Episode 9
John stares down Derek and Simon with his dragon eye, letting his newfound gate 4 power rise and prove to them that he's more than worth their time. Confidently stepping toward them as if to challenge everything they've spouted about themselves being superior, John then says, "So then, what are you guys waiting for? I unlocked gate 4 for you mongrels, so are you going to come at me or not?"
Both boys are stunned, so much so that they can't respond. Neither one sure of what to do for the next good couple seconds, the taller brown-haired one then looks to the shorter but leaner black-haired one and says, "I'll take care of this. He just startled us a little, I'm still confident I can beat him." He then steps away from his friend and out into the open with John, looking as cocky and confident as ever now that he's over John's display. "Alright rookie, if you wanna fight so bad then who am I to deny you. Having said that, please do note that this fight won't be a long one."
John's grin grows into a borderline smile as he replies, "Oh I agree, I don't think it'll last very long either. But before we start, I don't know who's Simon and who's Derek. Would you care to tell me which one you are?"
The tall and brown-haired boy then pounds his fist into his hand and smiles back as he says, "I'm Simon, the other one behind me is Derek. You'd do well to remember our names."
John smirks with a small chortle. "Somehow I doubt that."
Being made fun of and seen as lesser again, Simon can't help but upsettingly frown at what John just said. "Enjoy your tough-guy talk while you can because soon all you'll be able to talk to is the dirt right next to her," he says, pointing to Aeris.
Simon then for no reason starts to look distracted and leans to the left like he's trying to get a better look at something directly behind John. Narrowing his eyes, he says, "What the heck is that?"
John turns his head behind him to look then says, "What are you trying to look at?"
Simons frown then steals into a menacing grin and he rushes at John with superhuman gate 4 speed, fist raised and ready to clock him right where he knows it'll hurt.
Without turning back around, John raises his hand and catches Simons fist at the last second with ease, forcing him to a dead halt. The force of such a blow coming to such a sudden complete stop causes a loud thunderclap followed by torrential waves of force which pick up hundred mile per hour winds for a brief second.
Simon is shocked and John then turns his head back around and sarcastically says, "Say, you weren't trying to trick me just now, were you? Because I didn't see anything behind me."
Real fear starting to settle in now, Simon only manages to say, "H—How?"
John ignores him and uses his free hand to pull a green healing crystal from his jacket then looks over at Aeris and shouts, "Hey Aeris, catch!"
He throws the crystal in her direction at the speed of a bullet and she catches it with a growing look of elation on her face. Absorbing its life-giving vibrant energy into her being, she replies, "Thanks John, I needed that."
As Aeris begins to recover, Simon then starts to panic and looks back at his friend, worriedly then yelling, "Derek! I could use some help over here!"
Derek snaps out of his look of awe and fear at the sounding call of his friend and yells back, "Don't worry, I'm coming!" Derek then moves to assist his partner but before he can take even two steps a hand grabs his shoulder from behind.
Fearing who it is, Derek slowly turns around to see Aeris on her feet with the same deadly look in her eyes as before when they laughed at her. The tables now even, she says, "Now where do you think you're going?" Then just like he did to her, she gives no indication or warning and kicks his feet out from under him at near subsonic speed with the aid of magic. While suspended in the air and still trying to process what just happened, Aeris grabs him with both hands and slams him down hard, back-first onto her knee, crushing his back and breaking it like a toothpick. Then letting go of him, Derek rolls right off her and crumples to the ground in agonizing pain, unable to get up.
John's grip then tightens on Simons' hand, getting his attention back and causing him to wince in pain. John then stares Simon right in the eyes and says, "Now then, I suggest you start begging for mercy."
Simon ignores him and blasts John in the face point blank with a massive energy blast. After the energy he's released has jettisoned off into the distant night sky though, John is revealed and visible once again and is completely unscathed, his aura covering and protecting him. Fear now visible in Simons' eyes, his desperation grows and he says, "What could I possibly have to beg for mercy for from you? I didn't do anything to you!"
Calmly and with just a little bit of a grudge in his voice, John replies, "I didn't mean beg for mercy from me. I meant beg for it from her." John then immediately tosses Simon like a weightless softball but at over two hundred miles per hour. Needing only a fraction of a second to make the short distance to her, Aeris catches him by the throat, instantly halting all his momentum and forward energy and causing him to make a loud choking sound.
Aeris then holds him up with one hand and charges the other with a huge amount of radiating red energy. Pulling him closer, she stares right at him and says, "So ya got something you wanna say to me?"
As he hopelessly tries to pry away her grip, he then gives in and manages to choke out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please put me down, I can't breathe!"
Holding him aloft for a short time more, she then releases her grip and lets him fall to the ground, coughing and holding his injured neck. Seeing he's beaten and defeated, Aeris then starts walking back to Leo and says aloud to everyone watching, "Someone get these two a healing crystal."
John then joins her and says, "For a second there I thought you were actually gonna really hurt him."
Aeris looks at John through the corner of her eye and says back, "Well I definitely thought about it but I decided we did enough to them. No sense in kicking someone while they're already down, ya know?"
John and Aeris then make the rest of their way to the leaders in silence and they both stand triumphantly in front of them. His chosen the clear victors, Leo turns back to the rest of the men and continues on as if no argument or fight had ever taken place to begin with and says, "So like I was saying, I think John and Aeris are the best ones to put at the front of the center spearhead."
None of the other leaders say anything to object. The man who was arguing with Leo previously now gritting his teeth in annoyance then grudgingly says, "Fine then. We'll put them at the front."
As the man then stomps off to go vent his frustration, John walks up to Leo's side and taps him on the shoulder to make sure he has his attention. "So what exactly is this center spearhead and why is it so important that we had to fight over it?"
Watching the man that argued with him get Simon and Derek onto their feet and start to sternly lecture them, Leo says, "That's an excellent question John and I'm glad you asked. Now that everything's planned out, I can explain your role in all of this. Follow me."
Leo leads them into the tent him and the others were discussing the plan in earlier and motions for them to join him and a center table. John and Aeris move to either side of him then look down and see a three-dimensional map of the S.D stronghold displayed in front of them.
Leo then uses the top of the table like a touchpad and enlarges the center part of the base. Spinning the image so that the long side is facing John and Aeris, Leo begins to explain and says, "The plan is simple. We split into four groups and hit them everywhere at once. This will cause mass confusion and make it all the easier for us to conquer the base.
"Group one which is consisting of us leaders will primarily be focused on eliminating all high-value dangerous threats throughout the base. Groups two and three will focus their attack on the west and east sides of the base. After that, they then will slowly circle around to the north and south sides. Group four which is you two along with a few others will go straight through the middle which is what you're seeing here. The reason this part of the attack is so important is that all along this center path are the sleeping quarters of the soldiers stationed here. As soon as the attack starts, there's going to be at least a hundred enemy S.D members waking up and rushing outside to find out what's going on."
understanding everything he's said so far, John and Aeris begin to tinker with the display and move the image around to get a better look at and memorize their path. Sill keeping their ears open though, they continue to listen as Leo explains the rest.
"It is imperative you and your team take out as many of them as possible in order to ensure none of the other groups get overwhelmed and taken out."
John glances up from the map and at Leo while Aeris continues to look it over. "So basically all we need to do is be like a whirlwind of death as we plow straight through the center."
"That pretty much sums it up."
The plan now explained to him, the sense that this is really happening comes to a new high point for him. Like water on the cusp of filling over the brim of a cup, John can feel his body starting to tense and fill with the thought of battle. Once the first sparks of combat fly, he knows that feeling will fill past its brim, taking him into the moment of the heat of battle. So standing up straight, John summons his sword unsheathed in front of him and grabs it by its handle out of midair. Then turning directly to Leo, he says, "So when do we begin?"
Episode 9, chapter 2
John, Aeris, Aby, Felix, and Tyrone all stand partially crouched behind a row of blooming berry bushes that have grown near the edge of a cliffside. Before them is a lit-up monumental facility, easily the size of a small neighborhood. Despite the large and impressive spectacle of modern engineering, John's more focused on his HUD and the time it's displaying to him. It's only three minutes from three in the morning now and John looks left and right to everyone around him and says, "Alright, it's almost time guys, get ready."
Silently, everyone nods or simply acknowledges him with a hand sign and summons their weapons. Wondering if he did that well, John then looks directly to his left at Aeris and is relieved to see her look his way with a small smile and give him a thumbs up. This helping to improve his confidence that he can co-lead this operation, John starts to breathe a little easier and can commit the entirety of his focus to one singular thing again. it's admittedly not much to base his capabilities on, and he knows this, but he also knows that Aeris is right there with him. With that one small gesture, he can tell she believes in his ability to do this, and that's all he needs.
The seconds counting down, John summons his sword into his hand and powers up along with everyone else. The designated time is now only two minutes away but to them in their heightened state of speed, those two minutes could last several times longer if they wanted them too. The others move forward closer to the edge of the cliff but John stays where he is, deciding to take one last look at everyone.
Focusing on their weapons more than them, John then looks down at his own draconium red sword and gives it a sideways look. Aeris notices this and decides to walk back over to him. Simply curious as a friend, she then asks, "What're you thinking about John?"
John smirks briefly, then while still looking at his sword, he says, "Leo told me that the only two large groups of superhumans that had weapons for all their members we're the O.L.H and S.D. So being told that... I kinda thought that I would only rarely have to use something like this in my fights. But you know, so far that hasn't really been the case."
Aeris looks down at her own sword after he says this and angles the blade so she can see her reflection in its spotless surface. She knows that compared to her, John is still new to this lifestyle and the consequences that come with it. Because of this, she feels sympathetic for him and wants to do anything she can to continue to help him in whatever way she can. "It's not that he's wrong at all," she says with a soft and understanding voice. "It's just there's no one else for us to fight. There are other bad people in the world, don't get me wrong, but before we can focus on anyone else, we have to take care of the bigger threat first. Otherwise, nothing will change.
"If there is one thing I'll add though"—Aeris then swishes her sword through the air in front of her, warming up one last time—"it's that Leo forgot to mention that every small and independent group like ours also has weapons for every member. And I'm sure you can tell by now that there's a good reason for that. S.D doesn't mess around, and they certainly don't abide by the same rule set the O.L.H does." Aeris then grunts as she lets loose one final swing and rests. Then looking up and locking her eyes with Johns, she ends, "So neither do we."
She then lowers her sword and summons its scabbard to her hip. Sheathing it, she lets it hang there and then stretches her arms over her head. "But hey, what do I know. The worlds constantly changing nowadays, mostly for the worse. Today the nations of the world want to be tolerant and accepting to everyone and everything, and a year from now those same nations could be getting ready for another all-out war with each other, just like the one three thousand years ago."
Thinking about that war that Aeris mentioned, John can only imagine the carnage and amount of bloodshed that took place all across the planet. A war between people is one thing, but a war between people capable of obliterating entire cities in mere moments is another. To this day, there are still several sites from the more notable battles that are only barely starting to recover. "Well let's hope that doesn't happen," John says as he looks back up at her. "I'd much more prefer to wage this silent war all the way to victory than get the rest of the world involved."
Aeris doesn't look at John but focuses her eyes on the base instead. Staring at it with a vague hint of contempt in her eyes, she then says, "Same goes for the rest of us."
The time inches closer to three and John and Aeris look at each other. Both giving the other a small but confident grin, they then share one last reassuring nod together. After, they join everyone else at the edge of the precipice overlooking the base and crouch down at the front together. Aeris then looks around at everyone and says, "Does everyone remember their positions?"
Aby then proceeds to make something as simple as a nod look happy and replies, "Yep! It's you and John at the front then me and Tyrone in the middle and Felix in the rear."
Felix doesn't look overly pleased to hear his placement stated aloud, that is if he ever really was pleased about it to begin with. So half because he wants to voice his discontent about it and half because he stopped paying attention to the mission debrief after he was told his position, he then asks, "Now why exactly am I in the rear again?"
Humorously rolling her eyes while moving to face the base again, Aeris replies, "Because of your healing powers, that's why. If someone tries to attack us from behind they'll go for you first, which is obviously what we want. You'll also be watching all our backs for us since you don't have to watch yours."
Felix then purposely heaves out an elongated sigh as he says, "Well that certainly does sound like a good plan." Then acting like he has the most extreme case of bipolar disorder the worlds ever seen, Felix turns from sighing and disappointed to Aby levels of cheery at the snap of his finger and swings his arm in front of him. "So who am I to argue!" he says with the same enthusiasm he just displayed.
The time moves to one minute from three and John comments loud enough for everyone to hear, "One-minute guys."
Aby, who started scalding Felix for not paying attention during the debrief then realizes she missed something as well. So wanting an answer, she then asks, "Hey guys, what's the signal to attack?"
Tyrone takes initiative this time and responds, "Leo said that there's a forcefield around the base and that the signal will be them blowing it up. That's when the raid begins."
John tenses up and tightens his grip on his sword, staring at the base in anticipation. Everyone else does the same and Felix looks almost giddy as he hops from foot to foot, whispering under his breath, "Come on, come on, come on already, let's do this."
The winds blow and rustle through the leaves as everything else is dead silent and unmoving. Seconds pass, and the clock turns to three.
Right on cue, a colossal pillar of incandescent white-blue energy erupts from the ground, encompassing the entirety of the base within its latent sheer power and destruction. The surrounding area reacts and hurricane-level winds speed outward before it then disappears as fast as it came. Faint traces of the energy pillar still glimmering in the night, the force field surrounding the base promptly crumbles away, turning visible just long enough for everyone to see it do so.
Johns' eyes then alight with fire right in tune with gate 4 opening within him. The forcefield down and everyone with him ready, John then simply says, "Go."
faster than the eye can see, the whole group explodes off the cliff, aiming for and hurtling dead straight for the middle of the base, shattering the cliffside behind them as they soar downwards. Approaching the ground at a furious speed, they position their feet in front of them and prepare for a fast and hard landing. What's about to then happen will only take seconds to transpire in real time, but to John, Aeris, and the rest of their group, it will most certainly last so much longer.
John's the first to touch down, landing in a crouched runners position and fragmentizing the concrete foundation beneath him. The others land not a moment behind, all as solid and unmoving as stone. Now, unlike their previous quipping and light banter amongst themselves would make a person think, their faces and demeanor show nothing, nothing but intense focus and burning seriousness. As John then lifts his head and sees his targets start to come out into the open, the last of John's team has readied to move and they all blast forward in formation.
Nearing the first victim, the unfortunate man senses something and turns around just in time to make John the last thing he sees. without hesitation, John slashes through him, keeping his speed up and moving his focus to the next target.
Nearly two dozen of the others up ahead then notice John and his team. Realizing they're under attack they all charge with weapons in hand. Each is bloodthirsty and confident in their ability to kill, but this only ends up working to their disadvantage.
Each individually, they charge in without a plan or sense of where their comrades are. Each attempts one by one to cut down John and Aeris as they draw near and so each falls one by one as John and the others plow straight through them. Those that John and Aeris cant land a killing blow on they instead set up for Tyrone and Aby to finish.
Unrelenting, they continue to mad dash push forward, obliterating them all like the elite mercenary squad they were trained to be. Seeing more and more appear up ahead, John summons a dagger he put away earlier to his free hand and switches his fighting style. Adapting to the now more clustered concentration of Death Bringer members, John becomes a steel cyclone of death as he spins and dances forward, cutting through all that cross him.
One of the sooldiers finally breaks the line and aims for Tyrone with a frighteningly sharp looking halberd. Seeing it, John grits his teeth and emergency transmits magic to his joints.
"I don't think so!" John stabs his dagger into the ground and uses it as an axel to pull an immediate one-eighty while swinging his sword in direction with his body's momentum. This catches the mans legs, sweeping them out from under him as the sword cuts through. Then retracting the dagger while still moving fluidly, John moves with his momentum, altering his inertia just enough to kick off the ground and begin an acrobatic maneuver.
John flips diagonally and carries the still very same momentum he started this raid with into a midair spinning motion, slashing through the soldier with both weapons before then ending him with a fatal heavy downward cleave with his sword. Leaving his body to crush down into the concrete and burst into ash like the rest, John tosses the dagger away and extends his hand out and yells, "Felix!"
Felix sees John and grabs his hand as he runs by. Resisting the urge to make a quick comment, Felix prepares to toss John. Normally such a thing would be as easy as throwing a baseball, but they're already running incredibly fast and Felix knows he can't stop to make a proper throw and break formation. So instead, Felix uses the better part of his strength and puts everything he can into one quick forward motion with his arm, releasing John with enough speed for him to quickly get back to the front while not slowing down himself.
John back in position right next to Aeris again, the troops still ahead start blasting at them, sending sizzling bolts of highly volatile energy straight their way. John and the others now having to actively focus on dodging as they push, Aby then shouts, "Looks like they finally got smart! I think we better do the thing!"
Looking further ahead, John and Aeris see more men pilling up in the way of their path, all getting ready to attack. Seeing the same thing, John and Aeris swiftly glance each other's way and nod in agreement. Looking back at the others, Aeris then shouts, "Alright, move into quintuple death formation!"
Everyone acknowledges the order and all begin charging a massive quantity of energy in their free hands as they group closer together. John and Aeris taking the lead, they then stop running, favoring instead to now skid across the flat concrete beneath them, signifying the others to do the same. With that, John's mark faintly glows and they all then let out a battle cry and unleash five distinct elemental attacks. These beams of elemental energy quickly swirl around each other and unite into one particolored disintegrating laser of death.
This beam bolts forward at an undodgeable speed, eating all projectiles thrown at it and consuming every last S.D member in its path, vaporizing them into nothing. The beam then collides with the back wall on the other end of the base and explodes, briefly lighting up the entire base as if it were midday.
Meanwhile, still not stopping for anything, John, Aeris, and the others pick up the speed they lost and fearlessly continue the charge forward. While Felix wallops away with his oversized hammer and fire blasts those that would try to attack the others from behind in the background, Aeris turns to John looking a little tired and asks, "How many do you think we got from that attack?"
John is beginning to look fatigued as well as he cuts down another S.D member and responds, "My HUD counted sixty-seven enemies before the attack and zero after."
Aeris side flips with a spin and decapitates two more foolish oncomers, near-instantly turning them to ash. Focusing ahead but still able to reply, she says through heavy breath, "Really? Mine only counted fifty-four."
"I guess I just had a better view than you did then. Regardless though, it looks like we're almost at the north side now."
John, Aeris, Aby, Tyrone, and Felix near the wall they just blew up and finally slow to a halt. Aeris wastes no time and sweeps her open hand over Tyrone, Aby, and Felix, shouting, "Alright guys, defensive positions!"
Needing nothing more, they all nod and each takes cover behind the nearby scattered pieces of the blown apart wall, each looking down their own lane, ready to defend their position. Seconds after, a group of four soldiers turn a corner in Felix's lane and one of them sees John's team and shouts, "Over there!"
His grin back and shining now that the hard part is over, Felix casually walks out of his cover to greet them in his own unique way. They immediately begin blasting at him but Felix either dodges or simply takes it while fiddling for something in one of his back utility pockets. Finding what he needs, he pulls out a deep yellow crystal with no defined shape and hurls it at them. The crystal impacts with the lead soldiers face and detonates, blowing them all to smithereens.
While Felix then gently tosses more of those explosive crystals to the others to use, John and Aeris huddle down behind cover of their own. The communications function spinning up in their HUD's, Aeris then mentally messages Leo, saying, "Objective complete. Where are we needed now?"
After a second, Leo's voice enters into their heads and he responds, "Good work. Stay where you are and wait for group two. Once they arrive begin sweeping and clearing all buildings in your nearby vicinity."
Relieved that he sounds fine and that everything seems to be going to plan, Aeris breaths a silent sigh of relief before then responding back, "Will do, see you soon Leo."
"See you soon too."
Thinking the same thing that she just was, John then says aloud, "Seems like everything's going well so far."
Shifting her eyes over to John with a hopeful smile growing across her face, she says, "Yeah, it sure is. So far the raid has been pretty flawless." Still waiting for the other group to arrive, John rests his left hand on his knee. This catching her eye, Aeris then remembers the dagger John just used in the middle of the fight. "So ya mind tellin' me where you learned to dual wield like that?" she asks.
Looking surprised, like he forgot about it, John looks at Aeris and says, "Oh that? Well, that requires an explanation before I tell you, and you'll understand why after. You see, i've been testing and learning more about what kind of things I'm for no apparent reason just naturally good at. I think it has something to do with the mark on my hand. I don't know what it is about it, but for particular things, like dual-wielding, if I just trust my instincts more than my head, I can perform particular styles of fighting I've hardly ever touched at an adept level without any training."
Having finished his explanation of how he was able to perform what he did, John then nervously laughs as he comes to the part where he has to explain why he did it. "Now, as for the style you saw me use"—John then nervously laughs again midsentence—"I didn't so much learn it so much as I did imitate it. Ya see, I saw it in a video game once and thought what I saw would be effective here, so I just kinda did it."
What was once a look of captivation then quickly turns into a look of disappointment as she sighs and pinches the middle between her eyes. "Seriously? You saw it in a video game?"
"Yeah... not the answer you were expecting were you,"
John says as he guiltily scratches the back of his head
Aeris slowly shakes her head, not even looking at him. "You could say that again."
Loud explosions are heard in the distance and they catch John and Aeris's attention. After a moment of silently looking in the direction it came from, John says, "You know, there's something that I've been wondering for a while but can't figure out."
Aeris looks over at John and John then continues. "Why do these S.D guys always burst into ashes when they die? They're human just like us so how does it happen?"
"Oh, that's an easy question," Aeris replies. "A long time ago, S.D decided that dealing with spies and traitors who would trade information for their lives was too much of a hassle to deal with. So they developed a serum with the aid of magic that would turn anyone who talked of their organizations dealing and plans top anyone without the serum in them to ash. Because the serum affects the brain, it even works on people who try sending electronic messages or hand written letters. A side effect is that when the person dies, they turn to ash. It's now mandatory for all members to take before joining, despite the occasional accidents that you'd imagine happen because of it"
Glancing at Aeris as she says that last part, he then looks back out at the base and says, "That's pretty messed up."
Aeris continues to look at John and says back, "Yeah, that's the way they all are, messed up."
Aby, Tyrone, and Felix then all walkover and Aby throws down a green crystal that shatters and sends translucent green energy everywhere. Everyone looks reinvigorated after it dissipates into the air and Aby sits down, breathing out deeply. Feeling better, she then says, "Oh I needed that."
Tyrone sits down to rest as well then says, "The area looks secure so we decided to take a little breather and come find out what our next objective is."
Turning her attention to him, Aeris then says, "We're waiting for group two. Once they get here we'll join up with them and start clearing the buildings."
Felix peeks around the corner of their cover and asks, "So any idea when these guys are supposed to show up?"
Aeris shakes her head. "No, Leo didn't say. But they should be here soon."
John's hand then pulses and Red speaks up and says, "John."
John looks down at his hand and raises it up then says, "Hmm, is something wrong Red?"
Red hastily replies, "I sense him."
John gives his hand a sideways look then asks, "Who do you sense? Who's him?"
"Garret. I sense him nearby."
Everyone including John stares at his hand in shock. Now feeling like that small moment of peace they had was just the eye of the storm, John then almost yells, "Can you pinpoint where you're sensing his energy from?"
Red replies, "I can not. This region is in chaos, the air is thick with traces of spent energy as if like smoke in a burning building."
Aeris then speaks up and says, "I'll find him." She closes her eyes and begins to concentrate. Ignoring her ability to sense energy, Aeris uses her other natural five senses to try to locate him. Nearly thirty seconds later, Aeris reopens her eyes and points at a tall building not far off from them. "He's somewhere in that building. We can get him if we all rush there right now."
Worry starting to grow inside her, Aby then speaks her mind and says, "But what about our orders?"
Before anyone can say anything, John replies, "I'll ask Leo about it." John doesn't hesitate and activates his lens communication function. Ready to speak with him, John then says, "We found Garret but group two still isn't here. What do we do?"
Instead of sending a reply back, Leo then suddenly appears out of thin air right in front of John, moving too fast for even him to see. John jumping in fright as a result, Leo then asks, "Where?"
John recomposes himself fast and points to the building Aeris just pointed to and says, "He's in there but we don't know for how much longer he'll decide to stick around."
Leo stares at the multistory building in the distance. Clearly weighing his options before making a decision, he then comes to a conclusion and says, "Alright, here's what we're going to do." Leo then steps back to address the team as a whole and continues. "John, since you have the best close-quarters combat skills here and are now just as powerful as Aeris, I want you to come with me. Aeris, you take charge here and go meet up with group two. Once you find them, clear the buildings in the base like I told you too as fast as possible. After you've completed that objective, come to help us as fast as you can."
Not believing what she's hearing from him, Aeris stomps her foot down in anger and shouts, "Oh come on, that's bullcrap! I have years more experience than John does with this stuff so why are you taking him and not me?!"
Leo can see that she's upset and he can understand why. So calmly, he replies back, "Because of that very fact that you just stated. You indeed do have years of experience over John and that's why I need you out here. I can't trust John to lead everyone here and another group all by himself. John also has the best track record when it comes to dealing with Garret."
Aeris still doesn't look satisfied with Leos answer and demandingly asks, "But why do you need just John and why can't we all just storm in there together and take care of it like the family you claim us to be?!"
Leo then raises his voice and his brow line furrows as he then yells, "Because if one of our comrades dies because we weren't where we needed to be when we needed to be there then that's on us! I'm not about to get someone killed just so we can go settle a personal matter!"
Aeris is stunned. She's not used to him raising his voice at her like that and being shut down. And so, anxious as a child would be after getting scalded by their parents, all her anger and want to argue with him recedes, leaving her only feeling startled.
Leo, of course, sees all of this. All he wants is to get her to understand, and so then sighing out, he lowers his voice and says in a more comforting tone, "And I need John because I can't rush in there blindly without backup and the other leaders are busy supporting group three right now."
His comforting tone helping to ease her tension, Aeris stares at Leo a few moments before then swallowing her pride and nodding her head in understandment. "Ok then, I trust you. So good luck and make sure you don't let the bastard teleport away this time."
Happy that she's better now, Leo then responds, "Don't worry, I won't let him move an inch this time. The second I see him, it's over."
Leo then turns his head directly to John and says, "Let's go."
John nods and follows right behind him. After making it a few yards out, John turns around to the others and starts almost walking backwards. "See you soon you guys. Be careful out there."
Aeris responds, "You too John."
John gives a reassuring thumbs up then turns back around and sprints away.
Episode 9, chapter 3
John and Leo are now making a ton of headway as they sprint towards the designated building. With minimal resistance, they swiftly make their way up to it and approach on the front door. As they near it, Leo suddenly comes to a halt and extends his arm out to stop John.
John acknowledges him and stops a few feet behind him then asks, "What's wrong? Why'd we stop?"
Leo bends down and picks up a piece of stray rubble then tosses it forward. The rubble flies forward several feet then hits something invisible and disintegrates. Ripples can then be seen in the air around the impact and John stares at them, unsure of what just happened. Having a theory though, John turns to Leo and asks, "Is that a—"
Leo interrupts him midsentence and says, "A force field? Yes, it is, and a pretty nasty one at that."
Leo then steps forward a few feet and raises his hand to it. After taking a moment to get a feel for what kind of energy this forcefield is using to power itself, he then says, "I can disable it but it'll take some time so cover me while I do this." Leo's hand lights up with energy and the forcefield lights up with it, becoming visible around the area where Leos' hand is near.
Some time passes as John stands guard but he's had a single question on his mind the entire time. So wanting to say something, even if just to break up the silence, John then half turns his body so he's sideways to Leo and says, "Hey Leo?"
"What is it John?"
John replies, "Do you remember that time I asked you how you got so powerful, and you said that it was a story for another day?"
Leo lazily sighs, knowing where this is going. "Indeed I do. And since you're bringing it up I assume that you'd like me to tell you that story now?"
Excitement now building inside him that he may finally hear Leo's story after all this time, John has to consciously keep his tone calm and respectful as he replies, "Yeah, you guessed right."
Leo thinks about John's request. Silently weighing whether or not to finally oblige his request, he then comes to a decision. "Alright then. This forcefield is going to take a little bit longer to get rid of than I thought. Plus, I have nothing else to do so listen up. Oh, and don't worry about keeping guard anymore, the other groups have the inside of the base under total control now. No one's going to attack us."
Relieved that he doesn't have to divide his concentration any longer, John does as Leo says and gives him his full attention. Nearly able to feel John's waiting gaze on him, Leo tilts his head up to look at the starry night sky. Staring out at it, Leo's lingering stare gradually turns into a wistful gaze upward. Taking his time to do this, Leo allows one last pensive deep breath out before getting started.
Ready, he then begins, and says, "I was born into the Order of Lasting Hope and my parents were high ranking officers within it. As you already know, I was tested to see what my potential power could be and it was extraordinarily high. I heard that most people present during the tests had never seen an aptitude so high before. That's when I got my theatricle name and as soon as I was old enough, my training began.
"I grew quickly in overall skill and prowess and by the time I was ten I had already unlocked gate 4. At the age of fourteen, I began running solo operations against S.D, mostly without the O.L.H's permission, and I accomplished so much. I was so good at what I did that I soon became famous around the entire organization for my roguelike style. But despite all of that, it wasn't long before I started to feel alone. I was beginning to feel that I was the only person in the world in this world that gave a damn about making it better and doing what was right.
"Yet despite this, I still strived to do as much good as I could and became better and better at what I did. Then... fast forward seven years... and that's when I met her."
John can then see a melancholy smile start to appear on Leo's face. It's a look of bittersweetness, like his memories are filled with jubilant moments of bliss and earnest happiness, but are also tainted by an overhanging shadow of deep regret and pain. John then asks, "Met who?"
Leo prepares to answers him, his smile growing steadily more pleasant as he does so. Letting his memories of only the good times he once knew take hold of him just as they once did in a time long past, he says. "My one and only true love. Her name was—" Leo closes his eyes and shakes his head like he just mentally changed his mind. "Her names not important. What is important is the way we both felt about this world and the war we were fighting. We started training with each other and soon after started running field operations together.
"We pushed each other to become better and stronger. And soon enough, we started to fall in love. It was then that I found what I needed to unlock gate 5 and the same went for her as well." Leo then chuckles to himself, something John has never seen him do. "Oh, the crazy things we did together. We were truly a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. And we were happy together, so so happy."
Just the same as how he started to gradually appear happier, his expression then darkens and that happiness slowly begins to ebb away. "But all happiness comes to an end at some point. One day we were called in to eliminate some unknown gang of thugs who were traveling around, recking havoc and killing entire small towns of innocent people."
Leo's breath becomes a tad heavier and his perplexion continues to dwindle, not even looking bittersweet anymore. "I told our superiors that it seemed suspicious to me and that it could be an S.D laid trap but they didn't wanna hear it. They told us that their intel suggested otherwise and that there was no reason to doubt it... so off we went, trusting what we were told. But when we got there, what we found wasn't some random group of killers, no, it was an entire S.D platoon packed with high ranking officers, all of which had gate 5 or above unlocked."
John can't see it from where he's standing, but Leo's eyes begin to tear up as he continues. "We tried to get away, but one of them got in a lucky shot and injured her leg. Then... just like that... all it took was one little stumble. That's all it took, and before I could do anything, they all pounced on her and ripped her limb from limb right in front of me in less than a second!"
John just stares at Leo, not sure what to say or even how to say it. But wanting the ending to the story, John then asks, "So what did you do?"
If John could then see Leo's eyes, he'd see them filled with a deep decade-long burning hatred. Despite this, Leo responds calmly and says, "I killed them all.
"Then, I went back to base and reported what happened. And when they asked me where the body was, I had to stand there and tell them there was no body to bring back. After that, I then turned around, left, and never looked back. A few years later, I started hearing about these mercenary groups that had formed up to combat S.D. And just like that, all my aimless traveling suddenly had a purpose.
"I decided to form my own group and soon after found Aeris and began training her. The others came along in their own due time and that's how I ended up where I am today."
John looks like something about the story is troubling him and he then has to ask, "Wait, go back, something doesn't add up. If you were running from that S.D platoon even when there were two of you, then how did you suddenly have the power to fight them when you were alone?"
Not hesitating a second, Leo replies, "I let my rage consume me and forced open gates 7 and 8."
John is visibly surprised by this. This contradicting certain things he was told before, John, confused, then says, "Wait, I thought I was told that forcing open gates through anger would kill you!"
Leo half turns his head to face John then responds, "You were told that it could kill you and that it's very likely that it would. But it doesn't always, not if you can grit through the after-effects and repercussions. Don't get any ideas though, I was unfathomably lucky to survive the ordeal." The forcefield then flickers and suddenly drops, catching Johns and Leo's attention. "Looks like it's down. Let's be on our way then, after all, we wouldn't want to keep Garret waiting now, would we?"
Able to see that Leo clearly wants to move on focus on something else, something more important, John steps up beside him and while facing the building then says, "No, we wouldn't."
John and Leo then enter the structure by blowing a hole through the wall and jumping inside through the smoke. They both do a quick take around the room and are surprised when they see about twenty S.D scientist in the room.
They're all just as surprised to see Leo and John as well but one of them then wises up and shouts, "Blast 'em!"
Leo then pulls a dark blue crystal from his front pocket and throws it down, creating a barrier just in time before they all start shooting at him and John. Leo doesn't waste any time and stomps the ground, releasing energy into it. Not a moment later, the entire floor in front of them becomes engulfed in blue flames. This causes the scientists to panic and cease their onslaught just long enough for John to charge his sword with magic-infused lightning and swing it as Leo dematerializes the barrier, sending a wave of crackling electricity through the entire room and shocking them all to death.
As the dust settles, Leo says, "If those scientists would have been actual soldiers, we would've had a bit of a harder time there."
John starts walking forward and examines the rest of the room then says, "Yeah, I'm surpised they didn't have any stationed in here." His eyes then drift over a flight of stairs and they stop there. Pointing to them, he says, "Guess we better go up."
John then hears Leo's voice inside his head via the lenses mental communication feature and he says, "Hold on. Garret probably still doesn't know it's us in here. I'd prefer to go straight to the floor he's on rather than clear this building out floor by floor and spook him away."
John turns back to Leo and silently nods his head, indicating he understands. So having John on the same page as him, Leo then stares up at the ceiling and uses his senses to their full extent. After two seconds, Leo says out loud, "There!"
Leo then jumps up, crushing the burnt floor beneath him and breaking straight through the ceiling as if it were paper. John follows right behind, jumping through the hole Leo made.
John makes it up to the same floor as Leo just in time to see him make ready to attack as he says, "There you are!"
Garret is then shown, his back facing Leo and John with a whole slew of strange medical equipment surrounding him. Garret then moves his head and only his head, turning it a little but not enough to see his face.
Seeing him sitting there in his blood-soaked medical bed, Leo narrows his eyes and mutters under his breath, "This ends now." Leo, again for the first time that John has seen, then grunts with effort as he launches himself at Garret with incredible force, blowing out the wall and most of the floor behind him. In the mere sixty feet between him and Garret, Leo manages to break the sound barrier and reels his fist up to strike.
Just as his death seems guaranteed, time then slows down and Garrett gets up at an unnatural speed. Turning around and jumping over the table like time hasn't changed at all for him, he kicks Leo in the chest while airborne. Leo then flies back but he manages to stop himself by digging his feet into the concrete floor, skidding back to a halt. John then shouts, "Leo! Are you okay?!"
Leo glances down and touches his chest then says, "Yeah, I'm fine but that was not normal what just happened."
Leo is okay so John immediately turns his attention back to Garret. Looking at him, John sees that despite what he just managed to do, Garret is almost stumbling around as he tries to walk and seems half out of it. John isn't sure why he's acting like this but then looks to the blood-soaked bed and medical equipment. Double taking between this and Garret, it isn't hard for him to then make the connection. "They tested the new strength enhancement project on him."
Garret can hear John say this and then grimacingly begins to smile as he looks up and says, "Nice detective work my soon to be dead reptile. Indeed they did, and let me be the first to tell you that it feels great! I did however almost die so the next version of the serum and modifications they gave me won't be as potent. I mean, after all, what good is a strength enhancer if you kill most of your army simply by administering it to them?"
John stares at Garret, unsure what to think of him and says, "Why would you let them test something like that on you when you didn't even know if it would work or not? Aren't you aware that what they did could've easily permanently damaged or killed you?"
Garret only laughs at the question. "Oh believe me, it wasn't my decision to test it at all! You see, a certain someone"—Garret pauses to stare directly at John—"gave me a gaping chest wound and healing crystals weren't gonna fix it before I bled out. So, I came here for professional and cutting-edge medical help. But wouldn't you know it," Garret then grits his teeth and twists his head to the left as he wags his finger at John like it's his fault, "while patching me up, they decided it would be a good idea to test their new experiment on me. And ohhhh, let me tell you that the hours that followed were excruciatingly painful! But boy am I glad that they did it now!"
Leo then powers up and his aura bursts out, enveloping him as he stares down Garret and says, "Well I guess this will be a good opportunity to see just how much stronger this experiment makes a man."
Garret powers up right after him with an aura the same size as Leos. His smile turning eager, he then says, "That's the spirit, Leo! I can't wait to test my new strength on someone worthy any longer, so come on, let's go!"
Leo obliges Garret's request and crouches down in preparation to launch himself. Each staring down the other, they stand where they are for a few more seconds. Both ready, they then suddenly spring at each other at mach speed, fists raised and poised to strike. As they near each other, time slows down again and their fists are shown on a collision path. As their punches connect, time reverts back to normal and the resulting shockwave of their fists colliding completely blows out the entire midsection of the building as well as every inch of wall on their floor.
The building begins to topple down and John quickly jumps out and lands safely on the ground but Leo and Garret have other ideas.
They continue to go at it as the building falls to pieces around them, using falling concrete slabs and other assorted rubble to continually launch themselves as they clash and avoid the falling debris around them. They're moving so fast that it's almost impossible for even John to keep track of them. Their perception of time slowing the process of the building falling to a crawl, they clash over a dozen times a second, both trying to land a hit amidst the slow-motion chaos and occasionally letting loose energy blasts in an attempt to incinerate the other.
In what's become a prolonged battle for both Leo and Garret, the building eventually finishes collapsing. In real-world time, it only took a mere twenty seconds, but for them, it took longer than ten minutes.
A mountain of heavy dust kicks up as the building finishes collapsing but it clears in seconds with the help of the massive shockwaves coming from Leo and Garrets still ongoing fight. Due to this, John can now see them. Watching in anticipation, he says, "I can't see an opening to get in there!"
John's hand pulses and Red says, "Even if you did, any aid you could foreseeably supply would be in vain. Their strength is beyond you, nothing you do will affect the outcome of their battle."
John raises his hand up to look at it and says, "What about that technique you mentioned a while ago but said I wasn't strong enough to use?"
"You are still not ready. Any attempt would be ultimately futile."
Johns not happy about Red's response and shouts, "Well what do we do then!?"
Red calmly replies, "We do nothing and have faith in Leo's abilities."
John doesn't like it, but all he can then do is listen to him and look back to the fight.
Striking at each other one more time, Leo then shouts, "Enough!" Leo gathers energy into the form of brilliant white light into his hand and he says, "This is over!" Leo then unleashes a magnificent beam of what John can only perceive as holy light and it hits Garret square in the chest leaving a gaping hole in him.
Garret slowly looks down at the hole in his chest then coughs up blood and stumbles back. He looks horrified at first, but a sneering smile then slowly begins to creep up onto his face. Regaining his composure, the hole then miraculously begins to close and heal, reconstructing new organs, bone, tissue, and muscle, exactly as Felix's body would. Watching it happen, Garret then takes the time to say, "Ya know it's really annoying me that I can only use about fifty percent of my power right now." His smile then turns into a sheepish but cocky grin and he shrugs like nothing going on right now is a big deal. "I guess my body's still adapting to this new power I have."
Leo watches in complete shock as Garrets wound heals and he says, "How is that possible?"
Enjoying watching Leo's reaction, Garret continues to smugly smile as he says, "Oh it's just one of the many modifications they gave me. My body can self-regenerate now so long as I have energy to feed it." Garret then raises his fists up and his eyes go wide with excitement. "Now then, on to round two. Let's see if I can get you this time!"
Leo readies himself for another fight but doesn't look as confident as he once did. Suddenly though, from out of nowhere, a knife comes flying right past Leo and sinks itself into Garret's skull.
Garret should be dead but instead only looks mildly annoyed. Pulling the knife out, he then angrily yells, "Alright, who's the asshole that threw—"
Garret stops midsentence as he looks past Leo for the culprit and sees John, Aeris, Aby, Tyrone, Felix, and everyone from the three other groups all standing together and staring at him. John then smirks and says, "That would be me who threw the knife."
Felix leans over and subsequently says, "Nice throw dude."
Not taking his taunting eyes and grin off Garret, John replies, "Thanks man."
With a smirk equally as provoking as Johns, Aeris then takes her time to shine and says, "So you can heal as long as you have basic energy huh? Guess we'll just have to exhaust it all."
Seeing them all together, Leo can't help but show his relief under his mask and looks back to Garret, as confident as he was when they started. "Looks like this is finally the end of the line for you Garret."
Garret scowls in acrimony at them all before grudgingly saying, "I don't think so."
He then reaches for something inside his jacket and Leo's eyes widen in panic as he shouts, "No!" Leo breaks the sound barrier again as he launches himself at Garret and grabs him, ripping him in half with his bare hands. Garret simply chuckles at the effort as his hand comes out of his pocket and into Leo's line of sight, holding a teleportation crystal. Garrets top half then vanishes leaving behind the rest which lights up in black flames and burns away.
Frustrated he got away again, Leo pounds the ground in outrage, demolishing the entire concrete foundation the building was built on. Having done that, Leo then stands up and clenches his fists tightly as he softly mutters, "We almost had the bastard. If only I hadn't have held back to test the limits of the experiment, I still might've gotten him somehow."
He's frustrated. There's no denying that. But Leo's not one to make a scene, nor does he like putting in the effort to make one. The raid is over, and despite not liking the outcome with garret, he knows he'll get another chance to finish him, one way or another. So convincing himself to move on, he forces any bitterness lingering in his mind to leave and takes one last moment to catch his breath before turning his attention to everyone else there, more so his own team. Looking better and more presentable, he then says, "Well, we might not have gotten him, but thanks for coming all of you. I might have actually been in trouble there."
John's the first to do something and walks up to him, his head hung low in defeat. A second ago he felt on top of the world with the whole dquad behind him, but now he only feels like a failure, and it comes through in his voice as he says to Leo, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you during your fight. I just wasn't strong enough, and that's my fault."
Before he can say anything else, Leo puts his hand on Johns' shoulder, getting him to look up at him so he can then say, "Before you say anything else, I want you to know right now that none of this was your fault. How were we supposed to know what kind of changes their experiment had on him? So stop sulking and start celebrating. We just accomplished our mission and took out an entire S.D facility with no casualties. Not only that, but as far as I can tell, you all performed your part of the raid flawlessly. The other two groups reported they had very little resistance to deal with right around the same time my team finished our job."
A genuine smile breaking its way under his mask, Leo finishes and says, "So be proud John, you did well today."
John still feels guilty that he wasn't able to help but per Leo's orders, he doesn't let it bother him. Even if forcing it to an extent, John perks up and says back, "You got it, Leo."
Having taken care of John, Leo then looks over at everyone else and shouts, "We did it!!"
Everyone there then erupts in cheer and starts to celebrate. Leo doesn't immediately join them though and instead turns his attention back to John one more time. He looks happier now as he stands there next to him, watching as everyone celebrates their victory. Knowing he'll like what he has to say next, he can't help but then grin under his mask. "By the way John, I'm giving all of you the next few days off so feel free to plan something fun to do for yourself or with the others."
This catches John's attention fast and he looks back to Leo. Profoundly surprised and wanting to confirm what he heard just to make sure, he asks, "Really? You're giving us time off from everything?" Leo only nods in response, feeling tired and not wanting to talk much more than he needs too.
Getting his confirmation, John puts his hand to his chin in thought and he says aloud, "Something fun huh? Its been a while since I've done anything just for that."
His hand then pulses and Red says, "John, I have a notion pertaining as to how to spend this time you have. One I perceive thou shall find most enjoyable."
Surprised Red would care for something as trivial as fun, John lifts his hand up to him and says, "Well this outta be good, what is it?"
Red responds, "Take me to where young Aeris is, with the others over yonder."
John looks to see where Aeris is and finds her celebrating with the rest of his group. Then looking back at his hand as he walks, he says, "Alright then, I can't wait to hear this."
John makes his way over to Aeris, Felix, Tyrone, and Aby. Getting their attention just by walking up to them, John takes the opportunity to tell them the good news. "Hey guys, Leo's giving us the next few days off so we're free to do whatever we want."
Everyone gets excited by this news and Aby almost shouts, "Really?! That's awesome!"
John nods in agreement then says, "Yeah, and Red here apparently has something he'd like to suggest."
No one there having a single clue what a five-thousand-year-old dragon could suggest for fun, they all stare at Johns' hand in anticipation, waiting to hear what he has to say. Red then does finally speak up, but much to everyone's surprise, he says, "I never said my notion was for everyone young John. All I stated was that I believed it to be something you would enjoy."
Giving his hand an odd look, John then says, "Oh, well ok, what's your idea then?"
Red responds, "Please face young Aeris if you would."
John hesitates a second but soon complies and turns completely toward Aeris, raising his hand up between them. John having done as he was asked, Red clears his throat and says aloud for everyone to hear, "Aeris, John would be pleased to go out with you alone so as you two may participate in various fun activities together with the free time you both now share."
As he's stated in the past, John's never been in a relationship or even been on a simple date before. He's open to it of course, but the last thing he was expecting to happen was for a dragon in his hand to ask out the only girl he's ever liked for him in a public setting. And so for those reasons, Johns' face flushes red with embarrassment and he shouts at his hand, saying, "What the heck do you think you're doing!!? I didn't give you permission to ask something like that!!"
"Twas literally the first thought that graced your mind upon Leo conferring to you the information concerning everyone's time off."
Getting more embarrassed, John shouts louder, "Stop reading my mind!"
Aeris doesn't pay mind to John just yet and instead focuses on his hand, asking, "So do you mean like a date?"
John freezes at hearing her ask that but Red continues to take the initiative for him and replies, "I believe that to be what you humans call what I have described, yes, a date."
Aeris normally would be heavily flustered right about now, but it's not everyone else teasing her this time. This time, it's just the dragon Red asking her out on behalf of John. No one else pushed it to happen and it was entirely John's idea to begin with, so if there's any teasing and poking fun at to be had, it's at him. Feeling flattered, Aeris then smiles and says back, "Sounds fun, I'd love to go." She then tilts her head up to John and steps closer to him. "How does tomorrow at ten in the morning sound? Oh, and I mean actual tomorrow, not when the sun rises today, it's still three in the morning. That way we can actually get some rest before we go out."
His emotions a confused and jumbled mess right now, he tries his best to sound enthusiastic like he wants too but only comes off as nervous as he replies, "That sounds great."
Happy to hear him agree, Aeris smiles again and says, "Great! Then I'll see you then."
Aeris walks off to join Leo, leaving John to stand there dumbfounded by everything that just happened. Then turning his head to face everyone else who's still there and watching him with giddy grins, he says in desperation, "I need help."
It takes a second but everyone there then starts laughing at the remark. John himself almost starts laughing with them but the moment is interrupted by Leo who then shouts from where he is, "Come on you guys, let's go."
Everyone recovers quickly and Aby shouts back as they all start to head in his direction, "We're coming!"
John follows them at first but stops before he can make it a quarter of the way with them. Taking a moment to stand there by himself, he heaves out a heavy sigh he'd been holding in then says, "I know what I said before, but, thanks for the help red. I really needed it."
Almost sounding smug about it, Red takes a page out of modern dialect and happily says, "I told you you'd like it."
Now ready, John jogs off to catch up with the others and joins them just before they all take off into the night.