The metallic hall was silent save for the mechanical hum of the blue floating displays on either side of the walkway. Ezreal slowly approached one, which displayed a revolving hologram of a spider-like machine with a circular eye in the center of it. As Ezreal got close, the display suddenly sprung to life; the sides of the holographic android sprouted outward as wings on a bird, and began spouting out yellow rounds of bullets.
Ezreal instinctively shielded his face with his hand until he realized that the android, and the bullets, were only apparitions of light.
Corsair is heard behind him, chuckling.
"That is the Aperture Science Sentry turret. It took us a mere month to complete that project."
After these words Ezreal then noticed the words above and below the floating display; above the display was written, Project Tutela. Below the display was a flashing blue bar, with a single word beside it: COMPLETE.
Ezreal then moved on to the next display, which had what seemed to be a handheld gun with claws protruding from its end, small sparks of electricity bouncing about within them. Above this holograph was written Project Prodigium. Unlike the display before, the bar underneath the hologram was barely halfway full, 53% floating next to it.
"What's this thing?"
Corsair has to think for a moment before answering.
"That's actually classified information. But, since it's you, I'll tell you; That is the Aperture Science Portable Quantum Tunneling Device . What it does…well, what it's supposed to do is shoot out linked portals, allowing the shooter to pass through them. It's still in development, as you can see. We're having a bit of trouble working it out; it's been in development for over fifty years."
He suddenly looks at his watch, which in turn causes him to slightly jolt.
"But enough of this dilly-dallying, follow me; we're actually quite late."
Ezreal follows Corsair down the hall, who was walking at a faster pace than he had ever seen before. As he did, they passed numerous other projects, including one displaying a mighty hammer, small currents of electricity running through it.
"Late for what?"
Corsair doesn't reply until the two reach the very end of the hall, standing in front of a display with what seemed to be a suit of some sort. The progress bar on this display was full, but the words beside it, instead of saying COMPLETE, read TESTING. He finally turned to Ezreal with a smile and said,
"You'll see."
Ezreal's eyes look upward and reads the words displayed over the holographic suit; Project Pulsefire
In the meanwhile, Corsair pushes his hand through the holographic display, then pulls out it out, extracting a small numerical keypad. After a punching in the corresponding numerical password, the keyboard disappears along with the entire display, the wall behind it opening to reveal an empty space; an elevator.
After stepping inside of it himself, Corsair waves over to Ezreal to enter as well. He does so wordlessly, once again baffled at the sudden appearance of technology hidden behind something else. Now that the two are safely standing inside the elevator, the door to it shuts, then begins its rapid descent into the earth.
As soon as the metal doors close, Corsair immediately speaks.
"It's going to take a while for the elevator to reach our laboratories, so allow me to explain where we're going."
He takes a deep breath before he continues speaking, the sound of the air being sucked inside of his mouth mingling with the whooshing hum of the elevator descending through the ground.
"To tell you the truth Ezreal, your cryogenic sleep project was only a part of something bigger, another project. This project is called Project Pulsefire, and it involves you in more ways than you think. I'll start from the very, very beginning.
"More than century ago, you found a mysterious gauntlet, embedded with a blue, magical stone."
Ezreal remembers his beloved gauntlet and suddenly interrupts.
"Yes! Do you know where it is?"
Corsair merely raises his hand and calmly responds.
"Please, just let me finish."
Ezreal silences himself, impatiently listening to what this man had to say.
"So as I was saying, you found this gauntlet in a cave more than a century ago. Ever since then, Aperture Industries has had an interest you Ezreal. We have observed you through the years as you fought alongside other Champions on the Fields of Justice, we have followed you throughout your life. Not only that, but we soon discovered other people took an interest in you, people who wanted that gauntlet for themselves.
"Many attempts to steal your gauntlet were made, but each time, we have stopped them in secret, careful to make sure you didn't find out that many people were watching you. As we continued to observe you, your gauntlet, we discovered something incredible; Ezreal, you and the gauntlet, right from the moment you put it on, went through genetic transfusion. Meaning, the gauntlet essentially became a part of you."
Ezreal was now suddenly engrossed in what Corsair had to say. So for his whole life, ever since he had found that glove, this company had been stalking him? And not only that, now this man was telling him that the gauntlet had secrets even he didn't know about?
Corsair continues,
"The gauntlet was obviously no ordinary gauntlet. When I say it went through genetic transfusion with your body, I mean that it literally became a part of you. You could make it do whatever you want to, exactly like how your brain tells your fingers to move. When we discovered this, we immediately began work on Project Pulsefire, a scientific endeavor to emulate the characteristics of your gauntlet.
"Problem was, the technology we had during the time was not even close to what was needed to achieve this. Plans were then brought up to just steal your gauntlet as others have tried. But this would be futile, since we knew that only you could activate its arcane powers. And that is why you're here Ezreal; you were chosen as our candidate for cryogenic sleep not just for the sake of discovering how to achieve century-long slumber, but for the project that had you in mind all along."
Ezreal nodded. He had always suspected that this company had ulterior motives, but never would he have thought it was something this deep.
"Now, we have your gauntlet in the laboratory we are headed for. While you were asleep, we tampered with it, trying to find out its secrets. And, as you might have guessed, we were unsuccessful.
"But, as the years went by, we discovered that by using your DNA samples on the stone within the glove, we could tease a bit of its power out of it. As you slept on, we continued to play with it, trying to amplify its power. So now, Project Pulsefire isn't about emulating your precious gauntlet; it's now about upgrading it, pushing it, so it can reach its full potential. It's not just a gauntlet anymore. As you saw in the display, it is a skintight, genetically transfused all-body weapon.
" By the time we finished it, we were sure that with you, the gauntlet and its powers would be unstoppable. We ran it through simulators on the Fields of Justice, and sure enough, with our Pulsefire systems, you could be able to fight against five Champions singlehandedly. We upped the bar by adding more Champions with smarter intellects until you reached your limit. The information that the simulator spouted out baffled us; with your Pulsefire suit, you could be able to take on the entire roster of Champions during your time and defeat them singlehandedly."
If he was amazed before, Ezreal was much beyond that now.
"Now then, we're about fifteen levels away from our destination. There, you'll learn of all the features of your Pulsefire suit and go through the genetic transfusion.
"Oh, I just know this will be amazing. After the transfusion, you will be placed within our Enrichment Center, where you'll be able to finally use our pride and joy, while also proving yourself worthy of our cause. I'm sure this project will blow all of our others out of the water."
Corsair's eyes were gleaming. Ezreal almost laughed at the man's giddiness. In a split-second, the enthusiasm suddenly dissipates from his eyes. Corsair turns to Ezreal, this time wearing a face of apologetic concern.
"Look Ezreal. I'm sorry of the short notice. This is a life-changing process that we're going to perform on you; after today, you won't be the man you were before. You will be a part of a machine your whole life. Are you sure-"
Ezreal cuts him off with the raising of his hand.
"Okay now it's time for you to look. I signed a contract with you guys for the sake of adventure, to try something new. I don't care what you do to me, just make sure that I get my end of the bargain."
Corsair is stunned. This definitely not the reaction he had anticipated. Ezreal gives him a reassuring smile, causing him to try his best to smile back.
Suddenly, the door in front of them opened with a hiss, letting in white light to momentarily blind to two before they stepped out. Ezreal felt a slight bit dizzy as he followed Corsair through the white halls.
On either side of them, windows looked inside rooms filled with scientific apparatus, men and women wearing jumpsuits and facemasks working inside each one. As he observed his surroundings absentmindedly, Ezreal reviewed the small schedule put out for him.
Well I wondered about where my gauntlet was ever since I awoke. And I've also been itching for a fight. I guess this is good for me.
Then, a sentence from Corsair's rambling before made its way into his thoughts.
"…proving yourself worthy of our cause."
Proving myself? What do I have to prove? What cause?
Even after all of this new information that is bestowed upon him, for some reason Ezreal felt confident, ready to take on whatever these people had in store for him. But still, a small doubt inside of his mind told him that they still had secrets not shared with him.
Ezreal is suddenly broken from his thoughts as he and Corsair stand behind yet another door, this one circular and imprinted on its front the words, Pulsefire Armory Tier 1 Access Only. Yet another keypad presents itself before Corsair, who types the password in quicker than ever before. The door opens silently, and the two enter inside, one of them ecstatic to finally see his work put into action, and the other skeptical, many questions in his head unanswered.
If any of you are wondering, Corsair should sound exactly like Cave Johnson. :3