"Chi is like a Newtonian common factor—an extension of our own body. It allows us to calculate plans, strategize, and stop our enemies. You'll have to understand this for the assignment I'm giving you today, which is due next week," said my math professor, speaking into his microphone during our virtual university class.
After that, he posted the assignment for the following week, explaining that we had to solve Newtonian common factor exercises related to chi. As the class ended, everyone began to say their goodbyes, including me:
"Bye, Professor," said Steven.
"Goodbye, Professor," said Darwin.
"See you, Professor," added Francini.
Finally, I said, "Goodbye, Professor. I'm still a bit confused about the assignment, but thank you so much," as I left the meeting.
"Thanks, everyone, for your attention," my math professor said as he closed the Teams meeting.
After class, I said to myself, "So chi is an extension of my own body? That's interesting... and confusing. But I'll think more about it after lunch."
I shut down my turquoise laptop and headed to eat. While I was having lunch, I told my grandpa that I needed to meet with that woman again because I didn't quite understand the professor's assignment. He told me she was free and I could go at 3:40 without a problem, so I agreed. After lunch, I went to my room to meditate—especially after everything that had happened a week ago.
While meditating, I started researching more about the threads of love and destiny and said:
"Wow, meditation really does help me find stuff about love threads and destiny on Google. Looks like there are four of them... one was destroyed in the Alley of the Kiss during colonial times, and another is located in Europe. That one's the most dangerous of all."
Suddenly, Jolie appeared flying into my room and startled me.
"Índigo!!" she said, surprising me.
"Jolie, don't scare me like that!" I shouted, totally startled. "Aren't you supposed to get off work at 2:00 every day?"
"Sorry, I was just really happy about how my day at work went. Also, I got off early today because there's a Kill Bill–themed party at my job later tonight. So, what were you looking up online?" Jolie said as she sat in the chair by my desk.
"Oh, nothing. Just some interesting stuff about those threads Putin and the rest of the dictators are after. I've also been meditating to manage my anxiety after what happened last week at the Marco Picado studio," I told her, trying to keep my cool.
"That's actually really interesting," she said with a calmer tone. "But don't forget, we've only got four days left before we stop the massacre that the old mustached freak Daniel Ortega is planning. And also, don't beat yourself up for what happened last week. You couldn't control your anxiety, and that's okay—there was too much pressure on you."
"Yeah, we've gotta stay ready. In fact, today at three I'm going to meet someone who can help me understand how chi really works as an extension of our body. You seem to be getting the hang of it, Aztec goddess. How's that going?" I said, lowering my head as I looked at her.
"Pretty great, actually. It's been rough, but with these super cool powers, I feel stronger than ever—omnibooty-level strong!" she said, jokingly referencing Invincible.
"But jokes aside, why do you need to go to someone else for help? Didn't my grandpa train you really well?" Jolie said, clenching her fists.
"It's not just that. I want to improve a few things about myself, especially after what happened last week. Plus, I need help with some of my university work," I explained, gesturing with my hand.
"Got it. If you want to learn more about your chi with an instructor, that's totally fine. And stop blaming yourself for everything—you've got to learn from your mistakes if you want to grow as a person," Jolie said, giving me a key piece of advice I'd carry with me.
"Thanks, Jolie. You really are great at cheering up autistic brown dudes like me," I said with a small smile. "But now I'm curious—why didn't you mention your uncle Elías? I saw you talking to him when we were in Tampico."
"Don't thank me, Índigo. I'm just like that with the people I care about. As for my uncle, I didn't mention him because he's been busy working as a voice actor. That's the answer you wanted, right? And don't even think about bringing up the Dubbing Mafia, you bastard," Jolie said, slightly annoyed, pointing her finger at me.
"Hey, I wasn't gonna say anything! But this conversation is getting long, so we better wait these two hours out."
So we waited the two hours—Jolie to go to her Kill Bill–themed party, and me to head off to meet that woman. Once time passed, we said our goodbyes:
"Bye, Índigo. Good luck with your new training," Jolie said, about to fly off.
"Same to you, Jolie. I just hope that outfit doesn't make you as useless as that Asian chick from Family Guy's Kill Bill parody when someone hits you too hard," I said, waving goodbye and teasing her a little.
"Ugh, already with your nonsense! That's not gonna happen, Índigo. Unlike that Chinese girl, I actually have combat experience. Anyway, bye-bye!" Jolie said, still annoyed but staying calm.
"Yeah, bye-bye," I said, waving again as she flew off.
I said, waving goodbye again.
After that, we each went to our respective destinations—Jolie flew off shouting, "By the power of Quetzalcóatl!", while I walked on foot this time, leaving my anti-gravity motorcycle behind for the second time.
After walking for about 10 minutes, I arrived at the woman's house. As she opened the door, she greeted me:
"I can see you've come with some doubts, Índigo. Let me guess—math problems, right?" she asked as I entered.
"Yeah, it's a new topic I can't seem to understand," I said as I walked inside.
Inside the house, I saw a little boy who recognized me and shouted that I was The Autistic Technopath, which I completely denied before his father took him away. The woman then said:
"I don't understand why you hate that nickname so much, Índigo. You and your partner literally defeated Donald Trump."
She looked at me a bit concerned, and I replied:
"It's complicated... besides, the suit I wore in that battle got damaged when Jolie and I fought Trump—especially when he made us fall off my anti-gravity bike."
I placed my hand on my chest, to which she said:
"Alright, if it bothers you, I won't call you that. But let's get back to it. What part of math don't you get?"
"What I don't understand is how chi is a Newtonian common factor," I said, opening my notebook and showing her.
She replied:
"That can be explained by the idea that chi is an extension of your own body. You go through a set of steps to unlock more potential—not just the basics—using it in clever and practical ways."
She pointed toward her face while explaining it.
"Ah, so that's it... sometimes I feel like I never had the patience to unlock those abilities. I just focused on cybernetic barriers and tech stuff," I said, starting to get it.
"I don't know... could you explain that more in-depth during these two hours so I can understand my chi better?" I asked nervously, fiddling with my fingers.
"No problem. If you learn that, it could help with your math assignment and your fight against Daniel Ortega," she said as she guided me to sit down.
Meanwhile, at the Juan Santamaría Airport, around the same time:
"I'll be right back, I'm just going to grab the drinks. Won't take long," said Jolie, leaving a lounge area.
One of her coworkers called out:
"Alright—and make sure they're the best, Jolie! You were amazing taking down that minotaur girl with the help of that scrawny dude."
Jolie replied:
"Yeah, everyone keeps saying that, but I don't think I deserve the credit. I only did it to save my dear friend."
Suddenly, a sonic wave blasted her into a wall a few meters from the airport, making her nose bleed.
"Shit—my ears! Who the fuck did this?!" Jolie shouted as she stood back up.
"Don't even try to resist, girly. We've got orders from Nicaragua's dictator, Daniel Ortega. I'm Azucena, and my partners Monserrat and Nycolle are here to end your life, Jolie María Ávila," said Azucena as the other two appeared in combat stance.
"So it was that damn pedophile Ortega who sent these three dumbass bitches to kill me, huh? Fine then—if it's a fight to the death you want, you'll get one, you whores!" Jolie yelled, tying her hair up in a high ponytail.
She transformed using her chi, shouting, "By the Power of Quetzalcóatl—Transform!" Her body glowed and changed slightly.
"Alright, she transformed—now to suffocate her with my force fields," said Nycolle, turning invisible.
"I don't think this is a good idea, girls... but I don't want that mustached freak to hurt my mom, so I've got no choice," said Monserrat as she began crafting projectile origami, all three of them now ready to attack Jolie.
Back at the house near Llanos de Santa Lucía:
"Alright, to dive deeper into the topic, you have to understand—your chi isn't just a power. It flows with your body, based on the movements you make," the woman said, writing that down in my notebook.
"And what do I start with?" I asked, scratching my head in confusion.
"Try controlling and throwing that toaster behind you. Let your body flow with the movement," she said, pointing to the shelf.
"I don't know if I can do it... I'm nervous. I could hurt you," I said, looking at her with fear.
"Hey, that's not going to happen. Don't be scared—people who want to learn this kind of thing often feel this way at first. Just relax and go for it," she said, placing her hands on my shoulders.
"Alright... I'll try," I said, still uneasy.
Then I took a deep breath through my nose to calm myself. I started moving my hands to control the toaster, and suddenly, I could feel it like an extension of my body—not just some tool or power. I could shape it however I wanted.
After testing it a bit, I launched it toward her, and she caught it with great strength.
"Wow, I can't believe I pulled that off—it felt amazing!" I said, surprised, fists clenched with excitement.
"That's the spirit, Índigo! If you keep practicing, you'll improve it even more. But let's try with more appliances," she said, placing the toaster down.
"Alright, I'm in! No problem!" I said, getting ready for more training.
Back at Juan Santamaría Airport:
"I can't believe this trio of girls is really beating me up!"
"Why do they want to kill me if I didn't do anything to them?" Jolie said, bleeding from her wounds as she threw chains of rocks at them and started kicking. Nycolle said to her:
"We don't owe you any explanations, you miserable woman."
"I still don't understand why you're helping Índigo if that idiot gives such annoying advice about improving and all that," said Nycolle, invisible, as she hit Jolie from behind, making her bleed even more than at the start of the fight.
My friend, hurt, said:
"Hey, stop badmouthing him. He just wanted to give you advice to help, as a kindness."
Jolie continued launching lightning and air projectiles, damaging Monserrat's suit a bit. Monserrat teleported and kicked Jolie, breaking her invisibility and hitting her arm. But she also hit Azucena, tearing her brown pants and causing her to bleed on her leg.
Monserrat, trying to support Nycolle, said:
"She's right, Monge. Maybe Índigo has been foolish sometimes, but he's proven to be a good person."
Nycolle, very angry, said:
"I don't care at all! I'm going to suffocate that idiot with my force fields!" She prepared a strong force field to throw at Jolie.
Inside that circle, Jolie said:
"Hey, I can't breathe! What the heck are you doing to me?!"
Jolie almost passed out, using her last strength before fainting, tangled one of her feet in a rock chain, making her fall to the ground. Very angry, Nycolle said:
"Damn, that fall almost broke my poor knees."
Azucena, seeing the situation and terrified, said:
"Hey, don't complain! But why do you want to suffocate her with a force field? That goes against what Daniel Ortega told us about killing her."
Azucena reproached her while lowering her arms and sending a sonic wave to Jolie. Nycolle, with less empathy, replied:
"I don't give a damn what Ortega says. The important thing is to kill Índigo's new girlfriend, and that's what I'm doing, girls."
Monserrat, very upset, said:
"Hey, friend, that goes against all acts of humanity. We shouldn't kill her just because Daniel Ortega sees her as a nuisance, since she is fundamental in Índigo's life. So, I won't allow her to be killed, even if Ortega threatens to kill my mother."
Monserrat, upset, stood against Daniel Ortega, Azucena, and mainly Nycolle, putting herself behind an unconscious Jolie who was about to die. Azucena said, seeing how she defended Jolie:
"You damned traitor! But you're right, our teammate is acting completely crazy."
Azucena crossed her arms and looked at Nycolle with disdain. Monserrat said:
"Alright, I suppose I'll free her before she goes to the afterlife."
Monserrat, a bit confused, teleported to get Jolie out of the force field before she ran out of breath. When she took her out, Jolie woke up like nothing happened and said:
"Wow, thank you so much for getting me out of there, my Tica friend. I almost went to the afterlife."
"But why did you betray Ortega?" Jolie said, very relieved to be out, still wounded.
"Don't ask. I just wanted to help my ex-friend's future girlfriend."
"Better send that crazy girl to hell," Nycolle said, about to shake Jolie's hand. Jolie blushed when she mentioned something about her feelings towards me and said:
"Alright, that would be great, my Tica friend, but stop mentioning my feelings for Índigo, it makes me blush like a tomato."
After shaking her hand, they prepared to attack her by surprise, although they were quite injured and tired. Monserrat opened a portal so my friend could throw a fireball combined with air against the wall, defeating her.
Jolie said:
"Wow, we defeated this dumb girl with the face of the forgettable Sadie Stanley so fast."
Jolie wiped the blood off her forehead. Monserrat said:
"She didn't even last one second against the fire you threw with your Aztec goddess chi."
"But why didn't Azucena dare to help us in this fight?" Monserrat said, looking at Nycolle defeated and then at Azucena with crossed arms.
Azucena said:
"No comments, girls. I'm not a woman made for fighting. I only use my chi as a defense mechanism because I knew that Ortega's plan to use Índigo's ex-lovers just to kill Jolie was doomed to fail from the start."
Azucena acted sarcastically, mocking Daniel Ortega. Monserrat, a bit surprised, said:
"Well, in some way, she's right. But now, what are you going to do, Jolie, after we almost sent you to the afterlife?"
Jolie, holding her arm, said:
"I'm going to see how Índigo is doing with his training at that girl's place. After all the beating I took from you all today, this party at work is over for me."
"But with the little energy left in my chi, I can heal some wounds and head to where he is," said Jolie while talking about me, putting her hand behind her back and touching her necklace.
Monserrat confidently said:
"Alright, then I'll take Nycolle to a hospital and Azucena back home before I return to mine. Goodbye, Jolie. I liked fighting alongside my ex-friend's new friend."
Monserrat teleported back to her home. Jolie said goodbye:
"Goodbye, take care!"
After healing her wounds, she went straight to Llanos de Santa Lucía.
Back to me:
"Wow, I've managed to control more than 20 appliances during this tutoring session. Plus, I managed to finish that complicated homework," I said proudly.
The strange woman said:
"Wow, you did it! See, you could do it."
"Also, I noticed you were mentioning someone named Jolie, right Índigo?" she said, hinting at my feelings for Jolie.
Nervous and blushing, I said:
"Yes, but sometimes I doubt what I feel for her. But since I met her, she's been a moral support for me."
"Right now, I only consider her a loyal friend. I did this to fix the mistakes I made in past adventures where I put her in danger," I said, lowering my head.
"Hey, don't say that. Just tell her how you feel when you're ready, that's all," she said, trying to encourage me.
"And you'll see everything will turn out well. You never put her in danger, you were just out of control."
I said confidently:
"Okay, I'll keep it until I'm ready to tell her."
"Wait, what about that suit I see on the couch?" I said, keeping my promise while clenching my fist and noticing it, pointing to it. She said:
"This is the little gift I wanted to give you."
"Now it's time for you to finally accept your nickname, the Autistic Technopath, Índigo, as a nickname so everyone knows who you are. Look at it."
I took the suit out of the bag on the couch and said, looking at it:
"It looks pretty cool. It combines the aesthetics of many characters from other series I know to give it a unique touch."
"Thank you so much," I said, grateful.
She said while sitting:
"You're welcome. It's the best I could do. Also, with this, you'll be able to access new functions you couldn't activate in your previous suit to help you in your search for the threads and to defeat Vladimir Putin along with his group of dictators."
"Go ahead, try it on," she said, explaining some of the suit's functions while pointing at it.
Excited, I said:
"Alright, I'll do it. I'm going to try it on."
I went to the bathroom of that house to try it on. After coming out, I said:
"With this outfit, I feel like a true comic superhero."
I put my hands in a combat position. She said:
"I'm glad you liked it. But look, here comes your friend Jolie," pointing at my friend.
I said:
"Yeah, it's her. Hi, Jolie, why are you all hurt? Has your party at work ended already?"
I looked at my friend and noticed her condition. Jolie said:
"Hi, Índigo. I see you have a new suit. I had a little incident at that party at work, so I had to leave early."
I said:
"That explains some things. But let's go. I've had enough practice learning about my chi for today."
The strange woman said:
"Wait a moment, Índigo. Try to dodge this."
She prepared to attack me using praying mantis kung fu. I started dodging all her moves with difficulty inside the house. Then I used what I learned by controlling the metal parts of her internet router, also using the discs on the pants of my suit to electrocute her.
Realizing what I did, I said:
"I don't know, I just did it. Are you okay?"
"Why did you attack me all of a sudden?" I said, a bit scared, putting my fingers on my chin.
She said:
"Yes, of course, I'm fine. I had an electric-proof vest under the pink shirt for the occasion."
"What I was doing was a small test so you could apply what I taught you in these two hours."
She got up and said that to me. Confused, I said:
"Okay, I understand."
"Before I pay you, what's your name?" I said, about to take out my wallet.
She answered:
"My name is Mailen. It was interesting to help you for the second time, Índigo."
Mailen extended her hand, and I said:
"Yes, I enjoyed it. I finally learned more about chi beyond the basics."
I shook her hand, still confused. Then I proceeded to pay her. After that, Jolie grabbed my hand and said:
"Wow, you were really strong in that fight, Índigo. I almost couldn't be so fighting those girls at Juan Santamaría Airport."
Jolie held my hand tightly. I said:
"Don't flatter me so much, Jolie. I did what I could because you just grabbed my hand."
I asked about that unusual way my friend was acting, and she blushed and said:
"It's because my hands are cold after fighting so much, after almost dying by suffocation for an hour."
"But that suit looks really cool and nice," Jolie said, blushing even more. I also blushed after her second compliment and said:
"Thanks. After you almost died by suffocation at Juan Santamaría Airport because of a wicked person, I'm scared now. When we get home, explain everything that happened to you so it doesn't happen again."
Still blushing and worried about my friend, she said:
"Yes, I'll tell you everything from the start without leaving out any detail, so we can try to become stronger without missing anything."
In a volcanic fortress in Nicaragua:
"Damn it!"
"It seems your bad plan to send those three girls to kill Ávila failed, Daniel!" Rosario Murillo said, very angry after seeing how her husband's plan ended.
He tried to calm his wife, saying:
"Rosario, please calm down. I don't know what happened, but we still have the plan to kill those opponents!"
Daniel Ortega was a bit scared to face his wife's anger. She rejected his proposal, saying:
"How do you expect me to calm down if the only plan we had failed?"
"It seems I have no alternatives. I have to trick those two lovebirds using my ability to open time portals."
"To send them to the time when the war happened in Central America, hoping they die once and for all."
"The Autistic Technopath and the Aztec Goddess, styled like grandmothers," Rosario Murillo said threateningly, watching Índigo and Jolie on the fortress's computer.
Daniel Ortega, quite excited about the plan, said:
"It will be interesting if you send them to that time to see if they dare to interfere with our plans again..."
He was still scared but agreed with the plan proposed by his wife, looking at a photo of William Walker on the fortress wall