1,360AN: If you're interested in joining my Discord server, you can do it at /x7xdd53WqE. It is a small server for now, but I am active there if you have any questions.
Chapter 29 - Dissension (I)
Two people were in the middle of a conversation as they stood in front of a hologram coming out of a round table. One of them was a middle-aged man with short brown hair and a thin face. He was of average height, but the other person standing next to him made him look short, for it was a massive 7-foot-tall gorilla.
They were the leader of the CIA, Roger Williams, and the superintelligent gorilla, Grodd.
"It's not a bad plan; I'll give you that. I assume quite a few heroes would be glad to join ARGUS, especially those from average or unprivileged backgrounds. But what makes you think that former outlaws will agree with your proposition? Even a scrub like Copperhead still makes more money in one heist than ARGUS could pay him in 10 years."
"Not rotting in jail for their previous crimes should be a big enough incentive to make the majority of them accept my offer," said Williams. "Is that not appealing to you, Grodd? You could walk free again."
Gorilla Grodd let out a scoff.
"That freedom is relative. I would be exchanging a cage for a leash. I am not against it . . . but 'freedom' doesn't fill one's belly, does it? No, I need something more."
Taking Williams' silence as a sign to continue, Grodd spoke.
"Help me take back Gorilla City. Help me get back in charge of my town, and not just me but the entire Gorilla City will support ARGUS too."
The head of the CIA crossed his arms, seemingly deep in thought. Judging by the name, "Gorilla City", those who were not in the know would be tempted to laugh, but he knew better than to dismiss the level of difficulty in completing that task. Gorilla City was a city of super-intelligent gorillas (far above most humans) who possessed highly advanced tech and weaponry. It would not be an easy task for the CIA to conquer the city while maintaining secrecy; after all, Williams' plan was for ARGUS to appear as a legitimate organisation, not just a Cadmus 2.0.
"My agents have compiled a list of potential assets and ranked them according to their strength and potential. I'm sorry to say it, Grodd, but your rating is average at best. I am afraid I cannot offer you what you desire."
Grodd walked over to the keyboard and started typing quickly, his thick and fat gorilla fingers being unexpectedly nimble.
The hologram changed and showed Gorilla Grodd's profile from the CIA's database.
"Human-like intellect . . . superhuman strength and durability . . . is this all the data you have on me? This is insulting," Grodd said, his eyes narrowing in anger. "I'll have you know that I'm far beyond even your most accomplished scientist. My mental faculties are something your kind could only dream about and never achieve, to speak nothing of my telepathic abilities."
The special forces agents present in the room all raised their laser rifles and aimed them at Grodd when he shouted, fearing that the gorilla might attack.
Roger Williams raised a hand, signalling them to relax, and asked Grodd in a very curious voice:
"Telepathic abilities? You have my attention."
Before the gorilla could reply, an alarm was triggered.
"Sir, our firewall detected a hacking attempt!" the voice of a subordinate rang in Williams' earpiece.
"Impossible! This facility is isolated from the outside world! There's no way for anyone to hack our database unless . . ."
". . .Unless someone infiltrated your facility in person," Grodd completed his words. "It looks like Lady Luck is smiling upon me today. Let me show you, Mr Williams, a fraction of what I am capable of. Tell your men not to interfere."
Turning his attention back to the supercomputer, it took 15 seconds for Grodd to access the security cameras and infrared sensors in the facility and another 15 seconds to find the intruder. It was a tall and fit young man wearing a black suit with blue accents and a tiny black mask. Roger Williams and Grodd spoke at the same time when they saw his face:
"Nightwing!"
⁂
'How did they detect my hacking attempt?' Nightwing asked himself, befuddled.
It wasn't the first, second, tenth, or hundredth time he had hacked a database. Not a day passed without him hacking something, whether it was something as simple as accessing Gotham City's CCTV or something as complex and difficult as breaching the FBI's classified documents. His adoptive father, Batman, had made sure that he was a master hacker.
Regardless, although he had been detected, he had managed to download all the data. Storing the flash drive into his utility belt, Nightwing climbed up into the ventilation system and started crawling away as fast as he could. Even the most secure and secret underground facility such as this one needed a ventilation system; that was a fact that Batman had taught Nightwing and the rest of his sidekicks to exploit.
Soon, his trip through the ventilation system came to an end, and he let himself drop into a hallway, not far from the elevator that would take him to the surface. He pressed the button and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the elevator to arrive.
'Come on, come on!'
Deep down, he was suspicious of how he had gotten so far so easily. He had yet to encounter even one CIA agent, and he was only one elevator ride away from the exit. But he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Half a minute later, the elevator's door opened, and Nightwing stepped back in shock.
"What the. . . Gorilla Grodd?! What are you doing here?!"
It wasn't every day that someone saw a 7-foot-tall gorilla stepping out of an elevator, especially considering where he was: deep inside a top-secret facility of the CIA.
Nightwing grabbed his Escrima sticks and took a fighting stance.
"I would normally not say this, but it's truly a pleasure to encounter you here today, boy wonder," Grodd said, smiling widely.
"Are you working for the CIA? Is the government hiring criminals like you now?" Nightwing asked.
As he asked those questions, the CIA agents appeared from the other end of the corridor, their laser rifles aimed at Nightwing.
Only a fool would try to fight a 300 kg heavy, super-intelligent gorilla with nothing but a pair of Escrima sticks, but Nightwing didn't have a choice. He jumped at the ape with a yell, striking with one of his sticks at his head.
Grodd caught his stick effortlessly and let out a mocking laugh.
"Are you stuck in the Stone Age? Coming at me with a stick? Really now?"
He yanked the stick of Nightwing's grasp and threw a backhand at the young man's face with his other arm.
Gorilla Grodd's strength was monstrous; Nightwing was sent flying as if he weighed little more than a stray cat. It only took one gorilla slap for him to almost lose consciousness.
Grodd walked to him and picked him up from the ground by the neck.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you. You make for a valuable pawn."
As he said those words, telepathic waves came from Grodd's forehead, and Nightwing knew no more.
Letting go of the young hero, Grodd smirked at Williams.
"I'm in complete control of his mind now." Turning towards Nightwing, he said: "Tell me, boy wonder, why are you here?"
Nightwing looked no different than usual, but he obeyed his order straight away:
"The Justice League wants to expand, to go international, and gather dozens of new members. They claim that Cadmus was controlled by the government and that the President wanted the heroes dead. I came here to see the truth for myself."
"Would you look at that!" Grodd laughed. "What do you say now, Mr Williams? Do we have a deal or not?"
Roger Williams laughed and came to shake Grodd's hand.
"You made me a believer. I'm looking forward to our partnership."
⁂
The day after Kara regained her memories, she and Astrid went to the Amazons' city once again to continue Astrid's training. The little girl could sense something was different about her mother. For one, she had her powers back. But more importantly, there was a change in her mood. Astrid couldn't put her finger on what exactly was different, but she knew that something did change.
While the girls were away, Harry made a quick visit to Paris and bought a large number of clothes and many pieces of jewellery.
Once he returned to his camp in Themyscira, he conjured several large rugs, some workbenches, and other tools and materials that he would need for the sake of the work he was about to do.
'The reason I came to see you now is to give you a warning. A heavy storm is coming. Prepare yourself. Don't blame it on me this time if you or the ones around were to lose your lives.'
'Is that a prophecy?' Harry asked, his eye narrowing behind his mask.
Death shrugged their shoulders noncommittally.
'Take it as you will. I am only telling you that I did not involve myself in any of the things that are about to come.'
That was what Death had told Harry during Superman's funeral. He did not know what to make of their warning. On one hand, it could be that they were bearing a grudge for how Harry had blackmailed them and now wanted to make him feel miserable, to not let him enjoy his life in peace. But on the other hand, it could be a well-meaning warning from Death.
'Whichever the case may be, I can't ignore it. On the off chance that it was a prophecy, I should prepare for it.'
Bearing that thought in mind, Harry grabbed a small silver bracelet and started casting various spells on it: an automatic Shielding Charm and a Portkey Charm designed to teleport the owner of the bracelet to Harry's bunker in France.
'What else should I add?'
As he pondered on that, he started going through his memories of the metahuman villains that he had studied about from the Justice League's catalogue of villains.
'The Shield and the Portkey should be good enough to stop most attempts on Astrid's life… but about spells that don't aim to kill her?'
'A Revulsion Jinx and a Bubblehead Charm would be great. Mhm, yeah, that sounds about right. Kryptonians are almost impossible to kill through conventional means, but they can still be captured or knocked out with enough tranquillizing gas or other poisons.'
Thinking about that, he grabbed a notebook and started writing a long series of Arthimancy formulae and Runic Arrays.
Enchanting the bracer with those spells would take some work because he wanted the spells to activate automatically. However, the problem was that he did not want the Revulsion Jinx to be triggered by every minor thing, such as if Astrid had trouble untying her laces or for the Portkey to activate if someone passed some gas near her.
He needed to enchant the bracer in a way that the spells would be activated only for lethal attacks or if she was immobilized or lost consciousness.
'Sensing the killing intent of the attacker would be a neat addition too. . . hmm, speaking of, a spell that would protect their minds from telepaths is a must-have too.'
He had his work cut out for him, but Harry was not complaining. He loved magic, and he treasured Kara and Astrid.
⁂
It was the 31st of August and Astrid's 4th day of training on Paradise Island. To say that she got a perfect handle on her abilities would be a lie; that was something both Superman and Kara had had to struggle with for years.
That being said, Astrid was good enough to control her strength when it came to actions she performed consciously. However, what about the involuntary actions of her body? For example, sneezing.
"Come on, Astrid, try to sneeze," Artemis told her while the little girl was sniffing on some strong salts.
"But I don't know how!" Astrid whined.
It sounded ridiculous, but it was the pure truth. Astrid was "born" on the 22nd of August, just a bit over a week ago. And she had never sneezed.
What made someone sneeze? Allergies, inhaling dust, smelling spices and so on; things that irritated the mucus membrane would produce an involuntary reaction from the body, causing one to sneeze. But Astrid was Kryptonian. From the day she came out of the medical pod at Cadmus, she had never experienced any of that.
The Amazons had tried to make her smell spices and other strong scents, and they even tried to tickle her little nose with a cotton stick, but nothing was working.
"What about you, your majesty? Do you have a spell of sorts to make her sneeze?" Kara asked Hippolyta.
The Queen of the Amazons had a look on her face as if she thought Kara was joking.
"Why would anyone have a spell like that?"
"My dad has a magic spell for everything!" Astrid said proudly.
"Hmm. Maybe we should go to Harry for this," Kara agreed.
"Wait, you mean to say he really has a spell like that?" Mala asked incredulously.
"Daddy can do everything! He made a bucket of flowers appear out of nothing. He summoned birds and snakes, transformed a chair into a cat, he can make it rain or-"
Kara giggled and ruffled Astrid's hair, sensibly stopping her tirade about how great her father was in front of the Amazons. After all, they hated men with passion.
"Come, let's make a quick trip to the camp."
Kara and Astrid ended up walking instead of flying on their way back to Harry's camp because several Amazons wanted to tag along and see Astrid sneezing.
The reason for that was that Power Girl had told them that when she sneezed for the first time when she was young, she had created something akin to a tornado. They were curious to see what would happen when the little girl did it.
They were still one kilometre away from the camp when Kara's and Astrid's sensitive ears picked up a peculiar sound. All of a sudden, strong, low chords broke the silence of the forest, almost like the sound of thunder.
"Is that . . . music?" Astrid asked, tilting her head in confusion.
The Amazons couldn't hear a thing, but Kara replied: "Yes, it's a piano piece."
As the notes continued playing, Kara unknowingly started walking slower. She was not well-versed in classical music. She didn't listen to music all that much in general, but even she could recognise that piece.
'It's from a cartoon I watched back on my first Earth,' she realised.
Whereas that piece had been used as background music for a funny scene in that cartoon, the melody she was hearing now was anything but comedic. It sounded sombre, almost like a funeral song.
As they kept walking, the pace of the song she was hearing picked up, and it even got an almost hopeful, melancholic tone. . . only for it to revert to its dark tone from before once again.
However, when they arrived at a distance of half a kilometre from the camp, the music abruptly stopped.
⁂
After hours of arduous work, Harry decided to take a break. Seeing as he was alone and it was still in the afternoon, the girls were not going to come back for hours.
He walked inside the magically expanded tent and went to the living room. Eyes falling on the dust-covered instrument, Harry let out a sigh and cast a spell to clean it.
'So many things happened lately, I didn't have the chance to play as often as I used to.'
The meteorite and the annihilation of New York City, the Crime Syndicate, Cadmus, losing an arm in his battle against Doomsday, Astrid's arrival into his life, and now Superman's death too.
'I was brought into this world not even 4 months ago, but it's been my most tumultuous lifetime yet.'
He almost did not have a chance to breathe; problems and disasters kept popping up one after another.
But now he had both his arms back, and he had a little bit of time too. He sat down on the piano stool and, closing his eyes, he inhaled and exhaled a few times deeply and slowly.
Eyes still closed, his fingers touched the keyboard, and notes began playing out. It was a difficult piece, one that even experienced pianists did not take lightly. But it was just what he felt like playing at that moment: it was Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.
If a fellow pianist were to watch him then, they'd be startled at his proficiency. But it was only natural; he had been alive for hundreds of years and he had never stopped playing the piano.
Soon, the Hungarian Rhapsody morphed into a different piece, into something new—an improvisation.
Thinking of his life until then, he let his feelings control his hands and feet. The music that followed was purely from his heart. It spoke of his turmoil. His inner anxiety and fears. His hopes and desires. But through it all, a feeling of unrest could be sensed.
Alas, not long after that, a loud beeping sound rang in Harry's head and his hands and feet became still; the Caterwauling Charm he had set up around his camp was triggered, notifying him of the arrival of 7 people.
He opened his eyes and sighed deeply as he lowered the fallboard.
Standing up from the piano stool, Harry took a few moments to recollect himself. He preferred not to let others see too much of what lay deep inside his heart.
When he walked out of the tent, he was back to his usual smiling, affable self.
⁂
"It's still quite early. What brings you back now?" Harry asked. "You've also brought guests."
"Dad! I heard music! Were you playing the piano?" Astrid flew up to him and asked in excitement.
"How did you know? Nevermind, Kryptonian superhearing," he answered his own question.
Astrid grinned, but she did not relent: "You never played the piano for me! Can you play it again tonight? Pretty please?"
He smiled at the little girl. "Of course I will." Turning towards Kara, he asked: "But, first things first, is there something you need?"
"We've been trying to get Astrid to sneeze but with no success. Do you have a spell for that?"
"Make her sneeze? I mean, yes, I can do it, but what for?" he said and took out his wand.
But Kara quickly flew to him, grabbing his wrist to stop him.
"Wait, wait!" she said in a rush. "Don't do it here! She'll destroy everything!"
Harry was momentarily stumped, inwardly thinking that she was overreacting, but he stayed his hand.
"Let's go somewhere in the open. Right, let's go to the beach," she suggested.
A few minutes later, their little group arrived on the golden beach of Paradise Island.
"Alright, ready now?" Harry asked.
Kara walked to Astrid and turned her body so that she was facing the sea.
"Okay, you can do it. Girls, you better take cover behind those trees."
"You're such a worrywart, Kara."
"Isn't she just sneezing? What should we take cover for?"
"We're Amazons. This much will be nothing."
Kara shrugged her shoulders as if to say that she had done her part and warned them. The rest was on them.
"Ok, Harry, go ahead."
Harry aimed his wand at Astrid and cast his spell. It was a Jinx that he had learned from the Weasley Twins in his first lifetime. He remembered seeing them cast it on a 6th year Slytherin boy during one of their Hogsmeade trips, while he was trying to kiss his girlfriend. The boy ended up painting his girlfriend's face with mucus and saliva from how hard the jinx had made him sneeze.
There was no visual sign of Harry casting the spell, but two seconds later, Astrid involuntarily closed her eyes and turned her head to the side. Kara, who was right behind her the entire time, quickly turned her head back to the sea, just as Astrid finally let it out.
"Achoo!"
What Harry and the Amazons heard wasn't a cute sneezing sound made by a little girl. It was a thunderclap. A powerful gale of wind blasted the beach, raising an enormous amount of sand into the air, and the sea itself was momentarily pushed back for nearly 100 metres.
The waves returned with a vengeance, and it was sheer instinct that made Harry cast a wide-area Shielding Charm, protecting himself and the Amazons just before the immense waves could wash them away.
"Great Hera!" the Amazons exclaimed in disbelief.
Harry too looked in trepidation at what a mere sneeze of Astrid had caused. If she had done something like that in the middle of a city, she would have involuntarily caused a massacre.
"Now you see why I asked you to take cover?" Kara told the other girls.
Astrid had sneezed so hard that her eyes had gotten teary. Harry cooed at how adorable she was and conjured some napkins for her to blow her nose in them.
⁂
The following day, Astrid did not go to the Amazons to train; she stayed back with her father so that she could learn how to lessen the strength of her sneezes. It was such a ridiculous situation that Harry could not help feeling amused.
Power Girl, however, could not stay with them. Once she changed into her superhero costume, Harry gave her a portkey that took her to the Watchtower.
It was night in the United States when, as per their prior agreement, dozens of heroes gathered at the Watchtower for a meeting.
Whereas before it had been Superman who used to take the lead in such moments, it was Wonder Woman who walked in front of everyone now.
"Welcome to the Watchtower. We were supposed to meet 3 days ago, but, as you all know. . . tragedy struck. Superman died."
A deep silence was instilled by her words.
"Superman's dream and purpose had always been to protect the innocent. To protect this world, the planet that had adopted him. He was an alien, but, in some aspects, he was more human than most of us. I wish to continue Superman's dream. I wish to continue protecting the Earth and fighting against crime but to do so, I need your help. Our enemies are more numerous and stronger than ever and the Justice League is weaker than ever too now."
"Oh, come on, is this another talk about how the government wants us all dead?" Green Arrow said in annoyance.
"Ollie!" the fishnet-wearing blonde woman next to him tried to shush him, but he was having none of it.
"No, Dinah, I won't sit here and listen to conspiracy theories again!"
"I didn't say a word about the government, Green Arrow," Wonder Woman said, glaring at him. "And I didn't gather you all here to start an argument. I gathered you here so that I can form a team with like-minded people who wish to continue Superman's legacy."
"I'm not against joining the Justice League," Impala, a hero from South Africa, said. "But I need more information. Who will lead the Justice League? Also, I presume the Watchtower will be our headquarters; how will we get down to Earth on time to catch the criminals and save those who need our help? Also, what about the funding?"
"There won't be just one leader but a council of sorts," Wonder Woman replied.
"Let me guess, the old members of the Justice League will all be in the council," a girl with blonde hair and a blue costume said, her arms crossed to her chest.
"If what Star Girls says is true, it wouldn't be right, would it?" Question piped in. "Shouldn't there be a vote for that?"
While other heroes also started voicing out their opinions and the discussion spiralled down into a messy argument, Power Girl snapped her fingers.
It was a mere finger snap, but that sound was louder than a gunshot. The Monitor Room of the Watchtower was instantly silenced. When everyone turned their attention to her, Power Girl spoke:
"Whoever gets to lead the Justice League is not and should not be a popularity contest. It's a responsibility that should fall on the shoulders of someone who can bear it. Being acknowledged and respected by the rest of the heroes is important, true, but it also needs to be someone who has experience in leading a team of heroes, someone with the qualities of a leader. But if there is anyone among you who thinks they are more fit to lead the Justice League than Wonder Woman or John Stewart, please step forward. Or is there anyone among you who is more beloved and respected by the people than Flash?"
The Speedster rubbed the back of his head and smiled awkwardly when everyone shifted their attention to him. But nobody said a word to contradict Power Girl because they all knew that Flash was so popular among the people in his city that they had erected a museum to honour him. The mayor gave him the key to the city, and the people of Central City even created a small, local holiday called "Flash Appreciation Day".
When Power Girl put it like that, Star Girl and the rest of the complainers became quiet.
"What about me?" Hal Jordan asked, making some of the heroes in attendance snigger. "Hey, don't laugh! I'm being serious! I'm actually a senior member of the Green Lantern Corps, you know?"
"Sure, sure," Supergirl said with a laugh.
"Well, that's what you get for always goofing around," John told him in a low voice while everyone else started laughing.
After Hal Jordan's interjection, the mood in the Monitor Room became noticeably less tense.
"I agree with Power Girl's words, but I would like to add that any of you could join the Council in the future. And I actually do agree with Question as well, but I would like for us to get used to working as a large team first. Let's give it a few months; after that, we can tackle the talks about Council and votes again," said Wonder Woman.
"What about my other questions?" Impala asked again. "Logistics are very important for an organisation like ours."
A tall and strong-looking man with shoulder-length blonde hair and carrying a golden trident in his hand stepped in front of the heroes and said:
"I am Aquaman, the King of Atlantis. I owe the Justice League a favour that I could never fully repay. They have saved my kingdom and my life. Becoming a member of the Justice League and funding their efforts will be an honour."
"As for the transport part, Mr Terrific and I have been working on something lately," a young man, half-robot, half-human, also walked in front of the group and said. "We're going to create a teleportation system. We have not gotten it down just yet, but it will come out very soon, before the end of the year. Until then, we will be using the Justice League's Javelins. Though I think we'll need a few more of them."
"Emissary can provide us with magic teleportation items too until Cyborg's project becomes ready for use," Power Girl added.
Wonder Woman smiled, very satisfied with how the meeting was proceeding.
"Now that we have addressed most of your questions, it's time for you to give us your answer too. Who among you will join the Justice League? Who will help me uphold Superman's legacy and protect the innocent?"
Steel, Black Canary, Cyborg, Mr Terrific, Impala, and many others started walking out of the group, offering to join the Justice League.
Seeing Cyborg being among the first to step forth, Beast Boy and Starfire also decided to follow after him. However, they only took a step before Nightwing caught the two of them by the wrist, stopping them.
"Nightwing?" Starfire was startled.
"What are you doing, man?" Gar also looked at him confused.
Nightwing's actions did not go unnoticed by the rest of the heroes in the Monitor Room either. Regardless, the young man was not intimidated by their pointed looks. His voice was loud and clear when he spoke next:
"The Teen Titans will not be joining the Justice League. We will join ARGUS."
The rest of the Titans didn't take Nightwing's declaration that well. Cyborg frowned, and Beast Boy yanked his arm out of his hand.
"Nightwing, that's not what we discussed!" Starfire said. "You said that all of us are free to do what we want!"
"I'm sorry, Starfire, but things have changed. I can't let you and the rest join the Justice League."
"Nightwing, you're my friend, but you better explain yourself now," said Cyborg in a no-nonsense voice.
The old members of the Justice League exchanged a glance, not having expected Nightwing to pull off such a stunt.
"ARGUS is a new organisation created by the government. They have not made it public yet, but it will be no different from a police force of superhumans. It will be a transparent organisation that will not only make sure that metahumans are kept in check but also protect the innocent and even reward the heroes for their work."
"Was Cadmus not enough already?!" Supergirl asked outraged. She was in disbelief that Nightwing would even dare bring up that sort of thing. "The government tried to assassinate us once already!"
"Stop spreading misinformation, Supergirl," Nightwing spat. "I infiltrated one of the CIA's top secret facilities two days ago to hack their database and find out the truth. Cadmus was never under the direct control of the government. It was a rogue organisation operating under Amanda Waller and with Lex Luthor's sponsorship."
"That's not the truth, and you know it! Emissary gave us clear evidence that the government was in direct control of Cadmus," Power Girl shot back.
"Just because you're rolling around in bed with that man and believe everything he says doesn't mean we can trust him too," Zatanna said out of nowhere in a voice filled with vitriol.
"Z, what the hell are you doing?" John Constantine, her lover, tried to stop her, but Zatanna would not listen.
"No, I've had enough of being silent! I want justice!"
She turned to look at the rest of the heroes who had yet to make their choice and talked to them:
"I couldn't care less about ARGUS or whatever that new organisation is called, but I know one thing: I will never join the Justice League as long as they continue to ignore what Emissary did. He is the one who killed Batman. As long as that murderer masquerading as a hero is not brought to justice, I will never join you!"
The crowd of heroes broke into gasps and murmurs at her words. Many of them had heard rumours that Gotham's Dark Knight had passed away, but nobody really knew what exactly had transpired. To hear that he was killed by a former member of the Justice League who also happened to be Power Girl's current lover was shocking, to say the least.
AN: There is a scene in the old (very old) comics where Superman once destroyed an entire solar system by sneezing some magical dust. But yeah, I'm not using that level of power in my fic lol. It's just a fun fact I wanted to share with you all. The point is that if Kryptonians were not to control themselves, they could kill regular people by merely blowing some air in their direction to say nothing of what would happen if they punched them at their full strength.