Later that day, back at Eisenhelm Airport.
Elijah stood in line on the boarding bridge. To his left, he spotted a rocket—no bigger than a bus—blasting off into the sky.
Black solar-panel alloys. At least they've finally caught up. I wonder how they figured out dimensional rifting.
Just then, he was bumped into by Savannah.
"Oh, thank goodness it's you," she said, a panicked look in her eyes.
Oh hell no!
Elijah simply looked up and walked forward. "I'm sorry, you must be confused."
Savannah stood stunned. "What?" She followed straight behind him. "I know it's you. You saved that guy, remember? You also gave me advice—"
"Nope, wrong guy."
He continued forward, thinking to himself:
I'm not dealing with that. This girl is bad news.
Unrelenting, she followed behind him. "Please, just listen to what I have to say!"
Elijah ignored her as he pulled the headphones out of his jacket.
One Mongolian throat singing session and I'll be in New Sentinel.
As he went to plug in his headphones, from the far corner of his eye, he spotted one of the airport guards—a man in black armor wearing carbon-fiber plating which covered his vital areas—quickly looking toward him before nervously turning back.
Elijah then looked up and saw that the security cameras in the next sections of the bridge were disabled.
Damn it.
As multiple people walked past her, having been ignored, Savannah stood still on the boarding bridge, unsure what to do. Suddenly, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.
Had Elijah come back? Savannah thought to herself as she eagerly turned around.
But it was not him. She was met by an elderly woman wearing glasses. The woman gently placed her hand on top of Savannah's and, with a warm smile, asked, "Is everything alright? Do you need help?"
An arm suddenly shoved the woman aside, grabbing Savannah by the arm.
"Yeah, she's fine. Don't worry about it."
They both turned and looked up.
"It's you," Savannah said to a seemingly agitated Elijah.
"Yeah, we should get going. We don't have much—" Suddenly, the old woman grabbed his arm.
"Wait a minute, you first have to apologize," the woman said in an upper-class, refined, yet stern voice.
"Sorry," he said in a quick mumble. "Now let's—" Still holding on, the lady stayed put.
"No, that's not how you apologize. It should be earnest and sincere."
Biting his lip, Elijah thought: We really don't have time for this.
"You're right. Sorry. Now we gotta—"
"I said it must be sincere—"
Screw it.
"Well sincerely, I think you should back off! Your breath hits so hard, I'm surprised no engineer has tried bootstrapping you to the bottom of one of these rocket ships."
Elijah pulled his arm away. As the lady stood, mouth open in disbelief, he briefly cringed before quickly turning around and walking away, dragging Savannah to the wayside.
I really didn't mean to shove her like that, and she seemed nice, too.
Savannah mouthed to the lady, "Sorry," before turning to Elijah. "That was rude! She was just trying to be nice!" she said in a fierce whisper.
Elijah whispered back, "I apologized twice and she wouldn't let go. I had no choice—"
I did have a choice, and her breath actually smelled nice—kinda like cinnamon.
"—Besides, you don't know if she's working with the people chasing you."
Savannah's eyes widened. "You saw them? Where are they? Should we contact the F.F.H.?"
Quickly scanning the area, Elijah thought: This is worse than I thought.
"Woah, calm down. Keep your voice low. I don't know who for sure, but I do have suspects. Anyway, we first have to work out a deal, preferably soon."
They had arrived at the first chamber of the F.F.H.'s two-chamber decontamination and security onboarding section. The first chamber was the security section where scanners looked for weapons; the second, a decontamination chamber where they would be blasted with disinfectant smoke.
Elijah continued, "They probably won't make a move at this stage, so we have a bit of time. I'll keep this simple: if you want to make it to New Sentinel alive, you'll agree to follow whatever orders I give you when we get there."
Her breath halted. Having been told the dangers of revealing her class, she'd always been on the lookout for potential threats—however, upon leaving the F.F.H.'s depowering room, for the first time since her powers emerged, she was vulnerable.
Just then, a voice spoke over an intercom. "Please make your way forward to the security chamber. Thank you."
As Elijah and Savannah stepped inside the chamber—a medium-sized white corridor with glass-like material on the wall—they continued whispering.
"I thought I could trust you, but you want to turn me into your servant?"
"Hmm? More like an enforcer, but a servant works if you want, so long as you follow my commands."
A scowl grew on her face as they continued forward. "What makes you think I would agree to this? Or even keep to this agreement?" She raised her voice.
Elijah yawned, placing his hands behind his head. "Three reasons. First: because you proudly announced that you're Calmaran, and Calmarans always honor their vows. Two: you currently don't have your powers. And three... among the twenty people inside this chamber, I've confirmed that at least twelve of them are neo-traffickers."
Upon hearing that, the room changed. Everyone she was suspicious of suddenly became an exaggerated, scary version of themselves. One large man in particular stood out.
The lights in the chamber began to flicker as a red laser began to scan them. As the laser went from head to toe, Elijah turned to her, no longer whispering. "My tone of voice may be deceptive to how serious this is, but you really do need to make a decision, preferably before the red light turns off."
Raising her voice, she grabbed him. "Hey, what are you doing? Why aren't you whispering?"
"Most of the people here are here for you anyway; we might as well speak normally."
Suddenly, a few clicks of the tongue and aggravated murmurs spawned around them.
I'd prefer not to dump this on you like this, but I need you to make a decision.
She began frantically looking around, the faces around her turning malicious as her breathing became haggard. At that moment, she heard a voice. With a deep exhale, she sat on the floor. Closing her eyes, she clasped her hands together and began muttering to herself.
The red laser reached the floor and then began rising again. Elijah, hands still behind his head, turned towards her.
She's praying? Whatever works, I guess.
The laser reached his stomach. "Uh, so... I kinda need an answer."
"Quiet, I'm still listening!"
As soon as this laser scans the last person, all hell will break loose.
The laser rose to his neck. Just then, he heard the shuffling of feet, the clenching of fists, and joints sliding as bones cracked.
"Now?" he said, slightly raising his voice.
"Mmm? Only on one condition."
"Out with it!" he said, now shouting.
"You're not allowed to kill anyone."
"Deal!" Elijah then immediately grabbed her, shouting, "Jakob, she agreed!"
The light turned green and the next chamber opened.
"Please move to the—"
The room went dark and, with that, began the shortest showcasing of chaotic non-lethal violence known to man. The room exploded into the sounds of fists colliding, men groaning, and metal clanking all around them.
As she started to open her eyes, Elijah calmly placed his hands over them. "Yeah, you probably don't want to do that." Just then, she heard the loud wailing of a man behind her.
"In fact, I'd probably close your ears too. Just to be safe."
She instantly placed her hands over her ears.
Thirty seconds passed, and the lights switched on again.
"We are currently experiencing technical difficulties. Please pardon any discomfort that occurs. Thank you."
Humph, as if we had a choice.
Elijah then tapped Savannah, whose eyes and ears were still closed. "Hey, we're good now. The coast is clear."
She opened her eyes and saw a large corridor, walls made of a matte white-gray, the ceiling lined with white and gold lights which shone upon Renaissance-style statues and paintings of the top ten heroes in the F.F.H.
Marvelling at all this, she could not help but say, "Woah."
"Yeah, there's a lot wrong with the F.F.H., but their sense of style is not one of them."
"I'll say... wait—" she shouted at Elijah, "—what was all that about? What happened back there!"
She turned around and immediately saw a tall figure. "AAAH!" she shrieked, falling down on her back. Crying out, she turned to Elijah. "You forgot one!"
The man stepped closer, but Elijah said nothing.
"Hey, I said you—" She turned and saw Elijah crouching, looking at her with a deadpan expression.
"Get up. That's just Jakob."
"Jakob? What's a Jakob?" she exclaimed. At that moment, she remembered: just before the green light disappeared, Elijah had called out a name.
"So he's the one you were talking to."
Getting up, an announcement was made: "Please make your way to the main theatre."
This place is unreal, she thought to herself. As Elijah walked on, she scurried over to him, Jakob following closely behind.
Elijah then spoke. "Jakob's the reason why I was rushing you to make that deal."
"Why? Given your level of ability, couldn't you take him on?"
"Maybe. Though doing so while preventing you from being kidnapped—or worse—would've been far too difficult."
How can he talk so casually about death? What's wrong with this guy? she thought as Elijah pushed over a statue, causing it to fall.
"Okay... and why would he have prevented you from helping me?"
"You're too much of a hassle. Young, a former rogue, a Level 2. It would've been easier to just let them take you. I, of course, agree with him; however, we kinda need allies on the Western Front, and what's a better ally than a Level 2 Hero prospect?"
She slightly raised her brow. "As insulting as that is, I understand."
They then walked on in silence.
...
"What, were those all your questions?"
"Yes," she said with a smile.
Squinting, he asked, "Okay, then I have a few questions for you."
"Go for it."
I don't like how quickly she answered that.
"What made you accept the deal?"
"Well, I heard a voice, and having thought about what you did earlier, I figured even if I was your 'enforcer,' you wouldn't ask me to do anything I wouldn't want to do."
"But you don't know that for sure."
"I don't know anything for sure, so I might as well go with my gut."
...
Elijah squinted again. That's a good point.
"You don't want to know more about Jakob, who I am, or what happened to all those guys from before?"
"I'm of course curious, but if you want to tell me, you'll tell me. I won't push what's none of my business—"
...
Elijah said nothing.
"—Besides, I feel like you two have a lot of trauma, and I'm already having a bad enough day as it is."
Holy shit, this kid might be more mature than I am.
Just then, for the first time, Jakob spoke. "Elijah, this kid is smarter and more mature than you."
"No one asked, Jakob."
"I'm just saying... I like her way more."
Savannah slightly smiled as Elijah replied, "Yeah, thanks again for the input."
Reaching the end of the hallway, some of the walls retracted upwards. Elijah quickly whispered to Savannah, "Let me handle this, uhh... what's your name again?"
"Savannah. And you are Elijah and he's Jakob, right?"
"Yeah, right."
Damn, she is smarter than me.
Just then, guards emerged from the openings in the walls. As they all saluted, the head guard walked out.
"Sorry for the wait. Welcome to—" The head guard immediately stopped in his tracks. What's going on here? Where are the rest of the passengers? he thought as he looked upon the three of them.
"—Is this it? Weren't there more of you?" the head guard asked.
"Nope, it's just us," Elijah responded.
Still skeptical, the captain proceeded. "I see. That is strange. But since you're here, welcome on board."
As the captain went to open the corridor doors, a guard with slicked-back black hair approached. "Wait, something's up. Can I question them quickly?"
The captain raised his brow. "Now you're acting strange. Fine, go ahead, but be quick."
The guard stepped towards Elijah, glaring at him as he stood directly over him.
6'3". Slightly taller than me, with a longer reach. Fairly fit, burn marks, and anti-rogue tattoos. This guy is the inside man.
The guard asked Elijah, "I actually have two questions. First one: the girl that's with you—that's the Level 2, is it not?"
"It is."
The guard then got even closer, now an inch from Elijah.
"This one's important, so don't lie to me." He then whispered with a wide-eyed look, "What happened to the men following her?"
Elijah looked down and saw that the man had positioned his hand near an object that glinted.
Elijah leaned closer to his ear, whispering, "To tell you the truth... me and that big guy over there, we messed them up bad. I mean quite literally to within an inch of their lives—"
The man went to grab the object, but as he opened his hand, Elijah grabbed his fingers and, with a loud, sickening crunch, twisted them.
As the man screeched, he quickly bit his tongue, not wanting to make a sound.
"What was that?" the head guard shouted. "Did anybody else hear that? Lance, was it you? It came from your direction."
Slowly turning, the guard put his hands behind his back and forced a wide, enigmatic smile.
"No sir, I have no idea what that was."
The head guard slightly grimaced. Maybe him smiling like that is a part of his PR training, the poor thing. They really should have taught him how.
The head guard then cleared his throat. "Alright, very well. I take it you're done with the questioning."
The guard nodded as Elijah pressed his now-malformed fingers.
"Then we can continue. Welcome to our onboard theater." He went to open the door, but something was wrong. Something called out to him, but he did not know what.