"Obviously, I love him; he's my dad." I muttered while lying down. A strand of my brown hair lingered over my face. I had grey eyes, thanks to my mother, apparently, as I gazed into the ceiling. At about 5 '8, 170 lbs, and 28 years old, I had long accepted my fate, taking after my mother's height more than my father's. I'm pretty wiry, but I'd like to say I have an athletic body. I was also known as Kael Everhart, a supposed "hero" of the city.
"Hmmm." A soft voice rang out.
"What does that, hmmm, mean? Just say what you wanna say." I replied.
"It's just, when you add obviously, it feels a little less obvious. So… I'll ask again, how do you really feel about your father?" It's as if maybe, it's a little more complicated than you feel comfortable admitting."
"Look, I love my dad, alright? I love my dad. That's the truth."
"Loved."
"That's what I said."
"You said loved, your dad's dead, so you don't love him, you loved him."
"Just so sensitive. Listen, if I didn't love him, we wouldn't be here, right?"
"We don't have to get into it."
I laughed, "no, we're getting into it now, because why would I do any of this if it weren't for the fact that I'm looking for the person who killed my father. Why would I have kidnapped you if I-" I noticed that blood seemed to be coming out of my nose. "Sorry, my apologies, I'm a bit of a bleeder."
"No, I think it's probably from when I kicked you in the face." The voice responded.
I finally looked over to the voice speaking with me, where I found my victim bound to a nice plastic chair I bought off of Express Way. He looked like a bald Hispanic dude, even though he was pretty young. Honestly, I found it a bit sad that he was already balding at his age; that's gotta be rough.
"You know, for being a low level thug it was quite nice to talk with you, but listen, I know you're part of the Eighth Circle or at least an associate of them so you're gonna tell me where I can find this person who murdered my father or else I'll drop you from this maintenance dock that's approximately 1.5 miles above the ocean give or take, a pretty nasty fall if I do say so myself. So what will it be, my good friend?"
"I'm not telling you shit, you fucking loser!" The man started screaming and flailing, but the cloth obscuring his vision only made him look goofy.
"Well, this is how I expected it to go originally, so it's time to go for the intimidation option." I leisurely strolled over to the chair I had him bound in and dragged him to the edge of the docking pad.
"I hope they kill you like how they killed your father. I hope they fuckin spank your little daddy issue bitch ass to death, you hear me!? Wait… where are you taking me? Why can I smell the ocean? Aren't we high in the sky?"
It seemed like my victim didn't take any joy in being dragged towards his demise, and yapped endlessly. "Well, I can tell you dropped out of high school because if you had been paying attention earlier, like a good school boy, you would've heard me mention we're about 1.5 miles above the ocean on a maintenance dock."
I paused, and scratched my head for a second, "Well, at least I think it's 1.5 miles, I didn't exactly do well in school either, had a lot of emotions to deal with, ya know, like my father's death. Anywho, let's get this over with, pal, I got a busy night ahead of me." I clapped him on the shoulder with my last remark and started tipping his chair over the edge of the dock.
"Wait, wait, no, no, no! Fuck! Please don't, I'm sorry, alright, I hope they only murder you, and not spank you to death, alright!?"
I briefly paused from hanging him over the ocean as I entirely took in the idiocracy of his statement. "You know, man, as a word of advice from someone who has also been kidnapped and threatened with being brutally killed, I personally wouldn't go with that sentence. It's either you ride or die with being stubborn, and at least have some dignity with your death, or you helplessly plead for your life. Anyways, sorry for the monologuing, I'm going to hang you over the edge now."
I tipped the chair over onto its back as the man now hung over the edge.
"Ahhhhh! Help! Help! Help me! Please, anyone, he's trying to kill me!" I watched in pity as the man pleaded into the roaring wind.
"Buddy, it's a government holiday, trust me, there ain't nobody around to hear you, especially in the middle of this rainstorm. It'd be best if you just saved your voice so you can answer my questions!" I yelled to the man over the howling wind.
"Fuck you! Fuck! Goddamit! Alright, I'll tell you the location of my outpost, Lewisburg Warehouse, in the civilian dockyard sector. You can't miss it, so pull me back up, please!
I pondered before responding to the screaming man. "Hmmm, are you really sure about that? I don't think you're that scared for your life yet. We just got started after all."
"I swear on my mother's life that's the truth! I promise, please!"
I shook my head in disappointment, "swearing on your mother's life is kinda fucked up, man, you better hope you're telling the truth." I sighed as I thought about my next step. To drop or not to drop? He had been a pretty good victim, all things considered.
Although he had cussed me out a little bit, he folded pretty quickly once I threatened him with a nice plummet into the sea below.
As the man continued to scream in fear for his life, I finally made up my mind.
"Hey, hey, why are you quiet? What's going on? I told you everything you wanted, man, please… just let me go."
"Huh… well, okay if you say so." I let go of the chair and watched as the man quickly plummeted to the sea below.
"EEEEEAGH!" The man screamed as he helplessly fell to his demise. His entire life of memories danced around his mind, desires, regrets, and everything would be over. The cloth covering his face vanished into the wind, and he closed his eyes in fear as the ocean drew closer and closer.
(...)
(...)
The man was in shock. Was he already in the afterlife? Was death really that painless? But if this was the afterlife, why did he smell the ocean? He slowly opened his eyes to see the dark blue armored plating of an exosuit. Rain streaked down the armored suit as cracks of thunder assaulted his eardrums. The armored man turned his gaze towards him.
"See, look at where cooperating gets you, wouldn't have to have done all this if you had just been more truthful earlier, when-" I wanted to continue my sentence, but I noticed the man had already fainted, probably from shock. "Well, guess it's finally time to get this show on the road."
I launched up into the sky and, within seconds, tossed the man back onto the maintenance deck before turning back to look at the city.
My father's exosuit, now mine, was also known as the Aegis-Frame. It hummed around me; the plasma jetpack kept me aloft as I hovered in the air. This suit meant everything to me. A piece of technology ahead of its time, powered by a tiny reactor, somehow capable of producing 5000 megawatts per second, yet the exosuit was stable. To be fair, though, I hadn't really ever tested the real limits of the suit. Although my suit could technically handle that energy output, I wasn't keen on testing that theory out. After all, any damages to the suit would be close to impossible to repair; the suit was simply ahead of this world's technology, let alone a 28-year-old who earns less than 6 figures a month in the world's most expensive city.
Blue lights rippled across its obsidian plates, illuminating my sharp, sleepless eyes, for I had slept only 2 hours beneath my visor. The HUD cast data across my vision, wind resistance, structural load on support beams, threat alerts, the whole shabang.
Even at this height, the ocean roared loudly along with the wind. Gigantic turbines churned seawater below, and numerous skyscrapers dotted the skyline. The main stand, though, stood out from everything as a tall needle reaching into space. The city laid out before him was also known as Babylon, a megacity built about 100 years ago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The city was built not only to celebrate but also to mark the new dawn of humanity under UGI, or the United Government of Earth. The giant needle poking out into the sky was additionally another mark of engineering and architecture, being the first space elevator ever built.
(...)
OBJECTIVE: TRACE SOURCE — "VALOR INCIDENT"
STATUS: UNAUTHORIZED TERRITORY
I hovered above the Lewisburg Warehouse as I contemplated my approach. I decided that I'd take a relatively stealthy option.
I adjusted my altitude as I descended into the building. The place was neon and industrial; it somehow felt alive despite how dead the area was.
It didn't help that, despite my belly being full of revenge, I was still exhausted, somewhat still grieving, despite it being over 10 years, barely alive, and statistically unhinged.
Symptoms of heroism, really, but I digress.
With a small breath, I angled forward and let the thrusters roar behind me as I got closer to a shipping container.
Dockyard Lewisburg was precisely what you'd expect: rusted cranes, stacked cargo containers, rats everywhere, to the point I'm pretty sure they had union representation. I could also smell salt, wet steel, and a hint of rotting corpses, which I hoped were the rats'.
I landed on a shipping container and quickly pulled up my HUD. A quick thermal scan lit up a cluster of heat signatures inside the warehouse —eight? Nine? Ten?
I crouched down, peering through the rain-warped skylight.
Yep. Armed guards. But, Low-level muscle.
Immediately, I recognized the purple armband and the snake emblem, The Eighth Circle. I gripped my fists as anger surged through me.
"So the bald guy wasn't lying, huh?" I muttered.
"Tragic. I was hoping to get him into the sun guilt-free."
I could try and be all stealthy about it, but I was Kael Everhart, and these fuckers, by association, were responsible for my father's death, so I chose violence.
I dropped through the skylight and smashed through the glass ceiling.
I hit the floor with a thunderous slam, blue rings of kinetic energy rippling outward. The kinetic energy slammed them backwards like bowling pins. One poor bastard slammed into the stabby part of the forklift, which ripped a hole in his leg. Ouch.
"Good evening, gentlemen," I said as they all regained their senses, pointing their guns at me. "I'm looking for someone. Preferably someone with answers. Preferably alive, though that part's flexible depending on how y'all want this to go."
One guy screamed something I assume was angry Spanish. I'm not sure what he said exactly because I failed Spanish in High School. I blame my dad.
Bullets sparked across my chest plating, but they ricocheted off my energy shielding. No bullet on this Earth was capable of penetrating my suit, but my plasma shielding further prevented any chance of receiving damage.
I charged the closest guy first. He flew across the factory floor. Another thug tried to throw a grenade, but his friend panicked and elbowed him in the jaw before he could pull the pin.
Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say.
With a quick booster dash, I disarmed two more and pinned a third to the wall by his jacket.
"Where's your leader?" I demanded.
He spat at me. But thankfully, it bounced off my shielding.
NOTIFICATION: SYSTEM MESSAGE
[Please get this human out of my sight, its biomatter is ruining my energy shielding]
"It's alright, Aegis, at least it didn't get on our plating." The message that appeared in my HUD belonged to Aegis's AI. I programmed him to mimic my personality, which happened to be a somewhat edgy, sorta depressed, but potentially charismatic superhero. At least, that's what Aegis described my personality as, which I take as a compliment.
Before I could ask a follow-up question, every light in the warehouse flickered off. My HUD dimmed, and to my horror, some of the systems glitched within my suit.
WARNING: SYSTEM JAM — SEVERE
POWER REDIRECTION DETECTED
[Uh oh.]
"… that's not good," I whispered.
A mechanical click echoed through the dark.
A cold, distorted voice rang throughout the warehouse.
"Kael Everhart. You never learned when to let go."
I froze. Everybody knew about Aegis, the suit, but only a few people in this world should know that I operated the exosuit. The warehouse lit up as bright red hazard lights and a massive charge detonated beneath the floor.
I didn't even get to swear before the blast hit.
(...)
The explosion threw me through three shipping crates and out the side of the warehouse like a wrecking ball. My HUD screamed warnings in a dozen colors.
SHIELD FAILURE
THRUSTER DAMAGE IN RECOVERY
MAINFRAME TEMPERATURE SPIKE
[Please refrain from dying.]
"I'M WORKING ON IT!" I screamed to Aegis. I tried to stabilize midair. The jetpack sputtered as my plasma thrusters fought against the rapid wind.
Just as I regained balance, I noticed that I had fallen through to an underground lair, and hordes of enemies swarmed around me. To my shock, I spotted not just numerous villains, but literal supervillains surrounding me.
"Holy shit, did you guys drop a pin in the city's villain group chat to ambush me here?"
At the corner of my eye, I spotted a figure walking up through the crowd of villains. My gaze hardened as I recognized him instantly. "Cipher…" He was a notorious villain known for his hacking capabilities; he fries your virtual implants within seconds, resulting in almost instant death. Luckily or unluckily, I was one of the few people in the world whose body rejected the implants, so he didn't pose a significant threat to me. But, he's still an opponent to be wary of nonetheless.
"Ah, I'm so glad that you recognize someone like me. It's truly an honor, Aegis. I've never run into a technology so advanced that there's not even a crack for me to wiggle into; it's like your suit is a blank void, yet I know there's something in there. Anyways, my apologies for rambling. If you'd like to surrender yourself here, our boss has promised that your life will be spared if you just join them."
"How about you go fuck yourself."
The man sighed. "Yeah, we figured you'd say that, so everyone… attack him!"
Within seconds, gunfire rang out across the warehouse, but the bullets couldn't penetrate my shields. With zero hesitation, I activated my plasma cannon and fired it at Cipher.
Boom! A rocky golem-like structure advanced in front of him and absorbed the beam, but it still almost punched through its body.
"Your opponent is us, Aegis." The golem rumbled as it charged towards me. I went to block it by crossing my fist, but then a massive bolt of electricity slammed into my suit, attempting to weaken my shields.
SHIELD INTEGRITY
99%
"Fuck!" I looked up to see a man covered in electricity hurling waves of energy at me. I tried to fire a plasma beam at him, but the golem was rapidly approaching, forcing me into physical combat with him.
BAM! CRUNCH! The lumbering golem attempted to hit me, but my plating and shielding brushed it off, and I quickly jabbed my fist forward, knocking it back.
I once again turned back to deal with the electro wizard bitch. Although his damage output was slow, if he hung around long enough, he could take down her shields. Although he trusted his armor plating, he didn't want to take that risk.
But, to his frustration, the bastard has moved locations, and by the time he relocated him, another super villain had arrived.
"Goddamit, you're with them too, Magnetus?" Standing, or I should say hovering before me, was Magnetus, a legendary hero turned super villain, whose power was the ability to manipulate and control metals.
"Well, my boss has promised me a lot of things, and they've given me a lot of upgrades, and part of my contract is making sure you lose today. But, I did want to say I'm a huge fan of your father, as you know we were sorta colleagues back in the day, it's unfortunate that things had to turn out the way they did, honey."
"Go fuck yourself bitch." I flipped her off.
"Oh come on, that's a bit mean-" I didn't let her complete her sentence as I chose to fire off some rockets from a jetpack. She attempted to control them, but I detonated them immediately, and a film of smoke coated the underground lair.
"He's trying to use the smoke screen to escape, switch to thermals if you have them!" Magnetus hollered.
She was right that I was using the smoke to operate undetected, but she was wrong about my attempt to escape.
My HUD flashed with numerous signatures until I finally found my target. Hiding away behind a shipping container, I located the electro bitch. Within seconds, my thrusters had me on top of him, and I was about to impale him with an energy spear… I couldn't move.
The electro fucker gave me a smug smile as if he had won the battle.
Although I was unsure of what was going on, Dad didn't raise an indecisive bitch, powered by the power of a nuclear reactor. I threw my energy spear straight towards him.
His smug smile vanished from his face, and before he could even scream, the spear went right through his head. The rest of his body tumbled over it, now being headless.
Using my suit, I expanded its search function to find more signatures, but to my utter bafflement, there were none left. As the smoke cleared, I noticed that all the villains were in a circle around the underground lair. To my horror, I saw runes drawn everywhere across the lair, red light emanating from them.
I was shocked; runes were practically considered mythical technology, bordering on the realm of magic rather than science. They were practically on the same level of mystery as my suit; to see real activated runes was not good to say the least.
"Clap! Clap! Clap!" I looked towards the catwalk where I spotted a figure wearing a black trench coat and a horned oni mask. Call it a gut feeling, but I had a strong feeling that "this" person was the boss and the person behind my father's death.
A distorted, robotic voice came out from the oni mask. "Surrender, else this will be your grave, Kael"
At this point, whatever remained of my rationality was long gone, replaced by pure anger. Without even uttering a word, I attempted to launch myself towards them, but the runes acted like chains pulling me down. Without wasting a breath, I aimed my plasma cannon at the bastard and released it in a fraction of a second.
However, as the plasma got closer and closer, it seemed to slow down until eventually it lost more and more energy and withered away.
"Resistance is pointless." The oni masked voice spoke again.
Seeing that my situation was rapidly turning South, I decided that I needed to flee. "Aegis reroute all power into my thrusters, analyze for the best method to escape!" I shouted internally.
REROUTING POWER
PLASMA THRUSTERS UNSTABLE
[I've rerouted all power to thrusters. Based on my estimates, you will have enough power to escape the rune containment.]
"God bless you, Aegis, execute energy transfer now!" With a roar of energy, the reactor flooded the thrusters with power, and a blaze of bluish-purple light lit up the room. The runes desperately tried to hold onto my frame, but with the power of a nuclear reactor pushing against the runes, they inevitably lost their grip, and my suit plowed into the sky.
"Hahahahaha! Fuck yeah, fuck you!" My excitement at somehow surviving the ideal had my adrenaline pumping like crazy as I shot further and further over the ocean.
WARNING FOREIGN DEVICE DETECTED
[I'm sorry, Kael, but it seems that the runes prevented me from detecting this foreign device. I'm rerouting all available power to protect the user. Goodbye, Kael]
I looked on in horror as my HUD displayed some kind of bomb strapped to the back of my exosuit. "Noooo!"
Boom!
The explosion was the equivalent of a hydrogen bomb. Alarms and warnings flooded my HUD. I desperately tried to wrap my head around what was going on, but it felt like I was being thrown around inside a washing machine.
Before I realized it, I was falling closer and closer to the ocean.
And then finally, I crashed into the waves. Saltwater flooded inside the exhaust port of my thrusters, and I could hear my reactor practically crying out as it tried to keep me alive.
I sank deeper and deeper; the sheer weight of the exosuit acted like an anchor, dragging me further down into the ocean.
My chest burned. My vision blurred.
No.
I can't die here.
Not before I found his killer.
Not before—
LAST SAFETY PROTOCOL INITIATED
EMERGENCY REACTOR SHUTDOWN
[I'm sorry, Kael.]
The most powerful piece of technology in the world, my family's legacy, and the hero of Babylon went silent.