In the center of a desolate field Biarce stood still, the air was stale and not another sound could be heard. But in the distance, the faint sound of buzzing began to break the serenity of the silent environs. Within minutes a horde of robotic humanoids flew in towards Biarce, an initial group of the robots with over-sized fists with humming matter-disruption fields, Biarce dashed up towards the nearest drone, pressed his shoulder gently against its frame, and then shifted a few centimeters, causing a shockwave that drilled through the air and scattered the incoming drones apart. The second wave followed with a salvo of micro missiles aimed at his direction. Moving at superhuman speed, he caught the missiles and threw them back at the incoming drones, blasting them into scrap.
A much larger drone, about two stories big, burst from the ground behind Biarce, throwing its own large fist towards him, catching him off-guard. Biarce quickly somersaulted before the swipe could damage him. Before he could retaliate the robot stared at him with glowing eyes, firing off a super-heated laser beam at Biarce. The boy blocked the beam with his bare hands, the scorching beam produced puffy white smoke that burned black marks on him, but otherwise didn't faze him. While keeping him distracted, the giant kicked Biarce with enough force to shove him off his feet and hurtle him towards a dirt mound.
The automaton leaped into the sky and prepared to smash Biarce into the dirt. But just split seconds from impact, Biarce seemingly teleported from out of the way and reappeared with his arm stretched and pierced right into the robot's head, its mechanical body growing limp and eventually falling unmoving towards the ground. Once he pulled out, he casually walked away from the battlefield.
In an enclosed room, X monitored Biarce's skills from a holographic monitor. Biarce was undoubtedly one of the most powerful individuals he has ever encountered, but it was time for the final test.
Later…
Biarce and Bell were both placed on the Spire, the tallest structure ever conceived by Dr. X, a massive tower that extended to at least one-hundred thousand feet into the air and touching the very edge of space.
The two super-powered children posed still in a tense standoff, taking in a short breather before the inevitable confrontation. Bell extended her finger and pointed towards him "So… Biarce, you think I'd be able to handle anything you throw at me?"
He shrugged, "I guess."
"You guess?"
"I still don't know my own strength."
"Wow, they locked you up in that tank a long time."
"It feels weird being able to walk in the real world for once."
"Aww, poor thing, well, we can have lots of fun now, huh?"
"Well, all right, if you say-" Biarce was cut short by a swift punch to the spot between his eyes. He was thrown off the platform and began to plummet back to the ground, Bell jumped off as well, following after him. She was just about to reach him and give a quick jab when he countered with a somersault kick to her chin. He rushed to maintain momentum, but Bell was quick to recover and responded with an elbow block, but Biarce kneed her in the stomach and sent her flying away. He rushed towards her as though a comet with fist outstretched to collide with her.
Bell recovered and caught Biarce's crashing fist in her open palm, releasing a one-inch burst of power to send him flying away. As they fell further below the pillar, the clouds began to grow denser, eventually obscuring both combatants from each other. Occasionally they would, by fortuitous circumstance, spot one another and throw jabs, but they managed to parry each other every time.
Only once they made it past the fall of the opaque clouds did they see each other again clearly, and they both rushed one another for a chance to hit first. It occurred very quickly, and the moment lasted an eternity all while they continued free fall. Biarce struck Bell in the cheek and her face swelled to accommodate his fist, while Bell struck Biarce right in the front of his face, slamming her knuckles into his lips, her hand almost getting sucked into his mouth. The impact from both their attacks was so hard that they knocked themselves out, and continued towards the ground unimpeded.
They had no idea how long they fell, only that they dented a huge crater into the earth that threw dust several feet into the air. They were out cold for what seemed like a while, before they slowly came to from the stillness of their resting place, they turned their heads sideways and saw that they, coincidentally, crashed with their faces only inches from one another. Biarce just stared into Bell's eyes stoic and unflinching, Bell was agape with surprise and a little patch of red began to form on her face. She jumped upright with a startle and huffed quickly and profusely. She slowed down after a couple of breaths, picked herself up, and walked away without another word.
Later…
Biarce was put back in his cell and given a meager meal of mushroom soup and water. It had been two months since his forced internment with the Darkstar Council, for the time of his stay he was forced into simulated battles with virtual simulators and mock battles with Dr. X's experimental war machines and doomsday devices. Life became routine for him, and it was something he could wrap around, since he was held without much change for much of his life before being freed against his will by Bell.
Speak of the devil, the pearl-haired angel walked towards the boundary marking freedom and the interior of Biarce's cell. She looked at him curiously, with a childlike sense of curiousity to her gaze.
She was the first to break the ice, "Hey."
"Hello."
"I'm… sorry about what happened earlier."
"What do you mean?"
"I was all up in your face, and I didn't even say anything after that."
"It's all right."
"Why are you here?"
"I just wanted to apologize, is all. And also, that last match doesn't count."
"What do you mean?"
"Nobody won that last match, so I'm expecting a rematch."
"As you want," Biarce's aloof personality miffed Bell a little, she was hoping to garner a little more out of him and maybe make a new friend. She was about to speak more when a large, orange hand landed on her shoulder.
"Bell, what are you doing?" It was her father.
"Daddy, I… I was just…"
He pointed away back to the main hall, "Go play elsewhere, Bell, I have business to attend to."
"Oh come on, Daddy, can I just have a few more minutes of talk?"
"No."
With a huff, Bell walked away, but not before giving her dad the old raspberry.
"You're a little harsh on your daughter."
"I love her dearly, but she's at that age when I need to reaffirm myself. But enough about her, Biarce, your abilities have fascinated me for some time, so I've come with a proposition for you."
"May I ask what that is?"
"There is a certain place, a place I want you to go to because it's of special interest to me."
"You're being vague," Biarce responded matter-of-factly.
"There is a place in the Atlantic Ocean, under the Ocean, that has drawn the interest of the group that held you previously."
"Go on."
"I want to release you and go to that place and, in a word, tell me all about it, and them."
"And who are them?"
"I figured you would know, since they raised you, so to speak."
"All I have is memories of battles I've never fought, knowledge I've never gleaned from books or classrooms, I know nothing of who made me or why."
"Well they must have had a very special reason for making you what with the layers upon layers of secrecy they built around you. Don't you want to learn more about yourself?"
Biarce never really gave it any serious thought; he never found any reason to, in fact. He was content to simply not know anything about himself at all. "No, I don't."
"Very well, I'll take my leave for now, but I ask that you give thought to reconsider, maybe not in the immediate future, but I will remain adamant about this."
Biarce was alone again, with no sound other than the faint humming of the energy barrier keeping him in place. Biarce was quite a few things, but he certainly wasn't curious. It's not that he was afraid of whatever clandestine purpose his creation intended to serve, he just wanted to live a life he defined for himself, and he didn't want to let his own origin hamper his desire for that.
Later that night, as Biarce was fast asleep on his less-than-comfortable prison bed, but he didn't sleep soundly, but not from the rock hard bed, but by strange dreams that came upon him every night. Always he saw himself flying an endless sky in the form of a sleek black eagle; he carried about like business as usual. Without warning a strange bright light like the sun engulfed him and he felt himself hurtling towards a bottomless abyss below. Beckoning him from above was the light, dimming to show a shimmering eagle of gold, much larger than himself, talons spread open and ready to grip onto him and tear away at his body.
Biarce awoke with a start. The lucid dream drawing sweat from his face, this is the first he had seen that dream, and he pondered the meaning behind it.
"Are you okay?" Biarce turned to the sound of the uninvited voice, and behind the barrier was Bell, staring at him cocking her head sideways with a curious look about her. She was wondering what Biarce was going through to break a cold sweat like that.
"What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to talk to you."
"Why?"
"What do you mean 'Why? I just wanna be your friend, is all."
"Won't your dad disapprove of that?"
"He's asleep right now, so I can do whatever the hell I want, what he doesn't know won't harm him."
Biarce didn't say anything else, he wasn't much for conversation, this bored Bell, who expected a little more out of him.
"Hey, why the silent treatment? That's no fun at all."
"I'm just respecting your father's requests."
Bell furrowed her brows in disgust, "I don't want you to listen to that man."
"Isn't he your father?"
"He let my friend die."
Again, the silent treatment, Biarce had no experience responding to these types of situations, inside, he felt a little sorry for Bell, who was sitting down with a downtrod expression on her face.
Bell continued speaking, "He knew he wasn't going to make it, which is why I'm not doing anything he tells me to do anymore."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"So anyway, after that, I've just been so lonely. It hasn't been the same ever since Susan had gone."
"I see."
"Hey, Biarce."
"Yeah?"
"Do you think… we can be friends?"
"Why do you think I would care?"
"I dunno, I thought maybe we had something in common, you just seemed kinda lonely yourself. I'm… I'm sorry if I'm wasting your time."
"No, not at all…"
"Really?"
"You're the only person who hasn't treated me like some kind of weapon, so far. So that counts as something."
"Oh, okay. So, we can be friends then?"
"Absolutely."
Bell smiled, "Thanks Biarce, that means a lot to me, I mean, it's not everyday I make friends with people I beat up. So, I heard my dad wanted you to go somewhere for him?"
"Yes, I don't know what he thinks he'll benefit from it, I'm not interested in finding out who I am."
"I am. I'm curious about who you are."
"You are?"
"I'd like to know more about you, that's what friends are about, right?"
"I suppose."
"So… that settles it, now can I ask just one little favor?"
The next morning…
Dr. X looked upon him incredulously, "I'm afraid I cannot accept that request."
"Then I'm afraid I can't do as you ask."
"I'm doing this for my daughter's sake, I don't want her moping about the prospect of losing a friend."
"She doesn't seem to agree with your logic."
"Logic doesn't apply to her."
"It's either she comes, or gain nothing at all."
X gripped his nose bridge in exasperation, "Nothing irks me more than compromise. Very well, I suppose there are results to be had in taking risks."
"I'm certain Bell will do just fine, Dr. X."
"I certainly hope so."
When her father broke the news to her, Bell was ecstatic. She's been on a lot of missions for her father in the past, but this was the first she went out with a friend, aside from Girly, of course. She hoped this would be a good opportunity to bond with someone her age. As for Biarce, he was relieved, to a degree, to be able to go out into the world unrestrained. Together, the two transhuman kids were soaring over the skies above the Atlantic, Bell smiled gleefully, excited by the prospect of working together with someone she could share a kinship with, and Biarce seemed open to the thought of having her as a companion. As for Biarce, he was just drifting through the sky with single-minded focus on the mission that Bell's father had assigned to him, he wasn't really paying attention to Bell zipping around him like a breezing gale.
"Hey Biarce, think fast!"
"Huh?" Biarce didn't have time to react when Bell glomped him from behind playfully. Biarce spun while in the air uncontrollably, shaking Bell off after passing through a cloud. After regaining her composure, Bell looked around trying to find Biarce, who tackled her from behind without warning.
"Caught you." Biarce grabbed a hold of Bell from behind and under her armpits, and Bell giggled happily while soaring through the air with him. Bell extended her arms over her shoulders and flipped Biarce off of her. He wasn't going to give up that easy, and flew to her side and gripped her wrist, Bell responded by grabbing his as well.
They wrestled while flying through the expanse of blue and white all around them. For the time they spent on their way to their target, the two youths decided to savor the simple frivolities afforded by them. Biarce was, for the first time since his release from captivity, actually enjoying himself with his new friend. As for Bell, she hasn't felt this much fun since… well, since a very, very long time, in fact, she hasn't known a time since she enjoyed simple frolicking other than with GIR. Susan was fun hanging out with, but for the most part, he was always so obsessed with getting back at his old enemy, and while he was close to Bell, she had to admit that compared to Biarce, they never tried being that close.
It wouldn't last long, especially when her father was watching everywhere for them, "Not meaning to be rude, but you're nearing your objective and I'd like it if you'd stop acting childish and get your game on."
Bell groaned through her earpiece, "Yes, Daddy."
Biarce and Bell stopped their antics and flew down low, spotting a narrow island on the shifting blue of the sea, with assorted concrete structures standing squat across its surface.
"There it is, Biarce."
"Are you ready for this Bell? For all we know, we could expect more than a few surprises in store for us."
"Hey, as long as we're in this together, we'll be prepared for anything they throw at us."
For all Bell's confidence, Biarce was apprehensive about the situation, he held an ominous presentiment in his heart that what he'll find down there would be slightly more than he could possibly imagine.