 
                       Marcus's Power (14 of 16)
 
Marcus's Power
 
by Matrix
 
Chapter 14
 
Marcus opened his eyes slowly, the memories of the night before
invading his memory. He remembered almost getting himself killed over
stupid arrogance. He vowed that would never be the case. He told
himself to shut up, put up, and start some serious training. Today was
the day that training would start, and Marcus had sworn that he was
going to put all of his heart into it, holding nothing back.
 
He slept on the sofa in Shain's den when they came back inside the
house. The reason being, he didn't know whether to sleep with Mouse or
Jesse. Marcus did not know if either would be jealous of the other...
But he didn't want to take the chance. He loved them both and wanted to
hurt neither... So, he thought it was a safe bet to sleep alone.
 
'I wonder what today will bring' he thought as he looked at the
approaching dawn through the window. Then he sensed he was not alone...
It was the way one could feel eyes on them. Marcus turned his head to
look through the dimness of the room and seen two forms on the floor,
leaning against the wall. Through the dimness of the room he saw who it
was. It was Mouse and Kait.
 
Mouse had both knee's tucked up against her chest, with her arms
wrapped loosely around them. A funny looking grin was on her face. Kait
had one knee bent, with her right hand resting on it. Her sword was
lying on the floor beside her. What surprised Marcus was the fact that
they were both donning steel. Mouse still had the knife from the night
before in her hand. It was in a sheath though.
 
"Do you ladies see anything interesting?" Marcus asked, sitting up.
 
"I apologize, my Lord. I've been assigned as your guard and Mouse..."
Kait's voice trailed off.
 
"And *I* insisted on them letting me watch you.... So don't get mad at
Kait." Mouse said, a small grin forming on her lovely face.
 
"Well, Kait... It appears that Mouse is looking out for both of us...
Should I be jealous?," Marcus asked with an inward grin. He gave a
chuckle when he seen the blush rise up to Kait's face. "Relax Kait, I
was just playing." he finished.
 
"Marcus.... You're not mad at me about last night, are you? I'm really
sorry, but I couldn't let that dumb ass do that to you..." Mouse said,
a look of sadness was on her face.
 
"Why should I be? And you're wrong... Talon was not the dumb ass... I
was. I can't believe I could be so stupid," Marcus spat. "So, no Mouse,
I'm not mad at you.. After all, you did save my dumb ass from getting
killed."
 
"My Lord, may I say something?" Kait asked with a kind smile.
 
"Sure."
 
"You're not dumb, my Lord. All Knights make the mistake that you made
last night. Most learn from it. I think you should just chalk this one
up to experience... I don't think you will make the same mistake
twice... That's just my opinion, my Lord." she said in a very soft and
gentle voice.
 
"Yeah, Marcus... So cut out this self-pitting shit before I puke!"
Mouse said wryly, giving her best self righteous look. But busted out
laughing.
 
"You always did know how to get through my thick skull, Mouse," he
said, giving her an appreciative look. "Ya know, maybe you should go
into psychology when you grow up..." he said with a chuckle, ignoring
the fact that Mouse flipped him off. "Hey, Kait... Did Shain, by any
chance, tell you when we were to start training?"
 
"Yes, my Lord. He said that he would be in here at seven sharp."
 
"What time is it now?"
 
Kait looked over at the large grandfather clock and said, "Six O'clock
on the button, my Lord."
 
"Ok, I hate to be rude, but could you guys leave me alone for awhile. I
would like to warm up before he gets here... And I need all the
concentration I can get." he said in an apologetic tone.
 
"But... My Lord, Shain told me-" she got cut off.
 
"Relax, I'll just tell him I sent you away... You won't get into
trouble.. I promise." Marcus said in a reassuring tone. He really did
not want to get the Knight in trouble.
 
"C'mon Kait. When he gets his mind set on something... There is no
talking him out of it. I should know." Mouse said, rising to her feet.
She stuck her hand out to Kait, fully aware of the fact that the Knight
could probably jump clean over her head from that sitting position. But
Kait took the hand with a smile and allowed herself to be hauled to her
feet.
 
"Hey, I heard there was a nice pool table in this big ass house... Ya
wanna find it and shoot a few games?" Mouse asked Kait when she was on
her feet.
 
"Sure, why not," Kait replied, then turned to Marcus. "My Lord, Will
you call-" she was cut off.
 
"Yes I'll call if I need anything." Marcus said, guessing at what Kait
was asking. " Kait, you really should lighten up." he added, then
thought, 'Why don't you take your own advice, huh, Marky boy?'
 
"I'll see what I can do, My Lord." she replied with a deep throated
chuckle.
 
"I'll see you later Marcus, try to stay out of trouble, huh?" she said
as she made her way to the door, Kait a step behind, they could both
hear Marcus' chuckle as they closed the door behind them
 
Marcus got up off the sofa and walked to the center of the room. He had
left his sword attached to his back when he went to sleep that night.
He reached up, behind his back, and pulled it out with one fluid
motion. He stood in the center of that room, his mind going over the
events of the previous night. He gave a grim smile, promising once
again, that it would never happen again.
 
"From this moment on... I will treat every opponent as if they was they
best I've ever encountered," he said out loud to the empty room. It
felt like he was sealing the promise when he spoke it out loud. "Well,
back to the basics." he said and then started doing the very first
moves that Jesse taught him and the ones he learned on his own.
 
He did them at only half speed, so as to get the exactness from the
moves. Perfection was his goal and that would be all he would except...
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, you any good at pool." Mouse asked as they were headed to the
supposed game room that she had heard about.
 
"That depends... If I use kinetics, I'm great at it." Kait replied,
looking Mouse over. She loaned Mouse an out fit of hers, and needless
to say, the girl filled it out quite nicely. Mouse was wearing a pair
of tight black jeans and a black sports bra, that was probably a size
to small, and that was it. Well, besides the belt that she wore...
Mouse mainly wore that because she could fasten the sheath of the knife
on it.
 
Kait had to talk Mouse into wearing the sports bra though. For some
reason Mouse was sort of shy about her body... And that puzzled Kait,
since Mouse was drop dead gorgeous. But she had talked her into it,
after reassuring Mouse that she definitely did the outfit justice. She
was surprised at the strong attraction she felt towards Mouse. And by
the way that Mouse blushed when she complimented her... She was pretty
sure she felt the same. Kait would have read her thoughts... But she
thought it would be rude. She might have if it were any other Normal,
but Mouse was very special to her Lord.... And Kait most definitely did
not want to disrespect him.
 
"Aw, ya wouldn't cheat me now would you?" Mouse said, a soft laugh
escaping her lips.
 
"Na, it's a rule in the pool hall anyway. *NO USING KINETICS*. That's
what the sign says. Most everybody follows it. If they don't... Nobody
much wants to shoot with them. I mean, what's the fun, if you know that
you can make every shot?" Kait replied, more than a bit of charm in her
voice. 'She is beautiful' Kait thought with a sigh.
 
They made it to a set of double doors and Mouse was surprised when they
walked in. It was a very large room that had five sets of pool tables
and a juke box against the wall. She could see 15" speakers high in
each corner of the room. The pool tables were the expensive kind, she
could tell, they were not the type one would find in a common bar.
 
"Cool, this place is awesome." Mouse said in a very appreciative voice.
 
"Glad you like," Kait piped in with a chuckle, then added, "Do you have
a particular kind of music you like?" she asked, curiosity brimming.
 
"Yeah, AC/DC. But it's ok if ya don't have'em. You can pick out what
you like."
 
"Ah, a girl after my own heart! Are you kidding?? I had them put the
entire album of BACK IN BLACK in that juke box! I really did! Their my
favorite." Kait said with enthusiasm as she walked over to the Box and
selected a few songs.
 
After a song started to play, Kait walked over to a pool table. "How
about, I rack and you break?" she asked. Kait usually hated racking....
But she liked Mouse. It was a hard admission, but it was the truth and
she had know clue as to what to do about it.
 
"Sound's great to me... It's not the first time I've been a ball
breaker, but it is the first time someone ask me to do it!" she said
with a smile, listening to Kait laugh at the comment. 'She has such a
wonderful laugh... What the fuck! Why am I turned on by her?? She's a
girl.. But still, she is pretty....' Mouse was really confused at that
moment. It must have shown on her face, because Kait called her on it.
 
"Something wrong? You had the oddest expression on your face?" she
asked with a quirk of a smile.
 
"Na, just thinking about stuff... So what exactly is a Blade Runner
anyway? You never told me yesterday." Mouse said, changing the subject.
 
Kait noticed the subject change, but let it slide. "Well, it's sort of
like the military's special forces. We do all kinds of different
things... Anything from gathering information to S&D." Kait said
carefully.
 
Mouse struck the que ball with quite a bit of force and broke the neat
triangle of balls. "S&D? What's that stand for?" she said, obviously
interested.
 
"Sort of like what you did to that New Mexican scum last night." she
said, watching as Mouse sunk the two ball.
 
"Ah, you're an assassin some of the time... Can I ask you something
stupid?" she asked, leaning on her que stick.
 
"Sure, Fire away." Kait replied evenly.
 
"Is it bad that I feel reeeeaaaallly good about what I did to that
Knight last night?" she asked, her face was full of mixed emotions.
 
"I don't know... You might be asking the wrong person... Because I get
a *rush* when I take out one of the bad guys. So, if it is bad... Then
I'm just as guilty." she said, a sparkle in her eyes. 'She has a battle
spirit! We like the same music, she has a battle spirit and... Shit I
don't know what to do... C'mon Kait, you're a god be damned Blade
Runner! You can handle one normal girl!' she thought... But was still
just as nervous. She wanted to know if Mouse felt the same way and it
was driving her nuts.
 
"Thanks, I was hoping I wasn't the only one." she said in a quiet voice.
 
"Look, Mouse... Almost every Shadow Knight in this place feels the way
we do about battle... So, no, you're no where close to being the only
one." Kait replied with a gentleness she hardly used with anyone in her
voice.
 
Kait must have said the right thing, because Mouse perked up. "Alright,
you're shot," Mouse said, then noticed how fondly Kait was looking at
her. "Do you think I'm pretty?" The words slipped out before Mouse
could stop them and she felt like slapping herself upside the head. She
knew they caught Kait off guard because she completely missed the que
ball. Mouse had the decency not to laugh... She could not keep from
blushing however.
 
'Shit... Should I go with the truth? Or go with evasion?' Kait thought,
deeply aware of the blush that was rushing to her face. 'What the hell'
she thought. "Yes, I think... You're.. Um... Very pretty." she said,
barely getting the words out.
 
Mouse didn't know what came over her, but a coy smile spread across her
face. She felt a little frisky. "You don't look so bad yourself," she
replied and then gave a seductive wink. 'What the hell, the worst she
could do is stop hanging around me. ' she thought. "I'll let you have a
re-shot... I think I threw your focus a little." she said with that
same coy smile.
 
That wink Mouse gave her, made Kait's stomach flutter. 'Whoa, I guess
she does feel the same way' she thought, smiling broadly. "Thanks, and
yeah, my concentration did stray somewhat." She said with a chuckle and
took her shot.
 
'This should be interesting' Mouse thought.
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marcus was going full speed now. Making his sword look like a blur. He
was killing imaginary enemies left and right. He was so involved in the
exercise that he didn't even realize that he had an audience. His eyes
were lit with excitement behind his shades, and his heart was pounding.
He even added a couple of new moves into the exercises. They included
flips and mid-air sword assaults.
 
Shain stood in the doorway and watched Marcus with a warrior's eye,
looking at the high points and low points of his technique. It was not
to Shain's surprise that Marcus was quite good. Besides himself, Marcus
was probably the best on the base. But Shain knew, at the moment
anyway, that he was better. He was almost positive though, that after
the training, Marcus would be the best.
 
When Marcus finished the exercise, he finally noticed Shain's presence.
He felt stupid for not seeing him before. He could see the reflection
of his face in Shain's shades. His face was flushed and even though he
had been going full speed for close to 45 minutes, he was hardly
sweating.
 
"Good show," Shain said in an amused voice. "But would you care to go
up against something that... Would hit back?"
 
"What did ya have in mind?" Marcus asked, holding his sword lightly in
his hand.
 
"Sparring.... That is, if you're up to it." Shain said with a chuckle.
 
"Is this your nice way of evaluating my skill, before we begin
training?" Marcus asked, taking a few steps back and stretching his
arms.
 
"I think that would be safe to say... Are ya up to it?" Shain asked,
sliding his sword out of the sheath.
 
"Sure..." Marcus replied taking a defensive position. That was all that
was needed apparently, because Shain flew into attack mode.
 
Shain flew with speed that almost caught Marcus off guard. Shain
started out with an over head attack. Marcus met the attack and counted
with a diagonal slash, which Shain, of course, blocked. The speed at
which Shain moved made Marcus very envious. He found out quick that he
would probably lose the little sparring match.
 
Neither could see the other's eyes, but if they could, they would have
seen a wild fire that only warriors understood. They went cut for cut
almost for half an hour. Marcus had the sneaky suspicion that Shain was
holding back, though. That little fact did not help his ego much, but
he continued the fight.
 
Then Shain took on a crooked grin that just made Marcus flat out
nervous. Shain then took on a speed that Marcus really envied. Shain
struck his sword with severe strength. It was all Marcus could do to
keep up. His mind was looking for the weaknesses in Shain's defense,
but Shain was going so fast... That when he found them, Shain had
already moved onto another tactic.
 
With a series of rapid movements, Marcus' sword flew out of his hand
and across the room. Shain's blade was now resting against his neck.
"How did I beat you?" Shain asked as he removed his sword from against
Marcus' neck.
 
Marcus used his Kinetics and made his sword fly back into his hand.
"You move faster than I can think." Marcus said in a small frown.
 
"That's the problem." Shain stated.
 
"What is?"
 
"You need to work off instinct and reflex in a sword fight.... Not
thought." Shain replied as he sheathed his sword, walking over to the
sofa to take a seat.
 
Marcus was a little confused by what Shain had said. He walked over and
took a seat as well. "I may not know much Shain, but I do know that it
takes time to build instinct and reflex... And time is something we
don't have." Marcus said, sitting down on the sofa with an explosive
sigh.
 
"You're right about that... We don't have the time to build instinct.
Or at least we wouldn't if we were Normals." he finished with a wicked
grin.
 
That confused Marcus more... It must have shown, because Shain went on
to explain. "There are certain things, as you can imagine, that we can
do and Normals can't... What I am saying is, you might be able to
program instinct in your own mind. The key word is *might*, not all
Knights can do it. And only Masters can even attempt it." Shain
finished.
 
"That sounds sort of dangerous Shain... You sure about that?" Marcus
asked with a worried look on his face.
 
"Any thing you do to your mind can be dangerous, Marcus... It's just an
option. But remember. If it did work... It would not give you an upper
hand with all the Rogue Knights of the world... It would possibly put
you on equal footing though.... But if you do not wish to go through
with it... We can always do it the old fashioned way." he explained.
 
Marcus sat quiet for a few moments, as if in thought, before he spoke
up. "No, I want to do it this way... We don't have time for the
latter." he said carefully.
 
"I would have to guide you through the process, that means you would
have to let me inside your head..." Shain said, his face had a mildly
worried look on it.
 
"And?"
 
"Do you trust me to do that? I could do damage on a whim, if I chose to
do so." Shain said in a low voice.
 
"Your sister trusts you... So, yeah, I trust you." Marcus said with a
small grin.
 
"Marcus, if I didn't know how much you loved my sister... I do now,"
Shain said with a chuckle." Shall we begin?"
 
"Lead the way."
 
"That's exactly what I'm going to do. You're going to have to close
your eyes and concentrate. When you do, you will feel mental extension
reach out to you.... All you have to do is follow it. You are going to
be the one doing the programming, not me. When you reach the
destination... Just put everything you've learned about fighting
there... And only fighting. Don't mess with your emotions.. I've
watched Master's go crazy from that." he explained.
 
"All right, I'm ready." Marcus said as he closed his eyes.
 
And so it started. Marcus found out that Shain was true to his word and
felt the mental extension reach out to him. It was like a tug at his
mind, only they were going the opposite direction. Marcus followed the
extension into his mind, ignoring the memories of Hell's Outhouse. Then
stopped at a strange place... But yet, familiar.
 
*<'This is it, my friend. You do your programming here'>* Shain's
thoughts told him.
 
And that is just what he started to do. Marcus took every sword
technique he knew and started to burn them into the part of the mind
that Shain told him. He also knew some Martial Arts, but he didn't
really have the reflex for the moves.... So, he burned them in as well.
Marcus must have pounded and burned those reflexes for at least five
minutes.
 
Then he withdrew himself from his own mind. "Shit!" he said. Sweat
covered his body and his muscles burned, as if they were put through
strenuous exercise. "Jesus Shain! Why do I feel like I just ran a
marathon??" Marcus asked, a chuckle rose behind the words. But he
looked over at Shain, and noticed that he was a little pale.
 
"Marcus... You... You, do know what you just done, right?"
 
"What you told me to do?" Marcus said, he also noticed a sort of edgy
energy, that wasn't there before.
 
"Marcus, you burned those things into your mind so hard... You can't
remove them even if you wanted to..." he explained in a worried voice.
 
"What's wrong with that?? I only put in sword techniques and a few
Martial Arts moves I know." Marcus said, then added. "Hey, you think we
could get something to drink? I'm thirsty as hell."
 
"Are you feeling a little edgy energy? Like you want to do something?"
Shain asked.
 
"Yeah... Hey, is that one of the side effects?," he waited for Shain's
nod. "That's alright... I sort of like it." he said, a smile playing on
his lips.
 
"Alright, if you're not upset about it... Neither am I," Shain sent a
quick telepathic message to a Knight, asking them to bring something to
drink. "A drink is on it's way... After the drink, do you want to test
out your reflexes? A little more sparring maybe?" Shain asked, he was
more than curious as to how good Marcus was now. Because the only thing
that he thought was holding him back was thought... Now Marcus had
instinct and reflexes burned into him... He wouldn't have to think much
in a fight.
 
"Sound's great to me.... After training, I want to meet the Knights
that I supposed to lead." Marcus said in a low voice. he wanted to get
the show on the road now... He almost regretted having to wait a month
for the war.
 
"Alright, they usually start their training sessions at about seven in
the evening. You could go and join them... Most of them are dying to
meet you anyway." Shain replied, 'I think the Son Of Dakrin is ready to
go kick some teeth in' he thought, a chuckle slipping out on it's own
accord.
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
11: 35 AM
 
After several games of pool and conversations of what it was like being
a Blade Runner, Kait and Mouse found themselves in the kitchen. "I
think I'm going to make you my favorite snack." Kait said with a
twinkle in her eye. She had to admit, she LOVED spending time with
Mouse.
 
"Oh, and what would that be?"
 
"Chili Dogs. It's the best food that anyone ever came up with." Kait
said, laughing a little. She got out a pot and a couple of cans of
chili.
 
"I disagree, I think PIZZA is the best food anyone has ever came up
with." Mouse replied, an impish grin on her face.
 
"Aw, you can keep your pizza... It's kid food." Kait said, she loved
egging Mouse on.
 
"Watch it, Blade Runner... I might have to kick your ass!" Mouse said
taking a step towards Kait, a playful, yet wild look was in her eyes.
"Nobody... And I mean NOBODY, dog's my pizza!"
 
"Oh, you think you can kick my ass?? Hell, I'd pay to see that!" Kait
said with a chuckle.
 
"If you didn't use Kinetics? Yeah, I think I could stomp ya." she
replied with a look of playful challenge.
 
"Be careful what you ask for Sprout!" Kait said, pushing Mouse's
shoulder with one hand.
 
"Ohhh, you asked for it lady!" Mouse said and moved like lightning,
moving her arm around Kait's neck and putting her in a head lock.
"Member, no kinetics!" she shouted and squeezed her arm a little.
 
"Mouse! You better let me go." Kait said, struggling under Mouse's arm.
 
"Oh, what are you gonna do, you big, BAD Blade Run- YOW!" Mouse
squealed as Kait began... Tickling her. Mouse started to squirm then.
 
She let go of her head lock and started to try and push Kait's hands
away. "C'mon Kait, that ain't..." She couldn't finish what she was
saying, because she could not stop laughing. Her knee's buckled and
they both went to the floor, Mouse because her knee's buckled and Kait
because she just wanted to.
 
"Oh, I bet you thought it was funny to put me in a head-lock, huh?"
Kait asked, chuckling the whole while she was tickling Mouse. Mouse was
squirming so much that it was sort of hard for her to keep up with her.
 
"C'mon Kait... I'll.. Do... Anything.. Just stop... Tickling me!" she
shouted between laughs.
 
Kait's hands stopped, dead cold. "Anything?" she asked in a thoughtful
voice.
 
"Anything..." Mouse replied in a quiet voice, fully aware of what the
implication meant.
 
Kait leaned in and brushed her lips gently against Mouse's. The kiss
was oh so light... Yet it started a fire for both of them that was
huge. Mouse reached her hand behind Kait's neck and pulled her in for a
deeper kiss. Which Kait followed very willfully. Their bodies just
seemed to meld together, hidden behind the kitchen counter. Then they
both heard a voice. A voice in the door way.
 
"Is anybody in here?" Jesse asked from the doorway, she had heard wild
laughter and decided to investigate.
 
Both Kait and Mouse made the mistake of jumping to their feet at the
same time. "Um.. Hi... Jesse." Mouse stumbled the words out, her face
very red, do to both desire and embarrassment.
 
Jesse looked from Mouse to Kait and from Kait to Mouse. "What were you
girls doing??? Never mind, I don't want to know.. So, don't tell me."
Jesse said, then turned, laughing her ass off as she walked out the
door.
 
"Aw, shit!" Mouse mumbled as she watched Jesse leave.
 
"Was that 'Aw, shit' for her catching us, or because you wished it
never happened?" Kait asked. A gentle smile tugging and her lips. She
thought she already knew the answer.
 
"Don't be dense," Mouse said and reached out, hooking the top edge of
Kait's sports bra with two fingers, pulling her close, so that they
were nose to nose. "I want a rain check." she added, a fire was in her
eyes that she didn't see, but Kait did.
 
"You got it," Kait said, giving Mouse one last light kiss. She then
pulled away and said, "I think I better feed you first though." a light
laugh followed that.
 
Mouse blushed some more, when she thought about what the rain check
would be like.
 
