The Thermostat Duo

Chapter 7

"Please tell me you weren't thinking about sleeping on the floor." Mercury says when he hears Celsius turn the faucet off after brushing her teeth.

"I'm not gonna let you sleep on the floor on your first night of your first mission." She says, walking into the living room.

Mercury sees her prosthetic legs. They are different from his. Hers look like normal legs, but black and made of plastic. The prosthetics end at her mid thigh. Mercury sees a switch near the top of the prosthetics. He wonders what that is for, but decides to asks later.

"Mercury." Celsius says for the tenth time, finally getting his attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare." He says.

Celsius's purple hair is pulled back in a ponytail. Her fuchsia eyes sparkle. She is wearing black shorts and a grey tank top with her symbol on it. She looks like a goddess.

"Okay, well, you can use the bathroom now if you need to." She says, sitting down on her sleeping bag.

Mercury gets up and walks to the bathroom. After he closes the door, he takes off his boots, changes his pants and shirt, and brushes his teeth. He puts his clothes with Celsius's and walks back out to the living room.

Celsius looks up at Mercury. She looks at his prosthetics. "You and I might both have prosthetics, but they aren't similar at all." Mercury says, sitting back down on the couch.

"I take it you got one of the latest models the White Fang has." Celsius says.

"Guess so." Mercury says. "I take it you just use yours for normal stuff and not fighting."

"A mixture of both actually, see." Celsius says, standing up and flicking the switch on her prosthetics, making the black outer shell fold away and a blade and a prosthetic an athlete would wear appear. "I can take the blade out, too. Then I have a sword and I can run faster and jump higher using these prosthetics. Athletes wear them-especially runners, because they are light weight, flexible, and give them extra spring in their step." She says. "The other one does the same thing." She says as she flicks the switch again, making the prosthetics return to their original setting. "I just have them like this most of the time because it's easier to walk around in. Plus I don't have to worry about the blade ripping my pants."

Mercury laughs at that. "But what if you get ambushed? You certainly can't just take off your shoes, roll up your pant legs, flick the switches and go." He says.

"That's why I have a switch on the lower band on my arms that does it all for me. And my shoes become armor over my thighs, so that's convenient." Celsius says.

"What else do your arm braces do? I see there is another band with dust cartridges on it on the upper part of your fore arm and two metal blades connecting them. They surely can't just be for armor." Mercury says.

Celsius presses a button next to the switch on her lower band and the two metal blades come out, revealing a string connecting them-at their ends-to the upper band, forming a mini crossbow. "Mini crossbows. The dust cartridge determines the type of arrow. Plus I can disconnect each metal blade and use them as hooks or whatever I need." Celsius says, putting the blades back to their dormant form before taking them off and setting them on the coffee table.

Celsius yawns. "As much as I would love to answer your questions and ask you about your prosthetics, I'm tired. Can you do me a favor and check to see if all the doors and windows are locked? There aren't many." Celsius says.

"Sure." Mercury says, getting up.

"Thank you." Celsius says, crawling into her sleeping bag. "Good night."

"Good night." Mercury says.

By the time Mercury checks all the locks and turns off all the lights besides those in the living room, Celsius is already fast asleep. He looks down at her and smiles. She looks so peaceful as she sleeps. He plans to get up early and make her breakfast the next morning. He turns off the light and makes his way to the couch, covering himself with the blanket, and falling asleep.