Axion patrolled her route through the slums, keeping an eye out for trouble or people in need of help. Most days were slow like this, but today was especially boring, as there wasn't much going on.
But as the morning turned to the afternoon, she encountered several cases of muggings, attempted robberies, and street fights. She helped out in those situations as much as she could. Muggings and robberies were straightforward; she'd jump in, subdue the muggers or thieves, and that was that.
Street fights, though? They happened every hour of every day.
In the slums, everyone expected that they'd get robbed, stabbed, or beaten at one point in their lives. It was part of the daily grind of survival. But despite their commonplace, stealing and indiscriminate violence was never accepted by the populace. Everybody hated them, but they occurred often enough to have become the norm. Most people developed a system of coping, turning a blind eye to them unless they were the victims.
Street fights were a little different. As long as nobody died or was permanently crippled, nobody cared too much. And the people involved were usually just settling scores and paying back debts. It was a good outlet for relieving stress and boredom. Sometimes, bets were placed and prizes earned, which made street fights even more common.
As long as the fight didn't involve an adult picking on a kid, or a group attacking a lone victim, it was fair game. The only problem with that was that some kids picked fights with adults on purpose—something Fii had done in the past.
As Axion though, she tried not to get involved with street fights.
One of the slums' unwritten law was: leave them to do as they please unless they're messing with you or your property. This rule applied to street fights, and Axion usually obeyed it, but sometimes she couldn't help herself. She had to intervene when the fighting got too bloody, or when the winner didn't accept the loser's surrender.
But she was careful not to pick sides, only showing up when both parties wanted to kill each other. This way, she appeared neutral, even-handed, and avoided appearing biased or unfair. In general, she'd subdue all participants, and once they calmed down, she'd let them go.
The worst she had to deal with were insults and threats, which she ignored. She did receive a few comments and complaints here and there, mostly from the victims. They often commented about her invading their privacy and intruding on their private matters. To this, she'd politely apologize, and occasionally remind them that she'd saved their lives. They'd scowl or curse in return, and that would be the end of it.
Sometimes though, she received grateful responses instead of hostile ones. Whenever she received praise or thanks, she'd give the person a nod. Whether that was the right response or not, she had no clue. It felt appropriate, so she stuck with it.
Whenever the gangs showed up to fight each other, Axion made sure to stay away. She only intervened if innocent people were caught in the crossfire. Otherwise, she'd let them sort things out amongst themselves. They could kill each other for all she cared; that was the life they'd chosen for themselves.
Axion sighed softly as she stepped away from another brawl. Today has been peaceful...Well, as peaceful as things could get. Her thoughts wandered to the question that had been bugging her all morning. Did Zoltar tell anyone else what he saw?
It had been a week since the incident with Zoltar, but there wasn't any news about her being a metahuman anywhere—not even any tin talk. No gangsters had shown up actively looking for her, and no one in the slums seemed to be acting any differently towards her. It was like nothing had changed at all.
She couldn't believe Zoltar would let this opportunity pass him by. Even if he didn't connect the dots immediately, surely he'd put two and two together and figure out that she was Axion. So why hasn't he done anything about it?
She had brought this up to Virgil during their training session, and the man had merely shrugged, saying that gangsters weren't known for being smart. Zoltar and his crew might have simply forgotten or written it off as a hallucination. But she doubted that; a person doesn't just forget seeing a metahuman use their abilities in front of them.
So, what was going on?
On her patrols, she tried looking for him, but there were no signs of him or the people he was with. The rest of the Gully Rats were still around; their leader, Twitch Marlow, had replaced Zoltar with a new lieutenant.
The echo in the alley floating around was that Zoltar had been killed by the surviving Neon Knights who had it out for him.
Whether that was true or not, she didn't know, but what mattered was that she was no longer at risk of discovery.
She trusted that Quinn would keep her secret, but she hadn't spoken with him since their encounter with the Gully Rats. She saw him every once in a while when she went on her patrols. At least he was alive and didn't mysteriously disappear. Now she just had to find the time to sit with him and explain herself.
Her mind wandered to the evening Edith scolded her after her fight with the Gully Rats. When she first told her about Zoltar's attack and explained how she had saved Quinn and herself, Edith went ballistic, unleashing a verbal tirade about the dangers of revealing her secret identity. The lecture lasted almost the whole night, and afterward, she banned her from patrolling for several days.
Virgil had also kept her on a short leash, ordering her to avoid any confrontations with the gangs and restricting her patrols to specific routes. Surprisingly, he had been the least stern and judgmental compared to Edith. Instead, he asked her if she regretted using her abilities to save her friend.
Her answer was 'no'.
That seemed enough for Virgil because he didn't bring it up again, and the days passed quietly, without further incident.
So, here she was, patrolling the same familiar streets, keeping watch over the slums, not encountering anything out of the ordinary.
Bored out of her mind, she headed for the water towers to take a quick break before resuming her rounds.
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Axion's fight against 'Cobra' Kasumi and her lieutenant made her realize one thing: she needed to get more creative with how she used her power. So far, she had only used her power to boost her agility, make herself lighter or heavier, make others heavier or lighter, deflect projectiles, and make her attacks hit harder.
Her biggest attack was her Shockwave Stomp, where she slammed her foot into the ground, creating a localized gravitational distortion that sent shockwaves through the earth. She could also adjust the strength of her stomp, changing its intensity and range, depending on the situation.
This was the move she came up with after reading through a bunch of books on gravity and physics that Edith handpicked for her. She wasn't a genius like Edith, so it took her a lot of effort and concentration to understand them, but eventually, she got the concepts down—or at least enough to implement them.
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Still, even though she was able to do all these things, it felt as if she was only scratching the surface of her power. There were still a lot of things she didn't get yet.
When she thought about making those bullets orbit her and Quinn, and then fly back to her target, she was pretty proud of herself. She imagined those gravitational vortexes, instead of repelling the projectiles, creating a sort of gravity tunnel, where the bullets flew straight but followed the curvature of her gravitational field. Then all she needed to do afterwards was to aim that tunnel at the gangsters and let the bullets free.
If she could use her power in such a sophisticated way, then what else could she do?
According to Edith, and also from what Axion observed, her gravity field extended to a meter away from her body. It didn't really explain why she could pick up a big object that extended past her field and still affect it, but that's how her power worked, so she accepted that fact.
But maybe they both overlooked something, or maybe there were some hidden details that they never considered.
What if her field could extend farther than that? What if she could spread her power out to encompass an entire building, or an entire block, or even the entire slums?
Now THAT would be cool!
Unfortunately, she still couldn't do anything like that, nor did she understand how to do it. Maybe it'll slowly happen with time as she continues to use her power. Who knows?
For now, she had to work with what she currently had: an invisible aura surrounding her that manipulated gravity within a meter's radius.
So, how else could she use her power?
It would be nice to eventually fly around. She could kind of do that already, but only in a limited sense. When she made herself lighter, she could jump higher and farther, hover in mid-air, or float while falling. But that didn't seem like actually flying.
How else could she use gravity to move around?
As Axion sat atop the water tower, letting her feet dangle over the edge, her mind continued to wander. She glanced over at a guy sliding around on a pair of roller skates. The guy looked so relaxed as he propelled himself across the ground.
Huh, that looks fun.
Axion watched him skate around. She studied the way he moved, noticing how he used the inclines and declines in the terrain to propel himself. She wondered if she could do that.
Could she control her gravity field to create a smooth slide using the ground itself? How would that even work?
Roller skates worked on friction. Because of those wheels on their bottom, they could move across the ground easier than walking.
Maybe she could try the same thing. But instead of wheels, she could use her gravity to reduce her friction somehow?
Hmm, but how would she do that? She didn't have a wheel or anything. She only had her feet.
Hold on. Weight was pretty important here. She could reduce her weight so that she'd have less friction when walking, but then what? She had already been doing that for a while now, it just made her faster and more agile.
What else could she do to move like that?
Then an idea popped into her mind.
Axion jumped down from the water tower, landing in a crouch. She straightened up, grinning as she dusted herself off. "Time to do some experimenting."
She concentrated, using her gravity field to reduce her weight like she'd done to increase her speed and agility.
Alright, step one: success.
Axion started running like normal. She picked up speed, the familiar sensation of lightness under her feet making each step feel like a brush against the ground. She felt the subtle tug of gravity, the way it anchored her even as she willed herself lighter.
Right, this was the easy part. She was just lowering her weight and moving faster. She could do that normally. Now what? She was faster, sure, but she didn't have the gliding motion she was aiming for.
"Okay, think... what gives skaters that smooth glide?" she murmured to herself.
She thought back to the roller skater, how his movements had a fluidity, a rhythm that seemed to dance with the terrain. Axion tried to mimic that, adding a slight sway to her steps, but it wasn't quite right. It was too... normal.
Her brow furrowed in concentration. What if she didn’t just reduce her weight but manipulated the gravitational pull around her feet more dynamically? The idea was like a spark igniting in her mind.
Pausing, she focused on her feet, envisioning a gentle wave of energy emanating from each sole, interacting with the environment, adjusting the pull of gravity ever so slightly to create a natural slipstream beneath her soles—the gravitational field under her feet becoming asymmetric, stronger at the back, weaker at the front.
Axion tentatively pushed off the ground with her right foot, trying to feel the difference. To her surprise, she slid forward a few extra centimeters.
And then, suddenly, it clicked. She twisted her foot slightly, angling her graviton field, and felt herself glide smoothly to the left. A small shift to the right, and she curved back, tracing a graceful arc on the asphalt.
A grin spread across her face. This was it! She took a tentative step forward, then another. It was awkward at first, like learning to walk again, but she soon found her footing.
Now for the real test.
She began to run again, this time altering the gravitational field with each step. She pushed off with her left foot, then her right, each time extending the slide, allowing her to cover more ground in fewer strides.
The first few attempts were clumsy. She veered off too sharply, almost stumbling, her arms flailing for balance.
Her legs began to ache from the constant motion, and her feet felt like they were being rubbed raw.
[TSFI: 0.53]
Yeah, yeah. I know.
She slowed down, pacing herself.
Now, for direction. She remembered the skater's subtle shifts in weight, how he leaned to steer.
Mimicking that, Axion angled her foot slightly, feeling the subtle shift in her trajectory. Then she repeated the maneuver with her other foot, leaning forward this time, and swiveling her hips to add momentum to her turns.
She experimented, varying her lean, sometimes sharp for tight turns, sometimes gentle for wide, sweeping arcs. It was like learning a new dance, her body adapting to the rhythm of her gravitational manipulation. She even altered the gravity around her hands to increase her balance, providing extra support as she turned. Just like rudders, she could control her direction by angling her hands and feet, manipulating their localized gravitational fields with subtle movements.
With each step, her confidence grew. She spun in a tight arc, picking up speed as she zipped past the startled bystanders.
Axion let out a giddy laugh. "This is great! It's not flying, but it's so fun! I might need to give myself a name for this style, hmm, something with the word 'glide' in it, I guess. Gravity Glide! Okay, I can work with that."
She practiced for a while, skating back and forth through the slums, her mind racing as she pondered how she could incorporate this technique into combat.
As she finally slowed to a stop, Axion stood there for a moment, catching her breath and marveling at what she'd just achieved. A rush of excitement coursed through her, and she couldn't help but grin.
She looked back at the roller skater in the distance, still gliding around on his wheels.
Thanks for the inspiration, slumshine. But this, this is my own spin.
As exciting as this discovery was, she needed to keep in mind that she was doing this for a reason, and that was to help the people of the slums. Plus, if she let herself get too distracted, she might end up neglecting her duties and let bad guys do whatever they want. She should go back to what she does best.
Luckily, that came easily for her.
But…maybe she could slide around just a little bit longer.
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Axion continued her gravity-defying dash through the slums, her feet barely touching the ground as she slid around corners and down alleys. But as she maneuvered through the labyrinth of streets, a nagging sensation began to grow. Something was off.
At first, she thought it was just the strain of using her powers in such a continuous, demanding way. But then she felt it—a slight stickiness with each step, a drag that hadn't been there before.
She skidded to a stop, looking down at her boots. The soles were wearing thin—and these were supposed to be sturdy. The friction of her slides, despite being reduced, was taking its toll.
"Aww...son of a—"