Pins and Needles

Time seemed to pass by far too slowly for Wesley's liking. It was as if he had been submerged in some sort of gelatin, and it stopped him from moving at the speed he was used to. Both hands were reaching for Gustave, and the old fellow seemed to be moving steadily out of his way even as he reached outward toward him. Wes felt a steady sinking feeling in his chest as he saw that his plans weren't quite up to par here. They'd put all of their eggs into this basket, and while they hadn't actually needed to, at least to pass the combat test... he had felt a sense of pride at managing to outsmart the one behind it.

Gustave had warned them not to bother with trying to go after him- to focus on the Summon that he'd created in the form of a Beast. He had offered this out of a kindness to help them come along... but Wesley had immediately grown uninterested in the creature as soon as he found out that it was just a Summon from Gustave's Life Framework, and not an actual Beast.

All the same, the plan he had thrown together on the fly hadn't been enough. He didn't have time to get everyone in on it. Dammit.

But as he saw his outstretched hand seem to get further and further away from Gustave, a sudden flash of movement behind the old fellow caught his eye. He blinked, even that motion seeming to be slow and heavily stunted, before he saw his brother sprinting forward. He was moving much faster than Wes could even keep up with, but the older fellow's attention turned to face the new oncoming target, and that was the opening that Wes needed.

Even as poor Jay was suddenly sent sailing overhead, Wes had managed to use that momentary diversion to shift his movement, and place one of his grey-ridden hands on Gustave's outstretched arm.

The same sudden flash of heat that he had experienced now only once before caught him by surprised as it had been a great deal more powerful than what it had been when he'd touched Sasha's hand. The heat was intense, nearly scalding him, as if he were holding his open hand directly over an open flame. He winced at the suddenness of it all and tried to continue to keep his grip tight on the man's arm.

But the fiery pain that flared up within his hand was becoming too hot for him to handle, sending searing, needle-like pain up through his hand and into his arm. It was like he had purposefully wrapped a tourniquet around his bicep and allowed all the blood to drain out of his arm and then pulled it off. That feeling of blood rushing back to the sleeping limb and the pain that resulted from it was similar, but amplified several times, and it came to the point that he could no longer hold on.

With a cry of pain, he released Gustave, taking a step backward and clutched the agonized limb with his other hand, the agony having driven him down to his knees. He panted, his breathing quick and shallow as he stared at the ground for what felt like several minutes, not able to process anything else aside from the sensation in his arm. Thankfully, it steadily began to subside, becoming little more than a dull throb. Blinking rapidly, he looked up to see all of his allies around him, looking down at the young man in varying levels of concern.

"You all right, bro?" Jay asked, the young man actually kneeling down to look at his brother more face-to-face. "I saw what you dudes were doing and jumped in to help and I guess you got to do your thing, but you touched him for like... a second before you went all wild."

Wesley blinked. It had felt like it had been so much longer. Had it really only been a second of time? "I...don't know. I think so. My arm hurts," he admitted as he tried to move it, but found it to be a bit stiff, as if it didn't want to cooperate. "How did Gustave end up?" he asked, looking around a bit, before seeing his original target.

The older fellow still stood, his arms folded behind his back as he looked on at Wesley with a sense of curiosity on his face. "That's a dangerous power that you wield, young man. I've never faced anything like that before, not even against the Beasts."

Ted frowned as he looked from Gustave, back down to Wes for a moment, before the fair-skinned fellow brought his gaze back to the older Soldier. "Not to be rude... but I would appreciate... you no longer lying about your rank..." the man spoke, adjusting his glasses slightly while Jay helped his brother to stand up.

At that, Gustave couldn't help but to laugh softly, the older fellow nodding. "Very well. I suppose that in light of what you've managed between the five of you, some truth would be worth sharing," he spoke, before he spread his hands. "I am Gustave, a Major in the Military, much like Ellen. I am also a Tier Two with a Life and Time Framework, much like you, young man," he spoke, nodding to Theodore. "While I would not say that you were able to best me, I will admit that the touch you did manage stopped my Summon," he continued, his gaze on Wesley.

At that, Evie let out a sudden cheer, holding both of her hands overhead. "That means we win! Right?" she asked, looking from Gustave to her allies for a moment. "We win?" she confirmed again, trying to get an answer.

"Yeah," Wes responded, causing the girl to cheer again, bouncing up and down as she began to dance with Mr. Woodhead. Wes, however, looked back over to Gustave. "A Tier Two?" he asked absently, before he looked down at his right hand, which still tingled in quiet agony. "No wonder I couldn't touch you. Did you use a Lower Acceleration Skill on me?"

Gustave clapped his hands in amusement. "I did. I had planned to just allow my Summon to combat you all and if you saw through the ruse, to just keep it to hand-to-hand. But your group had done enough to force me to take it one step further. I suppose that touching me normally wouldn't have been anything to consider dangerous. But that touch of yours- whatever that Skill is, it's certainly not something to be trifled with."

"Okay, so we passed, right? Now what?" Sasha asked, frowning as she looked over at Gustave. "Where are we getting herded like sheep to next? Or are we finally done with this ridiculous procession?" she demanded, setting her hands on her hips.

Jay laughed quietly at Sasha's sudden outburst, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Look, we're probably just gonna get to go on and get assigned barracks and all that. We did the combat test, and all of our Skills work. We did a pretty good job, I think," he spoke, tooting his own horn as the girl lifted a hand and pushed his hand off of her shoulder, leading to him glancing toward Ted. "You think so too, right?" he asked, having found that he trusted the fellow's thoughts on the matter.

"Hmm..." Theodore pushed his glasses back up a bit, before he glanced from Gustave back to Wesley again. "If I am to... be honest," he began, the slow, halting speech showing his constant thinking and re-thinking of everything that he was trying to say, "I would...like to see Wesley re-measured for his Framework."

Sasha blinked, glancing over at Theodore. "What? Why? It's not like it's going to change. Come on, we're already done with all of this- why did you want to measure him again? You think it'll be different than a set of zeroes this time for some reason?"

Despite the rather straight-forward discontent from Sasha, Ted merely nodded in response. "I do. I wish...to test a hypothesis." The freckled young man looked back to Wesley then, a look in his eyes that indicated that he was seeing Wes as more of a puzzle to be put together than he did a human being. It was a touch unnerving, really. "Do you... object?" he asked.

Wesley frowned as he looked down at his hand. He had an idea of what Ted was getting at, but he still hesitated at the idea of it. "I..." he began, before he closed his hand tightly, the pins and needles nearly gone, now. "I think Ted's right. I'm not sure if I fully understand what he's wanting to test, but I've got a pretty good idea." He glanced to Gustave. "Major Gustave, may I get a second test?" he asked, looking to the fellow.

The older Soldier smiled. "I have no problems with it. Follow me," he spoke, beginning to move. Despite Sasha's annoyed sigh, the group followed along... curiosity starting to build among them.