June 24th

Brent looked at me after I'd gone over the past couple of days with him, between getting several people started on trying to overflow that strength and how we'd come across the technique.

"I'm reminded of the conversation we had less than two months ago." Brent rubbed his face. "About starting an arms race with a terrorist. But now you're re-arming them too?"

I blinked unbelievingly. "That's what you get from all that?"

"What else am I supposed to get?" Brent waved at the letter I'd brought to show him. "You were given free information. At worst, you should have just paid for that lunch and left. But you gave this Zach assistance, actually made him stronger, and sent him away with enough geodes to fix at least one other person!"

"I applaud your decision to have someone else available in case it was a trap. But that's about the end of any good decision making you were doing. Why didn't you bring this to someone else so we could do some investigation first?"

"Because of this." I tapped the letter. "…you're probably keeping the dangerous stuff for yourself… I'm not stupid. I know the military is probably testing that whole 'knock the energy away from people' effect we figured out with Chief McInnis. And there's probably thousands of military people at I-4 trying to get to I-5 that I don't know about with military specific techniques that don't involve us. Based off the information we've built and that's probably why you asked for double time before we published anything again."

I huffed. "I'm letting you know what I found out Barry is up to. And that I helped someone Barry had hurt and told him to get the hell out of there." Ash and Karen had agreed with me that what we'd felt from Zach didn't need to be explicitly called out, only that Barry had apparently stolen some of their energy because they were out of geodes.

We actually were now keeping a dangerous secret to ourselves, because I didn't want to even suggest to anyone how it might work. Just telling Brent something was possible might get the military trying it outside where we were able to watch, but I wanted them to be aware it could happen.

Stealing other people's energy wasn't something I wanted to see happen, at all.

"So instead of focusing on the fact that I let someone walk with all of ten extra geodes, how about the fact that we now have a technique that people can use to make things stronger? It's not Barry's earth defense technique, but I bet it's more widely applicable. And that we now know more on how ELF is doing their cultivation and why? Or how about giant man eating snakes in Florida that we know people are having to take care of themselves?"

Brent shrugged at the accusation. "The gains may have been worth the risks and losses then. And I do know there is a sizable number of people right now attempting to get to I-5, yes. But I didn't ask to delay publishing solely for that. I asked for people to test different variables. Less daily cycling but more time between. More daily cycling but only a single week before trying for their next breakthrough. Things that you need numbers to test, but the Seekers don't have."

"Solely." I repeated then sighed myself. "People suck."

Brent gave me look. "It was never going to be like the movies, Nicole. Aliens shows up, everyone on Earth puts aside everything else to stop them. It probably wouldn't even be like that even if we were directly attacked instead of what actually happened. People do suck, but we're still here."

"Quit destroying my faith in basic human goodness." I said drolly.

"Sure, sure." Brent chuckled with a sad undertone. "I do have a couple of things I need to go over with you. That OK?"

I nodded, coming back off the edge of the chair to instead sink into it.

Brent took a moment. "It's been over a month since you had a breakthrough. Even if you consider double time for getting two again, shouldn't you be trying for your next one?"

"I've been testing the waters there, so to speak." I hesitated. "It's not going to be one or the other moving this time either, but I don't think it's going to be a double breakthrough again." I thought about that spot at my lower spine. "I think the two paths are going to merge again. I want to make sure I'm plenty ready for that." I gave a short laugh. "I'm honestly worried about how my energy will actually react to it."

"Oh?" Brent looked interested.

"Motion, or more appropriately, momentum." I answered. "Don't know how that's an element instead of, you know, fire, but that's what mine is."

I picked up a book from Brent's desk and held it in an open palm. I overflowed that refined energy specifically into both of my palms and held the empty hand up to Brent. "Here, punch."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"OK?" Brent leaned forward and punched into my hand. His fist stopped when he hit my palm and the book instead flew directly up. He blinked in confusion as I caught the book coming back down.

"I have to provide at least as much energy as I'm being hit with, but I can basically be a Newton's Cradle. If I Featherstep with it, I can keep feeding energy to ignore outside forces to keep moving. Again, as much energy as is affecting me though. And if I stop, all those forces come back." I set the book down.

Brent looked dumbfounded. "That's flat out amazing. I haven't seen any reports on this? Can anyone else do this? Or even get your momentum type energy?"

"I've been keeping it typed up privately, waiting to add it to your research stuff." I answered him. "Nothing to hide, but I assumed you wanted as much as we could put into the new paper. Electricity and fire haven't added anything different to Feathersteps."

"As for others, not yet. We've got so few people with a straight energy type that I'd be surprised if you could find someone else with mine. We know how to purposely shift someone from a neutral to a type, but I wouldn't know where to find an external energy flow that was momentum."

Brent got a thoughtful look. "Huh, unfortunate. Oh I see though. If your energy is merging in a breakthrough, you're worried about what cycling will do afterwards when it's in a loop?"

"Yep."

"I'm not going to be the one to tell you to do otherwise. It's your energy." Brent nodded.

"Thanks. And I'm still four breakthroughs above the earth too, so..." I paused and waited for a moment while Brent looked at me. "Sorry, accidentally tried to invoke Murphy but I don't think he was listening. What else?"

"Funny you mentioned McInnis and energy testing earlier. Goodfellow AFB actually reached out to me because they do want to test it with some volunteers. Chief McInnis did note your request to be involved but not the one doing it and Colonel Young is willing to grant it. They're hoping for some non-lethal methods of stopping people with energy to be able to disseminate to the police."

The non-lethal bit was probably a nod to me, but I wasn't going to argue. Not with Brent at least. "When?"

He didn't bother pulling up a calendar. "Next week, they're willing to bring people up here."

"Sure." They'd do it regardless, but at least this way I'd get eyes on it as well.

~~~

After the meeting I headed back to the house. I found Melissa practicing with her daggers again, trying the new overflow technique. "Any success?"

"Eh." She slowed in the kata. "A bit. I can shift it around but getting it to actually flow onto my daggers with the energy isn't happening yet."

"Want to go check something out with me, Karen, and Ash? Or stay working on this?" I asked.

Melissa paused. "What's up?"

"I want to go check out that hidden forest again."

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Spoiler: New Wiki Entries

Techniques

Feathersteps (Typed)

Creator: Nicole Firen

Has been taught to others:

Energy Type: Passive

Energy Use: Requires elementally based energy. Same costs as Feathersteps.

Description: Using refined elemental energy, Feathersteps may be altered to do something different. Fire and electricity have had no noticeable effects. 'Momentum' as an energy type allows wall running, but you must always be moving.

Ivers' Overflow

Creators: Arthur and Zach Ivers

Has been taught to others: Yes

Energy Type: Passive

Energy Use: At least the first breakthrough

Description: Overflowing the strength provided by overflow cycling off of the body and onto clothes or held items. This technique requires practice and a more continuous flow of energy. Adds strength to items. Diminishing returns past approximately two breakthroughs worth of energy. Experimentation underway to determine ways to push this further.

[Locked to Seekers until 7/20 or release of Breakthroughs Paper]

Nicole's Cradle

Creator: Nicole Firen

Has been taught to others: No

Energy Type: Passive

Energy Use: Variable

Description: By applying momentum based energy to two or more parts of the body, user may echo force through their energy from one struck location to another, similar in action to the center ball of a Newton's Cradle. Energy use varies, with minimum energy requirement being set by the force to be redirected.