Broken Hero

Chapter 18

“Thank you again for your help.” Anna smiles at her as they leave the training room.

Eclipse drops her gloves into her pocket dimension, refusing to take the ones from Anna. “Keep them for now. It’ll be good to practice with them until you can get your own.”

“Thank you. I’m going to stop by my locker to drop them off then.” Anna turns towards the main area of the gym.

Eclipse turns toward the door but freezes as she hears a yell from down the hall. She immediately runs towards the sound, skidding to a stop as she enters the simulation room. The robots here had been programmed with a special AI; one she had created herself to learn from their opponent before being reset for the next. They were also programmed to turn off before taking a kill shot.

The robot in front of her was ignoring that command, cornering the hero, who looked terrified. Eclipse runs forward, catching the blow and swinging her body around. She twists her legs around its neck and forces it to the ground. Squeezing with her thighs, she pulls on the neck.

“Break, damn you!” She growls as she strains against it.

She finally feels it snap beneath her, and the robot goes still. Letting go of it, she collapses back while panting for breath. A shadow falls over her, and she looks up to see a worried Anna.

“Are you OK?” She holds her hand out.

Eclipse takes it and stands up. “Yeah, it just took more effort than I thought it would.”

She brushes off her pants before making her way to the control panel and opening it.

“Should I get maintenance?” Anna asks as she follows her.

Eclipse shakes her head as she looks inside the panel and starts checking the wires. “No, it’s OK. I need to check on these anyway.” She notices Anna’s confused look. “You know I built this, right?”

“Wait, really?!” Anna looks impressed as Eclipse smiles at her.

She nods as she turns back to the control. “Yeah. When Warfalcon and I were kids, I loved science and computers. Building things became a hobby of mine. So, when we started the academy, Warfalcon asked me to create the systems that we use. We even created the watches.” She finishes with the wiring and replaces the back. “There, all done.”

Anna follows her as she leaves the gym. “If you don’t mind, I could use help with something else.”

Eclipse stops to look at her, and she motions towards the obstacle course, “I’m having a hard time with the hovering course. I can’t seem to figure out how to get down fast enough.”

Eclipse smiles and motions for her to follow. “I can help with that.”

The course was designed to help students learn how to quickly descend tall buildings and save civilians while under attack.

“Alright, so there are two ways that people run this course. The first way: run across the top of the building, jumping the obstacles while dodging the attacks. Then climb down and make your way to the hostage. The second way is to climb down immediately and run down the street, also dodging attacks and obstacles; however, it's a straight line to the hostage. But what if I told you that there was a third way?” Eclipse smiles as Anna looks at her with wide eyes. “Just watch.”

Eclipse moves to the starting line. Her eyes dart between the buildings, already mapping out her route before the horn blows. A single step is all she needs before jumping, not down like the others but across to a balcony on the other side. She immediately pushes off the balcony, twisting in the air so that her feet press against the second building. By going in a diagonal line and jumping from building to building, she eliminates the need to worry about the obstacles below, instead focusing on the attacks being fired at her. But even those were a matter of timing. Hang around just long enough for the system to lock on and then jump again. She lands next to the dummy and taps its shoulder to stop the timer.

Anna runs over to join her. “Wow, that was awesome!”

“That’s what happens when you work hard. Learn to think outside the box. Every second counts when it comes to saving lives.” Eclipse smiles and leaves her to practice.