Battle with Bane! And Answers

It took another 15 minutes of constant healing for my arm AND health bar to recover, my wounds closed up, new scars going along my arm almost like a lightning strike from my elbow to my palm. Finally we were all set and we headed into the Arena, Bane sitting at the top floor in a huge chair. We walked into the fight pit area, wave 1 walking out to meet with us. 150 enemies, all brutes, no weapons allowed. My spear suddenly was **** back into my inventory, Illyana's sword stuck to her back unable to be removed, Peter's web shooters stayed but his gadgets were disabled as well. "Okay... So he wants to see us really fight our way through this... Illyana? How's your hand to hand?" She grimaced a moment. "Not bad, I prefer my sword though but still... This many? Hand to Hand?" I nodded my head. "I don't know if magic attacks will work or not, be careful about risking it alright? You can probably still teleport though..." I said as Helen looked at me for a moment. "Why do you say that? Ah..." She said before noticing the slight white glow around me, seeing that I was floating a little off the ground. I stopped and dropped back down for the moment. "Doesn't look like I can go much higher than that though, limitations being put on us to try and ramp up the difficulty it feels like." With our time to prepare running out, we all got ready to fight and I noticed I could only have one group of clones summoned at a time right as a loud bell rang out.

Spectators cheered as the brutes charged and swung at us, Peter and Helen's agility made them hard to hit, they used it to their advantage getting the brutes to strike each other, Illyana I couldn't see as a large group came for me fast as they could. I tried using my clones and found a full group of 20 appearing, unarmed even as the brutes attacked though my clones dropped into martial arts VERY quickly. I wasn't staying out of the fighting either, using the martial arts I knew to attack and fight off as many as I could. I caught a glimpse of Peter using his strength to throw the thugs into one another, Helen meanwhile dodging attacks and using her claws to strike out at them. I couldn't focus on their fights though, I had a lot surrounding me even with my clones trying to fight as many as they could... Dozens of them came at me alone, I went for strikes to cripple or kill, I wasn't gonna risk losing here by holding back. the fight went on for minutes, each enemy that went down replaced by another faster than I expected, it took nearly 10 minutes for the last few brutes to be taken down and wave 1 to end... "Hahaha! Very good! Let's see if you can keep it up!" Bane shouted down at us. Then wave 2 came, 250 brutes... But now we were unrestricted... This wave would take awhile just from the sheer number, but it would be FAR easier to get through for most of us.

I watched Peter toss out what he called Spider Drones, they fired blasts that electrocuted enemies, shocking the others that touched them as well. Meanwhile Illyana drew her blade and started cleaving through them with ease, her portals being used to trip them up and knock enemies into one another. Helen was like a blur of blue, bouncing around clawing and beating enemies down with ease. I used Impact palm right off the bat, Sending several of them flying back into the rest of the group, hearing Peter chime in with "STRIKE!" I heard Helen giggle a moment before the brutes came charging once again. I wanted to keep the abilities hidden as best I could, things like the Explosive Beams in particular, this felt like the boss was trying to MAKE us show what all we could do, so he could figure out how to counter us. It took us awhile, even with me using only Impact Palm to try and clear a few at a time, another 10 minutes by the looks of it. Finally through the second wave we heard him clapping for us. "Hey! Congratulations! That's 2 waves! Just 2 more to go and THEN... I. WILL. BREAK. YOU!" His smile looked almost manic, he spoke with almost an obsessive JOY for breaking his opponents, that's when I started hearing the cheers of the spectators, thugs calling out for Bane to BREAK OUR BACKS?! What the FUCK is wrong with these people?!

Wave 3 came... Holy fuck... No... Not them... Not again... Wave 3! 90 Brutes with weapons! And 10 TITANS! Was what was called out over the speakers. Out walked horribly disfigured MONSTERS of formerly human people, looking incredibly strong but also like they might just try to beat us with their own allies. The others looked horrified at what they saw, staring in shock at the creatures. "Their human experiments, an attempt to make blindly loyal monsters, the kind that'll fight and kill everyone they can, there's nothing human left about them. So don't hold back..." I warned the others, just before the wave began. Soon as it did a Titan grabbed a brute wielding a shield and THREW HIM AT US! Everyone dived out of the way just in time for another one to start charging at us, we barely managed to avoid that attack as well but now the brutes were surrounding us, the Titans still moving in each trying to grab and throw a brute at us. I charged forward, using Energy Fists as I slid under a thrown brute, running forward too punch one of the titan's knee's and then the other, both it's legs exploding a moment before the creature dropped down dead from the sheer shock of losing both legs in one go. I proceeded to get INSTANTLY charged, SLAMMED into a wall then get THROWN behind a Titan back into the center of a group of brutes, if it wasn't for Illyana they would have just started stomping me to ****. I had lost a small chunk of health, nothing too crazy but enough to remind me that these things CAN'T be taken lightly.

Peter started to use webs to try and trip up the Titans, managing to make them run into each other and even smack each other in anger, Helen focusing on keeping the brutes off Peter while Illyana took the heads off 3 of the remaining titans. I summoned more clones to fight the brutes back, about 60 total running about and trying to swarm the brutes so we could focus on the Titans. I managed to bring down several more brutes despite the Titans causing trouble, finally making it back a couple of the Titans I used Energy Fists again to beat them down, bones snapping as their bodies were being broken down. That leaves only 4 Titans left, the Brutes being thinned out as well thanks to Helen and Peter working together. Illyana going for the last Titans as I did, between my Energy Fists and her sword the last 4 went down easily, from there it took no time to overwhelm the remaining brutes... Finally it's time for one last wave, then we'll tear that asshole apart...

"Now introducing, for one night only! THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS!" I heard announced from some asshole with a mic, a small army of about 120 men and women coming out, each wielding a sword that we got a warning about.
WARNING! The league's swords are all coated with a powerful poison, do NOT get cut!
With all of us fully on guard, the second the wave began I put as many clones between them and us, only to watch them start LEAPING over my clones like acrobatic masters! They tried going right for us, trying to ignore the clones and slice at us first instead, my clones that could spun around and struck them at full ****, they were durable but unprepared for being hit by someone with enhanced strength like mine, dozens of them went down almost right away with my clones charging at the next target they could. Avoiding the blades wasn't easy, thankfully Illyana's blade was BREAKING their swords each time they clashed with her, where as Peter and Helen were dodging best they could, Peter having a much easier time thanks to his Spider Sense. Finally, after about 5 minutes we had beaten down the Assassin's, it was easier than expected but we were all glad for a break. Then we heard the chair get thrown to the side. "Good! Now you face ME! Now that's I've seen everything you can do, I know just who to target first... First I will BREAK their spine, then the REST OF YOU!" He roared out as he leaped into the Arena, heading for HELEN FIRST?!

He'd closed the distance faster than we'd expected, ignoring the countdown as he grabbed at Helen and started to lift her up. I didn't even hesitate, I blasted his body with multiple Explosive Beams sending him back into the wall, Illyana following up stabbing him through his thigh, just barely missing the bone. Peter webbed his eyes, my clones swarmed and started beating onto him, hitting him with strikes as best they could. We saw his Boss Health Bar dropped by a quarter, only for the sound of injections to ring out, his arms bulking up, his growing stronger as he ran through a dozen clones in one charge, chasing after Helen with an insane look of joy on his face. Illyana opened a portal and pulled Helen through, saving her a split second before Bane could grab her. He turned on a dime and leaped at me instead, catching me by surprise with his speed. I found myself getting slammed spine first into the reinforced concrete floor, only for him to yank me back up with a MANIC look in his eyes as he went to slam me down again... Peter webbed his face again, Illyana slicing at his arm managed to **** him to release me, I landed hard, barely able to stand. Then I got another message.
WARNING! You've been inflicted with the WEAKENED BACK status effect! Your spine is now a PRIME TARGET for Bane as he will stop at NOTHING to break your spine in the most VICIOUS ways!

What the FUCK is it with this guy and breaking peoples backs?! I threw the pop up aside, barely able to stand even as I barely heard someone yell for me to move. I saw Illyana had been backhanded into a wall, suddenly feeling myself yanked up, only to get suplexed onto the reinforced concrete! I heard Bane growling, almost like he was a wild animal possessed, yanking me back up he went to drive me down back first across his knee! Helen clawing at his eyes stopped him thankfully, Illyana getting back into the fight as she sliced at his legs, Helen trying to blind him while Peter tried to web him up as much as possible, trying to restrain him as I could barely even sit up off the floor. My eyes glowing Black and Red as I was fucking SICK of this guy's obsession with breaking spines. I fired my Omega Beams, splitting them into over 3 dozen jagged, incredibly sharp lines that slammed into him, burning his flesh and trying to CARVE into his very being. I sent my clones to try and break his legs, switching to using Regen Sphere to repair the damage to my back, the status slowly starting to vanish. Bane was about down to a quarter health now, pulling out some kind of device before injecting himself again. He grew even taller, his muscles expanding massively, he proceeded to punch into the wall, pull out and THROW a chunk of wall at the team. Thankfully he missed me but the others really had to leap out of the way, he charged at Peter this time as I slowly managed to stand up. Peter getting knocked aside as Bane raised both fists to SMASH Peter into paste only to freeze in place as we all saw his health bar BREAK, his head sliding and falling off his neck with Illyana standing on his back, Bane's body falling down dead.

"Oh thank fuck..." I let out as we got the congratulations screen for beating Bane. We all agreed to call it there, we completed the training session and walked out, my back still hurting a bit so I kept my Regen Sphere going a bit longer. "Wow, you get PAID for doing that? I would hope so consider how long we were in there..." Peter said before I chuckled a moment. "We were only in there for 3 hours Pete..." He turned back towards looking surprised for a minute. "We were in there for at LEAST 5 or 6 hours..." He said before checking the time for himself, only to see that it really was barely three hours time that had passed. "Wait how...?" He asked looking at me in surprise. "Remember that Silver writing I did around the room? That gave two effects for the training, EXP multiplier and Time Dilation. It's part of my power set, specifically it's only useful for grinding really but it's REALLY good." Peter stared at me a moment, his mask off as he blinked at me. "Your powers are... Ridiculous..." The girls giggled and I chuckled at that. "You can call it Bullshit, we do after all." Illyana spoke.

From there the girls headed out, leaving me and Peter to talk on our own, I showed him just HOW MUCH money we got from only those three hours of work, only for his jaw to drop. "I'm sorry for only 3 hours of work... You made HOW MUCH?! There's more DIGITS here than I thought there would be!" Peter said, looking absolutely shocked and partially annoyed at what he was seeing. "Yeah, normally it's not this high, I mean a few Mil sometimes sure but this is almost 20 Mil! I'm surprised about just how much there was this time..." I explained to him before offering him the job again, wanting to pay him to continue being the brilliant scientist he was and offering him a private lab where he could do whatever spider related projects he wanted too. I even offered to help outfit him with a new suit if he'd like one that was especially strong. He asked what I mean by that. "Well I just got a blueprint for a new suit for you, I can put this in the Foundry where it'll be saved and if I don't have the needed stuff NOW then I can make it for you once I've gotten the resources I need." I explained to him about Adamantium, Vibranium, Uru and then I told him about the ridiculous properties of the Nth Metal, how it could bond with him, making him stronger or improving his powers for example. For now though I reminded him he had several hundred thousand waiting for him to put to use getting himself a place to stay and whatever stuff he needed, I did ask him to keep away from the building for a while cause I had people that would be coming in to do some much needed work on the place in order to get it up and running properly. But other than that I told him to think about my offer and go use that money however he wanted.

Peter left after that, having a lot to think about, he went to go have lunch with the other spiders and talk to them about it I assume. I headed for the kitchen, still not able to stand up fully yet, I had barely opened the fridge to find some lunch when I found myself picked up by Jean's powers and gently sat down at the table. "I'm not hurt enough that I can't get my own food you know..." I said as she smiled at me, Jenny coming around the corner with a smirk. "Just let her cook for you, it's easier to not fight her on this." I shortly found myself being hugged by Kali as she checked my back and found the area where I was hurting quick, she also spotted my Red Medic working overtime to repair the damage. "I didn't really get hurt much, it's more sore than anything else." I explained, it was truthful, but I also wanted to try and relax their worries a bit. From there Jean cooked up something, her Jenny and I ate while Kali headed off to handle some things. Everything was going good and we were all relaxing, my back fully healed at last...

Then there was a knock at the door the same time I got a great big pop up, I jumped a bit and Jean asked what was wrong when I dropped my fork. I sent her an invite as I smacked my head against the table...
We're sorry! Due to an error in the system this message is arriving LATE! Effective as of hitting LVL 100 your EXP has been HELD for a time of 1 week! When the time is up you will gain ALL Experience that has been held.
"Ooh that explains it..." Jean said, Jenny asking what it was before Jean explained to her, Jenny looking pissed within moments. "So your being STOPPED from growing stronger? With no explanation of why? That's-!" Jean stopped her before Jenny could go wild with anger, breathing through her nose with a look of fury on her face even as she sat back down... That's when the Professor walked in, alongside someone NONE of us were expecting...