I stared at myself in the mirror. On my sternum was the embedded organic growth. The Artificial Core. One of the two things I had to hide. I brought up my right hand and opened it, revealing the pimple patches used to hide the crystal underneath.
I was almost tempted to take it off and compare it to the Artificial Core. Sadly, I didn’t have other pimple patches with me - I should make a note to bring more.
I put the pink sports bra around my chest and hooked the back. Now, the Artificial Core was gone from view.
“You look cute in that,” SpookyErind said.
“Well, I look cute in anything I wear,” I said. We both giggled.
I left the changing room and noticed Deen was already out. A gray sports bra held in place her massive breasts. Below them were her toned abs. A feeling of jealousy rose within me.
I hadn’t noticed it before, but it actually seemed that Deen worked out. That was probably because Myra seemed way stronger than Deen. Deen’s arms weren’t noodles like mine, while her legs were muscular. I hadn’t really worked out when I was a cheerleader in high school. I probably should have worked out more when I was in Judo, but that class made me really upset with all the physical contact and getting beat up.
“Maybe we should work out?” SpookyErind suggested, still at my desk in my room. How would that work? I would need a lot of weights and dumbbells given how strong I was. Also, there was no way I was going to the gym. In addition to having to keep up my face, people would get suspicious of how strong I was. That would lead to me getting tested and then executed.
“You look amazing,” Deen told me.
“Thanks, and so do you,” I told her. “All right. So now we’ll change back and check out these clothes at the register?”
“Not so fast,” Deen said. What now? “I picked out some spare ones too. You should try these on.”
I didn’t notice it before, but Deen had a shopping bag with her. She pulled out two sets of sports bras. One was light blue and one was light green. Other sports bras were in the bag, but they looked way too big for me, so they were probably Deen’s.
I internally groaned. Sadly, I had to keep my face up, which really drains my batteries.
“Any reason you picked lighter colors for me instead of darker ones?” I asked.
“I just thought you’d look cuter in these ones,” Deen replied. “If you want, I can also buy you some darker ones.” No, thank you.
“No, it’s fine. I was just wondering about your color choices. You got me colorful sports bras, while all of yours are gray or dark. What’s up with that?”
“Umm…” Was Deen flustered at this? If so, that was truly funny. “...I just wanted to give my friend the best clothing options. Ones better than mine. Yeah! That’s right.”
“Really?” I asked. “The Amber Deen Leska not caring about what clothes she’s wearing. Sounds suspicious.”
“I just wanted you to look cute,” Deen said. “I’m fine with not looking cute.” What kind of answer is that?
“Fine,” I replied. “I’ll let you off the hook for now. But I’m on to you Ms. Leska”
“What is this?” Deen asked. “An interrogation?”
We both laughed.
“All right, I’ll try these on now,” I said as I grabbed the sports bras from Deen.
I walked back into the dressing room and took off the current pink sports bra I was wearing. As I changed to put the light blue one on, I thought about the absurdity of this situation. Here I was trying on sports bras to hide my Artificial Core. When would I ever need to change in public? Would Deen even do something like that?
What if I got into a battle? I’m not sure my clothes or this sports bra would survive in a fight. Then, I would have to get home somehow without revealing my Artificial Core to the world. At least I could ball my hand up to hide the crystals. What would I do to hide the Core? Cover my chest with arms? I guess since my chest is small, it’s not that hard to do.
Well, I was already here, so I might as well get Deen to buy me these clothes. My undergrad econ professors would probably be yelling the sunk cost fallacy at me, but I’d have to break my face to get out of this situation. That would just be the death of me.
I walked back outside to Deen waiting for me. Seriously? How fast does she change? There is no way she is faster than me, especially when she has to deal with those two giant sacks of flesh on her chest.
Sadly, I couldn’t ask her about this, especially in public, so instead I went with another question.
“So, do I still look cute?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
“Indeed,” Deen commented. “And very huggable too.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Hugging is off the table for now. Instead, I’m investing in this amazing new concept called personal space.”
“Awww,” Deen said. “But we hugged yesterday.”
“Yeah, that was for an emotional moment,” I said. “I don’t know why I would need a hug now. Nothing grand or emotional has happened.”
Suddenly, Deen hugged me. “Ahh! What are you doing?!!”
“But hugs are good all the time,” Deen said. I really wanted to punch her. Sadly, starting a fight in the middle of this store would be a very bad idea for obvious reasons.
“Now you’re ruining the emotional value of hugs,” I said. “The market cannot sustain this.”
“Alright,” Deen said, releasing me from her vile embrace. “Anyways, were you pretending to be an economics major or something?”
“I actually did my undergrad in business administration,” I told her.
“Wow,” Deen said. “Maybe we could start our own hugs business.”
“Nope. Like I said before, I’m investing in personal space,” I said. “Already have an LLC and just need to get my ‘personal space’ trademarked.”
“I’m not sure introverts are in demand,” Deen said.
“Just wait and see,” I told her. “My business is going to be the biggest in the world.”
We both giggled.
Eventually, after trying on the last sports bra and changing back to our school clothes, Deen paid for my clothes at the register. Oh, the joys of having a rich best friend.
As we got back in the car, I asked Deen, “Do you need me to give you directions to drop me off at my condo?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“But I thought we were going to test our regeneration at my place?” Deen asked. Oh. I forgot about that. Crap.
“Oops, I forgot,” I said. “Fine. Let’s go to your place.”
As we walked inside Deen’s home, SpookyErind stopped playing Tappy Dash and said, “Hey, how about you summon me over there?”
Why would I want to bring you over here?
“So we can show off more of our awesome powers to Deen,” she replied.
Before I could respond, SpookyErind tugged at her face and I could no longer sense what she sensed. It was as if someone turned off a camera in my mind. But, in my left hand, I felt an orb-like presence.
SpookyErind did bring up a good point. It was funny seeing Deen being upset about her powers while I could use mine. Maybe I was just being a bitch for being jealous, but I really wanted to make Deen feel inferior.
I focused on my left hand and concentrated on summoning SpookyErind. Gold liquid materialized above my hand and consolidated into that embroidered mask. It floated over to the side and vanished.
In its place was now SpookyErind. It was weird being in the same room as her because, for most of the day, we’d been far away. Seeing myself twice was very jarring.
“And now, there’s two of me,” I said.
As Deen put the bag with our sports bras down, she turned around to see both me and SpookyErind.
“You know, your power is very cool,” Deen said. “I just wished I could use my power.”
“Don’t worry Deen,” I told her. “I think it will come to you sooner rather than later.” Imagine though if she never found out how to control it. That would be hilarious.
“Alright. Let’s test our regeneration then,” Deen said. “Let me get a knife.”
As she went to get some cutlery, I sat down in one of her fancy dining chairs. This was really comfy. I should get one of these chairs for my condo. Although, it did look expensive. Some gold lacings were on it. Maybe I could get a discounted version without the gold?
SpookyErind walked over to the kitchen and put her hands on my shoulders. She was smiling as I looked up to her. I would have glared at her, but Deen would be coming anytime soon.
Deen walked back with a metal knife and sat across in the chair next to me. “Umm. I’m a bit scared to do this. Could you cut me? And then I’d cut you?”
No way am I letting this bitch cut me. I can cut myself just fine, thank you very much. I just needed to make sure to cut my left hand and not my right hand, which had the crystal.
“Actually, can I cut myself?” I asked.
“Sure,” Deen said as she passed me the knife.
I opened my left palm and brought the knife down slowly. Once it touched my skin, I slowly increased pressure until a dribble of red liquid flowed from the wound. As I picked up the knife, the wound on my hand closed quickly.
“Can you pass the napkins?” I asked as I cupped my left hand to prevent blood from dripping.
“Here you go,” Deen said as she gave some to me. “You’ll have to cut me because I don’t think I can cut myself.”
Wow, what a lot of trust to put into me. What if I stabbed Deen with the knife? To be honest, I’d probably get a lot farther by punching her with my superstrength. Could I kill Deen just by punching her? Sadly, I couldn’t test that theory because of Rule #4.
SpookyErind took her hands off my shoulders and moved behind Deen. She put her hands on Deen’s shoulders and started massaging them.
“What are you doing?” Deen asked, as she stared at me. Why are you asking me?! I can’t control SpookyErind.
“I’m just massaging you,” SpookyErind said. “Focus on this while I use the knife. It’ll make it go a lot better.”
“I guess that sounds fine,” Deen replied as she looked up to SpookyErind. I could see Deen’s face up closer now through SpookyErind’s eyes. That was a bit too close for my liking. Hopefully, this will be over soon.
I grabbed Deen’s hand. At least she wasn’t the one touching me. It was a lot better when I did it. That feeling of disgust wasn’t as strong as when she just randomly hugged me earlier. I guess the same could be said of SpookyErind. I didn’t feel nearly as disgusted while she was massaging Deen compared to when Deen hugged me. Or that may just be because I don’t like hugs.
As I applied a tiny bit of pressure on Deen’s skin, blood trickled out and painted the knife’s blade red. This reminded me when I had to dissect frogs and other rodents during high school. What would Deen look like if I dissected her? How many organs of hers would resemble a frog’s organs? Probably not a lot, since frogs have very different anatomy from humans.
I released the pressure on the knife. It was best to stop now before I actually started dissecting Deen. “All right, I’m done.”
Deen toward to look at her hand and said, “That wasn’t that bad. At least I know my regeneration power works. Just wish I could figure out my ability and summon.”
Ugghh. Never mind, it was boring to listen to Deen complain. I don’t know why I’d find it fun. I guess it would be if I showed off in front of Deen. But, that wasn’t a feature of my face for Deen.
“You also have superstrength too,” I said, trying to cheer her up. I don’t need a moping Deen right now.
“Actually, I have something we can test our superstrength on,” Deen said. SpookyErind stopped massaging Deen as Deen got up. “Let me show you my home’s gym.”
Me and SpookyErind followed Deen into her ‘home gym’. One side of the room was filled with mirrors, and the floor and other sides were filled with pads. A few weight racks were off to the sides, but what really caught my attention were the two giant machines in the center of the room.
They looked like modified weight machines. Each pulley system went to five pillars of weights surrounding the central chair, which had neon lights inscribed into the black leather. It looked like it belonged in a Sci-fi movie with its design. Looking at the weights, some of them were huge. There’s no way Deen could lift this much.
“Me and my sister actually used these for exercise,” Deen said. “Well, I’m not sure about my sis, because I hardly see her anymore in the house.”
“There’s no way you could lift all this when you were a human,” I said. “This looks like overkill.”
“Oh, we just bought the fanciest one,” Deen replied. “Apparently it’s used by people with Augs. Never needed to lift that much though. But we were thinking if we did get some bio augments, these machines might be useful.”
“Doesn’t having Augs defeat the purpose of working out though?” I questioned.
“Some people just like to show off to others and are willing to spend enough money to do so,” Deen said.
“Are you including yourself in that commentary?” I asked, grinning.
“If I wanted to show off, I still have a lot more money to spend,” she said. Wow, okay, Ms. Rich Person. Not everyone has a boatload of money they can just spend on luxuries.
“Are you humble bragging?” I said, teasing her.
“No…” Deen said. “Anyways, the maximum weight on these machines is about 10,000 lbs. Let’s see how much we can lift. One of the cool things is that it’s voice-controlled. So you can tell it to set the weight amount. Atlas 1, set the weights to 500 pounds.”
“Determining closest viable weight to 500 pounds,” a robotic male voice said. “500 pounds is viable. Changing pins.”
A sound of clattering happened near the five pillars as Deen sat down in the chair to us. She began pushing on the handles to her side, and they slowly went forward.
“Atlas, the Titan who held up the Earth,” I said reciting my Greek mythology knowledge. “Do you plan on holding up the Earth Deen?”
“I can certainly try,” Deen said. “Atlas 1, set the weights to 1000 pounds.”
After the clattering was finished, Deen pushed on the two handles. They moved slower than before, and I could tell Deen was putting in a lot more effort. She groaned as she continued to push the bars forward.
“I can lift at least half a ton,” she said panting, after releasing the handles. “Let me try some more.”
Deen tried 1100 pounds, but she was unable to push the handlebars at all.
“1100 pounds it is,” she said, standing up. “How about you try Erind?”
I sat down in the chair, with Deen and SpookyErind both facing me. I pushed on the handlebars and they moved pretty easily. This wasn’t heavy at all.
“Wow,” Deen said. “You can lift that much?”
At least here was something I was better than at than Deen. She may have been more beautiful than me, but at least I was way stronger than her.
We tried increasing the weight amount by the thousands. Eventually, we got to 6000 pounds, which became difficult for me to lift. I was still able to do it, but it took a lot of effort. I panted as I finished.
“I think I’m hitting my limit,” I said, groaning. I hadn’t worked out in a long time.
We tried 6100 pounds, and I was unable to push the bars forward anymore.
“6000 pounds,” Deen said. “That’s like 3 tons.”
“Thanks for doing the math for me,” I said. “Are you sure you don’t want to be a math major?”
Deen laughed, “No, but thanks for the compliment.”
“You know, it’s weird seeing you lift all that much,” Deen said.
“Is it because I look short and skinny?” I asked.
“You don’t need to be that negative about yourself,” she replied. “You’re more like a doll, one with porcelain skin.”
“Well, this doll is hungry,” I said. “I’m going to head back home to get dinner.”
“Wait, I can feed you!” Deen said. “I can get you some sandwiches and refreshments.” Uggh. I guess I could stay if she had food ready.
“Thanks for dinner Deen,” I said. “But I really should get going, it’s getting dark outside.”
In my hand, I held the embroidered mask that SpookyErind turned into. I should hang this on my wall. It’d look cool.
“No, thank you for coming over,” she replied. “I hope you come over more often.” I hope I don’t.
“We’ll have to see about that,” I said, deflecting. I began walking out of the house, but as soon as I did, Deen grabbed my hand. Fucking bitch.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked.
“Um, I think my summon just talked to me,” Deen said.
“Really? What did it say?”
“We need to head to the Verde Clubhouse,” she replied as she began dragging me in the direction opposite my Condo.
“Why do we need to go there?” I asked.
As if to answer my question, the blinding light of high beams focused on us. It was hard to tell, but it seemed a small convoy of black vans was coming after us.