Being forced to work with a team had already soured my mood for this trip. Now, throw in Brandon's coming along, and this trip was turning into one of real discontent.
“Nah, this shit is not happening,” I said to Damian, very disgruntled.
“I get you Prime, but these orders come from the very top, from Shelong. I’m not sure there is much me or you can do about it,” he said, trying to appease me.
“Oh, there is a lot I can do about it. For one, I’m not getting on the same transport as Brandon,” I said adamantly, “There is no fucking way that anyone can convince me otherwise.”
Damian continued to drive, but his nervousness was evident by how his hands shook every time he squeezed the vehicle's steering wheel.
“Prime, you need to keep your cool for now. Don’t make a big scene, as there will be reporters and other news people around to see us off,” said Damian cautiously.
“What the Fuck are you talking about,” I howled in confusion.
After hearing me, Damian's face was blank. He knew this would cause an issue since he was first told about it, but he still had to try his best to break the news to me.
“What do you mean reporters, Damian?”
Damian just shook his head, and his eyes seemed to twitch uncontrollably as he tried his best to remain calm.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked again.
Pondering if I had been lead into a trap of sorts.
“Aren’t we going on a dangerous mission, as I was told, or are we going to a circus because that is what it's looking like,” I exclaimed in utter frustration.
“Look, Prime, I didn’t want to say anything, but Commander Shelong is trying to use the pressure of the masses to force you to join the alliance military branch,” said Brandon, breathing a sigh of relief. He seemed to have unloaded a heavy burden when he said that.
“You’ll have to work out this with him later after the mission. For now, try to keep your cool, and I’ll see about getting us a different transport,” he continued.
My head was a mess, with all the different situations flashing through my brain, but I knew I needed to get to Cypree. Unfortunately, I shot myself in the foot by canceling Roy’s transport earlier in the week, so I had no choice but to compromise with Commander Shelong for now.
“Fuck,” Is all I could say before I gestured to Damian to keep driving.
As we approached King’s International Airbase, I saw many people standing in and around the airport. They looked like they were waiting for a concert to start or something.
“That doesn’t look right,” I quickly said to Damian as I pointed at the crowd around the airport.
Damian stopped the car a few miles from the air base before getting out of the vehicle to call on his CAD.
I got out myself to see what the hell was going on.
“What do you mean someone leaked about Prime showing up?” asked Damian in a heated tone.
“What the fuck are we supposed to do now? We can’t just waltz in there like this, can we,” he continued loudly.
He turned to me and just shook his head.
“Someone leaked that you were showing up, and it's all over the global net and the news channels, so now we have this,” said Damian as he pointed towards the airbase.
“So, what’s the plan now,” I asked coldly.
“The crowd is stopping every vehicle coming into the airbase, trying to look for you, so sneaking you in is not really an option.”
“Commander Shelong is getting some military personnel to come and disperse the crowd, but that is going to take hours, which we don’t have,” said Damian.
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He then looked at me curiously. His eyes seemed to glean with some craziness before they became normal again.
“What,” I said, bewildered, watching Damian curious stare.
“This is going to sound a bit weird, but hear me out,” he said.
Damian explained that he wanted me to try flying over the crowd, considering I had already flown once when we fought in the park. I said he was crazy.
“You don’t have to fly high, Prime; just glide over them twenty feet or so. Once you're inside, I’ll meet you in the secure military zone where our transport is located,” he said as if flying was natural.
“Are you crazy? Do you know how much effort I have to put into getting elevated? That’s only about four or five feet off the ground.”
“A lot.”
“Now you're asking me to glide twenty feet off the ground as If it was second nature to me, fuck you're asking a lot,” I said.
“Well, that’s the only way I can see us getting to the transport on time, so chop, chop,” he said sarcastically as he motioned with his hands to move along.
I just looked at him with a stare that said, Fuck You, Man.
As Damian returned to the vehicle, he turned back to me one last time.
“Also, don’t forget there are bound to be photographers on hand, so unless you want your pretty little face on the news later today, I would suggest you cover it,” he finished saying as he got into the vehicle and started driving away.
“Shit, Shit, Shit,” I screamed.
Besides flying, I now had to use my DSS skill longer than I wanted.
After a few minutes and ensuring no one was around, I activated my DSS skill.
Through my skin, a layer of diamond-scale etching started to manifest. It started covering all my body except my head. Before, I could only cover about fifty percent of my body, usually my upper body, but after the fight at Cleaburn Park, I found I had much more control over the DSS skill. I could now do almost 100 percent. The part that always alluded to me was the face.
The suit was similar to the Azura armor, except this one only enhanced my defensive capabilities and did nothing for my health or attack, as the Azura armor did. Right after the DSS skill, I activated my GB skill to enhance my attributes and sustain my air walk skill.
After activating both skills, the DSS armor changed color as both skill colors blended between gold and silver, giving the armor a unique abstract shading in swirls of gold and silver shades. It made the armor look very god-like. It was awesome.
The swirls seemed to move through the armor scales, making it look alive.
My body also underwent some changes, with the DSS and GB skills working at a high percentage. My body grew about two inches more, and my muscle mass increased by about forty percent, which made me look taller and more buff.
“Ok, let's do this,” I said as I concentrated one last time.
In an instant, a hood-like cloak made from the DSS and enhanced by the GB skills started manifesting around my head. In the front, a misty cloud of silver and black began to cover my face.
Five minutes later, I was no longer Khyrum but Prime.
“Here I come fuckers,” I said as I lifted into the air.
Kings International Airbase
“Good morning, everyone; this is your number one news reporter, Brock Howard, reporting live from Kings International AB,” said Brock, standing just outside the main lobby doors for the airbase.
“Folks, we have reports that the mysterious Prime will appear here today. If this is true, this would be monumental as Prime has never made an actual appearance after the fight at Cleaburn Park.”
“It was first reported in alliance news that he would be showing up, and then the news got decimated to all the other networks and news shows, and now we have close to 5000 people here at Kings International waiting for him,” he said.
Brock then walked over to one of the spectators, who was waiting to get a glimpse of the mysterious Prime.
It was a beautiful girl, about 20 years of age.
“Miss, Miss, can we get your name,” said the reporter.
The young lady looked surprised to see a reporter walking up to her. She quickly realized who the reporter was, and her excitement got the best of her. She started screaming like crazy.
“Hi,” she said in a very hyper way.
“Hi, Miss. Can we get your name?”
“Yes, it's Carroll,” she said with a captivating smile.
“Carroll, what is it that made you come to King’s International today,” asked Brock.
“What else? Prime, of course. He is so badass, and I want to ask him if he has a girlfriend already because I’m free if he doesn’t, “ she said, hopping and cheering as she spoke.
Suddenly, at the very tail end of the crowd by the entrance to the road that leads them to the air base, many people started to cheer and holler.
Prime…Prime…Prime
AHHH…. AHH…..We love you, Prime.
There he is, there he is…. his flying in.
The crowd started going wild, and people were pointing at the sky.
Brock couldn’t see clearly what they were pointing at, but it seemed people were saying something or someone was in the sky.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we seem to have some movement of sorts, as we expect Prime to show at any minute.”
Suddenly, he saw a figure gliding in from the south about twenty feet in the air.
“Hold on folks, I see it, I see it… it's him, Prime! He is coming in from the south, gliding about twenty feet from the air. His suit looks slightly different, but the face mask is the same. It really is him, folks,” said Brock with the utmost enthusiasm.
When I saw all the people on the ground, my only thought was to stay elevated and not fall or run out of juice while making this flying debut.
“Fucking Damian, wait unit I land. I’m going to kick his ass back into the 21st century.”
I could see a whole lot of people, and they were acting crazy. Due to my GB skill, I had enhanced vision so I could see some of the messages on the poster boards.
After reading some of the poster boards, I said, “Good grief, girl. You need to see a priest.”
After flying over the main building of the air base, I finally landed in the military zone, where an entourage of people was waiting for me.