《Imperfect power》chapter 5

Eric's POV:

"What the hell happened in here?!" I teleported outside my house and was greeted by the aftermath of a brutal fight. I had been too reckless; I needed to get inside immediately.

Upon opening the door, I found Ren casually lying on the bed, and Christine... doing nothing.

"Oh, you're back, Eric." Ren greeted me with an ignorant expression.

I couldn't contain my frustration. "What happened?!" 

Ren began, her tone laced with sarcasm "We had some guests, but your favorite vegetable, told them to go screw themselves."

My heart raced as I processed what Ren had just said. Christine had done... that?

"But they didn't listen, and look at them now – solid, if not loose like a dust." Ren continued, her words shocking me. I turned to look at Christine, who sat there, as still as ever.

"Well, I might've added her talking to the story out of my imagination, but she indeed ruthlessly killed them," Ren added, her eyes fixed on Christine.

I couldn't help but wonder about Christine's current state. "Can she move now, or..."

"I don't know," Ren replied, her uncertainty casting a shadow over my hopes. "She got up briefly and then just continued to pretend to be a vegetable."

The revelation left me conflicted. Christine's unpredictability changed everything. I didn't care if she regained her humanity, but the thought of her suddenly moving or reacting to something was unsettling.

It would be incredibly awkward if she returned to normal during everyday activities, especially those that required privacy. The idea of Christine suddenly waking up while I was in the middle of bathing her was indeed a dangerous one. I shuddered at the thought. The mere idea was hard to swallow.

But dwelling on such a scenario wouldn't help me now, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

I pushed the unsettling image out of my mind, knowing I had to focus on the immediate situation.

"What now?" Ren asked, her curiosity evident.

"Those guys might've been sent by Cassandra." I began, trying to piece together the situation. "If she doesn't know about Angie's and Jade's apartment, they might be safe for now."

But as I thought it through, a troubling realization struck me. Up until now, we had been teleporting everywhere, so Cassandra shouldn't know where I live. That made it more complicated. There was another enemy now, and the only trace leading to us was Jade's car, which...

"That idiot!" I exclaimed in frustration. She killed that guy, and they tracked her car. They know where she lives.

Ren observed my intense contemplation. "What are you thinking about so hard? You make those funny movements when you think, and I can't really read your mind like you do."

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "I have to call the girls and Philip. The ones after us are the same guys who worked for the mafia guy that Jade and Angie killed."

Those morons were becoming a major problem.

[Yeeees, what is it, sweetie?] Angie answered the phone call.

[You two are fucking idiots, have I ever told you?] I couldn't help but insult them. They deserved it for failing such an important mission.

[W-what is that about?!] Jade interjected, her voice filled with concern.

[You just left that guy dead on the floor, and I bet you parked your car right in front of the building.]

[Noooooo? Ok, maybe we did...] They realized the gravity of their mistake.

[Thanks to you, you got recorded and followed to my house, AND while I was away, someone attacked it and the girls!] I shouted, my anger burning hot.

I hung up the phone and turned to the girls.

"Change in plans, we're staying over at their place." I informed Ren and Christine.

"Woo hoo! Pajama party!" Lauren's excitement was palpable as she looked forward to a new experience.

"Are you just happy because I won't be able to chain you up?" I remarked, unable to suppress a hint of sarcasm. The situation simply wouldn't allow for such measures.

"That too, but it's been a while since I've slept somewhere other than this house." Ren admitted.

Ren's words gave me pause. Was it that she didn't like my house, or was it something about my presence alone that bothered her?

After a quick gathering of our belongings, we moved out.

POP

As we teleported to Angeline's apartment, Lauren couldn't contain her excitement. "Who's ready for a pajama party!?"

Philip, who was already there, greeted us with curiosity. "What are you guys doing here?"

I took a moment to provide him with the details, with Ren assisting in describing what had happened during my absence. With that, we had a complete picture of the situation.

"Umm... so should I just go? You're here, so my help won't be necessary, is it?" Philip wondered. His primary task had been to watch over the girls while I was away, and with me back, he might have felt his presence was no longer needed.

"You can stay, Philip." I replied. "It's nice to have you around." His smile in response suggested that he might have preferred staying anyway.

"I'll prepare some tea, or do you want something stronger?" Angie offered.

"I'll stay with tea, preferably fruit flavored." I replied. I didn't want to risk getting drunk during such a serious moment.

"Serve me some wine, Angeline! Let's get wasted!" Ren chimed in. Her enthusiasm for alcohol was no surprise to anyone. Well, as long as it wasn't Philip indulging in it, I didn't particularly mind.

In the end, it was me, Philip, and Christine who chose to stay sober. Christine didn't really have a choice; she was forced to abstain while I took care of her.

After a few hours of playing and drinking, it was time for us to take a bath and get some sleep. But as I moved towards the bathroom with Christine, Jade instantly stopped me in my tracks.

"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! What do you think you're doing?!" Jade exclaimed, her voice filled with alarm.

"I'm doing the usual. What, do you think a girl who can't move is able to wash herself?" I replied with a touch of sarcasm, though not too obviously.

"So it was true after all." Angie whispered to Jade.

"Seems we let our guards down, just as Lauren said." Jade remarked.

I was growing increasingly puzzled by the situation. "How often do you do this?" Jade asked me, her gaze piercing.

"Do what? We bathe every evening, it's normal to maintain hygiene, isn't it?" I responded, starting to grasp the nature of their misunderstanding. I couldn't help but notice that Philip seemed both embarrassed and oddly pleased by the unfolding spectacle.

"No! We're going to wash her today. You stay and, I don't know... think about me or something." Jade declared with an odd request.

I decided not to argue. If they wanted to take care of Christine today, I didn't mind. I watched as they both entered the bathroom with Christine and locked the door behind them.

"They really are strange, aren't they?" Philip remarked, breaking the silence as he sipped his fourth cup of tea.

I couldn't help but chuckle at his observation. "You have no idea." I replied, feeling a mixture of amusement and relief that I wasn't the only one who found their behavior puzzling.

Angeline's POV:

"So what now? Are we like, taking a bath with her or just washing her? I didn't bathe myself yet, so..." I hesitated, turning around to find Jade already butt naked and preparing the bath for Christine.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Jade asked sarcastically. Well, we did have a job to do, so I guessed it was time to undress Christine.

"To think he's doing it with her every evening." Jade said calmly.

"I'm not jealous, though. It's just... It feels strange." Jade added to her previous sentence. I nodded in agreement. How did we not know about it despite it being so obvious?

Well, I guess we should stop thinking about it too much.

"Think we can fit all three of us?" Jade asked me, her question shamelessly direct. I had no doubts about the size of our bath. It could easily fit at least four people. I just nodded in response.

"Should we wash her hair too? I don't know how Eric's handling this, it's like taking care of a baby." Jade asked me another question about Christine. I sniffed her hair, and it didn't smell bad, but we could try washing it. Comparing Christine to a baby was quite a stretch. She was more like a giant, sexy, and motionless doll.

"I heard she's Italian. Can she actually understand what we're saying?" I wondered aloud, the thought suddenly occurring to me.

"Well, who knows? Lauren is French, and she can speak English, so why not?" Jade responded. It seemed that Christine might indeed understand some English, assuming she could talk.

"Hey, hey, Angie! Look at this!" Jade hissed at me, drawing my attention as I turned my head away.

"Aren't they, like, the same size as ours? Maybe slightly bigger?" Jade asked, she's fondling Christine's breasts while comparing herself, me, and Christine, but I knew better.

"But Jade, look. We stand no chance with those hips and buns. We're outclassed by a sexy vegetable." I deadpanned, bringing humor into our otherwise strange situation.

The mood shifted from depressing to very pleasant as we shared a laugh.

"I wonder how she feels about Eric," Jade said, showing genuine concern for Christine's feelings.

"Rather than that, if she dumps him, we have a go, but if not, then we got each other," I replied, trying to maintain the humorous mood despite the odd circumstances.

"You realize that the temperature of the bath didn't change a bit since we got in?" I pointed out, smiling at Jade. However, her expression shifted to one of surprise.

"Don't tell me it's Christine..." Jade began to suspect, and now my eyes widened as well. What if she was somehow controlling the temperature this whole time? It would also mean she might be capable of understanding everything that just happened.

"Actually... there's no way that's the case. You must be just feeling strange. I don't feel the temperature, so it must be your imagination," Jade tried to rationalize. She even turned her face to Christine and smiled, as if expecting her to understand. But to our astonishment, Christine smiled back. That's when the adrenaline kicked in.

"Holy shit, that's alive!" I exclaimed, my senses on edge. But Christine didn't respond; she just continued smiling.

"A-a-a-a-a-Angie! You take her!" Jade panicked, but I was just as terrified.

"Hell no!" We both jumped out of the water, landing on the floor in our haste.

Christine stood up from the bathtub, her shining snowy skin glistening with water droplets. She took a step out, and her eyes were fixed on me. She walked towards me, and as she leaned over, she placed her hands on my shoulders, whispering into my ear so closely that I could almost feel her lips.

"Sexy vegetable says thank you." she murmured in her beautiful and delicate voice, sending a soft breath against my ear. Then she stood up, passed us, and sat on a chair motionlessly, as if nothing had ever happened.

"A-Angie..." Jade looked at me, clearly disturbed by what Christine had just said.

"Since when? From the beginning?" I asked, wondering when Christine had started paying attention to us. Had she been pretending the whole time, or was it some sort of altered mental state? I couldn't help but feel that we should not tell Eric about this...

"Let's just wipe her and get out as if nothing happened." Jade proposed a plan.

"I agree, this is something that Eric shouldn't know." I concurred.

After drying ourselves and dressing up, we left the bathroom and rejoined the others.

"I heard something loud there, is everything okay?" Philip asked, showing concern.

"I just tripped after hitting my toe..." I quickly fabricated a lie to avoid raising any suspicion.

"Pssst! Lauren, wake up." Jade whispered, attempting to rouse the still-drunk Lauren, who was sprawled comfortably across the couch.

"Whhaatsit? Did I die already? Are angels green?" Lauren mumbled as she woke up, finding Jade's face hovering above her.

"We gotta talk," I said as we lifted Lauren. We took a stroll to the kitchen to explain everything to her.

"She did what?!" Lauren exclaimed. Jade quickly covered her mouth.

"Shhhh!" Jade tried to calm Lauren down. "Eric doesn't know."

"I should've seen that coming after what she did at home." Lauren recalled the previous actions she had witnessed. Now it seemed more believable that Christine was indeed responsible for those incidents.

"This is really something else." I commented.

"Then should we wait until she does something else? And I assume from now on, everything we say should be considered as something she'd understand." Lauren suggested. Indeed, as Lauren pointed out, they now had to treat Christine differently, and there was no telling what might happen next.

After we came back to the living room, we sat and talked for a while. It was indeed a nice time, if we exclude the fact that we had to hide the bizarre bathtub incident. We were about to turn on the TV and watch some movies. Jade was in the kitchen, preparing popcorn, and we nearly forgot that we were the targets of the mafia. That is... until Eric stood up.

"What is it, Eric? You forgot something?" I asked, my concern growing as I noticed his serious expression.

"They're here, in the building." he stated, confirming that the situation had escalated, and the mafia had arrived.

"There's many of them, I can feel it too." Philip chimed in. His unique ability allowed him to sense people, perhaps at a more precise level than Eric.

"Yeah, but the most concerning are the bombs like the one under our door." Eric added, heightening the tension in the room.

After Eric's revelation, we all stood up, our expressions turning serious.

"What now?" Lauren asked Eric while pulling his sleeve.

"I'll teleport the bombs into space, but we better take care of the mafia goons here." Eric proposed, outlining his plan. It was risky, but it might provide them with the evidence they needed to expose the entire organization.

It's our fault, if we weren't so reckless... Now we're in trouble. We have to help them. While Lauren may not be able to do much about the guns, Jade and I should be a big help.

"So here's the plan: I go beat the shit out of them, Philip stays here and kills everyone who tries to enter, and you girls make me a sandwich before I return." Eric stated confidently.

"Got it, boss!" Lauren seemed to be approving of this rather ridiculous plan.

Yet, I could only manage one response to this unexpected plot.

"Eh?"