“What happened?” “Mr. President I am sorry but…” “Just answer the question soldier” he said with a deceptively calm voice, this was not supposed to happen, lowering his head Mark Williams designation: Beta 2 answered him “Upon landing on the city we noticed the lack of resistance, Loki captured the node and, while investigating the monsters disappearance, became suspicious of the lack of a node in Fairmount Park, it was a good observation and worth pursuing but the hole in Jefferson station was our priority Loki asked for permission to investigate the matter alone, given his powerful ability and gear I allowed it.

Once he arrived on Fairmount park Loki informed control of a hole he found on the ground and his intentions to enter it unfortunately the tunnels were covered with a strange substance that blocked our communications, latter control regained communications and Loki asked for an air strike at his location before losing it again, Siegfried went after Loki as soon as he could and found him inside a burning tunnel he was unconscious and with a damaged armor we rescued him and sent him here.”

He didn’t say anything afraid that if he opened his mouth he would kill the idiot, how could he let a member of Ragnarok investigate alone! His hand twitched towards the gun at his hip and he had to turn his eyes away to avoid the sudden urge to shot the soldier in the head for his incompetence, he started to walk from one side to the other of the room incapable of waiting quietly Aaron couldn’t die, not like this.

Twenty minutes later he finally calmed down enough to admit the man wasn’t at fault, one of the most important rules of command is not to give an order that wouldn’t be followed and there was no way Aaron would have done anything less than whatever he wanted in that situation, sitting down besides the soldier he sighed, more for small talk than real interest he asked “Considering what the ants did to the city, how did you guys survive?”

“Mostly luck sir, it is currently winter and those ants seemed to hibernate at this time, our best guess is that once they were transferred to our world and noticed the cold the ants started eating any meat they found gathering nutrients before retreating into the tunnels to sleep warmly, were we to face then in the streets they could have overcame us with numbers and inside the tunnels there would be too few guns capable of shooting at the same time the wide room we encountered not only allowed all the Einherjar to shot at the same time it controlled the amount of ants that could get in from the tunnel at any one time, we could have held on until our ammunition ran out.”

From the white corridor came one of the doctors responsible for his son, Adam got up quickly and ran to him grabbing at his arms “What is his condition” “Mr. president your son is stabilized but we must speak with you, please sit down” dizzy with relief he let the woman guide him back into a chair and looked at her face “Sir the situation is not good, you are aware of the ‘mana recipient’ we started to develop once the system came?” “Yes” “Well in most humans that recipient is located above the pubic area and bellow the navel, away from vital organs and easily accessible to all parts of the body, in Aaron’s case however that ‘recipient’ seems to be inside his brain.

Doctor Anton has noticed that an unusual and powerful mana flow consistent with the use of a skill book but much stronger has gone through his brain and his body could not fully adapt to the sudden change forming several aneurisms, we will need to operate him but he is currently too fragile, he has suffered third degree burns in 82% of his body and forth degree burns on the chest and neck areas, considering the importance of such places we are not sure why he isn’t dead, in fact he should have died several times over.

We have tried to administer two healing potions directly into his body and that’s why he is stable but the potions seems incapable of healing his brain, their effect is also severely reduced on burnt flesh working much better in cuts, bruises, broken bones and blood loss, with enough potions his body will eventually be restored but it may already be too late for his brain.”

The doctor stopped talking, giving time to process all the information, a small tear escaped his eye but he didn’t even bother hiding it, had he made another mistake and condemned his son once more? He only wanted to give him back his freedom and the army was the only way to do it, the missions were supposed to be safe with his level of power goddamnit! His voice shaking with barely contained grief he asked “Isn… isn’t there anything to be done?”

“There may be a solution sir but it is… unorthodox” “What!” “The head researcher in our facility has obtained a certain amount of troll blood and isolated a substance he believes to be what gives them a great regeneration through distillation, in animals it has proven effective in regenerating flesh.” “How is that different from a health potions and what can it do for my son” “The potions heal, they return bones to their places and close cuts almost like it reverses the time of the cut leaving no mark, the Troll serum, as we are calling it, accelerate regeneration and provides the energy for it, doctor Anton’s proposal is to surgically remove the areas affected by the forth degree burn and apply the troll serum for them to regenerate quickly”

“Will it work?” “We are not completely sure, as the areas are so vital we must be fast and the serum has to be very concentrated our estimation is a 72% success rate, if we wait for the potions to have enough effect for the operation his chances are, well unknown.” He wasn’t even thinking straight anymore, resting his elbows in his tights he buried his face on his hands, “Do it, the troll thing do it”

He Signed the damn endless forms she gave him then watched as she ran back before running his hand through his hair grabbing at it “Sir… are you alright” breathing deeply he lifted his head “Yeah, yeah I am fine” the soldier he had just been cursing in his head put a hand over his shoulder to comfort him, damn he was supposed to be the president of the united states not a crybaby.

“He was a good boy you know, with a little too much imagination but very gentle like his mother” Beta 2 sat down at his side patting his shoulder in consolation “Sir, if I may ask, why does Loki hates you so much?” “You can call him by his name here Mr. Williams” laying back on the wall he looked up, his hands clenching the chair as hard as he could “I made a mistake, it was an honest mistake made out of desperation but a mistake nonetheless.

I handed my son over to the government but come on what was I to do! I was just a recently promoted to Sergeant, I had great faith in the military and my son had just manifested a power I could not explain that put everyone in danger I was desperate!” “I read Aaron’s file when I become a member of Beta team, you were afraid after he nearly killed those boys it’s understandable” “No, fuck those kids if I would have killed them myself had I found out earlier but my son had just whipped himself into a coma with an invisible force while I was helpless to stop it and though the military was my only chance It even worked, Doctor Loren was a great help in the start and Aaron developed greatly, he was happy.”

“Good evening doctor Loren” “Morning sergeant Ross it’s a pleasure to see you again” said the old man while shaking his hand “Your wife just left the facility few moments ago” “We can hardly be considered married now doctor the last time she spoke with me was a year ago” “I am sorry… coff” “Don’t worry about it, how is my son?” with enthusiasm the doctor lead him inside the facility “He is doing very well, very well indeed we just started a new speed and strength exercise as well as a few memorization techniques since you visited us last week Aaron will love your presence.”

“Dad!” the ten years old boy ran and threw himself into his arms “Hey champion!” grabbing his son he swung him around before setting him back on the ground and ruffling his hair “I heard you have been training huh little hero” “Yes dad it’s great, mom comes over every morning and Horace plays chess with me every night, they even have this super cool robot that throw things and I have to catch them it’s fun!” lifting his eyebrow he looked at the good doctor.

“It’s a new machine that throw light balls at a target and he has to stop or deviate them, it’s supposed to improve his control, reaction speed and the strength of his power” “Like a pitching machine?” the doctor’s smile disappeared immediately “In an overly simplistic and somewhat insulting way… yes”

He played a chess match with his son trying to hold back but his son noticed immediately and got irritated in the end he won by a small margin and swore to work on his skills a little, wouldn’t do to get crushed by his 10 years old son the next time he came, he also saw the training room, it was a wide room with a futuristic pitching machine and a wide target painted in red and white, various different toys and weights laid about the floor and a huge city full of green army men toys and monster figurines.

“Dad, dad! come see my war board! Mr. Turner made it for me!” Aaron pulled him by the arm and stood in front of the miniature city, lifting his hands his child wiggled his fingers and 5 green soldiers started walking towards a huge dragon that slowly floated in the air “See dad, that’s white claw the cruel! And those are the black fang soldiers they’re gonna fight him to save the princess, Roooargh! Puny humans!” he was entranced by the figurines moving by themselves with complicated movements while his son made funny voices and heroic lines.

“Impressive isn’t it? He can move 10 small figurines or 2 big ones at the same time now but I hope… Coff, coff… I hope one day he can manage to move them all” “You alright doctor?” “Oh it’s just a cold” he stayed with his son the entire weekend playing before duty called, he had a month long field exercise with some new recruits.

The next time he visited his son was working with the pitching machine, a green ball slightly bigger than a baseball was thrown from its open end towards the center of a huge red and white target, Aaron stood at its side, both hands extended towards the ball and a frown of concentration on his face, the ball continued to move unimpeded until very near the end when the boy fell to his knees and the ball hit 13 centimeters to the left 6 centimeters down from the bullseye.

“Good work kid!” “thanks dad, wanna see what I can do with the piano?” “Sure champion I will be right there” doctor Loren approached him “Coff coff… may I have a moment please?” “Hey kid, be right back!” walking with the doctor he helped the old men sit down and waited “As you may have… coff, coff… may have noticed I am not in my perfect condition” “what’s wrong?” “I am sick, ha… two doctorates in medicine, one in psychology and I still ignored all the symptoms until it was too late… I have only 5 months left”

“Wait, isn’t there anything the government can do for you?” “No, the government doesn’t have any secret medical treatment for me Mr. Ross… Coff coff… don’t worry your son already has sufficient control over his powers, personally I would allow him to continue his training at home unfortunately, given my current health condition, they prefer… coff coff coff… they prefer to get a second opinion on the case, I recommended a friend of mine continue my work but you know how those things work” he broke up into a wide smile despite the inappropriate moment “Sorry” “Oh please do smile, I have become quite found of your son it’s good to see him reuniting with his family before I go.”

“Did you? Reunite I mean?” Adam closed his hands so hard he actually drew blood “Of course not” punching the wall with all his strength he felt his fingers breaking but didn’t make a sound, finally he took a deep breath “Some fucking rich senator did a power play and promoted someone into his own pet general, Doctor Horace Loren’s recommendation was never taken into consideration and Major Lance Parker took control of Aaron’s training and everything went to hell, he never forgave me for being unable to save him from the bastard, my wife never forgave me for letting the army take him in the first place and I never forgave myself for failing them both.”

Unable to stop himself he started crying, it was all just too much, he had agreed to become president when the came so he could finally provide some freedom for his son and now he was dying “You did the right thing” Looking at Beta two trying to comfort he gave a weak smile “I know, and yet I can’t forgive myself” Cleaning his face with an arm he tried to return to his tough president persona “Now shut up soldier and get me a cup of coffee” after the leader of his son’s unit went to obey his order he turned towards the operation room and waited for the result, he waited for 8 hours… alone.

Congratulations your U.S. army guild has conquered another city +100 XP

“Oh for fuck’s sake!”