Scion: Hero (IC)

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Brand rolled his neck back and forth, producing a series of loud pops and cracks, and smiled cheerfully.

"All right, let's get this party started."

He looked over the climbing gear. "Alas, those gloves look too small for me. Luckily, I always have another trick up my sleeve. Almost literally, in this case." With his left hand, Brand reached over to his right forearm... and used a single fingernail to tear a small gash into the skin. Instead of blood, though, a drop of some golden liquid welled to the surface... and suddenly spread, covering his skin in an impossibly thin, metallic-looking coating. In seconds, every bit of skin visible to observers was protected by the golden substance, and Brand knew that the miraculous armor extended under his clothing as well.

Ichor: divinity made solid. It wasn't as protective as the armor his mother had gifted him, but crucially, it also didn't add over 20 kilograms to his weight.

Crucial for his next stunt, anyway. Kicking off his socks and shoes (he might need the extra grip quite soon), he scooped up a coil of rope and some related climbing gear. He talked as he prepared, his melodic Irish accent filling the air; unlike a stage magician, he was under no obligation to refuse to explain his trick.

"Superhuman strength, of the kind seen in comics and some Scions, defies the laws of physics. Specifically, it appears to be exploiting some loophole in Newton's Third Law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The opposite reaction still occurs, but it's no longer equal. When I shove a car or punch a villain, they feel much more force than I do with the arm that does it, in a way that would probably make my physics professors cry. The applications of this are near limitless in potential... but I've only really mastered one of them. That one is, however - as you Americans say - a doozy."

Brandon crouched down slightly, swinging his arms back, as though about to hop over a puddle in the road. And then did precisely that... only instead of travelling a few feet, he rocketed upwards with a whoosh of wind, a golden streak already most of the way to the roof of the dilapidated house that was the giant's lair. To have accelerated that fast should have shattered the pavement, along with every bone in Brand's legs - but as he'd noted, physics was playing favorites today, and the force required to launch him dissipated harmlessly back into the same nothingness it had originated from.

As soon as he left the ground, ordinary physics was back into play on Brand. Despite his astounding initial velocity, gravity and drag were slowing him down just like any jump. And if he'd judged it right, at the apex of his jump, when his vertical speed was zero, he'd reach the roof with no more impact than if he'd casually stepped onto it from some midair platform.