Chapter 101. Surgical Precision
“Mmm, I get it,” Selina murmured without the slightest interest, casually slipping another lettuce leaf into her mouth.
“What's with the icy act?” I asked, studying her face as I tried to figure out how many moves ahead she already was. “I'm talking about Omega Plus. Your serum.”
“I heard you the first time,” she replied, barely holding back a yawn. “You just happened to bring up something unbelievably boring. You could've read me the stock market report instead, and I'd have reacted exactly the same way.”
“That's not even remotely the same,” I said calmly. “We're talking about a serum you developed yourself. I remember the day you came to my apartment just to show off your breakthrough. That reaction couldn't have been more different from this.”
“My dear, your memory is clearly slipping.” The boredom disappeared from her face, replaced by the familiar sly smile I knew so well. “I was never all that excited about this steroid. It took nearly a hundred thousand dollars' worth of incredibly rare organic compounds and minerals to synthesize a single dose. And thanks to your bizarre physiology, you're probably the only person on Earth who even has a chance of surviving it. It's commercially useless, financially absurd, and outrageously dangerous. The only reason I agreed to make it was because I wanted a guarantee that you'd give me children.”
She gently rested a hand against her flat stomach.
“Our deal is finished, so I have absolutely no intention of ever touching that stuff again.”
“So you'd rather reduce everything between us to the fine print of a business contract? Fine, let's speak your language.” My voice remained calm, but there was quiet pressure behind it. “The problem is, I still haven't received my end of the bargain. First, you've never actually shown me Omega Plus. I've had to take your word that it even exists. Second, our agreement included your personal assistance during the injection and your supervision afterward.”
“Tom, you're such a heartless monster.” Selina shook her head sadly, putting on an exaggeratedly tragic expression. “You're asking the mother of your future children to stand there and watch your muscles rip apart, blood stream out of your eyes, and you die in horrible convulsions right in front of her? That's unbelievably cruel.”
“We've already been through this once. You weren't nearly this sentimental back then. If anything, you watched the monitors with genuine curiosity.” I let out a quiet sigh, refusing to be manipulated. “I survived last time. I'll survive this time too.”
“Last time we at least had test subjects and actual data!” she shot back, her voice rising instantly. “This is a completely new formula that's never been tested. You'll be the first... and almost certainly the last person to ever take it.”
“Only because one dose is all I'll ever need. I trust your brilliance, Selina.” I gently placed my hand over hers. “You'd never create a placebo or a glorified poison. Your serum will work. Besides, I've improved my medical abilities. My [Special Commands] are far more precise now, so my chances of neutralizing the side effects are much higher.”
“Cheap flattery isn't going to work on me.” She pulled her hand away at once and fixed me with an intense stare, as if searching my face for even a trace of common sense. “Why would you willingly risk your life like this? Just to gain another level?”
“Exactly.” I allowed myself the faintest smile. “During the last mission, I examined the body of a dead Loz'an soldier. My system displayed a notification saying his biological material was suitable for triggering my next stage of evolution.”
“Seriously?” The skepticism vanished from her face, replaced by the unmistakable excitement of a scientist on the verge of a discovery. “But why them? Because they're an intelligent humanoid species?”
“Maybe. But I think the real factor is the S-Power energy in their tissues. The evolution marker only activated when I looked at the bodies of awakened individuals.”
“Now that's fascinating...” Selina pressed a slender finger against her lips, staring off into space. “If S-Power concentration is the real trigger, then you don't necessarily need alien subjects. I've got about a dozen awakened beast carcasses stored in my lab's isolation wing. There's a good chance they'd produce the same evolutionary response.”
“That actually brings me to something else,” I said, gently interrupting her train of thought. “Could you arrange official access for me to the awakened alien specimens in your special morgue?”
“That's easy. Every door in the Corps' research division is open to me. We could go tomorrow morning. I'll take you there myself.”
“What if I end up needing more than a visual inspection?” I asked carefully. “I still don't fully understand how my system works. Maybe a non-contact scan will be enough to restructure my DNA. But I always prepare for the worst-case scenario. The system might completely consume the biological sample.”
“All biological material recovered from the portals is tracked under strict inventory procedures,” she replied matter-of-factly. “But as the Corps' chief engineer, I can easily write off a couple of samples under 'ongoing research requirements'... assuming I decide I want to.”
I held her gaze for a long, knowing moment. “But right now, you don't.”
“Don't get me wrong, Tom. I'm always in favor of scientific progress,” Selina said, looking me straight in the eyes. “If you were a lab mouse, I'd already have injected you with alien DNA just to see if you grew gills. But you're not some anonymous rodent. You're you. So tell me honestly... Even if your superpower reduces every deadly risk to zero, are you really willing to become a monster?”
“I seriously doubt an evolutionary shift is going to radically distort my anatomy,” I replied evenly. “Evolution is not random mutation. I am not going to grow a chitinous shell or sprout cockroach antennae. My body will simply discard what is inefficient and optimize what is already there.”
“Primates went through an optimization of their own,” she shot back instantly, her voice laced with sarcasm. “They lost their fur and their tails. Do you think humans still look attractive from a chimpanzee's point of view?”
“It is a calculated risk, and a necessary one,” I said firmly. “Both for my own survival on the battlefield and for protecting our future children. You just admitted that the more alien infrastructure we capture intact, the better our chances of successfully colonizing Mars. With enhanced perception and greater physical capabilities, I will be able to carry out those operations with surgical precision.”
“The way you wrap your insane ideas in airtight logic is honestly starting to get on my nerves.” Selina set her empty porcelain plate down with an exaggerated clink. “Fine. Do whatever you want. Go butcher yourself for the good of humanity. But let me warn you now. If you turn into some kind of humanoid freak, I'm not letting you get within a mile of our kids. I'm not giving them lifelong trauma.”
“Deal. And thanks for understanding.”
“Hold it right there. I never agreed to become your partner in crime and start sneaking biological samples out of the special morgue.” She wagged a graceful finger at me. “We agreed on the Omega Plus injection. I gave you my word, and I'll keep it, no matter how sickening I think this whole idea is. But if you want me to commit an actual felony by writing off classified specimens... you'll have to offer me something worthwhile in return.”
I steepled my fingers and looked at her with complete seriousness. “I'm listening. Within reason.”
“Oh, come on. Nothing remotely reasonable comes to mind right now,” she purred.
Beneath the table, I distinctly felt the tip of her shoe slowly and deliberately slide along my thigh.
“After that glass of wine, there's only one thing I want.” Selina caught her lower lip between her teeth, looking up at me through lowered lashes. “I want to get out of this damn dress and feel like a real woman again. Use your [Special Command] on me.”
I had absolutely no objection to that form of payment. Besides, I had been curious for quite a while about how my abilities might translate to the bedroom.
We moved into the bedroom. Watching Selina slip out of her evening gown felt like uncorking a rare vintage, the same slow, deliberate ritual that was every bit as satisfying as what came afterward.
I spent nearly a full minute simply admiring her in silence. The expensive French lace traced every curve of her body with effortless elegance.
“Ready?” I asked quietly, pulling her gently closer by the waist, feeling the warmth of her skin beneath my hands. “I might misjudge how much force to use.”
“You trust my genius, and I trust your judgment,” she whispered, her warm breath brushing against my neck. “Go ahead.”
[Special Command: Bring the target to the peak of psychophysical pleasure.]
Something clicked deep inside my mind, and the world collapsed into a single point. My perception of time instantly shifted into extreme resolution. Every unnecessary thought vanished, leaving my consciousness functioning like a precision processor. Within that accelerated flow of time, I watched my own body almost from the outside. My hands peeled away silk and lace with surgical precision. My fingers found every sensitive spot without the slightest hesitation, reading even the smallest involuntary muscle response.
The hyperfocused state released me just as abruptly as it had taken hold, perfectly synchronized with Selina's deep, uninhibited moan. A soft blush spread across her skin, her breathing dissolved into uneven gasps, and a deeply satisfied smile lingered on her lips.
I glanced at my watch and quietly noted the anomaly. Only five minutes had passed.
“Selina. How do you feel?”
“Ten out of ten,” she sighed blissfully, letting her head sink back into the pillows.
“Glad to hear it, but right now I need your assessment as a researcher. From my perspective, the whole thing lasted only a fraction of a second. I stayed in complete control, but I couldn't perceive what you were experiencing.”
“The first minute was honestly terrifying,” she admitted, staring at the ceiling while her heartbeat gradually settled. “You looked like some kind of military-grade android. Your face never changed. You didn't make a sound or show a hint of emotion while you worked through every sensitive spot at unbelievable speed. And your eyes... your pupils were literally scanning every tiny reaction I had. It was creepy, honestly. But then you figured out exactly how my pulse responded to different pressure and timing, and after that... mmm...” Her voice melted back into a lazy, satisfied murmur. “You were tracking my heartbeat in real time and adjusting everything on the fly. If I had to compare it to something, Tom, you were like a vibrator with an onboard neural processor that continuously recalibrates itself based on the user's nervous system.”
“I'm going to do my best to put my male ego aside and accept that as a compliment to your engineering mindset,” I said dryly.
“Oh, would you stop being so serious?” Stretching with effortless feline grace, Selina rolled closer, her hips swaying lazily. “Looks like your pants are getting a little too tight. Come here.”
Without another word, I gave in to my own desires. It seemed my ability had revealed yet another remarkably practical application. No long buildup or drawn-out foreplay, just maximum efficiency, delivering the greatest possible satisfaction to my partner in the shortest amount of time before moving naturally to the next stage.
An excellent tool. Practical, efficient, and remarkably effective.