Chapter 17 : A 'normal' life

[Author note : New KoSP chapter. In addition to AoH, my patrons can also read everything from MoH on my P A T R E O N. Well... Everything I've written until now that is.

If you're interested in my stories or want to encourage me, please check out my Patréon : https://www.patréon.com/user?u=66371596 (replace the é by a normal e) or look for Cathbel on their website

KoSP : 2 advanced chapters

The Squib who became Iron Lad... In DC : 3 advanced chapters

AoH : Prologue + 6 chapters (exclusive)

MoH (Master of Healing) : 8 chapters (exclusive)

Have a good day and please leave a comment or something!]

====================

Hovering above a building, a futuristic-looking drone, flying in silence and with no apparent blades or engine, and four small parallelepiped pillars illuminated in a faint blue glow, was stealthily observing the content of said building, using thermal imagery. More specifically, it concentrated on one figure wearing a set of headphones queued behind four others.

Suddenly, a mechanical voice resounded from the drone :

« Are you sure our… 'friend's' work is up to par ? »

The figure of red and yellows shades shrugged its shoulders and thought :

« Don't know. One way to find out. And 'sides, it's not like they can do anything to us anyway ! »

« I guess that's true… Unless the group we met a couple of months ago decides to make an entrance. »

In reply, another thought came to the drone :

« That's… possible. I mean, I'm pretty sure that individually, we could take them on, but as a team… »

In front of the queue, a desk with two people sitting on each side were talking and apparently, the one with his/her back to the figure was just finishing as he/she got up, shook the hand of the other person before leaving. Almost immediately, one of the people in line approached and took the other's place.

The figure sighed and commented mentally :

« I don't like waiting… I'll put on some music. Switch to telepathic communication, please. »

« Acknowledged. »

Of course, the two people currently talking with their minds were Simon and Crys. The latter was experimenting with one aspect of his powers, the one he called 'Technopathy'… From what little he understood over his few months of life, it gave him control over technology, an inherent understanding on how something should work… But also, it gave him insight on how to build specific machines for a given purpose, as well as gave him powers to manipulate a great range of materials. Mostly everything mineral-based : rock, crystals, and of course, metals and oils. Not only that, he also seemed to generate his own electromagnetic field around his crystal-core which allowed him to power a number of devices (if he couldn't obtain other sources of energy).

Simon, too, had made a few discoveries about his powers. Firstly, as he thought, the main component of his power was energy absorption. However, energy was a vague human concept which seemed to be applied in a broad sense with his power. Chemical energy with acid, poison, burn etc… Kinetic energy which made it very strange for Simon to touch and be touched, not to mention being struck. Apparently, subconsciously he seemed to restrict this power so that anything not life-threatening, such as slow movements weren't absorbed. Hence why the needle managed to penetrate his skin on the TUP ship. He also found out that light and sound were two forms of energy that he semi-passively didn't absorb. Otherwise, he couldn't be heard or hear nor could he be seen or see as light and sound would be instantly absorbed by his body's field… Yet another source of energy he didn't absorb : Gravity. Whether that was because of limitations of his power or simply because in a human mind, people are supposed to fall down, Simon didn't know. As of this day, Simon was working on his control of this passive element of his power in order to be able to absorb those energies too, even if in small quantities. The weird thing was… He was already capable of using sound attack rather easily, so maybe he was ?

And this was the second and perhaps most important part of his power, at least to him : he could use the stored energy, modify it and/or unleash it outward. For example, he could convert chemical energy for his own body's inner workings : oxygen needs, nutrients… Or he could secrete poison from his pores or breathe it out. He could use kinetic energy to speed himself up, increase the impact of his strikes or even use it at a distance in a form of telekinesis. On this front too, he worked on control since with better control, more subtle uses of these energies could be made. He was also trying to exert other forms of energy but at the moment, they remained elusive.

For months, as they worked hard on developing their powers, they lived in empty buildings, warehouses and the like in a coast town named Barreltown, in the country of Ylipicuch (pronounced Yeeleepeecootch). After their encounter with Penelope and her friends, they changed continent, boarding on a freighter, which looked nothing like what they used on Earth in the 21st century, and working there for a week before reaching the Zambar continent east of Jirdunia where Celia was located. Frankly, the names were difficult for the Terran to keep track off… It probably was because he was a foreigner and these names were… Strange to him.

In any case, compared to Celia who was pretty much a third world country, Ylipicuch was rich and developed. They also made liberal use of a blend of magic and technology. From what they could gather, the technological side was mostly descended from Terrans who were stranded on this world more than a thousand years ago. The magic however… Well, this world was full of it ! Most people didn't really use it. Or at least, they couldn't without some kind of device. However, they were others, called Arcanists who studied the Laws of Magic in order to harness it. Like the Blood Mage and the Death-sniffing girl… Apparently, Arcanists were often highly regarded since not everyone could become one.

Anyways, in addition to finding out more about their new world and mastering their powers, they figured they needed some way to make a living here… Because living like a criminal was relatively easy for now, but neither Simon or Crys liked it. So, they looked for (and recently found) a forger to make them false IDs. It took some time and convincing but they managed. The irony wasn't lost on either of them, to call on the services of a criminal to end their own life of crime…

Now that this was done, Simon was at the bank (another thing, Simon believed to be coming from the Terran population) and waiting in line to open an account.

Perhaps less than half an hour after silence was made between the bond-mates, Simon was just about to reach the desk where a savvy-looking beautiful boss-type lady was sitting when Crys' voice resounded in his head once more.

Strangely, the first thing he heard was a sigh… How do you think a sigh ? Simon wondered idly but decided not to dwell on it with Cry's following words :

« I'm thinking that you were right, Simon… You're cursed ! Unless the criminality is this country is worse than we thought… »

« What ? » Simon said and thought at the same time, grabbing his headphones and bringing them down around his neck as he turned to face the front door.

A group of people wearing different pieces of tactical clothings, with colorful masks and armed to the teeth had just entered.