Red Lightning.

The Commander of the Federation Base responsible for the protection of Oasis city and the surrounding region. Official title is ‘Base Commander’, as they are charged with the military command of the area they reside in if disaster occurs. In emergency situations, they are in command, second only to the Supreme Commander of the Federation.

Since the Federation measure capability with power, the Commander in charge of Oasis city wouldn’t be lacking. In fact, he was a Class 5 Awaken renown for his immense strength and electrifying abilities.

What bought his name to fame was a incident that happened 25 years ago. Seth hadn’t been born yet, but his parents told him the story . It was when the Federation detected a rift that had stabilized right away at it’s appearance. A stabilized rift wasn’t a big issue as it could be closed, but the dimensional beast that swarm out it was . Hundreds of Class 4s had burst out and there was even a Class 5 that took command.

Red lightning had rushed out immediately when he heard the news to stall the Class 5 by himself. It was said that Red lightning had been the only strong Awaken in the city at that time. Seth didn’t know if Railgun had joined yet, but he Knew Quickstream had join their city in the last ten years or so. Oasis had gone into a lockdown right away and people had said it was a lost battle from the start. After a hard-fought battle for three days and three nights, Oasis finally repelled the threat and emerged victorious. It hadn’t remained unscathed as the dimensional beast had broken through the walls and demolished a fifth of the city. That was when the turning point of the battle happened after the invasion.

After finally defeating the Class 5 threat, Red Lightning had rushed back to the city and single handedly cleaned up the invaded parts. Once the inside of the city was secured, he had proceeded to massacre the remnants outside the walls of the city.

How did Seth know Red Lightning was the sole person responsible for ending the invasion?

Video technology at the time had progress quite far and t the Federation rarely release videos about their army to hide military secrets. However, a leaked video of the incident made its way to the net. The video itself wasn’t very long, only a mere 30 seconds. The contents on it was mouth dropping. You can see a red figure blurring around inside the destroyed section of the city. Every monster it had passed had exploded. The figure in the video had moved too fast for the camera to focus on, but electricity could be seen arcing off them. It did not take a genius to figure out who the person was in the video as there was not many people capable of this feat.

Thanks to his heroic actions, the name Red Lightning became a legend. There was a near god worship for this savior after the incident. Seth admits that he was a big fan of the person himself. Who wouldn’t admire heroic figures? He had grown up on listening to tales of the strongest Awaken from his parents. Unfortunately, Red Lightning had disappeared from the limelight afterwards, rarely making an appearance.

And now Seth found himself in the legendary figure’s office.

Seth had been expecting a menacing person. The kind that was no nonsense and dined on the enemies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

What he did not expect was doing to be invited to perform Tai-chi with him, an exercise that Seth had thought only elderly people did. “Breathe in, Breathe out. Feel the flow of energy going your arm and into your chest. Then let all the negative energy gather and leave through the other arm, "a deep voice rumbled out giving Seth instructions to follow along.

For a man of his stature, he was surprisingly graceful. He was bigger than Bertha, who was the tallest person Seth had seen in the Federation so far. Despite all the movement, his armor remained silent as if it had integrated into part of his body.

As Seth followed along, he was curious and ask “Is there really negative energy inside me? Does this exercise actually work?”

The Commander shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea. I just find that this exercise helps me relax. One cannot sit at a desk all day. All that work deteriorate the mind. Once the mind falters, the body follows. Even when I have become the commander, the paperwork never stops. It only increases. An absolute nightmare.”

“Do you perform this exercise everyday?” Seth asked curiously. He was surprised as Seth had thought that Commanders would be at meeting planning important strategies for missions.

“Most days I do. Sometimes I alternate and perform a different type. If I don’t, I don’t think I can stay sane. There is only so much paperwork one can take. “

“Umm Sir, not to rush you or anything, how long are we going to do this? Why did you call me up here in the first place?” The Commander hadn’t introduced himself and Seth didn’t the proper way to address him. When he had just entered the office, Red Lightning had just invited him to exercise with him. They had been practicing for half an hour already and there were no signs of stopping. When in doubt, use sir. This was a Military base after all.

“Getting a bit impatient, are we? Well, no matter. it is nothing major. I only wished to see the newest members of our base and hear your thoughts overall. I wouldn’t mind listening to your personal experience about your last outing, but you need not focus on it at all. Think of it as a progress report. ”

“Everyone here is very friendly. I don’t really have any problems with the Federation base here.”

“Good. I left most of the planning for your internship to Major Jackson, so you are in capable hands. You can trust squad 46 for future excursions.”

“Squad 46? Who’s that? Do you mean Jacks’s old squad?” Seth asked.

“Yes, Squad 46 is their official designation. They are famous in their own right, but they are trustworthy. I’m sure you were able to catch a glimpse of their capabilities on your last outing. Although they do have their own...unique personalities. Squads can choose their number designation and they wanted it to be 69, but the Federation Headquarters wouldn’t allow it for. It is a tasteless joke on their part. As a teenager, I am sure you should know what that number signifies.”

Seth did have an idea and it certainly seems like something Bertha would think of.

The Base Commander sighed “ Thank you for joining me today. It is time to return to the bane of my existence. Paperwork. Perhaps I ought to hire another intern to help me. Would you be interested in helping me?”

“Sure, I'll be happy to help.” He was already helping Jacks with his reports, adding another person won’t make too much of a difference.

“Haha. I thank you for the kind offer, but no. There are documents with sensitive information that only commanders can see. You offering to help is appreciated. It show you have kindness in you and that will take you far. Kindness can open more doors for your future. Kindness and diligence. Keep those in mind and whatever goal you seek will become much easier.”

“Thank you?” Seth wasn’t sure if the Commander was implying about his goal to find the Bastion of Heroes, or it was only plain old advice. Why would the commander care about Seth’s search? He was still a insignificant intern.

“Anyways I wont keep you here any longer. I do believe that they're holding a retirement party for someone in the cafeteria. You should attend. Everyone who is not on active duty will be attending. “

“Is it alright for me to go? I don’t know who the person is?”

“It’ll be fine, the workers just want to make an excuse to throw a party. The more people the merrier as they say They'll be happy if you join the fun. Ah yes, one last thing before you go. I believe you need a sword? Seek officer Greene for help. She’ll be more than glad to help create your own weapon. If that doesn’t work, Major Jackson know and he can tell you an address for cold weapons. If there is nothing else, then you are free to leave.”

As Seth left the Base Commanders office, one question popped into his head. How did he know Seth needed a new weapon?