Chapter 8: Strong encounter

As often when she wanted to do something with her favorite elder brother, Lindsey had to try and convince him that her idea was better than his, something far easier said than done. Still, she had had great hopes that she could at least manage a little bit of it. But she was quickly understanding that she had been wrong about it, once more.

“I can totally carry you there. It’s not shameful or anything” said Lindsey, hoping that her brother would relent in his refusal.

“I want to walk, Little Lind” replied the Minor, bouncing up and down, as if he was so full of energy that he couldn’t keep it contained.

The pre-teen MAJOR wondered what the reason for such excitement was. He had been rather down during Monday, as if the tension of the flight and discovering that he now owned a house had been too hard to deal with. She had been afraid for him, he had eaten almost nothing, and retreated to his room, as if he wasn’t able to cope with the change of location. And then, this very morning, he had barged into her room, through the Minor-sized door, and had woke her up with an eager yell, something he had never done before.

“Get up, sleepyhead! We’ve got to feed you and go see the headmaster today!”

“Five more minutes…” had mumbled a grumpy Lindsey, who hated being woken up by anyone, even her ‘Rando.

“No! Get out of your bed right now, young lady! I know how long you’ll sleep over if you don’t get out of your bed. And I don’t want us to be late!”

Lindsey had grumbled but she did rose and went in the kitchen. Once she exited her room, her nostrils flared, smelling delicious odors emanating from the frying pans. She discovered scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and some salad. She wasn’t too keen to eat the green, but she knew that her small older brother would keep bothering her if she didn’t ate it. Being slightly sleepy still, she served herself and it was only when she had emptied the whole things into massive plates and brought them to the living room that she realized what happened.

“You cooked those!” she screamed, making Alejandro jump high in the air.

“Of course I did”, replied the young man, his hand on his heart, as if he was afraid that it would jump out of his chest.

“But it’s dangerous! Those pans are heavy and how did you even reached for the counter? You could have burnt yourself, or hurt, or fallen on the floor… ”

“Well, I used the special stairs, duh!” interrupted her brother. “And I was really careful, don’t worry. This house is really great, I have to admit it. It’s Minor’s accommodation is simply stellar!”

Lindsey had grumbled but set to eat her whole breakfast, churning massive amounts of food in her mouth, while her ‘Rando was slowly eating a small amount of cereals, bread with butter and honey and two small apples. She wondered how he was even able to walk with so few calories in his meals. She knew that his metabolism wasn’t as impressive as hers and couldn’t really deal with the amount of food she ate, being a Minor and all, but still… he was kind of cool with his muscles but a little more fat would have made him look positively delicious.

It’s not as if he would listen to me about it, thought the young MAJOR. She had tried several times over the last few months to convince him that everyone, including Shannon, would have liked him to be slightly chubbier, but he hadn’t given up on his diet and she had stopped her attempts long ago. Despite the amount he had cooked, she finished before him and went to the bathroom. And a dozen minutes later, here she was, trying to convince her brother that walking to the school was stupid.

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“But you can walk here, the house is massive for you!”

“What nonsense is that? I want to walk outside, it’s sunny and not too chilly. Plus I want to see this part of town, since we’ll live here for most of the time at least for your High School years.”

“But you could still see it in my arms.”

“Yeah, but how would I know how long it’ll take me to go to school by foot once the year will have started if I don’t do it now?”

“And why would you want to know that?” she asked suspiciously.

“Well, I’ll need to be able to go to school when we won’t have the same courses.”

“But we will have the same course!” replied the young MAJOR, harsher that she should have, since Alejandro looked at her angrily.

“You don’t know that yet” he growled, his small hand forming a fist.

“I’m sorry ‘Rando!” she quickly said, falling on her knees before him in a loud thump, which lightly propelled him in the air for a second. “It’s… I didn’t want to upset you or anything. Please, just hear me out. You know it’s not possible for you to wander the school alone, it would be far too dangerous. We’re brother and sister, so I suspect that a lot of peoples would assume that our bonding would be a temporary thing while you seek out another bond-mate… Alone, you would be a prey for them!”

“Even still… I don’t want to have to endure courses I don’t want to follow Lindsey. I’ll take it to the headmaster. If he refuses, I’ll accept that I’ll have to go to your classes, but then, don’t expect me to do more than the minimum required to have the years…”

Her brother looked genuinely upset and it broker the pre-teen’s heart. She knew that since he had learnt that he hadn’t a college education level, he had become even sourer about the whole High School thing. In fact, she had thought that Shannon’s ploy to bring him to New Orleans would fail because of it, but she had been agreeably surprised by her brother’s willingness to try it. She knew he had great potential, for a Minor, and she was sad to see him like that.

“’Rando… why would you do that? You… you shouldn’t compare yourself to us MAJORS. It isn’t fair for you. I’m sorry that… that somehow, I made you disgusted with higher studies alongside us, but please, don’t be so down. You’re able to achieve greatness in the scientific field, I know it!”

As she said it, she realized that she did knew it. It wasn’t just her trying to uplift her brother’s spirit, and it made her feel warm and fuzzy. It was probably the first time that she felt like that toward Alejandro. She loved him, a lot, but she realized that, despite his efforts to groom her as more respectful toward Minors, she had still retained most of the casual arrogance of her kind. She felt that it would never leave her completely, but she could at least try to keep it under a lid, for a time and for the Minors she cared about.

“It wasn’t your fault, Little Lind” begrudgingly replied her older brother. “It was… it’s a lot of things, but most of all, the difficulty to be competing with your kind. Everything… easier, for you, and that makes me so angry and, well, inferior. It’s like, whatever I do, you can all do easier and better…”

“It may appears like that, but it’s not true. I don’t think that we could invent like some of you Minors do all the time. And we sure as hell don’t know how to make masterpieces out of scraps and crap” she added with a warm smile, which made him laugh, if only a little.

“Okay, okay, I get it. Look, let me walk today, and we’ll see what happens next. Deal?”

“Deal. But you’ve got to promise me that you won’t be all grumpy if the headmaster tells you that you can’t have your own courses!”

“I will make no such promise!”

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“See, it’s not so bad to let me walk?” said her brother, looking up at her with a wry smile, pointing at the High School’s main wing.

“Herm, yes it is. I mean, come on, your sooooooooo slow” she replied with a laugh which belied her words.

In truth, she had to admit that she was enjoying this very slow stroll through the streets around their house. Well, for her it was a stroll, ‘Rando walked a lot quicker, but she still had time to make a pause every three steps to catch on him. At first, he had proposed that she should walk and then pause so he could talk with her easily, but she had refused. It would have meant that he would be behind her almost the whole time, and it was dangerous.

For starter, some MAJOR could have snatched him before her realizing it and it would have been dramatic. But even worse, perhaps, was the fact that an alligator could suddenly attack him. And while she was pretty confident in her ability to deal with those big beasts, she didn’t want to take a risk. Her brother was far more fragile than her, and even mere seconds in the jaws of a massive reptile could hurt him really bad, perhaps even kill him.

The two Ferrand children walked slowly toward the entrance, they spotted a massive woman exiting an adjacent building which, to Lindsey, looked like a gym. The pre-teen gawked in awe. This girl was impressive. Tall, not as tall as Shannon, but definitely over 2m93 (9f3), with incredibly massive muscles; which clearly weren’t here just to look big. Just from the way she walked toward them, Lindsey could tell that she was no joke.

“Damn it Jim…” muttered Alejandro, drawing her attention back to him.

“What’s wrong ‘Rando?” asked the pre-teen.

“That’s Samantha Paolini, Jim’s daughter” he explained.

“Whoa, you get to meet on of your idols even before school start, awesome right?”

“She’s not one of my idol, Lind. She isn’t a Minor, for starter… and I… I think that she is Tier 3.”

Lindsey froze, her placid amusement replaced by utter and absolute fear. For the first time in her life, she would be interacting with someone genetically superior to her, if her brother was right. Even Shannon, despite her sheer presence, for a lack of better term, had been Tier 2, which had offered the young girl something to grasp at. But if this impressive young lady, with blond wavy hair, buzzed off on the right side of her head and combed over its top and the left in a very enticing way, she had to admit it, was truly a Tier 3, she would have a hard time making her point valid…

“What makes you think she is… you know?’ she whispered urgently.

“I’m feeling her mind gnawing at my mental defenses” replied her brother in the same way.

“She is trying to force her way in… from this distance!?”

Samantha Paolini was at least fifty meters away and while this distance quickly reduced as she made her way toward them in great strides, Lindsey couldn’t help but be left speechless. It’s impossible! Even Tiers 3 can’t allow for something so… so crazy! But her brother’s face clearly told her that she was wrong to think that. He was pale now, his brow furrowed and his breathing a little hollow, as if he had been running for a long time.

“I don’t think so. I… I think she does that passively…”

Lindsey’s stomach lurched and she felt suddenly dizzy. What this woman was doing, perhaps unwittingly, was far beyond what she could ever hope to achieve. And suddenly, she really didn’t like it. The way Alejandro was slowly retreating away from her, going as far as instinctively hiding behind her legs, how he bowed his head, as if a primal fear forced him to become as discreet as possible, was abhorrent to her.

Despite his nature, his size, his past, her brother was proud, stood tall against adversity and never cowed before MAJORS. He had held his ground against that Mac Ferlan wacko she couldn’t remember. He had done the same when facing Shannon, and she was certain he would do it again and again throughout his whole life. But right now, he was so afraid of what was happening that he had given up his bravery.

“Don’t worry ‘Rando, I’ll protect you” she said to him, hoping that she was able to hide of afraid that mountainous woman was making her. “Not one step closer!” she barked at the older teenager as soon as she was at barely twenty meters.

“What’s tha problem kiddo?” asked Samantha Paolini, her head slightly tilted to the right, as if she was barely curious at what was happening.

“You’re the daughter of Jim Paolini, right?” she warily asked, looking up at the MMA fighter.

“Yah, so? Oh wait, you’re tha Ferrand, right? You’re Lindsey, and then tha little mouse behind your leg his your brother?”

Lindsey tensed when she saw the taller MAJOR trying to peer at her brother, but she was surprised by her tone. Samantha seemed nonchalant, almost uninterested by the Minor she wanted to protect. It fueled her teenage angst and her she curled her fingers into fist before realizing it. It was only when the Paolini girl smirked at her that she realized what she was doing. She had no chance to even put Sammy into danger, the other girl was simply too tall, too strong and far too much experienced for her to tackle.

“My brother isn’t a mouse” she growled nonetheless.

“Really? Than why isn’t ha talking for himself? Ha look rather afraid right now!”

“That’s because you try to enter my mind” grunted Alejandro, finally getting out of his hiding place.

“Oh, sorry!” said the muscular teenager. “I’m used to deal with Minors usually, but you’ve caught me unprepared, tha both of you… But I must say, you look rathar impressive, little boy, I can’t even read your mind.”

“I’m used to protecting myself.”

“Well, that’s awesome! Finally a Minor who isn’t a pushy pussy. Keep it up like that and perhaps I’ll look at you as a potential sex-buddy… or more. Ah! As if you little guys ever sought anything beyond some kind of master to cuddle you… Too bad, you look cute, if really thing. But tha way I see it, you’re not worth tha bothar.”

Having said her piece, she seemed to prepare herself from leaving, while the two Ferrand looked at themselves, dumbfounded. It was Lindsey who managed to get her bearings first. Shaking her head to wake her up, she called after Samantha, who had already gone at least fifty meter away, not even taking the time to stop, even if she had glanced at her ‘Rando, but without the usual lust she had come to expect from other MAJORS looking at her brother.

“What tha matter now?” asked Sammy, clearly bored.

“You… you aren’t interested in my brother?”

“Listen kiddo… I’m a Tier 3. I can get whatever I want, see? But tha thing is… it bore me! If I wanted your brothar, I would get him, and thare wouldn’t be anything either of you could do to stop me. But what would be tha point, uh? That’s not interesting. I know that most MAJORS want to be Tier 3, but it’s not that great. You have to be always careful, lest you wreak the minds of all that Minors ‘round you, or even mess with your friends. “

“So, you’re telling me I’m not good enough for you?” asked Alejandro, who now seemed almost… amused, which left Lindsey completely dumbfounded.

“You can say that, little one. Why, you wanted to be my plaything?”

“Not at all. I’m just surprised to finally meet a MAJOR who’s able to ignore a Minor, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not really ignoring you. You’re intriguing and all, but you’re my Daddy’s charge, and I don’t want to mess with his work. And you? You were all afraid, but now you seem a lot more confident. What changed?”

“Well, have your mind under siege by someone who hasn’t even noticed you and you’ll see that you can get really afraid!” shot back Alejandro, now on the defensive again.

“Yah, yah, that’s what thay say, right? Anyway, you’ve got some strong mind, I’ll give you that. See you at school, tha siblings. Try not to be too easy to get, tha both of you, if you want to count me as a friend!”

Samantha had barely finished her sentence before she begun to run and in seconds, she was so far away that even Lindsey knew she had no hope of catching up with her, if she had wanted to. Which wasn’t the case, not really but… She had realized that despite her aspirations to become a scientist like her mother, she wanted to achieve the same kind of peak physic condition than Sammy Paolini. Sure, she wouldn’t have big boobs, but even the older MAJOR’s hadn’t been that noticeable.

“Well… that was something” finally said Alejandro.

“You could say that ‘Rando… I did not expect to meet someone like her today…”

“You mean, a MMA fighter on her way to the nationals, a Tier 3 or a MAJOR who wasn’t ready to simply pounce you to get me?”

“Why not everything?” laughed Lindsey. “By the way… would it bother you, if we made a short stop to look at the gym? I want to know if they have anything of value here for my training regimen.”

“Little Lind, the Iron Girl work out here. It’s obvious that they have machines you can only dream about. But I’m not sure you can use them yet. It’s probable that you need to be part of a team or something to be trained there.”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to just look, right?”

“Sure, go ahead, I’ll wait here.”

“Not a chance!” chirped Lindsey, crunching a little to take her brother in her arms.

“Hey! We said that I could walk to the school!”

“Yes, but we are on school ground, and we made no deal about what I could and couldn’t do here! So, in my arms you go until we reach the headmaster’s office!”

“Fiiine” relented Alejandro, rolling his eyes.

Lindsey enjoyed his little body against her torso. She was wearing a slim cotton t-shirt, clinging to her prepubescent curves, which allowed her to feel the ruffle of his wooly sweat, his real arm, soft and hot against her belly, and his prosthesis, colder to the touch and rougher, concealed below the sweat. I wonder how that girl would have reacted if she had seen him in a t-shirt, with his stump and all… I’m sure she would have been heel over head for him…

“Hey. Don’t you want to look at that gym? We’ll be late if you don’t move, Little Lind” said Alejandro, bringing her back to the present.

“Sure, sorry” she said, moving toward the entrance door.

She quickly stopped dead in her track however, when she noticed that a student card was necessary to enter the building. She had left hers at home, since they were coming today for Alejandro’s courses and she hadn’t thought that they would do anything else here. With a sigh, she admitted defeat and walked away. She could have asked for his card, of course, but she could tell from his amused smirk that he would have refused.

“Oh but ‘Rando, I don’t need my card on me at all time” he said, as if on cue, in his meanest imitation of her, with a whining voice and mocking movement of his head.

“I never said it” grumbled Lindsey. “Plus you never left me time to even think about it this morning…”

“We’re still in the morning, kiddo!”

“You know what I meant, “Rando” she growled, amused despite herself by his antics.

“You’re sure I do?”

“Yeah, I’m sure of it!”

“Hey!”

She heard him cursing her while she tickled him with her deft fingers, while using her nose to play with his hair. She loved the way he squirmed in her hands, how he laughed his full throaty laugh which had been so common during her first two years, before the Incident which had robbed her of her favorite brother. In her earlier memory, he was there, so small compared to the rest of her family, someone she would quickly surpass in height, but who loved to spend time with her, simply playing whatever she wanted to play.

“I love you” she blurted suddenly, before blushing incredibly.

“Well, I love you too” said Alejandro, perplexed now. “But is there any reason for why you would say it to me now?”

“I… I just remembered how you were when I was a baby. And how you are now, compared to… to those ten years.”

“Oh. Well, I guess I wasn’t the best elder brother for you during those years?”

“What are you talking about!? You were the best, always.”

“Even when I was so afraid of you that I could endure you being in the same room than me?”

“Yes, even…” slowly said Lindsey, looking at ‘Rando’s face, his grey eyes, so similar to her owns. He was looking up at her, a perplexed expression on his face. Suddenly, his eyes bulged out and she wondered why, until she realized that she was actually kissing him. Not on the cheeks, or the brow, but his lips. She immediately broke the kiss and dropped him on the ground, falling back a little, embarrassed beyond any word.

“What was that for?” he asked, a little shaken but, to her surprise, not really confused.

“I… I’m sorry, I… I don’t know what came over me!” she squeaked.

“Don’t worry… It’s not the first time that a teenager sibling does that to me” he replied, laughing a little.

“Wait, you mean that you and Al… Ewww!” she yelled.

“It wasn’t more cringe worthy than what you just did, Little Lind. And he didn’t try to put his tongue inside my mouth.”

“I didn’t try to do that!” she screamed, horrified.

“Yeah, if you say so…”

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“So… are we going in or not?” mumbled Alejandro, looking up at her.

Lindsey was still really red, even after almost teen minutes of walking in the hallways of Benjamin Franklin High School. Her brother was taking this case rather casually, apparently he had lived this kind of thing with Alaric, but still! She wasn’t Al’, she had much more self-control! She said it to Alejandro but only earned a blank face as a reward, and then even a roll of his eyes and a shaking of his head. It isn’t fair, he doesn’t know what it is to be a girl of that age! A MAJOR girl!

“Lindsey?”

“Yeah, sure. Just, when we’re inside, we agree that if you can’t have your courses, or all of them, you’ll still take mine and work on it, right?”

“I never made such promise” he reminded her.

“Please, ‘Rando…”

“Urgh, fine. I promise to not do the bare minimum early on. If the teachers and the other students manage to make the whole ordeal sufferable, you may even get more. But don’t get your hope up just yet.”

“It’s better than nothing” admitted the young MAJOR.

She took a deep breath and knocked loudly at the headmaster’s door. The siblings then stood there, waiting for Pr. James X. Gordon, to call them in.