[LEON]

I awoke to a searing pain in my head. I raised my hand to my face and jumped back in pain. It felt like my skull would crack from the pressure. I slowly opened my eyes and was met with a blinding light.

Someone was mumbling near me. I glanced toward the voice as my vision slowly started coming back. Ash was walking back and forth talking to herself. I tried to sit up and bumped my head. My ears started ringing and my head filled with bees as I fell back down. I heard a whoosh sound and felt hands catch me.

“Leon! are you okay?”

Ash was bracing my head. I could feel prickles on my skin from her touch. I mumbled in response, still disoriented from bumping my head.

“God damn… what happened?”

“You… you don’t remember what happened?”

Ash pulled me up to a sitting position.

“Uhh… No not really… I remember you pointing a gun at me… I’m a little confused…”

I rubbed my eyes and an intense heat poured from my finger tips. I jumped back and winced from the sudden pain.

“Shit! What happened to my hand?! It wasn’t this hot before!”

“Yeah… that’s kinda my fault.”

Ash looked away and scratched her head.

“Your arm wasn’t healing… so I went and got more catalysts… I may, or may not, have put twelve of them in your arm…”

She said the last part rapidly and hushed.

“Twelve!? Catalysts?! Before we got here you told me those things were backup AI cores for the mechs! What the hell is a catalyst!?”

What is wrong with her? It’s like she forgot everything that happened before we got here.

“Backup AI core? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Those glowing orbs are fission bombs, but we call them catalysts.”

Ash stared at my right arm while she spoke.

I looked around and saw a pool of blood reaching into the hall from where I was sitting.“

Why am I in here? And why is there so much blood everywhere?”

“That’s all your blood… The pod was trying to heal your arm, but your skin kept tearing… I thought that the catalyst caused it so… I just kept shoving them in you… It healed your arm though! You can thank me later!”

She sounded proud about experimenting on me.

“Healed my arm?! Look at it! It’s like glowing magma! What about this looks healed to you?!”

I swung out my arm and Ash jumped back.

“Careful with that thing! Do you want to destroy the rest of HQ?!”

Ash burst out in a rushed panic.

“What… What are you talking about?”

I looked down in concentration.

What happened before I lost consciousness… I remember getting flung out of the Vanguard… falling… And I slung out my arm to catch myself!

“You destroyed the hanger before I drug your broken ass here. I’m assuming you did it with that arm of yours.”

Ash calmed down a bit when I relaxed.

“I… I remember throwing my arm out… I felt like I could catch myself or something. I don’t remember what happened after that…”

Ash grabbed my left hand and pulled me to my feet.

“Come on I’ll show you.”

I made it a couple steps before slipping on the blood on the floor. Ash let go of me and ducked into the hall. I tried to catch myself, but as soon as my palm touched the floor I felt the concrete shift to dust.

I fell through the floor rapidly. Noticing my arm was causing the floor to disintegrate, I pulled my hand back and fell hard onto the ground knocking the breath out of me. I looked back up and my jab dropped. I was at the bottom of a massive basin.

Ash was hanging from a pipe sticking out of the rock staring down at me.

“Nice! Very nice! Glad to see you have loads of control!”

Her voice was faint and sarcastic. She flipped around the pipe a few times and leaped back to solid ground.

“Uhh… sorry. I was just trying to break my fall. Ill try to climb back up.”

I walked over to the steep incline and gently placed my hands on the rock. Nothing happened.

Does this arm only work when I’m in danger?

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the power in my arm. When I opened my eyes the stone beneath my palm had turned into boiling lava and sank several feet into the rock.

This is insane… how the hell am I going to get back up?

I heard something ping behind me. A graphing hook and a length of cable lay embedded in the ground. I followed the rope and saw Ash standing on the edge of the basin holding onto the other end.

“Do you think you can pull me up?”

I tried to yell up to her but she just stared back at me silent and unmoving. I shrugged and put my foot in the hook and grabbed the cable with my left hand.

Don’t want to melt the cable accidentally half way up…

I shot up with extreme speed. Before hitting the ceiling I felt Ash grab my hand. We both flew into the hall. I landed on top of her. My Right hand lay over her chest. A blush crawled over her face and she looked away.

“Would you mind getting off of me?”

Ash’s voice was quiet and dry. I jerked back my hand. Sighing with relief that she appeared unhurt.

“Are… are you okay?”

“I’m fine… just get off of me.”

She kept her voice calm, but the blush on her face intensified.

I rolled off of her and stared at my palm.

Why didn’t anything happen? Could it be that I don’t want to hurt her?

“You done?”

Ash was standing now, her arms were crossed over her chest. She was obviously embarrassed.

“Yeah… I’m sorry…”

When I looked at her all I could think of was Ashley. Ash looked just as cute when she was wrapped in embarrassment.

“Don’t worry about it. Lets go.”

Ash spun on her heels and started walking down the hall.

Great job Leon. She must hate you now.

“Wait up!”

I ran up behind her and grabbed her shoulder.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She stopped in her tracks and looked down. She turned around and looked up into my eyes. Her breath was heavy. Her eyes bore into me.

“I… I don’t understand…But I want you… need you…”

He voice was soft. She closed her eyes and stood on her tip toes to reach my face. Not knowing what to do I lifted my hand from her shoulder. Her eyes opened and she fell to the ground.

“What? Why was I so close to you?”

Her voice was disoriented, her expression confused.

“I… don’t know… You don’t remember turning around?”

I tried to sound sincere, hoping to calm her down.

Ash relaxed and thought for a second.

“I think you did something to me. I can’t explain it. It’s like… I got instantly lost in desire… What did you do?”

Her cheeks flared up and she covered her body with her arms.

“To be honest… I was just thinking you looked really cute when you’re embarrassed… Maybe my emotions transfers to you through my new power? It’s just a guess…”

Being honest is the best idea right?… I need to learn more about this power…

She started to fidget as she got back to her feet. turning back down the hall. An almost inaudible wisher escaped her lips.

“Thanks…”

I got lost in that one word. Noticing she had already made it to the end of the hall, I snapped out of the daze and jogged up beside her. She wouldn’t look at me, but made no move to increase the distance between us.

“So… Where are we going?”

I scratched the back of my head. I wasn’t good with awkward silences around cute girls.It took her a few seconds before she replied.

“I am taking you to the crater you made before. I also need to try to repair one of the coms you destroyed to send a message to my commander. I think something in my personal com broke when I got slung through the walls earlier.”

“Wait… You got slung through walls? And crater? Like the one I made earlier?”

I was genuinely curious about what happened after I had lost consciousness.

“Yeah… Kinda?… But this one was from impact. The one you just made was… less violent?”

She seemed to be coming back to herself. I looked down and noticed that we were falling a trail of blood.

This must be mine… She saved my life…

“I didn’t say it before… but thanks. I would be dead without you.”

“No problem, I can’t just let someone die if I can do something to stop it.”

She turned into a room and looked over to me as I walked through the doorway.

“This was the control center, but as you can see.”

She gestured to the sparking electronics and wrecked Vanguard poking trough the wall. I let out a low whistle.

“*Whoo* Damn… I did all of this?”

Broken glass popped under my feet as I made my way over to the hole in the wall. The crater was massive. It’s diameter was the size of an olympic swimming pool. Rebar was poking out from the layers of concrete and a shallow puddle of blood lay at the center.

“Yeah… That was all you… I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see you do something similar a few minutes ago.”

Ash was already fiddling with the electronics hanging from one of the consoles with a cracked screen.

I climbed through the hole and walked to the edge of the crater. I held out my right arm and stared at it.

Wonder if I can test out this power a little… This room is already pretty damaged… Guess I should ask first…

“Hey can I try something?”

I raised my voice to overpower the sound of sparking electronics.

“What exactly do you plan on doing?”

She didn’t look away as she twisted a pair of yellow wires together.

“I want to test out these powers. Don’t want to go about destroying everything I touch.”

She stopped what she was doing and looked through the hole at me. She cocked her head and raised a brow.

“I guess… but you have a lot more power than before…As long as you don't sink the island… I guess its okay. I’m already screwed either way for the damages…”

Her head disappeared as she went back to her work on the broken electronics. I lifted my hand and stared at it.

If thrusting out my palm did this before… what would happen if I just flicked instead of punched?

I tucked my middle dinger into my thumb and let fly toward the ceiling. The crack deafened my ears and a hole the size of a semi truck appeared in the ceiling. The clouds I could see through the hole dispersed and the sky seemed to turn black for a second.

Must have been my imagination… Shock from the sound… There is no way that a flick could pierce a hole in the atmosphere… right?

“What the shit was that?!”

I heard a muffled voice from behind me. My ears were ringing and my vision blurred at the edges. I blinked a couple times and rubbed my eyes.

“I just flicked at the ceiling… Didn’t think I put much power behind it though…”

Ash leaped through the hole and ran towards me. Her steps slowed and she stared through the hole I had made. She gasped.

“Holy shit… Try that on the ground! Right here!”

She pointed toward the center of the crater. She was jumping with excitement now. I smiled back at here and took aim.

“You may want to get behind me. Don’t know know what will happen…”

She scurried behind me and poked her head out under my arm.

It must look like she is aiming a cannon from her angle.

I laughed softly and pulled my finger back to my thumb. The crack seemed louder the second time. I had put at much power as I could manage into the shot.

At first nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly a hole opened in the center of the crater. Air ripped around me and flew through the hole. A deep red color was visible for a second before it shifted to darkness. The ground shook and crumbled beneath me.

Ash’s arms locked around me as we began to fall. Lava became visible and massive rocks started to close around us. I started to panic.

Is there anything I can do to stop this?

Time slowed to a halt and a child’s voice popped into my head.

“Daym boi you relly fuked thngs up!”

I searched around for the source of the voice only to find Ash’s horrified face.

“Dnt wrry. I cn fx this! Yous just need to give me cntrl!”

The voice sounded excited.

“What do you mean control? What are you?”

I didn’t like this new entity in my head, but if it could help me fix this… I would try to communicate with it.

“Wht am I? I AM PART OF YOU NOW! EVER SINCE THAT BITCH PUT ALL THOSE CORES INTO YOU! HAHAHA”

The voice shifted to a more menacing demonic presence.

“So… They were AI cores… Are you… Am I…”

I shuttered trying to think of what to say to this demon in my head.

If this… thing is part of me… then what am I? Am I…an AI?

“NOW YOU’RE GETTING IT! HAHAHA! SO ARE YOU GONNA LET ME IN?”

The voice felt like it was taunting me.

What choice do I have?… If I don’t… then Ash and I die… wait… Red!

“Hey Red!”

No responce.

“THAT BITCH CANT SAVE YOU NOW! I AM YOUR ONLY CHANCE MWAA HAAA HAAA HAAA!”

He knows about Red?…

“I… I will let you… If you can fix this… I will let you…Will… I die if you take control?”

I had to ask… I don’t want to die but… saving Ash seemed worth it…

“NO YOU WONT DIE! IT’S JUST LIKE SLEEPING! YOU CAN WATCH ME IF YOU WANT, BUT YOU CANT CONTROL THIS BODY WHEN I’M IN IT!”

The voice was getting anxious.

“What… what do I call you?”

“THE NAME’S CORO! NICE TO MEETCHA FRIEND!”

“Coro… I will choose to trust you… please… save Ash…”

“DEAL!”

I instantly felt myself falling into blackness. I saw something flash and smashed into the ground. I didn’t appear hurt, but the sudden stop was disorienting. I looked up and saw a plush recliner and a large screen sitting in front of it. I shrugged and walked over to it and plopped down. As soon as I sat, a remote appeared on top of a small table next to the recliner.

I picked up the remote and pressed the power button. The screen flickered to life and a third person perspective of my body with Ash dangling from it appeared on the screen.

At least Coro is going to let me watch… maybe I can learn something… I don’t like trusting someone like him… he better hold his end of the deal…

[CORO]

Finally…

He looked down at his glowing palm and made a fist.

I can finally feel flesh!

He outstretched his palm and a screen popped up in front of him. He shoved his fingers through the screen and twisted in a counterclockwise motion.

Time turned back and suddenly, he stood at the edge of the crater. He clinched his hand into a fist, causing time to resume. He lifted his hand and pulled it through his hair.

Maybe I should change my look.

His hair turned a sheer white and went straight.

“Now… TIME FOR SOME FUN!”

His eyes flashed red as he voice changed. He smiled, showing sinister needle like teeth.

“DON’T WORRY LEON… I’LL TAKE GREAT CARE OF ASH!”