"Don't you dare stand up from that chair, or you'll make me fight you," Joyce warned, her sigh heavy with frustration.
Her crimson eyes locked on him as she continued, "How can you claim to be a hero when you aren't even a hero to yourself? You want to save everyone, but you refuse to save yourself. You say you love others, but you don't even love yourself..."
Her words were abruptly cut off.
"Well, maybe I don't value myself enough to care!!" Johnson shot back, his tone sharp. "I don't like myself. You have no idea how hard it is, so don't go speaking about what you don't know."
"Then make me understand!" Joyce demanded, anger sparking in her voice. "Why are you being so hard on yourself? Why don't you love yourself?"
"I don't want to talk about it, and you can't force me!" Johnson snapped, his body suddenly phasing through the chair. He tried to stand but was instantly wracked with sharp pain that tore through his chest.
"Ahhh" Johnson groaned, clutching his chest as agony rippled through him.
Joyce watched him with narrowed eyes. "You're just feeling the effects. I see it now." Her gaze softened slightly as she noticed something unusual across his face. "Come here…" she said, reaching out to touch him.
"Don't touch me!" Johnson growled, slapping her hand away. His eyes burned with pain. "Did you give me acid?"
"Yes," Joyce admitted, unflinching. "I gave you acid a few seconds ago. But I also poisoned your food."
In an instant, Johnson's fist shot forward at hypersonic speed, stopping just before her face. Joyce dodged effortlessly, teleporting them both to a pitch-black basement beneath the house.
"Why didn't you tell me you wanted to poison me?" Johnson asked, his voice laced with annoyance.
"It isn't personal, Johnny," Joyce replied calmly, her body already covered in her super suit. "I'll heal you after the training."
"We're training here?" Johnson's voice carried confusion.
"You've been training since morning," Joyce said, folding her arms as she sat on a chair. Her crimson eyes lingered on him with faint concern. "I tested everything I wanted to. This is the part where you show me how well you can resist the poison in your veins."
The poison surged through Johnson's bloodstream like wildfire...vicious, relentless, merciless. His chest tightened, his veins burned, his vision fractured into jagged shards of color. It felt like his body was being devoured from the inside out.
But then… something shifted.
Jake, the biomechanical system inside him, activated in an instant. Circuits hummed, data streamed like lightning through his neurons.
Poison resistance:exceeding one thousand percent, Jake's mechanical voice reported calmly. All toxins converted to regenerative energy.
Johnson's fists clenched as his breathing steadied. The agony melted away, replaced by a radiant warmth that coursed through every vein. The acid that had once threatened to destroy him now became pure fuel. His body glowed with raw energy.
"How…?"
Joyce's voice cracked as she stared at him. "How the hell is that possible?"
She activated her innate ability, Matter Analysis, peering directly into his atomic structure. Her breath caught. His atoms were regenerating at impossible speed.
"This shouldn't happen… You consumed poison strong enough to wipe out every fish in the ocean instantly. You even drank highly concentrated acid, I saw it with my own eyes! How are you doing this, Johnny?"
Johnson rose slowly to his feet, energy radiating off his muscular frame as his tissues reknitted themselves. "If you're going to try to kill me with poison, you'll have to try something else. Because as you can see…" His voice grew stronger with each word, his eyes glowing faintly. "Poison doesn't work on me. Believe me...I've tried."
His wounds sealed in seconds. His heartbeat steadied, then roared with strength. His veins pulsed with power as he slipped into his super suit.
Jake's voice chimed again. User health status updated. Regenerative capacity increased by fifty-four percent.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner she was poisoning me?" Johnson demanded, confused.
"I did," Jake answered flatly. "But you were too busy flirting with Joyce. You forgot she's been training you all along."
Johnson's eyes widened in shock. "Wait
you were training me this whole time?"
"Yeah," Joyce admitted with a smug grin. "Technically, from the second I brought you here. I'm sorry, but I had to use every means possible to make you stronger."
Johnson's face flushed red as realization struck. "Then… the feeding, the bathroom… us sleeping together…" He fidgeted nervously with his fingers.
Joyce stepped forward, placing her hand firmly on his chest, her eyes locking with his. "Those things may have been part of training," she whispered, voice low and tender, "but my feelings for you… those are real. I never lied about that."
Johnson sighed, staring deep into her eyes. "How do I know this isn't just another part of your training?"
Joyce pouted, folding her arms with a playful glare. "How mean. You're calling my delicate feelings fake."
"You started it, not me," Johnson retorted with a weary sigh. "Besides, aren't I supposed to be the victim here? What about my feelings"
"You're a man. You're supposed to have a stronger heart than me. Mine is weak." Joyce touched her chest softly, her pout deepening.
"That's not fair. We boys have feelings too," Johnson argued.
"No, you don't. All you boys care about are your toys and how to satisfy your lustful desires with innocent girls like us." Joyce floated closer, teasing.
"That's a lie! I'm a boy too, you know. Not all of us are like that. We choose who we want to be with. And what do you even mean by toys?" Johnson asked, baffled.
"Your cars, your money, your women, your trophies and your buildings. That's all boys ever care about. Egoistic creatures."
"Aww, that's funny coming from a gender that manipulates everything for their own benefit. Humans are selfish, sure, but your gender is worse," Johnson countered, folding his arms.
"Hey, take that back!" Joyce snapped, summoning a metal spear from thin air and hurling it at him.
Johnson dodged instantly, his eyes narrowing in amazement. "How'd you do that? I thought you had to touch matter to change it."
"The air is matter, is it not?" Joyce smirked. "Besides, I have mastered high-level matter manipulation. And with my energy ability
I can shape it however I want."
"Energy what?" Johnson asked, still confused.
"I'll explain how it works. But first, take that back!" She hurled another spear at him.
"No. I'm right. Girls are manipulative. You just proved it a few minutes ago!" Johnson shot back.
"I didn't! I told you from the beginning we were training. It's not fair if you call me manipulative." Joyce's palm shimmered as she summoned a massive pink hammer.
Her eyes gleamed with challenge. "So… are you ready for your training?"
The basement was dimly lit, shadows stretching across the cracked floor. Dust floated lazily in the air until Joyce's aura stirred it to life. She stood tall, her crimson suit glimmering faintly in the flickering light. The atmosphere shifted, heavy and charged.
Johnson felt the pressure immediately.
Joyce's heels tapped softly against the floor as she stepped forward. Her glasses caught the faint red glow as her hands pulsed with energy, swirling and alive.
"Everything in this world," she began, her voice calm but commanding, "is connected by one thing: energy. All magic. All aura. All ki. Every force be it spiritual, divine, demonic, or chaotic it all comes from energy."
The glow in her hands intensified until particles of light swirled like fireflies. They condensed in a heartbeat, snapping together into a colossal crimson hammer. She slammed it into the ground, the impact cracking the floor and sending tremors through the room.
Johnson staggered back, stunned. "You made that… from nothing?"
"Not nothing," Joyce corrected as the hammer dissolved into light. "From myself. From my energy. Energy isn't summoned
it's channeled, molded, felt. It responds to your emotions, to your will. The clearer your mind, the stronger the form."
A second construct appeared in her grip: a sleek sword glowing crimson, dark streaks like veins of shadow running through its blade.
"This is Energy Manipulation," Joyce explained, her tone sharp. "Your aura, your energy, it comes from your willpower. That's why your aura ignites as lightning when you run at full speed."
With a wave, the sword vanished. Runes spun into existence at her feet, glowing red like ancient scripture. A dome of crackling energy expanded around her, pressing down like the weight of another world.
"This is my Energy Expansion. In here, everything bends to my rules. My will reigns supreme. You can do this too...but it has to be yours. Your domain. Your energy. Your truth."
She fixed her gaze on him, unblinking. "Are you ready to learn how to manipulate your aura?"
Johnson clenched his fists, jaw tight as her energy pressed against him like fire.
"I'm ready." His blue eyes blazed. "So in summary… this energy is why everyone has different powers? My speed, my sister's psychic ability, your matter manipulation
they all come from energy?"
Joyce nodded. "Exactly."
"Good," Johnson said. His stance shifted, lightning flickering faintly around him.
Joyce grinned, her hammer materializing once more. "Then let's begin." With a powerful swing, she aimed straight for him.
"Let's see how well you can sense and dodge my attacks through their aura!" she declared, laughing wildly.
Johnson surged forward, his speed tearing through the air. "I won't hold back against you!"
The basement erupted with energy.
To be continued…