Reawakening
Scream.
That's all Isaac could do as he watched the apparatus of needles and syringes descended from above down towards his exposed chest.
However, his screams were muffled by the device secured around his head. Instead of screaming, he was forced to inhale a foul tasting gas pumped into the mask that was latched to his face.
"Alright, beginning skeletal structure enhancement number seven on subject two-eight-two." A nearby surgeon said, as if he wasn't put off in the slightest by the scene of a youth being essentially tortured in the name of progress.
Isaac felt his eyes tear up in both fear and sadness as he watched helplessly as the device came to a halt just above his chest. He had been here so many times before, yet he couldn't help but wonder…
Why? Why did this happen to him? Why couldn't it had been someone else?
Isaac closed his eyes as he felt the countless needles enter his chest, but after a few seconds, his eyes bolted open as his mind was flooded with pain as he felt every bone in his ribcage get pierced by steel.
"We've breached the bone structure sir." A female surgeon announced, something Isaac barely registered over the feelings of agony that assaulted him.
"Alright people, lets take it slow. Two-eight-two is the only one to date to exhibit dark matter capabilities, so lets not mess this up." The male surgeon said again. "Begin injections, lets toughen those bones up."
Isaac wanted to thrash around, but he was bound down to the operating table, so he could do nothing as he felt fluids of unknown origin get injected into his body.
As he slowly drifted into unconsciousness, he saw a bright light appearing in his vision, and he let it flood over him without any resistance.
However, he awoke almost instantly.
What…?
Isaac blinked. He was no longer in that dreadfully familiar operating room, and he was no longer bound to a table. Instead, he was floating in a mass of darkness, surrounded by… stars of all things.
And he was no longer a pre-teen, and no longer in chronic pain.
If anything, he felt… normal.
Confused, Isaac glanced down to his hands and saw the familiar sight of his black armored gauntlets. He looked down at the rest of his body and saw that he was once again wearing his armor. Only, it appeared to be in pristine condition, like it had when he had first been deployed to the Solomon Islands weeks ago.
Or was it months…? I can't remember…
Isaac looked around, slightly concerned that his visor's HUD wasn't working. All he could see though was an endless expanse of stars in all directions as he floated in midair.
How did I get here…?
Almost immediately after thinking that question, Isaac felt his pulse rate drop sharply as he suddenly remembered.
Bilgewater. The Ascension's attack. Altar. Unleashing his powers…
His arm.
Isaac quickly raised his left hand up to his face, the memory of Altar's strange mana-powered blade slicing his arm off fresh in his mind.
But strangely enough, his left arm was still attached to his body. He flexed his fingers in front of his face, still feeling them just fine.
"Mute?" Isaac called in a quiet voice, furrowing his brow in confusion at his situation. "Are you there?"
No response.
With his HUD offline, Isaac couldn't even tell if Mute was still in his suit.
"Suit instruction: Reboot Heads-Up Display." Isaac spoke his armor's voice command to reboot his systems, only to be met with nothing.
Was worth a shot…
Isaac looked around again, trying to figure out where the hell he was.
Am I dead…?
If this was the afterlife, floating forever in space, then Isaac's new enemy was going to become boredom in a damn hurry.
But hey, if an afterlife existed, Isaac had suspected he'd be burning in hell for all entirety.
Floating in space? Slightly preferable.
Slightly.
"Greetings."
Isaac twirled around as quickly as he could to face the source of the voice, reaching for a blade on his back as he did so. Only to realize he was completely unarmed.
Terrific…
Floating slightly above him and not too far away, was an unfamiliar humanoid figure holding a staff with a crescent. As alien as this figure appeared though, she was clearly female. She wore an simple yet elegant orange dress, with a dark red cape falling in behind her. But what made her so exotic looking was the blue skin, long grey hail, and the fact that she had hooves for lower legs and a horn growing out of her forehead.
It's a… blue skinned… magical… goat… lady?
Isaac couldn't help but sigh. "You know… ever since I came to Runeterra it's been one supernatural experience to another…" He shook his head lightly. "I miss when things were simple…"
As simple as world wars and talking smart-ass artificial intelligences and humans with the ability to shoot lightning out of their hands, that is…
The peculiar individual floating before Isaac cocked her head to the side slightly. "Pardon?" She asked.
"It's nothing…" Isaac shook his head and gave her another one over. "So…. Um… who are you?"
Not gonna bother asking "what are you". Take baby steps Isaac, baby steps.
The figure floated over towards Isaac, which made him tense up only slightly. He wasn't getting any hostile vibes off this strange individual, but he was still on edge.
"My name is Soraka, the Starchild." She answered as she came to a halt just over an arm's reach from Isaac. "And, like you, I am a champion of the League."
Isaac raised an eyebrow. Another League champion? Not that Isaac really ever felt like a "champion". He had only been on the so-called fields of justice once, which was actually rather enjoyable. Good stress relief.
Minus the part where he was killed… that wasn't a very enjoyable experience.
"Soraka…" Isaac fumbled with the name around in his head. "I… don't think I've heard of you before…"
Soraka smiled slightly and slowly nodded. "I do not doubt you have. From what the stars tell me, you have been very busy since coming to our world."
"Speaking of stars…" Isaac motioned to the space around him. "Where the hell are we? Since I'm talking to you, I'm going to go out on a whim and assume this isn't the afterlife."
Soraka shook her head. "No, this is not the afterlife, although you were close to joining it. If it were not for the quick actions of others, you would have died at Bilgewater. We are… in a dream, so to speak."
A dream…? So… more magic stuff, awesome…
"Right… Bilgewater… we won that right?"
Soraka's expression changed to one of sadness. "Yes, but many lives were lost. Among them was your summoner companion, Vega of Avarosa."
Isaac felt a ping of sorrow wash over him.
Vega… damn it!
Shaking his head, Isaac brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck as he looked away. "Damn it… fuck…" He cursed.
"I am sorry for your loss." Soraka bowed elegantly, and Isaac felt that her apology was sinecure.
"I…" Isaac began, but struggled to continue for a moment. He didn't handle loss very well. Most of the time he just brushed it off and tried not to think about it. That didn't work very well when it came to Isabella and Kasumi, Isaac still frequently had nightmares about those two.
"Frequently" doesn't even cut it… more like daily….
Isaac sighed. "Vega…" He shook his head. "I didn't know him all that well to be perfectly honest… but when I arrived in Valoran, he was the only summoner for awhile there who I could talk to without feeling like I was being probed for… well, everything." He bit his lower lip as he thought about it.
God damn it!
Soraka's expression changed to one of understanding. "He was your first friend here…" Soraka slowly floated closer to him as she spoke. "Of course you mourn his loss."
Friend…
"Yeah… I guess you could say that…" Isaac mumbled. "He was a good guy… he didn't deserve to die like that, in a war with something from another world."
None of this should've happened to this world… God damn it all!
She floated closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Isaac felt himself tense up, but he knew that if Soraka wanted to harm him, she had plenty of chances already.
"I would also like to apologize for…" She closed her eyes, "Trespassing."
Isaac raised an eyebrow, a little confused by what she said. "Trespassing?"
"In order to bring you back to us, to rouse you from your comma, I had to venture into your mind." Soraka opened her eyes and gave him a regretful look. "I'm sorry, but I witnessed your dreams."
….. Oh…. Damn it….
"You… saw that?" Isaac cringed. There was a reason he had refused the so called judgement when the League made him a Champion. Aside from trying to keep the League from learning classified information, the horrors of his past and his nightmares were the other main reason. He didn't want to relive them.
He already did it every night when he closed his eyes.
"Your nightmare, yes. But also more." Soraka's head dipped slightly. "You have had a rough life, young one."
Isaac remained silent. He didn't like discussing his past with anyone. He liked the idea of someone being inside his head even more.
In truth, he was annoyed that Soraka had seen any of his memories, given the circumstances, he really couldn't snap at her over it.
Snapping at her inside this dream like place really wouldn't solve anything… but God, does that piss me off a bit…
"What… did you see, exactly?" Isaac asked, slightly worried that she may have seen either something classified, or something a little more personal. He was also trying very hard to hide the frustration in his voice at the idea that she had been inside his head.
"Torture… battle…" Soraka closed her eyes, "Regrets… sorrow…" She opened them. "I… am sorry… I have no business in your memories, but it still saddens me to see that such terrible things can happen."
"Well… I wasn't the only one." Isaac looked away. He was among hundreds of meta-humans after all.
I really don't want to talk about this…
"So…" Isaac tried to change the subject. "Why are we in this… dream?"
"This dream," Soraka motioned to the space and stars all around her, "Is a connection of our minds by my magic. Right now, our physical bodies are in a hospital in Ionia. Since the battle, you have been in a coma."
Isaac blinked, somewhat surprised at this information. "A coma? So… uh… how do I wake up?"
"As soon as I release the spell that binds us to this dream." Soraka nodded, removing her hand from his shoulder and floating away. "However, I should warn you…" Again, her facial expression became one of sadness, "I did what I could, but some of the nerves in your left arm were beyond even my skill."
Great…
Before Isaac could ask, Soraka continued, but as she spoke, Isaac noticed the stars around them start to glow even brighter.
"It should not effect your daily lifestyle, as strange as it is, but please be cautious."
The stars were now so bright, Isaac had to shield his eyes with his hand.
"Now… awaken. Archangel of the League of Legends."
Ionia (city), Ionia
Isaac slowly opened his eyes, groaning slightly as his vision was blinded by bright lights yet again. Realizing that he was lying on his back on a soft bed, he raised an arm to block the light from above his face.
Where…?
"Huh…?" He heard an unfamiliar voice from his right. "AHH! He's awake! He's awake!"
Isaac cringed as he felt his ears get assaulted now too.
Where the hell am I…? Oh…. Right…
He suddenly remembered the dream-like thing he had just been in, with…
"Yes, he is awake." He heard Soraka's voice from his left. "But you screaming in his ear is unlikely to help, Nami."
"Oops… sorry." The first voice, Nami Isaac now assumed, apologized softly.
Isaac blinked a few times, letting his eyes adjust to being active again after being in a coma for…
Wait, Soraka never told him how long he had been out for.
He felt a tender hand on his left bicep. "Archangel? Are you awake?" Soraka asked him.
Isaac rolled his head to the left, finally able to make out details. Sure enough, the sight of Soraka sitting next to his bed with a gentle smile on her face as she leaned over towards him, greeted him.
"Ugh…" Isaac groaned, his throat working hard to form words after such a long period of inactivity. "Loud and… clear doc…"
Soraka's smile grew and she nodded. "Welcome back to Ionia, Archangel."
Ionia? I'm back on Ionia?
"Th-thanks doc…" Isaac replied, still a bit put-off by Soraka's strange appearance. "How long was I out?"
"I'm just a healer, Archangel, not a doctor." Soraka corrected him. "And you have been unconscious for just over two weeks. Sixteen days to be exact."
Sixteen days? Well… I was expecting it to be worse… but…
"AH-HEM!" Someone else shouted, and before Isaac could react, a very pissed off looking Mute suddenly appeared right in front of his face.
Oh... I'm going to get it now…
Mute thrusted an accusing finger at Isaac and went off on him. "DO. YOU. HAVE. ANY. IDEA. HOW. WORRIED. I. WAS?!"
Isaac noticed through his peripherals, that Soraka was slowly leaning away from him. He didn't blame her, a really pissed off Mute was something he tended to avoid too.
"Uh…" Isaac began before grinning sheepishly. "Hi to you too Mute."
Hindsight. Not his best choice of words.
"IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!" Mute threw her arms in the air and flew right into his face so he couldn't see anything else but her holographic, very angry face. "YOU NEARLY DIED!"
"Well what did you want me to do?" Isaac snapped back. God, not even a minute out of his coma and Mute was screaming at him. "There was a massive gunship killing people left, right, and center. There wasn't an alternative!"
"You... you… you…!" Mute closed her eyes as she shook with rage.
Never seen an AI literally shake with anger before…
But then again, Mute was no ordinary AI.
"You…" Mute's voice became almost a whisper. "You nearly left me alone…" She suddenly floated a few inches away from him, her angry expression changing to one of… helplessness?
Isaac had nothing to come back at that with. An angry Mute? He'd dealt with that before. An upset Mute? Dealt with that before. A smartass Mute? That was a normal thing.
A depressed Mute? Nope… not something he was used to dealing with.
An awkward silence followed.
"… Sorry." Isaac finally said.
Mute sighed, closing her eyes and crossed her arms, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "From blocking tank shells, to jumping on grenade, to this… but this has to be the dumbest thing you've done in a long time. I know there wasn't much else we could've done to bring that Avenger class down so quickly, but please. Don't forget that I'm here with you." She said before sighing again. "Just because I do what you tell me to since I'm an AI, doesn't mean like it when you do shit like that. You're all I have, remember? I'm in here with you too."
Isaac's gaze fell down to his bandage covered chest, noticing that he was missing most of his armor. He had a lot of emotions running through him right now. He hadn't paid Mute's feelings much thought, primarily because it was his job to fight the Ascension.
And he usually he didn't pay much attention to the feeling of others when it concerned him. He was a meta-human, a super soldier for life, hated by the rest of the world.
He wasn't used to people actually giving a shit about him on a personal level. Most of the time people only cared about him because he was a Meta-human asset to TRANS-Ops, and you couldn't simply replace a Meta-Human. Especially one like himself.
"Sorry. I'm… still not used to that kind of thing. I'll… play it smarter next time." Isaac replied after finally finding the words to say.
"Just…" Mute began but she seemed to stop herself before finally putting on a weary smile. "Welcome back."
"Thanks Mute, good to be alive."
…. I guess…
But for you Mute… I actually mean it this time.
"Awww…." A voice from Isaac's right spoke up. "This is so heartwarming!"
Isaac suddenly felt the urge to smack whoever it was that was sitting next to him. He turned to face the one who he assumed was who Soraka called Nami earlier.
"And who are…." Isaac began, getting ready to demand who the identity of the one next to him was but quickly found himself at a loss for words.
Sitting next to him, on his right, was an fish-like creature that resembled a mermaid, sitting calmly but awkwardly on a chair.
After a second of staring, Isaac blinked twice and let out a slight sigh. "Ok… you're new. What the hell are you?" He asked.
I'm starting to get used to seeing strange shit… stranger, sorry, stranger shit.
The fish creature, Nami, blinked in surprise. "Oh, me? Sorry, I'm Nami." She introduced herself with a cheery expression.
"Yeah, I got that part… but…" Isaac looked her up and down, making it very obvious as to what he was referring to.
Nami blinked again before suddenly laughing. "Oh right!" She lightly smacked herself in the head with her palm. "You're not from this world. I'm a Marai. We're from beneath the waves, under the Guardian's Sea to be exact."
"They're pretty rare." Mute nodded, chiming in. "Most Marai don't venture to the surface."
"Yeah…" Nami sighed. "It's kind of weird up here."
Isaac looked at Mute, then back to Nami, then to Soraka, and then repeated all that again before finally settling on Mute. "You know… you seem to be taking everything in stride Mute. No freaking out at seeing strange things. I'm proud of you, its like you're all grow up." He said.
Mute rolled her eyes and gave Isaac an unamused look. "Really? Right to the smart-ass stuff after being in a coma for two weeks? Real considerate of you sergeant, seeing how worried I was about you." Mute chuckled. "Well, wait until you meet the dragon."
"Wait… what?"
"Lets move on." Mute suddenly gave Isaac an innocent smile while Nami giggled at the exchange. "Seeing how you're feeling good enough to be sassy, you must be feeling just fine."
Isaac rolled his eyes as he sat up slowly in the bed, expecting to feel a ton a pain seeing how he was covered in bandages. To his surprise, he felt very little.
"Huh… I was expecting that to hurt a little more." Isaac raised his left hand and brought it up to his face. "So… Soraka?"
"Hmm? What is it child?" Soraka replied in a sagely tone.
"You said some of my nerves were shot... how bad are we talking here?" Isaac asked, concerned about how a nerve damaged arm would effect his fighting capabilities. He flexed his hand and it seemed ok to him. With his right hand, he grasped and rubbed his left hand and while he did notice a slight difference in sensations, it didn't appear to be anything worrisome.
Before Soraka could respond, Mute coughed, bringing the attention back to her. "I believe I can answer that." She began in a not so subtle attempt to keep the attention on her being "professional."
Really Mute? After your freak out, I'm pretty sure everyone here can tell its just for appearances…
Rather then argue, Soraka nodded to Mute. "Of course, miss Mute."
"The wound caused by Altar's mana blade was unlike anything we've encountered before. While we reattached your arm as quickly as we could to prevent it from decaying, thanks to that mana blade, it would've never recovered and you would've been minus an arm." Mute explained, before looking at Nami with a smile. "Thanks to the efforts of our Marai friend here, and another magic user, we were able to at least heal some of the damaged tissue and successfully prevent any decaying of tissue and get the blood flowing between your lost limb and your heart once again. This was also true for the rest of the wounds Altar's blades caused on the rest of your body. Under normal circumstances, the wounds to your chest would have been fatal as they were. Even on Earth you likely would've died before arriving at a hospital."
"But…" Mute paused. "We weren't able to heal the nerves, thanks to the kind of wound. Altar's mana blade didn't just sever your arm, it totally destroyed the nerves and tissue surrounding the wound, cauterized it, and totally messed up your blood veins and everything else. Not to mention…" Mute pointed to Isaac's ribs, which were also bandaged. "Your ribs had suffered extreme damage as well. We were lucky enough that Nami and Sona were able to heal what they did, but we needed someone a little more… specialized."
Mute turned to Soraka and grinned. "Once we got back to Ionia, Soraka came to help. She managed to not only heal and restore feeling to your arm and hand, but also managed to undo the damage to the rest of your body, including your ribs, rib cage, and your lung. In short…" Mute motioned to both Nami and Soraka. "You owe them your life."
Isaac took all that in. I was pretty fucked up… wasn't I?
Well… he DID fight another meta-human… one with an even more powerful suit of armor.
But something was bothering him.
Isaac peered at Soraka, who was smiling gently at him. Isaac, on the other hand, frowned, and turned to look at Nami, who was also smiling.
"Why did you two help me?" Isaac asked, confused. "I mean, I get that we're on the same side here, but… Why go through ALL that just to save… me? An alien?"
"What?" Nami cocked her head to the side with a confused look on her face for a moment, before smiling again. "Why wouldn't we? We're League Champions. Of course we'd help you!"
Isaac raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you're a Champion too?"
"Yep!" Nami nodded. "We Champions look out for each other and everyone else. Well… most of the time. And sure we don't always get along and some of us may even hate each other, but when it comes down to it, we work together!"
There was sure a lot of contradictory there… but she seems to mean well.
"That…" Soraka interjected. "and there is a grave threat on the horizon." She bowed her head with a solemn look on her face. "This… Ascension must be stopped."
"On that." Mute nodded, "We will always agree."
Isaac looked back down to his hand and flexed it again. "So…" he began, but was interrupted when the door to his room opened, and in walked in a very large figure encased in a suit of black armor that was incredibility familiar.
"Well, well." A familiar voice emitted from the figure. "Welcome back to the land of the living kid."
Isaac blinked, surprised at the figure's sudden appearance. Then he remembered the battle, how he had spotted one of his squadmates come flying in…
With a fucking dragon... right… now I remember…
"Good to see you too, Blitzkrieg." Isaac nodded up at his squadmate and superior. Boy, was he glad to find him.
"Ladies," Blitzkrieg began as he walked into the room right up to the foot of Isaac's bed. "Do you mind giving us a little privacy?" He asked, before tapping his helmet with a single finger where his mouth would be, as if he was asking for them to hush. "Outworlder stuff and all that."
"Of course." Soraka nodded and stood up, Nami joining her, a bit awkwardly though as she slithered out of her chair.
"Archangel," Soraka turned to Isaac before leaving, "If you have any complications or pain, please let me know."
Isaac nodded. "Sure thing doc."
Soraka chuckled lightly, "Please, I'm no doctor, just someone willing to help." She said and left the room along with Nami.
After the door closed there was a few seconds of silence in the room, before Blitzkrieg began to slowly pace back and forth in front of Isaac's bed.
"So… got a bit roughed up back there didn't you?" Blitzkrieg asked, his face still hidden by a helmet.
Isaac looked down to his hand and flexed it again. "Well… its still attached… I guess."
"Goat-lady tells me you've lost some nerves, the kind that you can't simply man up about." Blitzkrieg paced back to the foot of Isaac's bed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Feel all that different?"
Isaac took his other hand and massaged his left hand a little more roughly then last time. "Only slightly… but it shouldn't damage my fighting abilities too much."
"Good to hear…" Blitzkrieg nodded. "How about the rest of your body?"
"A little sore, but nothing much." Isaac tried to flex his back out a bit, but felt not only insanely stiff, but also pain. He groaned.
"Sounds more then just a little sore." Blitzkrieg mumbled. "Take it slow kid, we're in a safe zone. And by safe zone I mean the locals are trying to kill us or go on a witch hunt."
Good to know I won't be getting burned at the stake then…
Yet…
"So…" Isaac rolled his left shoulder, still trying to get a feel for just how badly his body had been damaged. "Did Mute fill you in?"
Blitzkrieg nodded. "We had some time. Glad to hear you found Firewall, but I personally wouldn't have let him go back to Pilt-whatever. Our priority should be gathering everyone together, and Firewall would've been really handy back in that piss-hole of a city versus that Avenger."
Isaac frowned. He understood Blitzkrieg's point, but he still thought he made the right decision. "We needed more information, and by spreading out we could cover leads out of two different places at once."
Its not like I could predict that the Ascension was gonna send a god-damn Avenger.
…I better not mention part of Firewall's reason for going to Piltover was to go sight-seeing.
Blitzkrieg, arms still crossed, shrugged. "I was just stating what I would've done. It was a gamble you took with what little information you had to go off of. Don't beat yourself up about it, it still might pay off. We don't know yet." Blitzkrieg walked away from Isaac's bed and over to a window. "It's not like we could've known that the Ascension that kind of firepower at it's fingertips here."
"Speaking of that…" Isaac began. "What happened since I've been out."
"A bit of stuff. Nearly all of it out of our control, but shit happens nonetheless." Blitzkrieg turned to face Isaac. "Everyone on this rock is now fully aware of the Ascension's existence and is basically shitting themselves. It's all anyone or any news source is talking about right now, of course its mostly speculative bullshit. Some are calling the Ascension alien invaders from the void… which has to be the most accurate out of all the BS." Blitzkrieg shook his head. "Others are calling them anything from a long lost civilization, to demons, to the undead, to an invading army of angels."
"Ah, how the imagination of the human mind can wander so far from the truth." Mute chuckled.
"Of course… there has been a slight… issue as I've been told, that involves us. We won't be getting any heroes welcomes from people for our actions in Bilge-piss-hole any time soon. The locals aren't too happy with us."
"Why?" Isaac asked, a little confused. He didn't want any more attention brought to himself, but he couldn't see why people would be pissed at him for what happened at Bilgewater.
I blew everything I had on that damn gunship and took it down.
"Paranoia and all that." Blitzkrieg said. "They see that since the Ascension are… outworlders, as they call it, and we're outworlders, some have begun to see us both as possible enemies. I can't even walk outside this damn hospital without someone throwing a glare at me, or shitting themselves silently. Thankfully no rocks yet." Blitzkrieg shrugged. "Basically, we're getting the same treatment here as we are back home."
"Awesome…" Isaac mumbled. This place is already starting to feel more like Earth… I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. "Anything else?"
"A few things." Blitzkrieg replied. "First off, you remember this place's captain of the guard?"
Isaac nodded. "Irelia, right? What did she want?"
Oh… crap… the troops she sent with me…
Isaac remembered seeing their ship take a shot during the battle and go up in flames. Did any of them survive?
Blitzkrieg continued, not paying Isaac's thoughts any mind. "Yeah, her. She came in here to visit you. Seems the two of you had already talked about the Ascension, which made things easier on my end."
"She was concerned about the abductions. She IS the island's captain of the guard."
"So she takes her job seriously then, good. Given how we shared a bunch of somewhat confidential information with her, that's probably a good thing."
Isaac blinked. "You did WHAT?"
Blitzkrieg crossed his arms. "Look kiddo, we're outnumbered and outgunned, on a planet with much more minimal technology then ours, and we're up against the bloody Ascension. We can't afford to keep a tight lid on everything." Blitzkrieg turned away from Isaac and looked back out the window he was standing by. "Desperate times calls for desperate measures kid. Besides… its not like the locals on this world are any danger to Earth. Even France could take them on alone WHILE retreating."
"Ok… THAT mon amie, was offensive!" Isaac heard a familiar, French-accented voice enter the conversation. As if on cue, Goth's avatar appeared next to Blitzkrieg, thrusting an accusing finger at his partner. "Just because I'm French and you're German, doesn't mean you get to make jokes like that."
"Ugh…" Blitzkrieg moaned, waving a lazy hand through Goth's avatar as if he was warding off an annoying fly. "Don't you have some files to look over, something you can RUN AWAY to?"
Goth scoffed. "Imbecile…" He muttered, before shifting his body in Isaac's direction. "Good to see you alive and well Archangel. You had us most worried mon amie."
Isaac nodded at the AI. "Thanks Goth. Good to see you're still in one piece."
Mute chuckled. "He's still got a few screws loose though." She whispered to Isaac.
"I heard that madam." Goth muttered at Mute, who shrugged innocently.
"Anyways." Goth turned his attention back to Isaac. "Madam Irelia was most cooperative. Much more so then the Demacians who we have been associating with thus far."
"The Demacians?" Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Remember the big guy you fought when we first arrived in this world?" Mute asked.
"Yeah…"
"He's a Demacian… a very important one. So is Vayne. You also fought her."
"…Oh…"
Oops…
That probably didn't help Blitzkrieg's relationship with them. And judging by Goth's tone when speaking about them, neither party seemed to get along with the other all that well.
"Regardless," Goth continued, "As mon amie Blitzkrieg and I were saying, we need allies in this world. Regardless of their technological shortcomings or not. My enemy's enemy, is my friend after all, no?"
Mute nodded. "That was our thought process behind it. We need to work together with the other nations… not just other champions if we're going to be able to stop the Ascension."
"And that... my friends, is the most important thing of all." Goth nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do."
On that note, Goth's avatar disappeared.
"Before we move on," Blitzkrieg spoke up again, now that his AI companion had finished, "Both the Demacians and Irelia wanted to talk to you after you woke up." Isaac's large squadmate turned around to face Isaac again. "Now tell me kiddo, what's with you and the ladies so suddenly?"
Isaac's response was a confused look.
"A year or two ago you were a stuck-up stick in the mud, not that I blame you, but we're not talking about that. I know it still bothers you." Blitzkrieg walked over to the side of Isaac's bed, towering over him. "Now, suddenly, you've got hot girl, after girl, after in-human girl all lining up to either speak with you or sending you bloody letters. Well, lots of men too, but that's besides the point."
Isaac's facial expression remained confused. "…The fuck? What?"
"Have you gotten out of that rut of yours completely? Or still being a prude?"
Isaac furrowed his brow. He was not expecting a conversation like this nor was he liking it. "Why are we talking about this?"
Blitzkrieg sighed. "Look, kid. You know that as soon as finish off the Ascension here, we're going home right? No loitering. Back home."
"We don't know HOW to get home."
Blitzkrieg waved it off. "One impossible task at a time. What I'm saying is that don't get too emotionally involved with anyone here ok?"
He's worried that I'M going to get emotionally involved with someone here? ME?!
On one hand, Isaac was annoyed that Blitzkrieg even felt the need to bring this up. But on the other hand, he knew his squadmate was just looking out for him.
Christ… is he trying to give me a fatherly talk?
"Don't worry about it." Isaac replied. "I know we have a job to do."
Not that home really ever feels like home…
Not having to factor magic into fights again does sound pretty nice though.
"Good. I'm not saying you can't fuck like a rabbit while we're out here, but don't get all romantic with anyone. I've seen how well you take personal losses." Blitzkrieg shook his head.
He's taking about Kasumi…
"Can you blame me for feeling down about Kasumi?" Isaac snarled.
"No. No I don't. Nor will I. I know how it feels kid." Blitzkrieg placed an armored gauntlet on Isaac's shoulder gently. Well, as gently as a seven foot, black armored giant could. Isaac had to do his best from wincing as Blitz's hand came down on his shoulder. "But hey, I'm not saying you can't enjoy yourself, we might be here awhile. Maybe you can burn off some of that stress and end that dry-spell of yours while we're at it."
Without meaning to, Isaac's thoughts went right to Jinx.
Jokes on you, I already have…
… Wait…
Jinx, Ezreal, Vega…
"What about the others that I came with? How are they?" Isaac asked.
"Well…" Blitzkrieg began. "I was actually going to get to that. The so-called summoner that you were with didn't make it. He died of his injuries aboard the ship."
"Couldn't someone have healed him? Or couldn't he have healed himself?"
"He was out-cold. Seems like you can't use magic when you're passed out like a boxer who lost a match. As for others… well…" Blitzkrieg shook his head. "We had to make a choice… either save you, or the summoner, and you we're fading fast. By the time they we're finally able to only sustain you with one of them, the other kid had already… well… you know."
It hit Isaac like a ton of brick. Vega had died… because of him. Not because he had been there because of Isaac, but because he had gotten injured. That's why Vega died.
So… it's my fault…
"Don't beat yourself up over it." Blitzkrieg shook him lightly. "The others already did. I don't want to have to tell you too that it wasn't your fault. In the greater sense of things, we needed you more then him. That… and if they weren't going to prioritize you, I was going to threaten them."
Not sure if that makes me feel that much better.
"What about Ezreal, and Jinx?" Isaac tried to move the conversation onwards, not wanting to focus anymore on Vega before he felt anymore guilty over his companion's death.
"The blonde kid is fine. For someone as skinny as him, he's pretty tough. They just let him out of the clinic yesterday, but he's still in town. Wants to talk to you when you're up and at em. As for the girl… well…" Blitzkrieg's voice trailed off.
Isaac felt a chill go down his spine. Not the kind that he got during combat when his extrasensory perception was going off, but the kind that told him he wasn't going to like what was going to be said next.
"What happened to Jinx?" Isaac asked, although a part of him didn't want to.
"She's gone." Mute interjected. "It was just after we arrived and got everyone settled into the clinic. Suddenly, we noticed she was gone."
"What?" Isaac responded, with a bit of surprise making it out into his voice. "She's gone? Just like that?"
"Without a word too." Blitzkrieg explained. "We didn't notice at first since we were dealing with the injured and she was unhurt. At first, your buddy thought that she was elsewhere in the city, but the next day someone mentioned that someone matching her description had been seen stealing a horse and leaving the city."
"She IS a wanted criminal…" Mute rolled her eyes. "Some think that's the reason she took off. It would've been only a matter of time before a guard somewhere would've tried to take her in, League champion or not."
Isaac bit his lower lip in thought. A part of him couldn't believe that Jinx would just abandon them just like that, but the other part of him told him otherwise.
She had never attempted to escape before… well, besides that one time when we arrived on Ionia… then again when we were on the way to the Placidium. But after that she never attempted to escape. She had plenty of chances… so why now?
Isaac sighed. Sure Jinx drove him and Mute crazy sometimes, but honestly, he had started to like having her around. She didn't take anything too seriously and was only out looking for something to entertain her. But maybe it was that same free-spirited and carefree attitude of hers that made her leave.
That and… well, the sex was good.
Well, its not like I'll ever NOT see her again… she IS a League champion after all…
Still no clue as to how or why she is one… maybe she got bored one day?
"Your companions aside, you got a few letters while you were out." Blitzkrieg motioned to a nightstand by Isaac's bed. On it, were a series of letters.
"I… got mail?" Isaac questioned.
"Yep. Like I asked before, what did you do to become so popular while I was gone? And before you asked, no, there is no chemical agent on any of them or a bomb, or anything. I already had Goth scan them all when they arrived."
Good to see he knows me so well…
"Thanks." Isaac responded, suddenly feeling a little tired.
"Anyways…" Blitzkrieg lifted his hand from Isaac's shoulder and began to walk towards the door. "Get some rest kiddo. We're gonna be busy soon."
And with that, Blitzkrieg left Isaac alone in his room.
Mute's avatar floated up in front of Isaac's face.
Well… almost alone.
"How are you feeling?" Mute asked, her expression showing concern.
"Its…" Isaac began before pausing. "A lot to take in just after waking up."
"Don't let what happened to Vega trouble you."
"I wasn't thinking about-"
Mute shook her head. "Don't lie to me, I can tell when you're lying." She sighed. "Look… if you need someone, I'm here for you. Don't forget that."
Isaac couldn't help but smile. Not a forced one, but one that came naturally.
"… Thanks Mute… but right now… I just need some rest."
As much as he wasn't looking forward to having nightmares, Isaac knew he needed to be a hundred-percent and quickly.
"Ok… well… good night." Mute nodded, and disappeared. But she quickly reappeared a moment later. "Oh, and welcome back Isaac."
Isaac smiled again. "Thanks Mute."
The Call
Ionia
In the dark of night, one could hardly see anything in front of them. Let alone, in the middle of a forest in Ionia. All sorts of wildlife and creatures, both dangerous and harmless, stalked the green forests at night. The Ionians knew better then to go into such places at night, but nonetheless, a girl wandered through the dark forest at a slow pace.
As the girl made her way through the vegetation, she suddenly realized she didn't actually know where she was going, only that she had felt an impulse to go to a certain location in this forest. She had tried before, but after failing she decided it wasn't worth the time.
But as the days went on, and turned to weeks, the desire to go to this certain location only got stronger. When she had returned to Ionia a short while ago, she couldn't resist any longer.
IF anything, she wanted to know WHY she felt the need to go to this one place.
She made her way out of the forest and into a clearing, glad to be rid of the boring place. The various guns she carried had caught on one branch too many during her trek after she had ditched the horse she had stolen.
The clearing was nothing special, just a grassy hill in the middle of the forest. The girl bit her lower lip in confusion. Why was sure drawn to this… lame place?
Just as she wondered that, she heard a low humming sound coming from above. Looking up in curiosity, she was suddenly blinded by a bright light. The girl gasped and quickly closed her eyes and covered them with her arms, trying to shield them from the light.
The humming became louder, and soon she had troubles hearing anything other then the sound of rushing wind. She tried to open her eyes and look up while still trying to shield herself from the bright light, but she was able to make out something overhead. At first, she had no idea what it was, other then that it was the source of the light, but then it clicked in her fractured mind.
It was an aircraft hovering overhead and it was the source of the noise, with a spotlight attached to it which was the source of the light. She couldn't make out the details due to the darkness and the light blinding her, but before she could pay it any more thought, a trio of figures dropped out from underneath the aircraft, and landed a few meters away in front of her.
Still shielding herself from the light with her arms, the girl squinted at focused on the new appearances. She recognized two of them instantly. They were clad in the exact same style of armor as the ones who had attacked Bilgewater just over a week ago. She almost grabbed her beloved minigun on reflex and defended herself, but she noticed that neither figure was aiming their advanced rifles at her. Instead, they held them pointed downwards, as if they were only on some kind of guard duty.
That's when the girl noticed the third figure walking between the other two. This one's armor was somewhat familiar, yet different at the same time. She was used to seeing a similar style of armor with a jet black color, but this one painted with assorted shades of blue.
That's when she noticed that there was a pair of large swords floating in the air behind this individual.
"Well, well, well…" The figure spoke in a strange accent. She assumed it was the one in the middle, but she had a hard time pin-pointing it due to the humming of the aircraft above her. "You sure as hell took your sweet ass time."
The girl was confused, but then, she felt it. A satisfaction. THIS is why she felt the need to come to this location. To meet these people.
Under slender arms that protected her eyes from the aircraft's spotlight, Jinx smiled.
Goth's Meta-Human Lecture Number Two: Meta Human Classification
"I've always been fascinated with humanity's desire to classify EVERYTHING. From the small differences in the shape of a tooth, to the largest of planetoids. This desire extends to meta-humans as well, my friends.
"While some often claim there are only three classifications of meta-humans, officially there are four different classifications. These classifications are based off of the time the meta-human was… created, let's say, and the amount of powers they possessed."
"Now, on the subject of powers, all meta-humans have heightened physical capabilities over the average human. This includes strength, reaction time, hearing and eyesight, etc, etc. When one speaks of meta-human powers, they usually refer to their PRIMARY and SECONDARY powers. A PRIMARY power is the most powerful and or most proficient power a meta-human displays. A SECONDARY power is a lesser power, either because it is not deemed as dangerous or a meta-human can use it to a lesser extent then another meta-human can."
"Now, onto our classifications, oh, how this shall be fun mon amie."
"First off, and the least surprising, are the Alphas. The Alphas are the most powerful meta-humans to date. So much so, that during the Ascension War, if an Alpha was spotted on the enemy side, soldiers were specifically ordered to avoid engaging them if all possible, since the average soldier held almost no chance of surviving an encounter with an Alpha."
"Alphas are also the rarest. Remember before when I said that nearly half of all the children who had been… taken in, by Halcyon had survived the meta-human process? Well, in actuality, by the time all the training, additional modifications, surgeries, and such had been completed, less than a third had survived. Today only sixteen Alphas are officially confirmed to be alive and active, but one must take into account that there is likely more still out there in the world, alive and hiding."
"Onto the subject of powers, Alphas usually possessed between one and three PRIMARY powers, and possessed three to four SECONDARY powers on average, with one Alpha being recorded to have as many as seven. Like I said they were extremely powerful."
"Hmm? What? Why are there so few left if they were so powerful? Well, mon amie, have you ever heard of the saying… "power corrupts?" Of course you have. This could not ring truer in the case of the Alphas."
"You see, some of the Alphas, as they grew in strength and age, began to see themselves as not only superior to that of the average human, but they began to see themselves as gods. Eventually, mental problems and insanity began to effect the Alphas, some developed god complexes, others went rogue, some even went completely off the wall and started killing whoever was in their vicinity."
"It was a nightmare for the Halcyon Corporation. Mr. Ito himself was wracked with worry that he and his corporation, and his superhuman soldiers would be discovered. As a method of damage control, some of the Alphas were grouped into kill teams, and hunted down rogue or insane Alphas."
"By the time of the Uprising, nearly all the Alphas had gone rogue, bringing us that official number of sixteen."
"Hm? What' the Uprising? Ah, fear not mon amie, we'll get to that in due time."
A/N: Yeah, I know, another long wait... please don't hate me. Life has sadly made it difficult to write, but I'm still chipping away at it. On top of that, the main reason this one took so long is that I wasn't very satisfied with it. In fact, I finished this chapter nearly a month ago, but never uploaded it because I wanted to fix it up a bit. Well, that never happened, and since it wasn't going to, I thought there was no point in holding it off any longer.
Anyways, a few edits had to be made in previous chapters (such as typos, and deleting old A/N's that were no longer important or no longer serve any purpose, misleading the word count on the story). Nothing important though, with one exception. There was a very minor plot-hole, were I stated that the Alphas had started out with five hundred test subjects, but a few chapters later misprinted that they started with only two hundred. That has been fixed, and the part where it said two hundred is now five hundred. Sorry about that. If anyone ever notices anything like that send me a PM so I can correct it. Sometimes errors like that fly in under the radar with a story this big and with so much backstory. It might get worse as the story gets longer, but I'll try my best to catch those before release.
This chapter isn't as long as others since I wanted to focus only on Isaac's return. That's the only reason its so short. I didn't want to take away from the return of the main character.
- Evolution Legacy