I'm A Dangerous Man

Earlier that day:

The girls had just left with Hardy for Operation: Prisonbreak. Doctor Nagi was doing his daily check up on Biggie while Slim sat bedside like he usually did.

“I just need to create an opening, an excuse to get a level reading on that Hendrix kid.” Nagi thought as he checked Biggie’s blood pressure.

“Doc, isn’t that tight enough?” Biggie asked. The blood pressure machine was tightening around his bicep, but Doctor Nagi was too lost in thought to hear him.

“Maybe I could say I do bi-yearly checkups on the residents, then he’d have to comply-” Nagi’s thought was interrupted by a popping sound.

The blood pressure machine popped as Biggie looked at the Doctor with an annoyed face.

“You usually don’t make mistakes, Doc. Is something wrong?” Slim asked from the other side of the bed.

“I’ll be back.” Doctor Nagi stood up and walked out of the room to the confusion of the two boys.

In the gymnasium, Kai, Taro, Chase, and Hendrix all sat in silence.

Hendrix noodled on his guitar, writing something down in an old notebook as he did.

“I’m bored!” Chase screamed, laying in the middle of the basketball field as he flailed his limbs around childishly.

“You’ve said that a million times!” Taro screamed back.

“Don’t worry. He gets like this when Amora’s away for too long.” Hendrix said as he wrote in his notebook.

“I said I’m bored!” Chase repeated.

Doctor Nagi swung the door open, fixing an out of place strand of hair.

Slim and Biggie followed behind him, Slim helping his friend balance on his crutches, to the dismay of Biggie.

Hendrix kept his gaze locked onto his guitar, afraid of making eye contact with Biggie.

“Good afternoon, I’m Doctor Nagi, the compound’s resident general practitioner. Since you all are now compound residents, I need to get your level readings to compare them the next time you visit my office.” Doctor Nagi explained.

The boys looked at each other with a surprised look on their faces.

“There was a doctor here this whole time?!” Chase thought.

Hendrix thought to himself, the words level reading bringing back a memory he had forgotten.

“The last time I got my levels recorded, everyone looked surprised.” Hendrix thought back to the time Jessica recorded his levels after his first altercation with Officer 1060.

“It’ll be quick. Ours only took like five minutes.” Slim nodded.

Biggie looked up at the pink-haired boy with the guitar in his hands, malice flooding his expression at the sight of him.

Hendrix could feel the angry glare but refused to look at the source.

The group made their way back to the compound infirmary, where Doctor Nagi had set up multiple machines connected to electrode patches.

“Me first!” Chase ran up to the machine.

Doctor Nagi rolled his eyes as he set the machine up around the blue-haired boy.

“I’m just here to satisfy my curiosity about this Hendrix boy. You kids are just ploys so this excuse can work.” The doctor thought, keeping himself from saying it aloud.

The screen stood on a rolling stand, lighting up with the following on the screen:

SLB (Spirit per Liter of Blood):

Spirit Per Min Manifesting:

“For reference, the average SLB of a normal person is around 500 points, while the average SLB of an intermediate Spirit User is 700, using up about 50 points every 60 seconds of continuous manifestation.” Doctor Nagi explained, trying to hold back his annoyance at the fact he had to explain it at all.

“Put me in, coach- I mean doc!” Chase exclaimed as Doctor Nagi clicked a button on the machine.

A low, quiet humming filled the silence, Chase wincing at the slight tickle he felt from the patches.

After a minute of low humming, the machine beeped as it went silent.

SLB (Spirit per Liter of Blood): 714.5

Spirit Per Min Manifesting:

BEGIN NEXT STAGE

The screen read.

“Manifest… Whatever your Mode is. Just do it over and over until you hear the beep.” Doctor Nagi said as he began to count down with his fingers.

He clicked a button on the keyboard of the machine as the low humming returned.

Chase began to manifest gun parts, dropping them onto the floor in a pile of random steel pieces and disassembled weapons. After sixty seconds passed, the machine beeped as it showed a new number on the screen

SLB (Spirit per Liter of Blood): 714.5

Spirit Per Min Manifesting: 74.4

“Above average for someone his age. Uses up excess Spirit in his manifestations.” The doctor thought as he wrote it down on his clipboard.

They repeated the process with Taro and Kai.

Taro’s tests read:

SLB (Spirit per Liter of Blood): 723.4

Spirit Per Min Manifesting: 60.7

Kai’s tests read:

SLB (Spirit per Liter of Blood): 725.3

Spirit Per Min Manifesting: 61.9

Doctor Nagi wrote the scores on his clipboard with a bored expression.

“Is… Is it my turn?” Hendrix said with an air of nervousness.

“Yes, it is.” Doctor Nagi responded, gesturing towards the electrode patches. His bored expression was replaced with one of intrigue.

After Hendrix equipped the patches, Doctor Nagi clicked the machine on.

The humming was louder this time, the teens looking at each other to see if they should be worried.

After a few more moments of loud humming, the screen finally changed.

SLB (Spirit per Liter of Blood): 1584.4

Spirit Per Min Manifesting:

BEGIN NEXT STAGE

“Okay…” Doctor Nagi looked at the number on the screen, perplexed. He wrote the score down before looking at Hendrix.

“You know the drill.” Doctor Nagi said as he commenced the next stage.

Hendrix manifested his strings, all six steel ropes shooting from his forearms and wrapping around his torso.

After only a few moments of loud humming, the machine’s screen cracked, the lights above them fading in and out.

“Should I-” Hendrix was interrupted.

“Keep going!” Doctor Nagi ordered, yelling over the loud hum.

Hendrix was taken aback, continuing to lengthen the strings as the humming grew louder.

After sixty seconds of flickering lights, the machine beeped into silence, the screen reading:

SLB (Spirit per Liter of Blood): 1584.4

Spirit Per Min Manifesting: 278.9

“Extremely high Spirit levels, but also high waste.” Nagi thought as he wrote it down.

“I knew it! You’re some kind of fucking freak!” Biggie pointed at Hendrix, trying to keep his balance with his one good leg.

Hendrix fidgeted with the guitar pick in his hand as he hung his head low.

“That’s enough, Bigs.” Slim put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“No! You need to get the fuck out, before you hurt anyone else.” Biggie yelled.

“If we have a problem, let’s solve it.” Taro stepped up to Biggie with a balled fist, his brother standing beside him.

Biggie scoffed at the pink-haired boy, waddling out of the room on his crutches.

“Bigs!” Slim shook his head, going after his friend.

Biggie’s words hit Hendrix hard. His eyes widened as lowered his head.

“Before I hurt anyone else…” Hendrix thought. “What… What am I?”

Suddenly, all of his friends were untouchable to him. He felt his heart sink into his chest as the sensation of isolation weighed on his shoulders.

Hendrix looked up as he heard the front door open.

“Amora!” Chase ran out of the room, making his way to the front door.