During my time in the chamber, I saw things. I wasn't sure if they were visions, dreams, or messages sent from Behemoth into my subconscious... but they were weird. I saw what appeared to be a high school teacher putting on a purple latex jumpsuit. I saw a man fist-fighting another man atop a building, with what seemed to be a fishing-pole strapped to his back. I saw a military helicopter piloted by a woman with sunglasses, she was grinning sadistically as she peppered a skyscraper with bullets, a man encased in golden light springing out of the building to stop her. One of the last things I saw was someone I assumed to be Diamondback herself. She was beating the crap out of a guy with machineguns for hands, before she looked back, an expression of pure horror across her face. Then, my chamber opened.
My eyes took a second to adjust to the room, which seemed a lot brighter than I remembered. I rubbed them, feeling as if I had just woken up from a long nap. "3 years are over already?"
The man on the TV screen wasn't present. In fact, I realized I was in a different place entirely... Yet another empty room, this time the size of a football field, entirely made of metal. Rectangular windows adorned the wall at the end of the room, and the wall to my left had an opening that looked like it led to a hallway. Behemoth was standing across from me, an amused expression along his hardened, partially metallic face.
"Yes, how are you feeling, 'sir'?" He asked, although he didn't sound too sincere.
"I'm alright, I think. But I don't feel too different... a little stiff, maybe." I stretched my arms out.
"Close your eyes. You will feel a difference. Consider this your first lesson."
"Alright..." I close my eyes. After a few minutes, I realize I can feel something.. I feel a deep vibration throughout my body I hadn't felt before. I can also hear a distant humming. "I can sense.. something... like everything is connected to me somehow."
"Okay. Now, reach out and feel that energy. Physically outstretch your arms, and see if you can do anything with it."
I did as he asked, and suddenly, I can see everything around me. I see the stars, planets, galaxies, and all the space in between. I can somehow feel Behemoth across the room, but also every single individual person and living thing back on earth. In fact... I could swear that I felt everything in the universe, and all of its energy flowing through me. I felt something warm tickling the palms of my hands, so I opened my eyes and saw a miniature spiral galaxy in between my hands. Somehow, I knew I could control the size, and even shape of it if I really wanted to.
"Is this... the universe?" I asked, in complete and total awe.
Behemoth facepalmed. "No, that is not the universe. That is a replica that you made of the Milky Way galaxy. You have some sort of connection to the primordial forces of the universe, the chamber just made you a little more aware of that... and helped you grow into some of your latent abilities. That is one of them, energy projection... although that is not the kind that can cause any real damage."
I felt like kind of an idiot so I stammered onto the next question. "Oh.. my bad. What other abilities do I have?"
"I don't know. We'll have to test you." His bionic hand closed into a fist, withdrew into his arm, and then came back out with a small remote control. Behemoth flicked a switch on the remote, and behind him, part of the floor opened. A platform containing a dump truck rose up, and he calmly walked over to it, effortlessly lifting it over his shoulder. "I'm going to throw this at you, try punching it.", He ordered.
"Punching it!?!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, you should survive. I doubt Diamondback would have picked someone that couldn't survive a dump truck being thrown at them." Behemoth chuckled as he said this, but then his expression turned dark. "Besides... in the future, you'll have to endure far worse than this."
Without bothering to wait for a reply, he threw the vehicle at me. As it hurtled toward me, flipping through the air, my life flashed before my eyes. Preschool... Kindergarten... First date... college... getting beamed into a spaceship... And then, just before it hit me, I came back. In that split second, my fist shot out, connecting with the truck. The hood flew off, and the truck immediately went hurtling back toward Behemoth. I wasn't sure what he did from where I was standing, but somehow the truck was cut down the middle before it actually reached him, and the two halves passed around him harmlessly. Instead, they crashed into the wall behind him and burst into flames. In that moment, two metal nozzles attached to mechanical rods came down from the ceiling and doused the fire. They must have also contained some kind of weird acid, because the dump truck parts melted as they were sprayed. The arms retracted back into the ceiling after getting rid of the dump truck parts.
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Behemoth seemed pretty impressed. "Nice, so we can add enhanced strength to the list of powers. I'd like to continue with your 'testing', but it seems that you have a job... and I think some hands-on learning would go a long way toward you actually becoming competent."
"What's the job?" I ask, still reeling from the exhilaration of having countered a flying dump truck with my bare hands.
"This way," Behemoth motioned toward the hallway. I followed him through it and we came upon a small room with a bunch of monitors. There was a massive keyboard in front of the largest monitor, and a little swivel chair that couldn't possibly have supported Behemoth's weight.
"Sweet gaming setup..." I murmured under my breath. Immediately the tall man glowered down at me.
"You will not use it for 'gaming'. Now, sit." He instructed, and I did just that. He typed something on the keyboard with one hand, hit enter, and every screen blared to life. The room was awash with a blue glow, and on the main monitor in front of me I saw a surprisingly blurry image of a man seemingly running in place.
"What's so special about this? I fail to see what I have to do. Is he about to have a heart attack or something?"
"You didn't notice? Jesus Christ, Diamondback... was there really nobody else you could have picked?" he said that last part under his breath, but I heard him. I was about to make some attempt to defend myself when I realized what he was talking about.
The man on-screen wasn't running in place... he was running so fast that everything around him appeared to be a blur. My mouth widened in shock, which Behemoth seemed to notice.
"Yeah... pretty amazing, huh? We want you to 'recruit' him. Most of the higher ups don't really have much faith in you, so the only way I could get them to respect Diamondback's wishes was to promise that you wouldn't be alone. As we told you before you entered the chamber, we want you to lead a team of people that can protect earth from anything that might be deemed a threat."
"I'll do my best." As soon as I finished my sentence, Behemoth pushed a button on the console, the room lit up with a bright white flash and when the light cleared, I appeared to be back on Earth, on top of what felt like the tallest building on that block. I looked around and took a deep breath of fresh air. It felt incredible, which is probably to be expected considering how much time I was in that induced coma aboard a cold, dark spaceship. As I stood admiring the cityscape, thinking about my mission, I came to a startling realization.
I had no idea where to go. Also, I had no idea how to get off the building. I was just about to begin figuring a way out of my predicament when I got punched in the face.
Hard.
Next thing I knew, I was hurtling through the air faster than that dump truck I'd punched earlier. My jaw hurt like hell, and I was surprised that it wasn't broken. My thoughts, (and pain) were once again interrupted by someone appearing directly above me. This should have been impossible, as I was currently flying against my will, but the person was truly there, in the flesh.
"Wh- Who are you?" I asked. Or, at least I wanted to ask. I didn't really get the chance because the guy grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, twisted in midair and in the same motion threw me toward the ground, where I crashed.
Hard.
I gasped through the pain, and slowly staggered to my feet. Somehow, I was still able to stand, and hadn't broken any bones. I was attributing this sharp increase in durability to the time I spent in the chamber. Still, my whole body was wracked with pain and I could barely move, even if I was standing for the time being.
Something crashed down in front of me, seemingly with more force than when I was thrown, and debris flew everywhere starting from where it landed, creating a cloud of dust.
As my vision cleared, I saw a man standing triumphantly before me, like he was incredibly proud of himself. He was wearing a red jumpsuit and sported a golden yellow cape. Yellow gloves adorned his hands, and he was wearing pilot goggles for some odd reason. Emblazoned on his chest was a golden... semicolon. That's right; a semicolon.
"Wh- Who are you?" This time I actually did ask, and he let out a proud. mighty laugh in response.
"BAHAHAHA!" He abruptly stopped and pointed a finger at me. His expression was dead serious, and when he spoke, I felt the fullest intent of each of his words. There was nothing fake about this man, he spoke with a conviction unlike anything else I'd ever heard.
"I witnessed your teleportation ability, you filthy criminal. Teleporting onto a Jewelry Store, in broad daylight? Let me guess, trying to assess the security of the building? Looking for possible entryways through which you could enter and commit your heinous acts? Figuring out the location of the nearest police station? How... unfortunate for you. I am all the security this little store needs. Now, you'd better have a good explanation for what you were doing, or at the very least be ready to come quietly."
I was beyond confused. Teleportation? Oh... that's right. Behemoth did beam me down from the ship. Seems this lunatic saw that. "Hey now, let's just calm down. What are you doing standing here, in the middle of the city, dressed like you're going to Comic-Con? I don't know how I got on the building. Someone literally put me there against my will. And for the third time, who are you?"
He smirked. In a booming, commanding voice, he said, "It is I, Super Semicolon."