Chapter 13:

It was early the next afternoon when Will woke up. He and his friends had been up until the sun was coming up, hanging out and relaxing. They all knew life was about to get interesting, so they had decided to make the most of one more night before the crazy really started.

Deciding there was no time like the present to start getting a handle on things, he climbed out of bed. After getting dressed, he grabbed his new set of earbuds, then went to the kitchen while putting one of the buds into his ear.

Once he had caffeine in hand and a cigarette lit, he was officially beginning to feel human, so he spoke to the open air. Apparently he was right that Artie would be waiting, as there was almost no delay before he got a response.

“Good afternoon, Will. I trust you are well?”

“Yeah, thanks Artie. Uh, quick question, where did you get the name Artie?”

He only realized after asking that he realized his attention span was at its normal stellar level before his favorite breakfast hit his system.

Will heard a sigh, and a chuckling Sil joined the conversation.

“That was me,” he said. “When we first came to this world he went by the designation ‘Computer.’ Given that word eventually became a generic term on this world, I decided he should have an actual name of his own, rather than simply a designation.

I had also just recently re-watched a fantastic trilogy of science fiction movies that featured two autonomous robots as beloved characters. So, I decided to somewhat bastardize the name of one of those characters, and use the result for his name. I found it highly amusing.”

“Okay, fair enough, and I’ve noticed Artie will go by either masculine or neutral pronouns? I’m not meaning to sound like a dick, or a social justice warrior for that matter, I just want to clarify so I can use whatever you prefer, Artie. I have this weird thing about just referring to people however they prefer, because I don’t give a shit about things that have zero effect on me.”

“Ah, yes. While I lack gender in the biological sense, most people have assumed I was male when they have heard the voice I most typically use. I truly could not care less which terms are used. Tone is what matters to me. As long as one is not intentionally trying to insult or belittle me, I am utterly ambivalent on their word choice.”

Before Will responded, Sil interjected, saying, “Inconsistency amuses me, so don’t be surprised if I change accents or lexicon at random. I’m hoping to find out if I can confuse people, once we begin forming more relationships. I feel like confusing people will be something I quite enjoy.”

Will considered for a moment, before saying, “Okay, so I have an intellectual who basically gives zero fucks about social niceties. I also have a budding troll who is literally an alien from another world, yet still enjoys science fiction from the 1970’s. We should get along fine.”

He was starting to feel genuine optimism, now that he was confident his new teachers weren’t going to be making him wish they had a face for him to punch. He figured he might as well get the last potential sticking point out of the way.

“Okay guys, I need to lay out one rule that is absolutely non negotiable, if we’re going to make this work. It’s simple, do not lie to me. If you can’t or don’t want to talk about or tell me something, say so and we can go from there.

I’m not naive, I know there will be things you don’t want to tell me yet. There will be things you don’t want to share with me. I don’t need to know everything all at once, and you are allowed to have your secrets.

However, for this to work, I need to be able to trust you and vice versa. Honesty is how we achieve that. Do we have a deal?”

Sil and Artie were both surprised at the bluntness of his approach, but didn’t need to further discuss the topic before Sil replied.

“We do, and in the spirit of that, we should inform you of a discovery. You are an anomaly. Your abilities are developing in a way we have never seen before, in either of our biological species.

Because of this, we will be keeping drones with sensors to monitor your condition near you whenever possible. They will remain in camouflage, so nobody will know they are there except you. I trust you can understand the benefit of this?”

“Yeah, after Artie’s reaction to my electrical affinity, I figured something was up. I also kind of assumed you’d be watching me, so that’s fine. Do you know why I’m so different, yet?”

Sil knew it was time to test the sincerity of Will’s statement already, so he plowed in.

“That is something we aren’t yet ready to discuss, and are still investigating. It’s largely irrelevant for the time being, so we think it best to focus on developing your abilities.”

“Okay, I can see the practicality in that. Do you know if the abnormal nature of those abilities will mess with you being able to teach me, though?”

“Based on all of our readings, you retain all of the basic abilities common to everyone at your level. Because of that, we have decided our first step will be to walk you through establishing the foundational techniques you will need to continue getting stronger.

Once you have those methods mastered to a satisfactory level, we can begin doing some basic experimentation to see what unique abilities you may have.

Also, I should mention we have initiated the communication that will have the Reno branch of The Activated planning a convenient approach to opening dialogue with you. We can expect someone to conveniently run into you sometime in the next two to three days.”

“Okay, sounds like that’s the basics handled. Let me finish caffeinating, and we can get started on the training.”

>->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->

About 30 minutes later, Will was standing in a clearing in the desert, not far from where he lived. The Cube was hovering nearby.

Once Will had told them he was ready to start, Artie had to satisfy his curiosity.

“Why did you want to come out here, Will? We don’t expect your initial instruction to cause anything dramatic.”

“Two reasons,” he replied. “For one, you’ve already told me I’m a new kind of crazy, by the standards of people with superpowers. I think being somewhere secluded is a good precaution to take.”

“And the other reason?”

“If I’m going to have a training montage, I wanted it to be somewhere that could give the right atmosphere.”

Sil barked out a laugh as Artie groaned audibly at the response.

“Dear god, there are two of them.”

Sil then commented, “You don’t even believe in god.”

“There being two of you clearly affirms that decision.”

Will chuckled and said, “Sense of humor is what gets me through, my friend. Now, what should I do first?”

As Artie consigned himself to the situation, Sil began to instruct.

“When you were pulling on your aetheric tap yesterday, what mental image were you using?”

“I pretty much just pictured the energy flow in the tap expanding to pour more energy into my system. So far, things have been pretty intuitive.”

“Indeed. The nanites that facilitate these abilities are designed to respond directly to thought, much the same way earth scientists have been able to establish basic brain computer interface technology for disabled people.

Now, what you need to do is expand the complexity of your mental image. Rather than just picturing the energy coming into you, imagine that flood of energy flowing directly through your aetheric tap, and into all of your extremities. This will serve as the foundation of infusing your body with energy, and will be the main means by which you steadily grow more powerful.”

“Ok, here I go.”

Almost instantly, Will felt the flood of energy massively accelerate and begin flowing into him. He realized now that adding a path to his mental image made a huge difference in how much energy he was absorbing.

Before long, arcs of electricity began to flow over his body. He was surprised to see they weren’t instantly vaporizing his clothing, but he did have to wonder if that would eventually change.

He then noticed that his senses were much sharper than they had ever been before, and the insects in the air didn’t seem to be buzzing around as quickly as normal.

Then the mark on his chest began to glow. This time it was much more clearly defined, and glowing brightly enough that he could see it through the thin shirt he was wearing. This seemed like a good time for a couple of questions.

He explained to his companions about his improved senses and perception, and Sil sounded a bit surprised when he replied.

“Those are properties associated with channeling large amounts of electricity into yourself. Normally, people cannot hold on to the exotic energy for more than a brief time, but your unique situation seems to have bypassed that limitation. Think fast!”

Suddenly, a drone became visible and shot towards Will at a truly terrifying speed. Luckily, Will’s reflexes were up to the challenge, and he managed to get out of the way before learning about the joy of forced chest compressions firsthand.

“I’m assuming there was a point to that?”

He might’ve been grumpy about his impromptu roll in the dirt, but he was distracted when he realized how far he had moved when leaping away. Considering, he realized he had also moved way faster than he ever would have believed possible.

“Yes, I measured your reaction time. You reacted far more quickly than any normal human. Additionally, you accelerated faster, traveled further, and demonstrated far more control than even an olympic athlete would have been capable. Oddly, even other Operators at your level would not have been able to match you.”

“Huh. Okay, I’m assuming that’s because of my electric personality?”

Sil snorted.

“Indeed, Artie, what are the readings through his aetheric tap?”

“He is able to pull on considerably more energy than an Operator should be able to. He will likely grow far more rapidly than normal. What I am uncertain of, is if the electricity flowing into him is finite. Even if he absorbed most of a lightning strike, that energy will run out eventually. I also have no way of knowing what the effects of his body permanently infusing electricity will be.”

“It is likely that only time will provide answers to those questions. Will, do you have any more questions before we continue?”

“Uh, yeah, what’s up with the mark on my chest? It's a lot more clearly defined now. Oh, and it's glowing, because I always wanted to be a nightlight.”

Ignoring the sarcasm, Sil answered the question.

“That is your personal crest. Everyone who becomes an Operator has theirs begin to glow. Though, admittedly, yours is brighter than most. They are all unique, but among families they tend to be very similar, or sometimes have a specific piece that is unique to their family line. I do not recognize yours, but it does appear that your line is from somewhere in the UK, or possibly Ireland.

I have to ask, do you know anything about your family history? You have not mentioned family since we met.”

“Oh. I probably should’ve thought about that, since you told us genetics was a part of this. I was adopted by a couple who couldn’t have kids when I was too young to remember. While they were alive, I never cared to ask or look. My parents were great, so it wasn’t until after they died that I got curious.

I could never find anything about the adoption, though. My birth certificate lists them as my parents, so I only even know about it because they told me. They also didn’t have any baby pictures, like at all, which was another sign they were telling the truth.

With the official records showing what they do, and not being able to find anything in their things, I stopped looking. I didn’t want to accidentally screw myself over by shining light on my questionable background. They take citizenship stuff pretty seriously here, and it didn’t seem worth the risk to keep looking for answers I didn’t really need.”

“Well, aren’t you a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a taco.”

“Ha! Points for the reference, but yeah, pretty much.”

“Well, we will have to table that for the time being. Now, we need you to test your physical strength. For this, we will use The Cube as an impromptu weight set.”

The Cube then moved down in front of Will, and a handle formed out of the side facing him, just below his knees.

“Try to lift this bar above your head.”

Will did so, and noticed as he pulled up, the downward force on the bar was increasing to match the strength he was pulling with. Getting the point, Will focused on putting effort into the lift.

“Sharpen your mental image to focus on moving more of your energy input into your calves, thighs, back, and arms, but make sure your whole body is still being infused. You will not cause yourself lasting harm, no matter how hard you lift.”

Will followed instructions, and noticed he immediately was using greater force. Just as he was feeling like he was doing as much as he could, he felt an odd sensation suddenly jolt into the same muscle groups Sil had told him to focus more on.

The force he was applying must have explosively increased, because he was able to get The Cube to lift before it could compensate. Once he was upright, he immediately felt the burst of electrical energy dissipate into his body, along with the flow of aetheric energy normalizing.

“Uhhhh,” was the stunningly intelligent response that escaped Will’s lips.

Sounding equally surprised, though slightly more intelligent, Sil said, “Indeed.”

Artie came to their rescue.

“It seems the infusion of electrical energy in your system allows you instinctive access to the benefit of channeling massive amounts of electricity through your body. After you stopped lifting, the electricity simply normalized in your system. For a normal Operator, that current would have discharged to the nearest ground. It seems our relocation, and using the Cube rather than actual weights, has proven wise foresight.”

“Yeah… I think throwing my desk through the roof of our house might have been hard to explain. Anyway, I don’t think that burst at the end was something I could’ve maintained for any length of time. I’m not really sure how to describe it, but it feels like something that only works in short bursts.”

“That does fall in line with the effect of normal electrical channeling. Quite impressive nonetheless.”

“How strong am I now?”

Sil took the conversation back up from Artie at that point.

“You were just over six hundred and fifty pounds prior to your… explosive finish. I don’t have a reading for the burst, but that isn’t really important right now.”

“Damn…”

“It is quite impressive for a new Operator. Now, next I need you to hold your arm out, palm up.”

He did so, and Will felt a twinge from his senses, but had no clue what it was, when suddenly he felt a sudden spike of pain in his forearm. He jolted back, and looked at his arm. There was an angry welt on his arm, and it was already bruising spectacularly.

He was shocked when he realized it also seemed to be healing at a rapid rate. It then clicked what the current test was. He groaned.

“I take it, now, is when the stabby part of my day starts?”

“Got it in one shot!”

The cheerful and mildly smug tone Sil replied with made Will suddenly exasperated, as he realized they were likely going to be good friends soon.

“There must be something wrong with me. All of my friends are sarcastic assholes who like puns.”

That came out in a muttered tone, and Sil asked him to repeat himself.

“You’re hilarious,” came Will’s response. “Alright, let’s get this over with. I don’t want to deal with anticipation. Take all the shots you need quickly. I’ll just focus on holding my grip on my new friend here.”

With that, Will grabbed the bar he had used to test his strength, and focused on just holding his grip. He was surprised he was able to split his focus so easily between maintaining his energy absorption and focusing on other things, but didn’t think it was worth mentioning.

Before the anticipation could grow, he felt a rapid series of sharp and painful punches to the same spot on his forearm. The last shot actually punctured an inch or so into the flesh, and he could feel the invisible drone Sil had used to do the test retract from the wound.

After a few moments of yelling a plethora of curses in various creative and anatomically improbable descriptions, Will calmed down and checked his arm.

He realized the little drone had hit him right between the two main bones in his forearm, and as far as he could tell, missed anything important. At least, as long as he didn’t plan to actually DO anything with that hand or arm for a while.

Even as that sarcastic thought entered his mind, he noticed the pain had mostly disappeared already, and the bleeding had stopped.

He then picked up his bottle of water, and poured a bit on the wound to rinse it out. After doing that, he realized that not only had the bleeding stopped, but he could see new tissue forming to bind the wound together.

He was still lost in thought when Sil began to speak again.

“Your physical toughness is rapidly improving. Also, you are healing faster than any Operator, of a comparable level, I can remember seeing wounded. The last hit roughly simulated being shot by a nine millimeter handgun.”

“Holy shit.”

“Indeed. Blades and bullets impact in significantly different ways, but you can be certain you are far more resistant to damage than you were before.”

“Well, that sucked, but it does make me slightly more confident I won’t die horribly trying to look into this issue of yours with The Activated in Reno.”

“Consider it a benefit. Now, we have one more thing to teach you for today.

You have heard us mention channeling in regards to the use of electricity. Basically, your body now has the ability to generate an electromagnetic field that is capable of capturing energy from available sources. This field is called, with impressive originality, the Capture Field, and encompasses your entire body.

There is a spectrum of energy types that one can learn to interact with, such as heat, but it would be best to focus on electricity for the moment, given your natural proclivities. It should, however, be very intuitive once you come into contact with an available source.

Additionally, I highly advise you limit yourself to closed sources for the time being. Basically, stick with draining batteries and capacitors, rather than electrical lines connected to a power grid. I procured a truck battery to fulfill our purposes for today.”

Two drones then appeared near Will. They were larger than any of the other drones he had seen being controlled by Sil or Artie, and they were somehow suspending a large truck battery between them. Moving in front of him, they settled their cargo a few feet away from Will.

After a few moments, Will Realized he would not be getting further instruction at this time. He assumed they were trying to illustrate the intuitive nature of what he could do in another aspect of his abilities. With that in mind, he made a guess and placed his hands on the battery poles.

It was easy, like Sil said. He could instantly feel the potential of the battery, so he focused on the instructions he had been given and began pulling on the energy in it. It wasn’t long before the battery was dry, and he could feel electricity humming in his entire body.

He was about to say he’d finished, when suddenly he felt all of the new electricity pull in towards his chest. It rapidly focused on where he felt his aetheric tap, and he realized it was flowing in reverse through that link. Before he could say anything, the new energy was gone and the normal active flow was back.

Artie was the one to comment first.

“Well, that was unexpected. It seems your ability to dump excess electricity into the aether is an autonomic response. That could prove extremely useful. From these readings, it seems to function similarly to a heat sink on a circuit board. ”

“Okaaay,” came Will’s dragged out response, “I’m just going to lump that in with being an extra special weirdo, and move on. My brain hurts.”

“Agreed,” said Sil, “That leaves us with one more topic for the day. You will need to be able to effectively defend yourself.”

“Right. I’ve only ever been in fist fights, and I don’t think that counts for much. How do you want to do this?”

“Artie and I looked into the background of the woman being sent to meet you. We believe she will make a more than sufficient instructor for our needs. We also suggested your new desire to learn self defense techniques as the best thing to exploit when engineering the meeting, so you can expect her to be ready to provide a spot of instruction.”

“That… could be either really fun, or really painful. Probably painful.” Will mused aloud.

“It will probably be on par with something an amateur writer would dream up. You’ll likely just have to go along with it at first, but I’m confident that you won’t find it to be a hardship.”

That made Will chuckle, and they decided they were done for the day. He would have to continue working on his foundation, but the next step would be to meet with his mysterious welcoming committee.