Thea found herself back in the crystal cylinder she had entered more than ten hours ago. Swiftly assessing her body's condition, she discovered she felt better than just alright.
Not only did she feel incredibly well-rested, as if waking from the best sleep of her life, but she also brimmed with energy, eager to take action. The Sim-Pod seemed to have provided her with high-quality nutrients throughout her stay, as she experienced no hunger or thirst.
Reflecting on her experiences in the simulation, Thea also confirmed Selene's explanation of the filtering function.
While she could recall every event, she felt a slight disconnect, as if it had all been a dream. Even the most gruesome injuries sustained during the explosion at the eleventh trenchline didn't make her flinch involuntarily. It was as though her emotions from the simulation had been erased from her memory.
Having completed her mental checklist, Thea opened the cylinder with a mental command. Emitting a soft hiss, the cylinder slid open, allowing Thea to step out and rejoin the real world within the golden age arcade.
As Thea stepped out, she surveyed the Deep-Dive Simulation Cube's bustling interior, which was far more crowded than that same morning. The promise of a generous credit prize had attracted citizens from all corners of the undercity, eager to tackle the challenge, just as the UHF had intended.
Several onlookers studied her with cautious curiosity, knowing she had emerged from a Sim-Pod in continuous use since the Cube's opening. They could likely glean valuable information about the challenge if they managed to question her.
However, before anyone managed to approach, Thea skillfully weaved through the sizable crowd and disappeared from view.
After her gruelling day, she had no desire to engage with strangers. She longed to return home, share her news about the challenge and the UHF recruitment with Old Man James, and of course, bombard him with questions. Excited about that, she quickened her pace toward the Cube's exit.
Stepping off the smooth, metallic floor, she immediately noticed the stark difference in atmosphere. Although she had never considered the arcade stuffy or uncomfortable, the superior environment in the Cube and the Sim-Pods, provided by the new-tech artificial environment systems inside them, made her briefly contemplate turning back.
Knowing she couldn't stay inside the Cube forever however, Thea pressed on, intending to chat briefly with Thomas about the day. She was clueless about the arcade's events or the undercity's happenings during the hours she had spent in the Sim-Pod.
As she rounded a corner past several arcade machines, she froze upon seeing Thomas at the front desk. He was conversing animatedly with an imposing, muscular figure in a long, black coat. The man stood well over 190cm tall, exuding an intense air of authority.
Before Thea could further analyse the man and the situation as a whole however, Thomas had already spotted her, facing directly into the middle of the arcade from the front-desk, and gestured the man in her direction.
The tall man turned to face Thea, and when his piercing blue eyes met hers, she was consumed by sheer terror.
Despite her emotional filter, she couldn't recall a moment in the simulation that even remotely came close to matching the intensity of the fear he inspired.
Deep within, she experienced the same warning sensation that had first appeared in the simulation. Her instincts screamed for her to flee, as she knew she couldn't defend herself against him.
The decisive factor in her next move however, was the horrifying, instinctual knowledge that this man could likely defeat Old Man James in a straight-up fight.
She had never encountered someone more powerful than Old Man James. She had not even found anyone that had gotten close.
Although she had never witnessed him fighting or exerting his full power, his aura of strength had far outshined everyone she had met, including even Lieutenant Frost and her superhuman abilities.
Yet, she was absolutely certain that this stranger in the arcade, with his intense glare fixated on her, could overpower Old Man James effortlessly.
Not wasting a second, Thea channelled all the brimming energy from the Sim-Pod within her, to flee as far away as possible.
She propelled herself into a sprint with a surprising level of strength that she had never considered possible before, cracking parts of the floor she kicked off of and headed toward the arcade's back door.
As she fled, she silently prayed for Thomas's safety, knowing there was nothing she could do to protect him, even if she decided to stay.
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Daxton felt a satisfied smile form on his face, as he watched the girl in a violet hoodie dart away at incredible speed. He noted that she had managed to crack the floor a bit with her kick-off, not something that an undercity citizen should be able to accomplish, even with a fresh boost of energy from the Sim-Pods.
‘She definitely has good instincts. This is getting more exciting by the second…’
Turning back towards the proprietor of the golden age arcade, he simply raised an eyebrow at the slightly corpulent man.
“Ahhh… I don’t know why she did that… I apologise, Sir! I swear, she is usually a supremely polite and agreeable person. I’ll try to get in contact with her, explain the situation and get her back here as soon as possible! Just give me a couple of minutes, please, Sir.”
Thomas answered his questioning gaze with an eagerness that betrayed his fear, despite the obvious attempts at appearing nonchalant.
Daxton did not enjoy being treated with such a level of reverence and fear, but there was little he could do to dissuade it from happening. He was technically here on official business, so he was not allowed to hide his UHF affiliation or his rank badge.
He had tried many times to assuage citizens of countless planets that he was just a normal guy, but the near-mythical reverence that people held for high-ranking members of the UHF was not easily dispelled.
Waving his hand, as to dismiss the plan laid out by Thomas, Daxton spoke up, “Don’t mind it. I’ll go after her myself. She’s the whole reason I’m here, after all.”
Hearing this, Thomas visibly tensed up, fear becoming visibly apparent on his face for the first time since they had met. Daxton noted that there seemed to be another sort of emotion hidden beneath it, but before he could analyse it further, Thomas suddenly spoke up with a fervour that surprised even the experienced Major.
“... If — if anything were to happen to her, I swear to the Emperor himself, that I will end you. I don’t care about the UHF, how strong you are or whatever, I will find a way.”
Taken aback by the sudden level of intensity in the, otherwise way too polite and forthcoming, proprietor, Daxton froze for a second.
“Ahh— that’s if you’re intending to hurt her, of course. I didn’t— I mean— I meant no disrespect, Sir. I was simply —” stammered Thomas in his usual meek tone while visibly shrinking away from Daxton, as the previous statement had seemingly required all of his fervour and poise.
Unable to contain himself any longer, Daxton broke out in a hearty laugh, waving at Thomas to dissuade his concerns, “Hahaha, no, no. Don’t worry. I’m just here to offer her to join the UHF, nothing more. No offence taken whatsoever. You’re a good man, you know that?”
With those words, he turned his attention back towards the fleeing girl. Before he could get bogged down in further conversation, he silently kicked off the ground into a sprint that appeared to Thomas as if the Major had simply disappeared from in front of his eyes.
As he followed the fleeing girl through the narrow alleyways of the drab and run-down undercity, he could not help but be impressed by the girl’s aptitude at moving quickly, yet leave little traces.
Of course, to him, this did not pose a problem. He could easily hear her rapid heartbeat more than two blocks away when he focused on finding her. If anyone else had been sent to fetch her however, he wasn’t certain they would be able to catch up with her.
He swiftly continued chasing after the girl, but after just a few minutes, he already felt that something was off about the whole situation.
It seemed that every time she was about to run into him, as he had simply ran in front of her path, she inexplicably changed course. He was certain that there was no way she could have detected him from as much as half a block away, yet somehow she seemed to perfectly evade his attempts to cross her path.
Not wanting to waste any more time or frighten the girl unnecessarily, he changed his approach and actively pursued her instead. As he quickly closed in on her though, she suddenly switched her approach entirely, as she started running and parkouring through broken buildings, ruins, storefronts and even populated market streets.
He could not help but crack a wide smile at this, thoroughly enjoying the unfamiliar feeling of a real chase, ‘How is this even possible… This candidate is way too fun!’
Despite her best attempts to gain distance however, he was closing in quickly. The differences in their physical abilities were simply too vast to overcome with superior knowledge, no matter how impressive it was.
He finally arrived in an old apartment building, walking down the dimly lit hallway towards a solid plasteel door. He had followed the girl inside the building, hoping it would be her home, so she would stop running away from him, but she apparently had some sort of emergency room here.
He was standing on the opposite side of a thick plasteel door that appeared to be operated via a biometric scanner. He briefly wondered how this random undercity girl had managed to not only find, but claim such an impressive emergency room.
With a deep frown on his face, as he had never been one for the technology aspect of things, he simply knocked on the door and spoke up loudly.
“Hello? I am Major Atlas Daxton with the UHF. I believe there has been a misunderstanding. I don’t mean any harm, I promise.
“I’m just here to talk to you about the challenge assessment and offer you a chance to sign up for the UHF Marine Corps, if you’re interested!”
He assumed that the room was likely to be hermetically sealed, not allowing any sound to travel inside either, but he wanted to try either way. Waiting for around half a minute without any sign of reaction from the inside however, dashed his meagre hopes.
With a heavy sigh, he took a more solid stance and kicked against the door.
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"How is this psycho still following me?! There is no way he can track me through all of this!" Thea muttered exasperatedly, while continuing to sprint through a busy alleyway, doing her best to avoid the oncoming traffic.
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Reaching the end of the alleyway, the feeling in her chest warning her of the unseen stalker flared up again.
“FUCK!”
Dashing towards the next row of ruined buildings, that she had used many times before to escape members of different gangs of the undercity, she made the call to go for her last-resort option.
She was quickly running out of steam, as she had been sprinting with all of her might for the past ten-or-so minutes, while continuously trying to avoid an impossibly proficient hunter. She needed time to recoup some of her stamina, if she wanted to escape the blue-eyed man.
Making her way towards an old apartment building, she swiftly ascended the stairs inside and stopped in front of a thick plasteel door.
“Come on… Come on… Hurry up!” she muttered in frustration, as she waited for the biometric scanner to unlock the door for her.
With a heavy sigh, she finally slumped down against the wall inside of her emergency room, after locking the plasteel door and activating the hermetic seal. With heavy breaths, she tried assessing the situation, as streams of sweat poured down her forehead.
She was currently inside of Old Man James’ previous apartment. An old 1-room space that he had been living in before meeting Thea. He had given her access to the room as a sort of emergency/quiet room, for whenever she felt that she needed space from him or faced troubles inside the undercity that she could not outrun indefinitely.
Since the door was made from 20cm-thick plasteel, it was impossible for anyone in the undercity to get inside without accessing the biometric lock. It would be easier to break down the reinforced rockcrete walls, than beat down the door.
This room had been her usual sanctuary, for when she truly needed some alone time in the past. Once again she could not stop herself from appreciating the huge amount of foresight and care that Old Man James put into providing her with everything she could possibly need, oftentimes before she even realised she needed it.
Focusing her attention back on the current situation, she tried figuring out what was actually going on, ‘Who is this man and why is he following me so incessantly? Thomas looked somewhat frightened, but not like he was seriously worried about his life, so chances are that he wasn’t directly threatened…’
Thinking back, she tried remembering what the man had looked like.
‘Tall, muscular, long black coat… Fairly suspicious, all things considered. I wonder if—’
An earth-shattering explosion of sound tore any remaining thoughts from her mind as the plasteel door flew across the room, crashing into and partially embedding itself in the opposite wall.
Completely frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened, Thea simply sat where she was, leaned against the wall to the side of the door, her ears ringing from the noise.
“Ahhh, shit! I am really sorry about that… I was just trying to loosen it up a bit. I didn’t think the rockcrete here was of such bad quality, but I should’ve guessed as much, it being an undercity building ‘n’ all…
“Why is it so pitch-black in here? Did I kill the lights as well?!” came the voice of the blue-eyed man through the broken doorway. Thea, however, was unable to hear any of it due to the continuous ringing in her ears that robbed her of all auditory senses.
Snapping back to reality from her frozen state, Thea’s body surged with adrenaline, as she realised what had just happened. The blue-eyed man had somehow managed to break into her sanctuary.
There was only one advantage remaining in her arsenal of tools: Lighting.
She had learned very early on that her vision was different from other people’s, as she could see perfectly in even pitch-black rooms, without any outside lightsource. Old Man James had handwaved it as a likely side-effect of the Cyan Solution, but had also taught her how incredible this seemingly innocuous feature could be, if used properly.
Hoping that the blue-eyed man couldn't see properly in the pitch-black room, she swiftly rose from her sitting position, grabbed the plasteel knife from her boot in one fluid motion, and immediately charged at him.
Just in case, she held the knife in both hands in front of her chest, her upper body leaned forwards, in an attempt to hide the knife’s existence from the blue-eyed man, even if he did end up being able to see in the dark.
As expected, the man reacted quickly despite the short distance between them, and swiftly grabbed her outstretched right arm, deflecting it away from his body to the side.
“Hey, calm down! I’m not here to hurt you! I’m with—”, the man tried to deescalate the situation, but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a plasteel dagger in Thea’s left hand, rapidly closing in on his throat.
He tried grabbing her arm, but abruptly felt an ice-cold chill run down his spine. Surprised, he hesitated for just a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Thea’s surprise attack to strike true.
As the plasteel knife hit the man’s throat, Thea’s eyes widened.
The knife, which she had gotten from Old Man James as a gift for her 10th birthday and that had been an infallible tool in her everyday life, simply shattered upon impact with the man’s skin.
Shards of plasteel flew out in every direction, like shrapnel exploding out from a grenade.
Thea felt a shard rip open parts of her left cheek, but she did not care about this at the moment. She was completely out of options and now in the vice-like grip of the blue-eyed man, with no way to escape.
“Fuck me! Just stop already!” the blue-eyed man exclaimed in sheer frustration, before grabbing Thea’s second arm as well, holding her firmly in his grasp.
He moved out of the pitch-black room into the hallway, dragging Thea with him, before he gently leaned her against the wall. Holding up his right hand in a “hold on” gesture in front of Thea’s face, he carefully let go of her, paying close attention to her every move, ready to step in, in case of a renewed attempt at escape.
“Haaa… Can you hear me?” the man sighed, taking note of the terror in her eyes.
Not getting an answer or a reaction out of the girl, the man pulled out a syringe from a hidden pocket on the inside of his black coat.
Thea’s eyes widened once again at the unknown syringe and she immediately tried to run, but was easily grabbed by one of the man’s arms.
“Just…! Fucking void…” the man continued to curse, as he wrestled with the adrenaline-fueled body of Thea, while simultaneously trying to inject her with the syringe.
Thanks to his vastly superior physique, he managed to finally inject the girl with the syringe after a brief, albeit intense, struggle.
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As the crimson-coloured liquid surged into her body, Thea found herself suddenly feeling a lot calmer. The adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins seemed to have simply disappeared. She also noted that the ringing in her ears had abruptly stopped, as if it had never existed in the first place.
She jumped slightly when the blue-eyed man spoke up right in front of her.
“Can you hear me now?” the blue-eyed man asked, his voice surprisingly friendly.
With some apprehension, she nodded, which caused the man to release an exhausted, yet satisfied sigh, “Thank the Emperor… You’re a hard lady to catch, you know that?
“Before you get any wild ideas of escaping, can you please just sit still and hear me out for one fucking second? I’m not here to hurt you or anything, I swear.
“I’m Major Atlas Daxton with the UHF, I just wanted to have a quick talk about your assessment. Would you mind indulging me?”
Thea’s face suddenly turned pale. Despite the relaxant coursing through her veins, the revelation of the blue-eyed man’s true identity was too much for her to handle.
She had just attacked a Major of the UHF with the full intent to kill him! This was not just a minor mishap, this was a guaranteed death-sentence, if this was ever revealed to anyone!
Thea had heard the stories of what happened to people that went against the UHF’s higher ranking officers. Entire blocks of buildings and even minor cities had been levelled in retaliation for hurting UHF Majors before.
Yet, in her infinite stupidity, she had done exactly that, without realising!
Panicking like she never had before, her only train of thought was to appease the Major in any way possible, in the slim hopes that he would forget about her attempt at his life.
With a nod, she accepted the Major’s invitation, who let out a deep sigh of relief at the sight.
“Listen, I don’t really have too much time for this, so I’ll get straight to the point,” he started with a serious look on his face.
“I checked your assessment, and frankly, you're an impossibility. You performed way beyond anything that anyone could have deemed possible for a mid-wordler, much less an undercity citizen. I won't grill you for your secrets, but I can't allow you to go unnoticed any longer.
“My question is simple: Do you want to join the UHF?
“I won’t do anything to you if you refuse, I promise. I simply couldn’t risk the possibility that the information about your assessment leaked out somehow and something happened to you, before someone from the UHF could reach out.
”You’ll be under the UHF’s protection going forward, regardless of your answer. I’ll personally make sure of that, you have my word, on my rank as a Major,” he finished with the UHF-typical salute, reinforcing his previous statement.
Taken aback by the sudden turn of events, Thea remained silent for a few moments, as all the information started falling into place in her mind.
‘He… just wanted to recruit me? Is that why he spoke to Thomas? How could I have been so stupid...? Thomas would never sell me out, after all... Why would Thomas have pointed at me, if he knew the Major would do me any harm?! I should have realised that Thomas had vetted him beforehand…’
Looking at the Major in front of her with different eyes, she could not help but find that he looked very sympathetic. The casual and informal way he spoke further underlined this impression for her.
Having long made a decision on the matter, she answered in the only way she could, “I would like to join the UHF, Sir. I've always wanted to, but never thought I'd get the chance, being born in an undercity. It would be my honour to accept your most generous offer, Major Daxton.”
The Major let out a big sigh of relief at Thea’s answer, which surprised her momentarily, before he spoke again. “Haaa, thank the Emperor! I honestly didn’t know what to do if you had refused. Command would have never let me live this one down.
“A once-in-a-lifetime assessment performance from a candidate on a planet I pushed the assessment for and they refused?! They’d have definitely hounded me forever with that one…
“Really saving my ass here, Recruit… I can probably call you that, at this point.
“Let me be the very first to welcome you to the UHF. Of course, there will be some paperwork involved and your actual training won’t begin for at least another week, but that's just a minor detail, right?
“Welcome to the UHF, Recruit!” he finished with a big smile on his face, giving her a light pat on the shoulder in solidarity.
Thea could not help but crack a big smile at the Major’s words.
While he was right, that there was still a bit of work ahead of her, before she could truly call herself a UHF marine, she had managed to get a sudden windfall and accelerate her overall life goals by leaps and bounds.
The Major pulled out a datapad from one of his coat pockets and quickly typed on it, before handing it to Thea.
“Here you go. That’s your sign up form. I’ve filled out a couple of things for you already, so it should be processed quickly. Being a Major has its perks, after all,” he added with a smirk.
“Just finish filling out the rest and send it off. Get it done before next week, so we can send a shuttle as soon as possible to come get you for basic training, Recruit.
“I won’t lie to you. I have big hopes for what you might be able to accomplish. You will likely face a lot of scrutiny, as you’ll be one of the first mid-worlders to ever join the UHF, but having seen where you grew up in, I think you’ll be able to handle yourself.
“I don’t know when we’ll be able to have a conversation again, but I will be sure to keep an eye on your progress, so don’t disappoint me. That’s an order, Recruit.”
Without missing a beat at the unusual order, Thea replied, “Yes, Sir!” with a salute. She felt like her entire body was brimming with energy once again, fueled by her elation at the turn of events.
“Alright, now get out of my sight. I hope to see great things from you in the future, Recruit,” the Major finished with a cheeky grin, before dismissing Thea’s salute with a simple wave of his hand.
Thea sprinted off with a start, unable to hide the big smile on her face, eager to return home and tell Old Man James about the good news and her unusual day as a whole.
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Watching the promising Recruit sprint off down the hallway, Daxton could not help but feel elated at the outcome of the whole operation. He pulled out his own data pad and quickly added a note to Thea’s assessment profile:
[Exceptional perceptive abilities, highly agile, quick thinker]
[Recommended Role: Tactical Scout/Sniper]
[Observation requested by Major Atlas Daxton]
Stopping for a second to think about his next actions, he replayed the entire chase scene and the culminating altercation in the apartment in his mind. Nodding to himself with determination, he added one last line:
[Potential ‘Wielder’ identified]
Having finished adding his personal notes, he immediately sent a priority message to the information security branch.
[Priority Message]: Request for immediate black-level encryption and lock on the entire file for Candidate#313 of the Lumiosia South-Eastern Undercity assessment run. Reason for request: See personal notes of Major Atlas Daxton.
After having confirmed that the message was successfully sent off, he let his body relax.
With the black-level encryption and lock on the way, it was unlikely that the new Recruit would face much trouble, at least for the foreseeable future.
Highly satisfied with his trip to the mid-world of Lumiosia, Daxton leisurely strolled out of the apartment, deciding to enjoy the unique atmosphere of the undercity for just a little while longer, before returning to his official duties.