The Ties That Bind

by T. Starnes

  I gave her a smile, "That is exactly what I was thinking. There are lots of ways we can be involved. We need people to actually run the organization or organizations, since I believe we will end up needing to create companies to generate revenue, in order to support our goals. This could mean managing people or assets. Or this could be focusing on things to help generate the resources we need."

  I looked over at Alex and Mom, "On that, there was something I wanted you two to think about. When we put together enough money, I want you two to think about leaving your jobs and joining the company, or creating your own company."

  Mom looked at me warily, "What exactly would we do?"

  "While we can't use my biology to create cures, I am sure we can find a way to use what you learn from me to go in some interesting directions. On top of that, you were both smart before you were altered, and now that your mental processing has been sped up, I think you would be a force to be reckoned with. But like I said, that is for some time down the road. It costs money to outfit a lab."

  Mom continued to look at me skeptically, "You are putting a lot of your plans into your company working out. It seems most of the things we are talking about require financing."

  I shrugged, "True, but what else can we do? Right now, it is our best bet. If it doesn't work out, we will have to sit down and figure out a 'Plan B.'"

  I looked around the room, "I guess that about covers it. Once Alex gets the psychological and personality tests in order, we can move to start testing."

  I still wasn't thrilled by that, but I couldn't escape their logic. I knew that I would be giving in to Megan's demands. Everyone sat around talking for a little longer before Alex and Megan headed home.

  When I got upstairs with the girls, they pushed me down to sit on the bed while each of them remained standing, looking at me with serious expressions.

  "This seems serious," I said looking at each of them.

  "It is," Zoe said, taking the lead. "We know there has been a lot going on, and we have been really patient with you. We love that you spend time with us, and we all love our time together at night. But we also want a little romance."

  "By romance, you mean..."

  Since she said they enjoyed our time together at night I assumed she didn't mean sex, but my brain was having a hard time getting to her point.

  "Ugh! Boys," Vicki said throwing up her arms.

  Tami laid a hand on Vicki to calm her down and said, "We mean dates Cas. Since your date with Vicki, months ago, none of us have been on a one-on-one date. We all really liked the trip to the pool hall, and we want to do group dates, too; but, that was also well before Thanksgiving."

  I may be slow, but I wasn't completely stupid, "Damn, I really have been taking you girls for granted, haven't I? Okay, how about this, there will be a date every week, either one-on-one or a group date, and I will try and make sure everyone gets a fair turn."

  They looked at each other before Zoe said, "That works. Who's first?"

  I thought for a second, "How about we do it in the order we started dating: Zoe, then Vicki, then Tami? That way it all stays fair. I will take Zoe out this Friday."

  They all agreed and quickly shed their clothes to show me how much they liked the idea.

  When Friday rolled around, all three girls were being extra affectionate. At school, they were being frisky enough that a teacher had to reprimand us for proper behavior in the hallways. Refocusing on my love life seemed to have the added benefit of calming down all the worry I had about everything else. I practically floated through my classes.

  Walking into the cafeteria, I caught something out of the corner of my eye and told Zoe I would meet her at the table. She saw what I was looking at, but I told her not to worry and turned to head down a side hallway as soon as she started walking towards our lunch table. I had already noticed Sarah was at our table, and figured this was my opportunity to ensure her safety.

  "Uh-oh," one of the three guys said as I got close enough for them to notice me.

  The guy who had been the most aggressive the previous day turned and said, "What do you want?"

  I knew he was putting on a front, and that I would need to shut him down, hard, in order to keep his anger at me from spilling over onto Sarah. That would be the opposite of my goal, here.

  I got in his face and snarled, "What I want is for you to never talk to Sarah again. Don't talk to her; don't look at her, in fact, if she is walking towards you I want you three to walk in the other direction."

  "Why the hell should we do anything you say?"

  He decided to make a macho move and shoved me. I had been expecting this, and had already braced my back foot when I stopped in front of him. This, coupled with my higher density of muscle, made his light shove completely ineffectual. In fact, he managed to push himself backwards, while I didn't move at all.

  I looked at his two buddies and then right into his eyes, "I want you to think very carefully. I took out Jake and two friends without problems. I took out Tony, Tyler, and three other guys, without problems. I dropped Jake and his two buddies a second time, without problems. Each of those fights lasted less than a minute; and most of that time was because I was trying to minimize the damage I did to them. When you come at me, I will not try and minimize the damage. I promise that you will leave needing a cast."

  I looked at stooge number one, to his left, "Are you ready for that?"

  I then looked at stooge number two, to his right, "Are you?"

  I knew he was dumb enough to try one more move, and I was ready for him. I pulled back, telegraphing the punch for all the world to see. Even without dropping into slow motion ... which happened anyway, since I don't seem to be able to control it ... and without my enhanced reaction speed I would have been able to avoid his punch. Instead, I reached up and met his fist with my open palm, griping as soon as I made contact.

  To be fair, it was a hard thrown punch, and there was some real power behind it. Unfortunately for him, I was not just another fifteen year old high school kid. I stopped short of braking bones, but he did drop to his knees in pain. I knew there would be bruises on his hand from where my fingers dug in.

  "That was your one get out of jail free card. Next time you make a move against me, Sarah, or anyone else ... I will make life very hard on you. Are we clear?"

  He said nothing and tried to hold back a wail of pain, I guess to keep up his image. Unfortunately for him, it came out as a sad whimper.

  I squeezed a bit tighter and said, "I said ... Are ... We ... Clear?"

  "Yes, yes! God, please let go," he whined as tears started to flow from his eyes.

  I released my hold on him and stepped back as he grabbed his now throbbing hand.

  I looked at him and said, "Take him to the restroom so he can clean up."

  They didn't need to be told twice and hauled him off the floor and down the hallway away from me. I turned and walked back to our lunch table. Everyone was looking at me as I sat down and Zoe slid my lunch over to me.

  "Thanks, I forgot to ask you to get that for me."

  She smiled and patted my hand. Sarah was still looking at me with giant eyes, until Zoe leaned over and whispered into her ear. After that, she smiled at me, and went back to eating. I noticed Matt Conway, one of Josh's guys on the team, staring at her the whole time we ate. I made eye contact with Zoe and quickly looked his direction, then at Sara, then back at Zoe. She saw my meaning, smiled and gave me a slow nod. No one else was really paying attention to us, but I knew Zoe would have all the other girls enlisted in a new scheme by the time the day was over.

  I had already told Zoe I wouldn't be able to watch their practice. I had some business stuff to take care of, and would catch a ride with Megan. My three girls had all arranged to be walked home by Josh. I was glad to see the buddy system I had helped set up at the beginning of the year, was still in full effect. With Jake and his cronies out of the picture, I didn't know if it was as needed as before, but even without a spe
cific threat, I felt it was still a good idea.

  Back at home, I sat down with one of my work notebooks and dialed a number I read from off a business card.

  When the secretary answered I said, "Mr. Green please. Tell him it's Caspian Grey, I was in his office before the holidays."

  She put me on hold and after less than a minute, a voice came on the line saying, "Caspian, it's good to hear from you. How is everything?"

  "Good, thank you. Mom ... Mrs. Bell, rather ... is feeling much better, and has recovered from her attack."

  "Yes, she told me all about the small tumor in her brain and the help she received at the hospital."

  "She did?" I was surprised. I didn't know she talked with him after our visit.

  "Of course. She called me up the week following your visit, gave me an update, and got the ball rolling. We set everything up according to how you laid it out, originally. I met with her and your attorney and got everything signed off."

  "Ohh, I didn't know that. So we are all set, then?"

  "More or less. We left a little money in the account that you can use to pay for things you need, but the bulk of the unassigned three hundred thousand is being spread across various investments. Your lawyer has an updated list of what we have you in."

  "Okay. At some point in the near future I might have to access more, to be able to work on a project I have in mind."

  "I am assuming this is the charity organization I received a call about?"

  "Seriously? I had that conversation just last night, I didn't expect her to move that fast."

  "Well, we haven't actually done anything. She just wanted to sound me out about what options there might be if you needed some of the money. As I told her, with what we currently have invested, it will not go very far. You just aren't capitalized enough. If you want to really start doing something, you will need a lot more money. Of course, when we are talking charity, there are ways to use other people's money as much as your own."

  "I would be interested in talking about that. Can Mom and I make an appointment to come down there in a few weeks and talk to you about it?"

  "Sure, I will get something penciled in. You wanted to bring your mother to this meeting?"

  "Sorry, that is what I call Mrs. Bell. It's a long story," I replied, not really wanting to go into all the details at the moment.

  "Okay. I will talk to Angela, and set up something up."

  I heard the girls coming in as I got off the phone. As they bounded into the kitchen, I tried to stand up and greet them, but was pushed back into my chair by Zoe, who promptly sat on my lap. She gave me a thorough kiss and hopped up only to be replaced by Tami. After Tami kissed me, Vicki repeated the same maneuver before leaning to whisper in my ear.

  "We will put your clothes for your date with Zoe on the bed in 'your' room. Wait a few minutes and go get ready."

  I could tell by the way she said it, that by 'my room' she meant the room they set up for me when I moved in, not the room where I actually slept. Vicki stood up and the three girls raced upstairs holding hands. I put away my work stuff, and went upstairs to find the promised clothes lying on the bed.

  I grabbed them and went off to shower and get ready. It was no surprise when I got downstairs that I was the only one there. I was certain there was no way any of those girls could get ready for a night out, in under thirty minutes.

  I sat on the couch and read a book while I waited for them. After about fifteen minutes, I heard them file down the stairs. I was surprised to see not just Zoe dressed up, but also the other two.

  "I thought it was just me and Zoe tonight?"

  "You aren't the only person who can take someone on a date ya know?" Tami said, laughing. "While you and Zoe are out at dinner, I am taking Vicki dancing."

  "Then I am taking her back to my house for a little late night fun," Vicki said, wiggling her eyebrows at us.

  I let the innuendo pass, and smiled warmly at them both. I went to both and gave them a kiss on their cheeks, knowing they would kill me if I ruined their lipstick.

  "I am glad. You two have fun. Maybe you can tape the stuff at your house for me to watch, later," I said returning the eyebrow waggle back to her.

  She slapped my arm and turned me around to walk back to Zoe. They were going to have to wait a little longer for their ride to get there, while Zoe and I walked hand in hand the couple of blocks to Little Joe's.

  Dinner with Zoe was really nice. Of all my girls, Zoe was the one with whom I spent the most one-on-one time, just by the simple fact that we lived together. Still, most of our conversations revolved around what was happening that day at school or about our friends. That is of course when we weren't talking about my biology and the changes. I realized that we hadn't really talked about her past much. It was really nice to spend some time learning about things she did when she was little. It seemed like we both had decided to avoid talking about evolution, the plans for our future, and all the big subjects that seemed to have consumed our lives over the last few months. So, I was surprised when she turned the conversation that way.

  "Do you really think we will be able to change the world, to be ready for ... you know?" she asked after a long pause.

  I shrugged, "Who knows? We will try, that's all we can do. But," I paused, considering my next words, "I think even if I wasn't different, we should still try and change the world. The more I think about it, the more I thought we should try and make the world a better place. Not just because we want to make the world ready for us and our kids, but to make the world a better place for its own sake."

  "It seems so big though ... so impossible."

  "True, it really is. We aren't going to be the first to try. But, where would humanity be, if every once and a while one of us didn't try to do the impossible."

  She gave me one of her loving looks and squeezed my hand, then let the conversation meander off to other subjects. It also seemed that all night we were in physical contact, in one way or another. Holding hands or feeling her foot rub against my leg. The anticipation was building up all night, and I could see Zoe was getting really excited. I thought about teasing her, maybe suggesting we go see a movie or something, but the intense look in her eyes suggested that might not be the smartest move I could make!

  It was only a couple of blocks to her house, and she was practically pulling my arm off dragging me down the street. Once we were in the house and the door closed behind us, Zoe turned around and jumped onto me, wrapping her legs around my waist while I placed my hands under her rump to keep her from falling off. Zoe pressed a serious lip lock on me as I carried her down the hall towards the stairs.

  I did notice Mom sitting in the living room. I saw her shake her head at us as we passed. Once into our room I closed the door behind me with my foot, while she slid to the ground and began shedding clothing.

  We had just snuggled up in bed when the phone rang. It really wasn't that late, since we ended our date so early. Since the girls all spent so much time, here, Mom had added a new extension into our room just before Thanksgiving. Zoe rolled over and answered it.

  "Hello," she said in a sleepy yet happy tone that probably told whoever was on the other end what we had just done.

  She listened for only about thirty seconds to the voice on the other end of the line before saying, "WHAT?"

  She dropped the handset, and turned to look at me. Fear was in her eyes.

  "Tina's in Trouble!"

  Chapter 9

  I stared at Zoe for a minute, my brain still in a post-coital haze, letting the words sink in. Once they did, I managed to snap back into reality and reached for the dangling phone receiver.

  "Hello?"

  "Cas, it's Judy. Tina needs help."

  "What's happening?"

  "She is acting strangely, like, not all there. Steve dragged her into a bedroom with some guys, and locked the door."

  "Where are you?"

  She gave me an address that was on the other side of the sub-division
.

  "I will be right there," I said as I hung up the phone.

  I turned around, and Zoe was handing me my pants. She was already half dressed. We both finished throwing on clothes in record time. As soon as my tennis shoes were on, we bolted down the stairs. I heard mom call out in concern from the racket we were making but we didn't even pause as we burst out the door.

  Both of us started laying on the speed, with Zoe drafting only a step behind me. I was totally wrapped up in my thoughts and didn't notice, but Zoe apparently did. Later, she told me she thinks we made the mile and a half distance in just under five minutes. I am thankful no one seemed to take notice of us, otherwise they would question why two random teenagers were running through the neighborhood at nearly Olympic record speed.

  We both slowed a bit as we rounded the corner, and saw Judy standing in the front yard. She ran inside, and we were close on her heels. Kids were staring at us as we tore through the house. As we neared the door, Judy said it was still locked. I only slowed my momentum slightly, pushed Judy into Zoe's arms, letting my shoulder lower and connect with the door. There was a loud crack as the door and part of the frame ripped away, splinters from it showering those inside.

  There were three guys. Two were naked with one guy still in boxers. Mertz was one of the naked ones, standing at the foot of the bed looking at my sister, who lay completely motionless and totally nude. As it had before, time slowed. I noticed torn clothing, clothing I recognized as Tina's. Mertz turned and moved in front of me, his arm already lifting in a swing. I brushed it aside eschewing all finesse or skill, instead choosing to close the distance and began lowering my head slightly. The top of my forehead impacted with the bridge of his nose and blood showered out as he violently fell backwards. I could feel a trickle of blood already starting down my forehead.

  Time returned to its normal speed. Both guys turned to move towards me. I moved into a stable position and glared at them. Both stopped.