Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The whole area just went cold in an instant and I was barely able to keep myself from blacking out. The music blasting was now just muffled thumps as they were entering my ears and furthermore, the blurriness of my vision that came from almost blacking out dissipated after an extremely short moment.

Everything seemed to move in slow-motion and it seemed as if I was aware of everything that was going on in this enclosed space.

It's just that I had to wrestle with my mind because everything fiber of my being was telling me to put them down.

'They're not a threat, they're not a threat, they're not a threat...'

I had to tell myself the same thing for what felt like an eternity before I achieved a state of clarity.

From the back, it looked like Kaley took a few steps back while Cynthia fell down almost immediately. They wore expressions of shock, fear, and panic, but Cynthia looked way worse. She almost looked like the time I did the same thing with Kaley near the crematorium, but this time, she wasn't even able to utter a single word or move a single muscle.

It was like she lost all control from fear and she had no way in taking it head-on.

However, the main focus right now was Tatiana.

Among the three, she was the one that was closest to me when I released murderous intent, and she took most of it right after the short celebration from knocking the mitts off of my hand. Granted it should be something worthy of a celebration but she could already do that sort of thing any other time of the day.

I remembered the first time I did this to her but that was when she was in a vulnerable position. This time, she looked like she was fully healed physically but I had to know if she was fully healed in her psyche.

'Hmm...'

With that said, fear was still stricken in her eyes, but this time, she managed to jump back and she was staring right at me while partly crouched instead of being stuck in place. She was supposed to continue the series of combinations I yelled out to her earlier but I just had to do what I had to do.

Seeing her in that state, I just withdrew everything back before I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, but the three of them were still in the same position.

They had no idea what I would do next but the feeling of coldness was starting to dissipate.

I looked at each of them before I smiled and let them see that the light was back in my eyes, and Kaley breathed a sigh of relief before coming to Cynthia's corner. However, Tatiana never looked so disappointed and discouraged.

She slowly stood up while looking down but she was clenching both of her fists as hard as she could. She looked at me for a brief moment before looking down again, and she shook her head before turning around and walking back to the heavy bag she was hitting earlier.

'What?'

Tatiana was about to throw her first punch towards the heavy bag for the second time but I grabbed her arm and tilted my head as I leaned over to see her face.

"Hey."

"WHAT?!"

'She definitely misunderstood…'

I tried to look as non-threatening as I could, "You're back."

Tatiana shook my hand off of her before scrunching her eyebrows and glaring at me, "W-WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

"You don't want to continue? You've barely done a third of what I yelled out."

"SO, WHAT?! I–"

"Calm down. You're not a dumbass, right?"

Tatiana never looked so angry and confused, "Thanks? Do you want me to–"

I placed my hand over her shoulder, "Tatiana, you did good."

"Did good? You call that doing good?! I basically–"

"You basically know and understand what fear is. That's doing good."

"Am I supposed to thank you for telling me that I puss'd out?"

"Kinda?"

As soon as I said that, Tatiana harrumphed and shook her head before pushing off the hand I placed over her shoulder. After that, she stood right in front of my face with the same glare right until we could feel each other's breaths. We were looking into each other's eyes but the expressions we were wearing were completely different. However, as time passed from our staredown, her eyes were gradually getting redder and redder as they started to water.

"Tatiana–"

Tatiana exploded, "FINE! IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO COME WITH–"

I cut her off by grabbing her head and giving her a solid headbutt, "SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK!"

"AH! OUCH! THAT FUCKING HURTS! WHY DID–"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE A FUCKING DUMBASS!"

"DUMBASS?! YOU'RE THE DUMBASS! I WAS SUPPOSED TO–"

"Supposed to what? Come at me? I would've sent you back to the hospital with more injuries… Did you seriously think you could spar with someone out to kill anyone that stands in their way?"

"WHA– What?"

"Do you remember that there's a thin line between bravery and being an idiot? Or in your case, a dumbass? You're one of the bravest people I know but it seemed like you've forgotten what fear is like."

"Excuse me?!"

"Fear might sound like something everyone should bottle up or power through, and most of the time, that should be what everyone should be doing... but there's more to it than that. There's a thin line between bravery and being an idiot but there's also a thin line of being a pussy and being smart."

"..."

"This will be a rabbit hole if I continue but I think you already understand what I'm getting at."

Tatiana just looked a lot calmer than earlier then she looked down for a moment before looking at me once again.

"U-Umm… Yeah… I t-think..."

"So, are you gonna sulk while hitting that heavy bag or do you want us to continue? I need your help with something as well so–"

Tatiana and I were having a moment before Kaley's voice overpowered even the speakers.

"HEY! ARE YOU TWO GONNA CHAT THERE OR ARE YOU GONNA HELP ME WITH CYNTHIA?! SHE'S STILL SHAKING! WARN US BEFORE YOU DO THAT, YOU DOOFUS!"

"Ah..."

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE AND SCRATCH YOUR HEAD! COME HERE! YOU DID THIS!"

"We better check on her…"

"Correct… We should…"

Tatiana and I walked over to where Kaley and Cynthia were and Cynthia really was a mess. She even drew tears when I walked over and crouched down, and all she could do was grab on Kaley's arm as hard as she could. She could barely look me in the eye and they could only sympathize because they already experienced this head-on.

Cynthia may have seen me do this a few times but not at this level.

"Cynthia, hey… It's over, alright? It's just something to– Well, I'm sorry."

"..."

"I won't say that I'll never do it again because I'll probably do this for you when the time comes. Just think of it as a different kind of training…"

"..."

"Cynthia?"

"..."

'This isn't working... Hmm...'

"Hmm~ You know, Kaley peed herself the first time I–"

Kaley instantly cut me off, "WHA– DON'T SAY THAT IN FRONT OF HER! YOU–"

Tatiana interjected while wearing a mocking smile, "YOU PEED?! HAH!"

I shook my head as I turned to Tatiana, "You cried like a pussy-ass bitch when I–"

Tatiana smacked my arm before defending herself, "I– Fine! It was a– You've seen what it's like! At least I have control of my bladder!"

Kaley retorted, "DID HE ALMOST LOP YOUR HEAD OFF?! HUH?! I'M SURE AS HELL HE DIDN'T! HE WAS THIS CLOSE TO CUTTING MY NECK CLEAN!"

"Blah, blah~ As if he'd kill you!"

"Of course, he won't! But… it just feels like that in that… that moment… that one single moment…"

"..."

Tatiana went silent as she looked at me and Kaley before nodding pensively and turning to Cynthia once more, "I guess that's true…"

"Right?!"

'Because you only need a moment to kill someone... If you're capable...'

I waved them off before trying to reach Cynthia through my words once more, but it seemed that I didn't need to do anything else. The color on her face seemed to be back to normal and it didn't take long before she sheepishly joined in on the conversation.

"I… I felt that too… It was really quick but… I can't really explain it… I… I can't seem to breathe… I lost feeling in my legs and in my b-body and… and…"

"And?" Kaley and Tatiana asked at the same time.

"I m-may have p-peed too… a l-little…"

Cynthia was just red in the neck but Tatiana took a short pause before laughing heartily. At the same time, Kaley was trying hard between sympathizing with Cyntia and controlling her laughter, but Tatiana's laugh was just too infectious.

Tatiana started to shake her head, "Fine, I may have peed too... But just a tiny~ bit. I squirt but not as much–"

Kaley didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "THAT'S NOT THE TOPIC HERE!"

"WHY ARE YOU YELLING?! I WASN'T TALKING ABOUT YOU! But now that I think about it..."

"AHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"

Everyone had a good laugh at the end but I did tell Cynthia the same thing I told Tatiana earlier.

She more or less understood the point I was trying to get across and Kaley was in the same boat. Fear was something commonly known as a weakness but all it needed was a different perspective.

With that said, as Cynthia excused herself to clean up, Tatiana and I finished the series of combinations I gave her plus a bit more.

At one point, I tried letting out varying levels of pressure in critical moments and I let her decide at which time it was best to be brave or to be smart.

I even let Kaley and Cynthia join in with this exercise but I gave them more bearable pressure so they could find their way around it much easier. I could've done the same thing with Tatiana but I know that in regards to this type of thing, she would've wanted me to go rough and hard.

Tatiana had her soft side but this was not the time she would've wanted it to be used.

I went on a few rounds with each of them but I decided to take a breather after an hour and a half.

"Okay, can we call it now? I need practice on my thing too."

Tatiana's ears perked up, "I remember you saying that. What do you need help with?"

"I need you to hit me."

"Hit you? Isn't that kinda what we're doing right now?"

"No, I may have discovered a crumb of Artem's secret."