Guideliner Jacinto Lerse does not have telekinesis so much as he is
telekinesis, or at least a form of it. It is so far unclear what he’s going
to do for Mateo’s problem, but he and Intentioner Senona Riggur were
confident that this would fix it. He wasn’t even the first person that
Senona reached out to. There is evidently this whole subculture of empowered
immortals who are busy doing their things across the bulk, similar to the
network of choosing ones in salmonverse, but on a far grander scale. They
are reportedly from the same universe, having the occasion to work together
over the aeons. Based on what Leona told them, they have realized that she
has actually been to their brane before, though at a much, much, much later
point in its timeline than their respective origins.
Jacinto uses his abilities to carry Cheyenne back to the Olimpia, easily
ignoring the protests from Zacarias’ soldiers, until the Coronel gives them
new orders anyway. They spend one more night on the base, so she can
recuperate without traveling. When they get back to the craft, Leona shakes
hands with Zacarias, agreeing to keep the discovery of the Nexus a secret.
They’re going to tell the rest of the team, but he doesn’t need to know
that. Jacinto tells them that they don’t even have to bother turning the
vehicle on. He lifts the entire thing into the air with his mind, opens the
ceiling up, and flies them over the ocean, back to Kansas City, as if it
were nothing more difficult than blowing a mote of dust away.
Once they arrive at the Lofts, their new friend parks the Olimpia in the
basement garage. They take the elevator upstairs, expecting to find Mateo in
their apartment, the third floor common area, or maybe Marie’s unit.
Cheyenne and Bridgette stay up there while Leona takes Jacinto down to the
first floor where Alyssa is operating reception. She is presently on a call,
so they have to wait until she’s finished with the client. It sounds very
important and promising. “You’re back.”
“We’re back,” Leona echoes.
“Was it a fruitful trip?” Alyssa asks, snickering for some reason.
“We’ll see,” Leona replies. “Do you know where he is?”
She rolls her eyes, but quickly tries to backpedal with an awkward blink
when she starts to worry that the man’s wife won’t be super okay with that.
“He’s on the roof.”
“Alone?”
“He’s never alone,” she assures her.
They get back on the elevator, and head all the way up. Marie is sitting in
a folding chair that is holding the door to the outside open. She looks
displeased and fatigued, but not angry. “What’s going on?” Leona asks.
“I’ll let him explain in his own words,” Marie answers. She slaps both of
her thighs with finality, and stands up. “My shift is over.” She steps into
the elevator before the doors close.
Leona leads Jacinto onto the roof where they can see Mateo several meters
away. He’s sitting alone in his underwear and one of his vests, a variety
bowl of citrus fruit on the table next to him, and he’s covered in juice.
Before he notices that they’re even there, he picks up another lemon, and
lets it explode all over the place. He glances over his shoulder as they’re
giving him a berth. “Oh, hey, you’re back.”
“Looks like you went a little crazy, huh?” Leona asks in a patronizing tone.
“Well, when you can make lemon grenades, how could you not go a little mad?”
He spots Jacinto. “Hey, stranger, think fast.” He grabs an orange, and tries
to throw it.”
The orange stops in midair, and hangs there. Before the technicolor bulk
energy can spread all around, Jacinto uses her power to recede it, and make
it disappear. He then telekinetically peels the fruit, brings it up to his
mouth, and bites into it. “Too sweet,” he muses.
Mateo is impressed, but not excited, because he hasn’t figured out yet that
this is the reason why Jacinto is here. “Cool trick, bro.”
“Do you want to control your new gift, or do you just wanna...stew?”
Mateo grabs a lime, and throws it as high as he can before it too explodes.
“I dunno, this is kind of fun.”
Jacinto gives Leona a moderately frustrated look. “I can do nothing without
his consent. I’m a diplomat.”
“What exactly can you do?” Leona asks him. “Maybe that will help him agree.”
“I can give people abilities,” Jacinto begins. “And I can restrict them at
will. He’ll have a special form of telekinesis called parakinesis. He’ll
still have to use his hands, and he’ll only be able to exert as much force
as his muscles will allow, but he won’t technically be touching anything.
All I need to know is the imminent value, which is—”
“The point at which two objects are close enough to interact, I understand.
How would you test that?”
Jacinto holds his palms upward. “With my hands. Stand up,” he requests.
Leona sighs when Mateo just looks at her without doing anything. “At the
very least, you’re being rude by remaining seated in the presence of
company. Stand up!”
Mateo stands, and looks down at Jacinto’s hands. “I don’t know what happens
to the things that I touch, but I’m pretty sure it works on people.”
“Yes, I would also like to know where these objects go, so we’re going to
feed two birds with one worm.” He looks between them. “You don’t have that
metaphor here?”
“I thought I made it up,” Leona says.
Jacinto shrugs. “Maybe you did.” He faces Mateo. “Come on. You can’t kill
me, and I can always come right back here, a second later from your
perspective.”
“Okay.” Mateo decides to take a chance. He places his own hands upon
Jacinto’s.
“Oh, that’s pretty close,” Jacinto notes as the technicolor energy is
spreading over his body. As soon as he disappears, he opens the door from
the elevator bay, and comes back to them. “All right. You are sending objects
to another universe, and they all appear to be showing
up intact. I thought you might want this back, though.” He hands Leona her
fusion work, which was one of the first things Mateo transported. It’s good
that it’s safe and sound again, out of potentially dangerous hands.
“What happens now?” Mateo asks.
“It’s done.” Jacinto shrugs again. “Pick up another fruit.”
Mateo carefully removes the last grapefruit from the bowl. Nothing happens,
it just stays there in his hand. Or rather, it doesn’t. He’s technically not
touching anything.
“Would he...theoretically...?”
“Be able to temporarily disable the TK, in case he needs to get rid of
something? It could lead to some questionable ethical territory, but you did
wish for that, didn’t you? ’Kay, high ten, bruh!” Technicolor energy spreads
over him once again after Mateo slaps his hands. “Peter Parker’s uncle and
all that! You have heard of Spiderman, ri—?”
