The man looked at Kai intently and then said, "Here is my daughter. Marry her please!"
"What?!"
Lexi Montreal furrowed her eyebrows as she looked father, then she smiled and looked at Kai, "Let's start over. I am Lexi Montreal and this is my dad Jacques Montreal."
When she said that Kai finally remembered who he is, 'No wonder he looked so familiar. He is the former Duke of The Lightning Clan. I didn't know he had a daughter…'
"I want to be Queen one day and as you know a partner is needed to achieve that goal. Anyway, I'd like that partner with you. I heard you want to be King… I have done my research on you and I have to say, I like what I see. You graduated first in the world. You have a current PI of 2400 which is just insane and now you are a 3rd generation surpasser. Oh and of course the most important of all, you are a lightning wielder like me. Your resume is looking rather impressive if I may add.
Kai nodded his head when he realized why they were here then he removed the ventilating machine from his mouth because it was hard to talk with it on, "I appreciate that and I am flattered but I take matters concerning my future very seriously. So forgive me if I sound rude but I am not going to just impetuously accept. As you said, I do want to be King and the Queen I choose needs to be strong too. Now it seems you know a lot about me but I know nothing of you… So you wouldn't mind showing me your PI and your academic history, would you?"
She smiled, "I wouldn't have it any other way." Then she looked to her father who reached into the inner pocket of his blazer. Then he took out two pieces of folded white paper. He unfolded it and gave it to Kai.
Kai looked at the papers and saw that it was certified and stamped by the lightning clan showing the legitimacy of the results. Then he began reading, 'Lexi Montreal, second-generation surpasser, 18 years of age, current PI of 2000. Enrolled at Strera Academy at age 6 where she graduated top of her class from age 7 onwards. Lexi Montreal has always been a talented individual going through multiple talent growths which kept her at the top of her class. However, she really started blooming at age 11. Suddenly as if out of nowhere her strength increased while she was going through a talent growth. Having no prior experience to explain this phenomenon, 'Dramatic Growth (1)' was coined as the term for it.'
Shocked, Kai rose his eyebrows involuntary, 'She is so talented they had to create a new word to quantify her rate of growth.' Then he continued to read.
'As only to add to the testament of her talent, she awoke as a Beginner Rankles at age 16. She is currently still a Beginner Rankles...'
Disappointed Kai dipped his chin to his chest and pressed his lips tightly when he saw she was still a Beginner Rankles despite going through metamorphosis 2 years ago.
Seeing Kai's reaction, "You must be at the part where it says I'm still a Beginner Rankles despite having 2 years to rank up."
Kai nodded his head.
"Well you see, a study revealed that surpassers who awoke before the age of 18 and ranked up are more likely to die early due to natural causes. Because they went through too many changes that the body could not deal with yet. This is also one of the reasons that it is illegal to sell Zolma meat to anybody under the age of 18. If someone is to become a 1st generation surpasser before the age of 18 they are not praised for it. Instead, are sent to a surpasser juvenile penitentiary. So in order to give my body time to grow, I have stayed at Beginner Rankles. Instead, I have been practising how to control my powers for the past two years. That's why my PI is so high."
Kai smiled when the misunderstanding was cleared. Where Jacques Montreal was frowning, 'Of course Drauton didn't teach you this. What else don't you know?'
Lexi glared at her father to make him put away his aura. Once her father complied she looked at Kai again, "Do you still want to read on?"
He shook his head, "No, you have proven yourself more than worthy but…"
Lexi smiled, "But paper is just paper right? I feel the same way. So how about we spar with each other? This way we can get a feel for one another then we can decide whether we want to partner up or not… I'll have you know that I have been searching for a partner for the past two years. No one has ever beaten me and no one has ever passed… You just came out of a coma so I'll give you one week to ready yourself and to get accustomed to your new body. I'll give you my number then you text me the name and address of the location in a week." She tapped her Genome watch on Kai's and then he got a prompt whether he wanted to accept her information or not. Once he accepted it he asked, "And what's this about marriage?"
"Oh that is strictly business but it is something you should consider. We will discuss the details when we meet again."
Kai nodded his head and then she and her father left.
Once they were gone. Kai's parents rushed in, "My son, my son." Brianna Adler said hugging Kai tightly and weeping tears of joy.
Kai's father wanted to join in too but he figured she needed it more than him.
After all, the constant kisses and the weeping Kai got a little annoyed, "Mom I'm okay, really. I feel great. I'm still in the hospital, I'm not going anywhere."
His mom kissed him on the forehead for the last time then she looked at him seriously, "Kai I have something important to tell you." She gulped then glanced at her husband and then back at Kai, "You have been in a coma for about 5 months and 20 days. About 4 months ago the doctors told us that all the pain receptors in your body were active and that you were in constant pain. We asked them to monitor you for a week and tell us if anything changed but it never did. Then we asked to have you monitored for another week and the week after that and then the week after that and the month after that. After two months the doctors said you were still in constant pain. It was then that we realized we had to do something. Honestly, we knew after the first month but we couldn't bring ourselves to help you. However, we finally decided two months later. Your dad and I had signed the papers to turn off your life support machine because we thought you were never coming back, you were in pain and the bills were piling up. Just as the doctors were about to turn the machines off the Montreal's walked in and demanded that you be kept alive. They eventually got their way when they took over the bill that's why they saw you before we did. Anyway, if it wasn't for them we would have killed you. We would have ended your dreams when you still had so much fight left in you… I am so sorry. We have failed you as parents and I have failed you as a mother. If only I kept strong just a bit longer you would have woken up without all this drama." Kai's mother said with tears streaming down her face.
Kai saw his mother crying and then looked at his dad who was struggling to hold his back too but he had to be the strong one for the both of them. Kai took his mother's hand and looked her in her eyes, "I get it, you were under a lot of pressure and you were trying to save me from pain. I truly get it, and I'm not holding any grudges. I'm not going to say I forgive you because there is nothing to forgive. However, I do wish you would have believed in me a little more. I said I'm going to become King one day. There is no way some coma is going to hold me down!"
She smiled and then her tears returned to tears of joy. Then she sniffed and rubbed her eyes dry, "We believe in you Kai. We always have."
Kai laughed cheerfully then he said, "Then there are no problems here. Except when can I go home? I'm feeling great, really?
Returning to her normal self, "You are clear for release but we want the doctors to do the last check up on you just to make sure nothing is wrong. So you have one more night in the hospital."
Kai frowned when he heard he had to stay another night. It already almost took 6 months from him, "Can't you do that back at home? You are a doctor."
"Yes we can but we don't have all the equipment back at home that they have here. If there is still something wrong with you they will find it."
"Won't this cost more money though?"
"We just want to make sure you are safe that's all. Let us handle the small we are your parents, not the other way around."
Kai just smiled and accepted it; he realized that they need this more than he does. So what was one more night in the hospital? It was not like anything bad could happen.
It was at this moment that the nurse returned to the room. She was ready a long time ago but she was waiting for the right moment. She deemed this to be the best.
When Brianna Adler saw the nurse she smiled, "Great you are here. Call the doctor, please. We have some requests we need to run by him."
With her hands in her pocket feeling the syringe she said, "No problem." Then she left the room. She could have just sent him a message. She didn't need to go search for him personally but the conversation they were about to have couldn't be held on company devices. Plus she needed some fresh air. Seeing Kai awake and conscious made her feel like her chances were slipping and the risk of them being caught was higher.
The nurse looked in the rooms the doctor was assigned to until she found him. The doctor looked at the nurse and smiled, "Nurse Daniels. I trust everything is in order." He said looking directly into her eyes. But her reaction shocked him.
She pursed her lips and then shook her head. Seeing her reaction he walked to her and then wrapped his hands around her shoulder and together they walked hastily to the cafeteria. There were a lot of people talking here so they could talk freely and not worry about being overheard.
Now that they were seated he asked, "What's wrong?"
She took a deep breath through her nostrils, "The boy is awake. And not just awake he is conscious. I was busy injecting the Dihelathide into him when the door opened. I got such a fright that I dropped the syringe. The person that walked in was Mr Montreal's daughter. But she had no idea what was going on. So I told her I was going to inject him. However, she saw me drop the syringe and then I tried to inject that same unsterilized needle into him. She wasn't too happy with that and threatened to have my license revoked. I talked her out of it but to do that I had to leave. When I got back I heard a new voice in the room. It was the boys. He was conscious, I have no idea how but these surpassers have always been tricky to diagnose. We don't have the equipment like Esciaya. Anyway, I was waiting for the best time to enter when I overheard them saying that the mother is a doctor. So again I couldn't inject him. As you know at first glance Adrenozen and Dihelathide look the same but when you bring it to the light, Dihelathide gives off a blue tint. There is no way a trained eye wouldn't notice that? And because she is a doctor she knows that it's policy to check the syringe in the light right before injection to make sure the right amount of liquid is in. If I don't do it she will suspect something is wrong. Hence I put the syringe in my pocket and walked into the room. That is when they called me so I called you."
The doctor put his hand over his face in distress and then sighed, "I had just told the staff the machine malfunctioned and in fact, the boy is sleeping soundly… If he is awake now I'll look incompetent. I've been working way too hard for that promotion and this will set me back…"
"So what do you suppose we do? The longer the boy is awake the more suspicious it's going to be when he falls asleep out of nowhere…"
The doctor began thinking… Until he finally found a plan, "First I need you to throw away that syringe and its contents and get a new dosage. We only need 22.5ml now. Second I'll go back to the Adler's and tell them I'm not sure about his condition and we'd love to run some extra tests just to be sure. This will keep him here for the night and if we are running tests then there will be no visitors allowed. So you can inject him without worry then but before that, I will need your help with the tests. I'm glad you came to look for me personally. By wasting time like this we are making the Adler's fear there is something wrong with their son. We need to sow seeds of doubt in their mind so when we tell them that Kai passed out again it will be believable. We can't control the Montreal's but we can control the Adler's and since the Adlers are back to paying the current bills they are in charge. The Montreal's still need to pay this month's bill which will only be billed at the end of the month. So if Kai is still in the hospital due to the fact that he passed out, the inconvenience payment will be added too. That is all we need. The plan is still on. Let's set that mousetrap."
The nurse smiled and then they stood up and they went their separate ways. Once they separated the doctor took his time to get to the Adler's. When he finally entered the room distress was written all over their faces. He smiled inwardly as the mouse took a step closer to the cheese on the trap.
Brianna Adler saw the doctor and immediately asked, "Is there something wrong with Kai." She said looking deeply into his eyes.
The doctor took a deep breath and then emptied his lungs through his mouth, "I found something but I can't say anything until I know for sure. I would, however, love to run some tests on Kai just to be sure."
Brianna nodded her head, "I agree. I actually had you called in for just that. I want you to run a full check up on Kai. Leave no stone unturned. I know how long it takes so feel free to keep him overnight."
The doctor tried hard not to seem excited so the facial expression he was making was rather odd. Everything was going just as he planned the mouse was now close enough to the cheese to lick it. After regaining his composure," As you wish. In fact, we would like to begin right away. Rather safe than sorry right?"
She nodded her head, "Definitely then we will be taking our leave… Bye Kai, see you tomorrow." Then they left.
Once they were gone the doctor looked at Kai, "We will be running tests on you. Can you stand?"
Kai removed his blankets and then he stood. He felt a bit off balance here and there but it was nothing that he couldn't handle. Kai suspected it's just because he hadn't walked in a long time. Once he was on his feet the nurse walked into the room.
The doctor looked at the nurse and then whispered to her, "We are going to run the tests on him now. Luckily he is the only patient in the private wing. This way we don't need to worry about him being seen by others. If we move at the right time we can hide him. Plus we don't need permission to use the machines because that would be a problem with priority one patients. So let's get him tested, be vigilant."
The nurse nodded her head and then she ran point and made sure they was nobody so that they could move Kai. They had told Kai the reason they keep stopping then walking is that they did not want him to walk for too long. Once they got Kai to the testing room. They began running a series of tests on him. Because they had other patients other than Kai they needed to take care of too. They were back and forth in the private wing and the tests took much longer than expected. At 00:00 the tests were finally done. So they covertly took Kai back to his room.
Once they were back the doctor said, "Well that marks the end of my shift. I'll see you tomorrow nurse Daniels." And so he left.
Once Kai was back in his bed, nurse Daniels took the syringe out of her pocket, "I'm going to give you something to sleep. You just had a full day of tests and you need to sleep so that you have energy for tomorrow when you get discharged."
Kai smiled then she took his arm and placed the needle into him. This time she wasn't going to hold it to the light. There was no need to do that she had already checked how much was inside. She injected the needle into Kai's vein. Then she pressed the thumb press and then he fell asleep. 'Sleep well my money tree. See you in two days,' seeing that the plan was going perfectly without a hitch the mouse moved closer to the cheese and took a big bite.
Once Kai fell asleep the nurse took all the test results and put it in his file. Then she left skipping with joy in her mind because her body was too tired. Once everything was taken care she clocked out knowing she was going to receive a bonus. As she left the hospital she sent a tick to her accomplice to tell him that everything went according to plan. It was only then that he fell asleep.
The next day the doctor and the nurse arrived at work at the same time. They were well rested as they only needed to come in at 11 am. Once they saw each other they smiled at each other then they placed their keycards on the scanner and then walked in. They looked at each other standing side by side, "It's a good day hey Nurse Daniels," the doctor said in the poshest accent he could imitate.
.
The nurse in good spirits laughed, "Ah it's a lovely day doctor." She said copying his posh accent. The two laughed all the way up the elevator. They were on their way to go see Kai. Even though he is sleeping he is still a priority one patient and they had to make sure that nothing was wrong with him. As they got to his room they heard people speaking from the inside. However, they recognized the voices. It was a doctor and a nurse who was sent to check up on Kai while they were off shift.
Once they knew the situation the doctor walked in the room and said in his most arrogant voice ever, "Okay your work is done time for the A team to step in."
The doctor and the nurse were now in the room. The doctor looked at the other two with a smug face but they didn't react at all. That's when he knew something was wrong.
"Oh, nurse you are here. Thank you for giving me that injection. You were right I feel amazing." Kai said sitting upright and smiling, revealing all his teeth.
The nurse and the doctor both looked at Kai in disbelief. What the heck was going on!? They couldn't understand why he was awake. The doctor wondered maybe the nurse didn't inject him like she had said but judging by her expression she had no idea what the cause was herself.
The nurse and the doctor looked at their co-worker's stupefied expressions. Then the doctor said, "Where you expecting him to be asleep?"
Hearing those words their two bodies tensed up and they felt a strange metallic sensation pressing down on their necks, 'Oh no! Does she know?'
Then the doctor said, "I would understand if you did. He went through a number of tests after just waking up."
The two exhaled a large amount of carbon dioxide over an extended period of time through their nostrils, 'Whew, seems they don't know about us.' The doctor and the nurse thought as the pressure they felt vanished.
"Anyway, I guess it's your time to take over here. Just before we go, you wouldn't mind telling us why we found trace amounts of helavloxin in his blood? As you know this would only be found in the blood if someone injected excited Dihelathide into him. Usually, it's untraceable but when it is shaken violently or when it is dropped. The particles inside become excited leaving behind helavloxin in the blood. It makes no difference at all and neither is it poisonous but it's just not untraceable anymore. The amount we found in his blood correlating to the time it was in his system suggests that an amount of 19-23ml was injected into his blood. That is an amount that would knock out any normal body for two days. But why would someone want him asleep for two days? I don't know maybe because if he was asleep at the end of the month they'd be paid a bonus…Unfortunately for them, they made one too many errors in their plan. You see 23ml of Dihelathide is enough to knock out an ordinary surpasser out for two days. But not one that already awakened let alone a third generation surpasser. They are particularly resilient. This mistake had to be the doing of a doctor… Then there is the matter of the helavloxin in the blood. This mistake had to be made by a nurse. No doctor wouldn't know what happens when you excite Dihelathide. Also, 30ml of Dihelathide was taken from the inventory and the reason given was incorrect. Normally nobody would verify since the reason given was common but this time it was warranted. It's strange that 30ml disappeared and then magically19-23ml appears in this boy, very strange indeed. Lastly with all this information brought forward the staff is questioning the legitimacy of your statement when you said that the red light was a mistake and that the boy was sleeping soundly… Now you don't need to explain anything to me. You can explain that to my friends in blue. You guys can come in."
As she said that two men in uniform came and handcuffed the nurse and doctor and began reading them their rights. It was at this moment that they realized they were the mice drawn to the cheese trapped in their own trap. They tried to squirm their way out of it as they felt the weight of their mistakes pressing down on their necks.
As they were pushed out of the room the doctor shouted, "This is madness! You have no proof. I am going to sue you and this hospital! I want a lawyer." He screamed and shouted all the way down. Where he bumped into the Adler's, they glared at the dirty doctor until he was gone. They were notified of what happened after the investigation took place. Once they were gone they walked to Kai's room. That's where they saw him sitting upright in bed and he was okay. They were relieved and then they asked the new doctor assigned to Kai about the results of his tests.
The doctor first greeted the Adler's then she apologized for her colleague's actions after that she took out Kai's file, "Well after running a full check-up we can say that there is nothing wrong with your son. However, we did find some strange changes in his body. For starters, his haemoglobin is able to carry five oxygen particles instead of four which is normal for surpassers. But the strangest change is his myelin sheath. You a doctor so you know it's responsible for carrying nerve impulses. It insulates the nerves making sure messages aren't lost. It also increases the speed of the nerve impulses. You see now in your son's case his myelin sheath seems to be made from a different material than normal. After doing some tests we discovered that not only is it more durable but it also increases the speed at which nerve impulses are sent across the body. Practically doubling your son's reaction speed. These changes are weird but they are by no means harmful only beneficial. A study has shown that lightning wielders are 40% more likely to develop a form of multiple sclerosis in their old age. However, in your son's case, we think that even if he uses his abilities every day there is only about a 5% chance he will get it."
Once the doctor had finished Kai's parents thanked her earnestly and then she left. That's when Zack Adler looked at Kai and said, "Let's go home."