1 Week Later. Terra Geminus System. Location unknown

“How is his arm?” Dr. Norman asked the flight medic.

“It functions. We began therapy sessions on the flight. There’s a high degree of probability that his arm will be fully functional within five months.”

“Good work Doctor. Coordinate with the medical team onsite. Let’s try to speed that recovery time up by a month or two.”

“As you command sir.”

Dr. Norman sighed and reviewed Lisa’s report. He was already sure John was the key to his project. But convincing him was now out of the question. Now they needed to capture him somehow. But that was a problem for another time. The twins failed and failed badly. Punishment was in order, but Lex’s injury put those plans on hold.

“Sit down my girl. I must say I am disappointed,” Dr. Norman sighed.

“I tried the diplomatic approach, but that backfired. He took the implication that his friends and the other restaurant goers’ lives were in danger more seriously than I had presumed.”

“He is a very principled killer, more so than the rumors suggested. That error is on our intelligence team and me. After some of his operations, we had concluded that he uses lives as currency.”

“Father, how many telepaths have you seen radiate their telepathic power through an ethereal light?”

“Several, why?”

“Have you ever seen their eyes be seemingly replaced by that bright blue glow?”

“Once, long ago.”

“It was the first time I had seen that happen. Everyone just got up and left the restaurant and businesses around us. He compelled all of those people at the same time. His eyes never stopped radiating that blue glow throughout the fight. Then during the fight, he attacked both of us psychically.”

“That makes no sense, that shouldn’t be possible. The two of you have been trained to block attacks like that for nearly two decades.”

“Father, I’ve never felt pressure like that. He almost succeeded with me. He stripped away my defenses like it was nothing. If it weren’t for Lex lashing out at him randomly it would’ve succeeded,” Lisa looked genuinely terrified, “If he had that suit, we’d be dead now. We thought we had the upper hand, but we never did.”

Dr. Norman looked down at his terminal and pulled up a new project, “You won’t be going in unarmed next time. While we don’t have his suit, we have begun development on our own kind of psychic power armor. We should have the first prototypes ready to test by the time your brother is fully healed.”

“Father, I’m aware how important he is to you, but is it possible he’s too dangerous to attack?”

“No, we need him. But we’re going to hold on moving him for some time. For starters, your brother needs to be healthy once more, and those suits need to be working.”

“Oh, one last thing father. I don’t believe he’s telekinetic. But he’s a channeler somehow. I wasn’t aware that family shared their secrets with anyone.”

“That is at least one mystery solved by this debacle. And it explains his freakish strength, speed, and reaction times,” Dr. Norman sighed, “Go on, attend to your brother.”

Lisa got up as Dr. Norman swung his chair around to look outside. Everything had been miscalculated. Dr. Norman decided that going forward there’d be no more attempts to convert John. Now he needed to craft a plan that could capture him for their uses.

Wednesday. 05:30 Robertson Estate

Alice literally kicked John out of the bed. John did think it was funny, but it was also highly annoying. He shook his head and looked for a shirt to put then grabbed his shoes and headed out to the gazebo. A light jog later he arrived and started a yoga routine. When John was done, he began his psychic practice.

John replayed his second fight with the twins. He was disgusted with his fight. He didn’t use the gun when he should have. He didn’t press when he could have, attacked when he should have been defensive. It was an abject failure. They were still alive and would assuredly come back with a vengeance in the future.

John resolved then and there that the next time he saw the twins, he’d kill them. There’d be no hesitation, no half measures, no talking, he’d go right for the jugular. He got up and took a deep breath. There was a slight chill in the air. John decided now was as good as any time to go for a run.

He set off at a brisk pace around the estate. He finished running after a bit over two laps had been completed. John looked at his watch and it was just after 07:00. He headed into Alice’s house and headed up to the master bedroom. Alice was snoring loudly and had rolled onto John’s side of the bed. John laughed at the sight and headed into the bathroom to clean up.

“Why are you up already?” Alice said as John walked out of the bathroom.

“Because someone literally kicked me out of bed this morning at 05:30. Wonder who that would be?”

Alice started laughing, “I am sorry about that.”

“Are you though?” John smirked, “You annexed my spot since I left too.”

“Sorry?” Alice smiled, “Well, I’m going to clean up eventually. Are you coming shopping with Alexa, me, and another cousin of mine?”

“Where are you going?” John hollered into the bathroom.

“Downtown.”

John smiled, there were a few stores he could justify going to, “Yeah, I’m in.”

When Alice got out of the shower, she kissed John, “You want to buy a watch.”

John grinned as he showed her three credit chits, “Got some money burning a hole in my pocket.”

Alice just rolled her eyes as she walked into the closet, “I’m not going to help you if you get into legal trouble.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to, not for this stuff anyways.”

Alice rolled her eyes. She walked out of the closet and smiled. She grabbed John’s hand and the couple walked out of the room and out to the waiting car in front of her home. John decided to program the GPS, but he wanted to be in control and drive them downtown. Their first stop was to pick up Alexa. After that John drove to two more homes to pick up three more friends of the girls. John had a sinking feeling as he drove to the retail district in downtown Mobile that he was going to end up carrying a bunch of bags for the girls.

09:45 Retail District

“Y’all can complain as much as you want. I’m not hauling shit that you buy,” John shook his head and put down his foot proverbial, “Only one of you lot might be able to convince me to do that.”

“You are no fun,” Alexa laughed.

“But my arm is soooo sore,” Vanessa smirked.

“Good workout then,” John said.

Alice looked back at him and smirked, “I told you that you wouldn’t get him to do anything. Stubborn is his middle name.”

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“Speaking of which, my first stop of the day is right now,” John dashed into the Rolex Boutique.

John was admittedly looking to use some of his looted credits and turn them into physical assets that he could sell down the road. He was also justifying a couple of purchases this morning to wear at the wedding. If Alice could wear multiple dresses to the wedding, he could wear multiple watches to the wedding.

Despite the terrible logic, John browsed through what was available. Since it was a wedding John was looking at a dress watch. His normal preference for sports watches had to be set aside. That did limit his choices somewhat. The boutique, and frankly the brand in general, had far more sports watches than formal watches. There was at least one that had really caught his eye.

In front of John was a Platinum Rolex Day-Date, the band and case were solid platinum. The dial was made out of a sliced meteorite that was acid etched and just looked wicked to John. He didn’t like the diamond baguettes used for hour markers, but that was a minor quibble for how awesome the watch looked.

“Good morning. Would I be able to try on that Platinum Day-Date?” John asked the young lady working at that section of the store.

“Absolutely,” she slid the tray through an opening on her side of the display case and pulled that watch out, “Have you purchased from us before?”

“This specific store no, but I do have a lengthy history with Rolex,” John smiled as he took the watch from the saleswoman, “It’s going to need two extra links to it, but I love this. Getting married soon so I think this would look good on me.”

“Congratulations! Yes, it is a stunning piece. That dial is exceptionally rare in this model. I think that’s the first one we’ve had in two years.”

“Well then, I think I will have to purchase this.”

“Could I get your ID please?” she asked.

“Certainly,” John pulled out his wallet and handed over it to the saleswoman.

“Please give me a few minutes and I’ll be right back to you,” she excused herself and headed to the backroom.

John sat down in the chair and sent a message to Alice. She responded that they were down the street at another store. John responded that he’d swing by after he was done at the boutique.

“Thank you so much for waiting Mr. Lief. The final price will be one hundred sixty-eight thousand credits. We can take dollars too, but I’ve seen that your buy history typically uses credits for purchases.”

“Perfect. Here are a pair of one hundred thousand chits that you can use to run the purchase through.”

“Thank you. Give me a few minutes and I’ll get this purchase finalized.”

She walked to a terminal down the wall and finished the transaction. She handed John a receipt and then placed the watch, box, and papers in a bag. She wished him well at the wedding and to enjoy the watch. John smiled and walked out of the store.

He caught up with the girls and ended up carrying Alice’s two bags she walked out of the store with. The other girls continued to harass John about his refusal to carry their bags. John refused to budge from his position.

Eventually, the group decided to take a break and had lunch. The other girls peppered John with questions about their relationship. What did he think of having kids, future plans, and was he going to be a career man or serve his minimum term? And so many more questions. John answered the questions he wanted to and refused to answer a few as well.

Eventually, they finished all their shopping and headed home. When John got back to the mansion, he laid down on the big couch in the living room. He was not shopping with Alice’s friends ever again.

“I am tired and don’t want to move,” John whined.

“Thank you for coming with us today,” Alice leaned down and kissed John on the cheek, “I love you.”

“Mhmm, love you too,” John was drifting off to sleep.

Alice laughed and went upstairs to put away the stuff she bought. When she got out of her closet, she got a call from Theresa. That prompted Alice to contact all their friends and work out when they were going to fly in. They were quickly nearing the big day.

14:00 Robertson Estate-Main Pool

John was swimming laps in the Olympic-sized pool. John laughed internally that virtually everything he could want or want to do was available here. Alice and Alexa had jumped into the pool, but they were just relaxing in the shallow portion of the pool. John kept on swimming laps for another fifteen minutes. With his workout finished he swam over to the girls and broke through the surface.

Water poured off John’s muscular frame as he walked to the girls. John hadn’t lost any weight during the first two years of the academy. But he had completely transformed his body. Alexa whispered something to Alice who then blushed seven different shades of red.

“You know, just because I can’t hear what you said doesn’t mean that wasn’t sexual harassment,” John smirked.

“You can’t prove anything,” Alexa tried but failed to not laugh defending herself.

John shook his head, “So, what’s up?”

“Well besides getting tired watching you work out not much. Our friends are flying in on Friday,” Alice smiled.

“Have you told them about all of this,” John smirked as he waived his arms toward the estate.

“I did to the girls; did you tell the boys?” Alice shrugged as she looked at John.

“Nah. I kinda want to see them freak out.”

“You are a dick,” Alexa grinned.

John had an impish grin on his face, “No, I believe I am a troll in that regard. So, two weeks and a day before the wedding. Your really cool with them spending that much time around here?”

“Andern is the only one I’m moderately worried about,” Alice said with a bit of apprehension in her voice.

John laughed. “He’s got Kristin around; she’ll keep him grounded.”

“Yeah, about that, he’s fine when she’s around. But when he gets around you and the other boys, he becomes his old self.”

“No, I am not signing up to be his keeper. You are not throwing that responsibility on me,” John was firmly against that plan.

“Fine, you get to pick them up from the airport. Kevin, Theresa, Brian, and Thomas show up in the morning before 09:30. The rest are at 13:00.”

“Works for me. I don’t get to drive nearly as often as I’d want.”

“Yeah, so Alice was saying you wanted to drive an endurance car, right?” Alexa said.

“No. No, we’re not going there,” Alice sounded like she had something to hide.

“What could go wrong? Besides he’s obviously in shape and they will test him before that,” Alexa smiled, “Plus, consider it my present to your new husband.”

John just sat there with a blank face, “So, what is this present?”

“John, Alexa’s uncle runs the McLaren supercar endurance team for the American Endurance League.”

“Oh, I am all over fucking that. When?” John couldn’t get the words out concisely because he was so excited.

“I told you he gets like that when he’s way too hyped up for something,” Alice rolled her eyes.

“On Saturday y’all can come to the team headquarters where you can get in our sim. If you do well, they’ll get you in last year’s car and have a seat made.”

“Oh, so fucking cool. Where are we going to send it on the track?” John asked.

“Barber Motorsports Park. Probably take a private jet up to Montgomery,” Alexa smiled.

“Honey, ten bucks says my bag is the last thing pulled from a private jet too,” John took on a sullen appearance when he said that.

“Deal, there is no way that is happening.”

“Inside joke and I’m on the outside,” Alexa said smiling.

“It’s no joke,” John crossed his arms and looked angry.

“The man-baby I’m marrying somehow, despite paying or upgrading his tickets to first class never gets his bags quickly after the plane lands. They are always within the last four bags made available for pickup at baggage claims.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Right? It shouldn’t be fucking possible, but someone clearly has it out for me because it keeps fucking happening.”

“I’ve seen his outbound folder, there is no joking, at least three hundred emails in there complaining about it.”

“Those are valid fucking complaints,” John continued to pout.

Alice started to laugh, then swam over to John and hugged him, “At least you get to drive a race car big guy.”

“It is contingent on the simulator though. Obviously, if that doesn’t go well, we can’t let you out on the track for obvious reasons.”

John smiled and kissed Alice, “Yeah, replacing a car, fixing damage to the circuit, or fixing myself aren’t expenses anyone wants.”

The three stayed in the pool for a little while longer and talked. John got the baggage issue out of his short-term memory and was just happy to be free from classes. John looked up and smiled as he took in the sun.

“CANNONBALL!!!”

Marcus and Andrew, Alice’s two older brothers, jumped into the bool targeting Alexa and the couple. They succeeded in the immature prank.

“Hey, assholes!” Markie smiled.

“Hey cuz, miss us?” Andrew laughed as he splashed Alexa.

“Ugh, you guys are immature jackasses,” Alexa looked put out.

“Markie, take a look at John, he is fucking ripped,” Andrew had swum over to Alice and John and was squeezing John’s arm.

Marcus turned around and looked at John, “Good god. Dude, our kid sister got fucking toned too.”

“Hey, I heard you get whipped with an umbilical. Is that true?” Andrew asked.

John grinned as he stood up and turned around, “Yeah, wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Dude, killer scar!” Marcus was seriously impressed.

“Oh my god, your back looks…” Alexa stopped as she couldn’t find the appropriate words that didn’t come off as rude.

“Yeah, I can see a few fuckups and close calls,” Andrew laughed.

“More close calls than fuck-ups. There’s only one proper fuck up back there.”

Alice rolled her eyes, “And how was the whole umbilical not a fuck up?”

“Wait, an umbilical is that shroud thing that connects a ship to a station and prevents things from floating off right?” Alexa asked.

“Yup. Actually, answer sis’ question. How was that not a fuck-up?” Marcus asked.

“Mission was successful, everything went as planned. The station safety protocols prevented the umbilical from detaching despite the docking arms being retracted. Basically, the computer got wicked confused because things happened out of order,” John shrugged.

“Still sounds like a fuck up to me,” Marcus said.

“When’s Terry get here?” Alice asked.

“Last I heard Wednesday of next week. Oh hey, thanks for making us ushers,” Andrew said.

“Cool and no problem. Thanks for saying yes. I like how everyone on the groom’s side is military, so we didn’t have to splurge for tuxedos.”

“Well, except for those two, men in uniform do look attractive,” Alexa smiled as she pointed at her cousins.

“You mean those three,” Alice smirked.

“Well, he’s off limits but that doesn’t mean he can’t be attractive in one, besides I haven’t seen him in a dress uniform yet. I have seen those two idiots in them.”

The group got out of the pool eventually and kept on talking. Marcus could not get over how much more toned and muscular John was. He remembered him always being a fairly big guy, but he was never in the shape he was in now. Naturally, he wanted to know how he did it. John’s answer was simple, lots of stretching and lots of reps with a bunch of heavy plates on the bar.