issue #14

------- Pov Arthur ------------

I didn't remember much, I just remembered Alexander's body in my hands, lifeless, but I do remember what came next.

I heard some applause coming from behind me, there was the woman, smiling at me

"Very good Chicó, you did it quickly and without pain, better than the others" said the woman smiling at me

I didn't answer, I just turned my head and stared at Alexander's lifeless body

------- Third person pov ------

Similar things were happening in the other training rooms, all the children were crying on the floor, facing lifeless bodies, everyone knew what was going to happen, but none was prepared for the emotional load

shortly after all the children left the rooms, forced by military men, some children came out with bloody hands, in others the children were carried loaded, as they fainted from the mental shock of killing someone

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Time passed and quickly it was the next day in the morning, the children got out of their beds, moving slowly, some seemed lifeless, how Arthur, who couldn't stop thinking about what he had done, in the night got up more than 5 times, with nightmares and vomiting, I couldn't stop remembering Alexander, what they had been through together and what he had to do

he skipped breakfast, he had never thrown it out, now he ate what 3 people ate, but now they had upset stomachs, he couldn't think of food

and then I enter the study room, where Mrs. Cadius was waiting for them

when all the children entered, she could clearly see that 5 children were missing, and seeing everyone's mood, she noticed her, she could only put a hand to her mouth, while tears fell from her eyes

"Oh my babies, none of this is your fault, nothing" Mrs. Cadius said as she brought all the children together in a big group hug.

All the children, feeling safe with the woman, let their feelings out, and began to cry, Arthur didn't, but when he felt the teacher's hug, he broke down and cried, crying as he had never done before.

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Another 6 months had passed, and Arthur did not stop growing, both in strength and physically, now he measured 1.80 cm, it was a lot, taking into account that his father was barely 1.75 and his mother did not reach 1.70 cm, but in strength he was in which he had grown the most since he realized that every 3 months his powers would grow once more, by 50% proportionally, so now every day he was gaining about 33 kilos of pure strength every day, he could run at about 240 km/h, his speed hadn't increased much in proportion, but it was normal considering that he was still tied to the laws of physics, his senses right now were about 8 times stronger than an average human, he could lift 7 tons and hold your breath for more than 4 hours, in addition to finally having achieved a body invulnerable to normal knives, although special ones were used for training, although we will talk about that later, and you could heal 9 times faster than a person average

But regardless of his progress, things in the bunker were going from bad to worse, the children were getting more and more depressed, and the military seems to have taken advantage of this moment of weakness to brainwash the children into thinking that everyone else children wanted to kill them, so coexistence had become very difficult, so much so that the only 'safe' place was Mrs. Cadius's classes, who did everything possible to make them happy

"Arthur, you're ready" Sofi said as he knocked on his door, Arthur stopped looking at himself in the mirror

"Yes, I'm coming" he said as he finished putting on a shirt

when he opened the door he could see Sofi, who is waiting for him at the door

"Come on" said Arthur as they started to move.

Sofi nodded and moved behind Arthur, close to him because she knew what could happen when she wasn't with him.

When they got to the dining room, it was possible to see what Sofi was thinking, all the children were in groups, waiting to be able to kill a child from another group, to have a better chance of surviving, although Arthur thought it was stupid, he did not let himself go. deceived by the military, I knew that everything they said only served to control the children, but worst of all, it worked, the children had begun to kill each other, some who did not go with their groups will most likely end up dead, the paranoia that the military had instilled in the children had reached that level

but when they all saw Arthur enter they stopped, they knew they couldn't beat him 1 vs 1, and they didn't want to trust others to finish off such a big enemy, because even if they had a better chance of winning, they were terrified to think that the others They will take advantage of their brief moments of weakness and attack them from behind.

While the children were thinking about how to attack Arthur, he headed towards the food bar, with Sofi very close behind him, Arthur himself had told him this, never, never, never stray too far from him, he knew that they were the team with the least members, but at the same time with the strongest member of all the teams, so Arthur was basically a bodyguard for Sofi

Finishing eating what 6 people would eat for breakfast, Arthur and Sofi went to the classroom

After one of the most depressing classes that has ever been seen, they headed to the training room, there the coach was waiting for them, who had finally told them his name Ivanovich, Arthur swore under Alexander's grave, that, although he did not He would not like to kill someone at all and never in his life would he do it again, he would kill this man and that woman whose name he still did not know

"Okay boy, let's continue with the training, and you girl, in the end if you were a bit good with weapons, today we will work on your sniper aim" said Ivanovich, while finishing a rifle from a cabinet, the first to train was Sofi, who showed decent aptitude for weapons, was trained in these

when Sofi's training was over, Arthur's training followed

Arthur took off his shirt, since he did not want another one to be shredded again, and his torso and back could be seen naked, full of cuts, from small scars, to one that ran from his left shoulder, to his lower back. , his body for a while could not be affected by normal man's fists, and his skin still could not repel a bullet, so Ivanovic was creative, he used one of his knives that was actually made of a special alloy, to cut him up and teach him how to defend himself against bladed weapons, the man had basically tortured Arthur for over 5 months

When the training was over, Arthur and Sofi left without looking at Ivanovich again.

They went to lunch, but before reaching the dining room, Arthur stopped

"Arthur Knight, I don't know if you remember me, I'm Grace Giant, I'm talking to you because I need your help" said a voice inside his head.

"Grace?" Arthur asked himself, he didn't know how this telepathic link thing worked.

"Yes, I hear you, it took me a long time to contact you, god, your head is like that of a child who has eaten 1 ton of sugar, it goes too fast" said Grace

"Yes, I've noticed, my thoughts go faster and when I fight my ability to react makes me see the world a little slower" said Arthur explaining what he had felt in recent months, when he fought he felt that his mind was going faster than a racing car and allowed him to get ahead of his enemy

"Well, back on topic, I need your help, your strength, to get me out of where I am, all you have to do is wait for them to arrive and you will come for me" Grace said with hope in her voice.

"Wait, who's coming?" Arthur said with doubt and fear, he had never seen anyone other than the military, he was no longer afraid of them because he knew what they were capable of, but if someone came, they had to be strong to be able to counter the army that was in this bunker

"The…The X-Men…The X-MEN are coming to save us" Grace said with hope in her voice.

when Arthur heard this it made him open his eyes, the X-Men, superheroes came to rescue them

"Okay, where are you?" Arthur said as they began to form a plan.

And so the days passed, before something happened, something that would change Arthur's way of thinking.