Things between Eric and Wolfe were downright frigid in the days that followed their excursion to the Watchtower. Wolfe wouldn't look at him unless necessary let alone speak to him. There were no angry retorts, no arrogant remarks. There was nothing at all.
And that bothered Eric for a reason he couldn't quite put his finger on. He had grown so accustomed to Wolfe arguing with him about practically everything that the silence was…disturbing to say the least. Trying to get a rise out of the younger man seemed impossible and Eric wasn't the only one to notice. Wolfe was perfectly normal with everybody else, but his icy attitude toward Eric had drawn the attention of more than one coworker. However, when Calleigh asked Eric feigned ignorance. It was easier than admitting that he took his rivalry with Wolfe too far. Of course she saw right through that, but respectfully didn't push it. Eric was thankful for that much at least.
Surprisingly, Eric's training still continued. He almost wished it didn't. Icewolf never had anything at all nice to say. Nothing Eric did was good enough even when he thought he was doing good. Icewolf pushed him and pushed him harder and harder past what he believed to be his breaking point. There wasn't a night that he didn't go home sore or a morning that he didn't wake up feeling like a herd of elephants had run him over. And the smug look that Wolfe got on his face when Eric limped into work certainly didn't help the animosity between them.
Then things got worse. Wolfe leaked information to that reporter Erica and it was all over the news. It didn't matter that she had ended up helping them in the end. Eric was furious that Wolfe would betray the team like he had.
"I'm telling you, Delko, that I didn't give her permission to tape me and I certainly wasn't happy about it!"
Okay, so maybe he could get a rise out of the younger man.
"You seemed to enjoy being on TV last time," Eric shot back.
Wolfe opened his mouth like he would respond, then snapped it shut with an audible click. They glared at each other and Eric could read a promise of retribution clear in Wolfe's eyes. He knew that training was going to be even tougher that night, but getting a rise out of the younger man made it worth it. At least he thought so at the time.
Four hours later when Icewolf was giving him a thorough workout. Icewolf called it a workout. Eric felt like it was a beating plain and simple. The ice-wielder wasn't throwing out suggestions or criticisms. He was simply taking Eric apart.
Eric grunted as he was swung into the practice mat for what felt like the tenth time. He struggled, knowing what was coming, but Icewolf kept a fierce hold on his arm. The arm was then twisted behind his back and a knee dropped onto the back of his neck. Eric grunted again, pain lancing into his head from his neck, but Icewolf held strong.
"Are you sure you want to be a crime fighter, Delko? Because you don't appear to be learning anything from me at all. Are you even paying attention to anything I've told you or does it go in one ear and out the other? Or do you ignore me because as usual you think you know better than me?"
"If you told me anything worthy of remembering..." Eric shot back.
Icewolf snarled and twisted his arm hard. An uncontrolled gasp left Eric as the strain on his shoulder started to feel like it would be too much. "You arrogant bastard. I think I'm wasting my time with you. If you can't even remember a few simple defensives moves then you certainly won't stand a chance out there. Have you even paid attention the last few times I've fought Takedown or Lockdown for that matter? Defense is important and you just can't seem to grasp that."
"Defense is only important if you aren't capable of offense," Eric retorted. He wasn't sure why he said it considering it probably wasn't true, but he felt the automatic urge to disagree with everything Icewolf said.
Icewolf released Eric's arm and stood up. The white wolf crossed his arms and glared. Even though Eric knew Icewolf was human inside, the ice-wielder seemed to take on wolf-like instincts. The ears were fully erects, lips curled back, and fur bristling. If he was on four legs Eric would have thought he was a real wolf.
"You believe defense isn't important? You think offense is a better weapon to use?" Icewolf demanded.
Eric struggled to his feet and tried to appear more defiant than he felt. He had a feeling a terrible and painful lesson was about to be taught.
"If you think so little of defense then why don't we test that theory of yours," Icewolf said, lips pulling into a nasty sneer. "Attack me."
"No."
"Are you scared, Delko? Are you incapable of offense then when you've spoken so highly of it?" Icewolf taunted. "Attack me, unless you concede that defense is important."
The fight was stupid and his argument full of holes, but Eric wasn't about to back down from the white wolf's challenge. With a snarl he threw a powerful right hook at Icewolf's face, twisting his whole upper body in the way Icewolf had shown him. The punch would have been powerful and painful if it had connected.
Icewolf simply leaned back to avoid the hit and threw a kick at Eric's right hip. The blow was powerful and caused Eric to lose his center of balance. Eric managed to recover and stepped back from his opponent, rubbing his sore hip.
"Is that all you've got, Stormy?" Icewolf taunted.
Eric hated that name. He knew Icewolf only called him that because it pissed him off. And that just pissed him off worse.
With a snarl he charged Icewolf. What followed was a series of moves that Eric couldn't even keep track of and it landed him face down on the mats with Icewolf's knee in his neck. His face was being shoved into the mat which hurt all the worse with the elongated wolf snout. The pain just added to his fury until he just wanted to kill something. Not just kill. Maim. Destroy.
The wind roared up out of nowhere and struck Icewolf hard enough to fling the ice-wielder off Eric. With an agility he had begun to pick up from all the training, Eric flipped to his feet and faced his teacher. Icewolf's fur was bristling and there was a look of foreboding doom in his eyes.
"No powers," Icewolf snarled. "Stop that right now!"
"Make me!" Eric challenged without thinking.
At that moment Eric wasn't thinking. He was reacting. In his fury he was relenting his logical human mind to the instinctual wolf mind. And the wolf perceived a threat.
Eric took a step to charge the white wolf and at the same time Icewolf threw a sheet of ice at Eric's feet. Eric slipped and busted his chin on the ground hard.
"You're not ready to use your powers," Icewolf said. "At this rate you'll never be ready."
That was IT! Always with the insulting and the jabs and Eric had more than enough of it. With a roar of pure primal rage he pushed to his knees and barely registered the build up of power in his right arm before he thrust it in Icewolf's direction. Electricity leaped across the distance and struck the white wolf with terrifying force. Icewolf was knocked off his feet and hit the ground hard on his back. His whole body twitched a few times before the ice-wielder fell still. Very still.
It was that stillness that snapped Eric out of the wolf mind and back into his own. Panic set in. Everything happened after that was a blur. He didn't remember going to Icewolf's side. He didn't remember getting Icewolf's Justice League communicator from the white wolf's ear. He definitely didn't remember calling for help or speaking to anyone at all. The next thing he did become aware of was the angry looks and Green Lantern's furious questions.
"What the hell happened?"
Eric shook his head as the world seemed to come back into focus. He found himself in what looked suspiciously like a holding cell. Green Lantern stood at the opening of the cell with muscular arms crossed over his chest and a furious gleam in his eyes.
"Where am I?" Eric demanded.
A green glow surrounded the man who was a co-founder of the Justice League. "Answer my question first. What happened?"
"I couldn't control my powers and I accidentally zapped Icewolf," Eric replied. More like I got pissed off and tried to electrocute him. Oh my god. I tried to kill him.
"Calm down, GL," a vaguely familiar voice said from outside the cell. "And let the kid out already. It's not like he did it on purpose."
Green Lantern backed out of the door and Eric was mildly relieved to see the Flash waiting in the other room. People could say what they wanted about the speedster, but the Flash was vastly friendlier than Green Lantern. Flash offered him a smile as Eric stepped out of the cell.
"Is Icewolf okay?" Eric asked. He winced at the guilt that came through in his voice.
"It was close," Flash said, "but he'll be up and about in a few hours. Lucky you wolves have such quick healing abilities."
Flash led the way out of the holding cell area and Eric was painfully aware of Green Lantern's suspicious glare at his back. What would Green Lantern do if he knew Eric had purposefully attacked Icewolf? Eric banished the thought quickly. It wasn't something that would have a happy ending.
Eric sniffed the air curiously as he shifted his gaze around their surroundings. It wasn't the same as the last time he had been on the Watchtower. Then it had been all metal walls and recycled air, but it was different. The walls were more concrete with metal, but the biggest difference was definitely fresh air. He could smell the familiar scents of a city somewhere nearby. They were definitely on Earth.
"Where are we?"
"The Metrotower," Flash replied. "It's the base we established in Metropolis after the whole Cadmus fiasco."
"What exactly was the Cadmus fiasco?"
"Okay, well, long story short. Lex Luthor manipulated some government officials into thinking we were the bad guys to be feared by using scenes from alternate dimensions where the Justice League goes rogue after Lex kills me and so Cadmus began to make plans to take us down which only escalated when Luthor used a remote control device to fire the Watchtower's weapon at a Cadmus facility which set off a chain reaction and ended up with me saving the world by defeating the Luthor/Brainiac thing."
Eric blinked.
And blinked.
"Huh?"
"Flash your long story short needs some work," Green Lantern said dryly.
"What? That was short." Flash replied defensively.
Eric wasn't looking, but he could practically feel Green Lantern rolling his eyes. Then Eric caught a scent that was becoming very familiar to him. Growing up in Miami it was something he had never smelled before until he went on a ski trip with Speed. It was the smell of snow and ice mixed with an undertone of frustration and a hint of...sadness? The analysis of the scent took less than a millisecond in his wolf mind and so he was ready for Icewolf to come around the corner.
"You with me, now," the white wolf growled, green eyes fixed on Eric.
"You shouldn't be out of bed," Green Lantern scolded.
Icewolf snorted. "A little electricity isn't enough to keep this wolf down."
"Still-."
"I'll go right back to the medbay as soon as I take care of this," Icewolf said. The whole time his fierce green eyes never moved from Eric's eyes.
Eric allowed Icewolf to pull him away from Flash and Green Lantern and back down the hall. Eric was mildly confused. He couldn't smell anger in his teacher's scent, yet that's exactly the attitude Icewolf was portraying. The wolf that resided in the back of his consciousness couldn't make sense of the contradiction.
That confusion gave way to wariness as Icewolf shoved Eric into a dark room. Then the lights flicked on and Eric looked around in curiosity. It was decently large room that was sparsely decorated. There was a couch with a viewscreen in what appeared to be a living room type area. At the far end of the room was moderate size bed with a Japanese type divider that was pushed most of the way open. It was the sight of the bed that made Eric realize he was in Icewolf's quarters.
"Sit down."
At that Eric's temper flared and he spun to face the white wolf. "Stop ordering me around!"
Icewolf gave a snarl and shoved Eric roughly onto the couch. "Shut up and listen to me."
Eric opened his mouth to argue, but the fierce look Icewolf shot him was enough to silence him. Then to his complete and utter surprise Icewolf's form began to shift and change. Fur was replaced by skin and clothes while the mass of muscle decreased along with the total body size. Within seconds Icewolf was replaced by Ryan Wolfe. It was a surprising move because with Eric still in full wolf mode it made Wolfe vulnerable.
For a moment Eric contemplated the idea of staying in his wolf form before he dismissed it. It was a step forward for Wolfe to willingly become human in his presence. It didn't matter that Wolfe had been in human form around him before. It was the fact that Wolfe was going from Icewolf to human willingly that made the difference.
So Eric made the shift back to human as well. It was a process that no longer felt strange and was in fact like second nature to him. Within seconds he was human again.
Eric watched as the tension in Wolfe's body drained away and the younger man plopped into the seat on the other side of the couch. With one cushion between them it gave them both enough distance to feel comfortable, but still close enough for conversation. Wolfe sighed deeply and rubbed both hands over his face vigorously before he leaned back and was silent. Eric was silent as well, observing the nervousness in his coworker that he had never seen before.
Finally after a silence that Eric assumed Wolfe used to collect himself the younger man began to speak, "A few years after Firewolf and I found our amulets we were present when Terrawolf found his amulet. I'll admit we were both excited about finding another Wolf. We helped him acquire the clear mind to call the wolf, but we had no idea what his ability was. We were still learning about the whole thing ourselves. We encouraged him to tap into his ability."
"What happened?" Eric asked.
"As you can guess by his name his ability was to control and manipulate earth. Well, he had no control at first. He caused a chasm to open and unfortunately some of it opened right under the home of a family. A husband, wife, and three little girls disappeared into that chasm and never came back."
Eric was surprised to say the least. "Terrawolf killed them?"
"Terrawolf using his powers without learning control killed them," Wolfe replied. "We learned a valuable lesson that day and one I won't soon forget. So while you think I'm being unfair consider that you've already shocked an enemy and nearly killed me. You have some very dangerous and very powerful abilities and it is more important than it has been with any of the rest of us that you learn control. Eric, you potentially have five abilities. Five. The rest of us had a chore just learning and controlling one ability."
Whatever Wolfe said was forgotten as soon as he actually said Eric's name. It was the first time Wolfe had ever called him anything other than Delko when they weren't playing superhero. It was a bit of a shock, but he came back to reality when Wolfe waved a hand in front of his face.
"Back off," Eric grumbled, but there was no real heat in his voice.
Wolfe leaned back with a hint of a smirk on his face. "Did that all sink into your head or are you just shocked at the fact that I know your name?"
"It sunk in," Eric retorted. "I understand but that doesn't mean I have to like it."