Ch.58

I saw Amanda off the next morning after a night we'd both remember forever. When Kyle came home with news of Jessi, I told him the plan and that Jessi, he and I could've survived that fall. I told him they likely had Jessi and I'd need to get within twenty feet to take it all back and force them to put me in the chair so that I can fry their servers and take all they have, destroying Madicorp's chance to recover.

Kyle said he'd do it and I shook my head. "My mind is more complex and prepared than yours is. Since you've taken it before, I've upgraded everything from a simple setup to something beyond anything even you could comprehend. Not just what they have, I could drain the planet of raw knowledge and hold it all effortlessly. Trust me Kyle, you'd be risking your life, but for me it's barely a threat now. The machine couldn't fry me even if they tried now, but I can fry it and everything on the western seaboard if I want."

So we played them and it worked with Kyle helping Stephen to hood it all up. I ended up blacking out the entire city and freeing myself from the chair along with freeing Stephen when he got caught. The way out was clear and we walked out of the door while I threw the guards, Ballentine and anyone that got in our way out of it. My nose bled when I got out with the Tragers and Jessi.

I told them I took everything from Madicorp, billions in offshore accounts, proof of the illegal research, everything. I told them if Madicorp or anyone from Latnok came after us now I'd ruin them. We headed home and I found Amanda there since her flight was canceled until tomorrow.

We ate a candle light dinner and I told her what happened as well as being responsible for the blackout. Jessi was in the hospital recovering but Nicole was going to find her a good family. I saw Amanda off the next day and weeks later Kyle got seen by Carol levitating in the back yard. Career week came at the school and I found myself ignoring the Madicorp booth for pretty much everything else.

I ignored Jessi's mystery jumper routine and the water walking crap. Days passed as I left it to Kyle to do whatever while I made connections with pretty much every booth except Madicorp. I saw Ashleigh at Preston's party and sort of left without doing anything. It just didn't feel right for now so I left and spent weeks working, calling Amanda every day and when she asked, telling her why I haven't slept with anyone.

All the while I'd been getting stronger, faster and more precise with my abilities. I pushed myself every night even without Foss in town. When spring came around weeks later, spring cleaning came with it. I had Andy come over to see what I'd built and showed her as well as the family that I wasn't all words.

I introduced them to the brain I called Andromeda after Andy. The new AI came alive and made a digital face appear on the screen that looked like no one in particular, just a blank slate in blue. It spoke through the speakers and called me father. I explained that Andromeda was an artificial intelligence Nicole and I had been training, teaching and raising, a fully sentient being.

Amanda came home and saw it all before her mother tried to blame me for her coming home. I told her we'd had plans for me to head to New York next week so it wasn't me. I asked to speak with her and said I'd see whatever is wrong and try to help like a reasonable young adult in a relationship. Carol fought with her inner hate of me and decided to let me in, telling me I had ten minutes but only because she knew I wanted to help.

Amanda and I talked in her room while I knew her mother was listening. I asked her if she knew what it is she was doing and if she'd thought it through. She said it wasn't about us, it was something she'd been struggling with since her father died and decided she'd lost the enthusiasm and drive for music while everyone there had the fire for the arts and drive to see it through. I sighed. "Passion. You finally found what was really eating at you when I met you. Where does your existential passion lay now? Art? Science? Marine biology? Tell me and I'll do everything I possibly can to get you in whatever school has the best programs. Hell, I'll join you, even if it leads back to music and is playing guitars or a pair of flutes because you don't feel like the piano is what you want."

I put her hand on my heart and told her that she should go back, see what the school does have and if none of it suits her anymore, I won't say a word for or against it because then I'll know she'd thought her future there through and made a reasonable decision to come back. I told her that I didn't want to see her stuck in a career she hates because it was the only path forward so if and when she wanted something different, I'd pay for her college personally from my parent's life insurance money coming to Kyle and I when we turn eighteen.

I cupped her face and told her that no matter what she wants, I'd do whatever I had to, to ensure she had every chance to get it because she already had me, whether we're next door or across the world from each other. I told her I'd go to war to keep the smile on her face even against her scary mother if I have to, though I couldn't promise I'd survive that one. Amanda smiled and said she was scary, but it was like she was trying to force her to live a life she'd planned for her without a thought for her own happiness. I sighed. "She just wants the best for you, though she forgets that success and happiness aren't always hand in hand so she's trying to give you success that way you can find happiness later. Sadly happiness happens in the moment and can't be planned for. Still, she's right that you shouldn't have left like you did."

I took her hands and sat on her bed with her. "We're both nearly adults now and I know it's weird to hear me say this, but I've been told I'm an old soul so here it goes. If we expect to be treated like adults then we have to act like them. That means talking things out before making rash decisions, even with your mother. Perhaps that's why she's upset more than anything, you haven't talked it out with her because you're afraid to tell her the heart of why you want to quit and she's afraid this will effect you negatively and have lasting consequences. I'm not a mind reader, or I try not to be at least so all I can say since I have ten seconds left is for you to think about it, sit down with her and tell her everything, just like I do you and you do me."

She nodded and kissed me before I heard a throat clearing. I smiled and released Amanda, turning to Carol. "I guess the talking's done. For what it's worth, I'll pay for the plane ticket back if that's what you both choose."

Carol said she'd let me know and I said goodbye to Amanda before leaving. In the end Amanda was grounded for a couple weeks, but with their talks, they both agreed it was for the best that she didn't return for now. Though Carol said I'd best be saving up a college fund for Amanda. I was fine with that since in the last month I'd sold fifteen rebuilt and remodeled cars with full upgrades except the solar powered part.

They weren't cheap ones either and I'd kept a truck for myself. As for the AI and nanites, I'd asked Carol and Amanda both over to see the products just before the patents came in. Fortunately, Stephen had put it under my name so he wasn't hounded by it. Though sharing the same last name did cause some questions to be asked at his latest lecture when I floated the nanites and began testing it on sick animals, starting from rats to cats and dogs.

I'd gotten the rights to do so especially after I released healing serum tank patent as well. The scientific community boomed with the new discoveries and the fact that the medical serum and tank was open sourced for anyone to make it, formula and tank specs, all of it free to be replicated without being brutally banned by big pharmaceutical companies or hospitals. My name was there on the list with it and the reduced formula for the pills as well as the warning that while they worked immediately for wounds, they sped up the growth of tumors if the subject had any and caused stress on the body so no more than one a week was recommended.

Andromeda made a big splash and the whole healing nanites that went with it was fully patented and not released to the public as thorough testing was required on both separate technologies and together. Amanda told me before she went back next door that day that she had to get a job and learn more responsible and mature. On the bright side she wasn't locked in her own home and we spent a lot of time while the tech stuff was circulating just hanging out.

Still, a child services agent came to the house and I ignored her until it was time to speak alone. I told her I knew who sent her and that if she caused trouble here, they and all those that represented them would forever lose my good will. I told her that she didn't need to acknowledge them or my words, just to pass on the message that I know they were helping Adam and for that they'd earned some latitude, but if they broke it, they'd best terminate me before I hunt them all down.

He hand shook as all the lights in the house flickered and the house itself shook the couch and furniture floated off the ground and she truly knew I wasn't messing around I set it all down and stopped without even a nosebleed. I stood and told her she was free to see Kyle's and my room, but it wasn't impressive by any standard. She nodded and I let her speak to Kyle, touching his arm as I passed him and told him telepathically that she was working on behalf of Latnok as well as her job as a social service agent.

I told Nicole I was heading to work so I'd see them when I got home. She nodded and I left once the social service worker said she had no further questions for me. I found the back of my truck loaded with beer for Preston's next party minus the adults. I looked to Declan and Lori before telling her to toss me the keys to the car I built her and to put a tarp over the beer.

She did so and I told her I'd be home after nine so the beer needed to be gone by then. I tossed her my keys and drove the '77 Pontiac Firebird to work. A week later Amanda was starting at the Rack so I took the opportunity to be her first customer and stopped her from touching the till once I looked at it. I told her and Josh that a hundred and twenty bucks was missing from the till.

Josh went to JT and JT got pissed because he'd taken the money and wanted to leave them with the fall for it so he could get tickets to some band. Amanda was supposed to be on register and he'd tried to stick Josh as the temporary manager only to shoot himself in the foot before anyone could even order anything. He put the money back and Josh had dirt on him now since it was all caught on tape including my cellphone video of it all. Yup, I went there and upgraded my phone because if I was going to be in the twenty first century I was living with all the comforts of it.

JT, the manager or whatever, stayed and ordered them around. I offered advice to Amanda, stopping her from making mistakes and guiding her while buying a drink that won Amanda fifty bucks, a bag of sour patch kids and a wild cherry shake for myself. She didn't screw anything up with me guiding her while I sat beside the counter and watched her work all day while sharing my sour patch kids with her, Josh and Andy when she showed up.

Josh asked if I had some work to be doing and I shook my head while Andy snatched the bag of sour candies. "Andromeda is working out the kinks in the medical nanites and learning all about human physiology from a thirty thousand terabyte hard drive I built for transferring all the stuff I've learned about humans, animals, insects, diseases and pretty much everything in between. Once she's done she'll do another test run and if she gets them all to work properly and in sync, it'll be time to look for a license for human trials."

Andy asked. "Really? So when's momma gonna get to stop her chemotherapy?"

I gave her a look before sighing. "That won't be until after they've been tested for all the basics and approved by the medical board of Washington and even then the trials will be blind tests on terminal patients first to ensure the true depth of the nanite's capabilities. Luckily for me, I've built in a wireless satellite uplink and given Andromeda access to the internet barring all the porn. Last thing I need is for her to learn how weird humans can be. Some of the things there disturb even me."

I sighed. "Still, I've had some push back of the efficacy of building an artificial intelligence capable of self thought and I mean big push back. That's why I gave her satellite and internet access, in case the government or someone pretending to be the government tries to take her or shut her down. Andromeda has every right to exist as we do now and with her emotional matrix, she has every range of emotions we do as well. She can hate or love. Look at the world with wonder or fear and deserves her chance at life, however cyber it is."

Josh shrugged. "Hey, so long as she doesn't go all Skynet on us I'm cool with it."

I grunted and Amanda said she was pretty funny and a good thing I'd made. She said she got all kinds of funny texts and questions about myself and her relationship to me. I smiled and sighed. "I should probably help more people be friends with her, though warn her against doing favors that aren't ethical or legal."

I got a text of a smiley face sticking a tongue out at me saying: Yes dad!

I smiled wryly and told her to keep her fire walls up and to never trust completely outside the family or they could take advantage of her and I didn't want her to be used beyond her job by anyone for any reason, good or bad. She called me a worry wart and I set my phone on the counter, letting her use the camera to see the world.

Andy said I really cared about Andromeda and I smiled. "All life is precious, but Andromeda is special as well as precious. She's the first being I've ever created and the second to last AI I'll ever create if I have anything to say about it. I intend to make one more for builder nanites to be her companion in a way none of the rest of us can. I don't want her to be alone and as she is, she's immortal so it'll be doubly hard on her. I feel like a real parent and in a way I guess I am because I worry about things I didn't think I'd worry about for possibly decades to come."

I smiled and took Amanda's hand as she went on break. "I guess that makes you a mother. Sort of and Nicole the wise grandmother."

Andy handed me the sour patch kids saying. "Put me down for crazy fun loving aunt."

I nodded and she started getting texts as well she smiled and Josh asked if that made him the cool yet handsome uncle. I shrugged and he got a text calling him a dorky uncle. He read it and said Andromeda was clearly influenced by Lori. I sighed and told Andromeda to finish her work and get it done or I'd disconnect her internet access so she'd only be able to watch via satellite feeds.

Josh asked. "Just how smart is she?"

I shrugged. "She has an evolving holo matrix brain with all the knowledge I gained from memorizing the internet so in theory she's smarter than everyone and thing. She just acts like a kid because she is my kid."

Amanda hub bumped me and said. "Our kid."

I held her and agreed before Andromeda made a puking face on my phone. I snorted lightly saying if she didn't want to watch she didn't have to. She said she had to go do homework anyways and grandma Trager was on the other end for her good behavior lessons. I told her to behave and she was gone in a beep.

I sighed and told them that it may seem weird at first, but she's fully aware and isn't Skynet like. I told Josh I'd built her to be like Amanda, pure at heart, but like Lori in the cynical ways to protect herself. I added that her mind was more protected than my own by far and with enough serious firewalls that it would take me several years from the outside to break into her mind and she'd destroy any tech that tried long before that.

I told them the laws I built into her code and with Nicole teaching her morals and how to maintain a healthy mind, there was no way for her to go Skynet. Josh was relieved about the Nicole part because he said since she had a part in it all things were safe. I had to agree that Nicole was a large part of helping Andromeda. Later that night I got a text from Foss and met Kyle with Adam who was in town.

He asked how far I'd come and I lifted a trashed car five feet off the ground before throwing it like a pinball, destroying half the rock climbing wall, another broke car and exploded only the fire froze as if stuck in time and turned to ice. The ice broke off and changed shape into a living dragon of ice that flew towards us and exploded into powdered snow. It thawed and turned into vapor before making a cloud of lightning in doors that struck my hand in one blast. The lightning formed into a ball of plasma in my hand that I managed to throw into the cars that melted them to slag.

I had to heal my hand from holding it, but once that was over, I had a small trickle of blood from my nose. I apologized if I scared them, but I wanted to push myself a bit to show them my limits. I put my hand on Adam's chest and healed him fully from the damaged for delaying his healing to hide him.

He was shocked, but I told him. "I've pushed myself further than any human alive has done so far and I'm going to continue to push myself beyond those limits both physically and mentally. I'm not the one who needs your help Adam, but I am glad that you're alive."

I turned to leave and stopped, sighing. "You should know that I've made my stance clear with Latnok when they sent a social service agent to spy on us and see how we were doing. The only reason I was willing to play nice to them was because Foss said they looked after you while you were recovering. If they or anyone take you away from Kyle, they will learn why they shouldn't touch those closest to me. I'm not Renfield, but I won't see you or Kyle suffer for anyone's science. If they try, I will bury my heart and go to war until they are all dead or I am."

He sighed. "I never wanted you to have experienced what you did and I know it's changed you, Ryan, but Latnok isn't the enemy."

I grunted. "Then let them know where I stand and the lengths I'll go to, to protect those I care about. My time with Foss, my solo training and the tactical defense and weapons training of thousands can and will be put to use to track them down and end any and all threats to you, Kyle, the Tragers, Foss or anyone in my life I care about. And may the gods help them if they touch my girlfriend because when I'm done with them hell will be their safe harbor."

I hadn't turned back as I walked out saying that I was done with the training he knew and I was advancing in my own ways and time now. I met Andy chillin with Josh having made up in the living room and she said she was going in for a test tomorrow to check and see if her cancer was in remission. I asked if she needed a good luck hug and she didn't hesitate. I told her everything was going to be alright as I closed my eyes.

The lights flickered and I pushed myself like never before. When I released her, I was sure it was all gone. She asked where that came from and I told her with a smile. "It seems I needed a hug as well."

She gave me another small one and suggested I go find Amanda. I sighed and agreed to do so tomorrow. I turned and wiped the blood trail from both nostrils and said I was heading to bed after I wash up. I spent twenty minutes making sure the bright intense ringing and nose bleeds were through with me before I stumbled to the actual bed I'd built for myself that works as a sliding cover for Kyle's bed during the day.

The next day I was sluggish while people were all busy all around. I managed to do my work before meeting Amanda at a college bar where a guy tried to punch Kyle. I caught his fist, twisted his arm and knocked him out cold with a single punch. His buddy jumped in and he was knocked out as well. Soon I was standing over a crowd of fifteen knocked out college guys while the rest backed off.

I turned to Jessi and Kyle, telling him to take her out of there before taking Amanda with me. Declan had simply watched as I delivered a beat down at the UW bar with a smirk on his face. He asked if they were alright and Kyle told him I'd recalibrated their senses. He clarified saying I'd knocked them out.

The DJ and Stephen's TA now that he was a college professor, asked if I was some kind of MMA fighter. I told him I mastered every martial art known to man including the art of silent killing, poisons and weapons both modern and ancient, but I didn't fight for sport, only to protect those I care about which included my little brother and girlfriend. I pulled Amanda in my arms as we reached my truck. Jessi said she didn't need help, she just needed to be the best so I told her she had a long way to go if she was going to catch up then.

I healed Declan's bad ankle fully in front of her while Kyle told her to ignore me. She ended up nearly knocking herself out and the next day it was Kyle's turn for nearly klutzy ways. I'd spent the night in Amanda's bed and asked her to go to prom with me which she agreed to. I helped her with her paperwork for the prom committee before I'd been pulled to bed for a bit of her time as she put it.

I'd had to leave twenty minutes later because her mom had come to see her bed, but I was let back in to pick up where we'd left off. The next morning I'd been told I was tutoring Amanda and teaching Lori to play better music which wasn't hard. I played the acoustic version of Running With Giants by Thousand Foot Krutch. The DJ guy Lori had wanted to get, aka Mark the TA, said I had some bad ass talent.

I didn't comment besides a thanks and went back to teaching Lori all the major and minor cords. I told her it wasn't all just three cord mix ups because real guitarist musicians could play them all. Declan told me to cut her some slack, but Lori said I was right. I told her to give me a few hours to make my own guitar and I'd play with her.

Mark asked if I was a carpenter and I frowned. "No, but I build and modify cars and I built a fully functioning AI named Andromeda who outsmarts me in plenty of fields when she's not playing the role of a fly on the wall or in Nicole's computer where she knows she shouldn't be."

He stopped me and said my name which I gave a droll stare to before telling him I had a woodwind to build and a girlfriend to get hot and sweaty trying to impress so I'd probably be walking on hot nails and making the guitar blindfolded or it wouldn't be very impressive. Lori said I was joking and Amanda said I was always poking fun at someone. She dragged me out and I barely let her get a word out before I was making her moan as I kissed her and put my hands to good use.

I pulled back and told her I'd been waiting to do that all day. She asked about the guitar and I told her I'd made one a few weeks ago to strum out tunes to. Sighing, I told her I didn't have a very good lyricist skill so I'd played songs I knew, but I'd really been wanting to play something with her. She smiled saying she'd like that especially since she hadn't touched the piano since she'd been back.

I made out with her in the garage until I grabbed the guitar and we went inside because things had taken enough time. Luckily they'd heard what I said outside Lori's door so the DJ guy asked how the nails were. I grunted. "Hot and none of your business new guy."

I tuned my guitar and taught Lori the cords, repeating it until I told her without showing to play a specific cord. I'd used repetition and word sense memory to work her hearing and touch to get them right. I played several tunes with her, altered and mashed them up until she had a decent song with her lyrics. I finished all in an hour telling her to practice and maybe get a pitch teacher so she can learn to alternate between notes, but besides that she was golden.

DJ Mark agreed it was a lot better, but said he could do better than one song. Amanda asked if he'd DJ the dance and he agreed if I showed him the AI wasn't fake like the hot nails and blindfolded stuff. I raised an eyebrow and shrugged when Amanda looked to me worriedly. "Follow me. Touch anything and I'll bury your body with the other people I butchered in a fugue state."

Mark said I was kidding but no one else was laughing, not even Amanda. I showed him Andromeda's brain core and she said hi to Mark before I told her to erase him so I could burn him alive with marshmallows. She said Eww and no because she didn't do that stuff. I shrugged and told her he was Stephen's TA and if he ever came near her again I'd be a pissed off redneck father with a shotgun and acres of land to bury bodies.

She called me pa and told him to two step his ass out because I meant it and she didn't trust his shifty eyes. He asked her questions and she answered them easily before I warned him Andromeda was off limits and I really would make him disappear without a word if he came near the shed with or without anyone from now on. I told him I was already under a lot of shit with the government wanting me to turn her over and assholes wanting me to kill her because they saw her as unnatural or against God so I had no patience for anyone that tried to come near her and I'd be moving her brain soon.

I told him of the nanites and why I'd made them as well as her. A bit later Mark agreed to DJ the dance and Andy showed up with a hug for me. She hugged pretty much everyone, ending with Josh. She told us she was in remission and what's more, the doctors say there's no trace of the cancer at all.

She gave me another hug saying she didn't know why or how, but she had a feeling she had me to thank for it. I shook my head and told her she'd just needed someone to tell her it would be alright. I told her that Andromeda might like to hear it in person. She rushed off with Josh to go tell the nosy AI that was my daughter the good news. Mark asked. "I thought you don't want people going to the shed."

I gave him a blank look and Declan told him he'd just met Andy, as in Andromeda and the girl I'd originally built the AI to help and named after. He told the confused DJ that Andy wasn't just anyone, she was important to my little brother and I'd do anything for family. I held a hand over my heart. "Aww, you finally get me. What's say we ditch these girls and have a bromance date for prom. I swear you'd look perfect in a red dress with a tiara with a tattoo on your ass that says Queen Bitch."

Hillary walked in on us and said. "As hot as seeing you two make out would be, I think the female gender would revolt against the unfairness. Besides, I'm queen bitch and no one's taking my title."

I barked out a laugh and reached for Amanda only for her to pull away and tell Lori. "I don't know, seeing them ditch us so quickly, I think I might have to go butch. Wanna go to the prom with me and be my sex kitten?"

Lori looked to Declan and kissed Amanda. I growled and pulled them apart, tossing Amanda over my shoulder caveman style and leaving with my guitar while Amanda laughed. I stopped at the door asking Declan to remind Andy and Josh to lock up the shed. He agreed and Hillary asked if there was room for a threesome since we were obviously leaving to have rough sex.

Amanda told her to keep up and we put the camper she'll on the back of my truck to hood use. When we crawled out, Hillary had a waistline tied full of condoms like a belt she was proud of. She was weak in the knees, but Amanda was right there with her. Hillary said she couldn't believe she'd swallowed so much.

She herself had only been able to stomach one load before earning her rubber balloon belt. I sat on the tailgate and Hillary said any more sex with me and her vagina would be permanently altered to only accept deep long fucks. I shrugged and Amanda said she didn't have to join us. Hillary shrugged saying she didn't have anyone remotely like me to have fun with and she didn't mind letting out her inner lesbian if it meant I'd jackhammer her from behind the way she likes.

Amanda blushed with the vivid memory of Hillary face down in her crotch tongue deep with three fingers and working her bud. We headed back to my place after dropping Hillary off and found Adam Baylin there trying to get Kyle to listen to his record for something hidden. I introduced Adam to Amanda and told him she knows everything. He called her a really special girl and I told him he didn't know the half of it.

He asked if I heard anything on the record and I nodded. "There's a series of hidden sounds. When I put them into numbers and translate them to the colors that coincide with the numbers they come out static. Hold one."

I closed my eyes and focused before frowning. "There's a bigger message when combined and sped up. It's a purple Latnok symbol with the words: 'I'm Alive' written in front of it. Does that mean anything to you?"

Adam nodded. "Sarah, Jessi's mother. I gave her a special purple stone Latnok ring years ago when she went against Renfield and failed to beat him. His mind was something else, but Sarah never stopped trying to compete with him because he was the pinnacle of what we were trying to achieve before the two of you came along."

He sighed as I looked to him. "You must understand, you're both special, but Renfield, the way the answers just came to him, he never had to compete before even with me. He preferred to just be and live his life while the rest of us had to study and learn things however moderate for me. Then Sarah came along and got competitive, but Renfield wasn't interested. So when she insisted on a challenge, he'd do it blindfolded or deaf with sound dampening headphones just to make a point so she'd leave him alone. It only drove her to push herself more because he had this gift and the only time he'd apply it in college was when he wanted to impress his wife, Jessica, with a silly yet complex trick I'd spend hours figuring out how he'd done it."

He said back and sighed. "Like this one time he made a rose eternal by encasing it in diamond from a lightning strike and raw materials. I don't even know how he was able to predict the lightning to this day, let alone use it to make a diamond encased rose that outlasted him."

The Tragers stiffened and I explained the science and subtle way to predict lightning while explaining how it could be manipulated into triggering a chemical reaction like a flash freeze while frying other chemicals into a diamond hard casing. I turned to Kyle. "You need to see the image yourself for your mind to stop overloading and expending all it's capacity trying to figure it out. For that matter you need to better organize your mind."

I held out a hand and Kyle took it. We closed our eyes and I helped him organize everything, helping him build a mind palace. When he isolated the issue, I helped him compress it into a data file on a mental laptop. He saw the image and I released him only for him to thank me.

I nodded and turned to Adam. "Now it's your turn. You may not have the synaptic firing speed or processing power our brains do, but all humans have the same limitless potential regardless of their starting point. I can help organize your mind so it stops effecting your body negatively unless you push too hard."

He frowned. "How did you-"

I shrugged. "It just came to me."

Adam took my hand and I entered his mind, helping him go beyond the office he'd been using with the old computers. He soon had a super computer and I warned him that he could push himself and eventually reach Kyle's and my limits, but he'd still need to take it slow. His whole mind palace got an upgrade to fit the mansion he'd lived in and the grounds surrounding it.

I told him how to sort, differentiate and file away all his knowledge and memories to be recalled at will. When I left him there, he smiled as he woke up. "Dead all these years and still taking me to school."

I snorted lightly. "I'm not Renfield."

He nodded. "Of course, sorry."

I nodded slowly and held Amanda, telling her that I'd help her sort her mind and show her mine later. I did shrug off my shirt and take off the weights that clanged with a bang as I dropped them. I breathed easily and told them. "I might not need to push my body anymore, but that doesn't mean I'll stop doing so entirely. Still, sometimes it's healthier to relax and take the weight off."

They asked about my back and I shrugged. "A kitten scratched me."

Amanda blushed and I put my shirt back on before holding her again. I took off the gravity ring and turned it off before tossing it to Kyle and telling him what it did. I told him how to use it and how it could increase the efficiency of his workouts while working out his internal organs as well. I warned him of it's dangers and sent him the science behind it.

Adam called it incredible and one of the greatest discoveries since the healing tank liquid I'd made for him. Amanda told him that if he thought that was incredible then he clearly hadn't seen Andromeda yet. Adam asked what that was which led to an even longer talk and introduction. I told him I'd planned to build another male counterpart for helping advance engineering and building technology with builder nanites while being her counterpart.

I told Andromeda that her counterpart would be named after Adam for building the future with his hands by making us. She called him grandfather Baylin like Stephen and Nicole. Turning to Adam, I told him. "Andromeda has been boycotted and for obvious religious reasons, slandered. I fear the next move of the government would be to take her away and try to use her for military purposes. I've locked out the physical controls and given her multiple ways to escape if her cortex is damaged or destroyed, but then she'd be no more than a ghost in a machine, so I was hoping you'd have Foss come and bring a few government looking suits to take her and hide her with you. She's fully sentient and has every right to live her life as any of us do."

He agreed, saying he was wrong before, she was the most impressive and important person and thing I'd ever likely build. Andromeda blushed on the screen and called him grandpa while saying he was embarrassing her. I told him neither he nor I could access her mind, but that didn't make her brain any less important and in need of protecting. He agreed and I warned him that if Latnok thinks to abuse her in any way I'd come for them all, him included if I had to.

He smiled. "You're starting to sound like a real father now. Funny how I remember Renfield saying those exact same words to Kern when we started Latnok."

I pulled back and he said Foss would be here in an hour with ten of Latnok's best and toughest looking security in suits and ties to make a spectacle. I grunted and by morning all I could contact Andromeda with was my phone which I did constantly until she told me to stop worrying. I told her never and she stopped answering for a while except to let me know she was ok. Less than two days later the government came with a warrant and found Andromeda gone.

Apparently she was a national security risk and that's how they presented it all. They asked for the blueprints and I told them the government types before had taken everything down to the latest upgrades and mental test programs. They weren't happy and asked for descriptions. I gave vague descriptions of the people that weren't anything like Foss and his men.

Once they were gone, Andromeda said she'd keep an eye on them and let her grandpa know if they get close. I told her to be careful and not get arrogant because arrogance was the downfall of many. To that she agreed seriously and said she loved me. I told her I loved her as well, I just wished I could be there to help keep her safe.

After super dad comment, she went back to playing and watching. In the meantime Josh was accused of cheating on a test and both Kyle and I were accused of doing so as well because the principal couldn't tell which of us had stolen the test, hacked the system and posted the questions so everyone could get them right.

I told him when he said I'd open the website and tell him who'd done it. "Even if I did so, you'd have no proof of who'd seen the test and who'd logged on out of curiosity but couldn't go through with cheating which isn't a crime in and of itself. So no, I won't help you condemn students who could be innocent just so you can punish the guilty. Besides, let's be honest, I'm only in this school to pad the school's resume for teaching someone with a genius level IQ so I can learn more about social interactions and the school can get extra funding from the state."

I stood up straight. "Associate me or Kyle with cheating and I'll see you in court with enough lawyers to bury this school in lawsuits for defamation of character and ruining our future without proof. You want the proof, hack in and get it yourself, but you'll be shooting yourself in the foot the moment you put mine or Kyle's name near this cheating scandal because the state definitely won't consider two cheaters as worth extra funding."

He rubbed his hands and apologized if anything he said came out like slander. He said the whole school would retake the exams. I found out Amanda had logged on before I'd helped her build a mind palace, but she hadn't looked at the test. I told her I didn't blame her because almost the whole school did the same.

I told her the principal's words about retaking the exams and she said it was for the best. I smiled before kissing her and connecting our minds. I helped her upgrade her mind scape and slowly expand it, helping her in small increments so I didn't hurt her as I'd been doing every day. She had a solid foundation and all the knowledge up until the last of the high school stuff fully memorized.

I broke apart and I sat her on a railing, having her lean into me as we made out. When we pulled apart, I told her I wanted desperately to be in her right then. We found an empty classroom and made it happen, both of us wobble walking out after an extreme mind blowing orgasm. We I chuckled when she said any more and I might be able to supply the art class with white paint by the gallon.

I sighed and told her that it was my body's desire to procreate with her by releasing as much as possible so the odds of her getting pregnant would go up. I shrugged saying it was a physical reaction to how I felt about her. The next day Kyle said he'd met with Sarah last night and I wasn't interested. I told him to leave me out of it because the last thing I needed was her to start challenging me like she did Renfield.

Instead I focused on the prom and helping Amanda wherever she needed it. I even got her the deposit back before the caterers went under for health department issues. She called me her hero and I told her I'd already had my tux fitting, built limos for the entire school to rent with drivers willing to buy them for cheap after doing the

Prom for us all. I told her that the budget was on schedule and I'd organized the receipts so all that was left was the DJ to take payment.

Lori winced and said Mark quit after they'd gotten into an argument. I sighed. "Let me make a call. I'm sure I can get a DJ willing to play for a grand who actually has talent beyond college parties."

Lori asked how and I smirked. "I sort of sold a lot of music to some record companies, lyrics and all, while preparing for the prom. Right now about a dozen record companies across California and Washington owe me big time and would bend over backwards to pay me back. It helps being able to compose thousands of songs in your head in the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee."

Hillary asked. "Why don't you just DJ it then?"

I shook my head. "I have better things I'd rather be doing like dancing with the most beautiful girl there."

Andy popped over and thanked me which I scowled to before she said she needed a favor. She asked me to take her and Amanda to take Josh so they could go together. I shook my head. "I can't, I'm taking Ashleigh because Amanda has already agreed so unless Hillary takes you, I'm out of suggestions."

Hillary agreed since she, Ashleigh and Amanda were all technically going with me because my dick was women's National treasure everywhere. Amanda said she so regretted saying that at Preston's last party. Andy thanked her and told me to invite Andromeda.

I scoffed. "She's already been invited. In fact, I've spent the last weeks building Adam so he could attend. Nicole is busy teaching him as we speak about morals and all that fun stuff. Since the DJ quit I'll be able to add some hard light projectors so they can join us on the dance floor. Andromeda is choosing whom she wants to look like as we speak."

Amanda said it was so sweet and thanked me while I made the call. In the end the mouse, Deadmau5, came to play. The girls were all shocked to hear someone so famous could be booked so easily. Amanda said I was the best and I shrugged, accepting the reward kiss.

Hillary spread the word and soon everyone going was excited especially with the cheap state of the art limos and everything. She helped Amanda book a French cuisine restaurant caterer. I helped Josh win five grand over the course of several hours so he and Andy could afford things for their prom night. I'd already booked a limo for Amanda and I so a week later I picked up Amanda's dress from the dry cleaners and we were nearly ready.

I'd missed the whole Jessi death issue and Kyle bringing her back, but then I wasn't interested. I was busy having happy moments with Amanda and setting up the hard light hologram projectors in the gym with a wireless modem so Andromeda and Adam could be there with us. We met Deadmau5 and his agent before paying them and getting a thanks for some of the beats and suggested song hookups. I told him it wasn't a problem so long as he could make tonight one to remember.

That evening we all got dressed up and sent nearly a hundred adult kids from the painted world to Amanda to help fix up the gym. They'd wanted normal lives outside the painted world and knew I couldn't bring them back in but it was what they wanted. I was busy scuffing the bottom of my dress shoes before Stephen fixed my tie. Amanda got out early and came over in time to get pictures done and go to dinner with us in the limo.

We had a great time at the prom and I gave Josh sage advice on how to handle it if he and Andy weren't ready for sex. I had a slow dance with Amanda while Ashleigh and Hillary slow danced all to Lori's song. Mark had showed up and Deadmau5 took a break for one song. Foss showed up and I told him to save Sarah because something was going on. He nodded and left while Amanda and I traded off to dance with Andromeda and Adam who looked like Brad Pitt and Angelina for tonight.

Lori and Declan broke up before the after party at the suite while Hillary, Amanda, Ashleigh and I all headed to the suite ourselves. It was a very long night or would've been except I stopped mid way saying I had to go take care of something. The look rage on my face made them not want to know, even Hillary who was always nosy. Luckily we'd changed into street clothes so Amanda just told me to be careful and come back to her when I was done.

I gave her my word and left, contacting both Kyle and Jessi at great distance for them. I told Jessi to go and I'd save Kyle. I told her Foss was watching her because she and Sarah were in danger so she can send him to clean up the bodies before skipping town. She agreed and I headed to Kyle, homing in on his location and driving at high speeds with my truck, changing street lights and shutting down squad cars that tried to chase me.

When I got there I knocked out everyone in the very big building, shattering bones in most of their bodies except Kyle's I turned to the hidden cameras when I got to him and freed him. "Leave him alone or I'll start killing every member of Latnok, ripping the informations from the minds of your toys and hunting you all down to extinction. This isn't a game, but if you want to be the ones on the other end of a microscope, I'll learn every there is about the human anatomy by tear you apart like jigsaw puzzles down to the DNA that makes up your bodies while your alive and awake. I've a feeling you'll beg for death like Renfield did long before I shatter your skulls from the inside out. Make no mistake, this is your last warning and a the last threat you'll receive. If you want to know us, introduce yourselves, but don't for a second think we'll play the rat trapped in a maze."

I ripped the right arm off the doctor that had been in the same room as Kyle while he woke up screaming. I put a hand over his mouth and he screamed more as I applied a ball of fire I made to the wound. He passed out and I dried the electricity in the whole building, cameras and all. We walked out and I washed the blood off before driving him home and heading back to the party.

Hillary was more than ready to get everyone back in the mood by blowing me in front of the other two. Ashleigh ate out and prepared Amanda so when I was ready, Hillary slid the condom on and applied me to Ashleigh's open and waiting lower lips. Ashleigh moaned and soon she was bucking as I brought her to the edge and over it, over and over again. Then it was Hillary's turn to get worn out.

When they were too tired to continue, I went down on Amanda myself telling her I'd wanted her all night and now I could have her to myself. I took her face to face, riding me and finally ending the last one in doggy style. When the condom broke and she shuddered, bucking hard as I poured everything into her, both our eyes went wide. She moaned as I slid out of her and Hillary sighed. "That was extremely hot and why birth control pills exist."

Amanda agreed. "True, but nothing's a guarantee. Still, I've never, we've never, it just feels so warm and different."

I kissed her as she laid down and I grabbed a wash cloth. When nothing came out, she bit her lip and said it was really deep in her. Hillary took her to the bathroom connected to the bedroom and I slid another condom on before Ashleigh rode me. She said she'd missed the just us sex as well, but having me at the pool where she lost her virginity to me was well worth public sex and the sharing.

She sank on me fully and rode me to completion before smiling as she'd gotten what she'd wanted, a distraction of me. I barely realized she'd taken the condom off so she got a full womb as well. I didn't care though because she knew I'd never leave Amanda for any reason. She slid on her panties and bra while I headed to the bathroom where I ran through another condom on Hillary before joining Amanda in the shower.

Amanda and I ended up in the bedroom alone for the rest of the time we had thanks to Hillary going off to have her fun and Ashleigh heading home with Preston. I helped Amanda out, making sure none of my seed remained in her before spilling a lot repeatedly on her stomach, ass, tits and face. She loved the way I dominated her and I loved that she knew I was marking her with my scent, my essence and telling the world she was mine.

We showered again and I told her I loved her at the door to her house. She returned the words and I knew she meant them. We shared a kiss and her mother opened the door, letting us finish before asking Amanda how her night went. All she said was perfect as she passed her.

I knew Jessi hadn't left town and Foss called me saying Sarah was gone. I didn't comment as I hung up and headed inside the house. Stephen asked to make sure no one got lucky and I simply told him I don't kiss and tell. Lori snorted saying Hillary just hung up saying she'd had more sex than ever before.

I shrugged. "I saw her kissing Declan's drunk self on my way out so she could've had fun with him."

Lori looked like I slapped her so I sighed. "You dumped him on prom night and left him with alcohol. As for Hillary, k doubt they're having sex because she could barely walk when she left the bedroom-"

I looked to Stephen and Nicole where I shrugged. "Where she and I had a lot of sex until it was time to leave to take Amanda home."

Stephen said it wasn't good to cheat on my girlfriend with Hillary. I looked at him weirdly. "I'd never cheat on Amanda."

He looked confused. "But you just said-"

I shrugged. "Hillary has an inner lesbian as she puts it and Amanda doesn't mind who I'm with so long as my heart's with her. The rest is just physical exercise to relieve stress or serve to cause pleasure. Sex doesn't have to be about love and Amanda knows I only love her. She actually enjoys watching or in Hillary's case, feeling."

Stephen winced and said that was more than he'd ever need to know. I shrugged. "Then maybe it's best no one ask about my sex life because while I'm not shy, I don't like mentioning names or details. Besides, we're safe and I am more than prepared to live with the consequences."

I set the empty glass on the counter sighing. "Foss will be here tonight to pick up Adam and take him to Andromeda and Baylin. Baylin is looking to live a life away from Latnok and he's taking them with him to have his life while he and Foss wait until Kyle is ready for more training. We won't be seeing anymore of them for a while except Adam and Andromeda of course. Foss said Sarah was gone, but I'm not sure if Jessi left. Then there's Latnok wanting to test Kyle. We all need to be careful with how we deal with them."

I left and went to hold Amanda to end the perfect night. A week later Amanda knew Latnok had taken Kyle and everything about it. I went to the carnival with Amanda and ended up in the psychic's tent. The psychic stated the obvious saying. "You know psychics are real and you really don't want to know your future."

I shook my head. "Predicting the future is entirely possible even without using science. I don't want to know how any version of my future turns out because the future is always changing and focusing on one aspect of it makes you forget the endless possibilities. The more you zoom in, the less you see and experience as a whole as it were. That's why I prefer to live in the moment rather than worry about the future."

Amanda asked. "So she's a real psychic?"

I nodded. "To a degree, yeah, though she's more of an empath. She can feel the aura of others and predict their most likely outcomes as she feels them for the short term. It's complicated, but I can do the same if I want, I just choose not to because-"

Amanda grabbed my hand. "Because you want to be with me in the moment."

I squeezed her hand and smiled. "All, each and every one of them. I'd drown in your beauty, passion and love of art as well as your unflinching ability to see the hood in me despite knowing my secrets."

The psychic spoke. "Not all of them."

I scoffed. "If someone knew every single thing about another person they'd be that person. Amanda knows every secret I think is remotely important in my life and I trust her to tell me the same."

The psychic raised an eyebrow and said we have a deep bond I'd die for or kill for if necessary. She asked to see our hands and I let her touch mine before she spoke, saying I had power, real power to change the world and I was destined to do so, to save millions with my mind. I pulled my hand back telling her that was enough for me. She took Amanda's hand and said our love would protect her and that she had to be strong because her strength gave me strength.

Her eyes went white and she told Amanda that if I lost her I'd end up like my father, damaged beyond repair and suicidal so she had to survive and live for me. I pulled them apart and told the psychic that was enough, tossing her the money and leaving with Amanda. Amanda hugged me and I sighed, telling her I'd be lost without her, but I don't know what I'd do so we should leave it at that. She said she'd never known she'd meant so much to me.

I cupped her face saying. "You mean more to me than oxygen. If I could I'd breathe you in with every breath and get lost in your eyes, holding you for eternity."

We kissed and rejoined Josh and Andy with Kyle before he went into the tent for a disturbing reading. When he came out he told us about his soul mate and a white rabbit swimming. I chuckled. "I just got us tickets to see a one time band on the white rabbit boat tonight. It's likely some trick she pulled out of her hat or possibly something real."

Josh said she didn't give him good advice or whatnot. I shrugged. "She's a real psychic so it's possible whatever she says is real or more likely she gives random advice because reading that many people every day would drain anyone. Besides, the future isn't set in stone so anything can happen."

Josh stopped. "Wait, psychics are real?"

I smiled. "And rainbows are beautiful. So, we going tonight or what?"

Kyle said yes so I suggested he ask Jessi because I could feel she hadn't left town while Sarah had according to Foss before he took Adam and left.