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  He began to do much more than simply telling his legs to swing and arms to pull. His thoughts had even gone beyond expand and contract. He now began to function on a different level. Daniel was lost in his neural impulses. He was controlling his actions through basic ones and zeroes rather than commands typed out in words on the screen. His consciousness had traveled to the part of his brain that held the very root of his existence.

  He continuously analyzed and adjusted, programming his internal organs while on the outside his body climbed higher and higher on the ladder.

  He felt soreness and burning somewhere within him. The pain was there, but it didn’t matter to him. What he was doing – all those hormones – all that oxygen – it felt so good.

  Then, suddenly, it all stopped. He was no longer climbing.

  Then, a fragment of his conscious mind managed to sneak its way back to his frontal lobe, reminding him of the functions that had been voluntary to him since birth, such as eyesight.

  He began shaking his head, trying to figure out what was happening to him, as though he were a blind man who had just been given the gift of sight.

  His conscious mind finally came back to him, and he became aware of his surroundings.

  He looked down. He must have been at least fifty feet off the ground.

  Then he looked up, and there was nothing but ceiling above him. It took nearly a full minute before Daniel’s mind finally began to comprehend the situation.

  He had made it to the top of the ladder.

  He glanced forward and noticed a platform in front of him, with a traditional ladder extending down to the floor. He swung forward – consciously this time – and steadied himself onto the platform. He leaned forward with one hand on one side of the tower for support, and pulled off the metal crossbar.

  Somewhere within him he had known what was occurring all along, and the overwhelming excitement and joy emulating from that part of him suddenly began to spread to the rest of his mind, causing him to chuck the bar across the room and let out an passionate scream.

  “Whoo!” He shouted.

  “Yeah!” He heard from below him.

  Down on the floor his onlookers were now cheering and applauding him, absolutely amazed by what Daniel had just been able to accomplish.

  He quickly began making his way down the ladder to them, the overwhelming excitement now starting to sink in as his consciousness settled back into his frontal lobe where it belonged. He was so excited that he skipped the last ten steps and jumped down to greet his supporters as they ran over to the tower.

  “Ho-lee shit Son!” Charlie yelled as he threw his arms around Daniel.

  “Unbelievable,” Shifty said, opting for a high-five/handshake instead.

  Daniel couldn’t say anything, but he felt the enormous smile presently spread across his entire face.

  “Dude,” Charlie said, placing his hand on Daniel’s chest, “your heart is racing.”

  “Oh shit,” Daniel blurted, realizing that he hadn’t brought himself back down after the super-pump he had just experienced. No wonder he felt so amped up.

  He quickly told his brain to shut down his added neural pathways, and it did so all at once, causing him to go from god to mortal in an instant.

  He suddenly collapsed onto the floor. Charlie and Shifty were there to catch him.

  “Gradual Daniel! Gradual!” Horchoff shouted as he rushed to his side. “How many times have I told you, you can’t just cut it off like that. Especially after something as intense as what you just went through!”

  “Right,” Daniel said sheepishly as he reopened his pathways and started pumping himself up again, only with far less intensity.

  “All of those chemicals pouring out of your brain – it’s like a drug. You have to wean yourself off of it or your body could shut down entirely.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” an unfamiliar voice said from the back. Daniel looked over to see Jitters standing behind the rest of the group, and he looked pissed.

  “This motherfucker’s on drugs?” Jitters demanded.

  “No, Emanuel,” Horchoff explained. “He creates it all within himself – naturally.”

  “Man, whatever,” Jitters countered, clearly unsatisfied. “This is all bullshit. This punk-ass white boy comes in here all pussied out and shit, and now he’s Captain America? Somethin’ ain’t right here homie.”

  “Why don’t you go get something to eat, Manny,” Richfield said, cutting the feisty Latin man off before he could go any further.

  Without a word Jitters turned and made his way out of the room.

  “I leave for a week and you turn into a superhero?” Norma asked Daniel. She was a welcome distraction from the ruckus Jitters had just caused.

  Daniel looked up at her from where he still sat on the floor and grinned.

  “I’m about to hit the showers if you’re interested,” Daniel said.

  He expected her to blush at the comment, but Norma instead responded with an amused smirk and an eye-roll.

  “You’ll have to excuse him,” Horchoff chimed in. “He has quite a large amount of testosterone and other hormones running through him right now. It might make him a little…aggressive.”

  Daniel stared at the doctor as his jaw dropped to the floor. There was no reason for him to understand the inside joke between Daniel and Norma, but really?

  Then Daniel looked at Norma. The challenge of climbing up the Pipe Ladder had actually used up most of that testosterone, and in its own strange way had satisfied his “needs.”

  But she did look really good.

  “Alright, Super Boy,” Charlie spoke up, “let’s get you up.”

  With help from Charlie and Shifty, Daniel got back up to his feet. He felt ten-feet tall.

  Richfield walked up to him with his hand extended.

  “Daniel,” he said, patting him on the shoulder with one hand as Daniel grabbed the other to shake it.

  Richfield stood silent a moment. He turned his head to the side, glancing off into nowhere in search of the words he wanted to use next. He appeared to fight back a child-like grin as he bit his lower lip and began shaking his head.

  “That was something,” Richfield said, finally completing his thought as he waved a finger at Daniel and turned to walk away.

  The rest of the group turned to follow when Blank moved over to Daniel.

  “Danny Boy,” he said with excitement, a big smile on his face, “I’m so proud of you.”

  That statement right there – “I’m so proud of you” – coming from Blank that meant everything in the world to Daniel, and he wasn’t even sure why.

  “You really did it, kid,” Blank added. And then he turned and walked off with the rest.

  Daniel turned to glance at the obstacle course one more time before leaving this moment behind and moving on to the next.

  He had really done it. His name would now be uttered in the same sentence as Tyrus Jones, the number one agent at Elite.

  For now.

  Chapter 13

  It was frighteningly obvious that the news of Daniel’s triumph was spreading like wildfire throughout the complex. In the time it took him to take a shower and have lunch, he was greeted with at least a dozen congratulations and maybe twice as many confused stares from agents who couldn’t understand how this nobody who walked in off the streets just over four weeks ago had somehow completed the obstacle course in his first try.

  It was just too bad that Titan was away on a job. Daniel would have loved to have seen his reaction to the news.

  Then again, maybe not.

  Daniel hadn’t the slightest clue where Charlie, Shifty and Norma had disappeared to after the course, so he ate lunch by himself before having to meet with Doctor Horchoff for a “debriefing.” It was the first time in a long time Daniel remembered actually being anxious to meet with the good doctor, as he had a lot of questions and concerns about what had happened to him out on the obstacle course. Hopefully the doctor could give him so
me reassurance, through the use of medical terms that Daniel didn’t understand, that there was no reason for him to worry.

  “Well Daniel, I think you’ve successfully proven to everyone that you are capable of pretty much anything. Mister Richfield is extremely satisfied,” Horchoff told Daniel.

  “Yeah, well, it’s good to know that my risks paid off,” Daniel responded.

  “So how much effort did you have to put in to do what you did? That is, mental effort outside of your abilities. How difficult was it for you to complete?” Horchoff asked, trying to frame his question properly so that Daniel understood what he was asking.

  Daniel knew what he was getting at.

  “Quite a bit,” he responded. “Even with my abilities, on a mental and physical level it was probably one of the toughest things I’ve ever done.”

  “Good,” Horchoff responded, seemingly satisfied with Daniel’s answer. “In order to reach your full potential, there needs to be an element of mental toughness. It will allow you to dig deeper within yourself. The belief that you can push yourself over any hurdle is the key to making it possible.”

  Daniel nodded in agreeance, but there was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm on his face as he couldn’t stop thinking about that feeling of invincibility he had felt while making his way through the course.

  “Is there something that happened out there that you’d like to talk about?” Horchoff inquired, reading the expression on Daniel’s face.

  Daniel sat back in his chair and paused a moment, gathering his thoughts and planning out his response before speaking.

  “I’m just thinking about what you said afterward, about the adrenaline and hormones acting like a drug,” Daniel finally spoke up.

  Horchoff stood up from the table he had been leaning on, and began to pace while he pondered.

  “Do you find yourself craving that sensation again?” He asked.

  “No, not yet – or…not anymore really,” Daniel tried to explain. “At the time – when I was pumping more and more blood and adrenaline and testosterone and whatever else through me – more than I ever had before – I really enjoyed the feeling. I mean, I loved it.”

  “You found it euphoric, you mean?” Horchoff cut in.

  “Yes!” Daniel said almost too eagerly. “It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever felt. I wanted more and more. I couldn’t control myself.”

  Daniel thought he saw Horchoff chuckle a bit under his breath.

  “This is not uncommon,” Horchoff explained. “The release of those chemicals in your body has a positive effect on the pleasure centers of your brain. All muscle builders experience the same euphoric sensation when they lift. They refer to it as ‘the pump.’ It is also not unlike a runner referring to the ‘runner’s high.’”

  Daniel exhaled aggressively and nodded his head to signify that he was satisfied with Horchoff’s response. He had heard of the term “runners high,” and had also known that about body builders as well. He had even laughed over a video of Arnold Schwarzenegger once with co-workers, where Arnold compared the sensation to sex.

  “Although I would assume that you experienced this with far greater intensity than most, given that you yourself were in control the levels of chemicals being released into your bloodstream, and also given the fact that you had never experienced anything like it before,” Horchoff added.

  “It must take a great deal of will-power to ‘shut it down,’ so to speak, which goes back to the mental aspect I was referring to. It is imperative that you possess extraordinary mental toughness to be able to control your abilities, which is exactly why Mister Blank chose you. He saw that in you.”

  Daniel blushed at the statement. He had never received so much flattery in one day. It was the first time since the end of his romantic relationship with Jordan that he truly felt “special.”

  “I wouldn’t start worrying about that until you are unable to bring yourself down from it,” Horchoff continued. “If you find yourself needing to feel ‘juiced’ constantly throughout the day for no reason, then we will consider it a threat to your well-being. You wouldn’t consider there to be a problem if you found yourself enjoying sex, would you?”

  Daniel laughed. The man had a point.

  “I think the feeling of invincibility also scared me a little bit,” Daniel added without even meaning to. It seemed to just spill out of his mouth without even first coming across his mind.

  This time Horchoff didn’t bother with any medical explanations.

  “The feeling of invincibility is quite of essential to the success of the mission,” he said. “You think these guys who were black-ops went out on their missions afraid of being killed? No. They went out there knowing that the rest of their team had their back, and that their skills were going to get them through. Failure and death was never even a thought for them. Success and survival were the only options.”

  Daniel nodded as a relieved grin formed on his face. He believed in what Horchoff was telling him, and he appreciated it.

  “Again,” Horchoff repeated, “it’s all about mental toughness.”

  Then Horchoff turned around to reach for something on his desk – probably a lesson plan that he had put together for their meeting that day.

  “There is one more thing…” Daniel spoke with hesitation.

  “Yes?” Horchoff asked, clearly suspicious.

  “When I was on the pipe-ladder…I sort-of blacked out.”

  Horchoff turned around and leaned back against the table, folding his hands in front of him. Daniel had clearly gained his attention.

  “What do you mean?” Horchoff asked with an interrogative tone. “Like you don’t remember it?”

  “Well,” Daniel paused, searching for the words to properly explain himself, “not in the traditional sense.”

  Daniel went on to explain what had happened to him on the tenth stage of the course, while Horchoff listened very intently, trying to follow along. Daniel tried to explain to him how he hadn’t actually seen or felt himself move up the ladder, but remembered being deep inside his brain, directing his body on how to function so that he could make the climb.

  “It was like being a submarine captain,” he said. “I couldn’t see or feel where I was going, but I commanded the movements of the sub by telling the crew what to do. Only I was so wrapped up in giving orders, I had completely forgotten what my objective was.”

  Daniel cringed as he looked up at Horchoff, wondering if his explanation had made any sense.

  “That’s actually a pretty good analogy,” Horchoff finally spoke, his hand now on his chin as he sifted through Daniel’s description of his experience.

  “Was your sight gone completely?” He asked in search of more details. “Was it as if you had removed your connection to the part of your brain that interprets sight and directed it elsewhere?”

  “I’m not really sure,” Daniel answered. “I could have been able to see where I was going – I feel like I would have had to in order to make the climb, but I have no recollection of it.”

  “It was like you had a crewman assigned to sonar, whose job it was to let you know of your location,” Horchoff said, sticking with Daniel’s sub-marine analogy.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Daniel said unsure of himself. “Everything did just stop once I reached the top.”

  Horchoff stood silently for a few seconds before offering his final theory.

  “It stands to reason, I suppose,” he said. “Your mind wasn’t designed to focus on so many tasks at once. Rather than overextend itself, you put the majority of your focus on your internal signals, leaving the parts of your brain that your mind traditionally focuses on to run on autopilot.”

  “It was scary,” Daniel blurted.

  Horchoff nodded. “I would imagine so,” he said. “Especially being that it could very well be the first time any human has ever experienced such a thing.”

  Daniel was taken aback by that statement. First human to ever experience such a thi
ng. He had spent a lot of time building himself up in his mind as “the only human able to,” but now that he was actually doing those things that no one else on Earth could relate to, he felt less special, and more different. Not to mention alone.

  “I would just refrain from using such extreme measures unless absolutely necessary. As with anything,” Horchoff said, putting an end to the conversation.

  Daniel agreed.

  Daniel spent the next two weeks continuing with his physical training. To his relief, he was not made to do obstacle course again in that time, much to the chagrin of Jitters, who insisted that Daniel’s first time through was a fluke.

  “Manny, you can’t finish all ten obstacles on a fucking ‘fluke!’” Charlie kept yelling at him, defending Daniel’s accomplishment to the end.

  Daniel appreciated his friend sticking up for him, though if Richfield or Robby had formally asked him to run the course again, he would not have hesitated. He was fairly confident that he would have done whatever it took to complete it again, not only to shove it in Jitters’ face but also to uphold his now heightened reputation.

  But for now he was entirely satisfied to let the legend of his first attempt stand tall.

  The next two weeks were unbearably routine. Daniel spent his days working out with Robby and conversing with Doctor Horchoff, and his evenings in the bar with Charlie, Shifty, and Norma, who had joined their little crew as well.

  Daniel liked Norma a lot. She exuded confidence. He had never met a woman who was so secure in herself. And she was fun too. She got a lot of shit from the male agents for being a woman, but she was always quick with a comeback and never let it faze her. Norma was the first woman Daniel had felt genuinely drawn to since Jordan, which only built her up further in his eyes. She was someone who could help complete his movement away from Jordan – something he sorely needed.

  One thing Daniel learned quickly however, was that he was never the only man in the room with an interest in Norma.

  “She sure is something,” Charlie said one night, as he watched he walk over to the bar for another round.