Chương 64: Ka

64: Ka Electricity digging its claws into my neck, my head, my eyes, everywhere that my senses could fight caused me to struggle with the words I was hearing. My tensed body started instinctively backing away, some inner prey instinct telling me to avoid certain death. As the agony swelled to a boil, it suddenly stopped, my mind racing with soreness and confusion.

"What-" Sharpness in the throat. Instantly dried out by that.

"W-what the Hell was that?" I wheezed out, my throat hoarse yet again from the jolt that coursed through me.

"Oh dear, were you not told?" Casney asked, letting go of my hand as he slipped his suit jacket off, revealing log-thick limbs barely contained within the sleeves of his button up shirt. He tossed the jacket aside and rolled his shoulders.

"You see, I was informed you have a situation with your powers where, your brain's not really allocatin' resources correctly. You think too hard, your personality turns off. You use your powers too much, there goes your humanity. Not enough watts for your fusebox, sport." The agent began stretching as my mind tried reaching out for- The electricity was back. My body tensed up. Taking his words to heart, I tried to empty my head, and the jolting ended.

While pulling one arm across his chest to stretch his shoulder, Casney continued.

"So I commissioned your little friend there to set up a device that read your brainwaves and confirm when your brain would start slippin' into your tactical or your power-based mindset, or both, you get a zap. Enough to tense your muscles and hurt like Hell. Won't kill ya' or anythin'. You're no use dead." Commissioned. Sam made- My head snapped on a pivot; my gaze shooting out the window. I could see her, behind one of the tables. There was fear in her eyes, like she was at the gallows. She knew how I'd react.

She didn't tell me to save her own life. Just like everyone else.

"You see... As much as I want to know what your powers really are at the core of it, we gotta get them under control first. You're unrestrained. That's useless to me, kid. Useless to the United States, and its God-blessed constituents-" Didn't care. I lunged, feeling the masonry below me give way. The electricity dug its talons into me again, but I could tolerate it for a second. There was too much hurt in me. I had to vent it out somewhere, and he was right in front of me.

Already took one life, what would ano- Fist. That took my vision for a second. Just the world shutting off as a cold flame rocketed through my nose, radiating to the back of my head. When my vision returned, I was sprawled onto my back. Casney was shaking his hand, blood visible on his fingers.

"God damn, you're like hittin' a bunker. Split my knuckle wide open. Good to know. Now, let me finish. We need to turn you into a needlepoint. We need a way to focus your powers." He grinned. There was no warmth in the smile. It was like some ancient reptile. A dinosaur. He was predator. I was prey.

"That's where I come in. You see, Auditors... the Commission doesn't like hirin' the brick shithouses normally. Not many Auditors have powers, only about one in twenty. And they prefer the more esoteric ones. Me? I'm the exception, because I got grandfathered in. I hit hard and I can't die. God's reward for my patriotism." He held up his hand, the split-open knuckle knitting closed.

"I'm the choice they pick for heroes that are just... a bit too tough. When the Commission needs someone who can at least stay on their feet. I bet Tancred's told you that I tend to be... lethal with my threats, right?" I wheezed as I pushed myself back to my feet.

"Completely true. But I did it by attrition. Waited 'em out. Gonna do that with you here. I'm gonna just start hurtin' you 'til you're crippled or you figure out your balancin' act. And I'm gonna do some talkin' too, if you don't mind. I don't get a lot of time to lecture, nowadays." In an instant, he was on one leg. The other was flying towards the side of my head, sending me back down to the ground with a TH U D. I groaned as I brought myself standing again, his voice not stopping.

"I take a rule to be quite honest. You'll never get a lie out of me. Made my career in intelligence... difficult. But I've gotten this far, so clearly it's done somethin' right! So let me start with some real hard truths for you, son." Another fist, swinging up towards me. I managed to get my arms in the way, which was probably the worst move as I just felt thunder accompany the lightning in my body, sending me hurtling back but thankfully still on my feet. He continued approaching.

"I love hurtin' people.

'Specially the strong ones who ain't allowed to fight back. I'm a real bully like that. Tancred put me in here because he was scared of hurtin' you. Said you had a scrap with him once. Was worried you'd pulverize him. They're all scared of you like that, son. All of 'em." He was suddenly in the air, both legs reared back. Gleditsia- he did a move like that. Catching Gleditsia got my arms torn up. Don't catch him. Something else. Push his legs aside? Burning.

The electricity rocked through me again, leaving me stock still and gasping for air as Casney's feet collided with my chest. I slammed into the wall, leaving all the air in my lungs behind on the way. Climbing back to his feet, Henry Casney rolled his shoulders again.

"You're the scariest thing in their life. You gotta learn to own it, son. There were presidents who wouldn't even look me in the eye thinking I'd squeeze 'em out like toothpaste!" Casney laughed this awful laugh, almost like a dog barking.

"You gotta learn to dig your heels, assert yourself as the big buck of the lick!" He followed up. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Was getting sick of his words. Sick of having the lasso on me. Pulling myself back to my feet, I just tried another lunge. Just tensing my legs up that time was enough for the shock to start and leave me paralyzed. Didn't even leave where i was standing. The electricity hurt to the point I nearly vomited on the spot.

"You keep doin' it, kid! You're not getting anywhere with that. You're making yourself too damn useless as a weapon here. Oh yeah, was supposed to mention that. All of you in the New Sentinels are weapons, technically. But they've all got lil' hitches that stop 'em." He started counting off of his fingers.

"The girl doesn't have the mindset for her powers. Got her leg taken from her already. The youngest of you is too head-in-the-clouds. Your leader is too physically weak." There was nothing he was saying that I didn't already know. None of it mattered, so I had no idea why he was telling me." You, however? You've got the brains, you've got the brawn, and you've got the pragmatism! The government loves you, boy!" He grabbed me by the head.

I had to force myself standing, ignoring the electricity as he pushed to try to dribble my head off the wall. I resisted, but the pain was becoming too much. I had to just let the tension give in and fall under him.

"And you're not returning the damn favor! Your powers don't work right and you don't have the balls! I'm gonna beat both into you or I'm gonna leave you sippin' your dinner through a straw for life! Now come on! Quit being a little pussycat!" As the auditor raised a foot, he tried to slam it down on me. He was too fast to roll away from. Only my arms could move. But I couldn't try to push him off. Just hold him still. I reached up to grab it, my body tensing for electricity to come, but... it didn't.

I was somehow holding on. I was holding him off without the electricity happening. I was thinking. What was happening- It was back. I kept thinking too much and now that was the issue. Strength was almost there. Maybe. The leg slipped from my grip, but my hold on it changed its direction, resulting in Casney stomping a hole in the floor. With that, his legs were spanned out above me. This was my only shot. I was taking it. My arm snapped forward, my fist slamming right where I wasn't supposed to.

A loud wheeze and groan came from Casney as he slumped over, holding a hand against the wall next to us as I crawled out from under him.

"Oh you are underhanded, boy! Not as bad as I thought, though. Looks like you've got your strength in check. Maybe not consciously, but your body's starting to adjust. I do want to recognize effort, so I'll stop mollywhoppin' you for a second. But we're not done with the testin'. Still gotta get everythin' in order." I got to my feet as he ranted, beginning to put my hands up as he suddenly grabbed my hands, bringing them out to either side. He interlaced his fingers with mine.

"The Orientals, they call things like this 'pushin' hands,' I don't really believe in any of that. This is just a fight for grip in good ol' catch-as-catch. I'm gonna push, you're gonna push back. Whoever loses balance is in the disadvantage, boy. You better get that advantage, or the beatin's begin again!" Immediately, I felt pressure on my palms from his. I just started pushing back, digging my feet in. It was hard, but I was managing to hold up. The collar wasn't going off.

I was able to put together the need for getting stronger without going too strong. That was a start. But it was a struggle at this point to still push against him. I wasn't able to go full tilt and he was capitalizing on it. The worst part was I had to focus on the grapple. No tactics. Just toeing the line and hoping he'd be as honorab- He wasn't. Casney's forehead slammed into my nose, sending me stumbling back and out of his grip, barely able to stay on my feet. Blood poured from a clear tear on his forehead.

The tear closed up as he laughed.

"Sorry about that! Didn't mean to be too deceitful there. But I had to get my lick in for your own underhanded play, after all. You haven't gotten your instincts in check yet, huh? Unfortunate, though, since I got the advantage." With two steps, he hopped over and brought a leg back, sending the heel flying towards my face. All I could do was force one of my lunges off to the side, sending me rolling along the ground as I wasn't able to catch myself with all the disorientation.

That's when I felt the concrete on my palms. When did I lose the mask? I was holding onto it when we got in the room. I must have dropped it after one of those early hits. Looking around, I found it just lying off to the side. In my peripheral, I saw Casney walking over.

"You know... startin' to think you might work better as just a bullet we point at people. If we have to pick between your instincts and your potential to kill people, we have enough instincts in the Commission. We need more killers." Bullshit. Looked like they had more than enough of those.

"Probably would be easy as pie to get you unconscious and just carve out all the important wrinkles in your brain. Turn you into that killer we need. Since, clearly, your instincts aren't worth much!" He called out with a laugh. I stared at him, using that rant as an opportunity to get some air. Felt like I hadn't taken a breath in hours. Casney kept knocking the wind out of me.

"What, nothin'? Come on, that usually scares people pretty good. Oh well, you'd probably be happy havin' to deal with less brain. Let me try... oh, I know a good fact for you." He raised a finger.

"We can turn off people's superpowers, you know." My body froze. Like animal in front of fresh bait, I just couldn't move. Not when something like that was put before me.

"Not every single power, but plenty can be turned off through the right methods. So much of yours is of the brain, I bet the right mix of nootropics, psychoactives, the like, would make your brain normal. We could've easily offered it to you, too." This whole time-"Tancred knew, by the way. He could've just offered to cure you and let you go off with a normal family after what happened." The auditor then put on that predatory smile again.

"He refused. All signs tell me he wanted you to be The New Sentinels' lethal arm, boy. You've been getting played from step one like this." My chest burned. It wasn't the electricity. Something else entirely. Anger. Hate.

"Unlike him, I'm gonna be honest with you. It's a lot easier to cooperate with an honest man, Leo. So come on-" He pounced through the air, legs curled up for another kick like before.

"Cooperate with an honest man!" He was flying at me. There was no time to think in detail. Just little movements, like-" He's just going in a straight line. Step to the side, push his legs." I heard it. From where the mask was laying. Barely a whisper. Easy instructions to follow, at least. Couldn't question them. Turning on a heel and moving to the side, I brought my right hand up and shoved his legs, sending him rolling off towards a wall. As he recovered, I rushed for the mask.

"Well then! You've got some instincts now. Let's see if we can really tip the scales." Picking up the mask, I looked at the back of it. Through the lenses. The last time I looked through them, I saw blood. Taking a deep breath, I strapped it back onto my face, knowing I'd regret it.

"Come on already, Leo." That's not who I was right now.