Breachers

(OsiriumWrites) Breachers -I- Path of Steel - Chapter 5 (Recycled)

Breachers – Path of Steel

5

I

Recycled

- - -

Pressure pressed into his stomach, legs and arms, rocking him from side to side. Moments of slipping and the sensation of Marcus's feet scraping across an uneven surface punctuated the journey. Time drifted by in this bizarre fashion, leaving him uncertain of how many days had slipped through his grasp. He then suddenly felt a sharp object pierce and cut into his flesh, gradually prying him apart before inserting something within. 'Oscar! Felix!' Marcus's mental cry reverberated in his mind, reliving his last desperate moments with his friends, recalling the desperation in their eyes. His body convulsed, overwhelmed by searing pain until he abruptly regained consciousness again.

╔ ╗

[System activation: 100%]

╚ ╝

Darkness enveloped him, reducing his visibility to near nothingness. Amidst the nothingness, his HUD flickered to life, echoing the same flawed feedback as before. Despite the error messages, a momentary strange relief washed over him, confirming that he was still inside the metallic frame and not somewhere even worse. 'Where am I?' Marcus pondered, attempting to move arms and legs, only to find himself ensnared on all sides. He sought out Oscar, but his search proved fruitless. Each attempt to move his limbs met with resistance, as well as increasing the strange sensation of him running out of something.

'Oscar!' he screamed inwardly, yet no sound escaped his lips. His fists collided with the nearest object, his legs lashing out in a flurry of kicks. The things around him refused to budge, resulting only in the harsh clang of metal meeting metal. 'I'm still trapped inside this robot!' Overwhelmed by a torrent of emotions, Marcus pounded with more force, venting fears, sorrows, and anger upon the unfeeling objects. Each strike became a desperate attempt to feel something, even the sting of pain. Minutes passed like this as he lost himself in a frenzied rage, only stopping his assault when he was mentally spent. Then, he just stayed there, motionless, save for his metallic form trembling as he silently wept, robbed of the ability to cry and properly mourn his friends.

Giving in to the overwhelming weight of his emotions, he allowed himself to shatter for a moment, his metallic form a reflection of the emptiness that consumed him. 'It all happened so swiftly.' he thought, the memories of his fun moments with his friend abruptly giving way to the harrowing chaos that had followed. In mere minutes, he had witnessed the merciless rain of meteors, the crushing impact of debris upon unsuspecting people. 'They didn't deserve this... Oscar... Fuck... Why did he have to die!' he thought, the image of his friend's mangled and bloodied remains on top of his steel frame was forever seared into his mind. The revulsion swelled within him, threatening to engulf him, but his steel body denied him this, not even allowing him to find solace in the act of retching.

Eventually, after quite some time, he stopped shaking as parts of his broken mind sought an anchor amidst the pain and loss. Striving to regain composure, he recalled some of his uncle's words about the power of collecting your thoughts. 'Stay calm, block out the world... fixate on a single point,' he reminded himself as he tried to push aside the jumble of thoughts, forcing himself to focus on a task, but it was hard to keep his focus. 'I don't know why I got those pain sensations when I woke up,' he thought, recalling how something similar had happened previously, back at the Tech Expo. 'Were those dreams? A side effect of this form? Some sort of malfunction?' He spent a few minutes pondering it further before deciding to set it aside for the moment.