Hale looked around and it seemed that no one was in this area of the floor. He had heard that they weren’t always super busy but he thought that with that whole team dying that people would be scrambling to do stuff but it seemed that no one around here cared much. At least, not that Hale saw.
After searching around for a while he found some heavy armor that seemed to be made to resistor bladed and blunted attacks, it even was half destroyed with claw marks all around the armor and pieces were missing. A receptionist had left a note on it saying that it was marked to be thrown away since it was too damaged.
Hale took a part of the chest piece that was heavier than the rest, there was a piece partially separated from the rest by the claw marks. Hale grabbed a knife, which this room was full of, and started sawing away at this suit, hoping to get a nice part intact that could cover his heart. As he worked his mind went over all the things he had learned and at this moment he also ruled out dying from an abomination since the exact words were “A knife through your heart.” Although no one ever said that CIPs couldn’t hold a knife and intelligently stab him, from what he saw today he decided to save himself some trouble and simply rule them out. Sometimes concessions needed to be made when someone tried to complete a large task.
It took a while but eventually Hale cut a six inch by six inch cube of this kevlar, carbon fiber like material and quickly fashioned it with a strap. He put it on and the strap kept it in front of his heart under his shirt. It was terribly uncomfortable but at this moment he needed a quick fix since he had no clue when someone was going to kill him.
This room had no windows and the doors were always shut. Although Hale didn’t see anyone as he came here it didn’t mean that it would be the same on his way out. The last thing that Hale was going to do was be negligent. He had ever so slightly recovered so he decided to use acquisition and reach into the land of stars again.
He let his concept flow into him, his mind, and his soul, and quickly found himself in that place once again. He noticed that this time all the stars were different and there were so many more compared to last time and many of them were parts of constellations, some spanning hundreds of stars. If last time he was surrounded by countless stars, this time he seemed to be in the middle of the milky way galaxy. Thankfully time didn’t pass when he was in this place so he could take his time, he could control the stars to a degree and could zoom in on certain areas to investigate more. Sadly, it took a great amount of focus to enter this place. There was no way to enter this place during a fight or conversation to give himself time to think, Hale had already thought of that and ruled the possibility out.
After quite a bit of searching he found four stars that felt to his instincts to be related to people on his current floor. He was still new to this so he couldn’t quite tell with certainty yet. He eventually just picked one of the four at random, grabbing hold of the little speck Hale found himself once again back where he was originally but this time with the knowledge that Ava had just gotten off the elevator and was heading to their scout room, unfortunately that was exactly where Hale was.
But, he had taken the risks of using and especially overusing conceptual energy too lightly. Hale nearly fainted from the pain, the dizziness of a headache so bad some might rather be dead was horrible. He felt as if every single cell was individually sucked of energy and then scrambled up. Breathing became hard and he felt blood pouring out of his nose without end, like he had a brain hemorrhage.
Without having the capacity to come up with any great plan he simply opened one of the standing cabinets that had clothes and uniforms in it and closed it behind him.
The door opened and Ava and Jacob shuffled in and put their gear away. Of course, Hale could only hear the goings on through the closet door.
“What do you think of the new guy, ma’am.” Jacob asked innocently as he put away and logged their radios.
“I told you to drop the ma’am. Don’t treat me like my sisters. But, about your question, I don’t know. At first I thought he was just another innocent awakened that would be dead in a month but… his concept worries me. If he gains the ability to gain knowledge that he shouldn’t have he could destroy all our family’s plans. Or imagine if he could hide information so only he could ever know it. He would become far too troublesome.” Ava said as she polished the strange briefcase that had once held the teddy bear.
Hale had no idea what to think about what he had heard. He was hurting and was barely conscious, so he simply filed away their conversation to think about later. Now he had to focus on not going unconscious inside the small closet.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Thankfully Hale had good luck and Ava and Jacob only stuck around for a few minutes and after their chores were done they left. They wanted to get back to their rooms just as bad as everyone else. The moment they left he left the closet and found some napkins. His hand was coated in blood. No matter how much his nose bled or how many tissues Hale used, the bleeding barely slowed. His original plan was to look normal before dodging people’s eyes on his way to his room but he decided this would take too long and he had to leave now.
No one was on the combat unit’s floor, floor six, thankfully, so Hale took the elevator without any resistance. When the doors opened he found that no one was around the third flour either, which was where his room was. He didn’t meet another soul until he was walking down the hallway that led to his room.
“Hale?” A seductive voice called out.
Hale froze, surely this was Aila. he currently had his hand up to his nose holding a rag that was becoming more drenched with blood by the second and gray eyes. So, instead of responding he simply started walking faster to his door.
“Wait up! What’s wrong?” She called out. She also began to pick up her pace.
This was the first time Hale ever cursed getting attention from a woman, but right now really wasn’t a good time. He got to his door, quickly used the key that he was given the day before and before slamming the door behind him he said, “We’ll talk tomorrow. I’m very tired.”
BAM.
Hale slammed the door behind him. His eyes quickly scanned around the room and when he was sure he was alone he finally let out a long breath. He wanted to lay down but he was afraid of choking on his own blood so he sat in the chair at the small desk in the corner of the room. It only took a few minutes for him to fall asleep and his head to slump onto the desk.
He awoke the next morning in a small pool of blood with still at least 80% of the pain he felt before going to bed but at least the bleeding had stopped. He cleaned up the mess and took a shower. After looking at himself in the mirror he saw that only the palest violet had come back to his eyes. With this he threw out any idea of leaving his room, and only scurried out to grab food before quickly making his way back.
Although there were entire floors of this building devoted to the combat units, they weren’t actually that busy. If something particularly strong came along they would send it to a stronger organization. In the end the Crest family only had control over a third of Boston. Together this led to most of the time being downtime. This gave people time to explore the complexities of their concept and work their way towards the next realm.
And so that’s how Hale’s day went, that was until someone knocked on his door at 11 pm, just before he was going to go back to bed. He looked through the peep hole and saw Aila standing outside his door. His brain told him not to answer the door but another brain told him to not pass up this opportunity. He quickly checked his reflection and found that most of the color was back in his eyes, although he could feel very clearly that he still hadn’t fully recovered.
After stopping for a second he eventually couldn’t stop the urges of a 20 year old and opened the door. “Hello.”
The moment the door opened a devilish smile grew on Aila’s face, before she quickly grabbed Hale’s hand and said, “Come with me. I want some fresh air.”
Hale had no choice in the matter and followed behind her.
After an elevator ride Aila and Hale made their way onto the roof. It seems she had a badge that let her go to floors that Hale wasn’t allowed to. It made sense, Hale had just joined this organization and not by choice, surely they wouldn’t let him go where he pleased.
There was a small garden on the roof where some tomatoes and other plants grew. Beside the garden was a flat area of cement. Aila led him there and she laid down on the ground, looking up at the stars. She beckoned Hale to join her. He laid down too and they gazed at the stars. There was silence for a while before Aila broke the silence.
“I once met someone who had the concept of constellations. Ever since then the stars look even brighter.” Aila spoke softly. Her words floated to Hale’s ear, they were so close that it sent a shiver down his spine.
“How can they make them look brighter? Concepts… doesn’t everything seem fake now? Some false projection of what is actual.” Hale said. He was still grappling with the shift in his worldview.
“No, no. Knowing someone with a concept of something like constellations would only allow you to realize the depth and complexity hidden within it. The world is still real, just imperfect. Like people.”
Hale thought about what she said for a while. Maybe he could do with less existentialism. The world is the world after all. No matter if it's fake or real, he can’t do anything to change it.
Hale was still ruminating over what she had said when Aila giggled, it sounded like the temptations of a succubus, leaned over and kissed him. It was so unexpected that Hale had no time to think about it before he was enveloped by a warm and soft pair of lips. He was still lying on the ground while she was now above him.
“You should think less.” Aila said as their lips eventually parted.