Standard educational program in progress

Mark ran through the corridors at full speed with his rifle in hand.

It had been a minutes since he started hearing a girl's voice through their mental network.

The girl was arrogant, prideful and looked down on everybody around her.

Honestly speaking, Mark's first impression of her was the worst. If he met such a girl in his past life he wouldn't care a damn about her and would make sure to keep as far away from her as possible. For all that mattered, it seemed to him that she receiving the bill from her own arrogant behavior and lack of planning.

Unfortunately right now there was no such an option and the lack of information about this place was driving him crazy so having a girl who knew what was going on appear, putting her personality aside, it was a true god sent blessing that he couldn't waste.

At first he tried hacking her mind and taking the information by force, but the girl's defenses were on a different level. If his comrades minds where like an open house where he could enter and exit whenever he pleased, her mind was like a impenetrable fortress that allowed no one inside.

He tried contacting her, but then he noticed that while he could hear her talking, she couldn't hear him talking. Maybe he was more sensitive than her, or maybe she didn't have the ability to read his mind.

Since the mental attempts failed, he had no choice but to do it the old way, by talking to her personally, and as he considered whether he should go after her right now or finish freeing everybody first, she suddenly changed her tune to a more frenetic one, calling everybody who could hear her for help all the time. Many of Mark's comrades asked him mentally what they should do, and, in the end, Mark opted against them going, saying he would go instead.

(No enemies here.)

(No enemies here.)

(There are enemies here, I'm retreating before they notice me.)

The scouts Mark had sent minutes ago were making a mental map of the structure as they progressed in their exploration.

Looking at the map Mark felt a tinge of familiarity but he couldn't exactly remember where he had seen it before. Even so, this allowed Mark to guess the best route to the girl's location, saving him time and preventing from reaching dead ends as he ran toward her.

While his guess was on the mark, not everything was perfect as there were still enemies waiting for him on his way.

At the moment he turned around a corner he exchanged glaces with the enemies on the other side. The world around him slowed down, his mind went blank, his hands stop trembling and his breathing stabilized. Mark instictively took aim at once and shoot the enemy without hesitation, and before the enemies could even aim at him or take cover his bullets had already made way through their heads.

(This again. What the hell is this? Auto mode? Bullet time? Fuck, I'm starting to believe I reincarnated in the body of Mr. Payne. What the hell did those scientists do to me!?)

Having no time to think, Mark kept running toward the girl when a sudden explosion was heard.

(Oh no, what now? Run damn it! Run faster!!!)

Mark felt himself suddenly speeding up. His legs started to hurt but he endured the pain and kept trying to go faster and faster. The corridor was transversed in two seconds and he reached the crossing where the girl's guards were ambushed. Looking to his left he saw 9 invaders, 5 guarding the door and other 4 entering inside the room and starting shooting.

He heard the girl's screams in his mind louder than ever, the sound of shooting reached again to his ears and he knew he had no time to lose breaking his speed to change direction, so he kicked the wall behind him, forcibly changing his trajectory to a diagonal path that led him toward the wall inside the corridor, then while shooting instinctively with no aim, as he reached the wall, he stepped on it making a wall run to dissipate all vector speed he still had left on his body, and finally jumped out of the wall when he reached close to the door, using his time in the air to correctly aim and kill whatever soldier that was left he passed above them.

All this commotion called the attention of the soldiers inside who ran back to see what was going on, but as they arrived outside, they looked at the direction Mark had came from instead of the direction he was running to. This little mistake costed them their lives as Mark didn't allow them to even see his shadow as he pulled the trigger again, killing them from behind.

Feeling no enemies were left around, Mark fell on the floor with his legs trembling and his heart beating at light speed. Even for his auto mode, this last encounter was a bit too much and his body could barely hold out. Out of breath and feeling an incredible amount of pain in his legs Mark took a minute to recover before heading inside the room.

--//--

After recovering enough energy to get up again, Mark slowly steped inside the room.

The whole place was a mess, there were shattered body parts all over the place, probably from the guards caught in the explosion, and the couple corpses inside that were still in one piece were full of bullet holes, making it unclear if they had survived the explosion just to be killed moments later as the enemy stepped in the room.

At the other corner of the room, a young girl lied down crying against the wall. One of her arms had an ugly purple injury and her leg was pierced by a wooden stake.

As he approached her, she slowly lifted her face. Her eyes were beautiful, they had a lively blue hue and were perfectly symmetrical and well portioned. Her pink lips and small upturned nose added to her rosy cheek made her feel almost like a doll instead of a human. This level of perfection could only be achieved through genetic engineering or multiple plastic surgeries, he doubted nature would allow such a perfection to exist in this world.

Mesmerized by her beauty, Mark stood stunned in place not knowing how to proceed, but such dreamlike atmosphere was easily shattered once the girl opened her mouth.

"You big idiot! What took you so long! I almost died, you see! Can't you do your job correctly!? Is it so hard for your puppet brains to run over to protect me!?"

While the girl words were made in a language he never heard before, because Mark was able to read her thoughts like the other kids from the lab he was easily able to understand what the hell she was saying.

"Hey! I did run over to find you! How about showing some appreciation!?"

"SHUT UP! Who do you think you are!? You are just a puppet! What right do you have to talk back to me!?"

Mark answered her in english since it was the only language he knew, he expected the girl to not understand what he was talking but to his surprise it seemed like the language barrier was completely inexistent with her as the answer she gave him in her own language proved she understood what he said.

"Puppet!? Sorry darling, it seems like you are mistaking me for someone else..."

"Are you talking back to me?! A puppet like you dares to talk back to me, your Master!? You puppets should be just mindless follow my orders! Now stop resisting and carry me to the ward! Those rats dare to hurt me, now I need to heal my body right away or else I will be ugly once daddy comes back! After you are finished, go kill all rats that invaded the base! Because of your incompetence the base is full of rats messing around! So it only makes sense for you to clean up your own mess!"

(So she did notice my language... Then, why is she able to understand me?)

"That's obviously because I can read you mind, idiot! Now stop wasting time and go do what I said!"

"So you are just like us, hmm?"

"Like you!? How dare you compare a princess like me to a puppet like you!"

"Then what's the difference?"

"Unlike you I can think on my own! My brain can command thousands of you with a single thought! I was made to rule you puppets, so it's impossible to compare! It's like comparing a King to a plebian! A God to an ant! A-"

"What the hell did you parents teach you to act so high and mighty? Please do the World a favor and shut up!"

Feeling his head hurt from hearing the girl's speech, Mark was forced to try to cut it short, but unfortunately it didn't work really well...

"That's it! I made up my mind! Once daddy came back I will ask him to dispose of you! A puppet who cant even follow orders is just a waste of space!! Then, once you get reduced to nutrient paste, you will regret ever talking back to me!!!"

And just when Mark was one step from blowing up, Echo's voice reached his mind.

(Mark, I know you are having fun and all but we got a problem here. Ten guys appeared with weapons and started shooting at us, we are trying to fight back but we don't know how long we can hold on!)

(Who the hell is having fun!? Hold on, I will be there as soon as I can!)

"Girl, my comrades are under attack and I'm not leaving you here. This is your last chance! Cooperate or I will use force!"

"I dare you try!"

"You asked for it!"

Taking out a knife from a dead soldier, Mark approached the girl with a smile on his face.

"Wh-what are you going to do!? Stay back! It's an order!! Hiiiii!!!!"

Mark grabbed the end of her dress and stabbed the knife, then cut it long the hem to make a cloth strip, he repeated the process two more times, and used one strip to tie the girl's hands, one strip to tie the girl's legs and the last one on her mouth to keep her quiet.

(How dare you do this to me! When my father arrives he will...!!!)

(Fuck, I forgot I can read her thoughts! Hey girl, keep quiet, will ya?)

Lifting her over his shoulder, he treated her like a sack of rice and started running back and every time she would start cursing anything he would slap her again.

(Kyaaa!!! You pervert! How dare you!)

Seeing that talking was not working, Mark decided to take a more direct approach, taking advantage of her position over his left shoulder, Mark lifted his right hand and smacked her ass.

Slap!

(Ahhh! You brute! You-)

Slap!

--//--

[What the hell do you mean that Teta, Lambda and Pi squads are lost!? What the hell happened!? Didn't they just report that they had killed all hostiles!?]

[As I told you, we don't know! Whatever it was, it was not caught in the cameras and left no survivors! Anyway, the situation is not looking good, so disengage at once and retreat to your shuttle! We already collected plenty of evidence and we can't have any more of you lost in this operation!]

[...]

[Understood!?]

[...Roger.]

Alex punched the wall, making his hand bleed.

"Fuck!"

"What's the problem, leader?"

"HQ wants us to retreat, finish implanting the bombs and let's get out of here!"

"Yes sir!"

(Who ever you are, don't think this is over! One day I will find you and get revenge on all my lost teammates! That is...if you are still alive!)

--//--

Mark was half way there when Echo contacted him again.

(Mark, I don't know why but it seems the enemy is retreating!)

(Eh!? Really!? Great!! Wait, no! That means we have no time left! We need to get out of here fast!! Grab the kids and regroup with me, meanwhile all other number keep searching for a way out!)

(Mark, this is number Three, I think I found their garage.)

(Right on time! Perfect! Change of plans! Everybody go to where number three is located!)

At this moment number three transfered his sight through telepathy.

(Guys, take a look at this!)

As the images started appearing in Mark's mind, what surprised him was not how big the garage was, nor all the high tech equipment spread around or the odd shaped space fighters parked there, but the familiar shape of the robots parked by the walls.

(Ravager!? How... How is this possible!?)

A triangular head with a single eye in the shape of a "V". A body shaped like a fat man made of steel. On it's left arms a Tower Shield able to cover 80% of it's body, on it's right arm a compact laser rifle with no scope, and on it's waist a basic laser sword painted in red.

Yes, it's name was Ravager II, the robot most used by mob characters from Terra Empire in his favorite game from his past life.

(WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?)

--//--

[Game Encyclopedia]

Ravager II

A 5nd Generation Inteligent Space Combat Armor (I.S.C.A.). Mass produced and employed by the Terra Empire's Army during the early stages of the Tauros Rebelion, the Ravager II is an upgraded version of the original Ravager I.S.C.A. with two extra module slots and higher durability.

[Status]

HP 60EP 30STR 20DEF 15SPD 15MOV 4

[Equipment]

WPN 1: 2st gen. Ravager laser rifle - 30 beam damage, RNG 2-4, Acc 85%, EC 2WPN 2: Tower Shield - Absorbs up to 150 damage from the front. Takes 50% less damage from beam damage.WPN 3: Ravager laser sword - 50 beam damage, RNG 1-1, Acc 90%, EC 5

Extra Modules: Empty. Empty.