"It will take a while to adjust to all the new things you can now do and see and feel." Tattoo says this over his coffee cup. "Before you will be any help to me you will have to learn and unlearn some things. Top of the list of things to lose is fear. Fear of death, fear of failure. These are hard to learn to not have because as humans we need those fears. The trick is, your not human any more."

"I still feel human. I still look human. If you prick me, do I not bleed?" Mandy's smile slipped a bit.

"Not so much as you used to Mandy. As I am mixed in with your blood if you are poked or cut I quickly seal and rebuild the damaged tissues and reabsorb the blood lost." jerry answers helpfully.

"Your not a human any more strictly speaking." Tattoo can't help but laugh a bit at Mandy's discomfort. "You are as human as anyone else but you are no longer human. What we can do takes us way beyond human. But our minds and what makes us, us is still the same. Jerry set's up housekeeping in the dormant parts of our brains. We do, truly only use about 10 to 15% of our brain. Jerry can and will, when needed, turn that percentage up as much as needed. Don't ask for a demo, it's a freaky experience if your not ready for it. You will go on a ride along first to 'feel' it through someone else so you can be more ready if you ever need it."

"This is going a little too fast and a little too far for me to grasp with out some real life experience to hang the ideas on..Can you show me some of this 'next level crazy shit' so my mind can truly adjust to the craziness I'm hearing?" Mandy's curiousity is killing her and she wants a real demo.

Tattoo starts talking to, no one... "Sam... Sam..? Samantha! are you busy? Good. Jerry, three way call with video. Sam and Mandy."

"Cindy is going to shit that I'm meeting her first T." A new voice pops in her head and a person shows up sitting in a car, driving.

"Well Sam, she is just going to have to shit then, we are not all here to make her happy.

"I heard that you fucking bastard!" Cindy is very upset.

"Jerry, is Cindy some place safe?" Tattoo asks?

"Tattoo! Don't you dare..."

"Yes Tattoo she will fall on her couch." Jerry answers back.

"Ground her for half an hour please."

"TATTOO! JERRY DON'T YOU DARE do -o -o -o......." Cindy's voice fades away.

"T, your a real prick. ANYWAY... Hello Mandy, it's nice to meet you, I'm Sam. I'd like to be there in person but I'm headed to my Dojo right now. I'm going to get in some training and your coming along for the ride. T, do you want me to scare the crap out of her or kill her?"

"HOLD IT.... Tattoo, what are you planing? I don't do roller coasters because they scare the fuck out of me. I scare easy!  AND... what does she mean, 'kill me'?" Mandy is half way out of her chair before she realises she even moved.

"Your a strong and flexible person Mandy. Your fear of rollercoasters is from seeing that kid fall out when you were young. You don't even remember it any more but your fear is still with you. What is about to happen is nothing like a roller coaster. You will be fine. I will be keeping you calm." Jerry, alwsy a helping hand.

"Thanks Jerry, so your going to keep me calm while Sam kills me." Mandy laced that with as much snark as she could muster.

"No, it's not going to be anything like that. Sam is miles away and you'll be here on the couch the whole time. Sam is a swords woman. She practices with very sharp and very deadly blades almost daily. Sam also has pushed Jerry farther then just about any of us when it come to doing intentionally stupid and deadly shit. She had damn near no fear of death to start with." Tattoo informs her.

Sam starts to tell the story of how she Tattoo ended up together...

When T found me I was suicidal. I wanted to die. My few family and even fewer friends had all given up on me and written me off. I told them I was going out to kill my self and no one even tried to stop me.

 What drove me to it is personal and you may 'see' it some day but I don't share it willingly so if you do just keep it to yourself. I don't want to know that you know. Any way, T found me with a sword through my heart. All he said was...

"That must hurt like a bitch."

It did, when I did it but now I could feel nothing. He grabbed the blade right by my chest and sliced off his fingers. I was almost dead so I could not stop him or say or do anything. My last thought ,or so I thought, was this fucker is crazier then me. I'm going to die but he will live with out his fingers for the rest of his life. What was the fucking point of that? That's the point where reality stoped working and his fingers melted into my sword, and my sword melted into my body and my heart that had stopped, started beating again.

 At that point, I passed out.