July 24, 217512:00 P.M.
Jack was testing out the new training room. The reinforced floor was easily absorbing his attacks, and the new armour was having a definite effect on his strength. His Kana circulation felt smoother and more uniform; however, the armour did consume a significant bit of his Kana energy, which, according to Enak, was the minimal usage that the armour would consume.
Hundreds of cut-up dummies lay on the floor, and Jack stood there, enshrouded in Kana energy, Kazekiri roaring gently with sparks as he wielded it.
"Let's wrap this up with an empty and refill," he said as he stretched himself.
He increased his Kana energy distribution. The energy roared violently around him, and the crackle of sparks filled the air. His Dantian had significantly increased in size; that was evident, as he was able to keep up this amount of Kana usage for about five minutes now.
After his Dantian was almost emptied, he sat down and started to absorb energy to refill it. It was an exercise that was used to increase Dantian capacity.
"Hey Viora, what's the time?" he asked as he heaved himself up to his feet.
"It's 12:00 P.M., sir. You should get ready; the drive to Streeterville, Chicago is 8 hours at the best safe speed."
"Hmm, fair. What's Diana up to?"
"She is watching the news, sir."
"Anything interesting up there?"
"Nothing notable, sir."
"Alright, tell her to get ready."
After refilling his Dantian, he cleaned up, got ready, and finally entered the main hall.
Diana was sitting on the couch, ready to leave. As soon as she saw Jack, she gave him a nod and got up.
"Ready to move out?" she asked.
"Yup, I am all set. Should we get out?"
Just then, right as Jack was about to speak, a black mass manifested itself on his shoulder and took the shape of a small face.
"Yes, you should, fair lady. Pleasure to meet you, my name is Enak," it said.
"Uh, pleased to meet you too, Enak. The name is Diana."
"I see. We should get ready to leave," Enak said.
"What's going on? Why so sweet to her when you always show me down when you talk to me?" Jack mumbled.
"Chivalry. And besides, I have to make a good impression on her. She is the future queen," Enak said in his mind.
"Shhh, it's up to her. You can't just force it," Jack hissed in his mouth.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, talk less and get to work, young lord. We have an expedition to complete."
"Yeah, yeah."
Jack and Diana talked a bit, and then they got out of the pocket tent.
"Ah, Jack, where is our car?" Diana said as she climbed out of the door.
"Ah yes, Viora, get our car outside," Jack said to his holo watch after he got out. As soon as he said that, the door grew wider—big enough that, when it slid open again, the car emerged with the help of a hydraulic lift.
Jack drove the car out of the opening, and the tent shrunk back to its original size. Jack got out of the car and pressed the button on the door of the pocket tent. The door detached itself from the ground and shrunk back to its original size. Jack picked it up and tossed it back into the item pouch.
"Alright, time to get a move on," he said with a grin.
They got into the car and drove away. Diana had her reservations about venturing into a densely populated area in the current state they were in, but seeing Jack's confidence, she decided to put her trust in him.
They drove and drove for hours, chit-chatting on the way as they slowly reached Chicago. They had to divert the vehicle into the fields a lot of times when they had to cross toll tax checkpoints.
"They sure are patrolling hard," Diana said as they crossed an Ortho Sapien vehicle on the road.
9:00 P.M.
After hours of driving, they finally reached their destination. But after they entered the middle of the city, the first thing that Jack noticed completely flipped his mind.
He sensed some major fluctuations in atmospheric Kana energy.
The Kratians were all alive!
"Wh-What is happening here?" Jack stammered as he watched the Kratians use their Ikanamis.
"I–I don't know, I mean I am happy they are all alive but, I sense something off. They aren't interacting much with others."
"Yeah, almost as if they are forbidden to talk. It feels like mind control, but that at such a large extent is unreal," he said. "Lemme go out and talk to them."
Diana nodded. "Alright, but play it safe."
Jack got out of the car with a nod and walked to one of the Kratians who was carrying planks with his Ikanami.
"Where are these planks going, brother?"
"To the festival arrangements. There is a cultural Kratian-only festival tonight. You must be a human, I guess that's why you don't know about it."
"Mhm, I see. Thanks. It's just that a friend of mine I am looking for does construction work, so I thought if these are going to a construction site I would've asked you about him," Jack lied.
"Makes sense."
Jack nodded to the man and headed back inside the car.
"So?" Diana asked.
"It's either mind control or they have been fooled. Either way, there is no Kratian festival coming along. We didn't have that many festivals on Creta," Jack said as he told Diana what he had learned.
"Hmm hmm, let's go and check up on Ethan."
Jack sped up the car and headed deeper into the city and parked the car in one of the skyscrapers' parking lots.
"Just how much exposure are we gonna get ourselves?"
"Don't worry, that guy has a great hiding place, so off we go to the apartments," Jack said as he got into a lift.
"Uh, why are we going to the roof? There are no rooms on the roof as far as I know," Diana said as she watched Jack tap the button to the roof.
"You will see," he said, grinning.
When they reached the top, Diana came out first and scanned the area, hoping to see at least one door. When she didn't see any, she turned to Jack.
"Now don't tell me he lives on some carpets on the floor."
"Of course he doesn't," Jack said as he walked to a corner. He placed his palms on the wall.
Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere.
"Retina scan verified. Biometric scan over. Verified. Jack Hauston, friend. Codename: Exhaust. Welcome, Mr. Hauston."
A portal door slowly manifested itself from the corner.
Jack turned back at Diana, a grinning smirk on his face.
"Am I the only one of your friends that doesn't have this?" Diana asked, stupefied.
"It's not like that. My grandfather gifted it to his father when Ethan's father was in my father's team."
"Alright, alright, now get in."
Diana entered first and then Jack entered. The wall returned to normal again and they were now standing in a living room.
"This much space—doesn't this feel like they are ripping off the apartment owners?" Diana asked as she looked around the place.
"They are the owners," Jack said. "ETHAN! We are here!" he called out.
No response.
"I see what you are up to."
Jack walked to a bookshelf in the room and started to count the books of the top shelf.
"Pick up the fourth on the right and replace it with the third one to the left," he muttered as he exchanged the books.
The floor below the bookshelf opened and the bookshelf descended, revealing a corridor that was hidden behind it.
Jack entered and Diana followed, and after walking for a few minutes, they stopped at a door.
"Well, please wait here. Imma go talk to that snowflake," Jack said as he made a makeshift chair out of Kana energy.
He knocked on the door and entered.
The room was dark. The only light was the light of the computer that was on. A small refrigerator was arranged in the corner, and a lot of dustbins were at the side of the bed.
The AC was blasting at the lowest temperature. The atmosphere was so cold that Jack, who had just come from outside, felt like he had just walked into ice.
"Yo," he said to a figure that was huddled under a blanket in front of the computer.
"Uh hey, welcomes Jack," the man said in a dead voice.
"Man, expressionless as ever. You show more expressions when chatting. Anyways, glad to see you are alive. I'm glad, Ethan."
"Yeah yeah, I have been keeping tabs on them, and I'm alive here, and everyone else is too, for now at least. I don't have any insider info because I didn't have a means to infiltrate their network," he drones.
"Gahh, turn off the AC, I am freezing," Jack said as he reached for the remote.
Ethan turned off the AC, then he stretched and stood up. The blanket fell on the chair.
"Damn, you're a mess. How long has it been since you went out?" Jack said, looking at his friend—his dark circles, sunken eyes, faded eyes, and long beard and wild hair.
"Not much, three months. Went out to stock food. I still have enough for another month," he said.
"Well, I have a lady accompanying me, so you better clean up."
"Why did you bring a lady here? You know I don't like talking much to people."
"It's ok, this isn't the same world where we have a choice in everything. Things have changed, and so should we."
Ethan gave a soft nod and went near the fridge. A small portal door opened there and he went inside.
Jack came back to Diana in the meantime.
"Did you find him?" she asked.
"Yeah I did. He is washing up."
"How long has it been since he last took a bath? I heard those people don't bathe often."
"He is antisocial, yes, but he takes care of his hygiene. Not his appearance though."
They chatted for a few more minutes and then they heard a voice from the back.
"Hey Jack, I'm done. Is this the lady?" Ethan said.
He had trimmed away his beard and had his long hair tied back.
"Yeah, looking better now by the way."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyways, how are things in the Kratian reserved areas?"
"It's a massacre. I was honestly surprised when I saw Kratians. Maybe we should just camp out and wait for the regular monthly survey of the human government of the Kratian areas. Maybe things will get somewhat resolved," Diana said. "The name is Diana by the way. Nice to meet you, Ethan. Jack has told me a lot about you."
"I see. Hope Jack spoke well about me."
"Hey, I don't snitch," Jack interrupted. "Anyways, I don't think it's gonna get resolved that easily. The people in these areas are under mind control. And that festival... I feel something sinister is brewing."
Jack had just finished saying this when a notification came on his OrthoSapien wristband.
"All personnel who are stationed near the shared cities are to stay vigilant. If an order comes tonight, all are to respond immediately," said a message on the broadcast.
"Nailed it, I think," Jack said as he turned the band to sleep again.
"Where did you get it?" Ethan gasped as he grabbed Jack's wrist.
"From one of the officers I killed. Have a lot of them, I can give you one if you want."
"That's awesome. It will allow me to finally get some insider info, and then I can help y'all once you leave."
Jack pulled out a wristband from the item pouch and held it out for Ethan, but then he realized the 'you' part.
"What do you mean 'you'? You're coming with us," Jack said, dumbfounded at the statement.
"Oh no, I'm not. I'm staying here. I will help you by talking to you over Kana network. I have food for the next month anyways."
"What the—? No, you're coming with us."
"No I'm not. Bye," Ethan said, and he snatched the wristband from Jack's hands and raced towards his room.
"Shouldn't we stop him?" Diana said to Jack as she heard Ethan slam the door to his room.
"He will be back to normal soon. Stay here. I will be going out to uncover what they are brewing under the pretext of this festival. I'm gonna be back soon and talk to him once he gets back his mature brain," Jack said with a sigh.
He led Diana to the living room and asked her to rest there.
"Here, have this. You can go inside to rest when you want," Jack said as he handed her the pocket tent.
"I'm coming too."
"Not right now. I won't be fighting, I think," Jack said as he walked out of the portal door.
"What do you mean 'I think'?" Diana said to the walls that didn't listen.
Outside, Jack stood at the boundary of the roof.
"Alright, Enak. We are in for some investigation. Are you ready?" he said to himself.
"Ready as ever, young lord," Enak said.
Flap! Swish!
Black fibre emerged from his chest and spread all over his body, and with a swish, the overcoat manifested and Jack stood there in the majestic armour, ready to act.
"Let's get some high ground first."
With this, he initiated his body-strengthening Ikanami and diverted the highest amount of energy he could to his legs.
BOOM!
He jumped. He bolted through the air like a bullet and deployed a Kana slab underneath him when he reached the highest point. There he stood, hundreds of feet in the sky, completely unnoticeable as a black dot in the dark sky. He reached out for his binoculars and started to scan the area.
And then he saw them—a truckload of something burning blue standing on a hill. He zoomed in, and his eyes widened in shock and disgust as he saw what they were.
"Damned terrorists," he said through gritted teeth.