The night was cold yet vibrant. Each star seemed to pop out of the sky, shining its radiance onto the green mass that moved through it. The city lights down below made a gentle sea of white and yellow that John stared at as he passed over. He had no idea the city was so big, not even from his perch could he see the outer reaches.
"Now passing over Genga Groves," The cheerful, robotic voice spoke into John's helmet frequently, which is something most people would be annoyed by. John on the other hand, enjoyed it. John looked down, seeing the three story tall building known as "the Groves" pass by.
They suit piloted like a jet, but at the same time, it didn't. It was controlled by movement when on the ground; it was like an extension of his body. When he had entered it, it was as simple as walking forward and jumping to get him into the air. But now that he was here, it was more like being an airplane.
There were thrusters on the boots and stabilizers on the hands, but they weren't for turning. It was like how a motorcycle has the handlebars but you don't use them to turn, you just use them for balance. To turn, John simply had to lean; let the wind do it, as the suit had said when he asked.
"What is this thing?" He had also asked.
The suit replied by saying, "This is the Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor, Mark Four. It was designed by [File Deleted] for the purposes of the Spartan program."
John had left it at that, not really wanting to ruin the dream that he was sure he'd wake from. In the back of his mind he knew that wasn't true, he knew he was awake, but there wasn't any way for him to convince himself that something like that existed. Let alone that he was in control of it, soaring over a city that he had only been in for a couple weeks.
Military school training had taught him to 'go with what was given', so at the moment, that's what he was doing. He had this suit, whatever it was actually capable of was not at the forefront of his mind, and he was flying. Whatever came next would either be terrible or suspenseful. But from where he was sitting, everything felt like it would turn out ok.
The suit was nice enough, it spoke when spoken too, it answered what it was asked…
"What's the 'Spartan program'?" John felt stupid for not asking this earlier.
"It was designed by [file deleted] to train a person, most likely a soldier, on how to use the Mjolnir armor in the defense of national security. Said trained person would be best suited if they lacked the following; family, friends, social standing, free will (though the last one could be dealt with).
"There were many candidates, including [declared M.I.A] and [declared M.I.A], but they both were declared M.I.A during phase one of the program."
"Phase one?" John went with what was given. "Is there a phase two?"
"Phase two, or Spartan II, was begun several days ago."
"What's the difference between phase one and two?"
"Phase one was a failure. Phase two built upon it in many ways. Advanced testing, better equipment and funding, and it is being conducted in secret."
"What do you mean by secret?" John felt like he was getting somewhere, though he wasn't sure why he wanted to.
"It was privately funded by Parangosky, Margaret, Director of Oni, for the sole purpose of: insert role; private body guard. All national security protocol was stripped from the project. Only one candidate was found and located; currently detained by Ackerson, James."
John felt odd. For some reason he felt that he had gone to far, but when in doubt, 'dig deeper'.
"Who is the candidate?"
"John, top graduate from the Janus Military School at age 14, orphan since the age of six and currently boarding at a school partially funded by ONI associates. His credentials are top notch, not a smudge on his record, his ASVAB and SAT scores were flawless, but he doesn't have any living family to claim him. Was boarding in room 117 until detained."
There was a twinge when John's heart popped. He felt drugged but knew he wasn't. He felt sick but, again, knew he wasn't.
'It's me?' He asked himself. 'I'm the candidate? That's why that guy grabbed me. But they still don't know I've escaped.'
"Computer, entry change." He waited for response but then realized there wouldn't be one. "Released by Ackerson, comma, James. Reason stated, colon…" John thought long and hard, trying to think of a reason that would suit the head of ONI when she sat down to read the report. "Quote, 'cause I felt like it. End quote. End entry change."
"Rodger, entry updated."
John smiled. He felt powerful where he was, up in the clouds, surrounded by a high-tech piece of secret government equipment. It was a dream come true, and John had no idea what to do with it.
"Bring up a list of the operations."
"Aye." The suit said with a flair of righteousness. When the list popped up, John's jaw dropped. There were over a million and of the ones he could see on the HUD, none of them made any sense what so ever. So he asked the computer to 'slim them down to the basic ones' and it did. The list was smaller now, only about a hundred, and each seemed to be pretty simple.
There was the GPS, which John assumed was what made the computer talk whenever they passed over a landmark. There was LIFESUPPORT, FLIGHTCONTROLS, AUTOPILOT [OFF], and the one that stuck out to him the most was POLICESCANNER [OFF]. Now why would a suit like this have a police scanner built in, he asked himself, making the motion with his eyes to turn it on.
"POLICESCANNER [ON]. Now scanning…" There was a series of beeps and hums.
"What is there even a police scanner on this thing?"
"National Security."
"I thought you said all of that stuff was stripped from the program."
"Some things are better left alone, or should I rephrase that…some things are cheaper is they are left alone."
John smiled to himself. He felt like a super hero, that was as simple as it could be. He felt like he was in power and it actually dawned on him that he could use it. That in of itself was a great feeling; just knowing that he could do something. He didn't think he would, because that would be absolutely ridiculous. But he could.
"Scanning complete. Most severe danger to National Security located. Four blocks south, one block east. AUTOPILOT [ON]."
"No, no, no, no. Autopilot off!" John looked down at the city, it still looked like a sea of light, but it was getting more in focus. Which meant they were descending. "Autopilot off!"
"Command not found. Auto reaction to scan indicated that I should take control until severe danger rating is lowered to moderate." John was just shaking his head, saying 'no' repeatedly. His heart was racing just like it had been before, except this time he didn't think the old trick he was taught would work.
"One block east." The computer said, steering the suit (and John) down towards police cruisers. There were two, back to back, in front of a tavern. It had a lighted sign of a woman bent over looking through her legs at anyone who happened to be walking by. Above that was the name, "Jenny's Lucky Star". The cruisers were empty and their policemen were on the far side of them, their guns out and pointed towards the tavern.
"Scan indicated three armed gunmen inside, ten hostages. Odds of winning are 85%, Odds of casualties is 0%." The computer paused here, as if it wanted John to say something, but he was completely stunned. "COMBATMODE [ON]."
In the blink of an eye, so quick that John barely caught it, a gun snapped up from the thigh armor and landed in his right hand. He felt the cold steel of the handle, even through the armor. After staring at it he felt himself lunge forward, thrusters turning off and putting him into a free fall.
The fall only lasted three seconds and it was the most amazing thing John had ever witnessed. The suit was completely silent as it fell towards the tavern, and when it was only a foot away, John's arms shot out, breaking the boards with a low 'crack'. There was no other noise as the suit flipped so that it's feet landed first.
All of a sudden, John was in the middle of a hostage situation. The three guys in front of him, with their backs turned. They hadn't heard a thing. The suit raised the gun and pulled the trigger twice. There wasn't a loud bang, but there was a hiss of air as a small bulb was projected out of the barrel, sending a high dose electrical charge into two of the gunmen. They dropped like rocks and as the third one turned to face the man responsible, the suit let go of the gun and it snapped back to the thigh.
"Threat level reduced. Proceed with caution." John watched the AUTOPILOT go from [ON] to [OFF] and felt full control of the suit come back to him. His heart beat shot through the roof as the gunmen turned to him, his eyes wide and his gun raised. It was a smith and Wesson, and old model but still dangerous. The specs of it appeared on John's HUD as he stared helpless.
"What? What are you? How did you get in here?" The gunman sounded fragile and was on the verge of going into cardiac arrest from what the Blood pressure monitor on John's HUD said. John didn't answer, basically afraid to reveal that he was just a kid. So the gunman fired.
John shot his arm up, faster than the speed of sound, just as fast as the bullet actually, and caught it in the palm of his hand. He felt the gauntlet around his forearm adjust to the pressure of the speeding projectile, so that his arm wouldn't give way to the force.
John stared helplessly for only a moment until he saw that the gunman looked the exact same. The gun trembled in his hand and his eyes were watering. He was more afraid of John that John was of him (and he could understand why). John remembered the time the kids jumped him at the military academy, and changed his fear into excitement.
The gunman began to turn, but John was already in front of him. Two quick movements, John grabbed the man's arm and twisted. It flipped the gunman head over heels until he landed on his back with a hollow grunt. John then delivered a rapid punch to the man's abdomen.
"Threat level, nonexistent. Congratulations!" Confetti and streamers burst forth from the suit, falling lifelessly onto the body of the previously dangerous gunman. John flew from the hole the suit had created in the roof, just as the cops kicked in the door, preparing their eyes to see dead hostages, when in reality all they saw was an embarrassed criminal.
So what do you think so far? Do you see where this is going yet? Thank you all for reading and hopefully reviewing. I know it's been forever since I updated this story, but sometimes it's hard. The next chapter should finish up the introduction section of this story so stay tuned.