Chapter 12: 12 Maxing Relaxing

After supper, Armsmaster retrived me from the cafeteria. We quickly arrived at his tinker lab and I wasn't surprised to see that it was packed full of things. The walls were covered, the tables and workbenches were overflowing with experiments and parts, and bins and bins full of metal pieces, electronics, and tools covered the bare spots between the tables, under them, and on shelves all over the place.

The spot he chose wasn't suitable, because it was only in a corner and I needed more than that to work with. It took us twenty minutes to find an appropriate space for me to expand and it was at the far end of the room.

Armsmaster was surprised that I had chosen a spot that was barely an inch between the side of a metal work table and the metal wall. He asked if I needed more space than that and I shook my head as I pointed to the other things along the wall that were touching it, especially the shelves. He knew what I meant and we spent an hour moving everything at least an inch away from the wall.

“How much space do you actually want?” I asked.

Armsmaster looked to be in pain for a moment and smiled. “Dragon said I shouldn't be greedy.”

I had to laugh at that. “Can you tell her I finally figured out how to pay her back for missing the arranged trip? Vista's birthday is coming up in May and if Dragon agrees to arrange another trip to Florida with the same conditions, I'll go anywhere she wants and will do the same hammerspace trick for her.”

Armsmaster was quiet for several seconds. “Can you do it inside anything?”

I smiled. “I carried a small beach worth of sand inside a wooden box this morning.”

“Then yes, she agrees.” Armsmaster said.

“Awesome.” I said and concentrated on the middle of the inch of space I had chosen. When I had it set in my mind and concentrated on the entire length of the wall, I pushed with my power. Armsmaster sucked in a sharp breath when the wall of his small lab seemed to jump and then shrank as it moved away at 20 feet per second.

I stopped when it was 200 feet away and gave Armsmaster a glance. He looked stunned, so I accepted that he would be happy with that much and stepped forward with my two index fingers at the ready. He watched as I did so and I heard several cameras zoom in.

I smiled and turned to look at the expanded wall, then I tapped out the theme to Mission Impossible. I stopped after three and a half minutes and Armsmaster looked pained again.

“It's a month and a half for each tap at 90 beats per minute.” I reminded him and waved at the closest camera. “Dragon, bring over anything you want expanded on the inside or give me the address of where you want me to repeat this.”

“I will. Thank you, Myriad.” Dragon said from Armsmaster's computer speakers.

“472.5 months or 39.375 years.” Armsmaster whispered.

I held in my laugh until the door to the lab closed and then I snorted and giggled at stumping the man. I walked back to the common room to meet Vista and she held out her arms to me, which I readily accepted and snuggled into her and hugged her back.

“What are you, part cat?” Taylor asked and sat down beside me.

“Do you mind if Taylor benefits from some of our cuddle time?” I asked Vista in a whisper. She shook her head, so I gave her a quick kiss before I let her go and made my eyes as wide as they could go before I turned to look pleadingly at Taylor as I held my arms out to her. “Meeeoww?”

Taylor blushed and looked like she was going to refuse, then she lifted her arms and I cuddled right in there and hugged her back as I pretended her long black curly hair was catnip and wallowed in it. Kid Win barked a laugh, Aegis looked amused, and Gallant looked like he was in a mix of pain and pleasure.

“Hey, now. That's enough.” Miss Militia said after she entered the room. “You're too young for things like that.”

“Who are you talking to?” Aegis asked.

“All of you.” Miss Militia said and watched as Taylor reluctantly let me go.

I could almost hear her thinking that she wished it was her when I looked at her face. It was such an odd thought that I missed that she wasn't wearing her scarf to cover her mouth.

Miss Militia went to the end of the couch and sat on the other side of Vista. “Movie or show?”

“Movie.” Vista and Kid Win said.

“No other votes?” Miss Militia asked.

“I just want to hang out with you all, so you can put the TV on whatever you want.” I said and put an arm over Vista's shoulders. Miss Militia stiffened briefly when my fingers brushed her shoulder, then she relaxed and leaned on my hand a little.

Taylor saw my move and gave me a raised eyebrow in return, so I moved my other arm and wiggled my fingers at her. She smiled and took the hand to hold it before she leaned into my shoulder with her own and she rested our clasped hands on her lap.

I looked at Vista's face and she looked happy, Miss Militia looked a little happy and trying to fight it, and Taylor looked content. “Thank you all for not being too angry at me for being gone so long.”

“I'm sure if you had the choice to do it over, you would do it differently.” Aegis said, diplomatically.

“After learning I could repeat my knockout trick with Velocity? Definitely.” I said and gave Vista a little squeeze. “If I had copied his power first...”

“There's no point in worrying about what if.” Miss Militia said and changed the station to the Earth Aleph satellite and changed the channel to an action movie. “Eight minutes for the movie to start.”

“Popcorn!” Vista said and pointed at Kid Win. It was his tinkertech machine and it made the butteriest popcorn to ever exist.

Kid Win stood. “Anyone else?”

Taylor and Miss Militia put up their hands.

“I'll get the soda left over from this afternoon.” Aegis said and both young men left.

We were soon steeped in a strong popcorn and butter smell and engrossed in a movie called Demolition Man. For some reason, I believed that the main character wasn't supposed to be who it was, Arnold Schwarzenegger. I couldn't tell you who it should have been, though. It was weird.

Vista felt me stiffen slightly and she gave my cheek a brief kiss. I suspected that she knew I had seen or felt something different than what it should have been and was trying to reassure me, so I turned my head towards her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

The evening passed without further incident and we split up to go to our homes if they were off base or to our rooms if we were staying. We all had the day off tomorrow and Vista didn't bother trying to pretend she was going back to her room for the night. She changed into her pyjamas and I changed into mine. Neither of us looked away, even when we were only wearing our underwear.

It was kind of funny that Vista in just her bra and underwear seemed a lot less indecent than her bathing suit was. I didn't tell her that, though. When we were appropriately flannel clad, we climbed into bed to cuddle.

“You need to check your cell phone.” Vista reminded me.

“I don't want it to blow up.” I joked and she giggled. “There's going to be a lot of messages.”

“You can't really ignore them, either. Most of them are going to be Wards and school related.” Vista commented.

I let her out of the hug I had her in and picked up my cell phone. “I just hope Amy can forgive me for not being around.”

“She knows it's not your fault.” Vista said and rested her head on my chest. “She's probably going to be like Taylor and I, though.”

“Worried sick, relieved I'm okay, and annoyed that I didn't know any time has passed?” I asked and she nodded. “Crap.”

Vista laughed and poked my phone. “It's not going to get any easier if you wait longer.”

“Aren't you supposed to lie about things like that?” I asked and she turned her finger and poked my belly instead. “Gah! Okay, okay! I'm checking it.”

Vista watched as I turned on my phone and then she held her hands over her ears as my cell phone beeped and beeped constantly for nearly two full minutes. It almost sounded like a machine gun with how fast it beeped.

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“Apparently, I slightly underestimated how many there would be.” I said and she giggled. I skimmed them and saw a bunch of messages from different Protectorate branches. After the last Endbringer attack, Amy in her Panacea persona, had told everyone that Healer Man could fix them right up for a nominal fee.

“That's both scary and awesome.” Vista said and then gasped. “Alex! That one! Click on that one!”

I did as she asked and read the Priority One message from Director Costa-Brown, Head of the PRT. “Huh. She wants confirmation that I absorbed Director Piggot's injuries.” I said.

“That's... I'm not sure... do you want all of the PRT and Protectorate heroes to know what you can do?” Vista asked me.

I used Velocity's power and sped up my mind. I spent several minutes thinking about it and then ended the power. “If it gets me into contact with more heroes, I don't mind healing people to see what powers I can copy.” I said and scrolled down the message. “If you ignore all the legalese text, she's offering me an official budget in the millions if I can heal injuries that normally can't be healed by Panacea.”

Vista stared at the phone and didn't speak for several moments. “Whoever she wants healed immediately must be really important.”

“Do you think she has inoperable cancer or something and didn't tell anyone?” I asked her.

Vista caught her breath. “I hope not! The entire PRT would fall apart if she's not running it.”

I had to agree that she was the most important official in the entire organization. “I'll message her tomorrow.”

“Alex.” Vista said and lifted her head to look at me.

“Amy's more important.” I said and sorted the messages to only show Amy's and she had sent a message every day at the same time to see if I had woken up yet. I checked the current time to compare and nodded. “This might be loud.”

Vista nodded and laid her head back down on my chest.

I dialed Amy's number just before she normally sent a text, which meant that she should be at home and settled in bed. The phone only sounded for half a ring before Amy picked it up.

“ALEX!” Amy yelled into the phone and Vista giggled.

“I'm sorry! I think I dialed the wrong number.” I said and put her on speakerphone.

“Don't you dare hang up on me, you bastard!” Amy shouted.

“I just turned my phone on speaker and you are the very first person I called.” I said, truthfully.

“What about Vista?” Amy asked.

“I was there when Armsmaster was going over the diagnostics and confirmed that he's fine. He was in suspended animation the entire time he was frozen in time.” Vista said.

Amy went silent for a moment. “Has Clockblocker been reassigned yet? I want to invert his dick so he has to piss through a straw for the rest of his life.”

I gave Vista a surprised look and she copied me. “Amy, thank you.” I said, sincerely. “I knew you liked me as a friend. I just didn't realize how much.”

There was the creak of an opening door. “Ames? Why are you shouting?” Vicky's voice asked. “Wait, why are you blushing like that? Did I slip a nipple again?”

I clamped my mouth shut to stop my laugh and Vista put a hand over her mouth to muffle her own laugh.

“I'm... on the p-phone.” Amy said, her voice a little shaky. “Put your top back on.”

“Why? Whoever it is can't see me.” Vicky said, her voice much louder. “Hi there, whoever this is.”

“Should I?” I asked in a whisper and Vista nodded. “Vicky, it's Alex Powers.” I said in a normal voice. “I just called to apologize to you and Amy was really surprised that I could contain my assholiness long enough to do so.”

Vista snorted into her hand and rolled off of me to hang her head off the side of my bed and laugh.

“Huh. I guess I can accept that.” Vicky said. “Amy's giving me the stink eye now.”

“She might want the phone back.” I said. “Then again, maybe it's because you still have your top off and she's staring at your undeniable and unrestrained sexiness.”

Vista nodded and rolled back over and stopped almost on top of me. Her hand ended up on my crotch and we both blushed. Neither of us said anything about it or wanted to change it.

“I am pretty hot.” Vista said, smugly. “Are you in the common room? Can I talk to Dean?”

“He went home, unfortunately.” I said and put sadness into my voice, because I knew that she expected me to be sad that I couldn't help her.

Vicky sighed. “Dammit. He won't answer if I call. We're fighting this week.”

“This week?” I asked with a chuckle. “His fault or yours?”

“His, of course. He's too busy with work stuff and I'm feeling neglected. He doesn't seem to care.”

I didn't remind her that he could see and read emotions. If she really was feeling neglected, he would know. He would also know if she was faking it and manipulating him for more attention.

“If you want a suggestion about what to do, make him jealous and pretend to be happy without him. Amy's right there and she'll give you all of the attention you want.” I said.

“Hey, you're right. That's a great idea.” Vicky said. “Hey, Ames. Do you wanna hang out all day tomorrow? I'm not busy and I'm sure we can find something to do together.”

“YES!” Amy shouted.

“Cool.” Vicky said. “Here's Ames. She wants to keep talking to you for some reason.”

“I wonder why?” I asked her and she didn't answer. It was silent on the phone until a door shut.

“I'm going to ring your neck if you don't tell me exactly what just happened.” Amy said, her voice barely above a growl.

“I got you a date with your crush, Healer Woman! Have fun! This is Healer Man, signing off!” I said and hovered my thumb over the end call button.

“Don't you dare hang...” Amy's voice cut off when I hit the button.

“She is going to gut you like a fish! Ha ha ha!” Vista laughed and laughed.

I quickly turned off my phone and held her until she calmed down. Her hand was still touching me down there and eventually her fingers lightly caressed the soft cloth of my pyjamas and her other hand hugged me. It was oddly comforting and made me feel tingly, so I snuggled in and switched main powers to match hers before I drifted off to sleep.

Vista treating me like a cuddly teddy bear was yet another best feeling in the world that I had discovered today.

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