Marcus found Elissa outside waiting for him after he got out of school in her usual spot.
Walking up to the car Marcus was greeted by a warm smile from Elissa, "haven't gotten the chance to talk to you since everything went down, you ok?"
Marcus nodded as he opened the back passenger door and tossed his backpack inside, "Yeah I'm fine, Luna's pretty nice all things considered she's taken a liking to Shakespeare and Edger."
He then closed the door and turned back to Elissa, "Only been with her a day and I'm already out of forty bucks."
Elissa bit her bottom lip as she leaned on her car, "Speaking of Luna, it would be best if you don't talk about her in front of Kenji, he's still a bit salty about everything."
Marcus sighed as he entered the front passenger seat, "why, it's not like it was his fault."
Elissa nodded in agreement as she entered the car, "that's just how Kenji is. He doesn't see the incident for what it was, an accident."
Elissa sighed heavily, "He sees it as his failure, he keeps saying what if Luna possessed you, or what if Luna is slowly killing you."
"So he's an overthinker?" Marcus asked curiously as Elissa started her car.
Elissa nodded as she gently pressed her foot on the accelerator, "Yeah, but that's just the quirk of his implant, with so much brain power it has to go somewhere."
Marcus leaned back in his seat as he crossed his arms, "must be tough to always overanalyze things like that, especially when it's not necessary."
Elissa nodded as she began to pick up speed outside of the school zone, "Yeah, it's a big trade-off, but he handles it well most of the time, it's just when the unexpected happens he gets a little grumpy."
Marcus chuckled as he turned to look at Elissa, "Speaking of implants, what's yours all about?"
Elissa chuckled, "Well, my implant is based on the dark spider, it's a rank four anomaly."
"Like Kenji's?"
"Yeah," Elissa continued, "I have a healing factor, can create Ether platforms and manipulate them any way I see fit, allowing me to 'fly' in a sense. I move other objects around with those same platforms, I also have keen eyesight allowing me to spot something as small as a quarter from three miles away alongside a keen sense of hearing."
Marcus nodded as he absorbed the information, these abilities seemed like they came straight out of a comic book, "Elissa your powers are pretty awesome if I'm being honest, you really are like a superhero."
Elissa blushed slightly, "Thanks, but you give me too much credit, if you wanna see something cool wait till you see the officers with rank two or one implants, talk about superheroes these guys are straight out of an anime."
Marcus's eyes widened as he leaned closer, curiosity piqued, "Don't leave me hanging Elissa!
Elissa chuckled, "Well there's Captain Reno, his implant is made from the core of an aqua feline, it's a rank two anomaly and his powers are incredible. For starters, he can turn Ether into water and then condense that water so that it can shoot out at over 100,000 psi of pressure."
"He calls this move water javelin," Elissa said as she made a throwing motion with her free hand.
Elissa then paused for a moment, clearly thinking about something, "I've seen him use about seven of those at once, putting several holes in the armor of a tank, well hole is more of an understatement."
Marcus's jaw dropped, he didn't know much about water pressure, but he knew that anything over 2,000 could straight up kill a person.
Elissa continued, "And then there's Captain Alice, whose implant is based on the shadow hawk, which is a rank one anomaly, she's built more for stealth, such as turning invisible and having the actual ability to fly, amongst a few other things."
Elissa paused as she gave Marcus a cheeky glance, "But you wanna know who's really powerful?"
Marcus nodded vigorously, "Oh absolutely!"
"Commander Evert." Elissa said with a voice full of respect, "he holds the record for most implants at eight, but none of us lower ranks even know what these implants are, but what we do know are the results, Commander Evert has subdued almost 89 anomalies on his own, including 17 rank one anomalies."
Marcus nodded impressed but failing to grasp the magnitude of such a feat.
"He sounds incredible, but I guess I'm just not well versed in anomalies yet to understand its true magnitude. The highest I've ever seen was a rank three, and she doesn't seem all that powerful sitting in my bed reading old literature." Marcus said with a reminiscing chuckle.
Elissa let out a strained laugh, "Yeah I get that but please remember what I told you about mentioning Luna around Kenji, it's not you who shares a safe house with the guy you know?"
Marcus nodded as he reached a hand for his head, "Yeah, sorry about that, but still at some point I do want to tell him that it wasn't his fault, even if it might be in vain."
Elissa nodded, "trust me you'll get your opportunity in due time, but for now, let's just let things cool down before we continue cooking, you feel me?"
Marcus chuckled, "I feel you."
After a few more minutes of riding in a comfortable
Silence, Elissa had arrived at the safe house.
Parking her car in its usual spot on the sidewalk near the driveway, she and Marcus exited the car and were quickly greeted by Kenji wearing his BFR suit, with another one under his arm.
"Marcus," Kenji called out with a grin, "you've been resting for too long, we only got two more months left until the exams, you ready to get back in the groove?"
Marcus was stunned by Kenji's fired-up attitude, he expected Kenji to be depressed and frustrated, brooding in the living room and cursing the world for his failure, "uhm yeah," Marcus said in a stunned voice, "it's just I didn't think,"
Elissa grabbed Marcus on the shoulder and gave him a knowing look, causing Marcus to change his words into a challenge, "I just didn't think you could beat me after I got a good day's rest ya chump."
Kenji grinned as he tossed Marcus the BFR suit, "Stop moving your lips, and get to moving those legs."
Marcus caught the suit and grinned, "Right!"
The following hours were full of that same intense training Marcus had grown accustomed to.
He was a little rough around the edges after spending a day and a half in the hospital, but he quickly recovered and got back on the saddle like he never left it.
Life continued as normal for Marcus. He'd wake up on the floor due to Luna 'claiming' his bed, get dressed and go to school then get picked up for training in the afternoon by Elissa.
He'd train with Kenji and Elissa until he was physically exhausted, hitch a ride home with Elissa, take a shower, listen to Luna rave about literature and how much of his money she spent on books and clay, and then finally sleep on the floor.
This cycle repeated for about three weeks, except for Saturday mornings because he and Luna had to meet with Dr. Fletcher for their weekly screening.
However one warm Friday afternoon, after a very intense training session, Marcus's body began to feel lighter rather than the heavy drain he was used to.
Marcus and Kenji were finishing the last lap of their run, Kenji was in the lead as always, but this time Marcus wasn't significantly behind like usual.
"And…. we're done," Kenji said proudly as he clapped his hands together, he turned around to Marcus with an expression expectant smile.
Marcus raised an eyebrow as he stared back at Kenji, "What are you…." Suddenly something felt off, Marcus began to flex his muscles, attempting to make sense of this strange sensation. "I still feel tired and my muscles are still sore, but it feels as if gravity doesn't exist anymore."
"Woah Marcus, this is the first time you haven't collapsed after my training session," Kenji said as he tapped Marcus on the shoulder.
"this must mean I've succeeded, you're becoming a man."
Elissa gave Kenji a side eye, "You've succeeded?" She asked challengingly.
Kenji chuckled, "Oh come on Elissa, I clearly meant we succeeded…"
Marcus barely registered their conversation, their words seemingly slowing down and becoming unrecognizable.
He could hear his heartbeat slowing down as his vision grew sharp.
The colors of his surroundings began growing vibrant, and his sense of smell completely vanished.
His mind began racing as his body continuously grew lighter and lighter.
Hmmmm, did I eat something wrong? Marcus wondered as he felt his body slowly rising, the concrete blow him receding at a constant rate.
He didn't register it then, but he was currently floating off the ground.
"Marcus!"
Marcus could hear faint yelling in the distance, it sounded as if it was miles away from him, yet the voice had a clarity as if it was right beside him.
"Marcus you're floating, no, you're flying!"
This is all so strange, Marcus thought as he felt himself slowly rising off the ground, it's almost like I'm a balloon.
"Marcus!"
"Marcus!"
Marcus felt himself slowly rotating around, sometimes facing the ground, sometimes facing the sky, but rotating nonetheless.
After about the third rotation he saw that Elissa seemed to be flying towards him at a great speed.
"Woah," Marcus said to himself in disbelief.
"Shit, Dr. Fletcher is going to kill us for this." Elissa hissed as she grabbed the drowsy Marcus from his rotating fate.
Marcus felt Elissa wrapping her arms around his chest and back, her grasp was gentle but firm. "Help," Marcus said in a slurred voice, "what's happening to me."
"It's ok Marcus, Elissa said in a soothing tone as she brought Marcus back down. She turned her attention towards Kenji.
"I'm gonna take him to Dr. Fletcher, can you go ahead and pick up Luna from his house, we'll be at laboratory seven."
Kenji's expression contorted into one of displeasure, "but I–"
Elissa narrowed her eyes and tightened her lips into a frown causing Kenji to flinch instinctively.
"ok, ok." He said reluctantly as he turned to approach the garage of the safe house.
He reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out the garage remote, it was a small rectangular device with three buttons.
He pressed the top largest button and the garage began moving upward revealing a cluttered garage full of various objects and barrier boxes.
But amid all the chaos was a slick black motorcycle, it gleamed under the dim garage light, casting sharp reflections off its polished surface.
As he approached his motorcycle, he could hear an engine revving up behind him. Kenji turned around to see Elissa pulling off and zooming down the street at an unprecedented speed.
With a heavy sigh, he turned back towards his motorcycle and approached it with a reluctant yet urgent stride. Reaching the motorcycle he swung his leg around the bike and quickly settled into a comfortable position.
Once settled, Kenji took a deep breath, his expression changing from frustration to determination as his motorcycle roared to life.
"Marcus." He said as he pulled off, his engine roaring with a deep, throaty growl.