Chapter 27: Clash of Unique

"Travis, now!" Jenny shouts. "You have Unique-Class Powers, just like Veta! You can manipulate atoms and control gravity!"

These words hit Travis like a ton of bricks. That can't possibly be true….

"Excuse me?" Veta says, the smile disappearing from her face.

"It's true," Grandma says at Travis side. "We didn't want you to know…the things you can do…"

"Don't try to use the atomics, Travis, it's too unstable here under the plant," Jenny barks. "Bend gravity. You have to do it now!"

What on earth is Jenny talking-

"You've always been most annoying, Jennifer," Veta interrupts, pointing her laser gun at Jenny.

Travis react blindly, trying to extend his flight Powers to Veta somehow. He feel a stab of pain rip into his abdomen.

However, Veta's gun does shift to the right, causing the laser blast to miss Jenny by inches. This buys him precious seconds to get more instructions.

"Just focus on the feeling you get when you fly and apply it to the cage bars!" Jenny shouts.

Travis lock his eyes on the metal bars and tense his muscles the way he do when he want to fly. But instead of lifting his own body, he focus on lifting the bars.

With enormous strain, he watch as the bars twist and pull upward, making enough space for them to escape.

That's…unreal.

He feel like he may have used half of his Power Level to do this, but it doesn't matter.

He's free.

And it's time to take Veta down.

Travis extend a black energy cord that latches on to Veta's arm and immediately begins to leech her life force. Veta reacts quickly, flipping backward and generating one of her kick-shields.

The energy drain breaks and Travis realize Veta will be able to block most of his long-range attacks.

So it's time to go close range.

He rush at Veta, generating a layer of black energy-armor around himself for protection. Ready to strike, he construct an energy weapon to attack.

He swipe at Veta with a long, thin, black sword.

Veta ducks under the blow with impossible speed, then swivels around to kick Travis in the face. Luckily, his energy-armor takes the brunt of the blow—but Veta quickly disarms him by blasting him point-blank with another oversized plasma gun.

Travis feel his energy-armor fall away, so he strike out with his knee, connecting with Veta's stomach.

She groans and drops her weapon. Travis step back to strike again but Veta moves faster, whipping her fist at his face. Travis feel one of Veta's fingers break as it connects with his jaw, cracking a molar.

They both howl with pain, staggering away from each other.

As he spit out bits of shattered tooth and blood, Travis notice out of the corner of his eye that Grandma has begun to climb out of the gap he made in the cage.

As he turn back towards Veta, something hot rips into his hand, causing him to scream. While he were distracted, Veta blasted him with one of her weapons—though her aim is a bit off, it seems.

Or at least that's what he think, until he look down and see that Veta's blast has incinerated his parents' silvered ring. All that remains is a charred band of ash.

Veta knew exactly what she was aiming for.

"Oh, did I destroy your precious?" Veta says, smiling once again. "How clumsy of me."

The sight of the destroyed ring makes Travis vision flash red.

This ends now.

He try accessing his gravity Powers and it comes far easier than he expect. Perhaps the rage has helped him focus; he don't care. Travis just watch as the air around Veta grows thick, the gravity surrounding her increasing tenfold.

Veta immediately smashes into the ground, her arm twisting with a sickening snap.

He release the gravity hold, feeling light-headed. That took a lot out of him but it worked.

With Veta down for the count, he turn back to the cages to find that Grandma has already freed Jenny.

"That was very impressive, Travis," Grandma says. "I only wish I had gotten a piece of her."

But Travis is too furious to celebrate. "Why didn't you tell me Miss Artillery had a daughter?"

"I…" Grandma says. "I never wanted to give it much thought, to be honest."

Travis turn to Jenny and it's clear she was as in the dark as him.

"I researched everything about your parents' case, there's not a mention of a daughter anywhere. It's like someone erased her from existence…."

"We should have been able to stop this," Travis start. "If we had known, we could have-"

"We don't have time for this," Jenny yells. "We need to find a way out of here. Now."

Forcing his frayed nerves to calm, he scan the room—and immediately spot the Telepoint that brought them here sitting on a computer console across the bunker.

But as he move to retrieve it, he also realize that Veta isn't on the ground anymore.

"Veta is up, everyone get close!" Travis shout, ready to generate an energy shield.

"There'll be no need for that," Veta says.

Travis, Grandma, and Jenny all spin to find Veta now standing in the corner of the bunker, wearing some kind of elaborate, metal bodysuit. Before any of them can react, Veta plugs two large syringes into her veins.

Then she screams.

"It's done," Veta says, composing herself. "I'll make this very simple for all of our loyal viewers at home. I have created the ultimate weapon, a machine that generates a solid wall of energy stretching ten miles high and wide."

As Veta speaks, she doesn't look so good—she has started to sweat and her cheeks have turned a pale shade of yellow.

"We're under the Bloater Fusion Plant because I needed a power source of nuclear proportions. Now that I have tapped into the reactor above, the wave has activated. It's set to sweep west from here to the ocean, decimating Hoshi City in its wake."

Once Veta finishes speaking, a video monitor sparks to life, displaying a solid, black wall of energy moving across the remains of Burns State Park (which was paved over to build HC years ago).

As the miles-wide death wave moves, it incinerates everything in its path. Luckily there's nothing but wildlife between the Bloater Fusion Plant and Hoshi City…but it can't be long before the wave reaches the outskirts of the city.

Grandma and Jenny both gasp.

And Travis raise his hands to attack.

"Not so fast," Veta screams. "Blasting the generator won't help—I was sure to make it rather durable. Impervious, one might say. It's got a coating of some delicious new metal I brewed called Maddenium…."

Travis hesitate for a moment, then jump as a loud bang echoes across the cave. He turn to Jenny, who has picked up one of Veta's guns and fired it at the generator suit.

But the shot just bounces off the generator's sleek metal surface and doubles back, knocking Jenny clean off her feet. Grandma rushes to her side—she indicates that Jenny is alive, just unconscious. The blast only stunned her.

"Told ya so," Veta whines. "My Powers are directly fueling the generator along with the nuclear boost, hence the need for this rather slimming bodysuit. So as long as my heart is still beating, that wave marches on. Which I'm afraid leaves us in another rather harsh reality…."

No. Not again, Travis think, following Veta's logic.

"The only way to stop that wave now is to kill me," Veta says, locking eyes with Travis. "It looks like you have another moral dilemma to face, Gravitate. Become a cold-blooded murderer to save millions of lives? Or spare me and risk the death of an entire city?"

Travis heart pounds.

He can't possibly make a choice this big….

"Oh, and the wave hits the first populated area in about twenty seconds—the very edge of the Eastern Fringes, no less. Gravitate's very own hometown! How fetchingly fitting! So let's pull it together, shall we?"

Why is Veta doing this? If she really wanted all those people to die, she'd never tell Travis how to stop her. Besides, Veta can't really want Travis to kill her…can she?

It makes no sense—but then again, Veta doesn't exactly seem to be the picture of sanity. In her mind, this is probably win-win. Whatever Travis do, Veta believes she'll become a Legend.

"This…no. I can't. I can't choose! why do I always have to make the hard choice?!" Travis screams.

"Travis, it's all right," Grandma says, placing a hand on Travis's shoulder. "Just do what you think is the best."

Travis stare into Grandma's eyes and she nods back at him, resolute.

"Take whatever Power you need from me and end this," Grandma says, sensing that Travis powers have gotten dangerously low.

Travis quickly siphon off the Power he need from Grandma, because he know exactly what he need to do.

He charge a deadly surge of energy in his forearms, locking eyes with Veta.

"Oh, Gravitate…" Veta says, a sad smile crossing her face.

Without hesitation, Travis unleash a torrent of energy.

Veta screams as the blast rips a hole through the exposed part of her chest. She lingers for a few seconds before her body finally slumps to the ground, a smile still twisted across her face.

Travis stare at Veta, mouth open.

He just killed someone.

Grandma doesn't say anything and he can't bear to look at her.

Instead, he turn to the screen to find that the wave has stopped.

He did it. He defeated Veta and saved his city….

But at what cost?