Factory Reset

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Wonderings of a Hyena

The Protogen before them stopped for a moment, getting his bearings. He must have felt it too.

Soon enough, they ventured down another hallway, and was met with a dead end. Only a single, rusted metal door laid there, so encased in rust that Mason could have sworn it should've broken apart.

The protogen placed a single claw against the metal, and dragged it down. His claw tore a streak through the rust, cracking through it to reveal the purple metal beneath. He did this two more times on either side of the single scratch.

And with a flourish much like a magician revealing his ace to get the crowd intrigued once more, and slashed with his thumb-claw across the three scratches, cutting them perfectly in half.

But the purple metal wasn't damaged in the least. It was just the rust that moved. Seemingly satisfied, the protogen then placed his palm against a single access pad and pressed lightly.

The pad glowed in a bright white light, before sinking into the wall as the four scratch marks lit up, and completely destroyed the layer of rust. Mason raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on.

With the rust now gone, the protogen quickly opened the door and shoved the two inside, shutting it hastily behind them. Mason was caught by surprise, landing on his knees as he tripped inside.

"Oh thank God you're alive still." Marissa said, rubbing the side of her head. Hannah repeated what she said as she ran to her brother, quickly tackling him in a hug. Mason smiled, waving at them.

"Told ya." Axel said, not even looking at Mason or the others as he observed the wall. To his credit, it was a fine looking wall.

"You're here big brother!" His little sister said before he could even mutter another word. Mason just chuckled and rubbed her head. B-64 felt a little ping of jealousy, but he did feel instantly guilty that he was jealous over Mason's little sister.

He just wanted to get petted like that.

Nonetheless, he helped mason up onto his feet. After that, and after Mason sat his sister down on the bed, did he manage to actually answer some of their questions. Or, what Axel asked anyways.

"What was that light thing. A tractor beam, teleporter?" Axel asked, swiftly turning to B-64 with a looking Mason knew all too well. A look that even Axel's teachers knew.

B-64 blinked at the inquisitorial tone of his voice, and took a few steps back while staring at the hyena. If it weren't for the fact that he looked ridiculous in the outfit they gave him, he would've been intimidated.

Mason glared at his friend, though it was more of a 'Why did you use that tone', than a 'I hate your existence' glare. Axel didn't notice, however, and stared at B-64 intently.

B-64's mouth zigzagged as he mimicked someone licking their lips, before going blank. Axel frowned, under the impression that B-64 was refusing to tell him. Right before he was going to ask again, B-64's visor lit up with words.

"Trans-Location" it read. Axel sighed, rubbing his temple with his fingers. He gripped the seam of his jacket and pulled on them.

"What, pray tell, is the difference." He said in a cold, monotone voice. Marissa looked at him oddly. Just a moment before he was all calm and collected, even thoughtful. What the hell was going on with him?

B-64's visor blinked back to a frown, before more words soon appeared, "Sends to place, then again." He still hadn't got the sentence structure right, but he was getting there. By name, mason had risen from his seat, his heightened senses allowing him to get there rather silently.

"Don't talk to him like that." Mason said, crossing his arms. Axel turned his head to look at Mason, frown twitching onto his face. It was at this moment that Mason saw something strange.

It was Axel's eyes. Once a rather dull shade of grass-like green, turned to a brilliant and glowing shade of light-blue, with a viscous dark blue center. Mason frowned, feeling the heat rise in his veins once more as he actually smelled what Axle was feeling.

Anger. Aggression. Fear, and Dread. The first two smelled like spice and vinegar, and fear and dread smelled the same. A stench that reminded him of the first time he ventured into his school's restroom.

And as he smelled it, he felt his vision go slightly blurry, before snapping back into hyper-focus. He could now see the most minute detail in a brilliant shade of red. He was literally seeing red.

Mason sneered at his friend, now smelling a fair bit of malice coming off of him. What was happening to them, it felt like his body wasn't in full control. He felt another wave hit him, and literally snarled.

Marissa glanced between the two. The once purple eyes of Mason now a shade of pure red, and Axel's eyes a ghostly blue. All she felt was hot knives driving through her body. She braced herself, seeing the air itself slowly contort and shift.

A hard fissure ran through the entire ship, knocking Mason and Axel onto their backs, which seemed to snap them out of their spat. B-64 had already gotten up on his paws, and he helped Mason up.

His visor quickly flashed, "Q-Jump. Get on chairs." And he pointed out the five chairs in the relatively bland room that Mason just noticed where there. They had little black straps attached to the sides.

Axel grimaced and quickly got up on his paws. He practically threw himself atop the chair for him and snapped himself in, making sure Hannah made her away beside him. Mason also made his way to the chairs, sitting beside Hannah, and B-64 joined him to the chair on his right.

And one more wave pulsed through the ship, making the metal outside the room corrode and rust as waves of heat coursed through the room. Mason gripped B-64's hand hard as he heard what had occurred.

And just like that, everything went white. And the ship was no longer near earth.

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Heya!

So, just a bit shorter chapter today. Sorry for the longer wait as well.

So, yeah. I'm in a rut right now. I want to write, but I don't want to do anything also. I have no energy, and I can't seem to get myself to write this that long.

I mean, the only reason why I'm able to finish stories in general is because people read them and, hopefully, enjoy them. Without that, I'd never be able to finish a story, much less a chapter.

So, thank you, very, very much for readnig this and for giving me the inspiration to actually write this. 

Oh, and sorry if the chapter name was just a tad mis-leading. I can't think of anything else at the moment.

So, with that, thank yo so much for reading, and I really hope that you've enjoyed this story so far!

~ Candle