Jack studied the arm, admiring his handiwork, while noticing the differences. He moved it around, and could feel the difference in fine motor movements that had been lacking previously, and noticed he could even sense when he touched things. It wasn’t like feeling something, more like his brain was notified when something came in contact with it, and to be honest, it felt a little unnatural, though it did allow him to measure how much strength he used when performing various tasks.

“I wonder...”

Jack held his index finger out on his right hand, pointing away from him, and created a magic thread. It came out with significantly less concentration than in the past, and grew many times longer than last time, stretching over six feet long, and dangling to the floor, cutting into his floor, and setting his carpet on fire.

“Shit!”

Jack stomped out the fire quickly, which was, thankfully, no bigger than the size of a lighter. After confirming what would happen normally with his magic, he held up his left hand, the mixture of magic and machine that was the first of it’s kind.

(This may not be a very good idea, Jack.)

Ellis stated her thoughts, knowing it would not hinder his curiosity, and resigned herself as she prepared to watch. Jack smiled for a moment.

‘Bad ideas make the best stories.’

(Or the worst deaths...)

Jack ignored Ellis’s retort, and continued with the experiment, focusing on the magic in the mechanical arm to a single point on his finger, and pushing it out, creating a long, thin thread. This one was different than the other one though, instead of just being a light-pink thread that looked normal to the naked eye, this one had sparks around it that crackled and buzzed along the length of the string. Jack waved it around slightly, and the sparks left a trail of where the thread travelled, which just made him want to move it more.

(It seems when your magic accepted this new arm, it also accepted whatever was powering it. This is a successful mixture of science and magic. I can think of many gods that would be very interested in this!)

Ellis wondered at Jack’s newfound power, but Jack himself didn’t seem to hear, he was too busy trying to think of somewhere he could test his limits without damaging anything important or getting noticed.

(I know what you’re thinking, and I just happen to sense quite a few furies not far from here. You can test your abilities, and if there are this many in one place, it is likely somewhere remote where you won’t be discovered.)

‘You aren’t worried?’

Jack was surprised Ellis would suggest something like fighting, but then looked at the electrical thread in front of him, and figured it likely wasn’t dangerous anymore.

(Of course I’m worried, but with your luck, we may run into an ogre or something if I don’t suggest something safer.)

Jack chucked, and rolled his sleeve back down, and headed for the door.

“Ah, I should probably leave a message or something.”

Jack thought about Jenny and Val who were gone getting clothes, and turned back, before writing a note telling them he would be back soon and not to worry about him, then left the apartment quickly.

(It should be northeast from here, about six or seven miles away. Turned to look toward the northeast, after checking his phone’s compass, and saw a forest leading to a couple of mountains in the distance. They were much further than six or seven miles, but Jack was curious if there was something there that was causing furies to gather. Jack shrugged and began running in the designated direction, quickly noticing how fast he could move, going a good fifty miles per hour.

‘Shouldn’t I be moving faster? If a normal person’s maximum speed is twenty-eight miles per hour, shouldn’t I run about seven hundred miles per hour?’

(No, there are other factors to consider, while your muscles and physical speed have greatly increased, but so have the forces against you when you exert that power. However, you can go up to a hundred miles an hour if you push yourself, but if you go much faster, Bernoulli”s equation suggests you would likely lose contact with the ground, and likely be injured or die in the fall, despite your newfound strength. However, while the possibilities are limited with fast-paced traveling, technique improves strength proportionally, with a slight decrease of course, so instead of being able to lift an extra ten or twenty pounds by using the correct technique, you would be able to lift an extra two-hundred and twenty-five, to four hundred!)

Apparently Ellis had been spending time in his memories of physics class, though there were some holes in her logic, she did bring up a valid argument. Jack felt a little bad, because those holes were likely from him sleeping through class. Jack accepted the information, and continued toward his goal.

Not long after that, they arrived at a small clearing in the woods where a large group of furies were huddled together, feeding on some monster they had killed not long ago. They didn’t notice him approach at first, but a couple of them lifted there heads as they sensed the magical aura he gave off. Jack sensed a lot of them in the woods all around him, and guessed that there were about fifty including the ones in front of him. Most of the faster ones were already exposed, feeding on the carcass first before the weaker ones. Jack created a long thin thread on the tips of both of his index fingers, and began to approach them, preparing for a fight.

(While you should be fine, just be aware that there are four of the ones Val called upper-class furies.)

Jack acknowledged Ellis’s advice with a light grunt and a nod, continuing towards the furies who were now fully aware of his presence, and started to warily circle around him.

Jack stood still, making sure he kept track of all the furies around him as the attack began. The faster, mid-class furies attacked first, charging at him from multiple directions attacking with what should have been a terrifying speed. Jack watched as the creatures ran at him in slow motion, and he just waited patiently for them to come into range. The first one to come into range was a middle-aged man with an unruly beard that looked like he had been hit in the face with a bucket of red paint, and Jack flicked his wrist. The fury died before it had even realized Jack had moved, cut in half by a thin, red string.

Jack repeated the process several times before growing bored, and lunged into the middle of the horde. Now that he was up close, the furies all swung at him wildly, trying to fend him off as he jumped, twisting in the air while flipping backward and letting his fingers swing around him, cutting the mass of furies into assorted pieces. Jack landed, all the furies around him fell apart and landed on the ground with a series of unpleasant noises.

A guttural chuckle sounded from behind him, and was soon joined by several others. Four to be exact. Jack turned to face the creatures approaching him, watching their green eyes igniting with a burning passion to feed as their eyes followed his movements.

“Impressive, but I’ve seen better.’

The voice that came from the one that was clearly the leader sounded inhuman, almost as if coming from an animal who’s owner had taught it to “talk”. It looked like a young man, in his mid twenties wearing a red polo shirt, and khaki pants.

‘This guy even dresses like a prick.’

Jack thought to himself. It seemed more animal-like than the other upper class fury he fought earlier, and didn’t give off an intimidating aura like the other one, though it wore the same cocky smile.

(These furies, while still upper-class, are much weaker than the one you beat earlier, so this should be easy! Kick their asses!)

Ellis shouted encouragement in his mind, which caused Jack to grimace slightly.

“So you realized our power. Despite all that magic in your veins, you can’t do anything to save yourself!”

Laughter ensued, roaring as the conceited furies declared their victory before the fight even began. Jack stared, feeling the embarrassment for them since they weren’t intelligent enough to feel it themselves. Jack dispelled the threads, and cracked his right knuckles with his left hand.

“I’m already bored.”

The furies laughter stopped as Jack disappeared from their sight, and reappeared directly in front of them. The leader slashed his claws up from their previous resting positions at his sides, but only cut the air. Jack appeared behind the leader, and grabbed it by the collar of it’s shirt, twisting around, and flinging it with incredible speed directly at a nearby tree. The tree shook and cracked when the fury hit it, and gore covered it’s trunk as the fury turned into pudding which sprayed on the nearby ground and trees with a splattering and crunching noise.

The other furies froze, and Jack took full advantage of their hesitance, punching a hole through the one to his left with his robotic arm, and, recreating the thread with his right finger, decapitating the two to his right. The whole affair was over in two seconds.

Jack pulled his hand out of the fury to his left, and let the thread to his right dissipate.

“Its no good, the difference in power is just too big.”

Jack was disappointed, he had gotten himself worked up when he heard there were four upper class furies, but they weren’t much better than the others.

(Yeah, furies are just weak. They usually come in after wars to clean up.)

‘They don’t even fight...’

Jack was remembering how terrifying the other fury was while he was weaker, and felt a little embarrassed. The furies that were hiding in the woods began to scatter, however there was one that began to approach so he turned to face it.

“Pitiful, aren’t they?”

The voice came from the figure that just appeared out of the woods. It was a man in his early thirties, wearing a black suit, and tie, not something someone would normally wear in the woods. However, Jack hesitated before attacking, his eyes weren’t glowing, and he didn’t have any claws. Jack didn’t drop his guard, but he didn’t want to attack until he was sure it was a monster.

“The furies, I mean.”

The man stopped about twenty yards from Jack, and took his hands out of his pockets, a cigarette in one hand, and a golden lighter in the other. He placed the cigarette in his mouth, and lit it while Jack stood there awkwardly.

(He isn’t giving off any magical signal, so he’s probably human.)

Jack relaxed his guard subconsciously upon hearing that, deciding to listen to what the man had to say. After the man puffed on his cigarette a few times, savoring it with a deep breath before slowly releasing a cloud of smoke into the air.

“I tried those vapor things, but they just aren’t the same... it’s like the difference between sex and masturbation.”

“What do you want?”

Jack was growing impatient, wanting to get home before Jenny and Val started to worry. The man chuckled at his words, and nodded.

“Fair enough. My name is Timothy Grant. You don’t have to worry about introducing yourself, Jack, I already know who you are.”

The man waved at Jack as if dissuading him from interrupting his sentence, however Jack had no intention of introducing himself, and his suspicions raised slightly upon hearing his name.

“I am an... associate of your friend. Val, I think you call her. Anyway, I just came to check up on her, since she hasn’t been responding to my calls as of late.”

Timothy Grant talked as if he was dropping by to see an old friend, though his posture was that of a boss checking on a lazy employee.

“You’re a friend of Val?”

Jack’s guard was now up, there was something wrong about this guy, he was acting too comfortable for someone who wasn’t in control, and he didn’t seem someone who couldn’t read a situation.

“You’re a little slow, aren’t ya, kid.”

The man took something out of his pockets, and put it in his ears, then continued.

“Less of a friend, more like a boss.”

The man removed a small electronic device from his pocket, then tapped on the screen. Jack felt his entire body tense, then go limp, collapsing on the ground like a rag doll. Jack’ ears filled with a quiet, but still deafeningly high pitched ringing. The man began to approach Jack, walking slowly, and confidently without a care in the world, fully aware of how in control he was.

“And as a boss, I sometimes need to play the bad guy to keep the employees obedient.”

He tossed the device in his hand on the ground next to Jack as he came closer.

“Its amazing how the human body works. That little device is emitting a high frequency noise, over twenty kilohertz, and completely paralyses you. I though I might have to go a little overboard when I saw your power, but then figured your heightened sense of hearing would more than make up the difference. However, you will probably recover instantly after it gets turned off, life really isn’t fair is it.”

The man crouched down next to Jack, getting close enough for him to smell the man's smoke-tainted breath.

“Okay, buddy, here’s how this is going to work. I’m going to leave you here, and go get my “employee”, and you can do one of three things: one, you can sit here and wait for your little friends to come and visit.”

The man gestured to the furies that were in the woods, slowly approaching when they saw Jack on the ground.

“Two, you can escape somehow, and continue your life pretending none of this ever happened.”

The man held up three fingers in front of Jack’s face, with a condescending look on his face.

“Or three, the most likely option from what I’ve seen, you can escape, and come after me, then die right before her eyes.”

Jack stared at him with burning hatred in his eyes, unable to move while a pink color filled his irises.

“Yes, yes, I can see you’ve already made your decision, but it won’t turn out how you think. I know about your ability to ‘upgrade’ yourself, I also know your fighting style, your little magic whips, your left arm, and many other things.”

He placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder and rubbed it as if to comfort him.

“Knowledge is power, Jack. I see every movement you make through phones, cameras, satellites, you name it. You can’t escape, or surprise me. You can’t beat me because I already beat you the moment I laid eyes on you.”

He stood up, leaving the enraged Jack, and the small noise machine on the ground.

“I love to talk, Jack, that’s one thing you should know about me. You get me going, and I’ll talk your ear off.”

The man chuckled as he stepped over Jack and continued into the woods.

“I’m sure we will be seeing each other again soon, I look forward to it.”