Hemostasis 3.2
I drove almost all the way to the building, getting out of the car about twenty meters from the entrance to the academic building. I didn't pull up this close just for the sake of it, and the reason for such actions of mine appeared quite soon. As soon as I got out of the car and started walking forward, people began to appear around, taking pictures of me from the side and clearly discussing my figure.
Fortunately, I had been going to the university for many years, which is why there were very few of such people left. Only rare guests who came to the campus were still surprised by me. Over the years, a person gets used to everything, which is why my persona didn't cause a massive stir.
At first, of course, this was the cause of many problems, which is why I developed the skill of quickly signing autographs back then, but now everything had become much quieter, which I was only glad about. However, nothing on earth would force me to show up at an open house or some festival — I had already tried it and had no desire to repeat the experience. However, such events were rare and were only a few, practically unnoticeable spots against the backdrop of excellent studies.
A big plus of my university was that many very smart people had gathered here, who had some of the most advanced instruments on earth in their possession. But a much more important advantage was that these people were personally acquainted with me and favored me. They were highly interested in my persona, and not just because of the presence of powers alone!
I was a quite sharp guy, especially considering the fact that I enrolled in one of the most prestigious universities in the world at fourteen. And I didn't come in as some naive and clueless fool, but as someone who had dedicated the last six or seven years to studying medicine using textbooks, while also possessing several years of practice under the supervision of an experienced medic.
And basically, I was a rather inquisitive person who treated the local geniuses with respect. They were flattered by such an attitude, which many older students didn't have. And yes, they were also interested in my power, of course. By the way, there was a very funny moment regarding it.
Since only Vought stores information about who has what superpower, this information rarely falls completely into the hands of the public unless the company wants otherwise. And this might not happen if the corporation doesn't want certain, not-so-pleasant details capable of damaging their brand to surface.
And the ability to manipulate blood like Carrie was a clear overkill that doesn't particularly attract the masses. It's a rather terrifying power that most likely wouldn't have a completely positive effect on my image, and consequently on the sales of my brand. But since I didn't care about the public's opinion, I kept the secret to myself anyway, revealing it only to close and trusted people.
In my case, Vought's secrecy played right into my hands: neither I nor the corporation wanted the public to find out about my blood manipulation ability. This was another reason why I kept the secret: the more secrets there are, the easier it is to hide them all.
To the public, I was simply a strong and tough supe who could somehow heal people and animals. How? And how does Homelander fly? How can Marathon move at the speed of an airplane without turning into a bloody mush due to air friction and all sorts of dust? People have long been used to the fact that superpowers are strange and difficult to explain by ordinary science.
Only the closest people knew about my power: my parents, Martha and Bob, Margaret, and the university professor with whom we conducted research. I didn't reveal the secret to the rest, preferring to have an ace up my sleeve.
In a world where there are so many people with superpowers, there is always a risk of running into a psycho who could snap at any moment and cause a massacre. Or "competitors" in the form of other heroes might try to frame me. Or maybe someone from criminal gangs might even come after me. In short, I was ready for any, even the worst-case scenario, and kept the secret of my power as a final argument.
I spent the second half of the day quite productively: I attended two lectures on human anatomy and brain development, listening carefully and taking notes. The information was truly useful, and I was especially pleased that I could put it into practice at any moment.
I only had to think about it, and the world around me would turn scarlet, and I would begin to feel hundreds of hearts, each beating in its own rhythm. Hundreds of liters of blood continued their endless movement, sustaining the lives of people within a hundred meters around me. A mesmerizing sight.
I developed my power every day and hour while awake, which is why I achieved incredible progress. While I placed much more emphasis on the qualitative development of specifically the control of the ability, I didn't forget about quantitative improvement either. The maximum range of my "blood vision" was a few hundred meters, within which I could influence someone's blood without problems. If I concentrate maximally on one specific person, I could manipulate a drop even from a distance of a kilometer. But all this was child's play compared to what I was capable of at close range...
"Tell me, why the moon?"
It took me quite a while to realize the question was directed at me. After the second lecture, there was a break, during which I was resting on the campus grounds, sitting under the shade of a tree and simply enjoying the light warm breeze. The air smelled of spring, flowers, and young grass, making sitting there a sheer pleasure.
Regular meditations helped me cope with stress and forget about any problems for a while. This was especially relevant at this time of year, when the exam season was about to begin very soon, followed by the long-awaited summer. Margaret had already planned some shoots for a show with a famous journalist...
"Well, I mean, you are a strong and cool healer... But what does the moon have to do with it? I think a red cross or something like that would have suited your suit better."
My quiet rest was interrupted by someone's ringing voice. Slowly opening one eye, I looked over the girl leaning slightly forward and looking at me questioningly. She was quite attractive, with dark skin and long black hair. I merely chuckled, examining her, but answered anyway.
"Some questions are better left unanswered... for now. Besides, I would say that revealing such secrets to someone I don't know isn't the best idea."
The girl raised an eyebrow questioningly but grasped my hint quite quickly, looking at me with a smile.
"Victoria. Victoria Neuman. I was just passing by to meet an acquaintance, but I saw you lying here. You know, it's quite funny to look at a hero of your level in such a position. Usually, you run across rooftops or save kittens from burning buildings and take kids down from trees. Or is it the other way around?"
I chuckled, stretching my stiff neck and slowly getting up.
"While movies and TV series are entertaining, they are not the most reliable source of information. I wouldn't advise you to believe everything shown on the screens. The picture there is often much better than reality."
She tilted her head slightly to the side, smiling softly.
"Really? In that case, can you tell me about the real you?"
I exhaled slightly, shaking my head from side to side when my heart skipped a beat. I slowly raised my head, beginning to look the woman right in her brown eyes. Over the years of acting practice and other similar activities, I had learned to hide my emotions very well. Except the woman across from me seemingly saw much deeper than simple eyes allow, instantly noticing my reaction.
She smiled even wider, then handed me a white card with nothing but a phone number written on it. I quickly scanned it with my eyes, then put the piece of cardboard in my pocket.
"Give me a call sometime. We'll coordinate our schedules and meet when it's convenient. You know... I think there's a lot we can talk about. You seem like a curious person to me, with whom we'll be able to agree on many things. It seems to me that we have something in common. But we can discuss that later."
Finishing speaking, she winked at me, after which she walked back, towards the campus exit. I remained standing in place, following her with my gaze. Over the years of practice, my sense had become practically perfect, which allowed me to figure out even the finest impurities in human blood. Except right now, it wasn't particularly difficult either. Distinguishing supes is elementary anyway.
. . .
After the curious conversation, I headed to another part of the campus, where instead of lectures and seminars, real science was being done. The university, possessing impressive funds, could afford to equip laboratories with the most advanced equipment.
This was largely due to Cornell University's reputation as a place where some of the most cutting-edge research in a wide variety of fields is conducted. And this equipment—not all of it, of course—was at the disposal of students eager to make new discoveries. It was thanks to such equipment that startups were often born, which later turned into large companies.
I required much less, but since I was still a minor, I was overseen by a professor who was simultaneously my mentor. He was a man in his fifties, a Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine.
Honestly, at first I was even a little taken aback when I found out who I would be working with. But having gotten to know him better, I realized that he remained a simple, thoroughly good person. He was interested in my ability to heal people using a superpower, and he pondered whether my abilities could be used for something more. It was with him that I conducted the majority of experiments using my gift over the last few years. And I must admit, the help of his genius was most welcome.
"...And now try sample number six."
Nodding to the old man, who was monitoring the instrument readings, I got to work. One thought, and my power sprang into action. A few steps away from me was a container with several liters of practically clotted blood. It was pig's blood, but it made no difference to me which mammal the scarlet liquid belonged to. Taking a deep breath, I started to perform "magic."
The moment I raised my hand, the congealed, almost crystalline drops of blood flew several meters up, gathering into a shape that I mentally created. This was an order of magnitude more difficult than manipulating liquid blood, but still possible. The professor and I had been trying to understand the mechanism of my blood control for a long time. Abilities are a strange thing, and unraveling their secrets isn't easy. But we had achieved some success.
"Very curious, very. What do you think about the possibility of returning to experiments with special-level control? Exactly a year has passed since the last attempt, and you've gotten significantly better than before."
Tilting my head slightly to the side and estimating something in it, I shook my head from side to side. I had also conducted truly unique experiments, trying to control the bodies of dead mice by manipulating their blood. Except this turned out to be much harder than I had imagined.
"I haven't gotten that much better; besides, it's still unclear how to bypass the limitation of muscles and bones. The picture of what happened to the animals last time, how the blood rose, but not the muscles with the veins..."
The professor grimaced barely noticeably, turning his head away. The scientist was a man used to the sight of blood, but back then even I felt uncomfortable.
"Alright. Reasoned. Shall we conduct load and pressure tests?"
Now it was my turn to grimace. Here we conducted tests not only of my hemokinesis but also of other, much more boring abilities. With each passing year, I began to undergo increasingly heavy and harsh training, trying to reach my physical maximum. A pleasant bonus was the physical shape I had achieved, but I was much more interested in what the maximum of my superpowers would be. And the limit was very respectable, I must admit.
Although I was still a teenager and hadn't reached my physiological limit, I could already boast the level of true superheroes. For example, I could easily lift a one-and-a-half-ton passenger car over my head. I was also capable of lifting an SUV weighing close to four tons, but that was already close to my limit. But this was all despite the fact that my main ability isn't even connected to basic strength! I wasn't going to stop there.
The main problem with further development, and generally why few superheroes achieve my form, is the lack of effective training methods. My muscles are too strong, and I either have to squeeze the maximum out of myself using thousands of push-ups and squats, or lift truly heavy things. I even had to become the face of an advertising campaign for a gym brand to get ridiculously huge exercise machines weighing tons, specially created for me. Yes, the video where I lift a barbell with ten plates weighing a total of a ton went highly viral back then...
I walked up to a multi-meter machine designed to lift and slowly lower a steel weight of a dozen tons. I didn't particularly like getting under this weight—there was always a risk that the machinery would fail and simply crush me. But there was no more effective way to test the limits of my strength. Well, this won't be easy.
. . .
After studying and testing, the car picked me up again, driving towards home. The sunset was already visible as we drove toward my house. The car rushed forward at incredible speed, passing by beautiful views of evening nature and mansions, each of which cost millions of dollars. Except I paid no attention to them and fully focused on the piece of paper I held in my hands. I stared at the numbers written on it for a long time without blinking, pondering what would happen next. And only when there was very little distance left to home, I picked up the phone, making one very important call.
"Margaret? Clear next Saturday evening. I unexpectedly got an interesting meeting. No, I don't care what commercial shoots are scheduled. If they need me that badly, they won't break and will reschedule them. And yes, find me everything you know about a certain Victoria Neuman. And I am especially interested in what Vought knows about her."
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