Chapter 101 You're old when younger people call you an old man 

Luke went to the counter, not much had changed here apart from the modernization. 

A blonde teenager, but age was really hard to tell these days, she might as well be in Bonnie's age group, sat at the counter scrolling through a tablet. 

"Hey there!"

She looked up, she looked a lot like Uthe. 

"The opening hours are from 9 to 22, you have to fill out a form for the trial training, and the same for the acrobatics course. 

"I actually wanted to speak to Uthe."

She gave him a wry look. 

"Really? Fine by me."

She turned to the side.

"MA!!! there's a guy who wants something from you! " 

Uthe came a few minutes later and slapped her on the back of the head.

" Intercom daughter, what are our customers supposed to think?"

She rubbed her head.

"They're just regular customers anyway, ma..." 

Uthe looked at her, looked up. Saw Luke, her eyes widened.

" Luke!" She ran up to him, hugged him. 

" What are you doing here? The last time I saw you was on holo-television, when you were in the theater in tournament. "

" Ha, yeah, they wanted me to relinquish the title because there was nothing left."

She looked at him scrutinizingly.

 " I see, and... whatever..." She took his hand and pulled him into the studio. There were mats and training fields. Where a few people were training. Jeremy had also grown older and put on some weight. He instructed the boys. 

"Honey! Look who's visiting us?"

He looked at her and smiled.

" Long time no see, what brings you to us?" 

Luke smiled, shook his hand. He pointed to his father, who turned and came closer.

" My old man." 

He looked at him.

" Oh hello." came from him.

" He's looking for something for his label."

" Label?" came from Uthe.

"Oh, Omnicron Musicals?" 

He nodded. 

"Well, we're looking for something for a music video and I saw your offer. What kind of people." 

"Hmm." 

Uthe looked at Jeremy hastily. 

"Hhmm, I don't know." 

She walked up to him.

"Honey, how about yes? A little marketing would do us good since the fitness chains have been poaching our customers. "

" Okay, I'll let you have a business meeting on one condition."

" Which one?"

He pointed at Luke. " He has to put my problem student in his place. "

" Your problem student? " came from Luke.

He sighed, looked at Teheen, who was leafing through a brochure. She looked at him, turned the brochure over.

" I want to try that. " She pointed to yoga. 

" Fine by me, then yoga for her, I don't have any clothes with me."

" We have workout clothes. " he looks at one of the students.

"Get some," he ran off. 

Luke scratched his head. The student only took a few minutes, coming back with a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt with a studio logo. He handed it to him. 

"Thanks," he stepped aside and took off the T-shirt.

"Hey Luke, you can use the locker room too," came from Uthe.

" Well ..." 

He changed his clothes and packed up his things.

"Where's your student?"

"He should be here in an hour."

Luke looked at him.

" In an hour? "

"I'm sorry... I mean, you might as well warm up ..." 

Luke groaned, looked around. Found a treadmill, walked barefoot to it, got on and looked at the menu. Clicked around, set it to the hardest mode and started running. Teheen stood next to him and looked at him, bored.

"Why are you running on something like this?" 

He stopped and looked at her.

" To warm up, come on, I'll show you what you wanted to try." 

" Aha!" 

He went to the mat. 

" Try it out." 

She looked at him skeptically.

Luke showed her positions, which she copied. He walked around her, pushing her into positions that made her grimace in pain.

 "These are the basics." 

Teheen stretched. 

"Basic positions? So there are worse things? " 

" Sure. And you can do that?" 

Luke grinned " I did as a kid, not anymore, maybe when I do it again. "

" And why is that?" 

" My mother once had a phase where she did that." 

His father came out of the office in a good mood with Uthe.

"Oh, you see, he's still here, doing something with my daughter-in-law."

Teheen looked at him questioningly, then at Luke.

" What, she's accepted you. "

"After all these years, I was wondering. Where did that come from you. "

" Yes, her mother, of her sisters, is the one with the most brains."

" Really?"

His father nodded. 

"So, because I heard his mom has a killer grip on him too?" 

His father looked at him.

"Killer grip ... She's just hugging him, but you mean his godmother. Hhmm, you're about the same size as her."

"Did I?"

He nodded. 

" And how did she do that? "

"Just grabbed him and held him to her, but her falling in love with him was another matter. If she tried it with her husband, it didn't work. "

Teheen mused.

"Hmm ... Why..."

 Luke sighed.

"Because he was used to it. She used it as a pillow when she slept. "

Teheen grinned.

"Ow!" came from her, a tanned jock walked past her with a dirty grin. 

Luke looked at her questioningly, it was too late, she had already taken a running start and tackled the jock to the ground, her knees pressed against his neck.

"That hurt!" 

Uthe looked at him in horror. Luke sighed, went to Teheen and patted her head.

"Come on, calm down," he leaned down to the athlete.

"You should be careful."

"Let go of me!" came from him. 

" Pablo! " came Jeremy from the next room. 

" Apologize and get changed."

Pablo grumbled.

"I'm sorry, lady..." he growled.

Teen let go of him.

Pablo stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Man, I was just trying to have fun."

Teheen looked at him with a glare.

"If I break your hand, you'll have fun," she said. Luke continued to pat her head. She scowled at him. He reached for her head and tried to pull it down, but to no avail.

"What are you going to do?" asked Luke. 

"I want to try something," he said tensely. 

" Uh-huh ..." 

She made an effort, let go of him, jumped on top of him and pressed his head against her.

Luke sighed. 

"She's really different from Kia, she's never done that, I think she hugged him once when she was jealous of others."

Luke felt Teheen stroking his hair.

"Hoo, such soft hair."

Her face came into his field of vision, he always found it fascinating how her eyes looked at him inquiringly, her eyes were the same as in her alien form. Honey brown with hints of green.

"How do you do that? "

He grinned. 

"A secret." 

She scratched her head gently.

"A secret? Or rather the stuff you put in your hair?"

"Eh Luke?" came from Uthe.

"Huh?" he looked at her. 

"It looks uncomfortable... I mean..."

"Hm, a bit heavy."

Teheen tapped her head with her fingers.

"I dare you."

He grinned. Pablo came back, this time in shorts and a T-shirt.

"It took me a while, so while you're at it. That I never find anyone." 

He pointed at Luke. 

"I persuaded the guy I know to fight you."

"Against him? He looks more like a masseur. Especially with that psycho there."

Luke looked at him.

" Warming up, then?"

Pablo grinned arrogantly.

"I don't need that!" 

"All right," he lifted Teheen up. 

" Then get started." 

He had just set Teheen down and Pablo attacked him, surprising him. So that he received a painful blow in the side. Pablo jumped on the spot, grinning. 

Teheen looked at Luke questioningly.

"You're getting old..." 

Pablo attacked again and Luke took another painful blow. Jeremy grabbed him.

"Dude, I'll flatten you in front of your bitch!"

He shoved Jeremy aside, attacked again and rammed his elbows and knees into Luke's head and neck, kicking him hard in the chest so that he was thrown backwards. Pablo turned around, confident of victory. Luke stopped, sneezed and switched back to his original form, lifted his shirt, blew blood, looked at it. Let go, looked at Pablo, who stared at him.

"What the hell?" came from him. 

He grinned.

"Oh, I wanted to see how good you were. See what Jeremy's done. " He came closer.

" You weren't in the last big tournament."

" What a losers club!" 

Luke grinned. 

" But you would have been up against better people. Believe me, I had to shake hands with countless people, it was annoying." 

He pointed at Teheen.

Pablo attacked again, Luke kicked him away in the movement, knocking him on his nose. 

"Come on, get up!" 

Pablo jumped up, kicked at him, Luke grabbed his foot and pulled on it, causing Pablo to lose his balance. He quickly caught himself again, jumped up and rammed his foot into Luke's head.

He cried out in pain and landed on the floor with a crash. Luke was still holding his foot. 

Luke grinned, looking at the foot, which was bloody. He let go of the other one, walked around him, grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up. 

Pablo rammed his elbows and fists into his face, making him scream and bleed.

"What's going on Pablo? Hm!"

He came closer to his face.

" Do you know why you lost? " No ? Because you're weak, Pablo. " 

"Fuck you, old man." 

Luke grinned, carried him to Jeremy and dropped him in one fell swoop.

" Got what's junk?"

Jeremy looked at him, irritated. 

"Uh, yeah, wait." 

He hurried to the back and pulled out an old fighting dummy. Luke looked at him, looked at Pablo. 

"You're weak Pablo and I didn't even attack." 

He put his hand on the dummy's head and pulled it away from the rest of the body.

" I don't want to break the walls, so I'll let the dummy suffer."

"You're a psycho!" came from Pablo. 

Luke looked at him.

" Well " he looked at the head.

" Pablo if I was a psycho I would have killed you. I don't care that you're Jeremy's student, I don't care that you're a rising star. "

He walked up to him, changed into his starting form and crouched in front of him.

" Pablo, what did they tell you about me, huh?" 

" Nothing old man. "

Luke grinned. 

"Well, nothing... I was title holder in the Asia district. Then the Americas district, Africa, Middle East, the army sent me to every tournament they could find. Participated in illegal underground tournaments." 

He put his head on the ground in front of him. Looked at Pablo.

"How old are you?"

" 25.. "

" Title?"

" District champion." 

"Oha, Jeremy would have been regional champion at that age if that idiot hadn't beaten him like that back then." 

He tapped Pablo on the back of the neck.

"He could read you the rounds, come to think of it."

He stood up, walked over to Jeremy and wordlessly patted his back.

"Luke? What?" came from him. 

"Has it got worse, can you still feel anything in your hands?" 

"No." came from him.

Luke grabbed him by the back of the neck and kicked him gently in the hollow of the knee, causing him to lose weight immediately. There was a wet crack, panic in Jeremy's eyes. Luke grabbed his arm, pulled on it, did it on the other side, pulling and pushing on his spine. Each time it cracked. He had him in a chokehold.

"Now it's going to hurt!"

Jeremy looked even more panicked.

Luke pulled, it cracked loudly. He let go and Jeremy knelt down.

Uthe looked at him in panic.

"What did you do?" 

Luke looked at his watch.

" I adjusted something on him. "

He looked from the watch to Jeremy pressed in several places on his neck and spine, causing Jeremy to gasp and open his eyes, looking at his hands.

"What ... "

Luke dodged with one foot, grabbed him and swung the attacker to the side, sending him rolling across the mats. To his surprise, it was Jeremy and Uthe's daughter. She jumped up like a cat and looked at him angrily.

"What have you done to my father?" she hissed. 

He looked at his watch, she attacked, he dodged her attacks, pressing several points on Jeremy's back.

"Leave mine," she hissed, attacking even harder. He flicked her forehead, causing her to cry out in pain.

Luke turned his attention to Jeremy, pressing the last points into his neck.

He felt a sting in his side.

"I got you, asshole," came from Jeremy's daughter. Everyone looked at him, even more shocked than before. Luke lowered his eyes. A Kikamura combat knife protruded from the side of his chest.

He grabbed her hard by the throat and lifted her up. 

"Ha, an ex-Kikamura op," she tried to get free. He pulled out the knife and looked at her. 

"Why don't you die? I did ..." 

He looked at her, pushed her head to the side with his thumbs, looked at a scar on her jaw. Grinned, then tossed her next to Jeremy, who slowly came to. Looked at Pablo.

"Even she's better than you, Pablo, much better."

He raised the knife.

" These are only given to people who meet the tests and qualifications of the Kikamura group. " 

"It's just a bloody letter opener," came from Pablo.

Luke looked at him.

"Pablo, in the corporate world, every corporation has its quirks. The Rödinger corporation, which only uses women as ops, the Teranan corporation, Elektrogimmik, etc etc. Kikamura, their boardroom is obsessed with the code of honor, you're expected to die an honorable death if you fail or if someone chops off your head. This one." 

He waved the knife.

"It's a status symbol in the Group, the higher you get, the nicer it is. In the Ops, the better you are, the more gimmicks you learn from this thing."

"How do you know so much about it?" came from Uthe.

Luke grinned. 

He pressed on an indentation and the blade extended into a sword, pressed on the indentation again and the blade retracted.

"Uthe, I've infiltrated and spied on so many corporations. " He stood up.

"Jeremy, how long are you going to sit here?" 

The man addressed looked at him.

"What did you do, they said..."

"Oh, they'll give you a long explanation if you go to them. In short, I've corrected your neck and back. That means you can sleep with your wife again."

He looked at him, confused.

Luke pressed the knife into Uthe's daughter's hand. 

"And yes, you can fight again too." 

He went to his things and grabbed the bundle.

" Wait, what was that trick you did earlier?" Jeremy asked, standing up.

" Trick?"

" Yeah, that you looked so different." 

" Oh that. Well the old government genetically modified their op. That's my gimic for infiltration, no chips, no collars, no bracelets etc.... "

He turned into Pablo, walking towards the group.

"And I was very, very successful at something like that," he changed into the look of Uthe, his daughter, his father.

"I," he sneezed again and was in his original form, rubbing his nose. 

"Wuhh, I need a fag." 

He turned towards the exit.

" Then what's the look? " came from Uthe. 

Luke looked at her, looked at his hand. Sighed. 

"That's me, Uthe, with all the scars that have accumulated in my life. "

He put his head on one side, it cracked rotten. 

"If that's how you look, why do you have a different eye color and teeth so white? Huh? "

"What was your security level?" 

Uthe's daughter blinked at him.

" Mine? " 

Kept looking at him. Teheen jumped him from behind again and stroked his hair. 

"Why don't you tell them?" she began. 

"Tell them what?" came from Uthe.

Teheen grinned, tapping a scar on his face with her finger.

"Aliens, he has it here because he was chasing a criminal and got liquid crystals on his face. That's why. His eyes and teeth are like that. "

" Liquid crystals... Like in the new screens? " 

" yes those "

She scratched his head.

" They're harmless, the poisonous ones. They're sold to those who can tolerate them."

"I see, and how do you know that?" 

Teheen smiled, she pressed something on her bracelet and everyone except Uthe, his father and Uthe's daughter froze. Then she changed into her alien form, her skin was red.

"Because I'm an alien, just like that."

She cuddled his head with four hands.

" Uhh, they're even fluffier in that form. "

Everyone except Luke's father stared at her in bewilderment, then at him.

"What?"

"Doesn't that bother you?"

" What should bother me? Just because she looks like that? Guys, eventually aliens are going to walk around here, go shopping, live here. "

Teheen pressed her face into Luke's face.

"Your father is really very lieberal."

" Yes, until he's on stage taking money out of everyone's pockets." 

Utheen's daughter stood up.

" But ... on the moon was always just Earl and his and the amphibian ..."

"That's the trade alliance you're trading with, and the Amphibian is the leader assigned there."

"And how is that possible, with the changing appearance?"

She tapped her fingers on her head.

"The technology, from what I've heard from your Ai here, you use something like this for the military. If there are planets, there's something like this as entertainment technology, then illegally rewrite the genetic code completely with the target code and this."

She tapped him.

"Can be done, there aren't many species that can do that. There might be one or two, but it's limited and then there's a creature that doesn't care. "

"What do you mean, it doesn't care?"

" Like I say, it can turn into anything without the scanner noticing. "

Luke sighed, wanting a smoke.

Teheen shifted into human form, got off him, pressed the button on his wrist and the solidified woke up. They looked around in confusion. 

"Dad, if you've got nothing left, then let's go. Can you drive us?"

"Sure."

" See you around," came from Luke. He shuffled towards the exit.

His father drove him home, got out, fell asleep. Put his things in the bedroom, changed his clothes. Fished a syringe out of his handbag. Which he rammed into his side. Activated, pulled and took a deep breath.

"So the girl didn't miss after all?" Teen said, looking at him.

"Yep. She hit it dead on."

"Then why are you still standing if she hit you dead on?" 

He grinned.

"The emergency implant kicked in. "

"Uh-huh." She looked worriedly at the stab wound.

"Then why didn't you put up a fight?"

" I was too busy with my back."

" I saw that, especially that you were looking at your watch so often, what were you doing with that?"

He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her.

"Like I told you before. I fixed his back and to keep his nerves from going haywire, I had to do it in sequences or he'd just be in pain."

Teheen stood in front of him, grinning.

"So in short, you're defenceless now, yeah?"

" Sort of... why?"

" Just enjoy it."

Unfortunately for him, she gobbled him up only to disappear in a good mood. Ned came shortly after, taking advantage of it too. Which only drained him even more. 

At some point he woke up in pain, not the usual kind. He was already struggling to sit up and breathe. He needed a doctor and struggled to get dressed. He dragged himself to the moon in pain, dragged himself to the transport ship. He was about to board when Nad held him.

"Where are you going? " 

Luke looked at her, she looked at him worriedly.

"Something's wrong with you."

He nodded.

"I'm going to the infirmary in the Benulda sector. "

" I can tell you about trade too."

" I don't want to make a big deal of it, I'll tell them to let you know if anything is wrong."

He climbed in, programmed the course and started the machine on autopilot.