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September

VAV

New Mombasa, Kenya

V

"I can't believe you went all the way out there and didn't swing by me. You said you would visit ages ago."

Fox winced at the volume from the speakers, but aside from Arslan's voice the apartment was still quiet. A fact he did not feel like risking as he plugged in his earbuds. "We haven't even known each other that long. Anyways, we've been trying to get Bibi to move in with us for years. My dad doesn't want her to change her mind last second just because he couldn't make it out as soon."

His words were cut off by one of the neighbors downstairs yelling something about a dog in Swahili and punctuating whatever it was with the pop of a Kalashnikov rifle. Something he hadn't even been able to identify until coming to stay here before the move.

"I can see why."

"Most of Kenya isn't bad at all actually, especially if you hear some of my grandmother's old stories. The neighbors' downstairs are just from the Shades district. They wouldn't be a problem really if they weren't keeping her awake with all their talking and gunfire; and me for that matter."

"You know, if you came for a visit I can promise no gunshots."

"Right. I'll just drive up to Turkey, no problem especially for me, and leave the boxing for later. That will end well."

"I forgot, your grandma's place is probably packed with stuff."

"She lived here long enough, I'm still finding relics on accident."

"Oh Oum, she's not a hoarder, is she?"

"No, just the usual ends and pieces. At least she's neater than my dad. I haven't tripped over anything in days."

"I know exactly what you mean…" Her voice trailing off with an expectant pause.

"Really Arslan, after your own joke earlier? You're really going to pull the sarcasm out on me over this?" Only for another shot to cut off his words and silence them both. At this rate Bibi would never get her sleep.

VAV

Midsomer, England

V

The dorm room echoed harshly with the sound of her handbag landing on the desk, and Coco once again found herself wishing that they could have found a fourth person to share off campus housing with. Even if this was her last year at Midsomer University, dorm rooms were still shite.

"I take it the meeting with Oobleck didn't go well?"

Velvet was curled against her boyfriend, the two barely fitting on the small bed's given his size, and doing her best to hide her pained wince from the loud noise. As much as housing remained a bad part to every day, at least her roommate remained a sweetheart. "Sorry Bun-bun, wasn't thinking again. Hey Daichi."

"Greetings." The giant said, giving her polite smile before he returned to his book; Historical Accounts of the Aberrant.

"Yeah, he argued that my topic wasn't challenging enough, and how the goal of the class was to expand our historical pursuits. Not for them to 'whither on the vine of old knowledge'. His explanation made even less sense after he started doing his speed-talking thing."

"Coco, everyone knowns fashion is your hobby. It was kind of obvious your topic was just a reason to talk about stuff you already know. This is just his way of challenging you."

"I get it, really. But this paper is two semesters of work, upper-divisions credits, outside my major, and is going to be a big part of my GPA. Not a fan here of branching out too far. Especially when I have all my other classes to worry about still."

"You said topics were due by October. Still time to figure things out."

"I guess. Hey, Daichi, you're in the class. What were you planning for the paper?"

"Meditational Practices."

"Sounds good I'm sure, though not as much help as I hoped. Any ideas I could use?"

"No. Unless…" Yatushashi's face changed as he slowly placed his bookmark, clearly stuck on some piece of an idea as he flipped to an earlier chapter. Nodding his head in confirmation before he handed it over for Coco to review. "Read the first paragraph here. Velvet could you also bring up the video you showed me the other day?"

"Which one?" Twisting in his lap to better understand him, Velvet's ears brushin`g against his nose with a familiarity that was unique for them. No one else dared touched her ears these days. Not with friends like hers.

"With the, the… hat."

"Oh, right!"

"'While accounts of the past are often exaggerated in their descriptions and accounts of historical figures, some remain even from modern times that question the limitations of both humans and faunus equally'." Coco looked up from the book with a face of genuine confusion. "You've got to be shitting me. The title of the chapter is 'Super Kung-Fu'. This is supposed to be about superpowers."

"Keep reading before you judge."

"'One specific example comes from the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fist,…'. Who?"

"From the Boxer Rebellion."

"Right. '…whose founding and early successes were in large part due to Quánlì Rén1, a faunus monk who proved on several occasions his ability to withstand gunfire thanks to his unbreakable skin. By the end of the rebellion, he was captured alongside several companions and sentenced to execution. However, it was then that he proceeded to ruin numerous blades in their attempts to behead him, after first proving that a firing line would not work. Attempts that were captured on multiple photographs, with solar cycles proving that they were spread across many months, and even include one which blurred when the blade shard was sent flying. See Figure 1. This is only one example where evidence exists in more modern time of kung-fu mythical abilities proving to work despite the lack of science behind it.' Rubbish, Oobleck would never let me get away with this."

"Ooh, Yatsu I found it. I can see why you wanted this one. Coco, come over here. You got to see this." Patting the bed eagerly as she angled the laptop screen her way, with the smile she could never refuse.

"Fine, fine, scooch over skinny butt. You get one shot before I start looking for a real idea."

The video came from AwesomePeople and as boldly titled 'The Inexplicable'. Starting out with a close shot of a blue fedora, before the camera zoomed out to show the wearer was an athletic young man with bright silver hair and a smirk that at best could be called rapscallion. Then it turned, showing him standing at close to a 45-degree angle, while continuing to zoom out to include the I-beam he stood on. Stuck as it was a few meters away from the top of the half-built skyscraper that it was a part of, and a dangerous place as any for this Michael Jackson tribute. The video paused there for half a second, just enough for the music to build up and his wink to reach the camera.

After that the video cut away, showing one clip after another of people doing what at best could be described as impossible. Coco was sure some of them were fake, CGI, wires, or just magic tricks to show off; but some weren't that simple. Like one clip of a girl standing up out of her wheelchair, on a high-quality security camera that even showed her stoic expression, as she proceeded to stop a 4-door sedan that was close to running her over and even begin to pick it up. Another had a German General, a war-hero in by all accounts, display impossible accuracy at a firing range despite being a triple amputee. A few others were simply news article headlines, showed just long enough for highlights such as 'Paralympic Gold Medalist Wins Bar-fight'. Compared to another which was a documentary on meditation and showed one lady who could use concentration to raise her body temperature well into the fever range without any harm to her body.

None of it should have been possible, but just like the fedora guy there was always something that didn't add up to make it be anything but real. Like the close-up of his boots that made it clear the I-beam was unmarred and there was not a wire or a nail, all the usual tricks, to hold him there. Michael Jackson may have had a patent on his side, but whoever this guy was he seemed to have simply ignored gravity for the sake of stunt.

"All right. I'm listening."

VAV

New Mombasa, Kenya

V

"Hey assholes! You even listening?"

"Fox knocked on the door harder, but all he heard was the two guys on the other side keep talking, loudly, and ignore him. It was almost 2 AM and they were keeping him from getting any sleep with their talking and gunshots. Worse, they were keeping his grandmother awake. Meaning that at this point he really did not care about much else other than getting them to shut their bleeding traps.

Too lazy to try and translate whatever it was they were saying, he pulled out his scroll as he hammered on the door again. "Lisa, translate 'Be quiet or else' into Swahili." As he raised the volume and pressed it to the door.

This time the door opened. The neighbor talking quickly in his native tongue to make any translation on Fox's part impossible given his own language skills. But it was curt and hostile, with a distinctive tone of 'what do you want?' Judging by the sound, the guy was also doing his level best to intimidate him by getting up in his face. Which at an earlier hour would have been funny, now it just made him want to punch the guy.

"Lisa, translate…"

Then he was cut off by the partner calling from somewhere back in the apartment. Annoying enough without his scrolls response, "That means: 'shoot the motherfucker already' in Swahili."

The one at the door must have agreed with him, because it was followed by a metallic cocking noise from right behind the door as it creaked open.

"Fucking hell." Was all the time Fox had left as he kicked it open the rest of the way.

VAV

Midsomer, England

V

"Okay then, how do I make this work? It's a SoAn2 class. Even if I could 'prove' superpowers, that doesn't meet the topic requirements."

Velvet and Daichi shared a look of doubt, apparently neither had gotten past the initial catch for the paper. Turning it into something feasible took an extra step, which Velvet supplied hesitantly at her boyfriend's prompting. "Well you need to discuss the effects of historical recurrence3 on past and present societies, and you already have the one example from the book. All you need to do is hunt down some more people with this kind of kung-fu mystical shenanigans, and then explain the larger effect that they had on the others around them. The video is practically a grocery list for interviews for modern examples, and you know Professor Oobleck would love that. Maybe cite some sources for or against any of them actually doing this, but the point of the essay should really be on how they're perceived."

Coco reached around to ruffle Velvet's hair as she responded, "Look at that, my little physics major acting all social science-y. Daichi, I'm going to have to keep her."

"5'6" is not little, you just wear heels all the time."

"They're not that high."

"And you're an engineering student, no room to talk."

"Relax, I'm just messing with you. It sounds good, the kind of topic Oobleck would approve of. Not making things easy for me though, this was supposed to be my easy credits."

"Every experience holds within it a blessing. A student must simply search for each one." Yatsu said as he retrieved his book. "And you could use a new challenge."

VAV

New Mombasa, Kenya

V

Fox was heaving in the center of the room when the New Mobasa Police entered, drawing their weapons after a moment of shock. Not that he could blame them, the room probably liked like a mess. Gunfire did that to a place. Plus, he had broken what was probably a table when he thrown the guy onto and through it. Then here he was bruised, bleeding from a cut across his abdomen, and from experience the other two were going to look worse. Tables would do that to a person, that and the butt stroke from their Ak-47 to the temple probably looked bad, along with the mouth of whichever one he had smashed his elbow into a couple times. What could he say? It was a hell of a fight.

The cops were yelling at him to. In Swahili, of course. Which meant he had no idea what they were yelling. He could guess though. Not like it was his first time. Getting down on his knees, Fox clasped his hands behind his head and between adrenaline filled breaths reminded himself that it could be worse. The karambits were still up in Bibi's apartment, and they always looked suspicious.

Ma'am stay back

Oh, it's okay. I just need to give my grandson his cane. He could his Bibi pushing her way through the doorway and past the officers whose gear was still leveled on him. She was old enough, grown up in a different time, to make intimidation a lost cause, even as she leaned over him to inspect his bruised face. "How are you Mjukuu? Not hurt?"

"I'm fine Bibi, just tired."

You called us about someone threatening your grandson. One of the officers asked, his voice edged with concern. Apparently, the room looked as bad as Fox expected. No surprise.

Yes this is him.

…You said that your blind grandson was being attacked.

I did. He just came down here to complain about the noise so I could sleep. They must have attacked him, but he's always been such a strong boy. You should see his medals. I was so proud of him.

"Bibi, do you think I could have my cane before they arrest me?"

VAV

VAV

"English", Swahili

1: This man is in no way based on, related to, or named after Luke Cage. That would be crazy.

2: SoAn=Sociology and Anthropology

3: Historic recurrence is the repetition of similar events in history.

V

This is a multi-chapter fic, current outlined at 14-15 long. Chapters are going to vary in length according to needs of the plot, but expect them to average 2000.

This story is set around the globe, however I've traveled far less and cannot speak any other languages, so this has been compensated as best as possible. If I have dramatically insulted something culturally, tell me and I'll fix it. Likewise this starts with Fox being Blind and will include other characters that are similarly handicapped. I've done my best to research, but if I horribly screw up tell me. I would much rather it be accurate.

Already have some chapters written, so let's spar and see what happens.