Chapter #24

Zeno immediately got to work on his Nanosuit right after they came back to the safe house. Alex was curious about such a wonderful technology and decided to be his assistant.

Meanwhile Dana pouted at them cutely for leaving her on her own. She regretfully went back to Zeno's library of movies to pick up something for the night.

The two worked hard, it was mostly Zeno doing the job while Alex was learning new things by the second.

At the end of the night the suit was finished, the only thing that remained was to put it inside the Energizer to supercharge the nanofibers.

"Why does your Energizer stand on what appears to be a blacked out cage for cats?" Alex asked.

This was the first time he got this close hence he just realized what this box was.

"Yeah, I call it Schrodinger's Power Up." Zeno replied casually. Currently he was filling two bowls, one with cat food and the other with water.

"The what?!" Alex asked, it sounded like bullshit to him. 'Then again, what isn't when it comes to Zeno?' He thought to himself.

"It would be much better just to show you." Zeno replied.

He went to the cage and opened it, the inside of it was pitch black, not even Alex with his enhanced senses could pick up anything.

Zeno then placed the bowls inside before closing the cage, the moment he did so the cage let out some electric sparks and the efficiency of the Energizer went up by a notch.

At this speed it would be finished in two days...

"How?!" Alex was confused.

"Well, I don't know." Zeno's grin was insufferable to Alex.

'How does a scientist doesn't know the process he is using?' He was legitimately mad.

"Well, I kinda built a machine learning thingy and inputted all the steps and had the computer go over the process, to make it more efficient..." Zeno started to explain.

"..." Alex.

"...According to the computer with this setup I can collect the power of bullshit and use it to speed my other machines." Zeno continued to explain while he picked out a banana.

Schrodinger's Power Up creates bullshit by feeding the Cat, since the cat cannot be dead until the inside of the cage is observed but feeding a hypothetical cat is bullshit.

Zeno didn't even put a cat inside!

"What's that for?" Alex asked.

From Zeno's expression, he could tell the banana was going to be used on the machine as well.

Zeno didn't answer, he just placed the banana vertically on top of the machine before he started to rotate it.

"Seriously, science has gone too far." Zeno sighed as he set the banana to rotate at a stable speed.

Alex didn't know what's going on anymore, he just saw that the countdown went down to a single night.

'Fuck logic I guess.' He thought before going back to his room. He had enough for one night.

_____

Alex had a surprise waiting for him when he arrived at his room, Dana had snuck inside and was sleeping on his bed.

Yet, Alex wasn't too surprised by this.

'She used to do that a lot whenever she had nightmares.' Alex remembered the past when Dana was just a small kid.

"What are you smiling at? It looks creepy on your face." Dana said groggily.

She was waiting for her brother to have an important talk but she didn't expect to fall asleep.

"Just thinking how small you were back when you used to snuck in my room." Alex answered with a gentle smile.

Dana hugged her brother, she didn't have the right words to describe her feelings. It became rare for her brother to be affectionate as they got older.

"We need to talk about our lives." Unfortunately she was here on a mission.

"Yeah, it's kind of unexpected that your only friend turns out to be an old dragon." Alex chuckled.

"God! No wonder he never did anything like drugs or weed. He is too old for that stuff!" Dana gasped.

Their town was not a good place, even her going to NYU was big news, let alone her brother and Zeno. The whole school had at least smoked weed at some point, except Zeno and her.

She never got her chance since Zeno never bothered and she thought he disliked it. Turns out he was just an old man not keeping up with teenagers.

"That stuff is not good for you." Alex sternly said.

"Yes, dad!" Dana replied.

Alex didn't have a comeback from that, he kind of repeated their father's signature move when he moved to New York after graduating, leaving Dana with their mother.

"Anyway, how do you feel about Zeno?" Alex finally asked.

"You first."

"Well, even after all the reveals. I still consider him my only friend. He helped us a lot when he didn't need to, especially with his immortal mindset. What about you?" Alex replied before asking back.

"I came to realize my mistakes with our relationship, I do intend to fix them if you are okay with it." Dana said.

It would be really awkward if her brother didn't agree, especially if she actually succeeds.

"I don't like his Harem Plan, but he is the only one I can trust with someone I care about. So yeah, go ahead." Alex patted Dana's head.

The heartfelt words coupled with the brotherly head pat was enough to earn him another hug from his sister.

"Now go back to your room and sleep. What are you six?"

"Way to ruin it!"

______

In the morning Dana woke up earlier than usual, she knew Zeno would be up all night geeking out, so she decided to strike while iron was hot.

She was even wearing more feminine clothes instead of her usual type of clothes.

'Brother won't wake up for an hour or two. It should be enough for me and Zeno to have a talk' She thought as she prepared a quick breakfast.

Indeed Zeno had been up all night making sure the Schrodinger's Power Up was fed and the banana was rotating at the optimum speed.

He didn't have the time to snack, the smell of Dana's cooking was a blessing to him.

"My savior!" He quickly reached for a pastry.

Zeno could see something was different with Dana, not just the different style of clothes, her clouded eyes were now clear like glass.

'Looks like she finally made her mind up.' Zeno nodded inwardly.

One of the reasons why he didn't jump on her back then was that she was making her decisions based on fear.

As Kisuke Urahara would say, nothing comes from fear, there would always be doubts behind such a decision.

'I will go with whatever she decides, I don't have the heart to break her resolve after she came all this way.' Zeno was emotional.

Unfortunately the emotions he felt was that of a father watching his own daughter grow up, which was quite disturbing in this situation.

Two ate in silence with Dana fidgeting from time to time, once the food was finished Zeno spoke.

"You look cute with those clothes." Zeno complimented.

"Do you like it?" Dana asked back. 'I can get used to pink.' She thought.

"Well, it does give you a delicate appearance. Although I prefer your usual style, trying new things never hurts." Zeno answered.

"Thank you." Dana answered bashfully before she took a big breath.

"Zeno, I like you. I want to be with you, I am not quite sure about your Harem Plan but that's something for the future. Can you give me a chance?" Saying all she had in her heart Dana looked at Zeno.

Zeno's face was calm, his eyes like a still lake, not betraying a single emotion. That is until he revealed a gentle smile.

"I can see, you put thought into this rather than just blindly go forward with your emotions. As for my answer, I like you as well." Zeno said.

Dana's eyes shone with joy, she quickly jumped out of her chair and straddled Zeno's lap.

"Do you have any idea how long I was holding back!" She yelled as she took a deep breath.

'Well, it cannot be longer than me.' Zeno thought while exploring her body with his hands.

The two in his head finally couldn't keep his instincts in check, allowing them to burst through.

Dana responded to Zeno by going for a kiss, unfortunately with Dana being inexperienced she hit her teeth.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry!"

After some awkward apologies they finally kissed, this time with Zeno leading her. The kiss started gentle and kept getting more intense.

Zeno quickly took off her blouse when they disengaged to have a breath, unfortunately at the same time Zeno sensed Alex coming their way.

Zeno had to use all his willpower to rein himself back, he didn't want to traumatize Dana by getting caught by Alex.

"Alex is coming this way." Zeno said, his frustration clear in his voice.

Dana took a second to understand the words, she was too busy floating above clouds, but she quickly crashed down to the ground afterwards.

Thankfully their clothes were not that messed, allowing them to fix it up before Alex arrived.

"Oh, man. You ate without me." Alex grumbled.

He woke up to the smell of Dana's pastry, unfortunately it was finished by the time he arrived.

'Looks like those two had their talk.' He didn't fail to notice his sister's state with his senses.

He kept quiet though. Even with all his new powers Alex Mercer didn't dare piss his little sister off.