Chapter 4: Alexandra Expance

  According to the report, all traces of his training session had been erased. The only evidence left was some scorch marks on the walls and floor which were almost indiscernible to the naked eye. He was still baffled. Although he could remember what had happened, he couldn't remember what had caused it. He couldn't forget the feeling of everything slowing down around him, the flow of… what? That, he couldn't remember.

  There was also that odd administrator protocol activation. Ever since he had escaped the hell hole that had been his homeland, ever since his sister was murdered, he had stopped trusting institutions fueled by the pursuit of power. All of those righteous goals and ideals were simply masks justifying an underlying sea of greed and selfishness.

  He would have to be more careful from now on.

  "Hey, Slava!" Hearing a familiar voice, Slava took his eyes away from the console.

  "Sasha what are you doing here?" He answered with slight intrigue visible on his face.

  "That's no way to greet a woman you know?" She retorted with a smirk.

  "What do you think this is? The 21st century?" After a slight pause and an exchange of glares, Slava spoke:

  "Fine…" taking a deep breath, he straightened his still sweaty back and bowed.

  "Greetings krasavitsa, may I inquire into the reason for your visit?" His words and actions were enchanting, brimming with elegance. Once they reached the girl, she burst out laughing. Under his closed eyes and bowing head, the corners of his mouth slightly rose.

  "Hahaha! Ok, ok. That's enough." Hearing this, he opened his eyes, giving her an interrogatory look.

  "What? Can't I just come down to greet and hang out with a friend?" Seeing his frown deepen, Sasha's serious expression broke down. "Alright, you're right, I did come here for something, but first, seeing this place again made my blood boil, mind exchanging some pointers before we get down to business?'

  Although he had just come out of his training, the thought of sparring reinvigorated his entire body. "Adrenaline levels spiking once more recommended injection of emergency ration." Ignoring the voice in his ear he replied with surprising excitement: "Sure!"

  "Alright! Let me get changed and I'll meet you in the lobby!" Sharing in his joy, she adjusted her glasses before leaving towards the changing room.

  Looking at her shrinking back, he muttered to himself. "Yea I should go get some food so I don't collapse"

  Walking over to what looked like a vending machine, Slava's stomach grumbled. After reaching his destination he began scouring the interface. After a while of searching and inputting, a message appeared.

[Are you sure you want to select this product?]

[Recommended for emergency use only!]

[Continuous consumption may cause harmful effects]

[Yes?]

[The purchase will be added to your record]

[Once your personal limit is reached, you will be fined]

  Once he was done, a part of the machine opened to reveal a hand-sized cylinder. After examining it, he strapped it to his hip before also taking his leave.

  "Took you long enough!" Turning a corner Slava was surprised by a yawning Sasha leaning on a wall.

  "More like you were fast, I had to take a small detour"

  Looking at her now, she looked like a completely different person. Her previously loose black hair was now braided, while her well-proportioned body was covered with a skintight suit similar to his. Her elegant features contrasted perfectly with her bright blue eyes that seemed to shine menacingly.

  "I see you enabled your ocular implants. I trust you don't plan to cheat" he said.

  "Who do you take me for? It's simply not practical to fight with glasses. Besides, I wouldn't need them to beat you." she answered, scoffing.

  "If you say so." Taking out the cylinder he had obtained beforehand and raising it above his forearm, he was suddenly interrupted.

  "This isn't what I think this is, right? What are you doing?" Sasha had grabbed his wrist.

  Shifting his eyes away from the cylinder, Slava took a deep breath. "No this isn't what you think it is. It's just some supplements. Since you came to me after a quite intense training session, I am in need of some replenishment."

  "You! You know that you can die from this shit right? And not a quick death, this shit will eat at your lifespan until all your organs have degenerated into mush"

  "Relax Sasha! I'm just using it once, my body can handle it, it's no big deal. If anything it's your fault for coming to me for a fight."

  Facing his smirk, she released him. Seeing her turn around with her arms crossed, Slava slammed the cylinder onto his forearm.

  "Emergency ration detected! Administering…" hearing the robotic voice ringing in his ears, he looked down at his forearm. The cylinder was slowly getting absorbed as if the suit was eating it.

  "Administration complete! Canister recycled! Commencing self-repair"

  Feeling reinvigorated, Slava grabbed Sasha's shoulder.

  "I'm ready." Hearing this, her frown disappeared as she turned around to face him.

  "Since you arrived late, I took the liberty to reserve an arena."

  Surprised by her comment, he interrupted; "Wait did you…"

  Ignoring him, she started walking.

  "Ah, fuck" whispering under his breath, he sighed, catching up to her.

  As they walked side by side, they attracted a lot of glances. To be more precise, she attracted a lot of glances. At some point, they were even approached by a student.

  "I'm sorry miss Alexandra Expance, bbbut ccould I get an autograph? I'm rrreally a bbig fan of your's and your uncle's work." The girl was gazing down while her shaking hands were extended, revealing a small empty box.

  Sasha's eyes glowed for a moment and she smiled.

  "I haven't done anything yet, I'm just trying to live up to my mother's and uncle's names." She said, grabbing the box. This made the girl look up at her hands where the box used to be. When Sasha put her finger inside, the box glowed slightly and when she removed her finger, it closed with a "ding". Hearing this, the girl looked up in excitement. Before she'd realized what had happened, she was suddenly hugged.

  "Hey don't worry about it, ok? I believe in you! We're classmates, right? Wasn't your name Valerie? Just call me Alex. No need to be stressed out or shy." Sasha whispered in the girl's ear. Valerie's shaking had completely stopped and her previously stiff shoulders relaxed.

  Feeling that she had calmed down, Sasha retreated, leaving the box in the girl's hands.

  "Thank you very much, I'm sorry for interrupting you." With these last words, she stormed off.

  After that more people tried to approach them, but Sasha denied them all, coming up with all kinds of excuses.

  "What was that all about? Isn't that girl in one of our lectures?" said Slava once the chaos calmed down.

  "Well would you look at that, the one guy who almost never comes to class actually remembers one of his classmates? Could it be that she caught your fancy?" she answered, grinning from ear to ear.

  "Well you're not wrong, she's pretty attractive, but it's just that. And I have more important things to do other than to feed the egos of some self-absorbed egomaniacs. Oh and don't dodge the question, I asked you what that was about. I've never seen you be this nice to someone before."

  "That's not true, I'm plenty nice!"

  "Oh yea, you're right, like that one time you tried to crush a guy's balls for flirting with you?"

  "That guy was obviously a jerk. Did you see how he would treat his friends?"

  "Or that one time when you humiliated a girl who asked you for your info?"

  "That girl was clearly trying to suck up to me to get in my pants and brag about it to her friends. You know I'm not some kind of monster." Facing his incredulous face, she continued; "that girl's been glancing at me for weeks, she was so cute every time our eyes met, she would blush and look away. I looked her up and her grandfather lost the use of his legs after being caught up in a manual override incident. The company took responsibility and willingly paid for his spinal implant and surgery. She had twin brothers and one of them died in the incident." Towards the end, her voice was no longer cheerful but carried a tinge of sadness.

  "Ah, I see, but I still think that kinda thing is creepy, I wouldn't have done that if I were you I feel like you'll regret it."

  Sighing, Sasha looked him straight in the eyes.

  "Not everyone is as insensitive as you, you know?"

  "I've just seen too much shit"

  "Quit talking like you're an old man, you're barely in your twenties!" she said, striking him in the back.

  "Ouch! That fucking hurt!"

  "Oh don't be a whiny bitch. We're about to fight!"

  With this, they both entered a room filled with what looked like advanced sparring and training equipment.