Heroic
Page 38
Val and Kani didn't go upstairs but out the main door. There was a locked side door, but it made a loud noise when it was unlocked, so I couldn't sneak away, nor try to listen in without Val noticing.
They were outside talking for a long time, long enough me to start cooling down and relaxing some of the tension in me, as my arm started regaining sensation.
Which I started to realize probably was on purpose. Keeping us separate long enough for us to calm down, without giving either the excuse to leave. Me because I would have to step around them, and Kani because she was caught in the personal space of Val and you didn't leave that without permission from her.
Finally Val and Kani stepped inside. Kani slowly made it for the upper floor, while Val made it briskly for me.
The very first thing she did was slap me, then point towards the floor under the box I had thrown. “That’s Wild Wood you fucking birdbrain! Do you have any idea how expensive it is to get genuine Wild Wood? And now you’ve broken two boards and cracked three other.” For some reason, that I couldn't quite deduce she seemed angry. She knocked her knuckles against my forehead. “Knock, knock. Nobody’s home!”
I lowed my self into a chair, next to the dinner table. “I’m sorry,” I said. My best repentant out to play.
“You damn well better be!” She said. “Now let’s talk about something else.” I cringed as she changed the subject. Her voice softened and warmth bled into it. “I get it. It hurts.” She didn’t gesture towards my arm, “You come from two wildly different paths, you grew up as an orphan, she didn’t. You’re not the same, but you’ve got to try and understand each other better.” I tried to swallow, but it felt like my throat was stuck.
“The first thing I want you to understand was that you didn’t initially do anything wrong. Initially.” As she repeated the word, a little steel crept into her voice, before fading again. “She has never been with another man. If there’s one thing that I am certain about you, it’s that you don’t do half measures.
“You don’t take a job that you don’t like, then only show up when you feel like it. Either you’re there every day working hard, even though it’s shit, you do it you’re fuck outta your mind depressed, nothing matters and you wont leave your bed for days. Sound familiar?”
I nodded.
“She wasn't ready for it. You don’t actually know her, instead of letting her come to you at her own rate, you plow on wards until her hackles are up and she’s in defensive mode.” Val gave me an emphatic look. “Then she starts running from any conversation that is too serious and you feel even further rejected and angry. Sounds familiar?”
She let her words sit in the room for a second. I wanted to object, but I couldn't. “She on the other hand has a very good reason to be reluctant, and you need to give her some space. Don’t try to force her into the relationship you want. Relationships are about teamwork, compromises and being happy together. You’re letting none of that happen.”
I wanted to defend myself, to tell her that Kani was just as guilty as I was, but I understood that this conversation wasn’t about Kani. It was about me, and how I could improve.
She reached out and grabbed my red and slightly sore hand, were new white patches were slowly growing in. “Oh, and she hadn’t realized this would happen. She’s really sorry that you got this hurt, she didn't know that electricity would have such an adverse affect on your model.
“The MagAI are virtually immune to electricity so she assumed you would feel little more than a sting from it. She had forgotten that while they’re motorcycles, you’re still a pedal bike.”
I felt slightly offended at her comment, but couldn't really fault her since it was precise enough. “Yeah,” I mumbled.
“I’m going to bring her down now, and you’re both going to say that you’re sorry and hug it out.”
“What!” I cried out, “Come on! Were not third graders here! We’re no-” She stopped the words cold in my mouth with a simple glare, then left the room for a few seconds, before returning with Kani in a row.
We said our sorries, and hugged it out. It was surprisingly nice. I might even have teared up a little bit, probably not though since I’m a Mandroid.
Chapter Ninety-One
I was crossing a street, just a few minutes walk from headquarters. It was late evening, the sun turning red in one horizon and casting long shadows across the road.
Around people were lingering, talking and just generally going through the daily businesses of their lives. It was more remarkable than it seemed at first hand.
I remembered not two weeks ago, there would hardly be a soul out this late, especially not this close to the Tenners territory. Now though, while the streets weren't packed, they were definitely not as empty as they had been just a week ago.
I passed by a mother talking to another woman, while her child was pulling on her arm. I smiled to myself. Obviously, not everyone was as happy about the change in environment.
Surrounded by the quiet murmur of people talking and generally going about their business, I crossed the last street and reached our building.
My limp was mostly gone at this point, as Kani had said it was simply just wearing the metal till it fit better. It had taken near upon a week, but now I hardly noticed it anymore.
I step up to the door. It had been Kani that had called me here. I had been trying not to get my hopes up. It had been 5 about days since our ‘encounter.' I would be starting work tomorrow, and I really didn't need the instability of me and Kani's relationship hammering at me right now.
With a deep breath, I mentally reached for the door lock. Tricking the scanner into thinking it just received the right signals and pushed open the door.
At this point, I had pretty much given up on actually strengthening my resolve using my Foundation. I only did the beginners exercise every once in a while to make sure that it was growing back to what it had been before I’d gotten my powers.
The work floor was as always brightly lit. The kitchen was now fully stocked, though that happened reasonably quickly thanks to Val. The other big thing was the three new shelves that had been placed in Kani's work area. They were made of cheap, but sturdy plastic and metal composites. On them were all the knick-knacks Kani had used to work on my body.
There was everything from a welding helmet, to small bits of metal she had used to shape my new knee joint. Importantly there was more of the weird cream, that she had used to repair and reform my hip. And more wood for the chairs and other furniture.
Beside the shelves, were the sturdy oak table that I had reclined on a multitude of times now. She had regularly made me stop what I was doing to get an inspection of the knee. She had wanted to make sure that it was the joint she had made that was being reformed and worked over, not the thigh or shin parts.
On said table, was currently lying a mostly complete replica of a human skeleton. It wasn't perfect, there wasn't a multitude of bones in the hands, only just enough to make it work. Kani simply didn't have the specialized tools necessary to get the tiny parts.
There were a few other details like that, but in all, it was near perfect replica of a human skeleton. It was finished. I could see the faint shine of the coating Kani had recently put on it, to better preserve the metal, the steel.
My current frame was sturdy enough, but if someone was lucky and got the right leverage, then they could relatively easily bend me out of shape. Not when Kani moved the parts over to that body.
Kani herself was nowhere to be seen. "Hey!" I called tentatively, as I shut out the fading light behind me. Letting the floor be filled with the pearlescent white of the hanging lamps. "Kani?"
I could hear vague muttering from upstairs. A few moments later, there was some rustling. Then Kani burst down the stairs. Her hair was disheveled, her ponytail out of order, one side obviously had been pulled significantly out of it. This caused the tail to veer off to the side and sag downwards.
"Huh?" She mumbled groggily. She s
quinted at me under the bright lights. "-Anys?" She asked I could only assume she meant me.
"Yea, you texted me, telling me to come to meet you," I said, looking at her worriedly. "Are you okay? You look exhausted." I had been a tiny bit late. I had been out patrolling when she'd texted me. I had told her that I would finish up before joining her here. That had been what? I checked the clock 4 hours ago.
I walked over to the kitchen area, took out a glass and filled it with water, while she sat down next to my steel frame. She leaned her head on the one hand, and blinked sleepily. Her eyes closed long enough when she blinked that for a moment, I thought she had fallen asleep again.
I handed her the glass, before examining the frame. It was gorgeous. I knew very little about welding, by that I mean I could weld a few things together, but I was no expert in it. I could, however, tell when something had been done well, and when it had been done excellently. Her work was excellent.
“Kani, this is amazing!” I said, excitedly. I was going over the bend in the rib cage. I didn't know if it was actually of hero class gear, but when they used gear, they were usually a Gadget type or had some sort of power that helped them craft the gear. Kani didn't have any of that. She was human, and this had to be about as good as human craftsmanship could get.
“Mmhmh.” She groaned tiredly, sipping some of the water. I watched her as she blinked once more. To call it a blink was being quite generous. She basically closed her eyes, then fought them back open again, very slowly. She swayed slightly on her chair, I didn't think she could remain upright.
"Alright," I said. I walked around the table, over to Kani. I gently took the glass from her hands, then looked her in the eye. Or at least I tried to, her eyes were hovering so close to shut that I was having some difficulty. "Let's get you to bed again."
She just let out a groan of appreciation. She stumbled off the chair, onto her feet. Then she toppled a few steps, before falling into me. I just barely managed to grab her before, she fell completely over.
I swept the legs out from under her and princess carried her up to the bedroom. She was unconscious in my arms before I even reached the stairs. A mix of pleasant, and vile emotions rolled through me as I held her in my arms.
I knew deep down that she was a nice woman, and a good person. My instinctual first reaction, however, told me that she had hurt me and I needed to defend myself. Over the last five days or so, it had gotten easier to deal with however.
My feelings towards her were clearing up favorably, a tiny bit more each day.
Chapter Ninety-Two
I was crossing a street, just a few minutes walk from headquarters. It was late evening, the sun turning red in one horizon and casting long shadows across the road.
Around people were lingering, talking and just generally going through the daily businesses of their lives. It was more remarkable than it seemed at first hand. I remembered not 2 weeks ago, there would hardly be a soul out this late, especially not this close to the Tenners territory. Now though, while the streets weren't packed, they were definitely not as empty as they had been just a week ago.
I passed by a mother talking to another woman, while her child was pulling on her arm. I smiled to myself, obviously not everyone was as happy about the change in environment.
Surrounded by the quiet murmur of people talking and generally going about their business, I crossed the last street and reached our building.
My limp was mostly gone at this point, as Kani had said it was simply just wearing the metal till it fit better. It had taken near upon a week, but now I hardly noticed it anymore.
I step up to the door. It had been Kani that had called me here. I had been trying not to get my hopes up. It had been 5 about days since our ‘encounter’. I would be starting work tomorrow, and I really didn't need the instability of me and Kani’s relationship hammering at me right now.
With a deep breath, I mentally reached for the door lock. Tricking the scanner into thinking it just received the right signals, and pushed open the door.
At this point I had pretty much given up on actually strengthening my resolve using my Foundation. I only did the beginners exercise every once in a while to make sure that it was growing back to what it had been before I’d gotten my powers.
The work floor was as always brightly lit. The kitchen was now fully stocked, though that happened failry quickly thanks to Val. The other big thing was the three new shelves, that had been placed in Kani’s work area. They were made of cheap, but sturdy plastic and metal composites. On them were all the knick knacks Kani had used to work on my body.
There was everything from a welding helmet, to small bits of metal she had used to shape my new knee joint. Importantly there was more of the weird cream, that she had used to repair and reform my hip. And more wood for the chairs and other furniture.
Beside the shelves, were the sturdy oak table that I had reclined on a multitude of times now. She had regularly made me stop what I was doing to get an inspection of the knee. She had wanted to make sure that it was the joint she had made that was being reformed and worked over, not the thigh or shin parts.
On said table, was currently lying a mostly complete replica of a human skeleton. It wasn't perfect, there wasn’t the multitude of bones in the hands, only just enough to make it work. Kani simply didn't have the specialized tools necessary to get the really small parts.
There were a few other details like that, but in all, it was near perfect replica of a human skeleton. It was finished. I could see the faint shine of the coating Kani had recently put on it, in order to better preserve the metal, the steel.
My current frame was sturdy enough, but if someone was lucky and got the right leverage then they could relatively easily bend me out of shape. Not when she moved the parts over to that body.
Kani herself was nowhere to be seen. “Hey!” I called tentatively, as I shut out the dying light behind me. Letting the floor fill with the pearlescent white of the overhead lamps. “Kani?”
I could hear vague muttering from upstairs. A few moments later, there was some rustling. Then Kani burst down the stairs. Her hair was disheveled, her pony tail out of order, one side obviously had been pulled significantly out of it. This caused the tail to veer off to the side and sag down wards.
“Huh?” She mumbled groggily. She squinted at me under the bright lights. “Anys?” She asks ed, I could only assume she meant me.
“Yea, you texted me, telling me to come meet you.” I said, looking at her worriedly. “Are you okay? You look exhausted.” I had been a tiny bit late. I had been out patrolling, when she’d texted me. I had told her that I would finish up before joining her here . That had been what? I checked the clock 4 hours ago.
I walked over to kitchen area, took out a glass and filled it with water, while she sat down next to my steel frame. She leaned her head on one hand, and blinked sleepily. Her eyes closed long enough when she blinked that for a moment, I thought she had fallen asleep again.
I handed her the glass, before examining the frame. It was gorgeous. I new very little about welding, by that I mean I could weld a few things together, but I was no expert in it. I could however tell when something had been done well, and when it had been done excellent. Her work was excellent.
“Kani, this is amazing!” I said, excitedly. I was going over the bend in the rib cage. I didn't know if it was actually of hero class gear, but when they used gear, they were usually a Gadget type or had some sort of power that helped them craft the gear. Kani didn't have any of that. She was human, and this had to be about as good as human craftsmanship could get.
“Mmhmh.” She groaned tiredly, sipping some of the water. I watched her as she blinked once more. To call it a blink was being quite generous. She basically closed her eyes, then fought them back open again, very slowly. She swayed slightly on her chair, I didn't think she could remain upright.
“Alright,” I said. I walked around the table, over to her. I gently took the
glass from her hands, then looked her in the eye. Or at least I tried to, her eyes were hovering so close to shut that I was having some difficulty. “Let’s get you to bed again.”
She just let out a groan of appreciation. She stumbled off the chair, onto her feet. Then she toppled a few steps, before falling into me. I just barely mange dot grab her before, she fell completely over.
I swept the legs out from under her and princess carried her up to the bedroom. She was unconscious in my arms, before I even reached the stairs.
Chapter Ninety-Three
At first, I waited downstairs, hoping that a few more hours of sleep would do her some good. I was reasonably sure that Kani had worked through the night and most of the day. When she’d called me, and told me she had a surprise for me. She had obviously tried to stay awake for my arrival, but had obviously been too tired and gone upstairs to nap.