Disclaimer: I do not own Starcraft or its affiliates
To kick of the celebration of the anniversary of Wings of Liberty, let's start out with the Terrans!
Video Footage Taken from Archive 13.2- Personal Library of General Rorke
"I really don't think you should be performing any streneous activities yet." Talia sighed as she met Anthony's demanding glare, shaking her head and tapping a pen against a clipboard. "Your biological systems may be back in sync and you may have completely recovered, but I worry what possible psychological effects that much trauma could've done to you."
"I'm fine doc! Did you see me mess up at all during that grand speech?"
"I noted a few motor movements that were odd, but nothing that could immediately be labeled as PTSD off the bat." The Medical General again sighed. "Even with that, I still am unsure..."
"It'll be fine. Rorke will be with me after all!" Anthony reasoned, trying so hard to convince the doctor. "If nothing else, he has enough medical knowledge to stablize me safely!"
"...fine." For the third time (she must really like sighing), the black haired woman let out a breath of frustration. "You can participate in your...'experiment trials.' Just be safe, I don't want to see you in here again for at least a few weeks!"
"Oh come on, how hard could it be?"
Test 1
"You got permission from the doctor to do this right?" Rorke nervously asked as he watched the Commander strap on the metal boots. "I'm just double checking!"
"Yes, yes, I got permission. Woah!" Anthony experimentally lifted a leg and was almost thrown off balance from how light the piece of equipment was. "Geez, this metal is really light!"
"Thanks to our new partnerships, I was able to acquire some materials that, by sacrificing some durability, could become amazingly light! It's a revolution that changes entires machines my friend; imagine the possibilities!"
"Wait, you said it sacrificed some durability?" Suddenly, Anthony was warily eyeing his General. "And you are sure this is safe?"
"Well, it's some minor issue about heating and whatnot that can be fixed over time! I even took the liberty of upgrading your revolvers with these new materials, so they are near weightless for you."
"Really?" The Terran drew his two signature weapons and weighed them, nodding slowly as he realized the weight change. He briefly frowned at the sight of some odd knobs and buttons on the stock, but realized that only his thumbs reached said options and opted to ignore them. "And this won't affect combat performance at all?"
"They should only jam up from rust after you fired them for a few million years if that's what you're asking."
"Ah." Anthony looked at his handguns and stared. Then, out of nowhere, he began to twirl them around with his fingers, a wide grin breaking on his face as he toss them up in the air and caught the dual revolvers with ease. "Okay, this is awesome now-ow!" He got too cocky in his taunt and one of the revolver stocks smacked him in the nose.
"Commander!"
"I'm alright, just...oh dear. Broken nose I think? Dammit, blood's on my revolver!"
"Ack, medic!"
TEST 1.5
"What's with the video camera?" Anthony suspiciously asked, gesturing to said device. "Are you planning to use the data from these trials for something?"
"Maybe, but it's more for us to have a replay of what had gone right and what had gone wrong in the trial," Rorke explained, turning a few dials and nodding as he gingerly grabbed a small lever. "Okay then! Let's try this out. Um, this is General Rorke, first official testing of Anthony's rocket boots, at...40% power!"
"That sounds a bit low."
"It is, but for safety reasons, let's just start out with that! Are you ready?"
"Of course."
"Then let's go!" With a click, Rorke yanked down on a lever and Anthony's new boots ignited at the soles, ingeniously designed hidden thrusters activating and lifting the equipment off the ground, as well as the Commander. They had lift off!
And then Anthony flew directly straight up into the ceiling of the chamber, slamming his head hard into the metal roof. At the same time, a shocked Rorke let go of the lever, the item smashing back up. Thus, the boots shut off, leaving a stunned Terran Commander flightless as he crashed back onto the ground in a shout of pain. "Youch!"
"Oh, um, MEDIC!"
Test 3
"Okay, sorry, that was way too much power! I forgot to take into account that the metals were very light!" Rorke hurriedly explained, fiddling around with more dials. "Alright, I've adjusted the settings so that we should be at...5% full power!"
"Seriously?" Anthony now had a bandage wrapped around his head as he glared at his subordinate. "5%? I won't even get off the ground at that rate!"
"You'll be surprise by how powerful these things are. Now, let's go!" Rorke pulled and watched the Commander expectantly. Any second now! Any second...! Any second...
There, a spark! Oh wait no, that was the engine's igniter...what was it doing, fizzling out of the boot? Oh, the low power setting must have backlogged the the engines, and the screws consequently come lose and oh look the Commander's sleeve is on fire-
THE COMMANDER WAS ON FIRE. "I'M ON FIRE!"
"OH! MEDIC!"
Test 5
A slightly singed Anthony slammed into a low hanging bulwark and racked his head against the floor in a sickening crunch.
Test 8
The boots only short circuited this time and Rorke muttered something about a shoddy programmer.
Test 13
Anthony narrowly missed ramming into Cain when the man entered the test chamber unexpectedly. He didn't miss landing on top of a cloaked Xana though, much to his own embarrassment at the squaffs from the Marine and the squeak of surprise from the Ghost.
Test 18
"I swear, I would rather face the Zerg naked than wear this stupid outfit!"
"Well, it could help balance out the weight!"
"NO, I am not wearing a bodysuit!"
Test 24
THE COMMANDER WAS ON FIRE.
Test 35
Snores was all that could be heard. Seemed as though Rorke accidentally turned the camera on in his sleep. Perhaps he was a sleep walker? Oh, that could be interesting...
Test 40
"Okay then!" A very, very, very weary Rorke announced, rubbing his dark ringed eyes. "Why am I so sleepy...? Anyway, let's get going. Test I-forgot-what-number-I'll-label-it-in-the-compilation! At the exact power measurement of 23.742-
"Just skip to the test already Rorke," Anthony tiredly ordered and the scientist nodded, pulling the now-worn out lever. Not even a warning or hint was needed.
Immediately, the boots ignited, just as always. That was a good sign: it meant that he wasn't going to catch on fire this time. And he wasn't shouting in pain either: that meant that the calibration was too high either.
However, it was clear that he was definitely off the ground as Anthony hovered unsteadily, throwing his arms out in an attempt at balance. Rorke watched curiously as the Commander flailed a bit before shutting off the boots. The engines inside died instantly and Anthony landed with ease, taking a few unsteady steps back to stabilize himself. "Rorke...I think I like that setting," The black haired Terran finally said, smiling.
"I do as well!" The green haired man cheered, a tired grin showing as he began typing. "I'll calibrate the settings around this result, and using the past data, I'll set the formula for settings that'll determine how you fly."
"Er...hate to be rude, but I didn't understand that at all."
"From this test, I can make you go up and down in a steady fashion. Here, pass me your revolvers." The Commander worldlessly did so and the General opened the stock of the dual weapons, revealing a range of circuitry inside. After a few minutes of tinkering, Rorke sealed back up the revolvers and handed them back to their owner. "There! You can now control your rocket boots using your revolvers! Here, I'll walk you through what each things does: this one controls your flight speed. This one toggles them on or off. This one allows you to ascend..."
O O O
"3! 2! 1! GO!" Cain shouted into the intercom, praying that the Commander heard as the test began. Immediately, his prayers were answered as Anthony drew his revolvers, spinning them in a very flashy way as the target dummies sprung up.
The Commander wasted no time as he flipped the small arms weapons back to proper handling position, firing bullets into the paper targets with ease. However, laser pointers suddenly appeared and began sweeping the room, a demonstration of what enemy return fire could look like. If he were hit even once, the test was failed.
Instead of taking cover as he normally did though, Anthony took in a deep breath and jumped upwards, narrowly avoiding one such laser beam as his jump boots activated. The Commander's fall never came as he ascended higher, a trail of smoking marking his path as he weaved past the lasers in the skies with ease, firing bullets whilst doing so. The Generals all took in a sharp breath as they watched their boss fly for the first time, and in all their heads, the irony emerged: he was robbed off his ability to walk normally, but now, he could fly!
Anthony realized this as well, as he laughed with glee as he felt, for the first time ever since he lost his legs, he felt free. "Oh yeah! I can fly!"