The Organized Criminals of today are far different from the ones of the past. Prior to the introduction of the Metahuman, Crime Cartels almost always worked in the shadows, maintaining a public spotless persona of respectable businesses, while keeping both their size and strength low enough that they never attracted truly national attention.

Today’s cartel often acts more like an independent sovereign nation. Occasionally governments or meta teams might reduce and arrest an outlying enterprise that blatantly flaunts the laws of whatever country they happen to be located in, but more often those activities are not only tolerated but encouraged by the local governments that profit hugely from the economic influx, job opportunities, and bribery.

Most Cartels maintain a stable of mid to high-powered metahumans. This makes inter-cartel warfare far too dangerous to engage in lightly, with the ability to send teams to utterly destroy each other’s most secure resources with ease, the primary cartels tend to engage in alliances against outside enemies and keep the maneuvering and small-scale power struggles both internal and vicious, often employing deadly metahuman mercenaries on short contracts.

This makes the cartels incredibly brutal, but it means that law enforcement, including teams of superpowered individuals, are occasionally met with a level of force far in excess of what would be considered reasonable. The Prometheans themselves tend to avoid responding to emerging situations in South America, with a few notable local exceptions like Double Point, or Punto Doble, who are suspected of working as much for the Cartels as for Proteus.

Several Prometheans that have been foolish enough to head into cartel conflicts solo or in small teams have lost their lives, making the border nations like Brazil and Mexico occasionally more dangerous for active superheroes than Siberia itself.

Metahumans and Law enforcement in North America Op-Ed March 21st, 2016

“How much blood?” Kjootoo asked while Caelo looked a little startled and worried.

“Just a few drops,” I said, pointing at the glass. “To stabilize the elixir and customize it. It’s been built to her specifications, but adding her blood helps it all metabolize. As it stands, drinking it should elevate her to a class E when she wakes up but stabilizing it will make her a class D.”

I didn’t tell him that injecting it would make her potentially a class C, because, if she chose not to join Proteus at that level, she would almost instantly be put on the most dangerous supervillain hit list. Class C metas were no joke, with their ability to level entire cities, and depending on her powers, she might be considered far more dangerous than her father, without the protection of his reputation.

Not to mention the reactions were most likely going to be very violent and traumatizing. It would be far safer for her to start at D and then eventually work and expand herself to class B than to start there unless she wanted Proteus to own her since a class B supervillain was something even Commander Freedom would take seriously. If she eventually became a class B, she should know how to hide her power signature first.

After a few moments, Tino came back with someone’s sugar testing kit. I usually would have one of my own, but again, I’d been without my emergency kit for quite some time. I should probably make a new one as soon as possible, but kits cost money, and I currently had none… even if Kjootoo would currently make the red in my finances disappear.

“Will she be able to speak?” Kjootoo asked while Caelo let two tiny drops of her blood join the contents of the glass.

I shook my head, setting up a fresh lancet. There was absolutely nothing I could catch from her, but if we were going to share bodily fluids I would rather she was older and the sharing was more mutually satisfactory. “No. I don’t want to be dismissive, but her inability to speak is due to the trauma, probably of seeing her mother hurt. The physical cure, the powers, are unlikely to change that since it is a form of PTSD. I think most psychologists are absolute quacks with a license to bullshit, but dealing with the source of such memories is known to help with things like that. It is unfortunate that you killed the perpetrator, as doing so herself might have been helpful.”

Caelo was scowling at both of us, so I tried to reassure her. “I mean, it’s like… it would help you feel safe again after some shithead ripped it away?” I was only digging myself deeper, and I knew it, but sometimes I didn’t really know when to shut up.

She grabbed my hand, triggering my analysis in the shortened form I had chosen for her in the back of my mind. She was getting better at focusing on what she wanted to communicate, and I was surprised, I hadn’t even known she could learn to interact that way more effectively.

Healthy, irritated, wondering if kissing you would shut you up about her problems to her father, wondering what it would be like to kiss you, mortified wondering if you could tell she was thinking about that.

She turned quite a bit darker as I chuckled, “It might, it would be hard for me to open my mouth with your dad’s fist in it.”

Kjootoo raise an eyebrow, which was easy to see with his skull-painted face. Or maybe it was some kind of a tattoo since I hadn’t seen it change the whole time I had interacted with him.

“Oh, she was trying to tell me to shut the hell up about her problems, and was wondering what would work. I was just letting her know that getting you to beat me up would only work temporarily.”

Kjootoo smiled thoughtfully. “I see. What is next?”

I shrugged and used the lancet to pierce my own flesh. I healed quickly enough now that I had to get a drop in quickly because of how small the injury was, and I was worried that in the future, I might have to use something more substantial to catalyze my potions, like a scalpel to the palm. It would be much more dramatic, but cutting yourself sucked. I could do it, I had before, but that didn’t mean I liked the idea, even if it healed in seconds without a scar.

The moment my blood hit the mixture in the glass it started to bubble, turned almost completely clear and glowed with a soft, silvery light. That was different, it usually glowed green, but I suppose specializing it changed the way it looked substantially compared to the standard elixir.

Custom-made elixir.

This gelatinous syrup contains pure essence of meta power, custom-made with strong aspects for a particular individual.

Value: 0

Aspects: Body, power, soul, mind

Power 120

This syrup glows faintly and must be either consumed or injected. Consuming it weakens the initial power level, but causes a far less violent awakening. Injecting it makes its full strength much more effective, but can cause violent or even deadly awakenings.

It awakens meta abilities in someone with meta potential or strengthens existing potential. Neither method of application affects the individual’s potential class, simply the starting power.

Consumed, the elixir increases the user’s class by 3 ranks

injected, the elixir increases the user’s class by 4 ranks.

Please note that if this exceeds the user’s potential, the user will die, usually in a spectacular, dangerous, and messy fashion.

This elixir is fully customized for the use of Calixte Lovelie Dupree (Caelo). It will have no effect on anyone else unless its power level exceeds its own, in which case negative effects might apply.

“The elixir will put her to sleep for probably a couple of days. When she wakes up, she will be a class D meta with abilities she will have to learn to use.”

Kjootoo nodded, offered her another hug, and then said something to her in an odd patois I didn’t recognize. I thought the official language in Haiti was French, or Spanish along the Dominican border. I didn’t recognize this one, though, even though he talked for a couple of minutes. It seemed to have a few French words but with the heavy Haitian accent, I couldn’t be sure.

She nodded to him and gave him a hug. And then took my hand.

“She says she loves you as well and will see you when she wakes up. She hopes she has a power similar to yours, so you can help her learn how to use it before you have to leave like her mother d...Ow.”

I looked at Caelo skeptically. For a girl, she had a hell of a punch, and while I wouldn’t develop a bruise on my upper arm before it healed, it still managed to hurt. “Apparently I was not supposed to add that last part.”

He nodded and kissed her on her head, and then she sat on the small divan couch we had been sitting on before and quaffed the elixir quickly. In a few moments, she was snoring peacefully. Elixir didn’t taste bad, exactly, but it always had a slightly burnt-alcohol flavor to it that some people found unpleasant. I didn’t really have an opinion, as people only used it once. They could either handle the flavor or they could go to hell, both of which were likely.

Caelo didn’t seem to be having any immediate side effects, which was a strong sign that she would handle the change successfully. She was probably safe to move.

“Tino! Please take Caelo back to the house, and let Wysteria and the rest leave. I expect Redshift’s presence tonight, and after tomorrow his debt will be canceled. Please tell Maximum her next hunt will be here, tomorrow, at 11:14, and her prey will be anyone of Hispanic descent as well as Totem if she will accept it. Call Zipper, and tell him that if he sends his pets, they may consume any save me, Alchemyst, Redshift, or Maximum. In addition, I expect you to pay off Louis Albert McCarthy’s medical school debt from… 3 years ago? Yes, 3 years ago he left medical school, use the scholarship accounts so we don’t leave a paper trail. Oh, and Tino?”

Tino was writing down what Kjootoo said on a little notepad. But looked up. “Yeah Boss?” he asked.

“Do not come back. I am counting on you to protect my daughter until she can protect herself. Both you and Wysteria. It is the last service I will ever ask you for, and the most important I could ever ask for. Thank you.”

Tino nodded, “I will let Wysteria know. Will there be anything else?”

Kjootoo shook his head, “No, that will be all.”

Tino nodded, lumbering towards the crew quarters. In less than an hour, the gigs were gone except for the lifeboats, as was the crew.

I was a little confused, “Tomorrow is when the Cartel monkeys show up? And then you are going to die?”

Kjootoo nodded, “Indeed. I would call on more assistance to wreak my vengeance upon the cartels after my death, but the remainder would not keep silent about it. I must ask you to do so to keep Caelo safe. I would ask Sandman’s help, but I would rather he continue to hide fearing me calling in his debt. He is not a nice person, and while he would keep silent, I do not think he would ignore Caelo knowing I am gone. I might have been forced to ask for a third negotiation rather than ask you to return to Caelo when she is ready to ask for a favor.”

“I wouldn’t accept a negotiation to kill someone anyway.” I said, “Even if he’s a jerk.”

Kjootoo sighed a little. “He is not a jerk. He is a serial killer rapist that specializes in black meta women. He already has 14, perhaps more, to his credit, and is on Proteus’ top ten hit list. I think you should get a good sleep since tomorrow will be a battle, but I do want to ask you two things before you retire.”

“Two things?” I asked, “Don’t you have only one negotiation left?”

He shook his head, “Debatable. You indicated that destroying the cartels was your own idea. But the Loa have told me something monstrous is coming. The eaters, as I mentioned. When that happens, if it is possible, please try to protect Caelo if you can. The last is in the same vein. If you catch any hint of Sandman sniffing around after Caelo, please do whatever you have to do. Call it the last wishes of a dying man.”

I nodded. I had to look this guy up. Caelo was good people even if she was a little misplaced in her interests, and she swore to me she would not use her abilities to hurt people that didn’t deserve it. That made her a good guy in my book, and if this Sandman were the beast Kjootoo implied, getting rid of him was on my to-do list. I might not want to fight supervillains as a career, but that kind of a monster was not a job, it was a privilege.

Kjootoo smiled a little, “I will see you tomorrow. Your cabin is down one deck, move to the back, and look for the number E-7 on the door. You might run out of hot water if you are not frugal since the engineers are not here to keep the boilers and engines running, but the battery should last well into tomorrow and there is food in the kitchen. Tomorrow comes early, and I wish to speak to the Loa before I sleep.”

I woke up early, the room had been amazing, and I had forgotten how much I missed a soft mattress and a good, hot shower without witnesses. The ship might have been an antique, but the shower was modern and top of the line, with two heads and wall-mounted sprayers, as well as a selection of decent body washes. A couple of hundred pushups, situps, and bodybuilders were followed by the divine spray, although after about 15 minutes the water started to grow cold and I hopped out.

I had formulated a few toys before I slept, including two bombs and a gas bomb guaranteed to melt faces, and a few healing and energy potions, as well as my half bottle of Rum. I also had a few spares stashed on the deck, just in case I needed them, not that I thought I would.

Last night’s slacks and a hunt revealed the armor pieces that had been taken when I was snatched, including the ski goggles. If there were any survivors, I would rather they didn’t know my identity, and I showed up on deck wearing a pair of dress slacks, boots, a tee-shirt, chest and vitals armor, and a pair of ski goggles.

I expected giggles and snorts, and when I met a guy dressed in a red jumpsuit and armor I was rewarded.

“Hello, I am the Redshift,” he said in a thick accent, Ukrainian or Georgian, I think, although I wasn’t enough of a linguist to be sure.

“Alchemyst” I replied. “Pleasure to meet you Redshift. Would you care for an emergency pick-me-up?”

He shook his head, “No, I will not do drugs. I am part of Georgian Protectors. I am not here with permission of Proteus, but answer to them.”

I smiled, “Trust me, this is not a drug. I am Proteus approved, part of the new Vigilante initiative. Kind of got here by mistake, but this will be an opportunity to screw over the Cartels, so I am all in. This is meta-tech that will rapidly heal and cure you, as well as restore your energy levels if you are injured. It has no side effects because it already absorbed my energy to create, although I cannot offer you more than one for an emergency.”

He nodded and accepted the spice bottle from the kitchen I had emptied and refilled with the crystalline blue concoction. “Thank you.”

I offered another one to Kjootoo, which he started to refuse. “Look, I know the Loa told you you are going to die, but if you drink this when you are injured, even if your heart stops beating for a moment, it could restart and regenerate. It will also restore your blood even if you run out. I don’t want to torture poor Tino with having to tell your daughter you are dead, and she will probably blame me if you kick it. You may have told her goodbye, but she never had the chance to say it to you.”

He nodded and sighed, tucking the potion into his tuxedo jacket’s inner pocket. “Of course. That may be why the Baron is not crowing despite my knowledge of my death.” Although it didn’t look like he believed his own words.

I was eating pop-tarts and microwaved breakfast sandwiches. They sucked, but they were much better than prison food, when I heard Redshift yell, “Here they come!”

Kjootoo held up his hand as a helicopter swung in to land on the deck. We were soon surrounded by smaller boats, but they would require ladders to get onto the deck. “We aren’t going to ambush them?” I asked, “I could have taken out a few boats easily before they tied alongside, and you would be amazed at what a Molotov can do to a helicopter if you are strong enough to throw it over the rotors.”

He shook his head, “No, we are not at war yet. We will give them a moment to speak their peace, and only then when they choose war, do we strike. Ogun has assured me that if we take the just route, We will triumph even in death.”

I appreciated his powers, I really did, but I was getting very tired of the loas. I didn’t think Kjootoo was truly crazy, I just thought that the loa aspects of his power were a bunch of dicks, if they were real. Taking out half the enemy before they even had a chance to approach, especially if we knew they were going to be violent, just made too much sense to ignore, unless you were a demigod dick.

I prayed my own little prayer, asking for mercy and forgiveness for the sins I was about to commit. No, I was not particularly devout, but pascal’s wager made a hell of a lot of sense when you were staring death in the face.

The door on the Bell opened, and a man with a mac-10 across his chest stepped out, followed by a second one. In a moment I saw a familiar glimmering coppery figure, as well as a guy that dressed like one of those warriors from Stargate. The muscled ones that wore the weird animal helmets. He even had the Egyptian makeup around his eyes, unless those were permanent tattoos, and carried a pair of hand scythes on his hips.

The two men stepped closer, and I narrowed my eyes. Despite his coppery coating, Copperhead looked a bit less put together. His clothing was perfect, of course, but something about his look implied lots of stress. I finally took a swig of the half-full bottle of rum as they approached. Not enough to get drunk, but enough to feel the burn going down. Something tried to claw its way out of me, but I wasn’t even close to drunk enough to let it go. Kjootoo looked at me curiously, and I grinned, “I fight better when I have had a drink.”

“Hello, Kjootoo. It is a pleasure to see you again. Your hospitality seems a bit lacking today, I am afraid.” Copperhead mentioned as he drew within talking distance and the helicopter’s engine spun down enough to talk.

“My apologies, Cabeza Copre, but today is the staff’s day off. If you had informed me of your arrival a few days ago, I would have been prepared for your arrival. As it is, I am afraid that we lack much entertainment or refreshment.” Kjootoo replied, grinning. I was beginning to understand why he was considered crazy, as his fighting face was all smiles.

Copperhead sighed dramatically, “I guess we must be blunt then instead of talking like respectable businessmen over dinner and a drink. You have something that belongs to me, intercepted before its arrival.”

I couldn’t help it. This might be the last thing I ever did, but I couldn’t help turning to Redshift and stage-whispering, “Shit! I told you we shouldn’t have snatched that Amazon box in Tijuana!”. Fear and joking were kind of hard-wired in my head together.

Copperhead looked at me skeptically for a moment as I took another, longer drink from the bottle, and then his eyes opened a little. “Ahh, the property I am here to retrieve. I had no idea you were a drunkard. No wonder Raul kept you on such a short leash.”

I grinned at Copperhead, watching his companion closely, as he fiddled with the bands holding his sickles to his waist. “Oh, I hear he is enjoying his vacation at club fed. A little guy like that, I wonder if he and his new skinhead boyfriend have decided to give you little nieces and nephews yet? The birth should be pretty easy by now with all the lubricant he’s getting.”

There were dozens of men on board now, from the boats on the side of the ship. I took another drink, watching them out of my peripheral vision. More armed threats, but if I could keep them from getting my head I should be able to handle several. I doubted very much that they trained as hard, or were as fast, as the fighters I had trained with for years.

Copperhead scowled, and then stated, “I had intended to simply put you to work, but I am certain you can work just as well with your lips sewn shut.” He glanced at Kjootoo and motioned to two men who were walking over towards us from behind. “Secure the property,” he stated.

“No offer of payment?” Kjootoo asked, still grinning. My armor was getting awfully tight. The pill had stated freedom, and I was beginning to wonder if that meant I had to lose my clothes. I could fight without clothing, but it was a weird limitation, and I hoped the enormous strength and speed would let me dodge bullets. I took another drink and was starting to struggle a little with the urge to just move.

Copperhead shook his head. “I have already paid.” and in a motion too quick for me to even see, a flicker of gold flashed out. I realized as both of his hands hit the ground and blood started spurting from his tuxedo, that Totem had cut across Kjootoo’s torso, severing the hands that had come up to block and cutting him halfway open, across his heart and lungs.

Looks like Kjootoo was right. His death was coming today. He was powerful and scary, certainly, but he was not a stone-cold assassin like Totem. Totem had to go, and I was just the guy to make him go.

I heard a weird ripping noise coming from my chest and torso, and looked down, wondering if Totem had cut me too. Nope, that was just the sound of my armor and shirt ripping open across my broad chest. Redshift immediately vanished into a blur of red, and I got the name. Super speed, Redshift. That was actually a pretty cool name. Much better than Alchemyst. My name right now was Hyde, I remembered I had named myself a long time ago. Meet Hyde.

I shrugged the armor off and realized I was looking at the top of Tut’s and the cheaper surfer’s head. Totem was looking up at me, slightly surprised, as I pressed one gigantic mitt forward and gently pinched Coppertop’s head off, tossing it behind me. “I got myself a copperhead!” I chuckled deeply at the man.

This dude was really fast. I didn’t much care, why should I? But the long wounds he opened up with his sickles were starting to bother me a little, as they stung before they closed up. The tank top was still a shredded mess around my torso, and I casually ripped it off. At least my pants were still there, sort of.

I managed to catch one of Totem’s hands as he tried to slice me again with the little sickles. And picked him up. “Would you stop doing that?” I asked him as he dug the other sickle into my forearm, trying to cut himself loose. “That hurts.”

I sighed deeply as he hit again close to the same spot. It was healing quickly, but if he kept hitting the same spot he might eventually cut a tendon or something, so I grabbed the sickle in the hand I was holding and lopped off the other arm that still had the sickle that kept hitting me. It lay on the ground, flopping, and I watched in fascination as it kept moving for just a moment before lying still. Something was buzzing in my ear, and I noticed that it was Totem, screaming like an idiot. The weirdo was hurting my ears and splashing goopy blood all over me, which was frankly rather rude. I hated rude.

I started slapping him onto the deck to remind him to be quiet, it was hurting my ears a little, but he just wouldn’t stop screaming at me. Maybe it was one of those superpowers or something, because it didn’t stop until I grabbed his foot and let his arm go, slapping his face against the steel side of the ship until it bent, both the steel and his face, and he finally shut up.

To be honest, I think he looked better this way, and I started using him like a pair of nunchucks to bat away those creatures that kept poking me with bullets. One of them had caught me in the eye, and that had stung for a moment before it healed.

The nunchuck thing worked pretty well for a few minutes, and then I saw a slender woman appear for just a moment, remove one of the gun user's heads with a long blade, and then vanish. Hmm. Nice body, and unlike the sickle guy, she was nice and quiet. I wonder what she would feel like? I started trying to find her, intending to ask her if she’d like to fuck. I was good at fucking.

“You guys really have to just shut up. The noise is starting to bug me. How come you cannot be quiet like the Ninja lady?” I asked, but I guess they didn’t speak English or anything, because a bunch of them started running away, trying to get back to their boats as my Nunchuk started to fall apart from overuse. Weak ass weapon, I threw the remaining pieces at one of the boats, which started to come apart into big chunks. The guys were loud, not like cool explosions type loud, but just long rattling noises loud.

Where the hell was my bottle? That Rum was excellent, and my buzz was starting to wear off a little. I ran out of guys to play with on the main deck, and I couldn’t find the ninja lady. I bet those jerks stole my rum, so I grabbed one of the messy lumps on the deck and threw it at another boat. I had just intended to splash them with goop as tater tot had splashed me, but their boats must have been really weak, because the mess not only splashed them, it also broke one of the little guys in half and made the boat fall apart into pieces.

I was a little irritated so I stopped the big spinning blade thing and started throwing the pieces of it at the boats. One of them was too far away, so I picked up the helicopter and casually tossed it at the last boat. Fortunately, my aim was pretty good right now, slightly better than usual, and the helicopter sank the boat. “Score!” I yelled, holding my hands in the air gleefully, and looked around.

Hey, cool, skeleton guy was sitting up, staring at the stumps of his arms and laughing. Huh. I thought he was dead. It was nice that he was alive because he had a hot daughter. I wandered over to where he was laughing and found my armor vest and started fishing around. I was pretty strong right now, and I didn’t want to break them, but when I found the first regeneration potion I broke it.

The second one though, I managed to squeeze the plastic lid off without breaking it. “Hey, drink this,” I told him, delicately pressing it to his mouth. His mouth was kind of bleeding a little, and I think he might have lost a tooth from the bottle, but he swallowed the potion greedily anyway. I grinned at him and he looked back at me, not laughing as much, but still chuckling. I liked his laughing, it was way more fun than the screaming the Moses’ brother looking guy was doing before he came apart.

“Hey, I like Caelo and she is very pretty. Do you mind if I fuck her?” I asked him seriously. His stumps were starting to grow back little hands, so I figured he might say yes. It seemed like I did a nice thing. Then I remembered my bombs. Oh boy! I stood up without waiting for an answer and started throwing bombs at the people in the water. I walked towards the railing to get a better shot at a bunch of people that were stuck to a piece of the boat, and one of them broke in my hands. The fire was warm, but a little stinging as it sluiced down the side of the ship.

I didn’t worry much and used my now-unshod feet to put out the fire on the wooden bits, although they crackled a little. I looked down. Heh. Penis. The fire had kind of messed up my pretty clothes, but I was impressed. A bigger penis was better, and I had the best. I threw another bomb at the thing with the people stuck on it and was depressed when I remembered that this one was poison gas. No big explosion, just green stuff, and explosions were cooler than gas, although pretty soon the cockroaches stopped making noise, slid off the boat chunk, and a bunch of the idiots in the water stopped moving too.

I checked around the ship as I heard the skeleton guy say “Maybe in a little while. But you need a shower first.”

I grinned. A maybe was not a no, and showers felt good. I noticed another guy in the water on the other side of the ship and found a copper head...ooh, right, the guy whose head I pinched off. It was perfectly sized as a baseball, so I wound up and tossed it right over the plate, into the guy that was still moving. I noticed regretfully as my ball broke him into at least three pieces, but the miniature explosion was kind of nice, if not as cool as the bombs.

I carefully looked around the ship again, looking for more toys to play with, but I didn’t find any. I did find one of the Totem’s pieces though, and I wondered if it would be good to eat? I was really hungry… but something told me I needed to calm down and that the piece was not good to eat.

I trotted over to the skeleton guy, who was waving his hands in front of his face again, grinning. I noticed that Ninja girl was back, and sat down cross-legged on the wood as I looked at her. She had a really nice body, almost as nice as Callie’s, which made me remember Callie. I missed her, if she had been a redhead she would have been perfect.

I looked at the Ninja girl again. “You have a body as nice as Callie’s. I wanted to ask if you would like to fuck me, but I miss Callie more.”

I looked around and found the pieces of my bottle. No liquor left though, but I needed to calm down a little. I remembered the big green guy from those superhero movies, he got mad and got almost as big as me. I wasn’t mad, though. I wondered if I would get bigger if I got mad?

I saw the skeleton guy’s top hat. “That top hat is really cool. I wish I had a top hat.” I said to him, and he just grinned at me and said “I will get you a top hat. You would look good in a top hat.”

I nodded, I know I would look good in a top hat. And pants. I looked at ninja girl and then looked down at where my pants would be. Oh. Yeah, we couldn’t fuck even if I didn’t miss Callie, because I was too big. She’d start screaming and then I’d have to shut her up because my ears would hurt. “I am sorry.” I said to her, “I am too big to fuck you even if I didn’t miss Callie. You would break, and I like you, especially how quiet you were when you were making those guys shut up. That was totally awesome. I wish I could do that. I am Hyde. I am usually Louis, but right now I prefer Hyde.”

She nodded cautiously at me. “You are right. That would hurt me terribly.” She was wearing a mask, but she had a pretty voice and pretty hair, and her accent sounded like English wasn’t her first language. Japanese, maybe, I thought. “My name is Akiko, but right now I prefer Maximum.”

My thoughts were becoming more complicated, not as clear, but that was okay since I was able to think about how nice her voice was. “Do you speak Japanese?” I asked her. “Your voice is very pretty. Can you talk to me in Japanese?”

She nodded and started talking to me in Japanese. Her voice was very soothing, and I fell asleep, right there on the soft wood. The last thing I heard was, “Thank you, Maximum. I think he’s out of the danger zone now.” I remember wondering what danger zone before I fell asleep, dreaming of Callie’s face, which I had never seen fully uncovered but knew perfectly.