/~Contrario~/
Pain was a dull echo now. It sat in my limbs like an old ghost, it was present, but I was no longer screaming inside me for help.
I hung in silence, my breath very shallow, eyes locked on that flicker in Stray's chest. The bastards around me laughed again, but their voices had gone distant. Muffled by my pulse, the only thing I heard. By the promise rising in my bones.
"You're pathetic, you know that?" one of them barked. "All that hype about the 'one-avatar kid.' Guess the stories were just bedtime trash."
Another one paced behind me. I heard the metallic click of their weapons....short-range power sabers. Custom.
"Word was you took on the twin bounty hunters and walked out breathing," the third said, voice smug. "Looking at you now? Either they let you win, or you're just lucky."
"But guess what? Luck runs out," the fourth muttered, stepping up to Stray. His boot nudged Stray's chassis. I saw red.
The fifth voice was calm, slow. It belonged to the one in charge.....the only one not laughing.
"You seemed dangerous. But only when you're the one holding the leash." The leader crouched beside Stray, brushing a gloved hand over his dormant frame. "Strip off the leash, and what are you?"
My fists clenched, though they were numb. "Make your move," I hissed. "Or are you too scared of a man that has been in chains since you brought him here ?"
They chuckled. The leader stood up.
That's when it happened.
I saw Stray move.
First it was his fingers…..the metallic twitch of recalibrating digits. Then the whirr of gears deep in his chest as the red core surged to life, sending crimson pulses through the nanofibers laced across his frame.
They didn't even see it coming.
BOOM.
A burst of energy.....not fire, not light...something older, primal, like the universe holding its breath and exhaling in rage.
The blast ripped through the room. Walls cracked, debris flew like shrapnel, and every one of those smug bastards were thrown back, crashing into the steel supports with bone-snapping thuds.
The chain holding me snapped midair, and before I hit the floor, Stray was there. He was faster than I could process with his eyes glowing like twin eclipses.
His frame felt different now. It was Broader. Stronger. The nanoplates I implanted earlier shifted and locked into place, the old steel replaced with living alloy. The red core thrummed behind his chest like a heartbeat, casting his whole body in a crimson glow.
"Stray…?" My voice cracked.
"I'm active," he growled. "You good?"
"Not totally. But I'm sure I will be."
The five were already recovering. The leader stood first, straightening his jacket like none of it phased him.
"Well, now it's interesting," he said, grinning. "I didn't expect this, but I do like a fair fight."
"You wanted a show?" I spat, stepping beside Stray. "You just stepped into the wrong theater."
They circled. Weapons drawn as they activated their avatars.
"Let's end the sad drama," one of them said, charging.
They didn't wait.
A flurry of movement, with blades slicing through the air, tech-enhanced punches breaking the sound barrier. They tried to isolate Stray, separating him from me, but they underestimated everything.
"Stray.....Defense Alpha. Redirect and blind left quadrant," I barked, muscle memory taking over.
Stray whirled, the nano plating shifting mid-motion. He caught one of them by the neck and slammed them through the floor.
Another leapt at me...I ducked under, drew the short blade from my boot, and rammed it through his thigh. He screamed. I kicked him into Stray's path, one blast from his palm vaporized the bastard's chest.
"Two down," Stray called.
"Make it three."
The third had tried sneaking behind me, "that's a bad idea you pussy." I pivoted and let the command channel sync.
"Deploy spike mode," I growled.
Stray's arms expanded, forming blade-like protrusions. He spun and gutted the attacker clean, no hesitation.
Blood and oil smeared the floor.
The last two stood, one shaking, the other still calm...The leader.
I stepped toward the fourth. He threw his blade, missed, and turned to run.
"Stray...intercept."
The red blur caught him mid-stride. Bones crunched. He didn't get up.
Now only the leader remained.
He clapped slowly. "Bravo. You've grown more than I expected. But let's see if you can still bleed."
He charged. Fast....he was faster than the others. His movements were fluid and unpredictable. We traded blows, dodges, feints. He struck Stray's arm and caused a crack, but Stray adjusted instantly.
One thing struck me as we fought. The only people among these mercenaries who used avatars were the first three we took down. It was either they had no avatars or had been stripped of them and now were just low level mercenaries.
I moved in behind him, tackled him against the wall. He elbowed me in the ribs, a sharp, deep elbow. but I powered through the pain.
He swung.
I caught his wrist. Spun him and broke his elbow
He fell to his knees and Stray immediately pinned him down.
I gripped his throat, lifting him until his boots dangled inches off the ground as I dragged him over to the edge of the building.
His visor flickered before finally cracking, and I saw the fear in his eyes.
"You should've killed me," he wheezed.
I tightened my grip. My voice was ice. "I told you…"
I leaned in, staring him dead in the eye.
"…I'd make you beg death for mercy."
And then I dropped him.
My boots crunched over shattered concrete and scorched metal as I stepped out from the bunker's dim wreckage, the echo of that last kill still thundering in my bones. The air outside was heavy with silence, the kind that usually comes right before something else breaks.
Stray stood beside me, quiet for once.
"You alright?" I asked, not because I didn't already know the answer, but because that silence….it wasn't him.
He tilted his head slightly, servo gears humming. "The core output is stable… but something's wrong."
My brow furrowed. "what's your definition of wrong."
He extended his left arm, rotating it fully. The outer plating near his shoulder joint wasn't sitting right. The chassis wasn't the right one. It was subtle. It probably wouldn't affect movement too much now, but in battle?
It was unacceptable.
"Damn it," I muttered. "Let's take a look."
In two hours, we made our way back inside the Forge's underground bay, the hum of inactive machines still pulsing like dying heartbeats in the shadows. I knelt beside Stray, inspecting the way the outer plate sat too high along his collar servos. A weld line had been strained, maybe from that surge earlier. My fingers brushed over the seam.
"It looks like the fusion bond cracked."
Stray nodded. "I'll need recalibration. I recommend disassembly of segment 4B….."
As I scanned the room, I saw it.
Just under a pile of debris and crushed panels near the far corner, something caught my eye. The metallic gleam of a torn strap. A bag.
I stood up, walking toward it. My heart started pounding and I didn't even know why yet.
"What is it?" Stray asked, already scanning.
I ignored him. I yanked the bag out, dust flying into the air in thick clouds. The zipper was still intact, and inside, carefully rolled, weathered, but skillfully preserved, was a map.
An old one.
Unfolding it slowly, my eyes darted across the inked lines and marker symbols. My breath caught in my throat immediately.
It was a map of the Underground Grid, a system of sealed, off-limit catacombs built long before Nova City's rise. Most thought it was a myth. Hell, I heard of it before. Honestly I thought it was a myth. But there it was. Every tunnel. Every vault. And marked in glowing red ink, like someone knew exactly what they were doing, was a location circled over and over again.
Grid 7-X. Labeled: "A.R.C. SEED."
"No....no way in hell...." I whispered.
Stray stepped closer, his sensors focusing. "Contrario? What is it?"
I swallowed, hard. "This is a blueprint to something that shouldn't exist anymore. If this is real..."
".....then we're in deeper than we thought," Stray finished.
I stared at the circled location, the word SEED burning into my mind like a brand.
Someone had hidden this for a reason.
And now...someone wanted me to find it.
'There used to be a seed said to give rise to other avatars. It was the skill of a particular avatar who had gone rogue long before the rise of Nova City and Irish Valley where every gamer just came around and fought for fun and the entertainment of this game. But you my son, one day if that seed is real, I'll find it and make it your gift for one of your birthdays.'
Randomly I remembered my father saying this to me when I was younger.
It can't be, I saw my father die before my eyes, "No....it can't be"
"He's Alive"