“The jacket that you gave me for my birthday? No, Cheza it will get ruined!” I say while turning to face her.
“Please Cole? It makes me feel better knowing that something I gave to you will protect you… it’ll make me feel like I’m helping,” Cheza asks with tears brimming up in her eyes while she walks in my room. How do I say no to that? Sara looks at me, smiles, and continues as if I’d said yes.
“Alright I’m going to need around three hundred for the jacket, assuming that you want the biceps and forearms covered. The elbows have to be open of course; otherwise, you will be useless in a fight. I’ll need roughly as many for the pants as the jacket, and about twenty of those to be twice the thickness for the crotch area… I assume you want to protect that. Ideally, you would want to halve the thickness of the discs to allow for maximum maneuverability. This will actually be a good test to see how much blood is used when you create the silicon carbide,” Sara informs me and then rereads the page.
“I should theoretically be able to make pure silicon carbide by removing the iron, which would make it stronger, but the process would probably be much slower and I doubt that I can do it with my current level of control. The only reason I can make it now is that my Drive showed me how and when it got passed through my mind, I was able to apply chemistry to what was happening,” I inform her.
“HE REQUIRES MORE TRAINING!” Tia shouts and starts to drag me off but then stops, whips out a combat knife from somewhere behind her back, and hands it out for me to slice my left wrist open.
“Oh, but first pop out twenty of those discs and this time put a sewing needle sized hole on the edge. Sara, take these and sew them to the inside of one of Cole’s white t-shirts. I have a theory that we need to test,” Tia announces as I hand her knife back.
“Aw, is this theory going to involve me getting shot again?” I ask as I start sliding the discs out of my wrist. Cheza looks at me with concern.
“Yes, but I won’t be shooting you just for fun this time. I actually have a theory!” Tia exclaims and Cheza stares at her, eyes wide and mouth agape. Cheza grabs onto me as I slide the last disc out and squeezes, like crazy hard for a girl who only weighs one hundred pounds.
“Try to have that done within the hour please, Sara,” Tia requests.
Tia takes one look at Cheza, who is still crushing me, and shrugs. She grabs my right arm and sweeps out both Cheza’s legs and mine. Tia starts dragging me out of the room by my arm as Cheza straddles me with both her hands on my chest.
“This is part of your training Cole! Reinforce your back muscles!” Tia calls back.
Tia drags us all the way to the basement stairs and I think that she is finally going to stop.
“Now reinforce your back, neck, and ass muscles! And keep your chin to your chest!” Tia calls out.
Cheza still looks a little bewildered, but otherwise seems to be enjoying herself. That’s great! Yeah, just ride your brother like a sled down a flight of stairs!
It dawns on me that Cheza will hit her knees and shins on every step. Tia is already in the process of throwing me down the stairs so there is no time for Cheza to get off. I speed up and do the only thing I can think of:
‘I’ll try to get her repositioned so that her knees are on my stomach! Yeah that will work! How am I going to do that? Oh, I know! I’ll thrust my pelvis up into the air while I push her forward with my thighs!’
It only occurred to me after the fact—after I hear Cheza simultaneously yelp and moan—that what I was essentially doing was dry humping my little sister so forcefully that she flies onto my chest, as she rides me down a flight of stairs. Oh no… Tia is so going to give me hell for this. I know my expectations are about to be met when I hear her laughing her ass off at the top of the stairs.
“Hey Chezarei! Did you break anything!?” Tia shouts down.
I’m pretty sure she isn’t talking about bones. Cheza has collapsed on my chest, panting with a flushed face, which is probably just from the adrenaline of going down the stairs and embarrassment at what Tia said… yeah, I’m sure that’s it.
“Cole! I think you might have ruined her for marriage! You’d better take responsibility!” Tia yells and then doubles over because she’s laughing so hard. Cheza stands up unsteadily.
“Alright Cheza, how about you go upstairs while Tia and I train. When Sara is finished, you can bring down the shirt and supervise the part where Tia shoots me. Sound good?” I ask Cheza. She thinks about it for a moment and then nods, but her face tells me that she doesn’t like it.
I spend the next twenty minutes sparring with Tia while working on refining the reinforcements of my muscles. Cheza comes down with a white t-shirt and hands it to me. We walk into the armory and I go about ten feet out into the gun range. Tia tells me to take my shirt off and put the new one on.
“Alright, let’s start with this,” Tia says snapping the MP5 into position.
I enhance my perceptions as much as I can while she unloads twenty rounds into my chest where the 7.5” x 6” plate is. I’m able to count out every bullet that is fired, since it sounds like the gun is firing three rounds every second with my senses heightened.
“How was it, Cole?” Tia asks.
“Fine, but I think the shirt is toast. By the way, what’s the fire rate on an MP5?” I ask while looking down at my shirt that is strewn with holes.
“Ah! My theory was correct! And about fourteen rounds per second,” Tia informs me. Meaning that the rate at which I perceive things is nearly five times faster than normal. Now, if only I could get my body’s speed to do the same.
“What theory?” I inquire.
“Look closely at your shirt, Cole. The plates should have fallen when the stitching got shot open,” Tia says. I look and find that she is right. The discs were sewn into the shirt, but they don’t connect to each other so individual ones should have dropped as the threads that were holding them were destroyed.
“Cole, try bending, twisting, and then roll forward,” Tia requests. I do all of those and the discs just stay where they are. I can barely even tell that they’re there.
“That’s what I thought. The discs became like a second skin when they came into contact with you. Now one last thing…” Tia trails off.
Tia grabs the M24 sniper rifle off of the table, aims carefully, and fires, all at a speed that was too fast for Cheza to comprehend. The .308 caliber bullet hits me in the chest and knocks me on my ass. It seems like the discs connected together, forming a plate to compensate for the extra force, but a 7.5”x6” plate wasn’t quite enough against the rifle bullet.
“TIA!” Cheza screams.
“I’m alright, Cheza. It seems like the discs disperse force between them when faced with a higher caliber bullet,” I say, the last part directed at Tia as I rise to my feet.
“Oh really… stay right there,” Tia says and runs to the armory. I see her grab a step ladder and reach for a gun that I can only identify as an anti-material rifle (thanks video games!).
“NOOOOOOOPE!” I shout to Tia and she starts laughing.
“Let’s pick up the training tomorrow. It’s getting late and Cheza, you have school tomorrow,” Tia says. Cheza glares at her with a ‘But Mooooom!’ look.
“There are only two weeks left!” Tia responds. All three of us walk up the basement steps and find Sara waiting for us in the living room.
“So, how was it?” Sara asks Tia. Sara’s jaw drops when she finally sees me and then her head cocks to one side. “How are those staying on?”
“That’s what we found out. Once the discs touch his skin, they stick to it like glue,” Tia replies and Sara thinks about it for a moment.
“I think I can work with this. Cole, make more discs while I make dinner,” Sara says.
I head for my room while Sara heads toward the kitchen. I sit down at my desk, push my laptop out of the way, slice open my left wrist, and get to work. I’ve made about fifty discs when something in my head just clicks into place a
nd information is whispered in my mind:
(You have 5.8 Liters of blood in your body at capacity. You currently have 5.3 Liters. You can reach 2.8 Liters before you start to experience symptoms of anemia. At 1.8 Liters, your body shuts down. 1.3 Liters: Death. You replenish the red blood cells in 0.5 Liters of blood in five minutes, but that doubles for every 0.5 Liters lost. Meaning that if you stop once you experience symptoms of anemia, it will take five hours and fifteen minutes to regenerate. If your body shuts down, it will take just over twenty-one hours to regenerate the blood if your unconscious body is provided with fluids. Your blood doesn’t regenerate at all if you’re consciously using it in any way. Sealing and healing your wounds does not count, but reinforcing your muscles and creating objects does. Each disc uses up .01 Liters and the Sic Blade used up .25 Liters)
I stand up, walk to my doorway, and call out, “HEY SARA?”
(5.4 Liters) my inner voice tells me.
“Dinner will be done in about ten minutes!” Sara shouts from the kitchen.
“DO WE HAVE THE STUFF FOR YOU TO SET UP A SALINE DRIP?” I yell.
“Yeah, we do… wait, why?” Sara asks.
Limits were made to be tested. I don’t have much time so I quickly slice open the length of my left forearm while enhancing my senses and speeding up my upper body. I start quickly creating things out of my blood. I make a hundred discs (4.4 Liters). I make a second short Sic blade (4.15 Liters). I pull out another Sic blade, but this one is three feet long and one inch wide (3.65 Liters). I’ve always wanted a seven foot katana like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, so I try to make this next. It is a bit of a challenge because the most I can get is three feet before I run out of arm space. I point the blade forward and my blood just trails along with it, streaming to the end of the blade to build more length until it reaches six feet and then it slows down, adding detail to the cross guard and hilt for the final foot. I guess my blood works through mental imagery.
(2.4 Liters) my inner voice says as my face hits the floor.
What the hell? I should still have over half a liter until this part!
(Rapid blood draws will result in shock and premature incapacitation)
So now it tells me. That’s like when a GPS tells you to turn left as you are passing through a light. Now that I’m thinking about it, the voice sounds like a GPS. Well, if this bitch ever says ‘Recalculating,’ she’s going out the window. Actually, the voice sounds more like the voice navigation in a certain popular smartphone… I’ll call her Airi.
“COLE! WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS!?” Cheza screams. She must have come to investigate my shouting. Damn, I got all this done quickly!
“SWEET! IT’S SEPHIROTH’S KATANA!” Sara shouts, totally geeking out. “CAN YOU DO CLOUD’S BUSTER SWORD TOO!?”
I hear Tia sigh at Sara’s response and say, “I’ll go grab the crash kit,” as I lose consciousness.
…
Chapter 18: No cellphones during class!
[May 6th]
“No! I’m not going to school with him like this!” I hear Cheza exclaim as I regain consciousness.
“Rei, you have to go to school! Don’t worry. We’ll take care of him,” Sara says.
“NO! I’M STAYING WITH COLE!” Cheza yells.
“Cheza, I’m fine. You’re going to school,” I mumble with my eyes closed, still not fully awake.
“COLE!” Cheza screams and then starts coughing. “Cole, if you keep making me scream your name like this, I’m going to lose my voice.”
“HAHAHA THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!” Tia shouts.
It’s nice that either Tia or Sara is always in control of the situation, although most of the time it’s Sara. I open my eyes to see that everyone is in my room and Cheza is wearing her uniform. I look over to my left and find a saline bag hanging from my bed post.
“Really Cheza, I’m fine. I just went a little overboard last night testing my limits,” I say while sitting up in bed.
“Why did you make Sephiroth’s katana? Ooh! Ooh! Can you do the Buster Sword too!?” Sara asks while bouncing on the balls of her feet. I always find this side of Sara to be slightly endearing.
“And what did you find?” Tia asks, grabbing the baton of responsibility from Sara without missing a beat.
“Because a seven foot katana is badass despite its complete impracticality in battle and I might try later, but it will probably take too much blood,” I tell Sara before turning to Tia.
“Well, last night while I was making the discs, something suddenly clicked and I heard the total volume of my blood and the current volume; when I would experience anemia, body failure, and death; and the amount of blood I was using, all whispered into my head,” Tia’s eyes grow wide at this part. Sara notices and takes it as a hint to usher Cheza away before she can notice Tia’s face.
“Alright Rei, it’s time to go. Come on, I’ll give you a ride,” Sara says while pushing Cheza out my door.
“But… fine. Make sure you rest, Cole! I had better not come home and find you unconscious again!” Cheza says from out in the hall. Tia waits until she hears the front door shut before she sits on my bed.
“Cole, have you heard that voice since last night? Has it told you to do anything? Have you had any strange feelings since you woke up?” Tia asks.
“No on all counts. As far as I can tell, the voice is purely information, like a GPS. It even kind of sounds like a GPS and it sometimes gives me the information I need after I need it, just like a GPS,” I tell her.
“Okay… we don’t really have a manual for you Cole, but with the Shorn Ones, hearing voices was the first sign of Drive overuse. Just be careful, okay? Hearing voices is rarely a good thing, regardless,” Tia says, placing her hand on my knee. “Alright, let’s get to work!”
“Hey, do you mind if I try out the katana?” I ask.
Tia shrugs and says “Sure. Bring the longer Sic blade too.”
I unhook the saline bag and remove my IV before leaving my room. Tia and I go down into the basement where I try using the seven foot katana for a round. It ends in less than a second. I had to enhance my whole upper body to swing the sword with any sort of finesse and Tia was still able to move in for a kill shot using a combat knife at standard speed.
“Alright, moving on,” Tia says with the knife at my throat. “Now use the three foot Sic blade,”
During our sparring with the long Sic blade, Sara comes home and makes a phone call. I enhance my hearing to listen in.
“Hey, this is Sara… Oh, nothing much. What about you?”
I’m starting to think this is just going to be a boring conversation between friends.
“That’s nice. Say, have any of The Agency’s people been around the house lately?”
The Agency’s people?
“Oh it’s just something that Cole said that made me wonder if a psy-ops division had been around… What? No, no trouble. At least not yet…”
My eavesdropping is interrupted with a crotch to the face, specifically Tia’s crotch as she pulls some sort of ninja move that involves her rolling forward and throwing me with her legs. As I lie on my back about fifteen feet away, wondering what in the hell just happened, Tia bends over at the waist to smile down at me.
“Clever little boys don’t try to eavesdrop while they are getting attacked by a predator with a knife,” Tia says. I can’t tell if she is using her seductive smile or her predator smile when I’m viewing her upside down.
“What’s The Agency?” I ask her in a straight-forward manner. Tia sighs in response.
“It’s a government organization that was splintered off from the CIA Stargate Project in 1994 to deal with paranormal issues. The government has been aware of the supernatural for much longer, but they didn’t have an official agency for it until recently. They work with us because they want to stop Loki from starting Ragnarok. The only thing they aren’t aware of is the ‘how’ of Loki’s plan, but their director knows it has something to do with the members of thi
s household. She is the reason that none of your stunts have warranted authority or media attention,” Tia explains.
I thought that was weird. I am pretty sure that hospitals are required to report gunshot wounds, even though police would have probably already been there to take a statement for an attempted hijacking.
“That’s who Sara was just talking to. The director is a friend of hers,” Tia adds.
“About Sara, when I saw Sara while I was in my Drive state, she had this gold light around her. It was similar to the light that was around you, but not quite as vibrant,” I state.
“Can you see it right now?” Tia asks.
“No, I’ve only seen it twice. The other time was when we were on the bridge and I saw a silver light around Cheza,” I explain.
“Cole, I think you have the ability to see life energy, or auras. I’ve been wondering how you were able to see the bridge back then because only gods should have been able to. It will most likely turn out to be useful in the future, but it is definitely something we will be keeping secret,” Tia informs me.
We continue sparring for about an hour when I hear my phone ring up in my room.
“Go ahead,” Tia tells me.
I run up to my room and grab my phone. I start walking back towards the basement as I unlock my phone and see that I’ve received a text from Cheza:
R U OK?
Yes I’m fine Cheza :) Now pay attention to class!
I reply and start walking down the stairs when I get another text:
Don’t wanna :P Alright… but I’ll probly text u again in like a hr and if you don’t respond, I’m gonna assume Tia killed u and call the cops… or Sara… probly just Sara…
You know, if Tia did kill me, she could just use my phone to impersonate me.
I hit send and immediately regret that decision, realizing that Cheza is already worried enough. I walk into the basement and see that Tia is waiting for me when my phone suddenly starts ringing. I look at the screen and I see a picture of a sleeping Cheza wearing the pink babydoll. I would have done a spit-take had I been drinking something. Tia starts giggling.
That Which is Unexpected Page 10