The Lesson

Felix crept down the stairs, barely making a noise as his feet brushed against the carpeted floors. Focused, he knew that he would only have seconds before someone noticed him, and he needed to be able to not only locate Blast, but also test out his powers in as safe a manner as possible. Ideally, without getting hurt. Tough asks, all of them, but they were necessary.

The room was still dimly lighted, with less than half of the conference center's overhead lighting actually on. Still, it was enough to practically paint a spotlight on the stupidly vibrant orange shirt Blast wore. One of Blast's two men – the others were all dispersed throughout the building – started to open his mouth. Felix beat him to the punch.

"Hey, scumbag!" Felix yelled, grinning with false bravado. "Turn yourself in peacefully, or I'll make you turn yourself in. Forcibly."

As soon as he said it, Felix vowed to keep the overly serious hero speak to a minimum from now on. He definitely didn't have the talent for it, and from his mouth, it sounded totally cringe-inducing. Fortunately, Blast didn't seem to notice all that much.

"Really? A kid in a cape? Are you a Super?" Blast asked, the scowl never leaving his face, though his lips did twitch when he first insulted Felix's supersuit.

"I am."

"Then you should know why I do this. These people? They hate us! They're scared of us, and they want to use us. Why should we just stand silent, playing caped crusaders until the government decides its had enough?" Blast questioned.

Felix knew that the government was opposed to so many individually powerful – and potentially dangerous and insane – people running around. What sane government wouldn't be? That said, it was tough to take anything the supervillain said seriously. The man needed to get a better look, what could Felix say?

"We do good with the power that we don't deserve. You did nothing to deserve to be the final arbiter between what is right and wrong, and neither did I. That is why we have law, and order, and justice. You seek justice by shirking it. Isn't that ironic?" Felix returned, this taunt definitely getting Blast fired up. But the villain did nothing. He flexed his hands a couple of time, as he had been doing for hours at this time to summon explosions, but none appeared around him.

Felix knew that this smelled fishy, but he couldn't pass up an opportunity to take down a villain without a single civilian casualty. Besides, his role here was to test Blast's limits. Already, he had figured out that Blast more than likely couldn't do anything at too great of a distance.

Now, sprinting towards Blast, Felix prepared himself mentally to rewind. Saying a silent thanks to Miss Watanabe, Felix entered a range of about ten feet from Blast, and that's when he felt an explosion rip through the air, materializing exactly right in front of where Felix stood. Hurriedly, Felix rewound time by four seconds, bringing himself to a screeching halt. He stood a couple of feet further back, now, and Blast was still flexing his hands, evidently waiting for Felix to come just a tiny bit closer.

Breathing a sigh of relief at having had enough time to react, Felix stalked around Blast in a circle, making sure to limit himself to fifteen seconds. He needed to confirm that Blast was effectively helpless outside of a range of ten feet.

"Get him, idiots!" Blast yelled, urging his two lackeys to stop Felix. They closed in on his position in a pincer, and it wasn't a terrible plan, except for the fact that Felix's fifteen seconds had elapsed. With a smile, Felix returned himself thirty seconds in the past, to just before he entered the room.

Stumbling up the stairs – his head pounded with the force of a battle drum – Felix happily sat down next to Harper and Johnathan. They looked at him with concern, Johnathan patting his back in encouragement. The police officers looked at him funny. From their point of view, Felix had been gone for just a few seconds.

"He can't blow things up more than ten feet away from him. He didn't blow me up, but the explosion materialized in the air in front of me. If I had to wager, he can't just blow up whatever he likes. Maybe it doesn't work directly on solids?" Felix said, massaging his temples with closed eyes. "Oh, and he's got two of his guys in there with him."

Harper harrumphed. "That's not that bad, then. Lift stays behind me and deals with the pair and I go in and take Blast down." It was said matter-of-factly, and to be honest, Felix found no faults with the plan, even if it was terribly simplistic.

Johnathan seemed to think so, too. "We'll see you in a bit, Rewind," he said, smiling. Then, the pair of them left Felix alone with Sergeant Welters and her troop, disappearing into the stairwell.

"How did you figure all that out? You weren't even gone for a minute," Welters asked, approaching him. Her people still looked into the fourteenth floor, making sure they wouldn't get flanked by some kind of surprise attack. Not that Felix thought it was all that likely, given Blast's general lack of coordination.

"I can rewind time, Sergeant. I went in there and tried some stuff out and just spit myself back out before any of it even technically happened," Felix explained, though his tone was more than a little rough around the edges. He had used just about as much time as his limit allowed, and that meant a headache to end all headaches.

"Interesting…" Sergeant Welters let the words trail off as she returned to her group, saying something to them that Felix couldn't hear from his perch at the first stair. Despite his exhaustion, Felix felt… restless? He needed to see how Harper and Johnathan were doing.

Slowly, he ascended the staircase again, happy that there was a handrail he could clutch to. When his head peeked over the stairs and into the room, he felt his blood turn cold. Harper was clutching Blast by the shirt, holding him over herself. Then, she tossed him to the floor with great force.

Even from where he stood at the opposite end of the room, Felix could hear the whoosh as the air left Blast's lungs. Felix had to blink when he thought he saw Blast actually smiling, but when he opened his eyes again, that grin was still there. No longer scowling, Blast slowly picked himself off the floor, hand flexed and aimed at the ceiling.

Felix stumbled forward into the room, desperate to stop Blast from doing what he thought he was doing. If he did that… countless people would die!

"If you won't let me teach them a lesson this way, I'll just find another!" he laughed, materializing an explosion just under the ceiling over his head.