Daemon was in the apartment he had rented, standing in the middle of the bedroom. He had the end of the elastic cables he had been working to fix to the walls tied to various parts of the modified wetsuit he was wearing. It was mostly harnessed to his limbs, but some cables remained unused in his test, and they would be harnessed to other parts of his body later.
He tried to move, and he encountered resistance, which made him nod his head.
Making a punching motion made him feel the strain in the chest muscles, but also in the back muscles, waist muscles, abs, as well as in his calves muscles, as he had to exert himself more for support.
His satisfaction was obvious, and the smile he showed was different from all the previous ones in its lack of burden. He tried more actions, like raising his legs, turning his body, and so on.
He enjoyed himself for more than an hour, ignoring his phone that had rang at some point in between. It did ring again two or three more times, but he didn't care.
Only when he was full of sweat, having tired himself, did he stop to rest.
"Three months of inactivity, and I'm so low on stamina."
While he was sounding disappointed, he didn't lose the smile on his face. He seemed happy after his many days of effort.
He took a shower, and wore some of the clothes he had kept in the apartment. After his first time leaving while covered in dirt, he had prepared to avoid the same mistake.
"Now, onto the most difficult part."
He went to the living room, where he took the bodysuit and the electronic components he had bought. He seemed ready to start another work, but he stopped with a frown:
"I didn't forget the schematics, but a mistake would lower the results. I should do another full body scan, a musculoskeletal scan, and a neurography." He looked at everything before him, and added: "I should also take advantage of that to buy everything else I will need."
With the decision made, he tidied everything. But just as he locked the door and left, his phone rang, with Cynthia's name appearing on the screen.
"Hello?"
An aggrieved voice entered his ears while he was walking:
"Daemon, you promised to call me before. Are you avoiding me?"
He remembered the night he went to the nightclub with Cynthia and her friends. He had indeed accepted, but he did so without much thought. For him, Cynthia was only someone he saved because he could, and she took care of him while he was asleep, which was not bad given that she owed him. So her importance was not much in his mind, maybe only as a small bond with normal life.
Still, he knew how to steer away from trouble, so he gave a tame answer:
"Nothing like that."
She didn't seem convinced when by what he said:
"But you didn't take any of my calls today. Did you find me ugly yesterday when I was drunk? Did I do anything I should not have done?"
"Cynthia, I was busy."
"Then, are you free now?"
Daemon exhaled noiselessly:
"Why?"
"If you don't want to come to me, then I will come to you."
Daemon stopped, left without words. Was the woman falling for him? Because she was being a bit excessive. His thoughts went from what almost happened in the nightclub, to what happened the previous night. He didn't think much of it, and quite frankly he did not know if he would like to form emotional ties right now.
When his silence went over a few seconds, Cynthia's voice came out from the receiver:
"Hello? Daemon?"
"Let's meet at the mall in two hours."
Cynthia didn't hide her joy at his answer:
"Alright. See you."
He put his phone back in his pocket and took a ride to the hospital he had left not long ago.
Once inside, on the way to his destination, he passed by the nurses, the staff, the patients, and the families or friends of the latter.
He was about to turn a corner when he heard greetings.
"Dr Speck." × …
Understanding that it was a doctor who was on the receiving end of the greetings, he didn't pause his steps. However, the name made him frown, as if he had heard it before. But he was sure he knew no one of that name, nor had he had a target with the same. Not like any of his targets had ever survived.
But the situation made him frown. He didn't like uncertainty, or the feeling of not being able to get his body and his brain to give the result he was looking for.
In the new corridor, he immediately identified the center of the nurses' attention.
The man, after replying to the greetings with a sunny smile, faced his direction and started advancing. He was handsome, with no apparent flaw whether in face or physique, which justified the popularity.
Daemon's eyes trained to pay attention to details fell on the tag on the chest of the man. It read Dr Drey Speck.
His gaze went back up, and crossed the one of the smiling man when they passed by each other.
The two strangers continued on their own way without any more exchange, and Daemon stopped thinking about it. He was retired, after all.
Two hours later, he was leaving the hospital with one of his hands now busy holding what he came for. With a cab, he was taken to the mall.
He didn't even have to go inside before he saw Cynthia standing outside looking around expectantly. She was looking better than the previous night, and it was obvious that she had made sure to appear at her best.
Looking at her, Daemon understood what caused the incident in the nightclub the last time. No girl this beautiful would lack suitors, much less with her background.
"Cynthia, you look better than yesterday."
His greeting came out in a neutral voice, but it did make the woman happy.
"Daemon."
She followed him inside with a smile, and together they went to the electronic devices shops.
On the way, Cynthia looked a little embarrassed:
"Thank you for coming to take me home yesterday. I hope I have not been a bother."
"Not really."
Daemon replied, but it was obvious that his mind was not on her. He was looking around, and after making a decision, he entered a high-end shop for computers.
Cynthia could only follow behind. She reached his side just in time to hear him talking to the clerk:
"Show me the laptops with the highest specs you have."
"Alright, sir. This way please."
After sitting down, Cynthia asked while they waited:
"Are you a computer expert? You said you have been away for years, did you leave the city to work abroad previously? Does that mean you have left the military way earlier?"