There was something to be said about being in your own bed. As soon as the pair had gotten me home, I had all but passed out. Ignoring the fact that this had only become my bed recently due to my proximity to Roxy, this was the most comfortable place I had known in the last five years.
That closeness to her was never more clear than when I opened my eyes and she was wrapped around me, already awake. We had both needed the rest, and she looked better for it. As if the prior days were just a bad dream that had washed away from our subconsciousness - if only we were so lucky.
She pressed her face up against mine. “How are you feeling?”
[Like I could sleep for weeks. Especially with you here.]
“I’ve never felt so clingy until we were separated like that. What do you… I mean, we’ve only been together a few weeks, but we’re going steady… right?”
I raised an eyebrow at her, briefly distracted by the fire flickering in the back of her eyes.
[You act as though I have the first idea about relationships. Did you forget that you found me in a murder shack, wrapped in stinking rags, with only death on my mind?]
“Yeah, and I fell for that. So that probably says a lot about me more than you.” She sighed and gave me a kiss on the re-breather. “You’ve scrubbed up pretty well, though.”
[A little cleaner, perhaps. Slowly getting replaced with more metal parts. Do I need to get some covers for my legs as well?]
“Hmm, no. I’m actually growing to like the cool feeling of the metal cybernetics. Probably because I’m like a natural furnace these days.” Her hand came around the side of my head to run through my hair. “Not sure what I can do for you. Clara just said sleeping is enough... I can’t even make you breakfast or anything.”
[Just being alive is pretty nice. A naked furnace keeping me company is more than I could ask for, but don’t feel you need to be here all day.]
Roxy wrinkled up her face. “I have the burning desire to work off my emotions in the gym. Clara can check up on you while I’m gone? She has been holding it together well, but she was pretty torn up when she arrived on the scene.”
[Understandable. I am not going anywhere.]
She granted me one last kiss before leaving. Heat withdrew as she exited the covers and walked over to the drawers to find some underwear. Just like she said, it looked as though she was going for her gym wear.
[I’m looking forward to seeing your new supersuit.]
“Yeah?” She turned her head back and smiled. “I’ll give you some early spoilers closer to the time… you’ll be surprised. If you’re up for it, there are other gifts for you later as well.”
[I cannot wait.]
Although, my body decided that I could actually have that patience. While I tried to stay awake to watch the super, my subconsciousness hit the snooze button hard, my brain almost immediately slipping into hibernation mode. My self-imposed healing through meditation seemed to come easier when I was more injured. It was a place of tranquility, warm even though the super wasn’t beside me anymore. Despite being the best rest I could ask for, it was also exhausting. No doubt the arcane crystal dust running through my system was being passively activated as well.
After an unknown amount of time, I awoke groggily. While the light of day burned at my eyes, I scratched at my leg with the end of my shotgun.
“Everything okay, Gunquake?”
I turned my frown to the side to see Clara sitting beside me on the bed, leaning against the headboard and reading through some notes. She had paused, chewing through some toast to regard my waking moments.
[Yeah. Legs were itchy. It feels like they’re wrapped in paper.]
“Your legs?” An eyebrow raised. “Do you mean your thighs?”
[No, I mean down on my… oh…]
“Oh indeed, Gunquake.”
I moved my hand up to pull the covers away, but the techie placed her hand on mine, stopping me.
“Rockslide warned me that you were in a state of undress, so that might not be a good idea.”
[Oh.]
“Oh indeed, Gunquake.”
She passed me a nearby towel, which I used to cover my modesty, and helped me draw the covers back. My metal legs were there, in replacement for the ones I had lost. The odd feeling like they were just a light casing for my actual legs persisted.
Clara moved off the bed and around to take a look at my cybernetics. She prodded them with a finger, and I expected the odd papery feeling to flake off, but it did not.
“It feels like they are covered with something?”
[Yes. Almost like a bad sunburn and the skin needs to peel off. Not painful or uncomfortable, even. Just a persistent feeling.]
Her brow furrowed, and she brushed her hair behind her ear. After standing back up straight, her eyes went up to the side as she viewed some information through her own STAR. “Interesting. It’s not just your physical abilities that make adhering to new cybernetics a breeze, but your mental capacity as well. You… believe these are your real legs.”
[Well, they are now, aren’t they?]
She pulled a face, but shrugged. “The fact that you no longer feel a disconnect after only two days is practically impossible. Another day and you might not have that ‘shell’ feeling. They will be a natural extension of you.”
My brain wasn’t quite fully awake just yet, but I was starting to see what she was getting at. Rather than risking rejection of the new additions, I had swung completely in the opposite direction. Mentally, there was no blockage. They actually felt real to me. Briefly, I tried to separate myself from that feeling, but could not.
[Am I able to attempt walking soon?]
“Usually, I’d say no. However, all the tests we currently have running on you are completely fine and reporting no issues.” Clara turned to me and crossed her arms. “Could you try something for me? Both limbs have a similar V-Force drive to your shotgun. Do you have any connection with them yet?”
Activating my gun-arm was just a simple thought, same as flexing a muscle. A simple signal going along my upgraded synapses to whatever magic-tech hybrid bullshit was apparently running through my whole system.
My legs hummed with a similar thought. Not as easy or straightforward, but the bed vibrated gently from the growing power.
“Alright, stop.” She held up a hand to further prompt me. “Even if you can control them already, Rockslide will crack out heads together like eggs if you activate them indoors.”
[They’re that powerful?]
“The force they exert when dissipating fall damage is substantial, yes. Similar to Rockslide landing, you may destroy things caught in the crossfire.”
[I will crack the earth, adding to the ‘quake’ theme. Very nice. The physics involved makes me feel like I’d damage my spine or something, though.]
Clara waved me off and turned to leave the room. “Don’t think about it, just chalk it up to magic or something. I’m going to retrieve Rockslide to dress you, and then we can convince her to allow us to start physiotherapy.”
[Could I request a fresh canister, please?]
“Of course.” She gave me a brief smile as she left.
I looked back up at the ceiling and sighed. My legs felt itchy, as if I had to scratch off the coating on them—even though there was nothing on them. Like I was wearing skin-tight socks. I wiggled my toes as I cleared my mind.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
There was still so much going on that this was all an unwanted distraction from.
Did the League get any information from the building where Red Dust was hiding? I was sure there were details about either the Dark Council or the League of Villains there. Plus, what did Director Kingston find out about the World Government in that suitcase we handed over? Running heroic errands felt like busywork when bigger things were in play.
I allowed my legs to hum into power again. Only a slight nudge, just to feel that they were there. That it was possible. The energy sunk away, and I brought it back, estimating I was only going around fifteen to twenty percent of the actual activation amount required.
At the sound of footsteps, I let those thoughts sink away. I wasn’t about to get in trouble when I was close to moving. Team reveal was meant to be tomorrow now, and I didn’t want Roxy to have to carry me throughout.
The super stepped into the room, absolutely drenched in sweat. Her dark gym clothing had red dust all over them. It wasn’t an unflattering look, and she clearly caught the gaze given to her.
“Been at it a few hours,” she explained, revealing a fresh canister in her hand. “Turns out the basement gym isn’t as heat resistant as I now require. Switched to throwing around crap in the wasteland. Not the best workout, but helped temper my anger.”
[Is it too soon to have cabin fever?]
Roxy rolled her eyes. “Alright, you medical miracle. Clara has already been pushing the fact that you are ready to take your first steps.” She gestured to the towel I still held across my waist. “Let’s get you in some shorts and I’ll carry you out. First sign that you’re not ready for it and I’m putting your ass back up here.”
[Harsh, but fair.]
From the drawers she pulled out some compression shorts and stepped over, narrowing her eyes as she withdrew the towel from me. “Clara said that the fever and delirium you’ve been experiencing when standing aren’t from the physical healing or an infection. The whole process has rocked you mentally, and it’s like…” She paused halfway through pulling the shorts up my legs, as she tried to remember the metaphor the techie had used. “Your brain is like a city of intersections with traffic stops. While you recover, it’s like they stop functioning properly, and sections will be the wrong color or switch off entirely.”
[So until I fully recover, I will have occasional bouts of manic… unhinged behavior?]
“Sounds a lot more dangerous when you put it that way.”
When it came down to it, the tradeoff between either taking a long time physically recovering or taking that toll mentally… I probably preferred it this way. If the League could give me some team or duo missions at the start, then I’d have a babysitter to make sure I didn’t go off the deep end or pass out. A little insanity seemed like just a more overt expression of how I really lived.
I was a walking Natural Disaster, after all.
Well, not quite walking yet. With the minimum amount of clothing necessary to leave the bedroom and canister replaced, Roxy hoisted me up into her arms.
“Hopefully these repeated princess carries aren’t emasculating you.” She took us across the landing toward the staircase.
[I think my ego died a long time ago. Over the years I’ve seen enough death and-]
“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” She rolled her eyes. “We’re all weird and fucked up. It’s almost a shame we didn’t turn villains back there.”
[That wouldn’t last too long.]
“Clara has a few thoughts on it. She thinks it would be easier to equip you if we could do some illegal activities… more illegal than we already do.” She paused at the bottom of the stairs to push the front door open with her foot. “You’re getting low on that foam shit or something, and it’s difficult to get unless we literally hijack a truck. Sounds fun, but I reckon we’re on thin ice for a while.”
I was distracted from thoughts of how dangerous her thinking was as the sunlight briefly blinded me. Mid afternoon, by the position of the sun. Fresh air. The green of the grass, light gray of our prefab buildings, and amber of the wasteland were all refreshing somehow. My eyes fell over to the techie already sitting on one of the deckchairs, hopefully not currently planning any heists.
She had a small case with some familiar circular pads in, and her laptop to the side. It looked as though she’d be properly testing how I fared with the whole stepping forward thing.
“Put the patient down here first,” came her instruction.
I was placed in a sitting position on the deckchair beside the techie. Held my arms out while she stuck the pads around my bare torso, a couple on my thighs. I noted that they were no longer discolored or swollen, but reasonably normal. There was also a slight breeze that I could feel on my cybernetic parts.
“Alright.” She turned to her laptop. “If you could stand the patient, Rockslide, and let him settle.”
[I’m not sure it’s necessary to refer to me as ‘the patient’.]
“If you are unhappy with the situation, you may find different medical help, Gunquake. Note that we are ahead of traditional schedules by several weeks in doing this.”
I took a glance between my symbiotic techie, eager to commit war-crimes, who could exploded my chest with the click of a button before putting me back together stronger again, to the overpowered love of my life who could split me like dry spaghetti at any time she was too lazy to burn me to cinders. Both of them taking up space in my heart and comfortable existence, yet also accomplices in the danger we bounced between day to day.
[Fine. Depending on how this goes, I may reconsider, though.]
Roxy gave me a disapproving glare as she lifted me up, clearly able to see through my sarcasm. Metal feet on the soft grass, with the dry dirt of my old plot ahead of me, I was allowed to settle on my own weight. The super kept a hand on my back for stability and she glanced at the techie to make sure she was doing it right.
Data ran through Clara’s laptop, but I didn’t have the angle to pry over what it was saying. Physically, I felt some pressure around my knees after having been horizontal for far too long. It slowly faded as I got used to it.
“How are you doing, Gunquake? Do you think you could take two steps for me?”
I gave my answer in the form of said action. One step, and then a second. Successful.
[Feels a little awkward and stiff.]
“Getting used to the movement is part of the recuperation process. I have my data here, but I want to hear from you if there’s any pain.”
I took another two steps, my brow furrowing. Roxy hovered just outside my reach like a helicopter parent, ready to catch me if I fell. Now I was no longer on the lawn, but on the dusty rock. It felt warmer and rougher beneath my metal feet. I couldn’t stop frowning down at them, trying to make sense of it.
“Gunquake?”
Blinking away my confusion, I turned my head back to look at the techie. Nine shadows flickered and faded from my eyesight, the blurry figures temporarily taking up space behind her in the garden.
[Minor discomfort. No balance issues or pain. Being able to feel the breeze and warmth of the ground is novel and briefly unsettling.]
She maintained eye contact. “As much information as I can gain here, I cannot accurately determine if you are suffering from hallucinations or mental anguish.”
“Are your traffic stop lights working correctly?” Roxy added, attempting to be helpful. A glance at her and her face briefly appeared skull-like before returning to her current worried expression.
[Minor visual anomalies, but I feel lucid.]
Clara nodded, but it didn’t seem to do much to calm the super. There was no point lying about it, and part of me assumed that the techie might actually be able to tell. Perhaps a me from a few months ago would have withheld the truth to soldier on, but back then I didn’t have anyone that was trying so hard to keep me alive.
“Will it get worse?” Roxy asked, turning her head away from me briefly.
“Unknown. It is equally possible that it could fade, maintain, or get worse. Physically he is… Gunquake?”
I hadn’t stopped to listen to the verdict. Instead, three more steps away from the pair, I paused and stood on one leg. Gradually, I lifted my right foot up. Balance was slightly wobbly, before stabilizing. I watched my foot as I angled it toward me a little, only about ten inches from the ground.
Then I started to power up the V-Drive in that leg.
“Independant activation is great progress,” Clara said from behind me, tapping away on her keyboard. “Currently around twenty percent powered. I’d recommend stopping as close to fifty as you can as we will…”
I ramped it up to full power, using the similar feeling of doing the same in my shotgun. It was different, like trying to fit a shape in the right hole. An intangible puzzle that I was apparently an expert at. I watched the result in slow motion, my brain processing each step for memorizing later.
The first thing was the feeling of the gathered energy in the drive leaving. In my gun-arm, uses seemed to chip away at the power, but this expelled it all at once. My extended foot expanded, parts on the sides, back, and just before my toes unclipping and widening on short pin-like rods. A pulse of energy burst out from this flattened sole via a handful of ports, scouring the rock clean as a wave of dust and loose dirt blew away from me.
My foot clipped itself back into the sleeker profile, and I placed it down on the ground softly. V-Force drive was clearly empty, much weaker than my unused left leg.
[There’s a refractory period.]
Roxy murmured something I didn’t quite catch, but I turned to look at the techie for confirmation. Thankfully, there were no further hallucinations, although I did feel a little lightheaded.
“Correct, Gunquake. You seem to have a natural grasp of it, but these drives expel a binary amount of power, unlike your weapon.” She glanced at her laptop before scowling at the super. “Quit mumbling to yourself, sister, and catch Gunquake before he passes out.”
[I’m not about to-]
I wavered and leaned backward, toppling into the waiting arms of Roxy as she moved to me instantly.
[Keep me standing.]
My vision blurred and darkened, spots forming like television static. Hearing muted, I could still hear the super asking Clara for confirmation on my request. Acknowledgement was given. My re-breather rattled as my breathing slowed and heaved. My toes dug into the dry ground, and I fought the desire to have a quick nap.
Gradually, my vision and hearing returned. Surrounding world cleared and my breathing normalized. Some shadows remained, darkened shapes in tactical gear darting in and out of existence, but I focused on Clara. The techie was tapping away at her laptop, brow furrowed as she glanced between me and the screen.
[Keep me standing.]
I repeated the phrase and closed my eyes, now sure I would stay conscious. Left leg brimmed with energy as I sunk my thoughts into setting it off. It activated while flat on the ground, bursting dust away from me. The shockwave vibrated up my legs; the force felt up my whole body. Opening my eyes, I saw the clear and cracked rock beneath the metal appendage.
“Speak to me, Gunquake.”
My eyes switched from the damaged terrain to the techie.
[I feel like I have shed the uncomfortable skin around my limbs.]
“What does that mean?” Roxy asked from right behind me. “You had to wear them in to feel comfortable?”
[Something like that.]
It was true. As much as it had been difficult and tiring for my brain to do it, my new legs felt even more like a natural part of me now. I’m sure there would be some teething pains to come, especially with the hallucinations, but recovering from losing my legs in three days was indeed a miracle. For all the unknown powers coming back to me, this was truly proof that I was-
“As much as I am a fan of limit testing, you have already far exceeded what we intended to accomplish today.” Clara tilted her head. “What do you think, Gunquake?”
Thoughts heading straight past green stoplights, I turned my head to the side, looking over to where our training dummies stood.
[There is one last thing I want to do.]