Can You Feel My Heart?

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Said Kei.

"I already told you, it's time for my payment."

"And what reason do you have to point a gun at us?"

"It's the only way I can collect what is due me.

One of you will have to die and donate his Machine Heart to me so that I can conduct research on it, while the other will stay alive to be analyzed.

It doesn't matter which one dies, and which one lives.

Choose quickly, you will pay with your life for the survival of the other."

Sophie at that point intervened.

"Wait a minute, you only helped us for this reason?

Then why didn't you kill one of us during the operation?"

"My dear, it's normal that I didn't, after all I had to check if you would survive the surgery, otherwise I would have been holding a simple hacked heart without being able to ascertain its functionality "

"But-"

Kei put a finger in front of her to shush her.

"How can I be sure that if I die now Sophie will be safe?"

"As I just explained it's in my interest to be able to study a living subject.

I also point out that the one with the advantage now is me, so you will have no choice but to trust me.

If you have made up your mind then I would say let's get it over with now."

He made to pull the trigger but the girl stopped him.

"Wait a second, Kei absolutely must not die here.

It is thanks to him that I have come this far, and he's the one who deserves freedom, not me."

The boy looked at her with a smile.

"Listen, Sophie, you have saved my life more than once, I'm the one who owes you everything, I have never really done anything to help you and at least now let me make up for it, please."

Sophie couldn't retort, the thought of losing him immediately after getting him back seemed to have clouded her mind.

"Okay, I get it..."

She said with tears in her eyes.

"But let me do one thing first..."

She rested her hands on Kei's chest, stood up on her toes and slowly moved toward his lips.

Then with all the strength she had, she pushed him away, sending him flying across the room, against the wall.

"THE DECISION IS MADE, KEI WILL NOT DIE, NOW SHOOT!"

"As you wish, dear."

Dexter pulled the trigger, and the shot went off.

A series of bright concentric rings, was fired from the barrel of the strange weapon, directed

against the girl.

Kei, pressed against the wall, seeing that scene did something completely out of the reach of any other human being.

With a monstrous sprint that lasted a few steps, he parried himself in front of Sophie, cashing the shot on himself.

The whole thing lasted a blink, during which she went from seeing her own death in his face to seeing that of the person she loved.

The boy was now laying on the ground, and the scientist looked at him with a strange smirk.

"NO, KEI!"

"Okay okay, experiment over."

"What experiment!? You killed him..."

But then Kei slowly got up again.

"What...you're alive!

But what happened?"

Slightly in pain he said.

"I wish I knew too, how did I survive that ray? Shouldn't that have compromised my heart forever?"

"Well, it's not like this is a real gun, that beam you saw is nothing more than a trick of the light."

"What do you mean it's not a real gun?

Then why did I fall when that light hit me?"

"You didn't fall because of the ray, but because your body couldn't withstand the inhuman sprint you made to save the girl.

Remember I told you about a boost? Here, both the push that Sophie gave you and your sprint are proof that it happened correctly.

Although your heart has been enhanced, though, your body still cannot handle such efforts, so don't abuse it, or you may seriously lose your skin."

"You son of a bitch, did you make all this fuss just to prove our powers?

Couldn't you just take us to some isolated room and do some tests like all normal scientists do?!"

"First of all, I feel sorry for you, but I don't have the funds to set up a room for physical tests, it's not like I'm a personal trainer you know?

And then the experiment was also to assess whether you had actually gotten rid of mind control, and considering how you tried to save each other just out of love, this part of the experiment also succeeded perfectly."

The two looked at each other blushing, and then immediately looked away.

"Now it's time for explanations."

"That sucks..." Kei whispered.

"Coff coff... As I was saying, there are a couple of things you need to know before you leave.

First, I'm announcing that you are officially free human, from now on you are the only masters of your own choices.

However pay attention, the Machine Men's physical rules still apply, so you will not be able to enter the center, the scanners will still display your mechanical hearts, and you will be weak against electromagnetic guns.

Instead, I will now explain how your bodies have improved from before.

Let us start with Sophie, who, as you have already seen, has at least 15 times the physical strength of before.

There is certainly no one else, whether man or woman, who can match her, except Kei of course."

"Wait, you mean I'm going to become some kind of all-muscle monster? But I don't want to!"

"Of course not dear, muscle tone is not only developed in mass, but also in definition, and as long as you keep a good diet and don't get into static type exercises, nothing like that will ever happen."

"Are you perhaps saying that I would need a diet!? How dare you!?"

Dexter rolled his eyes, as if he were seeking some kind of divine reprieve against all these interruptions.

"Can I continue now?"

"Uff, that's okay, go ahead."

"As I was saying, it's not only your physical strength that is improved, but your eyes are as well."

"My eyes?"

"Undoubtedly them.

To make up for taking your original eyes, I have applied improvements to your electronic eyes.

They now have the ability to zoom in to see an ant on a skyscraper 50 miles away with unerring accuracy.

You will also have x-ray vision of the terrain around you, perfect vision in the dark, and the ability to see infrared and ultraviolet.

The same argument as Kei applies here, though, if you abuse it too much, the area of the brain connected to the fake optic nerves will become completely unusable and you will become hopelessly blind."

"I understand, I will pay the utmost attention, thank you very much."

"Very well, now let's move on to Kei."

"Cut to the chase, I've become some kind of superhero but if I abuse my powers too much my ass will be blown up or something, right?"

"Umm... Let's say that in simple terms that's what it is.

To be precise, you've developed a speed, physical strength, accuracy, and practically unerring aim.

I challenge somebody to find a single human who even comes close to your level."

"Yes, that's what I said.

Well, thanks for everything, and fuck you for the rest, we're leaving now."

"Wait a minute, there's one last thing I have to tell you.

I have disabled the gps placed in your heart, so the government will think you have disappeared or died.

As for Sophie, I can assure you that no one will come looking for her, being an ordinary ex-Machine Woman."

"Well, thank you very much!"

Dexter ignored yet another criticism from the girl, otherwise he would have shot her in earnest or shot himself.

"As for Kei, the situation is different.

You are a "K," the only one around at the moment, you are considered a special subject by the government and someone will come after you for sure.

They will doubt that someone like you is simply dead."

"When they come for me they will find a nice surprise, believe me."

"For now you are still too unstable, and both your mind and your body have to get used to the new condition.

The world out there is terribly different from how you have seen it until now."

The scientist turned around immediately after this sentence, remaining silent for a few seconds as he opened a kind of secret drawer under the PC.

He pulled out a packet of documents and handed it to the two.

"These will certainly help you, now go ahead.

And remember, the most obvious place to find you is also the safest place to hide.

Now I'll say goodbye, if you need me you know where to find me."

"Let's go Sophie."

"Sure, Kei," replied the girl, smiling.

The two took hands and walked out of the scientist's hiding place like two free humans.

"Now where shall we go?"

"The hip hop warehouse is excluded, they would find us right away, I'm sorry but you won't be able to go back there for a while."

"I understand that, but where can we hide then?"

"We'll go to the factory where I used to train, there's a room that even C.C. doesn't know about."

"All right, let's hide there for now, however, I don't even have a spare pair of panties...."

"Forget this crap for now, rather what will be written on those papers?"

"I don't know, try to take a look."

Moving the first cover sheet, the two saw the title of the first block of documents.

"PROJECT M.M."