Chapter 6

I woke up a little thrown off from being on my couch, but my mind quickly caught up with everything that had happened yesterday. First thing was the whole me being a part of SHIELD now. While cool and seems like a good idea I do have some reservations. Sadly all of those can only be figured out when they happen. The main reservation I have is them trying to use me in a way I don't want, like HYDRA pretending they are SHIELD and sending me for assassinations. Like I said though, I will deal with it when it happens.

The next thing of note was Nat opening up so quickly. I mean I know we will be partners and we will have to trust each other with our lives but still, it was a surprise. I heard some rustling and my bedroom door opened. Nat walked out in an oversized shirt that hung down to her lower thighs.

"Morning Nat. Sleep well?"

"Yea I did. Thank you and sorry about last night."

"Why would you be sorry? You obviously needed to get it out. I'm just more surprised that you opened up to me so much."

"Yea me to but honestly I have to. See the job you're coming into is very dangerous. We can die at any time. Anything held in secret between us could get us killed. I don't want to die either so the only logical solution is to be open." She shrugs and goes to my fridge. "So what's for breakfast?"

"Well with your head in the fridge you should be able to see what I have."

"Hey! Don't get sassy with me. I just want to know if you want eggs and sausage or bacon."

"Why not both?"

"Oh we are gonna get along very well." She pulls out a carton of eggs and both the sausage and bacon. Soon you can hear the sizzling of meat coming from the small kitchen. "By the way, I will be moving in next to you. Fury decided to have me stay close so we can build up a good working relationship, also some of the missions will have us posing as lovers."

"And I'm sure keeping an eye on me has nothing to do with it right?"

"What!?! No never..."

"Yea... I totally believe you." I chuckle.

"As you should mister. Seriously though... about last night. I thought about what you said, about me forgiving myself. It will take me while to do so but I already feel better. So again... thank you."

"Hey it's what friends are for right?"

"Freind huh? Yea. Yea I like the sound of that."

Breakfast was finished and plated up and we enjoyed bacon, eggs, sausage and toast along with some coffee. We chatted about what to do for the day and decided to spend the whole day in the gym. Nat left to get changed and go grab some more clothes from her new apartment that was right next to mine. I asked her how she got the place so fast and she responded with a simple "We work for SHILED". So, with that extremely descriptive answer I just went with it.

About an hour later we arrived at the gym and started what was probably going to be the longest day of my life.

"Ok Zach, I'm sure you probably figured this out but SHIELD owns this gym. That means we can go all out, we already cleared it out for just the two of us. Push yourself. I want to see how far you can go."

"Yes mam!" I pop a salute and start off with a run.

After 30 minutes of running I noticed something odd. I wasn't getting tired. Looks like my regeneration is offsetting the fatigue of a normal run, I wasn't going slow either. I was running at a solid 7 miles an hour. Well time to go for broke I guess.

I up the speed to 10mph and run for another half an hour. I ran until I could go no more. My legs were creaming but after some extensive leg stretches I could already feel them healing and getting better. I am excited to see how many stat points I get.

"How many stat points did you get from that?"

"Oh I never explained did I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I wont know until I wake up tomorrow. See the point increase that I get naturally doesn't get added immediately."

"Oh! That makes alot of sense. Allright then time to lift!"

We head over to the weights and she runs me through every exercise known to mankind. Pretty sure some were made up too. At the end of it though we had to run through it twice since I recover so fast. 

Hours went by and we were both pleasantly surprised at my performance. Sadly the last thing to do was the one I dreaded most. See Nat had already asked as to how I upped my Dur

stat and I of course told her that I had to endure damage. I was not reluctant about this at all. Oh no, not me. Never.

I waited on the mat for what Nat called "emotional improvement". Not sure how I felt about the smile on her face though.

"Ok Zach." Nat walked up with her hands taped and a big smile on her face. "You probably won't like this. But I will."

"Ok but why no gloves?"

"Oh that's for maximum damage."

Oh I don't Like this.

"Now hold still for me and don't block."

What transpired afterwards was nothing short of volunteer torture. I mean it will probably work but getting beat on every inch of your body for an hour hurts. I couldn't even talk anymore. My mouth and eyes were swollen and I was laying on the ground in pain.

Nat was looking at me with pity in her eyes. "I'm sorry Zach... but this is the best way to train you up. I mean you told me how it works. Also this stopped being fun after the first couple minutes. I don't think I can do this every time. We will have to get others to help out."

I could only groan as a response.

She helped me up and took me back home. I didn't even take a shower and just went to bed. I slept 13 hours and woke up perfectly fine. It was surreal. I quickly opened up my status page to see if this is even worth it.

Stats

Name: Zachary Brown

Age: 18

Level: 3

Exp: 50/400

STR: 16

DEX: 15

AGI: 18

DUR: 17

VIT: 31

INT: 16

WIS: 17

Stat points: 3

Holy shit. That is some serious improvement. I can feel my body coursing with energy. I feel great!

I call Nat up and tell her to come over. As soon as she shows up I show her and quickly ask her to do the same thing every day until it no longer works. She of course agrees since not only does it work but that also means that I will be a better asset on the field. The only stipulation she has is that every other day we train martial arts rather than just stat increases.

I have no problem with this plan. I never understood why some super heroes in comics I read never learned how to fight. Seriously, all that strength and speed yet you can only throw a simple punch. It's so dumb. Like superman for instance. Fast, Strong, invulnerable and can fly. Can he fight though? Nope, he gets his ass beat by those weaker than him on a regular basis.

We eat breakfast again and head back to the gym to start the day anew. Today was focusing on training though so it was not as bad as yesterday. It was a good workout and I enjoyed today a lot more than yesterday.

We continue on this program for the rest of the week and my stats have only increased a little bit. Obviously I am starting to hit the upper limits, so things are beginning to slow down. Really it was bound to happen, so I have no problem with this. Our plan is to see what perks I get for getting all my body stats up to 21 at least, then it will be time for missions.

We have trained for months now and the first bonus I got was when my Dur hit 21. Being beat on over and over again was the perfect way to train this stat. We even had to do rounds where 5 agents at a time used me as a stress reliever.

Status: For passing 21 in Dur a major change has happened to your body. You are now bullet proof, to a certain extent. Anything above a 9 millimeter round will penetrate your skin.

This happened after about a month into the training. Since I got a really good upgrade here, we decided to include how to be a spy type training instead of durability training. The next upgrade came when I passed 21 in Agi. This milestone happened about a week after The Dur milestone.

Status: For passing 21 in Agi a major change has happened to your body. You are now a slow speedster. Your max speed is now 10xAgi.

This one made me super excited. We found that I could sustain a speed of 150 mph with ease, and I began running everywhere in the countryside. I know I will never fly so I will take this as the next best thing. I can't even begin to describe what it is like to zip across the ground and go faster than I have ever drove.

2 weeks later and I passed 21 in Int.

Status: For passing 21 in Int a major change has happened to your brain. Big Brain: You have an eidetic memory. You remember everything you read with perfect recall. Note: This is the only change that will happen from Int. Processing speed will continue to increase the higher Int is taken.

A couple days later The same happened for Wis. However this one blew my mind.

Status: For passing 21 in Wis a major change has happened to your brain and soul. Wisdom comes from experience and experience makes your mind and soul strong. Spirit warrior: Block mental and soul attacks caused by anything. This is not a full immunity, this is a weak block. Anything that is moderately proficient at soul and mind manipulation will break through.

That is a serious ability to have. My one fear in this world is spiritual and mental attacks. Nat and I have become increasingly better friends during this time and I had a nightmare the other day. In it I was strong. Like hulk ain't got shit on me strong... then my mind was taken over. It was terrifying. I could do nothing. I was a backseat driver in my own head. Then it got worse. I got ahold of Nat and I... I ripped her apart. I woke up from that dream covered in sweat and breathing heavy.

Yea it was horrible. The week after that I trained and studied like a madman. Just doing everything I could to better myself. The only thing that really snapped me out of it was Nat. She could see that I was breaking myself and sat me down, well knocked me on my ass so I would listen, potato potahto.

The conversation we had was long and very therapeutic. See having your new best friend hold you down and yell at you only to be stunned after you tell her how your dream ended is kinda funny. The giant hug I got from her helped too. She gave me some words of sympathy and told me how she would never be upset at me if something like that happened, but I didn't pay that any attention. I wasn't going to let it happen.

It was the day after that my Wis hit the milestone. Now I only had one thing left. Strength. Now I have not been slacking but for some reason getting Str up has been way harder than anything else. I mean everything has slowed down to a crawl now, but I lift and lift and lift and I am stuck at 20.

Nat came up with the great idea to see if I can trick my mind to lift as if I someone was about to die if I didn't get that weight up. It took all day of me doing that to get the nice ding the next day. But the amount of weight I pushed, it was truly superhuman. I bench pressed 1200 pounds off my chest, squatted 2000 pounds and deadlifted 3000 pounds. I had to rest for 2 hours in between each one just for my muscles to heal to the point that I could move. That Ding though, that ding made it worth it.

Ting!

Status: For passing 21 in Str Your muscles have gone through a rebirth. Where as before your muscles were that of a normal human now you are truly superhuman. Super strength: Your strength is now Str times 100.

Status: For truly changing your body into something more than human and doing so without adding stat points into stats that you can grow naturally you have gained the Perk: Total control. You will never accidentally crush a doorknob or rip off your little super soldier during your personal happy time.

It was almost time. I just wanted to increase everything a little more, well besides Int and Wis. Those two came with their own problems. See no matter what I do, and we are nearing August in 2007 now, they don't increase. I keep going with my body and by the time October came around I decided it was time to start missions.

My stats are looking great now. Nat and I are on even footing when it comes to martial arts. I take one last look at my status page on the morning of October 1st.

Stats

Name: Zachary Brown

Age: 19

Level: 3

Exp: 50/400

STR: 25

DEX: 25

AGI: 25

DUR: 25

VIT: 31

INT: 21

WIS: 21

Stat points: 3

Perks:

Total control. You will never accidentally crush a doorknob or rip off your little super soldier during your personal happy time.

Abilities.

Healing factor x 8: Your body heals at a rate 8 times faster than a normal human.

Bullet Proof: You are bullet proof up to and not exceeding 9 mil.

Speedster: You now have a top speed of 10xAgi.

Big Brain: You have an eidetic memory. You remember everything you read with perfect recall. This is the only change that will happen from Int. Processing speed will continue to increase the higher Int is taken.

Spirit warrior: Block mental and soul attacks caused by anything. This is not a full immunity, this is a weak block. Anything that is moderately proficient at soul and mind manipulation will break through.

Super strength: Your strength is now Str times 100.

The only complaint I have is that 25 seems to be the limit for me at the moment on my body stats. I would have loved to hit 30 but it just won't change anymore.

With everything ready I head to Nat's to tell her I'm ready.