Alex – Heart Of The Vanguard

__________*_Sarah_*__________

Welcome, Tues 18th  Jan '22 12:38

I'm sat at the dining room table, staring at the glass of Gin that I had poured myself an hour ago and that's all I had done since. In fact all I had done nothing since Wrex and Sora left over two and a half hours ago was sit at this empty table. The biggest problem of not having one of my armours out there in the field, be it Alex's or Wrex's, is that I couldn't see what was going on, no updates, no clue as to what was happening. I had instructed Crystal to notify me when Alex's armour came back online but she still had yet to do so. So to say I was getting worried was an understatement, less than 24 hours ago Alex had been out of the suit for nearly 20 hours, I knew under normal circumstances she'd have roughly 24 to 27 hours worth of life outside of the suit, but after such a small recovery time I was merely guestimating that she'd have maybe half of that. I initially poured myself this drink to help me calm my nerves, but I couldn't bring myself to drink it. Surprisingly, I never really use to drink that much, then my parents happened... I found out about SkyTech, and what my products were being used for... It all sort of drove me over the edge.

I sighed as I stood up, walked into the kitchen, taking the glass with me and pouring the contents down the sink. I heard a familiar crackling sound and looked up out of the kitchen window. A 'Jump', as that Draconian called Sora referred to them as, had opened up in the back yard, red and purple mist swirling around and in on itself. I bolted out the back door toward it as figures emerged from the coloured mist. Sora, shortly followed by Wrex both looking depressed, then the portal closed behind them... no one else had emerged, my hopes that had rocketed up after seeing the Jump appear, immediately plummeted again.

Sarah: "Wrex… tell me something, anything..." He walked passed me as if I wasn't even there, straight into the house. "...Sora? What...? What happened? Where's Alex?"

Sora: "Gone." She said glumly, unable to look me in the eye.

Sarah: " 'Gone', what do you mean gone?"

Sora: "As in no where to be found! The police are under SkyTech control. I couldn't find out any information from them without giving myself away..." She now looked up to me, "...Listen, to stand any chance of finding her, tell your AI to search on larger quantities of Gamma radiation but in focused areas and quick bursts, that's how I found where the Shard was this morning."

Sarah: "But Gamma radiation is harmful in large quantities."

Sora: "It is, I say 'larger' but it's lower level Gamma rays and not at harmful for the time frame we're talking about, as I say they're more like bursts, like X-ray doses, the Shard emits this radiation when it's used but the quantities vary depending on what it is used for."

Sarah: "Er, right ok. Did you get that Crystal?" I asked tapping my watch.

Crystal: "Affirmative, adjusting scan settings."

Sora: "You're going to have to talk to him." She said looking back up to the house shaking her head.

Sarah: "What? Why me?"

Sora: "He doesn't like me, he doesn't trust me, and now with this, what's happened... it kind of is my fault and now he hates me even more, I'm not going to get anywhere with him." I looked back at the house, I wasn't looking forward to this.

__________*_Wrex_*__________

12:50

It didn't take long, but I had made my decision, I headed back out toward the bedroom door, opened it to find Sarah looking dubiously up at me, her small in comparison Human frame standing low in front of me like a child, hand was raised ready to knock at the door.

Sarah: "Erm, hey."

Wrex: "Can I help you?"

Sarah: "Actually, I came here to ask you the same thing." she said lowering her hand.

Wrex: "Unless you're about to present Alex to me or a way to get her back, then no, you can't help."

Sarah: "We're working on that... Wrex, we'll get her back, I promise."

Wrex: "You sound just like Sora. Excuse me." I pushed her aside even though she tried to resist,

Sarah: "Hey!..." but my strength overpowered hers with ease, "...Where are you going?"

Wrex: "I'm leaving."

Sarah: "To go where?" She chased me along the landing.

Wrex: "Anywhere but here." I replied while making my way down the stairs.

Sarah: "You're giving up on her?!"

Wrex: "What choice do I have?! We have no idea where she is..."

Sarah: "We're still looking, give us a chance!"

Wrex: "I've failed, yet again!... I've lost her... the one chance I had to feel something for someone again and I've lost her already...No, never again..." I was met at the bottom of the stairs by Sora arms behind her back, blocking my exit, "...stand aside."

Sora: "You haven't failed Wrex, not yet, giving up will be the failure." She pulled her arms around from behind her back, presenting the helmet of my new armour. It looked so similar to Alex's, only painted completely in satin black and had horns attached to it to allow to fit over my own. I turned to Sarah who was stopped behind me a few steps up which now made her eye level with me, raising an eyebrow at me.

Wrex: "I can't keep losing people, what if we don't find her in time... I think... I'd rather not know."

Sora: "But what if you did find her in time?, imagine if you give up now then you find out later that we could have saved her? What would you think then?"

Wrex: "Probably would never forgive myself... *Sigh* ... So what do I need to do?"

__________

14:10

I had been on this makeshift operating table down in the basement for what felt like hours with Sarah messing around at the back of my head and top of my neck, implanting this bloody interface chip that she insisted I needed to operate this new armour. Apparently there were 'a lot of sensitive connections to make' so it meant she had to take her time. When she was finally done, she sealed me up and told me to try and make sure that everything moved and felt as it should have done, which thankfully it did. She then presented me with the new armour, there were pieces of armour piled along the counters, most looking similar to my current armour. Amongst it was the chest piece, which I noticed had six painted red lines that travelled from over the shoulder and down the right chest plate, just like the old design.

Wrex: "You do know that I'm not actually an Admiral anymore, right?"

Sarah: "Only technically... Come on let's get you suited up..." She picked up the back piece, helping me pass my wings through the slots to position it on my back, hooking over my shoulders as well, next was the chest piece, then piece after piece was latched on after while she spoke. "...Your armour, although is essentially the same as Alex's, still has differences to bare in mind. You and Alex have different builds but Alex's armour uses a hard wired interface on her back, as opposed to your wireless connection at the back of your head. You do not need your suit to survive, she does. All this means that parts are not interchangeable, ok? And because Alex's Armour is hardwired to her, she will always be faster than you and your connection. Crystal will help improve this somewhat for you though so don't worry."

Wrex: "Ohhh no, no, you're not putting that thing inside my head."

Sarah: "But, it will help-"

Wrex: "Forget it, I'm not having it messing with my brain."

Sarah: "She won't-"

Wrex: "And that's the end of it Sarah, please. It's enough that I'm dealing with this high tech suit, I'm not having some nosey AI poking her nose around in my head and dictating me as to what's what as well." She gave a irritated sigh but quietly and quickly proceeded to place the armour on me, each piece connecting to the last... I even had to swap out my gauntlet that I never liked to take off since I had gotten it back. I could see what Alex meant by the wing pieces were a pain to get on, it sort of was a two person job, the material was flexible and stretchy and took some fettling to stretch them enough over my wings but Sarah assured me it was bullet proof. She handed me the helmet, it looked almost exactly the same design as Alex's, minus the red lines. It was now even opened in the same way, the four sections of face plate were separated and flicked back down the sides of the helmet.

Sarah: "Actually, don't put that on just yet..." She turned to a nearby laptop, scrolled around on the screen, clicked into different sections and typed in some commands. "...Ok, I just stopped Crystal from accessing your suit, she can monitor from here and that's it. The suit does have a basic operating system though, which controls your HUD, interfacing, in-flight adjustments, system monitoring, communications. And before you argue, yes, it is necessary, you'd never be able to control those functions on your own. Put the helmet on now please..." I done as she asked and put it on over my horns and I heard it latch into place. "...Right, before we do anything, let's take this outside." It felt like I was fighting for movement, I wasn't sure if it was normal, it certainly didn't feel as free moving as my old armour. I followed her up the stairs anyway, out the kitchen and out to the back yard where we found Sora sat by the lake side, right where Alex and myself had our little bonding session just last night. Sarah started talking to me which caught Sora's attention.

Sarah: "Right, bring it on line."

Wrex: "Eerrr... What?" Sarah's shoulders dropped.

Sarah: "Sorry, I'm use to Alex knowing what to do... The armour reacts to your thoughts. You 'Will' it to do something and it will react, eventually once you get use to it it will even react simultaneously. Try to think of it as an extension of yourself, not a piece of equipment to use."

I thought about it, wanting the armour to turn on... But it didn't. I kept trying, closing my eyes and concentrating, but still nothing, or at least, I don't think so, nothing felt any different, Sarah then interrupted my concentration.

Sarah: "Stop trying so hard, it won't work that way."

Wrex: "I'm not trying 'that' hard."

Sarah: "Wrex, you're screwing your face up you're concentrating so hard..." Sora gave a bemused chuckle.

Wrex: "Shut it you..." I directed to Sora. "...You told me to 'will' it though?"

Sarah: "Yes, but you're going about it wrong, you need to know what it is you want the suit to do, but you need to let it happen naturally. Just relax, let it flow. Tell you what, lift your arm up for me." She raised her right arm out in front of her and I copied.

Sarah: "Now how much did you have to concentrate to do that?"

Wrex: "Well, not at all really?"

Sarah: "Exactly, that's how natural and relaxed it needs to be." Dropping her arm back by her side. I sighed then relaxed as she had instructed, I kind of already wanted my old armour back, it was so much simpler, I just wanted this thing to turn on now so I could find Alex. Suddenly the faceplates slammed shut, I heard a low level hum and my vision went from seeing pretty much nothing but darkness to having a bright Heads Up Display appear along with the view of the world outside the helmet. The shock causing me to stumble back and fall to the floor, a loud increasing hum, followed by the sound of a rocket firing and I was thrown along the ground.

Sarah: "Easy Wrex! Shut it down!"

I tried to anchor myself to the floor by digging my claws in but instead suddenly shot up into the sky. "EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN INITIATED" flashed in front of my eyes and everything went quiet and my faceplates opened revealing that I was already easily 100 foot up in the air.

Rather simply, I opened my wings and glided back down to meet Sarah back on the ground.

Wrex: "What the hell happened there?!"

Sarah: "Quite simply, you panicked... so I shut it down. As I said, you need to relax, the suit responds to your thoughts, it needs a stable mind or the signals sent by your brain become misinterpreted. Bit more practice and you'll get the hang of it. Bring it online again and take it slow ok." she took a few steps back as a precaution. I breathed in and out to relax myself, then once again willed it to come on line, again I let the calming thoughts of Alex flow, which seemed to help me last time. Almost instantly the low hum came into existence again, Sarah took a quick look at her watch.

Sarah: "Ok good good! Now one step at the time. Will your faceplates closed and you vision feeds will come on automatically." Again, I relaxed, breathed in and out, then thought 'I want my helmet closed'. Sure enough the faceplates snapped shut and then it was like I had no helmet on at all apart from the Heads Up Display. Better than that in fact, I could see more around behind me than I could normally. I blinked but the image never went away, so I closed my eyes and sure enough it stayed present, an image of the world around me, no matter where I turned my head or how long I closed my eyes for.

Wrex: "This is soo weird..."

Sarah: "You'll get use to the vision, it was Alex's idea and it didn't take her long. Now hold up your arm please..." I did as she requested and I noticed that I was no longer fighting for movement so much, everything felt smoother. Sarah stepped over and pointed at the top of my forearm to a circular, slanted cut slot, that was directed down my arm toward my hand, just inches from my wrist. "...This, as you have already experienced, is a plasma jet, you have one here on each arm and one on each leg, alongside your Tibia. They are your primary propulsion, besides your wings of course. Now your armour has no Human weaponry attachments, but Alex did discover a trick. Aim your arm at the lake..." I aimed as she requested, Sora quickly running out of the way, "...now, there's a trick, power it to at least 70% but don't let it fire straight away, let it build." I did as she requested, a targeting reticle appeared on my HUD, linked to where I was training my arm. I willed the plasma jet to power up, but I wouldn't let it fire, a percentage counter appeared next to the reticle as well, rising quickly. The glow in the circular exhaust port became brighter at the same rate and the whirring hum intensified until it became almost a whine, making my arm vibrate, then I let the shot go. The ball of plasma sailed through the air towards the water, causing it to instantly boil and vaporise before it ever made contact with the surface. Even as the shot buried itself beneath the lake, you could trace it's path from the faint glow and the stream of vapor bubbles making their way to the surface.

Sarah: "Nice! Very good." A loud beep could be heard from Sarah's watch, she looked at it and her eyes widened in horror.

Wrex: "What is it?"

Sarah: "Inside, quick!" she ran toward the house, myself and Sora in tow. She lead us into the front room and turned the tv on, quickly flicking over to a news channel, catching the male news anchor mid flow.

Anchorman: "-unsure entirely what their intentions are right now as we are still only just getting the information now as we speak. So just to recap, the City of London in the United Kingdom is being evacuated due to a large scale, and very credible terrorist threat, details are scattered but it believed to be an Islamic State but that has yet to be confirmed. What we do have though is some very shocking footage of the Greater London streets, what can only be described as sheer panic..." The screen changed to aerial footage of the streets packed with vehicles bumper to bumper and people on foot, running this way and that in unorganised confusion, then the footage jumped to someone's mobile phone camera showing people running at street level, focusing in on an old man getting knocked down and trampled and no one stopping to help him up. "...These harrowing scenes that were sent to us mere minutes ago. I mean, you can see for yourself the chaos that is happening right now, the police just have no control over the evacuation that is taking place city wide. Nine million people reside in this city and they're all on the streets, clawing their way over each other to get to safety. We have yet to know the extent of the threat but the phrase 'Nuclear weapon' is rumoured-"

Sarah cut off the news channel and switched onto her own system showing the map of London,

Sarah: "And 10 minutes ago Crystal had detected this signature and has been monitoring the increase in radiation levels to the point where it was considered substantial enough to inform me and look what's at the epicenter... One of SkyTech's buildings."

Wrex: "Nuclear weapons don't gradually increase radiation output like that."

Sora: "Cover up?"

Sarah: "More than likely."

Wrex: "How long before it reaches unsafe levels?" Sarah looked back at the screen for a few moments,

Sarah: "At its current rate, I guess 5 hours, tops."

Sora and I looked at each other, exchanged a nod and went to leave the room.

Sarah: "I'm coming with you."

Wrex: "No, bad idea."

Sarah: "I might be of some help."

Sora: "Us Draconians are more resilient to the radiation than you Humans, we'll survive longer than the 5 hours."

Sarah: "I can come with you, then you zap me out of there at the 3-4 hour mark, deal?" I looked to Sora for her input.

Sora: "Don't look at me, I'll Jump her out when the time comes but otherwise she's your baggage."

Sarah: "Sounds good to me."

Wrex: "Oi, that's not for you to decide! Sora, how close can you get us to that building?" She looked up at the map,

Sora: "From places I know, not close enough... But I have an idea... But I don't like doing it... and you might not like it either." She said looking at Sarah.

_________

WC2R area, London, UK, Tues 18th Jan '22 20:30

We slowed down in the jump as the whisper floated towards us, Sora merely glancing at it before knocking it away.

Sora: "So you say the radiation source is coming from under the building correct?"

Sarah: "That's what Crystal's analysis shows."

Sora: "Ok, so here's the bit you're not going to like... I've never been close enough to this building to open a jump near it. So the next safest way is to do it in a large open space, we're going for an aerial insertion, I'm bringing us out at some 400 meters above ground level, roughly 100 meters above the top of the building and we'll aim to bust in on the tenth floor got it?"

Sarah: "You what?!"

Sora: "That's the plan, why?, what's wrong?"

Sarah: "You never said anything about skydiving in! If you haven't noticed, I don't have wings and didn't exactly pack a parachute!"

Sora: "Hey, you wanted to come along."

Wrex: "It will be fine Sarah, quick, jump onto my back." She drifted closer and grabbed a hold around my neck.

Sarah: "Did I ever mention, I have a fear of heights!"

Wrex: "But that's your helicopter on your front lawn isn't it?"

Sarah: "There's a difference between being inside and in control of a helicopter and free falling through the air with no parachute!"

Sora: "Get ready, here we go!"

We charged through the mist and emerged in mid air of the night sky, just as Sora had said we would. I quickly spread my wings, grasped my bearings in relation to the SkyTech building then turned into a dive alongside Sora with Sarah screaming behind me pretty much the whole way down. I had my HUD identify the tenth floor I swerved in the direction it, raised one arm, charged and fired a shot of plasma at the window. The ball of plasma flew ahead of us, taking out the window with no issue. I drew my wings in at the last second as I threaded the needle, using them instead to firmly hold Sarah against my back and to protect her. I smashed through office desks, computers and other office furniture once inside of the building, skidding to a halt a fair way in, Sora landing in right behind me. I quickly looked around the room, keeping both arms raised in opposite directions. There was no one here and only now, after I had done crashing my way in, I realised there was an evacuation alarm sounding.

Wrex: "Coast is clear. You alright?" I directed at Sarah who had just slid off of my back, looking very shaken with very wind swept hair. She gave a silent and shakey nod though. She pulled her trembling arm up, swept back her hair from her face then rolled up her left sleeve, revealing a gauntlet that looked similar to my old one, only smaller scale and had a flip up screen.

Sarah: "This building is definitely the source of the radiation..." she affirmed shakily, "...levels are still climbing but still considered safe... The source is 3 levels underground so we need to-... Wait a minute..."

Wrex: "What is it?..." She continued to stare at her screen, then looked up and down this room before staring back at the screen again, "...Sarah?" I asked again.

Sora: "Crystal has already hacked into the buildings mainframe and the low level server data is already decoded and available... Alex is here, in this building... and I know where she is."

(-Linkin Park)