of him with a hidden frown.

[Feat Achieved! Defeat your first super villain! +1 Platinum Gacha Ticket.]

'Roll the platinum ticket.'

[ROLLING!]

[Tinker - Star Wars, Legendary Ability, Allows you to build technological constructs or contraptions from the Star Wars universe, including Kyber Crystal synthesis.]

Sentinel's eyes widened in absolute shock. It was the first time he'd seen something from a franchise he recognized. Getting the ability to make any technology from Star Wars... that was beyond huge. Forget the plain cool stuff like building a lightsaber, it had spaceships capable of faster-than-light travel!

Humanity was fully aware of alien life. Hell, Martian Man was literally from Mars and Omni-Man was an envoy for the Viltrumite race. Who knew what other alien species were out there? Having their own fleet of FTL capable warships would be wise and probably give Cecil wet dreams for years.

Then there were the weapons and armor and... There were just so many things! Vaporators that could extract water from even the dry desert air of Tatooine being placed in deserts. Medical technology beyond anything Earth had. Cybernetics that made Earth's current attempts look childishly basic.

Ideas flew through his mind at the speed of light because, naturally, Tinker – Star Wars was his tenth ability and unlocked his third slot where it immediately slotted itself in. His mind flew through possibilities and options until he came across just the thing he needed, mind machine interfaces.

“..tinel. Sentinel!”

Sentinel jerked in surprise from the sudden shout in his ear, “Sorry! Yeah, I'm here.”

“Jeez kid, where did you go?”

Sentinel sighed at Cecil's question, “I'll explain during my debrief, but suffice it to say, something interesting just happened that is going to make you a very happy man.”

There was a moment of silence before a deep sigh echoed over the line, “I see. Well, hurry up and drop The Elephant off, then we'll teleport you back here. Oh, and good job.”

Sentinel grinned broadly and followed directions to the drop-off to turn over The Elephant and get teleported back to the GDA.

-----Line Break-----

“This is pure bullshit.” Donald, chuckling next to him did not improve Cecil's mood, “I'm serious Donald. This. Is. Bullshit.”

It wasn't that he wasn't happy; he was thrilled beyond measure as he watched Sentinel lay back in his chair with a newly built device attached to his head. In front of the teenage superhero was a computer said hero had designed and built that put all known supercomputers on Earth to shame. On the screen, they watched as a machine beyond Earth's current technology was being designed while at the same time new chemical compositions and alloys were being included.

In the last week, Sentinel had designed a bevvy of delicious new technologies, all of which he was claiming copyright on to force the GDA to pay him something for their usage. Fine time for the kid to learn that lesson. Though the kid was very generous in his terms. Frankly, the kid could have asked for the monthly GDP of a small country and gotten it in exchange for the technology they were getting in return.

Sentinel would never have to work another day in his life, regardless.

“What's he working on right now?”

Donald looked at his notes, “He's currently designing a series of droids that specialize in various engineering fields, from hover vehicles to spaceships. He's also putting in their programming. The techs have seen nothing like it and can't make heads or tails of it. It doesn't help that the language is based on the Star Wars alphabet of Aurebesh. Some of the geeks on staff are going insane over the language, but even our most devoted fanatics aren't fluent in the written word.”

They lapsed into silence and watched as more technology was created on the screen at the speed of thought. The kid didn't even have to understand what he was making to just copy it into the computer, that was what really bugged Cecil. For all he knew, there could be all kinds of back doors in the programming or hidden flaws in the designs. Things that Sentinel could exploit if things didn't go the way the kid wanted.

He didn't believe the kid thought like that, but it put him in a position that Cecil didn't like. He was being forced to trust Sentinel.

They could build the machines Sentinel was designing just by following the directions, which meant they didn't understand the science behind it. Worse, they didn't have the decades his scientists told him it would take to reverse engineer the science behind the technology. There were threats from beyond the stars, and their greatest and most technologically advanced space ship could only reach as far as Mars.

By the time their mission to Mars, scheduled for six months from then, was ready, they would likely already have their first interstellar ship built. One of the smaller ones, naturally, but still interstellar. His lips curled into a small smile, things were starting to look up for him and the world.

Now, if only he could get the kid to give him weapon and armor designs for infantry.

-----Line Break-----

Cecil gestured between the group of teenage heroes across from himself and Sentinel at his side, “I know you guys met a while back, but I think some proper introductions are in order. Teen Team, this is Sentinel.”

“Fucking who?” came from Rex Splode.

Sentinel chuckled, “We met over a month ago at a bank robbery with Magmaniac and Tether Tyrant.”

Rex seemed to be thinking for a second before it came to him, “OH! You were that idiot newbie without shoes!” He looked Sentinel up and down, “Well, at least you fuckin' look the part this time! Oof!”

He rubbed the back of his head where Atom Eve had just slapped him. Cecil huffed and continued, “Sentinel, this is Teen Team.” He gestured to each member as he introduced them, “Robot, the leader. Dupli-Kate, Atom Eve, and Rex Splode.”

Sentinel held his hand out to shake each time someone was introduced; only Rex ignored the offer. Cecil continued, “I've already spoken with Robot, and he's agreed to show you the way a proper hero team runs, Sentinel.”

Robot stepped forward and focused his green lenses on Sentinel, “It'll be a pleasure to help a new and upcoming hero learn the ropes. It will also help the team to reinforce the things they've learned by teaching them to you. It's a positive net gain for everyone.”

“What the fuck Robot?! Since when are we a babysitting service?!” Rex shouted in his usual manner. He turned to scowl at Sentinel, “Look, buddy, we've got a good thing going here, and we don't need some fresh-faced baby superhero bringing us down.”

Cecil chuckled, “I'd be careful, Rex.”

“Why the fuck should I?!”

Cecil smirked, “Because Sentinel could defeat the entire Teen Team, by himself.”

“Oho?! Is that fucking so?! Well, bring it the fuck on!”

Groans came from the female population while Robot spoke up, “While I wouldn't have put it the way Rex has, a friendly spar to get a feel for one another is not a terrible idea. We can use the training room.”

Cecil shrugged, “Feel free. My job here is done.” He looked at Sentinel, “Have fun, kid, and don't beat them too badly.”

When he finished speaking, he teleported out of the room in his normal flash of light and electricity. Sentinel turned to the Teen Team and smiled behind his mask, “Shall we?”

Robot led the way with the four human teenagers following behind him. The room he led them to was pretty massive with high ceilings and plenty of space to move around. The Teen Team took up positions on one side of the room while Sentinel took up his own on the other.

Robot held one hand up, “We will begin at the sound of a chime.”

Sentinel took a stance he'd recently been taught by the GDA. While his Thunder Breathing came with some martial skill built into it, it was focused on the sword with no real hand-to-hand combat built into it. It was a weakness that the GDA had gladly helped him get over. He was no black belt, but he now knew how to throw a proper punch, how to fall without hurting himself, and more.

Across from him, the Teen Team all spread apart. Atom Eve flew into the air on little pink jets of energy. Rex Splode grabbed small disks from the dispensers on his waist and fed energy into them that made them glow and turned them into explosives. Robot took a martial stance not too dissimilar to Sentinel's. Dupli-Kate became Dupli-Kate's as she split into four copies of herself.

BEEEEEEEP!

Rex threw his hands forward and launched half a dozen of his glowing disks directly at Sentinel. Atom Eve wound up and threw bolts of pink energy at Sentinel like a pitcher. Dupli-Kate split off into two directions to get around and surround Sentinel. Lastly, trap doors opened on Robot's upper wrists where small blasters appeared. He lifted his hands and aimed his wrists at Sentinel while unleashing a barrage of green energy bolts.

Rather than show off by letting all of the attacks coming at him land, Sentinel vanished from where he was standing and appeared directly behind the Teen Team. Super Speed was always going to be one of his favorite abilities.

Robot was the first to notice his new position, likely from the usage of some sort of sensor, “Behind!”

Showing that their years of teamwork mattered, everyone reacted to that single word and spun around. Rex and Eve launched more ranged attacks, causing Sentinel to move to the side where he met a pair of Kate's waiting for him. Both Kates immediately launched into well-coordinated attacks meant to disable and hinder.

Sentinel caught one of the Kates as she tried to jump kick him in the head. He tossed her back the way she came while the second Kate landed a solid blow to his stomach. Unfortunately for her, he barely felt it. She immediately retreated, and he didn't pursue. Instead, he had to deal with the barrage of explosives, pink energy blasts, and green energy bolts.

Unfortunately for Rex, explosions were mostly comprised of fire and force. When it came to fire, he was practically, if not actually, immune to it. As for the force, well, his durability was more than enough to shrug it off without much of a care. The smoke, a side effect, was actually more effective as it temporarily blinded him. His lack of sight through the smoke forced him to turtle up and weather the blasts from Robot and Eve.

When the smoke cleared, Sentinel looked over his crossed arms and grinned playfully, “My turn.”

He stretched his arms forward and aimed his palms at the group staring at him, “BOOM!”

He detonated the sweat gathered in his palms, causing a large explosion that sent the Kate's flying back violently. The result was less extreme for Rex, Eve, and Robot, who were farther back, but even they were forced to guard against the explosion. Eve managed to put up one of her pink barriers, though it didn't survive the explosion intact.

“That's my fucking shtick, you asshole!”

Dozens of glowing disks came flying through the cloud of smoke and detonated all around Sentinel, filling the space with even more smoke. Before Sentinel could do anything, the smoke streamed through the air toward Eve and gathered into a ball that she vanished.

Eve conjured up a massive pink hammer and sent it slamming down at Sentinel. His response was to jump into the air and slam his fist into it with enough force to shatter the construct. While he wasn't looking, a pair of Kates slammed into him from in front and behind. The one in front of him mule kicked him in the stomach while the one behind wrapped her arm around his neck and attempted to choke him out.

Sentinel ignored the mule kick to grab the arm of the Kate trying to choke him. He forcefully pulled her arm off of his throat and threw her over his shoulder and into the other copy of herself. The two slammed into the ground with loud grunts.

With that pair of Kate's down, he decided to blitz his next target. He burst across the room directly at Rex and threw a straight jab. The punch passed right by Rex's head and let out a crack from a small sonic boom at the speed and force of the blow, “Dead.”

Rex, shocked by the speed and force of the blow, stared at Sentinel. Sentinel moved on. Another blitz of speed had him in front of the pair of Kates who'd remained in the back. He grabbed both and tossed them into the other two Kates who were still trying to untangle themselves, making one big pile of tangled limbs.

The next moment he was behind Robot with his leg sweeping out and slamming into the back of Robot's legs, though obviously not with his full strength. The kick sent Robot flipping backward, but the machine-man recovered almost instantly and turned the trip into a flip that let him land on his feet. Robot dropped to one knee and aimed his blasters at Sentinel, where he unleashed a massive barrage of shots.

They did little more than push Sentinel back a foot or so through sheer kinetic force. Sentinel spun away from the green blasts, ignoring them while he flew into the air and charged directly at Eve. She started throwing pink blasts at him that he calmly batted away as he approached.

As he got close, a bright light traveled down Eve's body, covering her in pink transparent armor. He could see the bright grin on her face through the transparent face plate of her helmet. He was sure there was a matching smile on his face. He'd never thought of himself as much of a fighter, but this? This was fun as hell!

The pair of them punched simultaneously, their fists slamming into each other with explosive force that rattled the walls around them. They both laughed and threw more punches, their fists clashing with growing force as both slowly stopped holding back. Unfortunately, it didn't last much longer due to Eve's constructs beginning to crack under the strain. Eve was strong, her powers amplifying that strength, but his strength was greater.

With a final clash, her construct shattered into motes of pink light.

“That's enough.”

Robot's voice echoed loudly, though it maintained the same monotone as usual; the volume just got bumped up a fair bit.

Eve, panting and grinning from ear to ear, lowered herself to the ground with Sentinel following her down. As they landed, he could see Kate, Rex, and Robot staring at them. Robot spoke for the group, “I can see that Cecil wasn't exaggerating your strength. While clearly inexperienced, you show promise. I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we look forward to working with you.”

“Speak for your fucking self, Robot!”

There were sighs all around at Rex's outburst.

[Feat Achieved! Defeat the Teen Team in a spar. +1 Gold Gacha Ticket.]

AN

10k Words

So, funny story. This chapter was ready about a week ago. I had it all pasted into Patreon and edited with Grammarly, but I couldn't post it because my internet went out. So, I left it and began working on Chapter 4. I completely forgot I hadn't actually posted this chapter until now because I finished Chapter 4. So, due to my short-term memory sucking, you get a double release. Chapter 4 will be out shortly.

Anyway! This was a fun chapter with a fair bit happening and Adam/Sentinel growing into being a proper hero just a little bit more.

The introduction of Tinker - Star Wars... I was on the fence about a bit, but I realized it worked with the setting. Space travel and aliens are established, and Earth is pretty far behind in that respect. This just gives them a chance to play catch-up. It'll take time and effort, though. It will also give the GDA access to more powerful weapons to use against the Viltrumites. Though I highly doubt anything short of the Death Star could actually kill one.

Well... maybe decapitation via lightsaber, but could a lightsaber cut through a Viltrumite? I dunno, they're super goddamn tough.

Anyway! Chapter 4 is coming a little later today, but let me know what you thought of this one!