’Woah, I’m feeling a little weird about this...’

Blake whipped his phone out.

Going out rn, wbu?

Putting it back down, Blake stood in front of the mirror.

To be honest, he felt a little stupid doing this.

Still, there was no harm in practicing a beautiful smile.

After all, he needed to send those pictures to make Myles jealous.

So, Blake smiled.

The thing was, he didn’t really know what this face looked like when genuinely smiling.

’I had a face similar to this one in shape, I think. I was just taller and bigger. This face should look more or less the same as my old one when smiling genuinely, right?’

Letting out a heavy sigh, he walked over to put his shoes on.

Today was definitely going to be interesting in more ways than one, especially with that place finally being explored.

At the same time, he felt his heart skip a beat at the thought of Myles’ reaction.

Which, in his mind, was either nonexistent or downright messy.

There was no in-between.

Buzz.

I’m getting on my motorcycle now

Letting out a breath to release some pressure, Blake walked out.

Something he did kind of miss was riding on the motorcycle, although it could be scary at times.

Anthony was a careful driver but, still, Blake couldn’t help but worry about falling.

’With my defence buff, I wouldn’t get hurt, I guess?’

In either case, the feeling was just wrong.

Blake walked to the station. Today was a pretty hot day, but he still didn’t have the courage to wear short sleeves.

Unwanted questions weren’t exactly his favourite thing. Although, at least the shirt was pretty light, so he wasn’t suffering too much.

From a distance, he could already see Anthony getting closer and closer.

The familiar motorcycle rolled through the street, weaving between cars before gradually slowing down.

Blake waved, smiling as the motorcycle pulled over.

Anthony got off first, taking his helmet off and running a hand through his hair.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning."

"...How’ve you been?"

Blake couldn’t help but sigh out a chuckle.

There was something funny about how both of them greeted each other after not even seeing each other for a little more than a week.

"I’m alright."

He raised his hand.

Anthony looked at it for a second, then raised his own.

Smack.

A soft high five, it was almost embarrassingly soft.

Honestly, it barely qualified as one.

Still, it made Blake laugh.

"Man, it’s been way too long."

"Yeah."

"Sorry about that, by the way."

Anthony tilted his head.

"For postponing this outing multiple times."

Anthony nodded thoughtfully.

"That’s true."

Blake stared at him, then both of them laughed.

Anthony reached into the side compartment of the motorcycle before pulling out another helmet.

"Jokes aside, it really is alright, don’t worry"

He handed it over.

"We’re going to have fun now anyway, somewhat."

Blake snorted.

"Somewhat fun?"

"I-I mean..."

"Thought you were better than this, that’s the best description you’ve got?"

Anthony nervously pushed his glasses back.

"Well, no, but yeah..."

"Ah, jeez."

Blake lightly punched his shoulder.

Putting the helmet on, Blake climbed onto the motorcycle.

A few moments later, they were off.

The city slowly drifted by around them.

Cars.

People.

Stores.

Traffic lights.

What now Blake could ignore despite not being there for that long.

’How shameful.’

The warm wind brushed against Blake’s clothes.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Honestly, it was comfortable.

That was just how things were between them.

They didn’t need to constantly fill the silence.

Eventually, Blake leaned his head against Anthony’s back.

The motorcycle vibrated softly beneath them.

"So."

"Hm, yeah?"

"How’s Asher doing?"

Anthony thought for a moment.

"He is doing fine, yeah."

"That’s it?"

"Mostly."

Blake sighed.

"Is there anything else I can know?"

"Ah, yeah. He’s been busy."

"With?"

"Research."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What kind?"

Anthony hesitated.

’I mean, I have a rough idea.’

The motorcycle slowed slightly as they approached a red light.

"Something about advanced machinery."

"Oh."

The light turned green, so the motorcycle moved again.

"Though."

"Hm?"

"I’m not sure he should keep working on it."

Blake frowned.

"Why?"

Anthony took a few seconds to answer.

"It’s complicated."

"That’s not an answer. You should always try until you succeed."

"I know."

"So answer."

Anthony laughed.

"It’d take too long."

Blake sighed lightly.

That sounded exactly like something Asher would do.

Asher Phoenix.

Asher Phoenix.

Asher Phoenix.

Asher Phoenix.

Ever since coming back from that mission...

The mission that had shown him yet another disgusting piece of AL-TECH’s history...

He couldn’t stop thinking about it.

The thought kept returning.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Logically speaking... csher couldn’t not have alien DNA.

The possibility was just too high now.

Back then, Blake had been willing to dismiss a lot of things.

Now, mot so much.

Especially after learning more about Myles.

Or rather... learning more about what Myles actually was.

At first, Blake had assumed most of Myles’ absurd abilities came from his technology.

His equipment.

His engineering.

His inventions.

Now?

That explanation wasn’t enough anymore.

Not even close.

There were very few recordings of UD. Most of the footage online was blurry, edited or cut apart.

Half of it looked fake.

Still, even with the limited material available...

Blake could tell something wasn’t normal.

UD was absurdly strong.

That much was obvious.

Possibly capable of limited flight too.

Not comic-book flying, since it was more describable as a burst.

It could probably only naturally work for short periods, so Myles, to support himself, uses thrusters.

At least that’s what it looked like.

’But then again... how much of that is the suit? And how much of it is Myles himself?’

That was the problem, Blake couldn’t tell.

To be fair, nobody could.

Whenever UD appeared, there was always metal covering everything, with no obvious line separating man from machine.

Maybe those incredible reflexes came from sensors.

Maybe they didn’t.

Maybe the strength came from mechanical assistance.

Maybe it didn’t.

Maybe the heightened awareness was just advanced technology feeding him information.

Or maybe his senses genuinely worked on a completely different level.

The first thing that came to mind was his perception, since Myles noticed far too many things.

Tiny details. Small inconsistencies. Patterns. Movements. Changes.

Things normal people completely overlooked.

It was almost like his brain processed information differently, like every sense was being filtered through machinery.

Except it wasn’t machinery.

Blake honestly had no idea if that made sense, and that uncertainty bothered him.

Because if Myles really did possess alien DNA, then Asher probably did too, just differently.

The similarities were too difficult to ignore.

Asher wasn’t physically overwhelming like UD appeared to be, and his perception and cleverness seems to be much more human.

Although there had been moments where Blake watched him identify mechanical failures simply by listening.

Not because he knew them, because he somehow felt them.

The thing was that Asher truly felt human, so much so it made Blake doubt he could posses alien DNA himself.

Besides, how would that even work within the complex of the two generations?

And then there was the obsession with alien research.

Although, to be fair... that part only existed in the novel, so it wasn’t that Blake actually knew about it.

Still, if reality truly followed anything even remotely close to that path...then Asher might already be much deeper than anyone realized.

Deep enough to become dangerous.

Deep enough to become impossible to ignore.

Blake frowned beneath the helmet.

The motorcycle continued moving.

The city gradually gave way to larger roads.

Then older buildings.

Then finally... their destination.

"We’re basically here."

Blake blinked.

"Huh?"

Anthony pointed ahead, the museum stood proudly near the end of the street.

"Oh."

He hadn’t even realized how much time had passed.

The motorcycle slowed before finally stopping.

Blake got off, and as he removed his helmet, he was staring at the building.

It looked pretty nice, the kind of place people would definitely take pictures of.

Anthony stretched his arms.

"Ready?"

Blake smiled brightly.

"Yeah."

Together, they walked inside. The entrance hall was spacious, with tall ceilings and beautifully polished floors.

Display banners hanging from above, visitors slowly wandered around.

It wasn’t underwhelming, but it wasn’t immediately fascinating either or, at least, not yet.

It felt like one of those places that became interesting only if you actually bothered digging into what was being shown.

And Blake was perfectly willing to dig.

Especially since he had spent months postponing this trip.

There was no way he was leaving after only glancing at a few displays.

Besides, a weird feeling lingered in the back of his mind.

Maybe it was because of Asher.

Maybe it was because of AL-TECH.

Maybe it was because thoughts about Myles simply refused to leave him alone.

Whatever the reason...

As he stepped further into the museum, Blake couldn’t shake the feeling that today’s outing might end up being a lot more interesting than he originally expected.