Luminary Institute

26: Nap Heaven

It was a bit of a shame, but only a small portion of Slade’s team could make it to the event. In the grand scheme of things though, it didn’t matter because Slade’s ‘team’ was more like a ‘guild’ if anything. Plus, he was centerstage here, everyone else had come of their own volition. Among the people he had brought, the vast majority of them were Luminary Institute alumni.

In total, Slade had brought along four of his guild members. Nyssa, from her distant vantage point, couldn’t quite tell if she had met them or not. For the most part, whenever she met one of Slade’s friends, they weren’t in their hero costume... It also didn’t help that she had zoned out while they introduced themselves too. 

They were all recognizable heroes. The woman in the traditional hero outfit—armor, hood, cloak, and more—was in all white. Her hood was down and Nyssa was pretty sure she was the famous ‘Moon’s Apostle.’ To her left was a tall, muscled man. He was someone at the level of her dad, Kaiser. Wearing a visor over his eyes, he had long mint-green hair. 

Furrowing her eyebrows, she used a hand to shade her eyes while taking a look at the other two. One was wearing all black and was in a motorcycle helmet. That was the hero ‘Accelerator,’ Nyssa was sure of it. They were pretty cool. Some reason they never took off their helmet, even when she had met them in private settings... 

The last person was what... who? 

Squinting some more and craning her neck to try and look around Slade who was blocking her vision, she did some weird shuffling in her spot before spotting the last person. Aha! Projection! Nyssa wasn’t sure if that was her actual hero name, but that single word summed her powers up quite well. She looked quite normal though. Brown hair in a bob cut, normal—but nice—looking hero suit, and a wide smile. 

Zoning back out as they continued talking, Nyssa yawned as she leaned against Celeste. Letting herself drift off to dreamland, she slept through the rest of the question and answer session while they set up the show match setup. 

Nap heaven... 

One great nap later, Nyssa yawned herself back awake as hushed murmurs and half-cheers filled her ears. Blinking and nodding consciousness back to herself, she turned to look around. “Everyone spread out? All gone?” 

“Yeah, the three stooges are behind us to the right in a kind of diagonal direction,” Celeste cupped Nyssa’s face. Pinching Nyssa’s cheeks she nodded towards the pitch. “They’re about to start the first showmatch to wake up. Pretty much everyone has just spread out. I think Ryker and Electra are nearer to the bottom of the bleachers but still over there below us.” 

“I see,” Nyssa yawned, resisting the urge to pry Celeste’s hands away. “Are my cheeks soft?” 

“Yes, most definitely so,” Celeste teased as a smile danced across her lips. “Want me to stop?” 

“I don’t care...” Nyssa trailed off as another wave of sleepiness began washing over her. “Your hands are really warm. Like a perfect pillow...” 

“Okay, I’m stopping then,” Celeste laughed while pulling her hands away. “I can’t have you falling asleep again.” 

“Boo, who are you to deny me the simplest pleasure in life,” Nyssa puffed up her cheeks while reaching down to grab her water. “You’re right though, I should stay awake.” 

Refocusing her attention towards the stadium down below, she rubbed her eyes a few times while studying who had walked up. On one side was Slade. Now changed into his hero outfit, he looked a lot... more... composed. Opposite to him was Accelerator, the motorcycle helmet wearing hero. As both parties did some stretches, a palpable tension eased its way over the stadium. 

The faint creaking of bleachers peeked its way through the hushed whispers of the audience. The smell of snacks and breakfast was tossed around by the breeze weaving its way through the training field. Nyssa, herself, felt her palms clam up for no reason at all. Her stomach turned as she worried about Slade. 

There wasn’t even a reason to! It was a showmatch! He was a guildmaster! Nothing here would have any long term impact on his life! Perhaps... perhaps it just came from a deep-seated admiration latent somewhere from her childhood... 

“Any thoughts on this upcoming battle?” Nyssa leaned over and whispered into Celeste’s ear. In part it was to make conversation, in part it was to just clear her head. “I’m cheering for Slade, but I’m a little biased.” 

“Understandable,” Celeste laughed back while covering her mouth. “I think Slade holds the advantage. Accelerator matches up quite well with most people in a one versus one situation, but Slade’s power really messes with the viability of Accelerator’s.” 

“For sure,” Nyssa bobbed her head up and down while keeping her eyes glued to the pitch. Falling quiet as a referee walked onto the pitch, she, along with the rest of the stadium held their breath as the starter gun was pointed towards the sky. 

BANG. 

Before anyone could react, the battle had already started. Accelerator had disappeared from their position. With super speed faster than Electra’s they left afterimages while whizzing around the battlefield. Behind them they left a trail of superheated rock. Some of it began cooling down while other bits destroyed themselves from the sheer amount of energy injected into them.

Slade, on the other hand, took slow steps towards the center of the training pitch. Step... step... step. Keeping his eyes peeled, he whirled around and blocked an incoming strike from Accelerator. 

Accelerator, backing off before Slade could land a solid hit, kept at a solid distance. Slade just raised his arm before plunging it into the ground. 

A couple seconds later, the entire stadium began to quake due to Slade’s power: Resonance. The ground around him began to crack. As the ground rolled outward in waves, a huge sinkhole in the center of the pitch began sucking everything around it downward. 

Accelerator, zipping from block to block, sent a huge number of these chunks flying towards Slade at high speeds. Accelerating their own body, they appeared next to Slade and began pounding down on him with an endless flurry of blows. 

Slade, falling to the ground, used it as an opportunity to plunge his other arm into the ground. 

At this point, Accelerator's battle took a turn for the worse as Slade folded the entire training pitch inward into a giant dome. With each subsequent quake compressing its volume, he eliminated the space Accelerator could use one section at a time. 

A minute or so later... the battle came to an anticlimactic close as the dome of rock fell apart to reveal Slade clenching Accelerator by the collar.