CHAPTER 23

  "So close, no matter how far

  Couldn't be much more from the heart

  Forever trusting who we are

  And nothing else matters."

  -Metallica

  ...

  Carl sat in a chair, flexing his hand to make his vein more visible. Behind him Andy was pacing while Matt filled a syringe with a dark purple liquid.

  "You ready?"

  Carl nodded and Matt stuck the needle in his vein.

  "Ooh...its cold, kind of electric feeling...URGH!"

  Carls face turned red as every muscle in his body seemed to flex. He clenched his hands and the armrests broke and fell to the floor in pieces. He was gritting his teeth, and looked like his body was about to explode outward when he finally exhaled, his body going slack.

  "Holy shit...not gonna lie, that was rough for a second, but I feel great now. Sorry about the chair."

  "Eh, just a chair. Andy, you ready?"

  He looked at Matt, then Carl, then at the floor. He walked over slowly and sat in the chair with the mangled armrests that Carl had just vacated.

  "Lets do this."

  Matt filled another syringe, this one from a vial of dark purple serum labeled "Andy".

  "Flex your hand a few times."

  Andy did as he was told until Matt could locate a vein.

  Andy squeezed his eyes closed and Matt stuck the needle in his arm.

  Just like Carl, every muscle hardened and he looked like he was about to pop. Andy's face turned much redder than Carls. Carl grabbed Andy's fist.

  "C'mon Andy, just hang in there."

  Andy managed a nod.

  Matt looked concerned.

  "He needs to breathe. Andy, buddy..."

  Andy held up a hand and Matt clammed up. Andy groaned as he exhaled and his body slowly went slack.

  "Holy...I feel amazing!"

  "Yeah, thats part of it. It regenerates your body when it rewrites your DNA. Almost like its rebuilding you."

  Carl clapped him on the shoulder.

  "We need to get you outside to figure out your power."

  Andy nodded and they headed out of the lab. Matt was left disposing of the syringes. He mumbled,

  "You're welcome."

  "I dont know...I dont feel anything."

  "Hmm. From some of the other supes I knew, they all said it felt like a muscle they'd never flexed before."

  Andy was flexing different parts of his body but nothing was happening.

  "Nothing? Maybe its flight."

  Andy jumped and tried to concentrate, nothing. Carl was scratching his chin.

  "You carry a pocket knife? I traded mine for a translator in one of the rifts."

  Andy popped a knife out of his back pocket and handed it to Carl.

  "You'll have to trust me here...hold out your hand."

  Andy did, Carl cut his palm, Andy didnt flinch. Carl moved closer and watched, sure enough, his skin closed up.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "Accelerated healing. Shit...you got one of the best ones!"

  "So I heal really fast?"

  "Brother, you basically just became immortal."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah. This may not be your only power either. The first power always manifests almost immediately, the second one can happen as soon as a week or take as long as a month or two. Its weird."

  "More than one?!"

  "Not always. I never got a secondary power, and on the flipside, some people can get three. In really rare cases four."

  "Jesus."

  "You'll be alright. Literally. You'll never have to worry about sickness or disease anymore, never get cancer, you'll age way slower. Like you may eventually get old enough to die, but you'll outlive everyone you know. Its a gift, but for some it can be a curse. The nanobots in my blood have kept me healthy and alive for centuries now. Its not easy for the first two or three hundred years. Cultures change and people keep dying around you, it can be...difficult. Just keep that in mind."

  Andy didnt say anything, he was still looking at the little puddle of blood in his hand.

  "I said I would destroy the anti-serum after we got the injections, but if you want, I can give it to you. Just in case you decide near immortality is too much. Maybe don't tell Royles though."

  Andy didnt say anything, but he nodded at Carl.

  "Ok. Just promise me, you keep it under lock and key. If the day comes you know you'll never use it, destroy it."

  Andy wiped the blood off his hand onto his jeans, then stuck his hand out. Carl shook it.

  "I promise."

  Carl pulled the vial from his pocket, took a final look at it and sighed. This could be a mistake, this could destroy the peace of this world. This could lead to millions of deaths.

  He looked Andy in the eye and handed it to him.

  He trusted Andy.

  He was doing the right thing.

  Right?

  Andy had gone back inside, Carl told him he needed a minute. He'd held the pocket knife and vial very lightly, the serum had increased his strength.

  He could feel it.

  He had to be careful though, the first time, when he'd gotten superstrength, there was about a week with a lot of crushed doorknobs and other mishaps. Thats ok, he had learned to control it, but this...

  He walked to the edge of the parking lot, there were some small rocks. He picked one up and squeezed. It was crushed to dust. He looked out at the empty field behind the facility and smiled.

  He started walking until he was a good distance from the road and the facility. This shouldn't affect anyone out here.

  "Is this a bad idea Nano?"

  A voice came from the silver bracelet he still wore.

  "What is your idea Carl?"

  "I wanna see just how much stronger I've become."

  "How do you plan to do that?"

  "I was going to punch the ground."

  "I do not recommend that Carl."

  Carl looked around, he was far enough away but...Nano was right. He had to stop being reckless. The last time he had followed his impulses, it almost got him killed with a zombie virus.

  "You're right. Thanks Nano, I dont know what I was thinking."

  "You're welcome Carl. Its not a bad idea, just the wrong place."

  "Yeah, you're right."

  He started walking towards the facility.

  "When we get back to the rifts, maybe I can test it out on an uninhabited world."

  "That is a much better idea Carl."

  "Yeah. Thanks buddy. You're still the voice of reason I need sometimes."

  Carl walked back to his apartment, he gently turned the knob, he ended up denting it anyways.

  Shit.

  That serum Matt had mixed up had him juiced to the max, this was going to be a much more difficult learning period than the first time.

  He entered and walked to his fridge, he had some bottled water, he carefully picked one up. Okay, not so bad, he could do this. He tried to twist the top off and yanked it off the threads by accident. He took a swig of water, sat on his couch and began practicing with the top. He had left his door open and he heard footsteps approaching. He turned to look, Matt stood in his doorway.

  "Hey, I just talked to Andy. Thought I'd check up on you. Still feeling good?"

  "Yeah, I didnt get to thank you. We were both kind of excited to see what Andy was gonna get...so, thanks."

  "Oh. Yeah, of course, I'm just glad the two of you aren't hobbling around and whining anymore."

  He had a big grin on his face as Carl laughed.

  "Hey! I resemble that remark."

  Matt snorted at that.

  "Alright, I'm gonna get back to the lab. I've almost got a new, stronger reciever built for the frequency finder."

  "Nice."

  "Later."

  He disappeared into the hallway and Carl went back to screwing the lid on and off his water bottle without crushing it.

  When he felt like he'd gained the necessary control, he got up and paced his apartment. Things had been bothering him lately. Not just the incident that had almost killed him, but more personal things. His attraction to Penny was growing, he could feel her orbiting the same thing when they were together. It had been, altogether, over three years now. Was that enough to allow himself to move on?

  He was lonely.

  Very, very lonely.

  He and Steve hung out a lot. Steve was great, but he wasnt going to be putting his arm around Steve anytime soon.

  How did he do this though?

  Was there going to be the ghost of Chloe between them every time they tried to get close?

  Chloe. He missed her so much.

  Its been a long time.

  Shes probably moved on. I should too. Especially if I'm going to continue living here.

  It still felt wrong though.

  Why?

  He would certainly understand if shes moved on, would she?

  Thats what was holding him back, that one question.

  If he held back and waited forever, he'd just be miserable forever. He stopped pacing and walked to the bathroom.

  He stared into the mirror.

  Make a fucking decision man.

  Grow a pair.

  He laughed at himself. Ok.

  Penny was at her desk, she was typing in names and cross referencing victims home addresses to see if their car thefts showed a pattern. She had a xeroxed copy of the area map, and she was making red dots for each address when Carl dragged a chair over and sat down.

  "Anything I can help with?"

  "Not right now, I'm going to go question some victims in about a half hour if you wanna tag along though."

  "I would. When youre done, can I take you to lunch? There's some things I'd like to talk to you about."

  "Uhh...well, Royles is on my ass about this case. How about we pick something up and bring it back, so I can go over the witness testimony while we eat?"

  "That works too. I'll go check on Andy for now I guess. Yell at me when you're about to leave."

  "I will, oh, what happened with Andy?"

  "He got accelerated healing...because of course he did. Its like the best power!"

  Penny just nodded and said "Uh-huh."

  Carl smiled, she was waist deep in her work. He got up and let her get back to it.

  Carl sat next to Penny on the couch as they listened to a woman named Rochelle Williams talk.

  "...and is there anything you can remember that seemed out of place? Like a car parked on the street that didnt belong?, or someone unfamiliar walking by that day?"

  "No, nothing like that."

  Penny stood and Carl followed suit.

  "Thank you for your time ma'am. If we find out anything about your vehicle, we'll let you know."

  She pulled a card from her pocket and handed it to the woman.

  "If you remember anything else, give me a call."

  They left and returned to Penny's vehicle.

  "That was the sixth person and theres still not a lot to go on."

  Penny sighed.

  "Yeah."

  Carl was staring out the window at the cars parked along the street.

  "Have you cross referenced the make and model? Maybe they're targeting a specific type of car."

  Penny looked at him, he could see her mind working.

  "Maybe...It's worth looking into."

  Carl was still trying to think of every angle.

  "What about...on my world, a lot of vehicles are "lojacked", or have a tracker of sorts. Are any of the vehicles work vehicles? Maybe they're trackable?"

  "Most civilian vehicles aren't going to have...wait a second."

  She reached in the back seat and grabbed her leather work bag. She flipped through the files until she found the one she wanted.

  "Brett Bunting, his vehicle was work issued, he works for a utilities company. You might be on to something here."

  She pulled her phone out, and dialed Mr. Buntings boss.

  "Hi, is Mr. Stallings available?"

  She waited a moment.

  "Mr. Stallings? Yes, hi, my names Penny Hill. I work for the protectorate, department seven. I'm calling in reference to a car theft..."

  Carl watched as she waited, she was chewing on her bottom lip, she was cute when she was working.

  "Yes, uh, Brett Bunting. Yes. Well, I was calling to find out if you had vehicle trackers installed on your..."

  She waited as the man spoke.

  "Thats great! Can we stop by and look at the system? Yes sir....Yes, excellent. We'll head there now. Thank you. Ok, you too, bye."

  She hung up the phone and looked at Carl with a big grin.

  "You might have just given me the next break in the case! I can't believe I overlooked that."

  "Happy to help."

  "I know I've already said it, but Carl, its really good to have you back."

  "Oh, trust me, its good to be back! Now lets go chase this clue."

  She started the car and they were off.

  He had wanted to ask her to dinner but decided that could wait. He didn't want to get in the way of her work. He wasn't even sure it was a good idea. Could they date and work together? Could she look past his other life?

  Could he?

  He sighed as he watched the world go by out the car window. He could handle alternate dimensions and zombie outbreaks, but trying to traverse the tricky minefield that is relationships?

  It still scared the shit out of him.