Interlude VI
“Ready to begin initial testing, Lucian,” Kayla asked.
“Ready,” he said.
It has been seven months since Lucian joined with Kayla and he has already gone through combat training and marksmanship. Now they are ready to test the Nox suit in simulated battle.
“Alright,” said Kayla. “Remember that your only weapons equipped are the teleport, that you called ‘ghosting,’ the portal that we call ‘Dark Void,’ and your two guns. This isn’t a live munitions test, but still, be careful.”
“Roger. Ready to begin the first test of the Nox.”
“Combat training initiated.”
“Commencing destruction.”
Guards armed with tonfas, knuckle gloves, and guns with rubber bullets flooded the training room Lucian was in. There were fifteen in total, and they all started attacking him. Several of them fired at him, but Lucian ghosted away, dodging the bullets. He was amazed by how quick and seamless the teleport was, and he kept ghosting as more guards tried to attack him with their tonfas.
Lucian uppercutted a guard who tried to shoot him, took his tonfa, and threw it at the guard who tried to rush him from behind. Two guards tried to tackle him from both sides, but Lucian used the suit’s augmented muscle strength to jump high above them, opening up a Dark Void where he used to be. The two guards fell in and the void disappeared. Another void opened up on the ceiling and the two guards fell out of it.
One of the guards got into a fist fight with Lucian. The guard threw punch after punch; right hook, jab, straight punch, uppercut. Lucian flew to the ground, vision hazy, as the guards ganged up on him and started beating him with their tonfas. He lay there, taking the blows, remembering all the fights he was in while growing up. He never started those fights, but he sure as hell finished them. He never fought to bully anyone or to show off. Lucian fought for one reason, and one reason only; to protect Arianna from anyone who dared to hurt her.
Coming out of his fugue state, Lucian’s implants began to glow red. The guards continued to beat him, but Lucian let out a loud scream filled with pain and anger and threw the guards off of him. He took out his guns and, in quick bursts, shot all of the guards in the chest, twice. They all lay on the floor, moaning, and the training simulation ended.
Lucian was breathing hard, the implants still burning. “Get this fucking thing off me,” he screamed, dropping his guns and struggling to take the chest piece of the suit off. Kayla ran to him and helped him take it off. The implants on his body and arms were glowing bright red and smoke started to puff out of them.
“Holy fuck,” Kayla panicked. “They’re burning up! Shit! Shit! This wasn’t supposed to happen. Fuck!” Kayla looked over all the implants, frantically searching for a way to help.
Lucian screamed again as they grew hotter. “Get back, Kayla!” Suddenly a Dark Void opened up behind Lucian and sucked him in.
“Lucian,” Kayla screamed as the void disappeared. “Shit! Track him! We can’t lose him!” The other scientists ran to the computers and activated the tracking device on the Dark Void buckle.
“Doctor Foreman,” one of them called out. “We’ve located him. He seems to have exited the void in a residential area in Silverstone City. However we cannot activate the override and bring him back.”
“Never mind where he’s at. Focus on getting him back here! How are his vitals?”
“From the looks of it, he still seems to be in that accelerated state, but it seems to be dissipating. We’ll be able to establish contact in soon.”
“Thank god,” Kayla breathed a sigh of relief. “We need to find out how Lucian got that extra boost in energy. Begin diagnostics on the chest armor of the Nox in the mean time. I’ll keep an eye on Lucian.”
“Yes, Dr. Foreman.”
Lucian¸ Kayla thought to herself. What happened to you? What were you thinking about?
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