"Overwhelming Strength"

-Bane, being asked his strategy

Despite my protests that I should get another try on the treadmill, both Cisco and Caitlin outvoted me, and they chose testing Heatblast for the next assignment. Taking a quick breather before the next test, I noticed that the wall I had launched into now had a series of cracks where my impact was. As Cisco pulled out a Green Lantern poster and began taping it over the cracks, I realized how common those experiences were, as almost every wall had a poster of some kind on it. While led to the testing room outfitted for metahumans that produced extreme heat, I was given a lengthy explanation on how the costume he had in mind for XLR8 would be and I quote "the coolest thing ever."

I was spared too much pointless arguing over costume design, as I would need one personally but since the Omnitrix outfitted each alien with the watch's logo there was no point, and soon enough I was led into a room that looked the exact same as all the other rooms we had passed, but with a black shed in the middle.

"Okay, hop in and light it up," Cisco said, as he opened the door. "My very own Endothermic Containment Unit can safely contain nine-thousand degrees Fahrenheit, no problem."

"Well, it's too small for you to trip and fall so you won't get embarrassed again," Dick replied, glancing around the small interior space. I try hitting the back of his head for his comment, but he moves it out of the way grinning.

"Yeah, Yeah," I say, walking into the "Unit,"and as the door closes behind me, I get hit with a small spike of claustrophobia. The unit was only around five feet long and wide, so I couldn't even spread my arms wide without bending my elbows. I quickly turn the dial until Heatblast is seen, It doesn't take long at all since I still only have two aliens to see, and push down the dial.

Just like with XLR8, the shift to the alien is more smooth and cohesive. As my whole body turns to plasma and rock, I'm surprised with the feeling of raw power that comes with Heatblast. Even though I only remember him throwing fire in the show, I remember laying into those goons without any effort. The green light dies down, and again I'm hit with the urge to call out the name of the alien. I try to hold it in for as long as I am able to, but after a short time the feeling overwhelms me and I have to mutter a small Heatblast.

"Okay, getting readings of your temp right now, in ten seconds I want you to try and raise your heat as high as you can," I hear Cisco's voice over a scratchy PA system and nod. Slowly counting to ten in my head, I look down at my hands made of plasma, flexing my fingers, seeing if I can tell a difference between human and Heatblast's. After ten seconds pass I put my hands up, around six inches apart, and focus, causing a flame to come into existence. It looks more like a candle flame than anything dangerous, but as I focus it gets hotter and hotter until an orb of rolling fire is created. Even though it started red, it slowly got lighter and lighter, and as I focus just a bit more, becomes totally white. I slowly move my hands back, making the ball of fire bigger, but the same extreme heat. Closing my eyes to focus, I know that Heatblast can go "supernova" and do nothing but concentrate on growing my fire and making it hotter until it's the only thing in my mind.

As my body becomes completely doused with thick white foam, I consider the fact that I might have gone a little overboard with my goal. I open my mouth to complain, but then some get in my mouth, and the feeling of having fire-extinguishing foam enter the mouth of something almost made of fire is not a pleasant experience. I disperse what's left of the fire I created, waving my arms, not being able to see, trying to knock on the door, but then freeze when my hand completely goes through where the door should be.

Reaching up to tap the Omnitrix, shifting back in a flash of light I can see that half the building completely melted, and sigh. Yeah, I'm not trying to go supernova again for a while.

After profusely apologizing for melting half of Cisco's fire containment unit, which was undercut by Dick breaking out into laughter, we were lead once more for the last test which was situated in a giant arena roughly shaped like an oval. Looking around at the empty arena, cannot guess what the test would be. I look over to my unwilling teammate and try to formulate a question. Dick has switched out of his bright green and red costume, and has is simply wearing a black bodysuit with blue strips on his arms and legs.

"So are we supposed to fight each other, you think? I don't see anyone else, and I would hate having to beat up Robin, it's getting kinda boring," While I know I cant beat him without an alien, insulting his fighting style always got a rise out of him.

Instead of getting angry, or even half-heartedly cussing me out, he simply slumps to the ground. " I hate to break it to you but you can't call me Robin anymore," He simply states, staring at the ground.

"Oh is this like a Superhero thing, like I'm only supposed to call you Robin on missions and secret stuff?" I remember Batman telling me that, and while it's true that he's not technically in costume, his outfit is still pretty coo-

"No. It's because I got kicked out of that position when I left Gotham. There's only one Robin, and when I left I knew that if I didn't come back within the day Jason was going to get it." He said tone gruff, still staring at the ground. "There can only be one Robin, and I knew when Wayne started training another one it was only a matter of time."

While I know this is how Robin turns into Nightwing or at least sounds halfway similar to that storyline, I can't just tell him, "Don't worry that your adopted dad picked another orphan over you, you get a cool costume don't worry about it." I try to go with what should be a safe route.

"Damn. That does suck..." There's an awkward pause. "So are you gonna get a cool new name and costume? I'm not gonna lie, I am digging the black and blue combo, kinda matches with my black and green." I try to instill the most pep in my voice to cheer him up, but it does seem to work.

"Hmm? The black and blue? Yeah, I'll probably keep it, and for my name you can just call me by my actual name until I decide." He mumbles, still looking down. I decide to stop standing, and sit down next to him, accepting the temporary silence. After embarrassing myself with the treadmill experiment, and then breaking another piece of equipment, the calm and quiet really is helping me calm down. After a couple of minutes, I see the door at the other side of the arena open, and I nudge Dick to get his attention.

I stand up, squinting to see what test is going to break the peace and silence, and frown after I see no one or nothing coming out of the door. I turn around to ask Dick if he knows what's going on, since he probably has more experience being strangely tested living with Batman, and as soon as I do, an impact hits my back and sends me flying through the air.

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Landing on the ground a good dozen feet from where I was hit, I thank whoever made my training jumpsuit, as impacts like that don't break bones with that force, but instead only leave bruises. Even though it still is painful, the pain is more akin to Dick punching me, and not getting hit by a car. I groan as I try to get up, seeing a yellow blur zipping around Dick. Noting that Dick switched his staff to two short Kali sticks, I quickly make my way towards him, as whoever the yellow blur is, is zipping around the room.

"Hey who is this fucking guy," I ask Dick, putting my hand on his shoulder to try and catch my breath? "I know the Reverse-Flash wears yellow is it him?" I know superheroes have an insane definition of training, but even so, putting a sidekick and a week-and-a-half hero against a villain doesn't seem that safe.

"No, even worse," Dick says, "it's fucking Kid-Flash"

"Why in the hell would Kid-Flash fight us?" I ask, watching as the yellow blur runs all the way around the arena once, constantly moving just fast enough to not be able to see him for long, "Isn't he the son of the regular Flash?"

"He's his nephew actually, and the reason is that he's a dick," Dick replies. "And I beat him up when he first got his powers for like two weeks, and I stopped right before he got good enough to beat me, once he learned how to control them."

"So this is a grudge match, and I'm in the middle of it?" I ask. "No thank you." I twist the dial to Heatblast instead, just in case.

"You won't have a choice Beau, he'll just kick your ass first than mine." He looks faintly embarrassed and softly mumbles, "I can't beat him alone"

"Say please and I'll help" I say immediately.

"Fuck you"

"Say it?" I needle, "Say it, come on I won't make fun of you."

"Fine" Dick says, acting as it pains him greatly to say it. "Please help me give the most annoying person either of us will ever meet the biggest beat down of their lives."

I smile. "That wasn't so hard was it?" I ask, and immediately push down the dial, emitting a burst of green light. Transforming into Heatblast was more smooth the third time but by almost an imperceptible difference. Feeling the familiar boost in strength, and semi-emotional need to start fires, I took a deep breath and shouted:

"HEATBLAST"

Before anyone can move, I will flames around my head, making a crown of fire and with a mental twist, jewels of darker flame spark into creation on the expanse, making the crown complete. "How fast is our opponent, anyway?" I ask, creating and smothering small balls of fire in the air around me.

"Faster than the Flash was at his age, but if he ran a race against the Flash he would lose, but he's still pretty fast. Also, your crown is corny as hell," He finishes, twirling his Kali sticks.

I lob a fireball at the Kid-Flash, noting he's still sipping around the outside area of the arena, not getting close to us, just constantly moving. Recognizing I have a time limit in my alien form, If we don't beat Kid-Flash before I time out we might automatically lose. "Let's speed this up shall we, Dick?" I ask, before spreading my arms out. Focusing on the whole arena I start spreading fire on the ground, slowly covering more and more, I leave out a small safe zone for my teammate as I focus on containing Kid-Flash.

"How hard can we go?" I look at Dick, still focusing on spreading fire. Less and less of the arena is safe, causing KIi-Flash to only run around the parts I left unburning.

"As much damage as possible," Is the only response I get, and I smile.

Clearing my mind I suddenly clap my hands together, shooting all of the fire on the floor at Kid-Flash at once, creating more flames as I do so. Even though none of the flames hit, he runs forward, right at my teammate. The ring of fire around Dick, suddenly races up, right in time for Kid-Flash to run into it, causing him to have to back off. I move my hand in the famous "come at me bro" gesture, hoping Kid-Flash will target me. I know my Heatblast form takes almost no damage, especially from physical attacks, but Dick could certainly get knocked out in one punch, leaving me alone.

However, getting punched an uncountable number of times by Kid-Flash, I almost rethought my position. I wouldn't even see him punch me, just feel impacts in random spots all over my body. I covered my face then felt punches in my lower back and stomach. Even though I was made of rock and plasma, I could feel each punch, which was impressive. If I had chosen XLR8, each punch would've been able to do more damage, plus, turning into the alien version of a speedster against someone whose uncle was the Flash seemed like a bad idea. However, I knew the clock was ticking down, so I knew I had to start making moves.

I made pillars of fire rise in random spots around me, then produced burst after busting of flame, trying to hit Kid-Flash. I would stomp my foot, making a whole section explode into flames, trying to cut of places he could retreat to, all the while throwing fireballs, where he was and where I thought he was going. Kid-Flash was a superhuman, sure, but if I took away everyplace he could run, it wouldn't matter how fast he was, I could hit him anyway. I could barely hear anything due to the roaring flames, and the sound of getting hit at insane speeds created almost deafening noises.

I stopped throwing fireballs and started swinging whips made of fire, hoping the horizontal cords of fire would trap one of his limbs. I slowly walked back to where Dick was, creating as much fire as I could around us so I could have a breather. concentrating, I created a tornado of fire around us, hoping the spinning flames would prevent Kid-Flash from just running through. Even though each fire only dimmed my potential energy by the smallest amount, the vast amount I had created was beginning to take a toll.

"We're going to have to work together!" I shout, trying to be heard over the raging flames, "I can't capture him just by myself, he's too fast."

"Leave me open for a second, and when he attacks me, that when you have to trap him" I hear Dick shout back, "His movement is decided when he's punching, so he can’t escape."

I nod, then completely reduce all the fires I have made, opening us back to the arena. The floors and walls of the stadium have been torched black, and I can make out small potholes where my fireballs have landed. In the distance, I see Kid-Flash, still moving quickly from side to side.

Walking away from Dick, and towards Kid-Flash, I slowly start creating fires in the wake of my footsteps, an idea forming in my mind. While I think that allowing Dick to take the punch, might allow me to land a blow, if I don't completely knock out Kid-Flash, it would have been all for nothing. However, if I can trap him right before he attacks Dick, I can use my flames, and Dick could potentially hit him. Stopping around 15 feet away from my teammate, I consolidate two fireballs in each hand, pretending to be ready to launch them.

As Kid-Flash disappears in a blur of light, I realize that Dick was right. There would be no way for me to run back in time to take the hit, or even hit Kid-Flash with one of mine. focusing on the small spurts of fire in the shape of my footprints, I try to connect the one as closest to Dick as possible, and for one second I concentrate with all my might.

Teleporting through the fire, I reach out in front of me, growing fire to make my hands bigger, grab Kid-Flash's arms and spin him around, his back facing Dick. I can see Kid-Flash's eyes widen in surprise as his legs start kicking my chest, but his kicks falter when he's hit in the back of the head with a Kali stick. After the third consecutive hit to the back of the head, I finally drop him, placing my hand directly over his prone body. I motion for Dick to stop, worried that he wasn't just knocked out. My worries are eventually proven untrue when I see his arms and legs move slightly, and he quietly moans.

I step back, and fall to the ground, laying on my back exhausted. Not only did I use more fire than I had ever done before, but also teleported, which I was finding out to be very tiring. Looking down on the blinking red Omnitrix, I only have a second to hope I'm not laying on fire before I switch back to a regular human. I look up to see Dick's face and smile on the remembrance of the same position two weeks ago. I weakly raise my arm, fist clenched, and smile when he lightly returns my fist bump.