March 16th

Writing up summaries for someone who was there for most of the work was strange, but I understood why since Danny was going to be sending the research to others.

Classes had been cancelled for a couple of days and then all the teachers had only slowly figured out what their responses were, so we'd gotten a fair bit done with Seeker things.

Unfortunately, only Ash had any sort of pre-dantian records of his max deadlift. The 217 pound man could originally deadlift four hundred pounds. Now he was up to four seventy-five as a baseline, and five twenty-five if he cycled. And that was with no breakthroughs, as Danny hadn't gotten us any time for baseline CT scans.

I grinned at the numbers on the screen. My 5'2", 113 pound gymnast self could hilariously match his cycling max as a baseline, and pushing my cycling to max I was able to get up to six hundred pounds. Both Ash and Mike had been spotting me just in case, but I'd walked away sore but unhurt.

Mike had literally pouted at me out lifting him but had agreed to wait on trying to ignite his own dantian to get a CT scan so we could have a real full baseline on someone.

I double checked over a few last numbers, labeling out how long each of us could cycle at full strength after building up. I was up to feeling like five hours, Melissa at four, Danny almost up to two, but both Ash and Karen had noted trying to build up cycling time just caused their exchange to mostly flow out faster instead of dig deeper.

I saved the document into my little corner of the Seeker app before closing out and checking the time. I'd spent a good chunk of the morning putting my notes together, thankfully stretched out on my bed instead of sitting at a cramped desk in the library this time.

I got up, stretching out for a moment, still a little tense. Mike wouldn't be off shift until this evening, but we were still planning a dinner date. Maybe a jog and then some bar time at the gym would loosen me up a bit.

~~~

Earbuds in and music on, I hopped onto the treadmill and started jogging. The newer ones in the gym had an automatic sensor in them that measured your pace and adjusted for you, which was nice.

After a few minutes, I started zoning out just jogging forward but couldn't really feel the burn yet. I picked up my pace, still in the zone as I finally started feeling a bit of exertion. Energy from my dantian flushed through me and I heard over my music a beeping. Looking down, I frowned for a second as the treadmill was maxing out at 14 miles an hour. I didn't think I was moving that fast. Increased strength meant faster running, maybe?

Mentally noting that and internally shrugging, I continued on. I had a thirty minute timer set, so I could just focus on the cardio for a bit.

A few minutes later, something flickered in my peripheral vision but I didn't have a chance to react as something slammed into my arm, literally picking me up off the treadmill and throwing me halfway across the area, slamming into several other exercise machines and people.

I rolled to a halt, my arm screaming in pain and stunned for a moment as I looked back to see what had happened.

Someone was standing at the treadmill I had been on, a long bar hefted over his shoulder. Both the bar and the guy looked familiar, but I couldn't place the guy. The bar, on the other hand, was a weightlifter barbell without the weights. Didn't that thing weigh like fifty pounds all by itself? Did I get hit with that?

I staggered up to my feet as everyone just looked between the guy and me.

"What the fuck?" was the comment from a lot of people, including me. A couple of people nearby crawled out from the wreckage on their own, definitely worse for the wear. Several more people were looking at me with disbelief.

"How the hell are you still standing bitch?" The guy just looked at me, then at the bar casually held on one shoulder. "That should have crushed you."

He grinned, and definitely not a pleasant one. "Guess I get to beat out of you how you're doing that, Seeker."

That clicked it. "Tony?" The idiot from the nightclub?

He just continued grinning at me, taking the bar in a two handed grip.

"Hey, come on dude. What the hell. Put it down, security's already been called." Another guy called out, staying away from Tony. Understandably.

"Nah, it's cool." He just continued grinning at me. "See, I figured something out. Ain't no one around here strong enough to tell me no. So I'm gonna beat out of your pretty head anything else I might want to know, then I'm going to walk out of here."

Fear shot through me as I looked for the closest exit.

"No, no. See, I'm gonna get what I want. I'll let you try to fight me, but you run? I'll just head over to the Seeker hall and thrash anyone I find. I'll eventually catch up to you, too." He let out a broken chuckle. "So, let's play."

"How about no, asshole?" One of the other guys dove not at him, but at the bar, grabbing and trying to yank it away from him. Tony just firmed up his grip and shoved it forward. The bar pierced the guy's stomach and he let go.

Yanking it back, the end now slick with blood, Tony just shook his head. "Told ya no one's strong enough to tell me no."

Now people really started panicking, most of them making a beeline for the nearest exit with more alarms going off as the emergency exits started sounding off. The other guy just lay there bleeding as Tony stepped over him towards me.

I couldn't feel anything like a dantian from him, but I couldn't from anyone else unless they'd had a breakthrough or were cycling. Was he still on the false path? God my arm hurt, I hope it wasn't broken.

"Yeah, if this is how you're acting with no information, I don't want to know what you'd be like actually knowing something." I said bravely, looking around. I might be able to take him just fighting, but not with that bar in his hands. I wasn't going to hold to not breaking a bone against a full powered swing of that thing again.

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"Well, come on then." Tony waded in, swinging the bar like it was nothing, catching another treadmill with it and knocking the top half of it in my general direction.

I jumped away from the flying plastic and electronics, falling into a roll and coming back onto my feet.

"I guess running around is allowed." Tony's smirked at me. "I mean, it's not like it's going to change anything."

"Yeah it will." I said quietly to myself. I'd come up near the rowing machines and grabbed one of the loose benches. If I could deadlift five hundred pounds, then... with a grunt I spun it around and flung it at Tony.

Tony, surprise written all over his face, barely managed to bat the bench out of the way with his bar as he blew out his breath. "Damn, full of surprises. How long can you keep that up?"

I immediately threw the remaining two benches at him as hard as I could, eyeing the bar once he hit them both away. The six foot long bar was no longer completely straight, having bent in his blocks.

I tried to spot any other easy to throw objects while keeping an eye on him, backing up as he stalked at me.

"You know, I'll admit. I didn't think you'd be strong enough to not fall apart after that first hit." He lunged, swinging the bar sideways and sending an ear piercing ring through the gym as I ducked underneath and the bar crashed into the rowing machine itself.

I quickly moved out of his reach, trying to get to the other side of the gym.

"I figured you weren't more than a girl with a little taste of power, needing four of your friends to land a hit on me. It hurt, yeah, but I figured you probably weren't even at a single breakthrough."

He swung the barbell again and I had to jump away again as the barbell this time crunched into the floor. "I thought I was losing it, but then you know what happened?" He blew out his breath again, yanking the barbell straight out of the floor. "Breathe. So simple. I'd been losing it, but now? Fifth breakthrough! There's nothing stopping me!"

I turned and ran towards the weights.

"Fuck that, no." I heard before the barbell plowed into my back, knocking me breathless to the ground and the barbell bounced away. My back was all sorts of hurting as I lay there.

"See, as soon as I figure out what's the deal with your defense, I couple it with my impossible strength, and then things really get started."

I looked up and saw I'd been knocked near enough to the weight section, but there weren't any free weights nearby. Only another barbell with a lot of weight already on it. I stood back up.

"Honestly, I'm seriously impressed. Your spine should probably be bruised if not broken." Tony laughed again. "This is what I'm talking about. Now I'm gonna wrap this around you, and you're gonna talk so you don't end up dead."

I cycled and instantly my pain lessened to a point that was nearly unbelievable. I grabbed the weighted barbell, turning and lifting it in a swing. It strained my muscles and I could feel my fingers literally digging into the steel, but the barbell Tony held didn't do much more than slow it down as it crashed into him, sending him stumbling into more equipment.

His footing lost, Tony fell backwards. He was moaning in pain as I stumbled over myself. His right arm was crushed in, the weights I'd swung having nearly pulped the upper arm and elbow. His left hand was covering it, likely where he'd tried to catch it. "I'm stronger than you are." He breathed out. "How the hell," he coughed, flecks of blood coming out of his mouth.

That was bad, wasn't it?

"How the hell?"

"You're on the wrong path Tony." I was sore, but I wasn't bleeding. I could feel bruises all over though. "And I'm not going to help you. I've done nothing to you and you attacked me, tried to kill me. I'm giving you no answers, no understanding."

I looked around, seeing the only other person still lying in the room. "Fuck, I hope he's okay."

This close, I could feel it when Tony did something. A twisting, folding, pull from something I couldn't understand as he looped it back multiple times to make it bigger before breaking. A chunk of something I could feel shouldn't be broken off the way he did. But it was shoved into his good arm as I turned back around.

"Kill you!" he growled, yanking the barbell again. This close, I could feel the difference.

I cycled once more and caught it. "You're killing yourself." He fell back with a cry of pain as his destroyed arm bled. "More than physically."

My cycling overflowed on its own as I stared at Tony's sputtering, bleeding body with holes in his self that had nothing to do with his body. Somehow, I'd broken through again.

~~~

I watched somewhat numb as paramedics wrapped Tony's arm and others were already leaving with the stabbed guy for the hospital. In front of me, another was checking me over as Mike wandered in from resetting the fire alarm that had gone off sometime previously.

I was sitting on one of the few unbroken benches in the area telling my story of what went on. The nice paramedic lady and attending police officer didn't seem to want to buy my story about what had happened.

I sighed and reached out. Even without cycling, I was able to lift up one side of the in contention barbell weapon. Two hundred pounds almost wasn't even a strain at this point. "I don't know if there's cameras here, but he started it. If you can find anyone that ran off, they'll be able to back it up."

Everyone watching my straight arm lift of well more than my body weight just stared for a long moment.

"I can see pattern bruising on your arm and back where you were struck." The paramedic said after motioning me to set the weight back down. "I'd also have preferred you didn't prove your point with your injured arm. I'd like you to come in for x-rays to ensure you don't actually have any hairline fractures. Especially if you should have broken bones based on your story."

I nodded to her, then looked at Mike. "So much for dinner, sorry."

He shook his head. "It's fine. We'll pick something up afterwards."