1 Day Later
“What? But– he said he’d be here!”
“I’m sorry, but Master Lieutenant Kolstén isn’t available at the
moment. He checked out a little over an hour ago.”
“Gah…” Kevérin scowled, and then glanced back at Kaoné. “You called
him, right? He did say that he’d be here, right?”
“Yeah…” the Materiatechnic frowned.
“We’re talking about the same person, right?” Kevérin whipped back
around to the woman sitting behind the desk, “Christeané Kolstén?”
“I wish we weren’t,” the secretary sighed, “I’m afraid to say you
aren’t the first to come looking for him while he’s… ‘away’.”
“Sounds in line with my experience,” Siyuakén snorted.
“Do you know where he went?” Kevérin questioned.
“No. But, given the time…” the secretary took a moment to glance at the
clock before returning her attention to the Transfer Captain. “He could be
taking an early lunch break. You should check the canteens south of here.”
“Oh, no…” Davídrius groaned, “I am not about to start
traipsing all over East Nimaliaka just to hunt down this one guy.”
“Not all of East Nimaliaka,” Kaoné corrected, “Just
Soughcé.”
“This city may as well be the entire continent,” the
Introtechnic gestured out the windows of the office. Even from twenty stories
up, the East Nimaliakian capital of Soughcé seemed to sprawl toward the horizon
in every direction.
“You’re a Superspeed Introtechnic, finding Christeané should be easy
for you,” Siyuakén remarked.
“Like I’m going to run around the entire goddamn city,” Davídrius
snorted, “I’ll pass.”
“We still need to find him, though,” Kevérin insisted, “Nikéyin’s
orders.”
“And the sooner we start looking, the sooner we can kick his ass and
get him in line,” Siyuakén declared.
“Hey, let’s not start any fights,” Kaoné interjected.
“If he ain’t down in the canteens, well…” Davídrius scowled, “No
guarantees.”
*
* *
30 Minutes Later
“Of course he isn’t here.”
“Alright. Alright,” Kevérin sighed, “…did we actually check
everywhere?”
“I checked all of the chain restaurants…” Kaoné commented.
“We even checked out that sketchy food parlour down the alley from
Check ‘n Fries,” Davídrius remarked, “…man, I had no idea it was even possible to
wear clothes like–“
“Davídrius,” Siyuakén cut in irately.
“What? Gimme a break,” the Introtechnic scowled, “You don’t get to see
shit like that in Treséd. It’s all fucking desert. Everyone’s covered up all
the time.”
“O-kaaay, moving on…” Kaoné
quickly redirected the conversation.
“So no one saw Christeané…” Kevérin frowned, “Did anyone at least find
a hint as to where he went?”
“We’re dealing with fucking restaurants,” Davídrius
deadpanned. “Where the hell are we gonna find ‘hints’?”
“I’m trying to help direct us to the Master
Lieutenant,” Kevérin responded, “Cut the snark.”
Davídrius crossed his arms and scowled, but said nothing else.
“We could just wait for him, by his office,” Kaoné suggested.
“He won’t be back for hours,” Siyuakén countered, “I’m not waiting
that long for him.”
“I agree, I’ve already done enough sitting around in waiting rooms over
the past two weeks,” the Transfer Captain nodded, and then looked down the
street toward the East Nimaliakian Military Headquarters. “Hmm… wait here. I’ll
go ask some of the other officers and see if they know where Christeané went…”
The remaining three members of Hero Machina watched Kevérin run down
the street toward a small group of East Nimaliakian officers. Davídrius then
turned his attention to Siyuakén, asking, “Seems like you know Christeané. He
always like this?”
“…Not always,” the Electrotechnic admitted begrudgingly,
“He’s… not actually bad at his job. He’s just really hard to work with, because
he does stuff like – well, like this.”
“Why were you working with him?” Kaoné asked.
“Nothing big…” Siyuakén replied, “It was about a year ago, I think.
Rebehka and I were looking into a metallic infection incident in the Northern
Deepsough region, and Christeané was the East Nimaliakian liaison assigned to
us.”
“…Northern Deepsough?” Davídrius echoed cluelessly.
“North of the Deepsough Sea? You know, the huge body of water in the
middle of East Nimaliaka?” Siyuakén sighed when the Introtechnic shook his
head. “You never learned geography, did you.”
“Do you not remember how shitty it is down in Treséd?”
Davídrius deadpanned.
The conversation was cut short as Kevérin came jogging back. “According
to those guys, Christeané is probably downtown either at the Chaotic Range or…
somewhere else.”
“Well that’s certainly helpful,” the Introtechnic snorted.
“What would he be doing at the Chaotic Range?” Siyuakén questioned, “He’s
an Introtechnic. Ranges are built mostly for Navitas- and Materiatechnics.”
“I guess we’re about to find out,” Kevérin responded, “C’mon. Let’s go
to downtown Soughcé.”
*
* *
1.5 Hours Later
“So… he ain’t here.”
“Kevérin did say that it was the Chaotic Range or
‘somewhere else’…” Kaoné pointed out.
“We should’ve known that we’d be wastin’ time comin’ down here…”
Davídrius scowled.
“Even so…” Siyuakén responded as she slowly looked over a map of the
Range at a nearby kiosk, “…this Range is really impressive. They have sections
for all of the major Chaotic types… there’s even sections for Intro- and
Extratechnics! You’d never see something so impressive in Relédiaka…”
“It’s a place where people run around and attack dummies,” Davídrius
deadpanned, “What’s so special about it?”
“You’ve never been to a Range, have you.”
“Do I really need to keep reminding you about how shitty Treséd is?”
The Introtechnic glanced around distastefully. “Besides, it just looks like a
glorified gym. Not to mention there’s too many damn people here…”
Siyuakén sighed wearily. “This is a normal amount of people for any
city.”
“Then that’s one thing I liked better about Treséd:
there’s less people,” Davídrius retorted, “Why’s a Chaotic… thingy open to the
public anyways? I thought the lot of you were conscripted into every military
ever.”
“Chaotics can retire,” Kaoné pointed out, “And officers on leave can
still use the Range if they’d like.”
“So then it’s just one big circlejerk-y military alumni club,” Davídrius
snorted, “I still don’t understand the rest of Nimalia. Conscription is
ridiculous.”
“You won’t hear us arguing against you there…” Siyuakén muttered just
as Kevérin approached the group.
“He’s not here–“
“I could’ve told you that,” Davídrius interjected.
“–but he was supposed to be,” Kevérin continued,
giving the Introtechnic a brief glare. “According to the front desk, Christeané
was scheduled to use the Driving Range about half an hour ago, but he called in
at the last second to cancel. Apparently he claimed he was doing something
important.”
“Of course he did.”
“I don’t know… he might actually,” Siyuakén frowned, “He may be
bothersome and bad with time, but he doesn’t lie… not in my experience, at
least. …Wait a minute, the front desk actually told you all that?”
“Hue hue hue hue hue,” Kevérin chuckled, “You can get a lot of
information when you’re a Transfer Captain. …Knowing how to bullshit
bureaucracy helps, too.”
“…Uh… right,” the Electrotechnic responded slowly.
“Well if he’s doing something important… that would mean he’s back at
the HQ, right?” Kaoné asked.
“Maybe,” Kevérin replied, “Based on the reaction of the secretary and
the officers I talked to around the food courts, Christeané is known for just
going places when he likes… but despite that, no one reaches the rank of Master
Lieutenant if they don’t know what they’re doing, not in East Nimaliaka where
there’s at least twice as many ranks as everywhere else. I’d bet that he left
the headquarters originally in order to check out this ‘important’ business.”
“I think you’re giving him just a little too much
credit,” Siyuakén countered.
“And you used a whole lotta words to say that you disagreed with
Kaoné,” Davídrius pointed out, “Just tell us where you think he is.”
“Probably the communications center?” the Transfer Captain suggested,
“I know that in Soughcé, the communications center and the headquarters are
separate buildings. If it’s important business that required that he leave the
HQ, but not the city, he probably went to communications.”
“And if he didn’t?” the Introtechnic challenged.
“Then we just go back to the headquarters and sit tight,” Kevérin
responded, “No one’s worth more effort than that.”
“Too bad you didn’t think that two hours ago,” Davídrius grumbled,
“Well, let’s get goin’, then…”
*
* *
2 Hours Later
“The Master Lieutenant? Yes, he was here a couple hours ago… with no
appointment, might I add. He had the authorization to access the information
that he wanted, but – well, that’s just how Kolstén is, I suppose.”
“Thanks,” Kevérin nodded once, “Do you know where he went afterward?”
“I believe he mentioned getting something to eat…” the officer mused,
“Given the nature of the information, he should really be heading back to
headquarters. Who knows how long it’ll be before he’s actually back, though…”
“Hmm, okay… what kind of information did he come for?”
“Uh… the security clearance was higher than Captain, excepting Kolstén.
I can’t tell you.”
“Ah, okay. Well, thanks anyways.” The Pyrotechnic turned away from the
desk and approached the rest of Hero Machina, who were waiting semi-patiently a
couple meters away.
“We’re not looking through every restaurant in
Soughcé,” Davídrius declared.
“Don’t worry, we won’t,” the Transfer Captain replied, “though I am curious
about what this information he’s dealing with is.”
“It must be important enough for him to skip his appointment with us,”
Kaoné commented.
“Or he just forgot,” Siyuakén suggested, “I really think he just
forgot.”
“He better be worth all the trouble he’s putting us through…” Davídrius
scowled.
“Well at least he didn’t make us join an all-out assault on a gang
base, huh?” Kevérin retorted. He smirked when the Introtechnic turned away in a
huff.
“Guys, come on,” Kaoné cut in, “Stop provoking each other… we need to
get going, anyways. It’ll be a little late once we get back to the HQ.”
“Such urban sprawl,” Siyuakén commented, “Cities never take
up so much land in Relédiaka. Though I guess building a city on plains is a lot
different from building one in the trees.”
“Kaoné has a point though, let’s stop wasting time,” Kevérin spoke up
before leading the group out of the building, “If we get to the headquarters
too late, we might just miss Christeané entirely…”
*
* *
2 Hours Later
“Y’know, in this day and age when we have fuckin’ spaceships that
can cross the galaxy in weeks, you’d think we could get from planet location A
to planet location B in much less time.”
“You really like to complain, don’t you,” Kevérin deadpanned.
“Tch,” Davídrius snorted, “I’m not complaining, I’m just pointing out
things that should be fixed.”
“When done with the frequency that you do it, it’s called complaining,”
the Transfer Captain retorted. The four Chaotics then stopped momentarily to check
through the headquarters’ security gate before progressing to the interior
courtyard.
“There’s barely anyone here…” Kaoné muttered.
“That’s not too surprising, since it’s past six in the evening,”
Kevérin commented as he glanced toward the horizon, where the sun was just
about to set. “City-based headquarters don’t have as long working hours as more
isolated bases… especially in capital cities. You guys should know that.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Davídrius scowled, “Are you tryin’ to say
that we actually missed Christeané?”
“It’s possible,” Kevérin admitted, “But we should still check, before
jumping to conclusions.”
“Oi oi oi…” the Introtechnic sighed, “It would figure that impatience
would net us an even longer wait time…”
“Ironic, coming from a Superspeed Introtechnic,” Kaoné responded
cheekily.
“Shush,” Davídrius snorted, “I’ll have you know– …” He suddenly paused
and snapped his attention to the top of the headquarters building.
Kevérin immediately directed his gaze in the same direction. “What is
it–?”
The Transfer Captain was interrupted as Davídrius suddenly whipped his
right foot out and upwards just in time to knock aside an incoming assailant
from above. The aggressor hit the ground tumbling before jumping back to his
feet and firmly grasping the Battlehammer that was tethered to a body-harness
partially hidden by his red vest.
“Not bad!” he shouted back as he dropped the hammer, grabbed its
connecting tether, and then began whirling the weapon around so fast it became
merely a blur. “Let’s see how long you can last, though!”
“Wait, are you–?” Kevérin tried to ask, but was unable to finish his
question before Davídrius dashed forward at the same moment the unknown Chaotic
released his hammer toward Hero Machina. The Superspeed Introtechnic prepared
to sock the Chaotic in the jaw but was surprised when his fist was knocked away
just before the boy was rocketed away by the momentum of his thrown hammer. He
zoomed through the air, narrowly missing the rest of Hero Machina as they dived
out of the way haphazardly. Kevérin then looked over at Siyuakén. “Is that–?”
“Yep,” she sighed, “That… is Christeané Kolstén.”
Davídrius, however, was too absorbed in the sudden duel to pay
attention to the rest of Hero Machina. He turned on his heel and blasted off
toward Christeané again as the East Nimaliakian began twirling his hammer. Just
before Davídrius reached him Christeané released the hammer straight down,
cratering the ground and sending dirt flying in every direction and tripping up
the Superspeed Introtechnic. He tumbled into a roll but quickly leaped out of
it, snapping his momentum back toward Christeané, elbow forward. The East
Nimaliakian stooped down, grabbed his hammer, and then – surprisingly – parried
away Davídrius’s blow. The Superspeed Introtechnic flipped backwards and
scowled, taking only a moment to glare at his adversary before sprinting off
perpendicular to Christeané. Unfazed, the East Nimaliakian began twirling his
hammer again before releasing it upwards, yanking him into the air just before
Davídrius thought to try landing another blow. But the Tresédian didn’t
immediately give up – he leaped into the air after Christeané, prepared to kick
him in the guts; the East Nimaliakian seemed well-prepared, though, as he
yanked his hammer back down to him and then whipped it through the air by its
tether, slamming it into Davídrius and sending the Superspeed Introtechnic
rocketing back down to the ground. The Tresédian impacted the ground with a
sickening thud but jumped back to his feet unfazed and dashed off again just as
Christeané landed himself, his hammer whirling around once more. The East
Nimaliakian released the weapon toward Davídrius, but this time the Superspeed
Introtechnic side-stepped the hammer and immediately launched himself perpendicular
to Christeané as he snatched the weapon out of the air. The sudden change in
momentum swung the East Nimaliakian in a circle, but instead of blacking out
from the g-forces he yanked on the tether just as he caught himself on the
courtyard wall, snapping the weapon – and Davídrius – back toward him. Caught
off-guard, the Superspeed Introtechnic was little able to react before
Christeané slammed his fist into the Tresédian in an uppercut, sending the
Introtechnic flying high into the air. Christeané then whirled his hammer
around once more before releasing it toward the Superspeed Introtechnic,
yanking himself through the air as he prepared to slam his fists down onto
Davídrius – who had managed to whip himself around just in time to slam his foot
into Christeané at the same moment the East Nimaliakian smashed his fists down
on the Tresédian, sending the both of them rocketing toward the ground. The
moment they both hit they immediately recovered and leaped to their feet,
glaring at each other from across the courtyard… until Christeané suddenly
grinned.
“Wow,” he remarked, “You’re pretty good!”
“Tch, ‘pretty good’ my ass,” Davídrius scowled, “The hell did you
attack us for?”
“I wanted to see how good you were,” Christeané responded innocently as
the rest of Hero Machina cautiously approached. “Hero Machina, right?”
“Yeah…” Kevérin responded slowly, his attention switching between the
Master Lieutenant and the damaged courtyard. “You call this ‘seeing how good we
are’?!”
“Eh, this is no big deal,” Christeané shrugged, “Just bring in a
Geotechnic, maybe a Chlorotechnic, everything’ll be as good as new.”
“Of course…” Siyuakén sighed, “Why is it that Introtechnics, of all
people, seem the most overly confident?”
“Oh, hey, Siyuakén,” Christeané nodded, “Heh. Long time, no see.”
“I’m starting to wish it had been longer,” she groaned.
“I’m still surprised about that battle!” Kaoné exclaimed, “how did you
keep up with Davídrius? How are neither of you hurt?!”
“We’re both Introtechnics. Of course we’re not hurt,” Christeané
snorted, “That’s all I need to say, really. I’m sure you’re a smart girl, you
can figure it out.”
“…I’m honestly not sure what my opinion of you is right now,” Davídrius
deadpanned.
“All that aside, though – where were you today?” Kevérin cut in, “We
were supposed to meet this morning! Remember?”
“Yeah, I know. I wanted to see how far you guys would go to get me.”
“…You ran across Soughcé just to see how far we’d go to get you?”
Kevérin echoed incredulously.
“Yep,” Christeané smirked.
“Bullshit,” Siyuakén immediately retorted.
“Yeah, it’s bullshit,” the Master Lieutenant admitted with a smirk,
“Though that duel was actually me testing you.”
“I’m starting to wonder if I really want you on Hero Machina…” Kevérin
scowled.
“He said the same thing about me,” Davídrius glanced over at
Christeané.
“Yeah, no, I get you,” the East Nimaliakian replied, “But seriously, I
was out today because of some important news. It’s related to you guys,
actually.”
“This had better be good,” Siyuakén crossed her arms.
“It’s really not,” Christeané countered, “Last night the communications
center picked up a level-3 distress signal coming from the Hazard Islands.”
“This relates to us, how?” Kevérin questioned.
“Because it was a Relédiakian research team,” Christeané stated, “The
‘metallic infection’ research team, accompanied by Rebehka. They’ve
crash-landed on the Hazard Islands.”
* * * * *
==================== End of Chapter 16 ====================
* * * * *
Data Entry: Chaotic Range
A Chaotic Range is similar to the Earthian ‘Shooting Range’ – a place where Chaotics can go to practice their powers and try new weapons against dummy targets. Of course, as Chaotics can be far more devastating than guns, Chaotic Ranges have far more security and safety measures in place than any Shooting Range – namely in the form of CENT fields.
Most Chaotic Ranges are built with Navitas- and Materiatechnics in mind – they set up secure areas containing sturdy target dummies. Depending on the volume of traffic through the Range and the power of the Chaotics using the Range, dummies are replaced every three hours to three days, though most Ranges replace the dummies daily. To help compensate for the high cost of such frequent replacements, the local military branch will subsidize the Ranges, as virtually every Chaotic on Nimalia is or has been in one of the nations’ militaries.
Very few Ranges, such as the Soughcé Range, are large and rich enough to contain sections dedicated to Intro- and Extratechnics. Maintaining such sections are usually far more expensive than sections dedicated to Navitas- and Materiatechnics, because Introtechnics require a lot of space and Extratechnics alter the environment more permanently than any other type of Chaotic, whereas most Navitas- and Materiatechnics, at their core, fight with projectiles. Introtechnic section maintenance is costly only because of the large areas required to satisfy Superspeed Introtechnics and the rapidity that Superstrength Introtechnics work through dummy targets, but Extratechnic section maintenance is a whole different matter. Extratechnic powers such as Gravititechnism can place so much stress on the environment that the section can only be used for short periods of time before bringing in Geo- and Metallitechnics to straighten up and re-reinforce the area, and powers such as Anima- and Chlorotechnism require that the Range maintain virtually a full mini-ecosystem so that those Chaotics have adequate practice targets. This also presents a political issue for Animatechnics, as practicing their powers requires live animals – a fact that many Nimalians are not pleased about. Because of this, the only animals most Ranges can use are bugs, rodents, other pests, and comparatively small non-mammals.
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