The Air Out Of [Wattys2018 shortlist]

17

SCAR WAS VERY MUCH PISSED TO FIND OUT that it took him, and the rest of the team an entire hour to make their first portion of significant progress, but yet, because of a tiny puzzle piece put in the correct place, every little detail discovered seemed to finally make sense in their meticulously crafted plan.

"Wait," Jess pauses, "We should have a team stationed at Sector B for backup, the process should run through the underground tunnel, and therefore, we should use it as an escape route."

"We need communication with the second team, then." Scar looks up from the map. "And no, Jett, it would be too slow to pass messages onto you just to pass to the next team."

Time efficiency, Jess scribbles down on the edge of the paper. Aspyn speaks., "Consider it done."

Soon, the small group of around ten warriors were placed back into deep thought, or more so, a void of unanswerable scenarios. Scar notices that Aspyn's normally perfectly tamed hair, and flawlessly arched brows, are no longer fixed down to the last detail, and in its' place stands a ruffled and misshapen version, but yet, her voice is still as silky and soothing as it always was.

"I think we've got it," Aspyn notes, the ends of her eyes crinkling. Scar faces the perfectly executed plan pasted in the form of timeframes written across several pieces of paper splattered across the table. He's incredibly uninterested, according to him, they've wasted enough time on it already, and he's practically itching to leave. "But don't forget, in reality, there is no following a strict plan."

"Got it, cap." Mason salutes, mocking his sister from the doorway presenting a goofy smile, and unfortunately, the only time he's ever come the least bit close to acting his age. Composing his face in a split second, he resembles a miniature Jett, "Anyway, the rest of the group is here."

"The plan is simple, really." Scar says to the others as they take seats around the office-like table stationed in between what seems like a NASA research podium. "I know, super futuristic, right?"

"I'm still surprised that there's still a definite way to beat Avine." Jett shakes his head. "It's not normally this easy. Okay. Two hours of hardcore work from talented people who have been researching this for their entire lives is a lot more than it seems, but I just didn't think we'd actually come up with something."

Scar scoffs, "Of course we'd get somewhere, after all, we're pretty talented."

"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you, Scar." Aspyn is barely paying attention to the conversation, "In fact, Avine studied philosophy and extra-curricular judiciary, one of the reasons he went rogue was because he was heavily underestimated. Massive genius, I remember him to be."

While Jett explains the fundamentals of the plan, and what is required of each of the lavine's, Scar, Aspyn, and Jess go through the high-tech gear that has been prepared in advance for us. While walking past a corridor, Jess does a double-take at one of the science labs. She lingers at glass wall separating her from the machines, which is being tested by a few engineers, "What's this?" Jess asked a technician who just happens to be passing by. Scar rolls his eyes, analysis correlation, obviously.

"Analysis correlation." It's certainly not a simple answer, and Jess very visibly doesn't fully understand, so the technician continues. "It's an analysis program, we put the gear through that opening and the machine makes sure that they're in suitable conditions." Scar nods proudly.

The technician proceeds to lead the group through to the end of the corridor, past all the futuristic machines. While most would describe this as the back door, or the more irrelevant portion of the control room at first glance, it is actually more so the main attraction. The door at the end is no longer made of glass, instead, a more translucent-type material used, however, Scar can't seem to place her finger on its' exact name.

It's a dual door system. As the first set slide shut, you are trapped in between the two as the machine begin to run and create slowly creaking noises. Scar's suspicions are slowly rising, whatever is being built or used inside the facility are precautions taken very seriously.

Once the identification has been finished, in this case, Aspyn and the technician slide their ID's across the scanner, and Scar and Jess both go through the fingerprint and iris scanner, all gadget, or electricity-infused objects hide from plain sight and slowly, a water-like substance is discharged.

The mist is emitted from the ceiling in a slow, cascading movement. From his peripheral vision, Scar sees Jess tilting her face upwards to watch it wallow down to touch her skin softly, it's not long before he realizes that it's an antiseptic spray filtering him, and the others off the grime that they have.

The glass door slides open.

Scar notices the sterile environment. It's the suits, for each of the five lavine's, and the main warriors for Covia, He sees the analytical management's visions coming to life, obviously, there are a few minimal changes altered for warfare, but the basic idea is pretty solid. A few mechanics shuffle around making finishing touches onto the suits as others test it's endurance when malfunctioning.

Jess is the first to rush to inspect the different varieties built to aid each of their strong suits and particular skills tailored specifically to them. Each suit on display as an accompanying name card printed onto a glass plate hammered onto the ground, so she quickly heads for the one that writes Jess Walker.

But she finds it empty. "Huh," she says. "Mine isn't here."

"It's no coincidence," Aspyn says from beside her. "Yours and mine are both gone, and for a similar reason. It's the hardest to make. Our strong suits are hard to put into a suit that will make it easier for us to do, thus, our suits are either in the process of being made, or being elaborately tested at the moment."

Scar is the fourth to move, going through the rows and slowly observing the differences of each of them, finally stopping to look at his suit. It's directly across Jess'. His smile falters slightly, was this some kind of joke? "Mine looks plain, I think it's missing a few features." He notes.

"Try it on, then." Aspyn nods her head in the direction of a spacious changing room. "I'll have my assistant show you how to put it on without destroying it before you go through, though, so just hold tight while I find someone."

One of the tailors are summoned to Aspyn's presence and shows Scar the proper way of wearing the suit without damaging anything. It's a boy, a few years older than him. "I think the lower portion is pretty self-explanatory, but you'll have to put your head through this, than interchange your arms to get this top portion through. It's because this suit provides a bullet vest intertwined within the fabric, so it's only a slight bit thicker, but since your specialty is to levitate with Aspyn and Jess, it won't really affect the overall weight that much."

Scar nods, but is vigorously disappointed. Who knew that he would be getting the lamest suit out of everyone. After all, he was supposed to be the leader, the one with the most advanced equipment. To him, this felt like a massive jab in the face. "Is this it." He says, irritatedly as he walks out of the changing room.

Aspyn looks at him. "Not quite."

"Pardon?" He gags, this looked like the most awful suit in history.

"I agree, it looks quite plain, but if you look here, here, and even over here." She points opening the compartments for him to see, "These are mini naval gun holders. You can hide things here. But not the anklet, or even the necklace. Avine can detect its presence."

He instantly felt better. At least it was somewhat useful and had made a slight fight against the other suits. But he felt slightly jealous of Jess who was getting a much better suit, he ignored it. Miniature gun vessels were cool.