Chapter 30:

“Holy shit…”

Will was not at his most eloquent. After launching Cierra at the boulder in an attempt to end the fight, he had expected a significant impact. He had NOT expected her to somehow shatter that boulder, then tumble for a few feet through the rubble before her momentum was spent.

Seeing her groaning on the ground, Will was somewhat confident the fight was over. Moving to her side, he did a quick visual inspection.

Their fight had been fairly brutal, as neither would hold back when training like this. That said, he was fairly certain this was the first time either of them had wound up with a compound fracture. Their bodies were just so resilient now, that that kind of damage wasn’t something that happened often.

Seeing that she was obviously aware and conscious, Will spoke up.

“How the hell did you shatter an entire boulder, and why can I see bone sticking out of your arm?”

“Well, it’s probably safe to assume the two are linked.”

The snarky, if hissed through gritted teeth, response let Will know she was alright, or would be, at least.

“Fair enough. What can I do to help?”

“Well, I really don’t want to have to wait for my body to slowly pull my bones back where they’re supposed to be. Be a pal, and pull things back into a mostly straight line? My regeneration will take care of it, as long as you don’t do anything too stupid. So, you shouldn’t make it worse.”

He had already suspected that would be the next step, so Will just moved into position without responding. Looking at it closely, it was pretty obvious what he would need to do, so he gingerly got a grip on her wrist and inner elbow.

Cierra bit down on her scream as Will pulled the joints apart just enough that the bones popped back into place. At least, as close to the proper place as Will’s admittedly lacking knowledge would allow.

He was actually surprised at how quickly and smoothly he had achieved his goal, while being careful not to pull too hard. Given the situation, he opted to leave questions about the extent of the brain enhancement offered by his nanites for later.

Groaning, Cierra informed Will she would be lying on the ground for a few minutes, and that it would be a fantastic idea for him to bring over something for her to drink.

With the exploding boulder surprise mostly set aside, Will was suddenly reminded of his own injuries while moving to fulfill her request. His left arm started throbbing, and the pain in his leg showed up in full force. He wasn't sure if he'd been limping a minute ago, but he definitely was now.

Grabbing the waters, Will returned to the rubble zone Cierra was still lying in and took a seat on one of the larger chunks of rock. After they both had taken a drink, Cierra spoke up.

“You’ve gotten a LOT stronger. Looks like it’s time to change the focus of our fights.”

“That makes sense. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, now that you can hold your own in a super strength brawl, we need to move on to more technical skills in a close up fight. Basically, you need to learn how to counter moves from people faster than you, without the option to make room between you and your opponent.”

“That’s what I was thinking. It also reminds me of something I wanted to ask you about.

Sil and Artie told me that, at our activation stage, we’re basically near the top of the power levels in this area. After the growth I've seen in both of us over the last month, though, I'm getting the feeling Operators span a pretty wide gap.

They also mentioned each level represented an exponential difference in relative strength. That would mean early, mid, and late stages also vary widely in power.

So, my question is, where do we stand, in terms of power, among whoever else is at our stage in the area?"

"Well, that's a little tricky to measure, and involves going deeper into how our powers work.

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Let's head back to your place and get cleaned up. By the time we're done with that we should both be finished healing. That way, we can dive into this without making my head hurt worse than it does now."

"Ha, sounds good. Pretty sure we both wound up with fractured arms after that last one. Granted, you broke mine, but that boulder did a much more thorough job on yours."

"Blaming inanimate objects? Worried I'm going to hold this against you?"

The smirk she briefly wore, told Will she was being playful, so his response was an easy one.

"I just don't want to take credit I haven't earned. I have to save that sort of thing for when my poor ego is on the line."

Cierra chuckled at that, and they both stood up, slowly, and got moving.

About an hour later, Will and Cierra had gotten cleaned up, and were relaxing in his garage.

"So, what do you have for me, teacher lady?"

"Right. Okay, so you've started to notice that Operators can be pretty radically different, in terms of power levels.

To start with, you should know that both of us fall into the early range of the stage. At our level, is where progress really slows down, and our ability to get stronger relies a lot more heavily on dedication to actual training.

Basically, we have to actively be breaking down our bodies, and allowing our regenerative abilities to build us back up. Actually, Sil and Artie might be able to help here…"

At that, Cierra trailed off because a familiar trio of insect sized drones flew into her line of sight with an earbud in tow.

"Good timing. You have your bud, Will?"

Will had already grabbed the case out of his pocket, so he told her he was good as he inserted the device into his ear.

Cierra picked the thread back up after seating her own bud.

"Okay, Sill and Artie, we're going over… Nevermind, you were apparently paying attention."

"Indeed," replied Sil. "Did you have something specific that we could help shed light on?"

"Yeah, so, I know active dedication to physical training is much more important now. What I don't know is why people still grow at different rates even when equally active. I also know some people never go past a certain level, and don't know why."

"Right. There is actually a simple explanation, but the exact mechanics behind that explanation are beyond my own current understanding.

Essentially, it boils down to luck. Different people have varying levels of genetic compatibility with the technology that enables your abilities.

Will, as we have discussed, you have extremely high compatibility with your nanites. Therefore, you will be able to empower yourself more quickly than any other human currently on record.

Cierra, from our readings it also seems that your growth is near the top of that particular metric. Would you be willing to allow Artie and I to map your genome? With a blood sample, we can potentially get closer to understanding what specific factor is enabling some humans to be more capable than others."

"Umm… I suppose so?"

Before either human realized what was happening, the trio of bug drones returned, landing on Cierra's arm.

"Thank you. Do not worry, this will be quite painless."

Within thirty seconds, the bugs finished their work like little robotic mosquitoes and took off for parts unknown to the humans.

"Well, that was easy," said Cierra. "Wait, how is Will's compatibility so high when he's from a new Line as far as anyone knows?"

"That… is something a bit complicated. Will, we have spoken briefly about investigating your situation…"

Sil trailed off to let Will respond, largely because he wanted to buy himself a moment to consider. He hadn't even started when Artie spoke to him through their private channel.

"We cannot keep this from him any longer. You know as well as I do that you made the right choice being honest from the start. Doing differently now would only hurt us moving forward."

"You're right, old friend. Thank you."

After their brief exchange, Sil tuned back in to hear Will's answer.

"Right, things have been pretty busy since then, though. I just assumed it was on a back burner. Did you find anything?"

"Yes. You're correct that I had honestly forgotten about it as we had algorithms handling the background investigative work through drones. I am aware this could be a sensitive topic, however.

I will tell you all I know, but will also leave it to you to decide who else can know."

Will realized that for most, this topic might be one that could dredge up some serious emotional baggage. He wasn't sure if it was just because of how his own brain was wired, or the fact that he'd had a perfectly decent family, but he just wasn't weighed down by this kind of thing.

On the bright side, it made his choice obvious. Based on her carefully NOT looking his way, Cierra would likely be pretty happy about that, as well.

"I don't mind. I'm not going to hide things from those closest to me."

"Very well. We don't have much in the way of details yet, but we have made a few important discoveries.

To put it bluntly, at some point in the past, one of your ancestors met someone from my world. They had a relationship, and a baby was the result. Though it shouldn't have been possible between different species.

Somehow, mutations occurred in the genetic code provided by both parents. Those mutations are what enabled a child to be born. They are also most likely the reason you have an affinity for electricity.

In a very real way, it could be said that you are a literal bridge between our peoples."

Will leaned back in his chair. He was absorbing what had been said, but he honestly didn't know WHAT to think. Did he care? Did it matter? What would it mean for him, moving forward? He couldn't really think of any objective reason it would matter. He was already realizing he wasn't as human as he had been, and was struggling to decide if that mattered. Eventually, his response was a simple one.

"Well. Huh."

"I'd give you shit for that reaction, but in this case… well, damn," was the response from Cierra.