Leon Nef- Syndicate Headquarters-Birmingham, England
Leon made periodic glances between the Corona in his hands and Joshua, who was explaining its use and functions. Without a doubt, it was an intricate piece of technology. Leon especially like the ability to store extra electricity in it. Not only would it give him a better energy source, but it would allow him to add additional amounts of electrical storage, besides just inside himself. Leon was beginning to like the device more and more. He noticed the button the Corona which would detract the poles, too. But Leon was edging to try it.
Joshua smiled "I knew you would ask that. Feel free to come in here and train anytime you wish, you could even train now. Ask any of the scientists here and they will also be able to put you through a pre-programmed training scenario for you." Leon nodded, picked up the Corona, and headed down to the training room below.
"Let's test this out." Leon said. A scientist immediately approached the console and started typing in commands.
"I'm going to run the training program for you. The object of the simulation is to hit all the targets. Some will be standing still. Others will be moving at various speeds. You can either attempt to use the Corona up close on the some of the targets as a melee weapon, or attempt to pour in enough electricity into it to arc the shots as long-range hits. The choice is up to you. Note that the further out the Corona's electricity extends, the less potent it could be. We have a damage percent identification program that will compute the damage each target receives as if they were a regular human. They range from 0%, meaning no damage, to 100%, meaning sure kill. Generally, any percent over 20 would be quite damaging, and anything over 60% would be quite lethal."
Leon nodded as the scientist explained the system. Leon would try to get all of his hits to at least a 60% this time around, that way, and improve from there. "Ready." He said as he positioned himself in the room. He swatted the button on the Corona to activate it, and began pouring electricity into it. He could see the spark plug accept the electricity, and the volts light up.
"There will be ten targets to hit. Try to do it as fast as you can. Ready...go!"
The targets popped in place. They were spread out across the room. Some stood still while others moved rapidly. The closest target was to Leon's left. He lifted up the Corona and slammed at the target with a side-swap from the Corona. Electricity pulsed off the target and scattered across the room, and the hit left a noticeable black smudge. Another target was to Leon's right, also within striking distance. Leon struck at the target again, this time with a backhand. The next target was moving side to side a meter away from the one he just hit. Pouring in some electrical energy into the Corona, Leon aimed at the target, and did a running hit on it, extending his arm back and then thrust his arm forward. The electricity sprang from the Corona for a moment and managed to extend far enough and leave its mark from half a meter away. Leon was surprised that it was able to do something like that, but decided he wanted to see what else the new weapon could do. There were three targets all relatively close to each other on the side of the room. Powering up the Corona with a little extra juice, he contorted the electricity to bend to a shape that extended from one of the poles a little more than the other, than made a distance swipe at all three. His prediction was correct. The Corona never was able to reach quite that distance yet, barely scraping at the three targets. Leon came in closer and repeated the process, swiping at the three. The result was much better. Leon wandered across the training room, trying to hit the remainder of the targets as quick as possible. Time should also be a consideration when trying to launch his attacks.
Eventually, all of them had been hit. Leon looked up at the scientist, awaiting the results. The scientist looked over the damage identification computer, and announced the results of the speaker above. "78, 75, 43, 23, 36, 47, 62, 56, 59, 56." He said. Leon noticed the three he hit simultaneously and from a meter distance were much less potent than the ones he had hit from further away. He also noticed the ones towards the end he hit were less stronger, probably because he rushed them.
"Not good enough." Leon said out loud. "Let's run it again." He wanted to be to the point where every hit he makes was at least above 60%. After that, he wanted to try targets a meter away, and attempt the same thing. He'd then keep working his way up from there, until the point that a single swing from the Corona was a sure kill to a human. It was going to be a long day.
Leon had lost track of the times he had gone with the simulations. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he knelt over, catching his breath. He had been steadily improving the damage he dished out over the next few hours. Over this time, he had also picked up a few new tricks he could use with the Corona. The Corona was a deadly close range weapon, the lightning capabilities of which much more effective than his normal bolts he could dish out. Truly, at his current pace, a single swipe, if hit with enough energy and at the correct position of the body, could kill a human in a single hit.
"96, 87, 85, 77, 82, 91, 82, 79, 84, 90." He heard over the loud speaker, the scientist relaying the last percentiles he achieved in his last attempt. It was definitely a substantial improvement. Leon would have liked those two seventies to be a bit higher, but overall, he could live with it. "Shall we take another break?" The scientist asked. Leon shook his head. "No, not yet. Give me a refill on energy, then run it again." He said. Leon thought for a moment, then spoke again. "Actually, is the program able to change what the percentage is based on?"
The scientist thought for a moment, and spoke again. "Well…theoretically yes. It would be possible. What would you like it changed to, then?"
Leon grinned, and spoke. "Change it to an Atlantean." The scientist stared at the smirking Leon, then typed in commands into the console. The targets detracted for a second, then appeared right out again. "It's done. When you're ready, begin again."
Leon positioned himself. Now that he had a handle on the Corona, he would try to take down all targets within a much quicker pace than when he first began. He would make mental notes in his head to try to keep it under a minute and a half. An orb of electricity floated into the room, a sort of battery that they were using to power up Leon's electrical reserves inside his body as well as the Corona.
"Ready, begin!" The speaker said, and Leon sprung into action once more. He pounced onto the first target, knocking it with a frontal hit with the Corona. Electricity traveled from his palms, through the device, and ended on the target as Leon impacted. He turned around in a rapid motion and attacked the next available target, which was positioned a meter away on his right, and moving at a moderately fast pace. Leon didn't hit it directly with the poles of the Corona, but rather expanded the electrical energy around the weapon to impact in a 'splash' damage around the target, ensuring it was hit without Leon having to directly hit it. There were two more targets side by side with one another. Leon ran at them at top speed, hitting one with the Corona like a club, and the other he attacked with a backhand. Electricity pulsed off the targets, and particles scattered in all directions. The remainder of the targets floated around him in a distance. Since the started of training, he was going for only power. Now he was going for power, speed, and efficiency. While the Corona was a useful weapon up close, he began relying on improving his marksmanship with long range bolt attacks during training as well: an ideal close and long-range combination. Leon gathered energy from inside himself as well as from the Corona, and transferred it over to his left hand. His nerves in his arms felt the familiar tingling feeling as the electricity gathered there in bundles. Leon stuck out his index and middle fingers, and aimed at the targets which moved around the room, rather fast. The lightning shot out of his two fingers and hit a target with immense speed. However, it did not hit directly in the center. He was sure that would take off the amount of damage actually done to it. He put it out of his mind as he aimed for the next ones, and released the lightning strikes from his fingers. One of his shots went awry, but the rest managed to hit their marks. Leon looked around, making sure all targets were hit before looking up at the scientists to see what he got. The scientist seemed to look over some calculations before speaking into the microphone.
"64, 53, 27, 54, 33, 36, 46, 49, 35, 30." He said in a clear, monotone voice. Leon cocked an eyebrow, wondering if the statistics were off. He doubted it was a computer error, though. It just meant that Atlanteans truly and for the most part would be much harder to take one out. Leon sighed. He had worked quite a while to get to the numbers he was at before, only to see them dwindle. He felt for a moment as if he had learned nothing at all, but quickly dismissed that thought in his mind. He knew he was improving. He could feel it, inside his body, and out. "I'm going to take a break. Get some food." Leon said.
He was about to be guided by one of the scientists, but he raised his hand in decline. He remembered the way, and would rather not have anyone go with him while he ate. Proceeding to the area Joshua had shown him before, Leon walked in silence to the kitchen room. He opened the refrigerator, and examined the contents, before taking out a few bags of bread and spread. He searched the area for a fruit, a certain fruit he had craved for, but none of its kind was present. He grudgingly chose an apple instead to add to the food. Preparing himself some sandwiches with the spread, he ate silently, and thought. The past few days' events rolled in his head and he tried to make sense of how fast everything had happened. The teleportation into the warehouse, the battle in the woods. It all seemed like it happened so long ago, but in reality, it had not been that long at all. The murder of those four Atlanteans still lingered in his mind quite often, though, no matter how much he tried to bury the thoughts. Whenever they resurfaced, Leon told himself that it had to be done, that there was no other way, that it was either him or them. He told himself that, and for a while longer, everything was fine again.
Leon finished his food, and proceeded back into the training room. "Fill me up." Leon said again as he walked past the scientists back down into the training room. He had a set target in his mind, and he was going to reach it before the days end.
Leon's bones ached. He had given it his all, in a final effort to reach his goal. All targets were damaged from constant attacks of electricity. The Corona lay on the ground next to him. He looked back up to the scientist, who processed the percentiles, for what Leon hopes to be one last time. The scientist looked up, and announced the scores.
"87, 75, 82, 80, 62, 68, 73, 65, 79, 93." The scientist said, with a smile on his face. Leon panted on the ground, but smiled to himself as he rose up.
Good enough, Leon said to himself. "That's enough for today. I'm done with training." His body was sore with every step he took. He had probably overexerted himself for today. Leon climbed back up to the control room, trying his best to compose himself, and regulate his breathing back to normal.
"So…anyone know where the hell I'll be sleeping around here?" Leon asked, looking at nobody in particular. He was tired, done with all the nonsense, and didn't want to do much else today except rest. He knew he earned it.
