So, here's the question at hand:
How badly have y'all missed me?
Eh, I hope it's not too badly. Things are still crazy in the world, after all.
Review!
Subject ZeroOne: To answer your question, he's about as durable as Geo himself would be, if only a little less so, since Geo has had training, thanks to Gwain and Marlow. And keep in mind, Geo has had a fully loaded cargo/passenger train (despite how uncommon that combination is) run him over, and only suffer from broken bones and a severely dislocated arm, and the dislocated arm was his own doing with how he grabbed the train. Keep in mind that if we look at the video and take it at purely face value, there were 5 passenger cars, 3 freight cars, and the locomotive itself. Passenger cars each weigh in at 15-17 metric tonnes (16.5 - 18.7 tons). The freight cars are much harder to figure out, but 2 of them look to be loaded to about 40% capacity, and the other is unknown, so we'll assume 50% capacity. If so, then the average maximum allowed weight of a freight car is 268,000 lbs, or 134 tons, which translates to ~122 tonnes. 40% of that number is 48.5 tonnes (53.4 tons), and 50% is 61 tonnes (67.2 tons). The locomotive itself? Nearly 200 tonnes (210 - 220 tons). Each of these objects moving at speed would completely eviscerate a gate that is a meter thick made out of damn near any metal out there, and Geo tanked the hit from those numbers with only (relatively compared to what would happen to normal humans) superficial damage. That means that humans in this realm are so durable that there's practically nothing that can actually stop them physically, only alternate methods will work. As for the gauntlets? We'll find out, won't we?
That's a lot of explaining I did there, geez. Sorry to hit you with numbers like that, but my point is this: Humans can tank a hit from a speeding train. That means that they tank damn near anything technologically made that isn't traveling at re-entry speeds.
Now, onst with the tale, no?
Disclaimer: Once again, I claim no ownership for this story. Because the last three chapters stated it pretty explicitly. However, to keep on the track record, I have to put this here. Also, there will be a few assumptions made about Gwain's past here, so bear with it!
And by the by, shout outs to anybody that can figure out what song will be shouted out here!
Chapter 4: Just Gotta Survive Long Enough
It's been all of a few hours since Gwain tasked me with getting Geo out of Luna's HQ, despite how rediculous the task actually was. And, well...
I haven't been taking it well.
"What the fuck, Gwain?!" I bellow at the queen in question as I stomp into her throne room, well after all parties involved in the explanation of events at MoonTech HQ had left. My feet leave large cracks behind in my fury, though I pay no heed to that right now.
All of my ire is focused on the aloof-looking queen sitting on her throne with an eyebrow quirked and her head resting on her right hand.
"You'd best watch your tone with me, human." Gwain states flatly. There's a threat in there somewhere.
I ignore it. I halt my stride at the base of the steps up to the throne.
"And you'd best watch the way you talk to me after the shit you've pulled on me thus far, woman." I growl, gritting my teeth in anger. "Why in the nine rings of hell did you decide to send myself along with Ami to get Geo out of MoonTech if there was actually nothing to be done about it?!"
"There was plenty to be done-" Gwain starts, but I ruthlessly cut her off.
"Bullshit." I state sharply. "Luna directly stated to my face, with no fear at all, that you had your hands tied under practically all circumstances. So explain to me why you felt it necessary to put me in what equated to unnecessary peril. Please, I'm all ears." I state, crossing my arms and waiting for any response.
Gwain levels a glare at me, clearly irked at my attitude. She removes her head from her hand and sits up straight. The threat is not lost to me. "Human, you'd do well to consider the circumstances-" she begins again.
I don't let her say any more. I'm already in her face, and throwing a punch at the back of her throne. It connects, and with a violent crack, half of the backrest is sent careening into the back wall of the throne room with enough force to send a massive series of cracks all along the wall, and a thunderous boom to rip through the room.
In my fury, I failed to notice that my hand had nearly broken the sound barrier, as a vapor trail formed behind it at the motion.
I'm now staring down at the queen with palpable rage, my arm extended beyond her head, as she stares up at me with careful facial control, trying to keep her shock and very slight fear at bay.
Her eyes give it all away, but only for a moment. However, her face transitions to raw anger, and she stands, forcing me to take a step backward as she presses her own body against mine to stand, with or without my consent.
I had never noticed this before, but I stand only a couple of inches over her. She really is a tall woman.
That's about all I get to really notice in that small moment, before a blinding pain lances up my torso. I look down to see Gwain's fist, glowing with magic, buried into my diaphragm.
Then the magic reacts to the compression, and fires back.
I'm blown away from Gwain, bodily slamming into one of the pillars in the room. I bounce off, but take half of the pillar with me as I hit the floor. I jump back to my feet, and get into a loose stance, ready for any attack.
Gwain does not disappoint, as she flies at me with a kick moving so fast that it makes the air around it whistle.
I catch her leg, reminding me of our first little spat.
I do not let go, this time, however. I'm far, far too angry for just that. I instead tighten my grip on her leg, savagely grinning at her wince, before whipping a 360 and launching her back the way she came from.
Her form, cloaked in magic to soften the impact, rams into the base of her throne, leaving a deep trough in the steps as she gets redirected over the remnant for her throne from the impact.
I stomp my way toward her, keeping my arms up and my steps heavy, ready to brace again if she flies at me again.
No such event occurs, as she simply stands up and glares at me.
"I've been treated like a fucking animal by you since I got here, and I'm tired of it, Gwain." I bite out, continuing my advance angrily. "I had done nothing to you when I arrived, and the first thing that you did was try to put my ass down. I did nothing as you had me imprisoned, and I could have easily escaped the man that you sent to get me from said imprisonment. You then sent me to what amounted to be the most advanced building in the city, which was armed with live weaponry, and is host to the single most technologically advanced individual and company, with said individual almost entirely willing to put me down should the circumstances permit. You've been trying to get me killed, and I have done nothing but be a victim of circumstance." I rant, continuing my stride toward her.
"There is a reason for that-" Gwain starts, but I cut her off once more.
"NO!" I scream in her face, having just gotten point-blank to her. I make no motions to swing at her again, but I'm so pissed off that there's a veil of red on the edges of my vision from clenching my teeth so hard that they're nearly cracking. "What you're being is a xenophobic, racist individual that can't see someone who has done nothing! What you're doing is putting everyone in your city in danger by letting a madwoman run rampant and do whatever she wants! What you're doing is being a coward who can't see things passed the surface level and can't even stand up for her own daughter!" I bellow. I heave for breath angrily, having used my entire lung capacity to scream so loudly that anybody in the castle likely could have heard me me if they listened.
Gwain says nothing. She keeps her aloof expression as I tremble in front of her.
"I'm so fucking done with this already, and I have only had the total experience of less than 24 hours in your presence." I emphasize. "Yes, I am a human. Yes, based on what I have done physically in just the last few hours, I know that I am an extremely strong being and by conjunction extremely dangerous. However, what I also am is a sentient being with emotion, intellect, and opinions, just like you, Gwain." I state, my arms trembling as my emotions start to run truly wild. "So make up your mind about me, and either kill me and be done with it, let me go on my way, or give me a reason to want to help you. Please." I beg her, before I start to walk away.
"Wait."
I stop, having made it halfway across the throne room, to see Gwain sagged over, a distraught look having taken over her entire being. "I... apologize." Gwain manages to get out, before making her way to the bottom half of her throne and sitting on it, and placing her face in her hands, covering her eyes and leaving her mouth open for speaking. "I knew, deep down, that you and Geo honestly never wanted any part in this, but ended up with no choice but to adapt. Geo has adapted well, and my daughter has helped him through a lot, as he has her. But..." Gwain stalls, before heaving a massive, shuddering breath. "But my hatred for humans has stemmed from losing my mother to one, so long ago. I was only a teen, and my mother was murdered by a human who was nothing short of a warmonger, aiming to take all he could into his tyrannical reign." Gwain explains, raising her head and looking me dead in the face.
I wait for her to continue, keeping my expression neutral and hiding the simmering fury for this woman behind it, which is starting to wane in the face of this new development.
"It took the combined effort of hundreds of Teorans to finally bring that monster down, and he alone killed thousands. So you can understand my skepticism toward humans after having many of my fellow Teorans murdered by the hands of just one." Gwain continues, before sighing. "I was afraid to see any other humans become like that, and the best way to stop them was to kill them before they got the understanding of just how powerful they are. At least... that's what I convinced myself."
"Yeah? Then why did Geo live?" I ask. "If that was really how you felt, Geo would not have survived the first fight with you at all, whether or not your daughter had the hots for him at the time or otherwise. So there had to be a reason."
"I..." Gwain started, before sighing. "I guess I couldn't bring myself to outright kill another being of sentience. I saw his face, and..." Gwain trails. She doesn't complete the thought, but I can do well enough myself to figure it out.
"Look, Gwain." I start, and when she looks to me, I continue. "I can understand where you're coming from. Really, I do. PTSD is some nasty stuff, and I had a friend back home that had it, and it really made his interactions others rather hard. However, I can only say that it's better to move forward over dwelling in the past. After all, how can progress in one's life be made if you just sit there and don't advance?" I ask, before turning to the door and continuing to walk forward. "If there's anything that I could say to all of this, it's that I'm sorry. I got upset for reasons that aren't good enough to be so angry about, and I really took them out on you. So, let's just say we both fucked up bad, and leave it at that, yeah?" I continue, before continuing to walk forward. "I'll be in the woods near the castle, I got a new toy from MoonTech that I'm gonna figure out how to use and I don't want your guards to be collateral damage. Send someone to find me if you need me, otherwise, good night." I finish, before finishing my walk out the throne room.
Gwain, still in the throes of remembering the worst time of her life, sits and quietly contemplates her own actions and the actions of the human that had just flat out tossed her about like a sack of potatoes. She contemplates his words, and his logic.
It wouldn't be until several hours later before she stood and walked out the door to find the human plaguing her thoughts.
-It's a 3-hour time skip YEAH-
I find myself in a small clearing, rather close to the castle, wearing my new gauntlets and visor. My visor is wirelessly connected to my gauntlets, giving me information on their systems.
It's a shame that I can't fucking read any of this.
I grunt in irritation, before taking the visor off and sliding it into my pack, which I have brought along with me.
"Fuck it, we figure it out without instructions." I mutter, before clenching my fists.
Imagine my surprise when two thrusters pop out of the sides of the gauntlets and fire. Thankfully, my arms were pointed downward, so I managed to keep myself upright against the force of the jets firing, but it was absolutely enough to yank me around with notable force. Right, these were calibrated for human use anyway, since Luna had Geo testing them.
I grin, before pointing right my arm upward and clenching my fist again. The jet fires, and it yanks me skyward, proving that yes, just one is enough to let me fly about.
Sick.
I decide to test their durability, and I look at a large tree. I run at it, and swing my arm around for a good punch.
The jets don't fire this time, likely sensors detecting what's going on, and I hit the tree with a rather light punch. The gauntlets hold together just fine.
I swing again, harder this time. They still hold strong. Fuck yeah. I hit the tree with my full strength. The gauntlets only barely hold together, very slightly deforming if I look closely enough, though purely superficial.
The tree isn't so lucky. It falls, now fresh timber on the forest floor.
I grin at my new toys, before the grin vanishes and I sigh heavily as my interaction with Gwain resurfaces.
I have to be honest with myself, I drastically overreacted.
Yeah, I wasn't pleased by any standards at the events of today, far from it. But I had no right to take it out so severely on the queen, let alone her stuff, despite it being her fault to some extent.
"Fuck, I let my emotions get the better of me again." I mutter to myself, beating myself up. "I really gotta stop letting my personal vendettas out on others." I lament, before shaking my head. "I've gotta really apologize to her for this one, but... she was thinking really hard about the things I said. I suppose a better move would be to wait until tomorrow." I say aloud. I glance up at the sky, looking at the titanic sun and its mystic circles surrounding it as it idly meanders its way to the horizon. I still have a few hours left before the sun starts setting.
I was unaware of the gold eyes watching me from the tree line, wondering how to approach me.
Instead, I reach into my pack, grab my headphones and phone, which is still basically at full power because magic I guess, and start scrolling through my saved music. Eventually, I fall on one that I hadn't heard in a while, and start playing it before singing along with it as I bob my head to the beat and keep my eyes closed.
Gwain can't help but lift an eyebrow as the human... no, Chris, she tells herself... starts singing.
"I'm down, but I know I'm not out, I got another round,~" he starts, and Gwain can't help but just... listen. Who knows, maybe this will provide some insight to his thoughts.
"Second wind and it's picking me up right off the ground, I'm coming back again!
Can't break me, I'm not giving up, I gotta prove them wrong,
Take your time, 'cause I'm not taking mine, I gotta stand up strong,~"
It's here that he leaps into the air, and starts belting out what has to be the chorus, from what the rhythm of his motions is saying.
"Voice in my head says to keep on going,
don't let 'em see you flee, don't want your weakness showing!
Need you to see me, if you could just believe me!
Tell me it'll all be fine, tonight if I don't reach up, then how could it be mine?
Need you to see me, and know what it's like to be me... If you could just believe me!"
Gwain can't help but feel surprise. Is... this his emotional state? Yes, the lyrics seem upbeat, but with the way he's getting into the song, it's like he truly believes in the message the song is saying... like he agrees with it.
She can't help but feel a bit upset at this. If this is his true mental state, then she was truly wrong about him. He's absolutely not a warmonger, nor is he a monster, a threat, or even a menace. He's just a guy.
He's an unfortunate individual that found himself thrown into a situation that he should never be part of. He's also the same individual with no reasonable way out of said situation. The way he entered this world was far too specific; even if he were to get through the dimensional portal that lead him here, the chances of him being instantly killed by the environment on the other side was too great.
He was truly stuck... and she just made it worse.
Gwain sagged over at the realization to what she was doing. She was supposed to be better than this. She was a queen! She was the one who the responsibility fell to to make this situation right. And all she did was spit in the face of someone who needed her and make things far more difficult than they needed to be.
A new resolve filled Gwain with determination. She would make this man, who asked for none of this, a place in this world. She stood tall, and made her way forward.
I freeze as I open my eyes after the second chorus. Gwain is right in front of me.
That's embarrassing.
"Uh..." I start before awkwardly smiling. "How much of that did you see and hear?"
"All of it." Gwain replies, her face perfectly straight.
Shit.
"Listen, I know my singing isn't that great, but..." I start, before Gwain stops me by lifting her hand.
"I got the idea. Those lyrics... is that your thought process right now?" Gwain asks, looking at me seriously.
"I mean, they're close enough, if I'm honest with you. Me and the guy that wrote that song are different individuals, but I'd like to think we have roughly the same ideals, what with how I can agree with a lot of this song." I explain, and Gwain nods.
"Right. So, I'm going to give you a real chance this time, and actually put my effort into it. So, will you accept my earnest apology, and be willing to start over?"
"You know, I think I'd like nothing more right now, Queen Gwain." I reply and hold my hand out to shake.
Gwain looks down, smiles lightly, and firmly shakes my hand in response.
I guess that means we're on mostly good terms now, right?
God I hope so.
And that's a wrap, boys! No Agni and Deva yet, they'll be in the next chapter, along with some more interactions. I just really wanted to get Chris and Gwain on mostly good terms with each other. The best way to do that?
Why, existential crisis, of course! Turn that world upside, make them see the truth!
Welp, that'll do it for this installment. Keep safe out there, and don't be afraid to leave a review! Tell me that I suck at this shit and I should stop, I don't mind! Just make it contructive. Flames will be used to heat dish water.
See ya when I see ya!
-Phaazed