Disclaimer: Don't own.
:}
"So, no side effects from my attempts to enhance the damn thing?" Jade asked.
"Just one." Meredith's voice cut through the conversation. "He's able to fight better. Not stronger, not just because of the amulets odd abilities, but it seems to have absorbed all that fighting skill you'd hoped to slip into the crown, or that's what that perve Dante said." She was standing in the doorway, smiling. "Got me a ride home, then got my car and came back. Figured I owed you a ride."
"Yea, thanks." Jade told her, standing up to head out. "Um, anyone explain what happened to you?"
"No, but I do know I'm stronger." The petite girl said. "Doctor Smith told me that my body is burning energy more efficiently, so I'm getting double the reaction time, strength, and endurance I used to have. Only, I recovered damn fast. So fast, I was up and ready to go in minutes. And, considering what mom could do, what she was, I figure I got me a healing factor. Just, don't know the details. Not thinking I wanna test them out either..." Her eyes lingered on the lab.
"You're like you're mom, only more so." Jade told her. "You'll recover fully from near fatal wounds in minutes, and live like forever."
"Forever, or really slow aging?" The agreeable girl asked.
"One day for every sixteen." Jade told her. "And you'll feel great, look great, even when your body is looking old and worn down. Longevity in addition to the longer lifespan."
"I'm seventeen now, so..." The shorter girl started doing the math. "At least I look like I could pass as older, if I dress appropriately."
"Two hundred years, plus, before you look thirty." Jade said, out loud. "Things could be worse."
"I'll bury my children." Meredith noted. "I'll outlive my fucking grandchildren. I.. I..."
"It's the price for making your mothers dream come true." The blue eyed girl tried. It was, she knew, a cold comfort, but it was what she had. "Meri, I get it, you probably didn't want this side effect..."
"I can still read the guards." Meredith interrupted. "So, I guess, I'm gonna be a hero now, right?"
"If you wanna." Jade offered. "I, for one, would love to train with you. Reggie, he's been pushing me, and even with that amulet, I'm not gonna be sparring with Rob any time soon. But maybe, given you're hella quicker now, we can box. Just, don't hurt me, I don't heal so fast."
"I'll clear it with Lane." Meredith agreed. "Just, I've been fighting, training, longer then anyone. Even Trina. I'm a very good fighter."
"Warning me?" Jade asked.
"Figured it'd be better this way." She nodded. "And maybe, maybe Beck won't be so scared to ask me out if he's not worried about..." She stopped at the look Jade was giving. "What?"
"You've never read Beck?" The taller girl asked.
"I did, once." She said. "After he dumped me for you. Stupid boy, he had no idea you'd wind up with Tori…." Her eyes lingered on Jade. "I just, I know what people want, and I try to give it to them, but it ruins my life. So I make it a point not to read everyone I deal with personally. It's like a book. I can see the words, but don't have to read them. In fact, I've trained myself to ignore them so people can have their privacy. If I had read Beck, earlier, I'd have known he liked girls a bit more, er, dramatic."
"No, you'd have known he didn't know what he liked." Jade corrected. By now, they were getting in the nice girls car, an uncomfortably new 4 door Volkswagen Golf hatchback. Jade was more amazed at the practicality of the car then the lack of sportiness. "Beck discovered, from dating you, he liked the challenge. So, that's why he got back with me. Only, then, I go and do something stupid, and get myself arrested. Stupid of me, not having a backup plan."
"Hay, I'm not complaining." Meredith said. "You're gonna be burned out for a while, but I get to fulfill my moms dreams. Now I just have to make sure to have a couple of my own." She glanced sideways at the other girl. "Um, know any hot guys who like agreeable girls?"
"Lets try Andre." Jade chuckled. "Only, from what I've seen, he doesn't seem to date girls long, so..."
"Lets get you home." Meri said, and they were off. "So, did you know Rob's cousin works there? She's the nurse..."
Jade was amazed, as she was dropped off at home, that she somehow managed to bond a bit with the agreeable girl. 'If I wasn't into Tori...' She smiled. It wasn't what she wanted to think, but her whole world had been opened, and now, she felt better about the weird.
"Jade, you're home?" Her mother exclaimed.
'Why does she always sound so surprised.' Jade thought as she entered the house. 'And disappointed.' The thought soured her jovial mood. "I'm kinda burnt from today's exercises, from the program, so..." Jade sought anything she could tell her mother.
"She's not as upset as she seems." A voice echoed in her mind. "She's just, she doesn't know what to think any more. You need to reassure her that you're not following in your grandfathers footsteps. Or your uncles, for that mater."
"Right." Jade said, then she felt it, the exhaustion, again. "Um, mom, we need to talk, but the thing I did today, to help my probation, it's drained me worse then that weekend, my god, was it just last week?" The pale girl almost fainted, forcing herself to stagger towards the couch, and the strange man sitting there.
The strange man who effortlessly lifted her, carrying her the rest of the way, and laid her down on the couch. "You weren't kidding." He said, smiling. "God, you're worn. I'd call a doctor, but your mother said you have medical personal where you're doing this program, so..." He smiled again at her.
Blue eyes took in the tall, imposing older man hovering above her. Old warnings about strangers, mixing with her darker memories, screamed that this wasn't a position she wanted to be in, even if the last time, it was just touching. "No offense." Jade said, but the pathways weren't open yet, so the power only gurgled in her veins.
"Not going to let you hurt yourself." Koval informed her. "I'll make sure this man isn't planning on doing anything inappropriate." There was a feeling of the lion growing, assuming some kind of attack posture Jade was sure was futile. Her familiar was in the spirit realm, and thus could not touch this one. Now without her help, at least.
"Karl." The man introduced himself. "Um, sorry, but I.." He blushed, standing tall and stepping back. "I have a daughter of my own, a little younger then you, and I'd be enraged if I saw some strange man hovering over her like I was to you. Now, if I were a doctor, then maybe it'd be okay, but a truck driver..."
"Jade's okay." Ginger, her mother, told Karl.
"Maybe, but I'm gonna wanna check in the morning." He replied. "Oh, yea, I'm kinda dating your mom. Er, does sleeping together count? I mean, we would, date that is, except my wife, she's not yet signed the divorce papers, really dragging her feet on those, and it'd be wrong to lead Ginger here on…."
"Kay, but could I have maybe five minutes alone with my mom?" Jade asked the obviously nice man, her voice straining to get that much out. She suspected he could ramble on a bit, and she really needed to square things with her mother before her energy ran out. 'Okay, who is he and how is it mom found a nice guy who's also a bastard?' She marshaled her will so she could continue to speak.
"Sure." Karl said. "Ginger, when you're done, I'll be in your bedroom. Um, that is, unless you want me to maybe make you both something? I used to work as a short order cook, up until I finished my training and became a truck driver."
"I ate at the program." Jade said. 'Man did I eat. No kidding, I was famished. Um, lion...'
"Koval." The familiar reinforced.
'Should I eat again?' She thought hard.
"No, I made sure you had enough." The spirit lion said. "No sense in putting you in any more danger. We know what a risk your home life can be sometimes."
Karl left them alone, and Jade pounced. "Mom, just wanted you to know, I'm doing good now. I… today, I helped them train two potential heroes, one is real determined to do good. I'm on the right track now, and I'm not gonna disappoint you, or grandpa, or anyone."
"That's good to hear." Ginger said to her daughter. "Now rest dear, and we'll talk about this later, okay?"
"Okay." Jade was sleepy, barely awake. "Let me just rest here."
"No, I'm gonna get Karl to carry you to your room." The woman didn't seem to see any problems with that plan. Jade would be carried to her bedroom by a strange men who, despite dating her mother, was a stranger to her. Possibly not that well known to Ginger. But Jade was trusted to this man, while so drained as to be almost unresponsive.
Jade felt herself lifted again, and carried to the room. Jade's boots were removed, then she was lain on the bed, her comforter pulled over her. Barely awake, she saw him smile as he hesitated at the door. "Don't worry, big fella. Not nearly dumb enough to harass anyone with something as imposing as you watching out for her." Karl told Koval as he made his exit.
Jade would wake, hours later, thinking "Okay, now we have a problem."
Beck was smiling as he waited, looking around Maestro's, not sure what to think yet. "Mister Oliver, this way please." A man in an expensive suit called, motioning for the young man to join him, and half a dozen others, in a private room the boy hadn't even realized existed.
"So, this is the wunderkind, huh?" One of the men in the room said. He was wearing a nice shirt and slacks, looking almost military in his attitude and bearing. Solid, in fantastic shape, this man's buzzed cut brown hair and no nonsense attitude screamed professional. Cold gray eyes measured Beck, and apparently didn't find him worthy.
"Officer Hogan, please." The man in the expensive suit cautioned. "We're all here because of Project Steel Copper. You four men, including you, mister Oliver, are the one's who've been working at mastering the armor, and we wanted to have a few words with all of you."
An older man in a fitted Italian suit took this moment to speak. "Mister Koury, please, introductions are required." The older man smiled at the gathering, the four men, three of whom Beck guessed were police officers. Officers who were obviously in very good shape, and with years of service under their belts. "I'm Maxwell Van Dyne, representing Police Tech Industries, the people behind a good deal of the development of Project Steel Copper. As such, I am one of the people who gets to sign off on potential test pilots." He smiled. "Mister Oliver here was highly recommended by no less then V, as well as Blue Steel himself."
"And V is?" Hogan growled, obviously not happy about this mans presence either.
"One highly placed in the various meta human studies and there related enhancement projects." Mister Koury filled in. "Sorry, I'm Richard Koury, and I'm with the mayors office. As you can no doubt guess, we're also on the list of people who have veto power over would be pilots of the Steel Copper project. The mayor has been watching all of you training in using the armor, and we decided, in addition to having a couple of others who wanted to meet you, that this would be a great opportunity for you all to meet one another, compare notes, and see why Mister Oliver is doing so well. See, Beck, may I call you Beck? Anyways, mister Oliver, er, Beck, right now, you're already learning to fly, while the others, who've all been training twice as long as you have, have barely figured out how to walk in the armor."
"We're up to running." One of the others noted. "But yea, you're like months ahead, already, and we think it's cause Blue Steel himself has been giving you pointers."
"Actually, I was told it was because the armor was self learning." Beck said. "That means, er, shouldn't you all have mastered the weapons by now?"
"We're having trouble adjusting." One of the officers deflected. "You, you seem to just fly by us, no pun intended."
"Yea, I just open up, and let the process happen." Beck said, chuckling. "It was a trip, when at first, I had to adjust to the movements. Muscles in the armor are much stronger, and react quicker, then I'm used to. I originally though it'd be days, weeks, before I was able to walk across the room. But I'm flexible, learned to keep an open mind in my improve classes, so it was just a mater of not fighting the armor so much as figuring out what it was trying to do, and going with that."
"So, the though impulse detection and analyzation units are better able to read your moves because, and this is just my interpreting what you were saying, but it does so because you're more flexible in your thought process?" Mister Van Dyne noted. "That tracks. See, when we were choosing out police officers, we were looking for a certain mental mold, people with a defined mind set we though was the most dependable. A certain type of discipline. You're young, flexible mind, trained to adapt as much as the armor did with you, made the process easier."
"Sorry, what?" Hogan said, but his tone hinted that he was aware of what the business man was trying to say, and it offended him.
"I'm just saying that, a successful police officer, they often have a certain way of thinking, and it can be a bit ridged. Not good or bad, just a certain way of thinking works best for a police officer." Van Dyne explained. "You three represent the maximum absorption of our desired programming. Simply put, we chose people who were, in the end, poor choices to use this system. Again, nothing against you three, because all of you are what we at the time considered ideal for this process. We see good careers for all three of you, with hope that you get permoted soon."
"Future detectives." Beck said, nodding along. But out of the corner of his eye, he could see the look on Mister Koury face. 'No, these are the grunts of the police, the guys with the ridged thinking they want, but would never promote to any position that requires thinking outside the box. Maybe they'll make detective, maybe they'll be street cops the rest of their lives, but they lack whatever it is that the mayor thinks would make a good investigative officer. Now I get why they were chosen, and I'm succeeding. Ridged thinking is what so many people want in their obedient grunts, and the armor, it is powerful. No one wants to trust that kind of power to someone who's not programmed to do what they want you to do. So...' He exhaled, smiling at the others as they all frowned.
"...Not that we're gonna end your involvement in the program." Van Dyne continued. "We're just going to adjust what we're using you for. Develop some weapon systems that are worthy of your skills, but work on a different control frequency."
"Plus, the Police Tech Armor we already have uses a different method of converting desire into movement." The last police officer chimed in. "Honestly, this way, using our thoughts, it feels quicker, and when I helped restrain Wave-maker, we all moved so slowly compared to him. It made sense that the original Police Tech Armor was never used in the field. God, if Dahlia had turned stag, would any of them have been able to stop her?"
Beck looked, really looked, at the last officer. "Um I was part of the Project Redemption armored special guard before I was picked to be a part of this program." He explained. "Good thing I was too, cause the hard core guys like me who were still there, V excommunicated all of them, just because they may have violated this Dahlia's rights a little bit."
Hogan surprised Beck when he glared daggers at the last officer. "I don't care if their criminal scum, cause I know what violate their rights often means. The original Black Dahlia was a woman, so I'm guessing this one, this Dahlia, is a woman too? And you guys just had your fun tearing her down, didn't you? Do you know how dangerous crap like that makes it for those of us on the street? Word gets out, and the bad guys, they decide they don't wanna surrender, and they run, or fight, and good cops get hurt trying to stop them. No, we may not like 'em, cause they're scum, but we make sure the only rights they lose are the unimportant ones. So, this girl, it was a girl, right?" His eyes lingered long enough to conclude it was. "Was she subjected to any worse then we'd allow in county lockup?" A heartbeat passed. "Yea, you weren't there, but you already know she was. I hope you know, if you can't do better, then there's no place for you in a program like this. We serve and protect, even if, and especially if their lesser then we are."
"Okay, we know a little more about you, officer Hogan, then I expected to at this point." Koury interrupted. "Anyways, we wanted to get to know you, because we're all gonna be on the same team from this point forward."
"I thought I was specifically recruit to work with the Black Dahlia, make sure she adapts to the program." Beck protested. "Make sure she's not a threat to anyone, not after what they put her though..." He gave a half smile to Hogan. "I don't know much, just it was bad enough that the guy who was in charge lost the position because of what he did to her."
"I saw her." The second officer said. "The big trainings we did. Both a while ago, where she was used as a stand in villain, and then the last one, where she hurt herself trying to rescue as many people as she could. Not sure how much of her new attitude was the old guy, and how much was V, but I like what I saw in the last one. Girls has loads of power, and was almost heroic in her action during that last training. If I wasn't so scared about the power part, I'd say we had a good thing going. Only, she's related to Pandion, and I don't know how much you know about him..." The man let the moment slip into silence.
"So, Beck, tell us about acting." Van Dyne shifted. "Maybe you could run an improve workshop or two for the guys? Help bonding, as well as loosen them up for Project Titanium Shield."
:}
A bit more on Meredith, as well as letting us know a bit more about Steel copper, and the police they chose to pilot it. Also, we got a moment where jade got to work a touch out with her mom, seeing not only is the woman capable of caring, but she also has her own issues. Plus, Jade's mom is dating again, and I do tend to give her a type. Of course, this guy, Karl, I'm thinking there might just be a touch more to him then meets the eye. We could ask Koval, I think, but he's not answering me. Maybe I offer him a nice, plump gazelle?
Thoughts.