Chapter 8 : New World

[Author note : Hey, guys ! It would be awesome if you followed me on Patréon ! Look for Cathbel.

KoSP : 2 advanced chapters

Squib who became Iron Lad in DC : 3 advanced chapters.

There's a bit of a time skip on this chapter. Hope you, enjoy !]

============

It had been a few months since Simon was 'captured' by the TUP. All things considered, they were nice enough and after learning more about their Psionic God, he understood why. The God bore a great deal of resemblance with the Christian God to be honest, which made him wonder whether or not the TUP had come to Earth thousands of years ago. Maybe they did… It didn't matter really.

The higher-ups in the military had decided to keep an eye on him, and try to figure out how his powers worked. Some of their scientists had hypothesized that the nature of their bond had some similarity to the energy reading they obtained in one of their protectorate world and the scientists there, were eager to get his hands on him…

As they were transporting him in a shuttle to the facility, Crys and Simon decided to make their escape. The protectorate, a world not advanced enough for interstellar space travel, was mostly unaware of the presence of the TUP on their world. Hence, they couldn't exactly muster a lot of forces to search for him, should he escape.

In hindsight, Simon thought it kind of stupid to even bring him here… He might have appeared content with being their prisoner, not giving them much trouble except at the beginning, however there really were no reason why they should have dropped their guards like this.

In any case, Simon, carrying Crys, escaped the shuttle (avoiding damaging it too much since he didn't want to kill anyone) and arrived in a new world. For the first time in this life, he was able to explore, to be free… And he felt a little overwhelmed to be honest. Freedom, without any kind of attachment or point of reference was… frightening. He was on a completely unknown world, with alien races probably also unknown… Though, truth be told, he was the alien, here.

For a couple of days, he stayed in an uninhabited forest with strange plants, trees, animals and insects. Just… Taking it in. Observing, internalizing, monologuing and discussing with Crys. His body didn't need nourishment or liquids to function anymore as his body metabolized what it needed from his stored energies. However, after a while, he felt bored. A feeling of wanting to go explore and have an adventure rose in him, encouraged by Crys who also wanted to discover what this world had to offer.

More importantly to Crys, he wanted Simon to acquire technology and metals because… Well, he was tired to be carried around all the time and wanted to be somewhat independent.

As he made his way towards a more populated area, he was glad to have kept the universal translator. Although, to the TUP, exposing the local population to such technology might be a breach of protocols, Simon didn't have that problem ! Especially since he was now on a completely new world with no idea what to do and where to go… If he couldn't even talk to people, he'd be really lost.

Frankly, thinking of all this, it was just his luck to end up… here. Now !

A couple of hours after he entered a small, poor village on the outskirts of the forest, a group of men came on motorized tricycles. Not only the noise was offensive and really loud, the men were geared up as if to go to war. With unfamiliar looking rifles, decked out in leather… Simon was pretty sure, it was a gang of some kind.

They rounded up everyone in the village and now Simon was staring down the barrel of a gun with mild amusement. The man was speaking :

« Give us your women and riches and we'll leave without killing any of you ! »

Simon looked around, and indeed, there were no women around them right now. Did the people know about the attack coming ? But, then, why didn't they do something else than just hide the women ? Called the authorities for instance…

Also, he was idly wondering why he was thinking this looked like a viking raid… Vikings obviously didn't have motorcycle, or automatic weapons. Maybe they took the thing they asked… But then, vikings would relish the killing he thought.

« I'll give you till the count of 3 ! » The obvious leader shouted while pacing, rifle resting on his shoulder.

« We won't give you a thing ! You corrupt thug ! »

Corrupt ? Simon tilted his head, noticing only now both the vehicles and the viking wannabe's clothes were strangely unified, like a uniform of sorts. Were they part of the military or something ? But, why were they doing such a thing ?

While he was pondering on this, the leader nodded at one of his men who trained his weapon on the young alien who spoke. Though the only thing denoting him as an alien was his pale purple skin tone. Simon heard the blast and saw the bullet exit the barrel as if in slow motion ; his body acted on its own.

He didn't know he could react so fast, frankly… Nor that his brain could process informations so fast. To be honest, he was a bit puzzled… But it wasn't time for this. His chest came in contact with the bullet… and it stopped, the feeling of his body absorbing the kinetic energy filling him with vigor.

« What the… »

Before they could react, or Simon think, his Terran military training seemed to come back to the surface. Only now, he instinctively used his new gifts ! Grabbing one end of the rifle he snatched it out of the thugs' hands before striking him over the head with it.

Finally reacting, the leader ordered :

« Shoot the Terran freak ! »

His kinetic forcefield expanded to his sides, in order to protect the people behind. As for him, he didn't need any protection… So the field was only skin-deep just like usual.

Thankfully, his energy expenditure wasn't much, since not a lot of bullets missed him. The feeling of pleasure almost sent him to his knees, but he did his best to put it to the back of his mind. Those guys needed to be taught a lesson !

Simon pointed his finger toward one of the men… and fired a kinetic bullet. It was another application of his powers that he discovered in his cell, though understandably, he didn't use it after the first time… The bullet tore a hole into the man's shoulder, barely slowed by the leather clothes (or armor… not sure).

« Dammit ! » One of the men yelled, running toward him. Soon, he was followed by two of his friends and the shooting stopped…Instead, the charging men grabbed knives from their back, as long as their forearms.

Using the rifle as an improvised staff, Simon deflected the first stab to the side, and the second… Before he remembered. They couldn't kill him with those ! So, he redirected his effort. Letting the men stab him without a care, he used the rifle like a bat and swung at the leftmost one, knocking him down. Hearing the crack of his skull, he also wondered whether the person was still alive or not… But he didn't dwell on it.

One man approached too close and Simon reacted, head-butting him in the nose. The other faltered for a second and Simon took advantage of it, striking him in the jaw with the butt of his rifle.

As they all fell around him and all Simon had to show his involvement in the battle were slashes and holes in his clothes, he looked at the rest of the group and ask tauntingly :

« Is that all ? »