V1-024

"VULGAR WOMAN, UNHAND ME AND MY OLDER BROTHER THIS INSTANT; I WON'T LET HIM FALL VICTIM TO YOUR SUCCUBUS CLUTCHES!" Slipping out of her grasp, Renton caught my arm, dragged me away from Kris, then stood protectively before me and shouted.

Seeing his overly protective attitude, Kris burst out laughing, and soon enough, all three of us laughed one last time before we exited the room into the newly hostile environment.

Surprisingly, when we exited the Medical Ward, the hallway outside our door looked precisely how you would expect a hospital hallway to look.

"So, are we in a hospital or something, Renton?" Kris voiced my thoughts, causing me to nod rapidly and look at my younger brother.

"When I saw you two injured and unconscious, I panicked, called Renton, and we took you toward the signs labeled "Sickbay." So I assume it's just their version of an underground hospital." Interrupting our three-way conversation, Nile spoke as he squeezed past us and led us away from the adequately named Sickbay.

He had been in the underground base for nearly three months trying to get our negotiations even to be heard in the first place.

His time spent behind enemy lines hadn't been in vain, the young teenager, no older than 16 or 17, had earned us the faction's trust. As such, he was a big part of why I had even appeared in the bunker, sitting with the two head honchos.

In the Unitist faction, Nile was our voice, Renton was our Brawn, I was our Brain, and Kris was our spirit since she had a habit of calling herself the "life of the party."

We each had our part that we played out, which kept the Unitist Faction running smoothly. The four of us had a synergistic job; as our history dictated, we were damn good at it.

Walking in silence, we soon came to a fork in the hallway, and Nile gave Kris instructions on how to get to our camp. Without a word, she took the right side of the Fork while Nile, Renton, and I continued on the left.

Uncomfortable with the silence, I tapped my brother on the shoulder and started a new conversation.

"Renton, how bad is it out there right now?" I asked, trying to grasp what was happening outside the walls of the underground bunker.

Hearing my question and sporting a frown, he was silent for a minute but eventually spoke up.

"Nothing has changed; every time we fight them back, they get enough reinforcements to surge forward. Moreover, our forces used the last of our munitions weeks ago, so all we can do is bide our time and stay on the defensive."

"Basically, we are stuck in a deadlock, waiting for additional resources, so it's been rough for a while."

After saying this, our little group of three devolved into silence as we walked for a few more minutes before we reached a pair of Large Wooden doors.

Coming to a stop and looking at Nile, I turned my head and scanned above this door and noticed a golden sign hanging above it that read, Counsel Chambers.

Four guards holding what appeared to be strange plastic rifles stood on either side of the doors, and with a simple glance, I could tell they weren't ordinary rifles. It was a special weapon that this faction had designed for its people.

Well, their high Ranked, Technokinetics, to be more exact. As the name stated, Technokinetics were people whose abilities revolved around manipulating technology.

When the Requiem occurred, all of the modern Tech had ceased working. From cars to computers, even cheap calculators wouldn't work; it was as if the entire world had been hit by an EMP *Electro-Magnetic-Pulse.*

Enter those with a TechnoMancer Ability. Although old technology no longer functioned, that didn't mean new ones couldn't be made, and these "Techies," as I liked to call them, had swiftly become the backbone of modern civilization post-Requiem.

From new weapons to equipment that improved daily life, you name it, and a Technokinetic had forged it. The main reason things had become like this was the strange energy brought about by that event, which soon became known as "Imperium."

Imperium was similar to Mana or a higher form of energy in Fantasy novels and games. Still, it was also the reason nothing worked anymore because, unlike electricity, it was too powerful, and any electronic device which came in contact with it would be shorted.

The main thing to remember was that every Ability, from the weakest to my Conduit, required manipulation and utilization of Imperium. Something that took some people longer to understand and manifest than others.

Anyway, getting back to these Rifles, the Weapons took on the role of a conductor, allowing them to harness the user's Ability and turn it into an offensive weapon by utilizing their specific filtered Imperium at a lower cost and without triggering their Abilities Toll.

If the user were an Electrokinetic, the rifle would fire small lightning bolts. Unfortunately, since I had only seen them and had them used against me, I honestly had no idea how to use the stupid thing.

Besides, for some reason, I felt that even if I could get my hands on one of these high-tech rifles, it would turn into a hunk of useless plastic in my hands.

Noticing our arrival, one of the guards stepped forward to greet Nile, and after a few moments, the doors opened, and he motioned for Nile to enter; unfortunately for Renton and I, the second we went to follow Nile into the chambers, all four of them pointed their weapons at us and told us not to move.

In response, Renton and I had different reactions to having guns pointed in our direction, he tensed up, ready for a fight, and I stood motionless, scrutinizing the guards.

On the other side of the open door, I spotted another four armed guards, bolstering their numbers to such an extent that things would get tricky if we wanted to make a move.

'Eight of them, two of us, they have short to medium-range weapons; meanwhile, we only have close-range combat capabilities; it's an uphill battle that will be fruitless if those old fogies step in.' I thought while casually grabbing Renton's shoulder to stop him from recklessly rushing into battle.

"Now guys, come on, we're unarmed, and there's eight of you; crazy as we may be my brother and I wouldn't fight with those odds. Would we, Renton?" I said with a playful tone, ensuring Renton understood what I was doing.

"No, you are correct, Dean; why would we ever try simultaneously taking on eight people with guns? That's a suicide mission." Renton responded with a smirk as he punched his fists together, generating a popping sound from his knuckles.

"Un, yes, talking things out is clearly the better option; although we may be named the Ragnarok Brothers, that doesn't mean we are monsters who leave a trail of corpses and blood everywhere we go." Nodding and acting as amiable as possible, I couldn't hide the stupid smile threatening to creep unto my lips.

Hearing the name "Ragnarok Brothers," all eight of the now grouped-up guards flinched, indicating our title proceeded us. At first, they didn't know our identities, but now, now that they did, I could see the fear and hesitancy to attack in their eyes.

The one closest to Renton even started to shake with a pale face like he was about to piss himself; I almost felt bad for the poor guy.

Now that they knew who we were, the guns in their hands dipped, and they second-guessed having stopped our entrance into the Council chambers, with the clearly lower-grade guards looking toward their supervisor for answers on what to do.

Unfortunately, as I was about to spew out some more bull shit, our playful banter was cut short because I was suddenly hit by an intense headache that was so painful it dropped me to my knees.

*You shouldn't torment our guards that way, Ragnarok Brothers. It is unbefitting of someone with your status.* Suddenly, along with the intense and stabbing pain, a voice entered, speaking directly into our minds.

To my right, I felt Renton drop to the floor, causing me to assume he, too, had been hit by a wave of Mental Infernium.

*And you, Renton Fairaday, thoughts like that are un-excusable in most places. The answer is simple; we would kill you before you made it within 20 feet of us. For us, destroying each neuron in your Brain would be simple, effectively making you all Brain dead puppets susceptible to our control.* The old voice, which I knew to be male, stated, clueing me in on what was rattling around in my brother's head.

When Renton started laughing, my suspicions were confirmed, and I knew he was about to do something stupid.

Like me, the Requiem had given my brother the Conduit Ability; however, his was different than mine; in contrast to how I obtained other people's "factors," as we called it, he couldn't absorb new factors by getting hit by the attack.

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