*This is ported by Wattpad, feel free to come by as I've focused on making stories there rather here.*
Location: Mistral
Time: 1406
Somewhere in a rainforest at a rocky beach and waterfall, Russel is lying near the river as he slowly wakes up and gets up, wearing only his ruined stretched pants. He looks around, to see his surroundings. Those days without the incident is over... Those 158 days are reset back to 1...
Later on, he walks through the rainforest, holding his big loose pants. Just then he sees something a small truck comes up along a dirt road. He widens his eyes as he goes out and waves his single arm to have the vehicle stop.
The truck stopped in front of him, it is a woman who looked surprised to see Russel in this state. He comes up to the window, "Um... Hi." He responded.
"Hello..." The woman replied, with suspicion.
"...Can you tell me where am I?..." Russel asked.
"You're in Mistral." The woman answered.
"Mistral?..." The woman nodded at Russel's question. "Um... Can you help me?" He asked.
"I can take you to the near city Kuchinashi." She said, Russel accepts this and nodded. "Get in." With that Russel gets in, tho she slightly blushed to have a near-naked man sitting next to her, "Please, put this on." She gave him a towel.
"Thank you." Russel nodded again. The woman smiled at his gratitude as she drives off.
As she drives. "So... Where are you going?" She asked.
"...Home." He stated.
Location: Atlas - Atlas (City)
Time: 1543
The next day, the Bullhead returned back to the landing port. Then General Maxine and Rusty are walking together through a hallway as Rusty speaks.
"I've run into bad situations on crap missions before. I've seen good men do down purely because someone didn't let us know what we were walking into." Rusty stated as General Maxine turned to him.
"I've moved on to the next one, because that's what we do, right? I mean, that's the job. But this?" He stopped as the General also did the same.
"This is a whole new level of weirdness." Rusty admit. "And I don't feel inclined to step away from it. So, if you're taking another crack at him, I want in. And, with respect, you should be looking for a team that's prepped and ready to fight, because if that thing shows up again, you're gonna have a lot of professional tough guys pissing in their pants. Sir." Rusty advised.
Location: Mistral - Kichinashi
Time: 1520
They have arrived at the city, Russel thanked the woman again before he went off. Time passes as it gets a bit darker, he is walking around the busy city of Mistral, luckily no one pays attention to him as the last thing he needed was trouble.
But he needs to go home now...
The next day, he's been sitting on the ground in the streets as he is holding his hands out. Looking down, then someone came up and placed a few Lien notes on his hand.
He looks up to see it is a young Faunus girl who then instantly runs off to join her parents somewhere as he looked at the Lien notes. It'll have to do...
Then he goes to a clothes shop and asked for large and thick clothes, which luckily he has enough money to pay them.
"Um, do you have thick, stretchy pants?" Russel asked. The man showed him the pants. "Yes, perfect thank you." As he gave his last amount of Lien.
He is now wearing thick clothes, he then sees a truck that a few people hop on as it is transportation. He soon takes the opportunity, luckily this ride is free...
At almost sunset, as it drives off to the nearest airport, he is sitting at the back, sleeping along with a few passengers. Then the trucks rock as metal inside the back clatter to each other... Guns shooting...
Russel wakes up and is at the port. Must've fallen asleep here, so those gunshots are from a dream... He deeply sighed as he looks many Bullheads fly off. He needs to find a way into Mantle...
"Going somewhere, mister?" Russel turned to see a Captain with a white beard with brown eyes. "I could take you a free ride..." He suggested with a friendly smile. He also gestured to a group of other people both human and Faunus in a poor state as Russel's.
A free ride? Is it a coincidence? It doesn't matter... He's going home...
Location: Atlas - Atlas (City)
Time: 1555
Meanwhile, Rusty is sitting on the chair, as the door opens, the General has exited. Rusty sees him as he gestured to enter which he followed.
Inside the hanger, General Maxine begins his explanation, "Let me emphasize that what I'm about to share with you is tremendously sensitive, both to me personally and the Army." He stated as Rusty nodded. "You're aware of the Infantry Weapons Development Department program, back in the Great World War, they initiated a subprogram for Bio-Tech Force Enhancement."
"The Super Soldier program, yes." Rusty acknowledged.
"An oversimplification, but yes." Maxine replied, "And I dusted it off, got 'em doing serious work again, bold work. Across the hall, they were trying to arm you better. We were tryin' to make you better."
They continue walking as the General continues, "Doctor Barrett's work was an early phase. It wasn't even a weapons application. He thought he was working on radiation resistance. I would never have told him what the project really was. But he was so sure of what he was onto, that he tested it on himself." As they stopped walking.
"And something went very wrong. Or it went very right." He said recalling when Russel became the green monster as Rusty also recalled. "As far as I'm concerned, that man's whole body is property of Atlas Military." He stated.
"You said he wasn't working on weapons, right?" Rusty asked.
"No." General Maxine simply responded.
"But you were. You were, weren't you? You were trying other things." Rusty replied.
"One serum we developed ... Was very promising." Maxine informed the results.
"So why did he run?" Rusty wondered.
"He's a scientist. He is not one of us." General said, "...Antaeus, how old are you? 49?" He guessed.
"39, sir." Rusty stated.
"It takes a toll, doesn't it?" HE asked.
"Yes, it does." Rusty smiled.
"So get out of the trenches. You should be a Specialist by now, with your record." The General replied.
"No sir, I'm a fighter." He shook his head firmly. "I'll be one for as long as I can. You know, if I could take what I know now, put it in the body I had ten years ago, that would be someone I wouldn't want to fight." Rusty stated.
The General smiled, "I could probably arrange something like that." He said as Rusty is curious about what he is saying...
Location: Atlas - Mantle
Time: 0900
Somewhere in Mantle, Russel is near one of Mantle's proudest High-rate Academies. The trip took longer, not to mention reaching Mantle. As it is now 17 days without the 'incident', as he is inside, he sees the security at the entrance as he would need credentials to actually enter the main building. With no other choice, he leaves...
Then in the middle around the outsides of the Academy, he walks around till he sees something on the board... A familiar name... Magneta Maxine, the daughter of General Maxine... She's here.
He realises this and tries to find her. And somewhere around, he saw her, the same woman from the first incident... She looked well, thankfully, nothing bad happened to her. As she sits on the bench, she glanced while Russel is hiding behind the tree.
Just as he thinks she saw him, he quickly hides away, but he was wrong when Magneta has met only by someone as the man greeted her nicely.
Russel sees that the two are together, at first he would be sad... But he knew this is better, for her own good. He walks away, knowing there is at least one place he would go...
Later at night, an old man is in the about-to-be-closed Taffy's Pizza Palor, "Take care, kids." He said as the two kids left, just as he closed the door... Russel arrived and came to a stop.
The old man pointed to the closed sign, but Russel still knocks, he looks up and is surprised to see him. "Taffy, what you heard of me... It's not true-" Russel tries to explain.
"Come on, dear boy." Taffy as he let him in as closed the door. Later on, they are at the table, "I always knew it. I mean, you know how I felt about you two." He reminded as Russel is silent. "Have you talked to her?" He asked.
Russel shook his head, "No. She doesn't know that I'm here." He said. "...So... She's with somebody?"
Taffy nodded, "Yeah, he's a head shrink. They saw he was one of the best. But a really nice guy." He remarked.
"Good. That's good to hear." Russel said in relief as he look down.
"Russel..." Taffy replied as Russel lookup. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He asked.
"I could use a bed for a few nights." Russel suggested.
Taffy smiled, "You can have the spare room upstairs." He said.
Russel nodded, "Thank you so much." Then he has an idea, "Actually, there is one other thing..." He suggested.
The next day, Russel is on his bicycle with a pizza package in front of the basket as he is at the Academy. Ringing his bell, indicating the students out of his way.
Then he walks to the gate once again, holding boxes of pizza. Then he comes up to the security desk. "Hey, sir. I got a delivery on five." Russel spoke up.
The guard looked confused, "I don't think there's anybody up there." He said.
"Oh... I'm going to be in trouble if I don't deliver these." Russel downcasted, then he looks up, "But I do have an extra medium. Take it on the house, they said." He smiled.
The guard takes one of the boxes and opens one, then he smiled and gestured to Russel granting him access.
"Thank you." Russel takes a small bow.
"May the gods bless you." The guard replied as the two shake hands, then Russel heads off as he admires his pizza. "Alright..." He then enjoys his free meal.
Now in the hallway, Russel remains holding his remaining pizza box. Later, he sees the lab he works at, and recalls memories of when the first experiment happened... And of course, Magenta was there on the very day since the "incident" happened.
Russel blinks as the memories he has snapped back, the lab has slightly changed, and there of course is a man over here, well... He has that one pizza box left...
Then Russel is on one of the computers, where he sees the man waving his pizza slice with a smile which Russel smiled back.
On the computer is a login... Russel immediately types out, 'Magenta Maxine' and her password. And that he's in... He searches through the database, 'Gamma Pulse', and found... Nothing. Russel is confused, he typoed his name initials in, and once again, nothing as well.
His eyebrow furrowed, and he decided to speak to Mr. Blue...
'Mr. Green! How goes the search?' Mr. Blue first responded.
'The data is gone.' Russel explained his situation.
'Without it ... I cannot help. So what now?' Mr. Blue wondered.
Russel thought this through before he typed down, 'I've got to keep moving.' He said, and that he closes off and leaves.
In the room, Taffy has offered, Russel packs up his gear as he is about to leave. He turns off the lights and goes downstairs.
Meanwhile, Taffy hears someone coming to his pizza place, "We're pretty well closed here, folks. I'm sorry." He calls out.
"Oh, come on, Taffy. It's Friday night." He sees who it was, Magneta and her friend beside her with smiles.
Taffy happily sighed, "Oh, kids. I got nothing but marinara now." He said as he walks to the counter.
"Oh, I got to have a Mister Pink, please." Magneta suggested.
"She worked through dinner again, of course." Her friend said.
"Ah." Taffy replied.
Then Russel came to the kitchen searching for the old man, "Taffy?..." He calls out, then as he was about to go the door...
At the dining area, Taffy, along with Magenta and her boyfriend talk as the two are laughing, "And he ... I go, 'So, yeah, I mean, where were you? I can't ... I don't know where you were, Cecil.' And he goes, 'Not where you been at.' I thought, 'By the Gods' I just felt so awful. Y'know, I felt like horrified." He explained.
Suddenly, Magenta hears someone open the door, she turns to see Russel who is also surprised before he quickly walks away. She gets up and chases him which interrupts her boyfriend's story. As she goes inside, she sees the backdoor this is opened, she leaves and looks around searching for Russel.
"Russel?..." Magenta calls out. As Russel is hiding behind a nearby dumpster as Magenta goes back inside as a thunderstorm is coming...
Just then her boyfriend arrives, "Magenat what's going on?" He asked, just then she goes back inside with him following her.
They went inside as Magenta walks to Taffy who knows, "Magenta, I-" He tries to explain.
"Just tell me if I saw what I think I saw." She said, worried.
"...I don't know what to say." Taffy replied.
"Please, just tell me the truth." Magenta pleaded.
Russel continues to walk on the streets as rain pours down, cars passing by, he unsuccessfully signals to hitchhike one of the cars that ignore him. Yet one car behind slows down as it was Magenta driving it.
She stopped along with Russel who knows who's behind him, Magenta is shocked to see it is really him as he fully turns around. She gets out of the car, ignoring the cold rain as she runs to him, and he also runs too. Then they ended up hugging each other in an embrace.
"I can't believe you're here!..." Magenta said with relief.
"I know..." Russel muttered as they were still in a hugging embrace.
"I need you... I need you to come home with me, please..." Magenta begged.
Russel worries in his thoughts, he doesn't her to get in danger, not again... But seeing this situation, he had no choice, today... He's going home...
Chapter 3 Completed
...Commencing Next Chapter...
