Matteo nods as he listens to the other. For a moment, he closes his eyes and breaths in-holds it in for a moment-before letting it go slowly, feeling his body relax. Opening his eyes, the dummy comes into view. Matteo imagines that it’s one of the intruders from the attack, someone that would pull on his feelings more then a blank piece of wood would.He puts a hand out in front of him, and focuses. He watches as electricity is pulled off of the coil, creating a line to his hand, and the electricity collects-forming a ball. He watches as it grows. Prior to this, he had always kept them small, just big enough to be baseball sized or so. This time, he waits; ignoring the tingles that are running down his palm. The longer it sits there, the more the pain grows. Once it’s the size of soccer ball, it feels as if he’s put his hand on a burner, and he can see red lines moving up his arm and he can’t take it anymore. Matteo takes a step forward and throws the ball of light at the dummy, hitting squarely in the chest.
Matteo doesn’t stop to look at it, not seeing that the electricity has cut through the dummy to the other side, leaving the rest of the chest with dark fractal burns emanating from the hole. The wall on the other side of the dummy is left with a scotch mark; with similar burn-age around the area. Matteo is instead focused on the coil. He turns his body, and holds out the hand that he hadn’t used. He doesn’t collect the electricity into a ball this time, no, he focuses on pulling the electricity from the coil and sends bolts towards the other dummy, his uninjured hand focused on guiding them. He grits his teeth, imagining that he is back where he was during the attacks; trying to protect River with his broken wing and ducking under a broken table. It’s enough to almost forget about the pain, almost. He doesn’t keep track of how many bolts he sends but at some point, the pain in his once uninjured hand is growing and the one that he had used to hold the ball has a deep ache to it and he knows he’s close to hitting his limit. He drops his attention away from the coil and the string of electrical power conforms back into it, the air is filled with the smell of smoke and electricity-like after a lighting storm.
Matteo lets his hands drop, they twitch a bit, breathing hard. Dark red lines and a smattering of pink ones litter his arms up to just below his elbow. The palm that held the ball is a deep red, with the center almost black. ‘That’s probably not great’ Matteo can’t help but think. It hurts to maneuver and bend his fingers, so he doesn’t try; instead turning to face Victor again. “How..How was that?” He asks, wiping the side of his cheek on his shoulder. “I..uh..think I might have to take a few days off training; to let these heal and stuff”
Victor focuses on the charge-up, the taste of ozone in the air as he smells something burning. There’s only one moment, then the other, then the next. Taking seconds and turning them into minutes. He sees the flash of ball lightning and while he was expecting more a blast of it, the added firepower was good enough for him. About to tell him to stop, Matteo lifts the other hand and sends out a barrage of electricity through the other. It’s impressive—it almost reminds him of himself.
Then, he stops. And he sees the full extent of his limits. A hurt hand. A worse arm. Too much like him. There’s a grimace and a pang of pain before he flies back down. He still tastes the ozone. His hair stands up around him. “For future reference, when I say test your limits? Probably don’t do that to your arm.” Turning to look at the destroyed dummies, he gives Matteo a smile, even so. He can appreciate some destruction. “But all’s said and done. You’re gonna be a powerhouse, kid.”
There’s a tingling, a reach that he can’t exactly see, but only feel. The yawning chasm of power tingles again at his fingertips. “I’ll send something to get someone to fix you up. You got time for some feedback kid?” He takes a breath and cools his arm, just enough to get him a little more stable. “If your arm’s not about to fall off, anyway.”