Chapter Nine: Recovery

Marcus touched Ronin's shoulder and said, "Hopefully that's the last we'll see of her. Not many people could survive that kind of fall."

Ronin nodded and asked, "How long have I been asleep?"

Silas tapped some keys on her datapad and the school began to fix its window and she said, "It's been two weeks. My guess is whatever the Aether did to you finished happening. You opened your eyes a couple of times, but they were completely silver. We weren't sure what to do, so we just left you alone. We reported a serious accident during a school activity, so we were mostly left to care for you."

Ronin watched the window repair itself, catching a glimpse of his reflection and seeing that his irises had turned black, and said, "I told Liliana about where you were, but she never came around to check on you."

Ronin made a mental note of that and said, "Problems for later. For now, let's grab a lab and see what I'm capable of."

Nodding, Marcus sent a request through his V.U.I and said, "Oh before I forget." Tapping at a few more symbols only he could see, he sent a notice to Ronin and Silas. "You're both getting moved to a higher clearance rating. Silas, you've been moved to Researcher from Junior Researcher."

Ronin stared at his notice in silence, shock overwhelming him.

"Marcus...this says…."

"Ronin, you're now a Director. Between the unbelievable amount of work and research you've completed and the shocking success that came of this fiasco, the other directors and I believe you're ready for this. Once we've finished figuring out what's happened to you and how to control it, you're going to be put in charge of a new group we're putting together."

Ronin was still stunned as he watched his security climb from the lowest level of the Bureau's ranks to the peak, full access to all research, save that of other Directors, and every area in the Bureau's darkened halls.

Marcus and Silas left the room and headed to a lift and waited for Ronin to follow. A full five minutes passed before Ronin left the room and he still seemed to be in shock and Marcus said, "See, he's not cool all the time."

Silas chuckled and put in the call for the lift.

Six weeks passed, with Ronin alternating between learning what his duties as Director might entail and harnessing his new capabilities and understanding them.

Sitting in one of two chairs that populated the dark room he now called his office, Silas stood before a wall covered with statistics and data while they waited for Marcus to arrive.

Silas asked, "How's the new title suiting you?"

Slumped in his chair, Ronin shrugged and said, "It seems mostly like what I was doing already, just a LOT more money and I don't need to ask for clearances anymore."

Laughing quietly, Marcus walked in and said, "You're a workaholic Ronin, I'm not surprised you're unimpressed with the new workload. I felt overwhelmed at first, personally."

Shrugging again, Ronin said, "Yeah, I imagine."

Closing the door behind him, Marcus said, "Go ahead and start, Silas."

Nodding, Silas said, "I don't need to explain that the AeEx chip, through highly secretive methods, converts the Aether in the air into energy and stores it. My research has revealed that contrary to popular belief, the human body actually DOES absorb Aether, converting it to an energy field, or adding to it, if you believe certain studies on "Auras". What I believe happened is, when Evelyn injected such a large amount of pure Aether into your body, Ronin, it somehow converted all of it directly into energy. The changes your body made were to accommodate such a massive amount of energy in a way that didn't kill you.

The only conclusion I was able to come to is that something about your genetic makeup allowed this change to happen, something that the janitor who was injected with a much smaller amount was unable to replicate.

Obviously, researching your genetic makeup now is a moot point, since it's been changed so radically.

Coincidentally, when I sold the information about how the body normally functions with Aether to AeEx, they were able to use that knowledge to create a sort of "Inventory System" for their line of subdermal chips. Currently, all chips are getting upgrades to enable this feature, and it gives the user the ability to convert any item with Aether in it into a digital construct that can be reconstituted at a later time.

The amount able to be stored is directly tied to the user's current amount of energy created by the conversion and storage of Aether in their system. Its capped out at 25% for safety reasons."

Ronin cocked his head and said, "What does this have to do with me?"

Silas grinned deviously and said, "Just getting to that. Obviously, Ronin, you have a MUCH higher quantity of this energy than the average person, however you also have the ability to control, to an extent, what that energy does. We see that usage passively in the form of your increased strength, speed, senses and reflexes, among others, however I believe that you can, with practice, force excess Aether energy to boost any amount of those functions even higher, for a limited time. For safety reasons, I believe you should tie this ability to a verbal command in order to make sure that you're not accidentally triggering it when you focus too hard."

Nodding, Ronin said, "That sounds reasonable. Apparently this kind of thing is becoming common everywhere, particularly with people who fight. AeEx has been keeping track of these verbal commands and making them accessible to people who have the ability to use the skills."

Marcus sighed and said, "I swear, the things people take to."

Clearing her throat, Silas, tugged at her Researcher coat, still getting used to it, and said, "All that said, you've recovered marvelously, Ronin, though I wonder at the benefit of changing your name on your transcript information."

Shrugging, Ronin said, "This is my life now. The other Directors offered me the option to simply stop the schooling, but I am actually enjoying it. That said, my Bureau responsibilities remain my top priority."

Marcus laughed again and said, "The other Directors are very understanding. You're still young, Ronin. Realistically, no matter what choice you make, you'll be a Director no matter where you go. If you wanted to, you could even set up a Bureau branch somewhere else and we'd consider it as official as the one here in the main location."

Nodding, Ronin said, "The other Directors did mention it, but for now I just want to continue school and maintain my research. You did mention a group under my command?"

"Ah, yes," Marcus responded. "That would be a small group, five, maybe six people, who would recover new technologies and assist in reverse engineering them, as well as deal with any enemies the Bureau may have. Many of the Directors were interested in leading this group, but it's an...intense directive, most of our fellows are...well..they're not up to such intense exercise."

Ronin nodded another affirmative and said, "So what's the Project name?"

Marcus smiled and said, "Project Ghost".