1 1.

RONIN

Chapter 1

'Uh , where am I?' I thought to myself as my eyes slowly opened. The stabbing rays of light caused me to screw my eyes shut. An insistent *beep-beep* could be heard to my right.

''Ah, I see that you are awake'' a bright voice spoke to my left.

I opened my eyes once again. Once all the varied greens and whites formed shapes, I realised I was in a hospital. My left arm was wrapped in a cast. My left side, from chest to hip, was wrapped up in bandages and an oxygen mask was over my nose. I could feel the cool, sharp gas entering my lungs. I felt a tight pressure around my head. Speaking of my head, it was killing me.

The doctor, a young man, probably in his mid-twenties, looked obnoxiously chipper. I, in comparison, felt like I had died and come back to life. He had a swarthy, smooth face, dark brown eyes and black hair.

''You happen to be an extremely lucky man'' said the doctor cheerfully. He continued, ''When you came in you were, frankly speaking, a side of meat. Your entire left side was shot to hell, had to restart your heart twice. We managed to save you…..just''

So that's why I felt like I died and came back to life. I literally died and came back to life. I wondered where I was.

''You are probably wondering where you are right?'' the doctor asked. I nodded in reply.

''You are in Peshawar General Hospital. And at the hands of one of the best doctors here, Dr. Aziz Khan, trauma specialist, at your service'' he said, a smug, self-satisfied smile on his face. Arrogant, cocksure egoist. But something about his attitude told me his arrogance was justified.

''So now you know who I am, but who are you?'' he asked me. His dark brown eyes were lively and very shrewd, analysing me, weighing me on an unknown balance.

I thought for a while….

*beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beeeeeeeep*

Oh no,

I don't remember my name.

-浪人-

I felt consciousness slowly return to me. My eyes eased open and I noted the dimness in light.

'Huh, it must be dusk' I thought to myself. I noticed a small burst of white to my left. I turned to look and saw a bouquet of white lilies with a tag that read 'I am sorry!'. Sorry about what, I wonder. Alright, I steel myself and decide to take stock.

I sent my thoughts out for a diagnostic, down from my head, past my nose, where I rejoiced when I noted the removal of the oxygen mask. That was a good sign for me. My mind pushed past my neck, to my shoulders, then my arms. My right was fine, while my left was in a sling, but not in a cast. Another mental cheer. Onwards, my chest, from the left side, right upto my hip, was a mass of stitches, like I had literally been sewn back together. I winced at the mental image I had created. I slowly made my way past my hips, down my legs. My right was fine, but my left was elevated in a sling, no cast. I experimentally wiggled my toes and with a great degree of reluctance, they responded. So, no nerve damage.

After that, I wondered what to do as I couldn't get up and look around. I satisfied myself by craning my neck around to examine my surroundings. My view was blocked by a wall to the right side and a privacy curtain on my left. I soon got bored, but to break the monotony, I wiggled my toes from time to time. I looked up and in the top-left corner there was a small television, with a screen size of a handkerchief. A pad lay on the bed. I picked it up, turning it from side to side. A small light flashed in the center of the pad. I pressed it, and the pad activated. It opened to a set of graphs, charts and files.

I accessed one of the files and it showed me a picture of a man, looking like hell, as he was wrapped up in bandages, all blood soaked. I read the medical report.

"Subject is a male, name unknown, age 21-27, suffered multiple gunshot wounds in cranium, left arm, five broken ribs, punctured left lung and large intestine and broken left femur. Entry wounds show third degree burns, similar to energy weapons (reports attached and sent to Peshawar Police) and no exit wounds observed. Pathologist report detected significant quantity of nanobots at the injury site. Close observation showed that these nanobots accelerated the rate of healing of the patient by a factor of 10. the nanobots are able to synthesise the necessary materials from the body's nutrients. The same nanobots, when introduced to another DNA, started attacking it. The patient has also undergone genetic augmentation. The nature of these augmentation(s) and their purpose are unknown as of now and will be determined later, if patient is cooperative"

The report continued on like that, with various graphs and charts attached.

"I hope that that's interesting reading" commented a warm, husky and very feminine voice. I looked up to a very beautiful woman doctor. I kid you not. She was fair, with a sun-kissed tan, sea-green eyes and red hair. Her eyes sparkled like gems. Her lab coat did a bad job of hiding her figure….ah-ahem I had better get my eyes back in my head.

''It is'' I responded, waving the pad around. I guess we were both surprised by the deep baritone that was my voice. It sounded a little gravelly to my ears.

''So what exactly happened earlier? When you woke up the first time'' she asked.

''I….when the doctor asked me my name, I blacked out'' I replied, my throat had dried from talking so much.

She must have noticed my voice sounding raspy at the end. She came over to my bedside and poured out a glass of water from the jug sitting there and handed it to me. I drank it up quickly. The water cooled my parched throat.

''The water tasted funny'' I mentioned to her as I handed it back. She nodded.

''The water here takes some getting used to'' she replied, but her voice seemed to come from far away. I felt a pleasant numbness spread through me, locking me in my place. Throughout this, the doctor just stood there, checking her watch from time to time. After the numbness reached my toes, she reached into her coat pocket and accessed her phone.

''Olympus, this is Asclepius. I have located our rogue'' she said, her voice going from a warm and heady wine to a stone-cold professional. I couldn't move a muscle as she continued giving her report.

''Yes, he was found shot-up in the street. Some Good Samaritan brought him in here. I just administered a neurotoxin…orally of course'' she said with a hint of smugness. While she gave her report, faint red lines were visible in front of me. I focused on them and it read.

NEUROTOXIN DETECTED, SYNTHESIS IN PROGRESS….SYNTHESIS COMPLETE…ANTIDOTE ADMINISTERED.

I immediately felt my body come back under my control.

''What do you mean that he can synthesise an antidote for sarin?'' Asclepius asked in a voice of complete disbelief. She turned around to look at me as I grabbed the jug and threw it at her. The jug hit her square in the face. The back of her head slammed against the ground, rendering her unconscious.

I immediately freed myself from the slings and got out of bed. I thankfully had a pair of pyjamas on, as I padded over to the doctor, who was faintly stirring. I grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up off the ground.

''Who are you?'' I growled at her, as I choked her. Her hands slapped against my forearm and she kept trying to kick out at me. I shook her.

''Answer me!'' I ordered her as I eased the pressure on her neck a bit. She took a shuddering breath, but before she could say anything, a stream of plasma struck her and her head exploded. A voice in my head made the observation 'Railgun'. I reflexively threw her corpse aside and tucked myself into a roll as I slammed my way out of the room. I checked both ways as I stood in the hall. Suddenly, all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and the voice in my head screamed 'Dodge right!' I threw myself to the right as the walls behind me exploded. I got up and took off down the hall. I reached the stairwell and saw a group of flashlights sweeping systematically and quickly up the stairs. I looked up as I heard the throb of engines above me. Fire alarms blared around me as I heard the patients in the nearby rooms scream and cry out. I quickly make a decision.

I climb over the railings and leap off and across the gap to the next lower landing. Landing, I see a group of men in civilian clothing, armed and with body armour over their clothes who were making their way up. I leapt off and crashed into them, knees first. The point man I grabbed and broke his neck. I pulled his knife out and slashed the throat of the next man. Leaving him to choke on his blood, I threw the next one down the stairwell. The fourth man raised his rifle to shoot, I grabbed the barrel and drove the knife into his neck. Swinging the rifle around I shot the other men into pieces of meat.

Picking up another rifle, I slip two magazines into my left pocket. I borrow a belt with a pistol and knife in its holster and wrap it around my pants and slip three clips into the other pocket. As I stood up, another group of men appeared above me. I let rip with my rifle killing three and forcing the others into cover. I borrowed a grenade from one of the dead men and threw it after them. I pulled the pin off of one of the grenades still on the combat vest of one of the other dead men and ran like hell down the stairs. Half way to the next landing, first one then the other grenades exploded. The rest of the equipment detonated, causing the entire landing to fall down.

-浪人-

I cautiously peeked out of a corner when I reached the ground floor. There were similarly armed men standing in the foyer. Two near the reception, four in the waiting area and one in the medical dispensary. I raised my rifle and sight down it. I switch the fire selector to semi-automatic. I knew I had only a few seconds. I target the guy in the dispensary and squeeze the trigger.

I shoot him through the head and immediately switch over to the next two at the reception. I quickly shoot them. The ones in the waiting area recovered and opened fire. I returned fire, killing one and wounding the other. A burning pain shot along my forearm. I threw myself across and tucked and rolled to a nearby pillar.

A skittering sound caught my attention. 'Grenade' my mental voice warned me. I immediately reached around me and threw the grenade back. It detonated and I heard screams that were quickly choked off. I peeked out of the corner and surveyed the carnage around me. I fitted the rifle to my shoulder and scanned around. Outside three cars sat idling. I ran out but two streaks of plasma put an end to the three of them and any chance of escape. I could here the distant wail of sirens and the thrum of the transport that had brought the enemy troops in.

'Think, think' I said to myself as I looked around me, while I jogged into a side lane. Then my eyes landed on a motorcycle.

I quickly straddled it and, breaking the casing around the ignition key off, managed to kick start it to life. As I drove out of the lane, the spotlight of the transport missed me by seconds.

'Let the chase begin' I thought as I drove off.

-浪人-