We found ourselves processed and stripped of our armor before we were thrown, literally, into a massive holding cell of some sort. We were dressed in loose fitting garments that were equivalent to a prisoner's uniform and stripped of any kind of potential weapons or miscellaneous items. Being the last one to be captured, naturally, I was the last one to arrive as well, and was tossed in harshly. They'd kept my glasses so my vision was blurry and my equilibrium was off. I hit the metallic floor with a thud and just laid there for a moment.
"Welcome aboard Commander Ares." A voice said from behind me. "They call me Hot Rod, and it seems I'm the last general that remains loyal to Hakai Suru. Now that we've apprehended not only you but Miss Hino as well, we'll be preparing all of you for the wedding. Which reminds me..." He tossed something at me that bounced across the metal floor until it rolled to a stop in front of my face. I could see things clearly that were that close. It was the engagement ring I'd given to Rei. "...she won't be needing that anymore, though, really, neither will you when he arrives. I'd kill you all myself, but you've given him so much trouble that he's insisted upon having the honor of tainting your souls instead. When this is all said and done, you'll be working for him as low level soldiers." He laughed and shook his head. "Death by irony, what a way to go." I picked up the ring and clutched it in my fist, closing my eyes and tightening my jaw as the tears of rage began stinging without mercy.
"So help me, Hot Rod, when I get out of here, I'm going to kill you." I growled quietly. He scoffed and shook his head.
"Save your breath, Ares, you'll need it to beg for mercy later." He said before his blurred figure turned and walked away. His voice was not the voice of Greg, further confirming that if Poseidon was still among the enemy, it had to be Glitch. I slid over to the barred wall of the cell and held the ring in front of my face.
"Alex, are you alright?" Usagi moved to sit beside me as did several others. Tyrone and Bruce simply laid back in the cell and stayed quiet.
"I should've seen this coming. I was too arrogant, this is my fault." Rei was not among them, I knew. She was a far more important prisoner than any of us. Were I in his shoes, Rei would be kept prisoner within the confines of a luxury suite of some sort, I imagined that she was likely in the best position to cause problems for Hot Rod and rescue the rest of us, though, there were still others on Earth who could make the attempt as well. I hadn't heard from Jackson in nearly two months now, so I doubted that he'd be in a position to do anything.
"You're not giving up, are you?" Makoto asked. I shook my head and put the ring in my mouth before finding a loose thread on my uniform and pulling it out to a length of about three feet before ripping it off entirely. I used it to make a kind of necklace to hang the ring around my neck.
"Can't give up." I replied. "This is no dream, this is my reality, if I give up on her, if I give up on myself, then I'm already dead. I know what I want, and I'm not going to stop until I achieve it or until I've died trying, whichever comes first." I stood up and walked out to the middle of the floor in the cell. Tyrone and Bruce turned to look at me.
"Sup?" Bruce asked.
"We need to be ready." I told them. Bruce and Tyrone exchanged glances.
"You're thinking of trying to bust out of here?" Tyrone asked. "How are you planning on doing that?"
"Especially since you're kinda blind right now, dude." Bruce pointed out.
"Because I know how to summon my armor." I replied. Bruce and Tyrone both sat up straight.
"They took away your teleporter, didn't they?" Bruce asked. I shook my head.
"Not that armor, my real armor." They exchanged glances again and nodded before laying back on the ground.
"Well then, let us know when you're ready, Sir. It won't work seeing as this cell is charged with an anti-power field that will not allow mystical energies of any type in or out, but we're still yours to command, beats going back through Hakai's ranks." Bruce sighed. I nodded and walked over to a quiet spot and sat down, a popular means of connecting one's self with their own inner energies was meditation back home. In many animes, it was also a popular means of massing power of the ki and/or chi types. It couldn't hurt to try, so I did.
"Welcome, Alex." A voice greeted me. I opened my eyes and found myself standing in what appeared to be a desert fortress of some sort. The structure was made of sand stone blocks, likely as thick, if not thicker, than the ones used to construct the Egyptian pyramids. The interior was decorated in red, purple, and gold. The tapestries that draped over the walls were beautifully crafted and inlaid with gold and silver threads that made them twinkle in the dim fire light. The floors were polished to a glassy finish that allowed the light from the wall-mounted torch sconces to reflect and refract, showering the place in a brilliant rainbow of lights and effects.
"Oh wow, this place is beautiful." I gasped out. A hand patted me on the shoulder and chuckled.
"Isn't it, though? I remember, I had that saw awestruck look on my face when Rei's parents first brought me here for training." It was Ares. Not my power armor, but the REAL Commander Ares. "Even still, though, the beauty of this place is only a vain attempt to capture the inherent beauty of the Martian Princess."
"Ares... wait... you're me?" I asked. He stopped and chuckled, shaking his head.
"Quite to the contrary, Alex, I'm not you. But you are me. I exist within you and always have." He nodded. "Hakai Suru will bring you here, to The Martian palace. He cannot rightfully marry Rei until he has resolved the dispute between the two of you, as is Martian custom. There will be a duel and he will attempt to use one of these against you." Ares held up a ruby like the one in the plastic bag. "If you allow it to touch your heart, it will devoid you of humanity and you will become a mindless creature, acting solely on your desires without concern for the well being of any other creature or thing.
"Is that what happened?" I asked. He nodded slowly, shamefully.
"The witch is still beside me, manipulating me with her powers. She will attempt to manipulate you as well, and don't be surprised if she successfully manipulates Rei. Remember your honor, though you may not be of Martian birth, the spirit of Mars and it's people burns hot within your heart. He offered me a hand and I accepted it, grabbing his wrist and he mine. "I've one last gift for you, it is the cumulative sum of my powers. Use them wisely and may they serve you better than they did me." A rolling ring of fire traveled down his arm and made contact with mine driving a burning pain through my entire body.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" I cried out, my body thrashing around inside the cell, bringing the others to their feet and drawing the attention of the guards as well. My body cried out and my limbs lashed out, but my eyes were closed and my consciousness was not there.
"What the hell is going on out here?" Hot Rod yelled.
"I don't know." Tyrone said. "He just started going into seizures... I think he was meditating."
"GUARDS! TRAIN!" Hot Rod yelled and each of the other six prisoners had a rifle aimed at them as Hot Rod opened the door and walked into the cell. "Back away all of you." He walked up to me and sighed. "Dammit. Get him to medical now, Hakai will have my ass if he doesn't survive. MOVE IDIOTS!" He kicked a slower moving guard. The rest of them ran up with a stretcher and moved my body over to the stretcher. Bruce and Tyrone cocked an eyebrow each and exchanged glances suspiciously, but then returned to their prone positions in the center of the cell as the girls lined up on the cage wall, watching them carry my convulsing body away.