Of

Cassy's mouth was open in shock as Kane vanished into thin air, she could hear Kane say "Wait here," from the other end of the door.

The apartment was dark, Kane used scanner and found his dad on the balcony.

Kane silently opened the sliding door and walked out, smelling cigarette smoke.

"Hi dad, didn't think you'd pick smoking back up."

Kane's dad immediately whipped his head around and pulled Kane into a tight embrace.

"You're okay, you're home," he spoke quietly while choking on his sobs.

"If you're worried about the government thing, don't be, I'm being treated very well at the moment."

He wiped the tears from his eyes, "That's good, they said you'd be allowed to visit home but you never showed up, I was getting so worried."

Kane smiled gently, "It's okay dad, everything is still fine... I'm basically completely superhuman now!"

"That's not a good thing Kane," his dad wearily laughed, "You want some food?"

"Damn right I do, though we should probably let Cassy in," Kane tilted his head in the direction of the front door.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Cassy yelled.

"Oh, I can teleport now, courtesy of my awesomeness," Kane shot her a half-wink.

"No no no no, you can't just 'teleport' Kane, don't say it like it's normal, what the hell happened while you were gone??" She said with a shocked expression.

Kane scratched his cheek, "I was actually able to do that for like the entire week before I disappeared."

His dad and Cassy both yelled out in surprise.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" His dad said with a frown.

"Well, you started up smoking again after swearing it off, so we're even."

"My son was taken away by the government for experiments! It's a miracle I had enough control to stay away from drinking too!" He said angrily.

"I'm with your dad on this one Kane, how on earth did this even happen in the first place?"

Kane and his dad answered at the same time, "Can't tell you."

"Oh, wonderful," Cassy groaned.

Cassy put her hand on Kane's shoulder, "Kane, I just want you to know that with the way your life is going, if we ever do get married, I'll probably end up being a heavier drinker than my mom."

"Duly noted," Kane gently bopped her nose and stood up, "Food's done, dad."

His dad walked over to the kitchen to check, "Huh? Thanks Kane, wasn't paying attention."

A delicious breakfast ensued, after eating the strange food the military supplied, this was enough to make Kane tear up.

Through a stroke of bad luck, a steak knife slid off the plate while the food was being carried over, falling right towards Kane's hand.

The pointed end fell first, jutting down into Kane's skin, and harmlessly bouncing off.

"Watch out Kane!! Or... not?" His dad held a look of relief and confusion as Kane handed the steak knife back to him unharmed.

The rest of the meal consisted of Kane explaining his different abilities and showing off, much to the amazement of Cassy in particular.

After the meal, Cassy went to get permission to stay over for the night, while Kane told dad about his plans.

"You can talk freely, I'm not sure if this place is bugged or not so I've made a sound barrier."

"You can do that?"

Kane nodded, "I manipulate the space around me to force the sound waves into a spherical area, meaning they can't travel to the ears of anyone else... ignore the echo."

His dad nodded along, "I have no clue what you're talking about, but go on."

"I'm planning on becoming the strongest being on earth and overthrowing the government."

His dad immediately coughed in surprise, "You're WHAT??"

Before the conversation could continue, Cassy burst in wearing pajamas, "She said it was fine!"

"That's great, you're always welcome here Cas..."

"She can't hear you, dad." Kane burst into laughter and dissabled the sound barrier.

His dad hesitated before speaking again, "That's great, you're always welcome here Cassandra."

"Please, Cassandra was my mother's name, call me Cassy," She said with a mock accent.

"How about I call you Joan?" Kane smirked.

She put her hands up in surrender.

-------

The rest of the day consisted of the three of them watching movies together and going out to an arcade.

Kane's dad began weeping when he learned Kane could technically see now, and Cassy just nudged him with her elbow asking if she was as hot as she claimed.

Eventually, day turned to night, as Kane's dad sleepily gave a thumbs up and told them to have fun before heading off to bed.

"Well, you wanna come with me to my room?" Kane asked.

"Kane, the third base thing was a joke," she said flatly.

Kane got slightly flustered, "Not that! I just want to go see what's left in there."

"Ohhh, my bad, sure I'll come."

This time it was Kane's turn to make a dirty joke...

There wasn't much left in the room, just his bed, some posters, and a few pairs of clothes.

"Man, they were really thorough cleaning this place out, dad must have hated it."

"I guess so. They really just ransacked you and your room?"

Kane chuckled sadly, "Yep, this is my life now, military guy..."

She gave Kane a hug, "I'm so sorry about everything."

Kane pulled away from Cassy and faced her properly, "Don't be, there's nothing we can do about it. Besides, I've gained a few things from this."

Cassy looked at him with a worried expression, "Are the powers really worth it?"

"So far, yeah..." He abruptly picked her up and teleported to the living room, setting her down on the couch.

"See, I don't need to walk small distances, totally worth having my life taken away!"

She looked around in surprise, "So that's what it's like! Still doesn't seem worth it though..."

Cassy grabbed Kane's hand and pulled him onto the couch, "You don't need to act tough Kane, are you really okay with all this?"

"Absolutely!" Kane quickly made a sound barrier.

"Not in the slightest, those f*cking pricks are trying to turn me into a damn super-soldier, they're sending me out to war sometime tomorrow."

Her eyes widened, "What?! That's ridiculous, are we even in a war right now??"

"Apparently. I swear to god, I'm going to tear all of their bullshit down the moment I can."

"Do you think you'd be able to?" She stared at his face.

"Of course, I'm a space attribute super-wizard who's reached Rank-4 in only two weeks!"

She sighed and put her hand on Kane's.

"You can be a little prideful sometimes, but please, tell me anything you need to."

Kane stared at the floor, "I-I don't know, just one Rank-6 can kick my ass right now and I have no clue how many they've got, that's not even counting all the drones and tanks and guns, I'm not even sure I'll keep growing at this pace."

Cassy cuddled up against him on the couch, "If it means anything, I think you can do it, you've always been strange after all," she giggled.

Kane let out a deep breath.

"I appreciate it, but all that aside, I know I'm going to have to do things I'll hate... I don't want to kill anyone Cassy, how do you cripple a military without killing? How do you do it without dying?? And they could come after you or dad or anyone else in the meantime, I just don't know if this is actually possible."

Cassy hugged him tighter, "You know how those people are, even if we all die, letting them keep a hold over this country is worse, and with those other mana soldiers you mentioned they might take over the world pretty soon."

Kane was shaking just a little, "I know that you're right, I've been ignoring everything they do my entire life... but have you ever lost a limb? Been shot at or stabbed? It hurts Cassy, it's f*cking scary, it's easy to say I can pull this off but I really don't know if I can."

He kept going, "And when I say I don't know if I can, I'm not even talking about how powerful I am, I'm talking about everything else, I don't know if I can face that kind of pain. I'm not sure I can be strong enough to protect you guys or myself."

She kept silent for a few moments before getting up and grabbing a blanket.

She cuddled up next to Kane once more and covered them with it, "You don't have to fight back until you're actually strong enough to pull it off, right?"

Kane nodded.

"Then just sleep on it for now, relax until you actually need to do the thing that's stressing you out," she spoke softly.

Kane buried his head into her side, "Thanks Cass," he mumbled.

"Of course! You better wake up early and move to a different couch though, if your dad 'sees' us like this we won't hear the end of it."

A smile forced its way onto Kane's face, "Looks like you've still got it."