Awakening

Rumi slowly woke up, lazily opening her eyes and looking around the room. From her surroundings she could tell that she was in a hospital room, laying down in a bed and hooked up to a heart rate monitor. To her left there was a chair, and sitting on it was Aurdel with his helmet off and what looked like a thousand yard stare. She gently nudged him, “Hey, your bedside manners suck.”

“Hm?!" He seemingly hadn’t noticed her waking up, so when she nudged him he practically startled back into reality. “Oh, you’re awake,” he let out a sigh of relief, relaxing his posture.

“Jeez, I’m the one in the hospital bed but you look more like the one that needs treatment."

He looked away, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, it’s been a busy night. I got you patched up then helped the hospital employee with some of the injured and other casualties, though I made sure to come back every once in a while to check on how you were doing.”

“How sweet,” she leaned back, stretching her arms. “How bad of a condition was I in?”

“Fifteen bullet entry wounds, twelve exits, a lot of spalling. Two bullets went through your right lung, one through your left, one through your liver, another just barely missed punching your heart but took a little tissue with it and another to the skull that ended up bouncing off. The rest of the hits were in non-vital spots.”

“Huh, she really was shooting to kill then…”

“That’d be the understatement of the century. You were bleeding out back there, the guys in the ambulance didn’t think you were gonna make it.”

“But you helped?”

He sighed, “The moment I climbed into the back I had you stabilized, then after that it was a matter of pulling out any hitchhiking shrapnel and then closing you back up.”

Rumi took a peek under the covers, “Looks like you did a pretty good job.” She couldn’t see any medical scars left over from his work, let alone any bullet wounds. What she could see were the holes that practically polka dotted her costume, she would have to get it fixed.

“Wouldn’t make sense to not put in my best effort.” He pointed to a small table next to the bed, “I used what was left of the bullets to try and backtrace who the shooter was, but all I found out was that they took the gun off of a dead guard at some point. I left the rounds over there, they’re sorted by where they hit.” She leaned over towards the table, picking up the bullet that had scraped by heart. “What happened?”

She toyed with the bullet in her hand, “Right after you ran in, there was a bunch of prisoners that were still hiding inside the prison that ran out. Some of them tried to go down swinging, some just tried to get to safety. Unfortunately I happened to run into the only one that actually knew what they were doing to try and escape.”

He looked back over, “I don’t suppose that you’d recognize who they are?”

“You’d be hard-pressed to find someone that didn’t recognize that bitch,” she tightened her grip around the bullet. “Lady Nagant. When she started her Hero work, I was still a young bunny in school. There were a lot of female Heroes that tried to proselytize themselves with cuteness or sexiness, she stood out with her sheer professionalism. She showed up, did her job and then left. Occasionally she gave autographs, but she was almost always on her way to a fight.”

“Always another fight…” She could see him connect the dots. “Did you…?”

“Yeah, I even got her autograph. Though I burned that thing once I heard what had happened,” she loosened her grip. “It came out one day that she suddenly snapped, and that in the middle of an argument she was having in private with another Hero she ended up gunning him down. It made a lot of waves across the country. The government tried to quiet people from talking about it, but there’s not a lot you could do when she was someone that came pretty close to cracking her way into the top ten.”

She saw him tighten a fist, “Any idea where I could start looking?”

“No, no clue. As popular and high ranked as she was, she was one of those really secretive types. Never really talked to the news or attended events, just let her actions speak for themselves. A little like you.” After she said that, he had an odd look on his face. “Hey, don’t take it personally,” she gently nudged his hand, and he relaxed a little. “It doesn’t mean anything that I was the one she ran into and riddled with bullets, I just happened to be in the way and she would have done the same to anyone else.”

“Hard for me to not take it personally,” he stood up, walking around to the other side of the room where there was a window with half open shutters letting in light. “We’re supposed to be partners, but I charged in there alone because I was focused on keeping the League from getting out. I blazed past the other Villains that were in the way and almost got you killed, meanwhile I couldn’t even stop the League from escaping.”

“You’re overselling what happened,” she furrowed her brow, “You still managed to grab that warp guy, right? That means they won’t be able to move as freely as before. It’ll only be a matter of time before they slip up and get caught, and if your conscience is that guilty over it then you can help capture them when the time comes.”

He took a step back from the window, “Yeah, suppose you’re right.”

“So, are we going on patrol tonight?”

“One track mind, huh?” She could tell that he got a small kick out of it, it put a grin on her face. “As much as I would love to, it’s going to be a busy night for me over here. They’re still bringing in a lot of wounded, more to other hospitals around the city too. I want to do what I can to help keep the casualties low. I also have to get back to the school, since if there’s anything involving the League of Villains then they’re going to want to be notified about it.”

“Then can you try and at least make some time for us to talk once you’re done?”

He turned around, “Yeah, I can try and make some time. No guarantees though.”

“Well surely you can make some time for a pretty young lady like me.”

He grabbed his helmet, “Very funny, but you can’t pull that card on me. You’re twenty six.”

She mockingly put her hands together, “Teach me your ways, ‘o great wise sage.” Then she lowered them, “But hey, you didn’t say I wasn’t pretty.”

“There are some things you’re not supposed to joke about,” he slid on his helmet, “There’s a change of clothes I brought under the bed. I’ll see you when I see you.” With a wave he opened the door and walked out, letting it close behind him.

She began to play with the bullet in her hand, a smirk on her face.

Colonel Cai Shun gave a salute to the two men standing guard by the door, the two men gave a salute back. “Sergeant, has there been any problems with the prisoner?”

“No sir, there have not been any problems with the prisoners. Sir.”

“Have you made sure to take regular checks on the prisoner, and keep him from turning any of our tools into weapons?”

“Yes sir, I have. At one point I thought he was attempting to make a makeshift weapon using some of the electrical capacitors we brought him, however it turned out to be nothing. Sir.”

“Good, it is praiseworthy to keep such a careful eye on another individual. More so to have such an intuitive mind that you could predict the possibilities through their capabilities and your own. I'm glad that I had the forethought to put such a brilliant young mind to a duty as important as this.” He clasped the young Sergeant on the shoulder, a sign of approval. “Is there anything else that you would like to report while on your duty Sergeant?”

“Permission to speak freely, sir?” Cai carefully looked the boy in the eyes, examining the state of mind that he was in.

“...Granted.”

“I am not entirely sure of the efficacy that using a prisoner from the West to develop our technology will bring, I think that it may ultimately hamper our cause. Of course, that is not to say that I disagree with your methods. Sir.”

There was some clear hesitation to say what he truly meant, no doubt years of education, drilling and training had forced that unwillingness to try and think differently into his mind. “You can state your true thoughts, Sergeant. I may serve the party, but I am able to recognize when I might pursue advisory from another. Especially on something as important as this.”

The Sergeant looked relieved. “By every definition, Dr. David Shield is a prisoner held in our captive. He holds no loyalty towards our nation or towards our cause, therefore he has no reason to legitimately try and assist us. It is likely that he will attempt to stall for time as long as possible to devise an escape attempt, or try to get a message out and be rescued by the West.”

“We have taken the necessary precautions to prevent either possibility. Communications outside of authorized centers are impossible as part of our program to curb any resistance from insurgents in the outlying regions near the mountains. As for the possibility of any escape attempts, even if he were somehow to succeed in eluding his confinement, you and your men and all of the other men inside of this base, then it is very unlikely that he will actually escape back to the West. The mountains will see to that.”

“I am aware sir, but I know from previous incidents that there are some people desperate enough that they will go to tremendous lengths to try to escape from captivity.”

“Does he know that we do not really have his daughter under our surveillance?”

“He is not aware, no. At the very least, according to his demeanor he does not appear to know.”

“Then make sure it stays that way. He cannot and will not be allowed to know, or else we will lose any sense of cooperation with this man.” Cai straightened out the cuffs of his uniform, “I know how these Westerners think, how they live. Their leaders always use a carrot and a stick, one being the dream the people wish to pursue while the other is the means those leaders use to take and withhold control from their own people. So long as they think they are chasing their dream, they will take any beating their leaders give to them. But once that dream is taken away… They will seize up, before violently lashing out. It has always been in their nature and will continue to be in their nature, that is why we cannot afford to lose that carrot.”

“Of course, sir.”

“But another reason I insist on using this man is because there are places where our own attempts at this work have stalled or failed. If he succeeded in overcoming the hurdles we came across, then I am willing to use his work to advance our cause. After all, one must know the works of a devil in order to avoid its path. And in this world there is no greater devil than the land he hails from.”

“I understand now, sir.”

“That’s good. I wish for you to continue watching Mr. David Shield, and that you inform me if there are any attempts towards his escape or any breakthroughs in the current case that we have him pursuing.”

“Yes, sir!” The Sergeant gave him another salute, Cai returned the salute before leaving. He could not help but feel pleased with himself as he walked away, he was grateful to have access to such young and bright minds in a place such as this. Someone like him would be wasted on the party committee, assigned to some far reaches of the country he hardly knew about and made to ‘represent’ it. From there it would only be a matter of time before he slid into the same level of decadence that some of those other ‘men’ had achieved, a waste of potential. Perhaps he would have him moved into the high officers track, that way he could eventually serve him as a staffer. Or, even as a true equal.

After ascending several levels, Cai had arrived at his true destination for today. A large elevator shaft. Standing guard outside of the shaft were two more soldiers, though these ones were not nearly as bright. They were more simple minded, brought out from their homes to serve and taught nothing more than to follow orders and nothing else. Useful pawns, nothing more. He pushed the button on the elevator, not returning their salute when it was given to him. Once inside he pushed the button, descending down into the depths of the caverns below the mountains. “Colonel Shun!” The man guarding the other side of the elevator was surprised to see him, offering a salute.

“At ease,” the soldier lowered his hand. “Take me to the dig site, I want to see progress that has been made.”

“Yes sir!” The soldier quickly led him through a rather hastily made hallway, it had been built decades ago by this point but still had not yet been replaced. Frankly, the sight of such a thing just served to remind him of many things in this country. Yes, this country…

The soldier used his keycard to open a series of locked doors, allowing him through to the digsite. “Colonel, we did not expect to see you so soon!” A small army of scientists and soldiers were present in the caverns, saluting his presence.

“I came because I heard that there was a breakthrough in the excavation process. I wish to see the fruits of our labor.” Cai looked around the caverns, he could never truly wrap his head around what was down here. Decades ago, state owned companies had begun digging deep into the Himalayas with the hopes of discovering new titanium deposits for the then ongoing modernization program. Instead, they found these caverns. Three separate exploration teams were sent into the caverns, each consisting of around a dozen men. All three were totally wiped out without leaving a trace, and without even revealing a single detail of the caverns. They’d then gone in force, with nearly a hundred men armed to the teeth. It turned out to be the correct solution. During this fourth expedition some manner of robot had attempted to stop their exploration, using force to try and physically remove them. Luckily due to their overwhelming presence and firepower, they were able to succeed in destroying the machine with a casualty rate of only seventy five percent. Unfortunately, by destroying the machine they had lost any knowledge that it might have held of this place. No one had the forethought to attempt and record the encounter either, meaning that all they were left with was the hollow husk of the destroyed machine.

“Of course sir. We managed to overcome a number of the security measures that were in place, though it took a number of bodies to accomplish.”

“How many?”

“Thirty seven of our prisoners, four of our infantrymen.”

“The prisoners aren’t worth much, but I’d rather not lose any more of my men…” He muttered under his breath. “Anything to show for it?”

“Actually sir, we do. The prisoners are carrying it out of the section now, we’re just waiting for them to arrive.”

“Oh?” Cai watched as a precession of men walked towards them from off in the distance, illuminated by the natural lights that were part of the cavern. They were carrying something that looked like a glass fridge with something inside of it, though what it was he couldn’t tell.

“Careful, you pieces of shit!” One of the guards escorting the ten prisoners carrying the item raised his rifle, aiming it at one of the prisoners who’d almost had it slip from his hands.

“We’re trying!” The prisoner shouted back, “But there’s no way to properly grip this thing, it feels like at any moment it’ll slip-“ As if sensing the comedic timing, the object suddenly slipped out of the man’s hands. “Wait, no!” The group surrounding the object tried to run at the last moment, but it was too late. A bright light enveloped the group. Once it had disappeared, it was seen that nine of the prisoners and two soldiers escorting them were also gone.

“They were disintegrated…”

“I suppose that makes forty six and six…” The researcher mused, noting it down on a clipboard.

The Colonel took a few steps closer, “No, not disintegrated… Vaporized. There aren’t even any piles of ashes left behind.” He turned to the researcher, “Explain this.”

“Well, we learned about this reaction when we first attempted to remove the object. Upon being taken out of a pedestal it was accidentally dropped, completely vaporizing the group. We sent in a second group to purposefully get vaporized to try and get a better understanding, so far all we’ve managed to determine is that it seems to be the result of what appears to be a high powered energy weapon.”

Cai grabbed the researcher by the collar, “If that’s all you’ve managed to determine through the deaths of my men, then perhaps I should have you personally examine it and see the effects first hand.”

“O-Of course not!” He quickly stammered out, “The effect isn’t produced by an electricity based weapon, and is more similar to that of a laser. However from our limited range tests we’ve been able to determine that it is not in fact a laser, but seemingly solid light filled with an immense amount of energy.”

“Solid light?” He dropped the researcher.

“Yes, solid light. We only managed to come to that conclusion because we undertook a closer examination of the light sources found in these caverns. At first we assumed they were impossibly thin bulbs with an even more impossibly thin filament that was near undetectable to the eye. But after we retrieved this object we realized that it was solid pure light. Hard light, if you will.”

“Hard light…” He walked over to the object, pulling out his sidearm and gunning down the only remaining prisoner that stood beside it. Then, he took a closer look.

“I wouldn’t get too close to it if I were you!” The researcher shouted.

Cai leaned over, peering in. And inside he saw that not only was there one object, but a series of objects. A whole suit of armor… But it was different from any traditional armor he’s ever seen. The closest comparison he could make would be to that of that man from the future in Japan, Spartan, but even so the armor looked far removed from what he wore. Not only that, but it looked to be made for someone that had to be around three meters tall. “Who were you, to have left such a thing behind…?” He muttered, staring at the armor.

Kaina climbed into the room through the window, shutting it behind her and closing the blinds as she dropped onto the floor. She took a deep breath, this was a place she hadn’t been to or thought about for the longest time… The room that she had climbed into was a safehouse for agents of the Hero Public Safety Commission, one nestled inside of a condemned building that no one has set foot in probably for decades at this point. The safehouse itself was long abandoned, having been taken off the list years before she’d started working for the commission. But she’d found it one day while working for them, using it as a way to get out from under their thumb from time to time. She’d also filled it with survival gear and other stuff, preparing herself for the likelihood that she might have to go on the run. And she’d tried back then, but she hadn’t exactly gotten far…

“Home sweet home…” She ran a finger over the wooden desk she’d kept by one of the walls, picking up a thick layer of dust. It wouldn’t take long before they noticed that she was missing, as they only needed to do a half hearted head count to notice that one of the prisoners locked up in the deeper part of the prison had gone missing. The longest that she would be able to stay in her hideout was for a day, any longer than that and she risked getting spotted by some person idly walking by, or by a Hero or police officer on their beat looking for her. She pulled out a box from underneath the desk, taking off the top and rummaging through the items left behind. One of the first things that she pulled out was a vacuum sealed bag filled with two sets of clothes, something that she’d bought right before her incident and being locked up in Tartarus.

Upon opening the bag and pulling out one of the shirts she found that it was slightly too big, along with the rest of her clothes. Evidently during her time at Tartarus she’d lost weight and shrunk a little. She didn’t mind too much though, it was far from the problem at the top of her list of priorities. Upon picking one of the two outfits she changed into the new clothes, folding the prison uniform before putting it next to the box. She then continued to rummage through the box, making sure that everything she’d packed was there. A backpack, several water bottles, a pair of survival knives, a bag of lighters and matches, a hot plate, a small metal pot with a cover, packs of wooden utensils, spare disposable bags, a wallet, sunglasses, a wallet, thirty thousand yen in bills, a number of burner phones, a pair of walkie talkies and a bag with a sleeping roll inside. Yeah, that was everything.

She quickly packed everything that was in the box into the backpack, all except for the sleeping roll. That she took out and laid out on the ground, positioning it in such a way that she would be able to have a view of both the window and the door. Then, after putting the backpack next to the roll she laid down, using her old prison jumpsuit as a sort of pillow. If she were to go on the move as soon as possible, then she would need to get some rest. Fighting her way through prisoners, prison guards and even a Hero was a great way to tire someone out, especially if they were out of practice. She stared at the ceiling, shut her eyes and then… There was a sound, one of the burner phones was ringing. She rolled over, looking at the backpack. That couldn’t be right, could it? There was no way that the cops could have found out one of her numbers, that was just impossible. Especially not after having bought it so long ago. No, this had to be a mistake. She turned back around staring at the ceiling, letting it ring out.

But then there was another call, on the same phone. Then after that a different burner phone was called, she was able to tell the difference because she’d given each of them a different ringtone in order to know which one was being called. Her eyes widened as the call to the second cut short, followed up by the third burner being called. Then the third was cut short, followed up by- She grabbed the fourth burner phone out of the backpack the moment it started to ring, “Identify yourself.”

“I don’t need to identify myself. But unless you want me to personally chauffeur the police to your current location, then I suggest that you stay on the phone. Lady Nagant.” She grit her teeth, she’d been tracked.

“How did you do it? I took every out of the way route I could think of, I made sure that not a single person saw me when I was making my way through the city. How?”

“The times have changed, and you’re no longer at the peak of your ability. The simple fact is that I was better than any person you could have guessed would track you.”

She quietly sat up, picking up the backpack with one hand as she eyed the door. “What do you want?”

“Stay where you are, or else I’ll put a bullet through your skull faster than you can even think about trying to escape from that room. And no, I’m not bluffing.” She watched as a high powered laser shined through the window, a dot showing up on the blinds. This was checkmate.

She sat back down, “What do you want?”

“I want to talk.”

Her grip around the phone tightened. “We already are talking.”

“No, I want to talk in person. Otherwise I would have dropped a landline into that room and ambushed you as soon as you stepped in.”

“Then why didn’t you just wait for me in person? It would have cut out the waiting time.”

“Because I’m not a moron, you would have noticed. I’d also like to not be traced myself.”

She relaxed slightly. “Fine, when and where?”

“Tomorrow at five in the morning at the waterfront, site of your first kill.”

“Site of my first kill…?” She echoed the words, “How could you know where-”

“Doesn’t matter, just be there. If you don’t show up then I’ll take it as you refusing to cooperate, then I’ll hunt you down.” The caller on the other side hung up without another word, she put the phone down with a sigh. She would have to destroy all five of her burner phones.

At a glance she saw that the red dot had disappeared, her eyes went back to the ceiling with a sigh as she rubbed her face. Just what the hell had she gotten herself into so soon?