Drip… drip… drip…
The sound resonated with the old man as he woke up. Ted had been out for two, maybe even three days. What had happened?
Drip… sizzle… drip… sizzle…
What was the sizzling? Ted opened his eyes to find himself on a bed with Espio and Alex sitting across from him.
"Um… what's going on? Last thing I remember was being carted off with those feds," Ted said, confused.
"You've been out for a while, do you remember anything else about that trip you had?" Espio inquired.
"Well they strapped me down… Oh yeah! They injected me with some substance right here." Ted said.
"Wait no don't touch that!" Alex shouted as Ted reached up to where his arm had been bleeding. Amazingly, the blood didn't burn straight through him. Strange.
"What are you going on about?" Ted asked as he wiped the blood off onto the bed. Instantly, the blood burned right through the metal frame. Ted gasped audibly.
"It seems whatever they did to you has given your blood corrosive properties, look at the floor where you were bleeding onto," Espio said, motioning to the floor. Below them was a small hole leading down as far as the eye could see.
"Wha- what happened to me?!" Ted said, freaking out.
"You're no longer totally useless," Espio rolled his eyes.
"This could be our ticket out of here, Ted," Alex said.
Ted stood up and smeared his blood over his hands, coating them with the harmful liquid. With a determined look, he walked up to the cell door and swiped the sides of it, instantly creating cracks and causing the door to fall down.
"Great, now we need to find out how to get off this thing," Espio sighed.
"This… thing? Isn't this just a building?" Ted asked.
"No, I've determined we are high above ground level, on some sort of large airship."
"What? How could that be? Technology hasn't gotten that advanced!"
"This is the CIA we're talking about, they hide stuff from us."
"Crusaders…" A voice said.
"Huh, did you hear that guys?" Alex said.
"Yeah, it sounded like it was inside my head… it could only be…" Ted began.
"Microwave thought transfer!" Alex and Ted said simultaneously.
"No you morons, just listen to it," Espio said.
"Crusaders, do you hear me?" The voice said again.
"Yeah, who are you?" Espio said.
"I am Erina, I am with Cory Baxter, I believe you know him?"
"Yeah! He's our best friend!" Alex shouted.
"Um… he's a… comrade?" Ted said awkwardly.
"We know him." Espio stated.
"OK, didn't need all three of you to answer. Anyway, this entire facility has been taken over by a rogue forza user that can control electronics. We need to kill him before we can leave this ship."
"What the heck is forza?" Ted asked.
Epic music begins to play, "it is the force given to you by Kek himself. I myself have a forza which is how I am communicating with you. The CIA developed artificial forza which is what they gave to nearly everyone on this ship! Almost all the prisoners have powers!"
"That must be what makes my blood so corrosive!" Ted exclaimed.
"They got you guys too?" Erina asked.
"Only one of us, what do you want us to do?" Espio asked seriously.
"We need to locate AM, the guy who can control electronics, we think he may be hiding out in the experimental branch since he hasn't gained control of the ship yet. You guys should head to the control center and secure it. Make sure he doesn't get in there or it's game over!" Erina warned.
"Well, normally I don't take orders, but you seem like a nice girl, so I'll take your word for it," Espio sneered.
"This is a serious matter!"
"Whatever," Espio rolled his eyes.
"We will do it, Erina!" Alex said.
"OK, we will try to keep in touch, but my forza gets weaker with range. We are fairly close by, but we will be heading for the experimental branch in order to put a stop to AM."
"Good luck," Espio said.
"Wow Espio, that's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say!" Alex said.
Espio ignored him and began walking down the hallway. The others followed him as he walked onward, determined.
"Uh Espio, do you know where you're going?" Ted asked.
"I saw them bring our stuff this way. I want my guns."
"And my armor!" Alex shouted.
Ted looked down at his hands and noticed they were still covered in blood. This blood of his didn't seem to dry at all. Normally, blood smeared like that would already be hardened. Even his wound on his arm wasn't healed. Ted began to concentrate and sure enough, the blood seeped back into him. It was as if his skin was porous! He concentrated on his arm and the blood stopped flowing out, leaving barely a scab behind on the wound.
"Here we are." Espio said, waking Ted out of his trance. They were in a security room, but it seemed abandoned. On a table were all of their things, neatly sorted. Espio spun his guns and put them into their holsters. Alex ran up to his armor and began kissing it. He then slung on his infinite backpack and all the armor floated into it.
"Well now that we are pow-" Ted was cut off by a large explosion that knocked them all across the room. In the doorway where they just stood was woman entirely covered in flames.
"Oh no! We will help you, m'lady!" Alex shouted, if he had a hat he would have tipped it.
"H-help me… hehehehehehehehe… as if I need help hehehe." The woman laughed maniacally, speaking slowly in a creepy tone. She raised her hands and shot walls of flames at the crusaders.
"Watch out!" Espio shouted, creating a barrier between them to block the flames.
"That won't stop my fire… silly! Hehehehe!" She shot another flame which instantly penetrated the shield.
Espio dodged and shot a couple bullets at her, all of which instantly melted away on contact. She was immune to bullets.
The lady did a majestic pose, "you cannot hurt me with puny bullets hehehehe! I am…. Invincible!"
"I don't believe that!" Espio shouted, shooting another bullet at her. This time, she shot a burst of flames at the bullet, sending a ball of fire straight toward Ted. Ted instinctively blocked the shot with his arms and was shocked when an explosion rang out in front of him.
"What hehehe?" The lady said nervously.
Ted locked down at his arms and saw the char marks on them, but he was relatively unharmed. Was his corrosive blood also highly explosive? Ted reached for a nearby knife and cut his arm open, sending a splash of blood toward the flaming girl. Instantly, the blood ignited, leaving a bloody mess of body parts behind as the fires burned out.
"Wait, your blood is explosive too? What the f*ick," Espio cursed.
"I guess so… weird," Ted said, looking at his arm as it mended itself. He put the knife in his pocket for future use.
"I'm pretty sure that was another one of those elementals, though I'm not sure why she
was here of all places, but whatever," Espio said.
'Is this a curse or a blessing? I guess we'll have to see…" Ted thought. His thoughts drifted as they walked along towards the control room. Thoughts on his past, and how it had molded him.
Ted was born to a poor family in Iowa. From a young age he would help his family and their work. He went to a normal school, but seemed to never fit in with the rest of his classmates. He resented and loathed the people he went to school with. He saw them as better than him without deserving it. Because of this, Ted was isolated from the rest of the children, causing even more hatred.
Why were these children allowed the best in everything while he worked all day without a cent to show for it? His hatred changed to something more vile. Everyone around him seemed to be brought down with him, much to Ted's pleasure. He wanted to see them suffer, even as a child. He would change this world and make it his own.
In high school, a freak accident left his father dead and his mother a parapoligic. Of course, the culprit was none other than some big business rich factory owner. Despite paying for 100% of his mothers hospital fees, the rich were even worse now to Ted. Anarchy was the only future where everyone was free to him.
That changed, though, when Ted met the love of his life in college. Her name was May and she was stunning to the young Ted. The only problem was May was another rich child. Regardless, Ted loved May with all of his heart. This, though, was Ted's breaking point. Ted planned to marry May, and had a ring picked out for her. That was when Ted got the news of Mays death.
Ted vowed revenge, and shortly after moved into hiding in the woods. Using the skills he learned in college, Ted was able to craft homemade bombs that he sent to both the killers of his father and his May. Both instantly died, being blown apart. He was never caught, and lived peacefully in the forest, plotting to take over and end this madness someday.
Ted's curse was what ended everything. The corrosive nature of his personality degraded those around him. His refusal to admit his childish thoughts were wrong was his undoing. He imprisoned himself, isolated from society, and unintentionally brought an end to his elderly mother, who died shortly after, not being able to care for herself.
Ted's curse wasn't a curse, but himself. But even now, with friends surrounding him, Ted didn't see it that way. They say a forza is the representation of who you are inside, the 'ba' as it is known as to Kek. This is no more apparent than with Ted, the corrosive old timer.
"We're here, old man," Espio sneered.
Ted woke up from his daze, "woah, when did we get here?"
"Sleeping while awake, I hope I don't live to get old, we've been here for 10 minutes, Alex is just trying to undo the lock on the door, but we'd appreciate it if you just cut it down instead," Espio gestured toward Alex, who was standing near the door trying combinations on the keypad while wearing Thoth's armor.
"Might as well," Ted said, stepping up to the door and cutting his hand. He smeared the blood over the door, cutting right through it.
"Ok Erina, we are in the room, what now?" Alex asked.
"...run…. There…. Am… go….. Must…. RUN," Erina's voice was heard, muffled from the distance.
"What?" Alex said. Suddely the lights in the control room turned on and in the center of the room stood a man with electronics jammed into every part of his body.
"Very… nice… of you to join me… boys…" AM said, standing up and turning toward them.