Chương 69: Cherry-Flavored

The two dopes stared at me in dawning horror.

"I think I wasn't making myself clear. I'm not great with words. When I say causing trouble, I mean pissing me off. You know better than to piss me off, at least now you do. So once I get those two things from you, there won't be any worries about pissing me off." My fingers began to curl, putting more of my strength into those finer points. They could see indentations in the wood. Signs of splintering.

"So are you going to help, or are you going to piss me off?" I stared. There were no plans on hurting them, intentionally at least. But I definitely channeled some thoughts of horrible violence I wanted to inflict on many people I did want to hurt. I imposed Gleditsia and Tancred's faces on them in my head. That theater class really did give me one good skill, at least. That might have changed my expression a little, as they suddenly backed away from the door. Joe-Joe began speaking.

"Alright fuck this shit, we found it in the sewer and wanted to fuck with Mr. Bell because it was funny. We said we'd fix his TV, and when he let us in we snuck it into the toilet tank and it probably sleeps there. It likes cat food."

"Do you have a can?"

"Yeah, fucking, we've got a whole box, just take it and screw!" One moved out of the way of the door, and rustling could be heard before he handed me a package of multiple tins of wet cat food. Little Miss Kitty's Yum-Yum Tuna — Cherry -Flavored. Didn't know cats liked cherries. Picking up the package, I gave the door a light smack. Not enough to break it, but enough to leave a small hand-print.

"You ever bother anyone again, Tyson here will tell me and I'll come back. Okay?" They quietly nodded as I reached for the door handle and yanked the door shut for them, looking back to Tyson. His eyes were wide with either fear or surprise. I was used to fear at this point, so it didn't sting that much.

"You..."

"I promise I have a Blue Card."

"No like that was fucking cool! I didn't know you were like that, man! I thought you were one of those sad emo dudes!" My face scrunched, not really familiar with the word, and too overwhelmed with confusion to handle the sudden praise.

"Thanks, I guess. Come on, I gotta help Mr. Bell with the alien rat thing now." As we headed up the stairs, I started thinking. Alien? Cat food? No, it couldn't be. There were a lot of ridiculous connections I could make, but that would just be a step too far. Putting that thought away into the little box in the corner of my mind to hopefully be forgotten forever, we arrived at Mr. Bell's apartment door. With a knock, he let us in with a joy that made him look ten years younger.

"Thank you so so much for your help, I really haven't been able to find the thing. Why do you have cat food?"

"Apparently the scumbags who put the thing here have been feeding it cat food. So I'm gonna lure it out with the rest of their supply. Where's your bathroom?" He led me to his bathroom, and upon opening the door, I saw no signs of any danger or disruption. Just an old man's toilet and shower.

"I'll take a look, you should go wait on your couch or something so that if it runs out you aren't pounced on or anything," I explain to him. As he follows the request, I recall them saying it was in the toilet tank most likely. Lifting the top of the tank up, I saw... Water. Very clean metal interior too. Oddly clean, really. Almost mirror-smooth, pure chro- Wait why is it movi- The silvery material was suddenly on my face, sharp ends trying to dig into my cheeks and jaw.

What good sense there was in me during that moment of shock got me to focus my strength on all the points it was jabbing, making it fail to find any purchase breaking my skin. It was more effort than I expected to hold my ground given I also had to forcibly close my eyes and keep my lips shut taut. Exploring my hand along the cat food box, I managed to pull a tin out and breach the opening with my finger right when I felt cool metal reaching up my nose.

Before it invaded my sinuses fully, it snapped away and piled into the tin, practically vanishing. I could feel it dinging around inside the tin, which made me realize that it was finishing the food fast. Setting it on the counter, I started opening multiple tins of the cat food. In a blur it hopped from tin to tin, emptying them all before finally oozing out of one in my hand. Squinting at the liquid metal, the familiarity was inarguable.

It was the stupid fucking thing I encountered the same day this whole mess started. The guy who had it called it Shivvy. For now, it seemed content to lounge inside the emptied cat food tin, and I carried it out from the bathroom where Tyson and the old man were quietly watching.

"You okay, man? I heard a bunch of clattering and was about to get the cops." I nodded, feeling some residual itching on my face from where Shivvy managed to scratch at it. Didn't notice any wetness, so skin wasn't really broken at least.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Found your alien rat though, Mr. Bell." Holding up the tin, I used a finger to scoop up a little bit of Shivvy to show off its appearance to the others.

"Oh my goodness!" Mr. Bell called out.

"Looks like what they used to put in thermometers!"

"Yeah, that's some old sci-fi movie stuff! What is it?" Tyson asked, taking an inquisitive step closer. I shook my head.

"Not a clue. I should probably get it out of here, though. We'll have to study another time, Tyson."

"Where you gonna bring it?"

"No clue yet. Might stop by UVA and see if any of them want to examine this." Looking up from the liquid metal as it seemed almost slack in my hands, I saw Tyson's face proper. He wasn't confused or upset, but there was clearly a worry in his eyes. A kind of worry I only ever saw in one other person's eyes. They really were related. Shit. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"You sure that's a good idea, man?"

"You thought me confronting those two dopes wasn't a good idea, either." He pursed his lips, nodding.

"True. True. Do you need like a ride home or anything like that?"

"No, I live nearby. Just might need some more food for this thing, need to figure out where I can get maybe some jerky or something..." Mr. Bell spoke up.

"I have some Spam if you want."

"How much are you willing to part with?"

"I have two hundred cans of Spam in my pantry. Take as much as you want!" Tyson and I both stared at him. While I was trying to process how I could fit two hundred cans in my hand, Tyson blurted out "That's like a hundred and fifty pounds of just Spam! Where do you even keep that!?"

"In my pantry, I just told you!" Glancing over at Tyson, my eyebrow went up.

"How do you know how much that weighs?"

"Well, I know how much a Spam can weighs. Twelve ounces. Multiplied that by two, then a hundred, then I just... divided by sixteen to get it in pounds."

"That's not the part I was wondering about."

"Oh I'm broke as Hell, so I get Spam all the time." Slowly, I nodded, before looking back to Mr. Bell.

"Could I take ten cans? should be able to fit those in my pockets." Leading us to the pantry, when he opened up the door it was... just Spam. Ceiling to floor, cans of Spam. I just grabbed ten cans and shoved them into my jacket's pockets, before shoving Shivvy and its own cat food tin in the same pocket. My jacket was gonna smell awful until this was washed.

"Thanks again," I added, before Mr. Bell grabbed one of my hands to shake it again.

"No, thank you! I haven't gotten more than four hours of sleep in a week! I thought they were gonna Baker Act me for freaking out about it! I can actually get some rest now! I'm ready for the longest nap I've had in years. Thank you so much! If you ever need anything, you come here and I'll do anything in my power to help you, I swears on it!" Slowly nodding, I backed out of the apartment and made my exit after saying my goodbye to Tyson.

He looked a bit disappointed, but unfortunately disappointing people was another one of my skills. Dipping into one of the alleys outside of the apartment, I managed to leap up to the rooftops and begin my strides back towards the base. There was only one goal I had in mind from there, though most of the trip was me browbeating myself. If those morons had guns I would've likely given up my identity entirely. If they were actually connected to the drug ring they could've possibly figured out I used to be Crunch.

And now I've got an alien weapon in my fucking hands, one that was going to try and kill me twice now. Had to make sure this wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass. Finally arriving at the base, I didn't bother to look around when I dived into the trash-can chute and flopped into the foam pit. Rushing out into Sam's lab, I lept from the top of the steps to the bottom. My legs didn't even buzz from these kinds of falls anymore. I could just focus it all on my feet and feel nothing.

Higher jumps weren't as easy, but these were. Sam immediately flinched upon seeing me, fear clear behind her glasses. I didn't wait or start with any niceties.

"I'm still pissed at you, but I need your help."

"W-with what?" Approaching her, I yanked Shivvy's tin out and held it up to her. She looked down at it with a raised eyebrow, before looking back up at me.

"Cat food? D-did you want a pet, or-""No, I-" Looking at the tin, Shivvy seemed to have entirely gone into it. I yanked the lid off to reveal its shiny form to Sam.

"I found this."

"Mercury? Did you find it somewhere weird?"

"No. This is an alien. I think."

"... Are you okay, Leo?"

"Please take me seriously. On the day I got arrested, I fought a guy who had this thing. It turned into a weapon. It's something he said was from when the aliens invaded in the 70s. It's just... full, I think, and napping." Reaching into the tin, knowing full-well I would regret it, I hooked a finger into it to try and scoop up a portion of it. The metallic lifeform started to... bulge with dulled spiky protrusions for a second, before suddenly coiling up my finger.

"Oh my God-" Sam gasped out. Shivvy moved up along my arm, darting around my body before shooting into my jacket's pocket half-way. The trail leading out of it moved one of the Spam cans along, before extending it and dropping it into my hand.

"Doesn't know how to open cans, I guess." Cranking open the can of Spam, Shivvy lunged in, piling over the visible meat and slowly sinking down into the can. Sam was just staring in shock before I spoke to her.

"You get it now?"

"How did you find it?"

"Guess it ended up in the sewers. Two losers found it and were using it to play pranks on an old man. I spooked them into telling me about it, and I managed to lure it out with cat food."

"Why cat food?"

"They said it liked cat food. When Tancred interrogated the guy who had it before, he said he fed it mostly cat food and steak. It likes meat, I guess?" Sam's fear fell from her face as she took a more analytical gaze at it.

"Oh. Iron."

"What do you mean iron?"

"Cat food's usually fortified with iron. Steak is red meat, it's gonna have iron too. Specifically heme iron, it's super easy to absorb for living things. I guess for... liquid metal guys too. Since it's also metal. He's gonna be real disappointed to find out Spam's barely got any. Does it have a name?"

"The guy called it Shivvy. I'm not good with names, and I don't know if it hears people."

"I wouldn't even know. I don't know how I would study it. Do you know anything it does?"

"Besides the stretching and stuff? It turned into this ugly-looking sword at one point." Sam hummed, rubbing her chin.

"There's got to be a way to communicate with it if it could take on specific shapes. Alright, I'm not a zoologist but I have an idea for now." I knew I was going to regret asking.

"What's the idea?"

"Treat it like an animal. Animal rehabilitators tend to build communication and trust with animals by being near them all the time, especially when they eat. If you're feeding it, it might build trust with you."

"Why me?" Her hands went into her labcoat's pockets.

"Do you really want an answer?"

"Kind of," I admitted.

"Look at your situation. You're constantly beating yourself up-""I'm not looking to hear about tha-""Let me talk, Leo!" She yapped out, causing me to actually flinch a little.

"I get you don't want to hear about it, but I'm trying to make my point here. I get enough interruption from Tancred." Letting out an exhale, I nodded.

"Fine. Go ahead."

"You're constantly beating yourself up for what happened at the raid. You refuse every opportunity to try and recontextualize the good parts of you. For crying out loud, you just helped an old guy for no reason that wasn't a moral one. Maybe if you have something to take care of and enable better behaviors, you'll have something good to look at instead."

"I'm not here to raise pets, Sam."

"Try it for a week. I need that much time to figure out how I'd even contain Shivvy anyway."

"Are you actually going with that name?"

"You got a better one?"

"I didn't think we'd be naming it at all."

"It's ostensibly a living thing, it deserves a name, Leo." Sighing, I just conceded to it so she wouldn't keep pushing it along.

"How would I even raise this thing like a pet?"

"Well," she started, humming in thought to find the remaining words.

"For starters, stop calling it a thing. No 'it' either, actually. Go with 'he' for now."

"Why he?"

"Well, he got kicked out of Richmond like you, has a history of violence like you, and was a stray like you. Might as well be a boy like you too." I rolled my eyes.

"And use his name, call him Shivvy! Feed him too, let him hang out with you while you study. That Spam probably won't last long, though. I don't think Tancred needs to know about this thing, so I'll handle going out and getting him better iron-rich foods." No protests from me about keeping Tancred in the dark about things. He did it so much to me that it was only fair he get a taste of his own medicine.

"What are you going to get him?" I asked, internally kicking myself for immediately following along with her suggestion.

"Canned oysters and sardines. The oysters are super high in iron, and the sardines in calcium. Two metals that might help satiate him. I'll head out now." Without even a goodbye, she brushed past me and rushed up the stairs, popping out of the door. Looking down, I observed the can full of liquid metal as it practically napped inside of it. Great. More shit to take care of.