Chapter 29: Escape

  Feeling water washing over his feet, Slava opened his eyes. He was somehow standing on a vast purple sea. It was a purple world where the sky and stars blended together in different shades.

  Fuck, he didn't have time for this, he needed to get out. Sasha was in danger. Turning around, his eyes met the bright purple moon. It was small, yet shone brighter than everything else. It stood behind him as if lighting his path.

  Hearing the sound of water splashing behind him, Slava snapped out of his daze. Abruptly turning back around, fists up, ready to fight, he froze. In front of him stood a familiar figure. Slim, long hair, and sharp features.

  "Sash…" not finishing his words, he met her eyes and that's when he realized, this wasn't Sasha. Those purple eyes, he'd seen them before. They were the same ones that tried suppressing him when he messed with his suit.

  "You! Who are you? What have you done to Sasha?" Slava's anger was overflowing, every time this thing appeared Sasha suffered. Losing all reason, he lunged forward. Pivoting his foot, he moved his other one to hit his enemy, but it simply passed through the body of water. Seeing this he didn't give up. His eyes watered as he spun his wet body around his target in an intricate dance, landing blow after blow, using every bit of his strength, never losing his momentum.

  Why? Why? He was always at other people's mercy. He could never protect those close to him. Why did he have to feel all this… it hurt so much!

  Despite all his efforts, his target was left unfazed. It simply stared on, letting itself be hit, reforming after every blow. Following his movements with its eyes.

  "Aaaah!" He screamed, putting all of his strength into a final kick. Seeing no change in his opponent, he retreated, panting.

  Now that he thought about it, he couldn't feel his domain or his suit, it was there, but he couldn't feel it. Gritting his teeth, he was about to rush back in when he realized something. His feet were stuck, he couldn't move. Looking down, he saw the water slithering up his legs. No matter how much he struggled they wouldn't budge.

  "Let me go!" He screamed. "I have to go help her!" His words didn't seem to reach as his body was completely covered in a thick layer of water. Moving his eyes, they met the figure's. At that moment, he felt his heartbeat and that's when his breath was knocked out of his lungs. At lightning speed, cuts started appearing all over his body, ripping his suit. The figure in front of him didn't move, but he could feel the blows. Spinning back kick, uppercut, jab, right hook… This… It was exactly the sequence he'd just executed.

  It took a fraction of a second for him to feel all of it. Glaring at the figure in front of him, he attempted to scream, not even air coming out of his mouth.

  The figure was unfazed until its eyes suddenly flashed with a golden light. For the first time, he saw it change its expression. Its eyes grew wide as its gaze slowly moved up towards the moon.

  It was staring at the moon but it felt like it was looking past it. It looked on until… Until our gazes met.

  Its eyes that were previously devoid of anything now showed a glimmer of intelligence. The world turned black for a second and when it regained its colors, the purple figure looked back down towards Slava who was still struggling. Slowly nodding, it turned around melding into the endless sea.

  Soon, the purple water imprisoning him disappeared, letting him fall to his knees. Not wasting any time, he stumbled back to his feet. Guarded, he looked around and that's when his eyes landed on the moon once more.

  As he stared on, his eyes grew wide and that's when the world crumbled around him.

  Feeling something coming from behind him, he instinctively moved the scythe to slash it. Slowly looking back he stood up. His suit was glowing menacingly, a white glow that spread to the scythe. Squinting his eyes, he scanned his surroundings. One, two, three. Three people wearing AlphaM2 exosuits? He'd never heard of those before. As soon as this thought flew through his head, some text appeared in front of him.

[Exosuit Series M: Mass]

[Description: The Mass Series was one of the first ever invented. Created by the original Expance team, it was made as a failsafe for the traditional exosuits, a countermeasure in case they ever got out of hand. The suits center around mass manipulation, making them great for spatial disruptions. A perfect counter for Tainted that manipulate space.]

  So this was how she got caught. But that meant it was premeditated, they'd planned for this… Valerie… lied?

  Coming to this realization, the white sparks around him flared up as he lunged forward. They were right there, all he had to do was kill them. Faster than the eye could see he extended his arm, slashing the scythe across their bodies. Due to the scythe's size, half of the room was destroyed, leaving large gashes on the walls. Looking around, he spotted two dismantled corpses laying on the ground. Gazing up to where the door used to be his eyes landed on what looked like a towering shield. Recognizing the patterns on it, he murmured to himself.

  "Arthur…" At the same time, the shield collapsed revealing Arthur holding the last soldier from behind.

  "Why?" He heard him scream. "Why did you betray us?" Ignoring his question, he turned around. Kneeling down, he grabbed Sasha's unmoving body, putting her on his shoulder. Using the scythe, he lightly touched the window in front of him. A lightning bolt spread from his back through his weapon. When a spark reached the window it instantly shattered into pieces. Not lingering on any longer, he jumped.

  Effortlessly landing on a roof, he lunged forward. Leaping from building to building, he didn't look back.

  "Where's the subway station," he suddenly said. To his words, an arrow appeared at his feet. Looking down, he blinked, sighing. Striding to the side to change his direction, he felt a chill travel down his spine. Jumping atop a skyscraper, he slowly looked up.

  "Haha… haa!" He awkwardly smiled. Right there in front of him floated three imposing figures. Three figures he recognized well. One was Anyxa the Necrosis Gamma suit wielder. The other two he'd seen so many times. His little sister would always obsess over them. Lightbringer and Blood Queen, the only remaining heroes from the previous era.

  Seeing them land on the opposite side of the building, he nervously laughed. What the hell did Sasha do to have these geezers dawn their suits again? He didn't care much about their status, but he couldn't underestimate their power.

  Lightbringer had years of experience wielding the Radiation Gamma suit. It was by far the most powerful and because of that, it was the only one of its kind. The Atlantic, Europe, Africa, Asia… he'd fought all over the world, Tainted and insurgents alike.

  The Blood Queen had been alive for the longest time. She was one of the founding members of Expance. Her exosuit, the Blood Gamma suit, was designed as a support unit specializing in recovery. Although that didn't mean she was to be underestimated. That suit was a walking biological weapon, capable of curing as much as killing.

  He knew a lot about the Gamma series despite never seeing one in person. Back in the day, he would dream about wielding them. There were more but they, fortunately, didn't seem to be here.

  He was watching them intently, looking at all their movements. This was bad, he had doubts about being able to beat them. So doing it while protecting Sasha would be impossible. He had to flee.

  Seeing Lightbringer nod towards Anyxa, he raised his weapon. As she walked closer, part of her skull-like helmet retreated revealing her deep black eyes. She looked serious. There was no sign of playfulness on her face.

  "Give me the scythe and the girl Vich," she said, coming closer. There was no going back for them huh? His identity was exposed, and Sasha's uncle was trying to capture her. Softly laying Sasha on the ground he closed his eyes laughing. To think the people his little sister looked up to as heroes were simply pawns on the chess board. They were all the same.

  There's no way he would be one too. Tilting his head back, his eyes snapped open. Gritting his teeth, he grunted, reaching as far as he could into his domain. In an instant his suit flared up white lightning spreading to his surroundings pushing Anyxa back and forcing her to guard her eyes with her arms, her suit swiftly moving to cover them.

  If they wanted to restrain him so badly, he would remind them what it felt like… To be restrained! Smashing the scythe onto the ground he screamed as his suit began to shift across his skin. Soon, a bundle formed on his back, glowing in white light. The light that blinded even the Lightbringer himself kept getting brighter until it snapped into a shockwave that spread through the city creating cracks through the windows. When it dimmed back down again, Slava's figure was revealed. Standing back up, he slowly looked at the moon. He didn't know why but he felt a gaze land on him. He could see the Central Beacon from here. They would probably start evacuating soon.

  Lifting the scythe, he swiftly slashed it through the air as six golden chains spread from his back. Two of them slowly slithered to the side wrapping around Sasha and strapping her to his back.

  "Come get them if you can," he said, his gaze cold, voice emotionless. Not giving them time to react he smashed his empty hand onto the ground, the chains following suit. Following his movements, cracks spread through the roof. Raising his hand, he clenched his fist. The chains that were still buried rose, throwing rubble in all directions. All of it happened in an instant, to him, everything moved so slowly. Slava watched the roof crumble before his eyes. He had to get out of here no matter what and if that meant endangering others, he didn't care, he wouldn't let his family die, not again, never again.

  Using this as a distraction, he looked at the three heroes one last time as they prepared to cut down the projectiles flying toward them before vanishing.