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worth a chapter at all.","description_bbcode_parsed":"what to say about it? i hope i dont dip in quality, but here you go! i may need a bit for the next chapter. not because of length, but i want to make sure it will be worth a chapter at all.","writing":"“Life” in beta testing.\n\nChapter 7\n\nMe and Talina swiftly made our way through the facility. It was hard to tell where anything was though. We didn't exactly have a map and where I came from, was the only directional sense we had to go off of. Here and there, we had to silently take out some soldier. But even if we been silent, eventually the missing responses from said soldiers would be noticed. Luckily, Jey was keeping them busy. They had to use all their forces just to keep her from annihilating everything by the look of it. Though the more we checked through the hallways, it seemed more and more like we had only one way to go, which was held by my boss and thus way too dangerous right now. It was where all the shooting happened after all.\nEventually though, me and Tal got lucky. Another blast door that would most likely lead to the exit too. Though again, I had to hack it. Messing this up again was not a option, so I had to take my time and really take the safe route at it.\n“Tal, here! I can open this door. But you have to cover me.” I explained to her, already tapping on the display of the terminal, thinking about how to go about it.\n“You can? Well, that explains how you got all the way in here. No one expected the blast doors to open.” she replied, getting ready to do as she must.\nI proceeded to connect my holo-screen to the terminal and try my best to work on opening the door, replying to Tal rather cold: “Yea, too bad I caused the whole place to glitch out like it does...”\n“Wait, that was you? Damn, Percy~ I can tell why they took you into this place if you can hack so well.”\n“Yes, “well”, like it wasn't a unwanted side-effect.”\n\nAs I focused on getting this to work, Talina had to fight off a bunch of soldiers that ended up checking here. But the lack of lighting was good for surprises and thus she didn't have much trouble. Especially with her Training. Using my heat-vision goggles, I could tell exactly when people were about to come too, giving us a even better advantage.\n“Say, how did you learn all this?” she asked, not loosing her focus though.\n“I … been “working” with tech for the last four years since I left school. … But I learned most I know now in the past months. I hope to forget those years before I met these guys anyway.” I explained. Tal quite obviously noticed I have been through some stuff too.\n“... Come to think of it, what have you been through? … Did you loose that arm recently?”\n“No... It was about three years ago. … Something blew up and ripped it to shreds...” I replied as best I could, while still focusing on the panel.\n“D-damn, lucky someone could at least install that replacement, eh?”\n“Lucky!? Those fucking assholes where the ones who blew it up in the first place! Do you have any idea what the lab I ended up at did to me?!” yes, I was furious. She hit a spot that really shouldn't be hit, even if she wasn't at fault, “They used me as a lab rat... they made me stuck with the looks of a teen... they literally ripped my lungs out for nothing but testing their stupid enhancements!”\nMy anger visibly ripped her out of focus. That gaze of shock as she starred at me... It let me pull back out of the friendzy, realizing I was getting a little too much into it. Though I was still visibly agitated.\n“I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to invoke those memories... Fuck, I had no idea...” she said silently and with a sorrowful voice.\n\nMoments of silence later, I just grumbled in frustration. The Terminal wouldn't give in. Though I swore never to use prototypes myself unless I was happy with the result, there was one I had that could solve the issue, if it worked. The risks of this one was extreme in general, but … my anger clouded my judgment and eventually I was so sick of the terminal, I threw that care out of the window.\n“Fuck this shit!” I exclaimed, lifting my artificial arm and slamming it onto the terminal! Palm first though and not enough to break anything. No, I grabbed on to it as best I could and hit the button to change configuration. I had worked on a new function for my arm in secret. This one was something I didn't want to use yet... My arm then began to connect to the terminal itself, more or less fusing with it! Now, the potential negatives of this could be fatal! … If I connect to the electricity circulation of the facility directly … I will literally get fried by the currents. Not just a little, I am talking lethal shock. But … if it works, I would get not only better access to the device … but actually mental access.\nThe technology of these prosthetic allows me to control it with my mind just like any other part of my body. So my idea was: “why not enable it to connect directly with other technology, to control THAT tech the same way?\nWell … it did work! … Somewhat. As good as it could perhaps. One's mind was not made to work with this broad of a spectrum though. A headache was immediate and staying connected was not easy either. This quickly drained my stamina, but... it worked regardless!\n“What are you doing, Percy?!” She wondered, watching intently.\n“Nhh... I get us out!” I started, before the door finally opened! No downsides, it opened with no side-effects, “Go! I will keep it open long enough for me to get through too.”\n“Are you sure that will work?”\nI spotted someone coming in the distance, growing more hectic: “Yes! Get moving!”\nTal didn't notice herself, but complied and rushed through the now opened blast-door. Just as she was through, I forcefully ripped my arm away from the terminal, breaking the projected energy to free myself as I didn't have a disconnection function integrated yet.\n\nThe door was set to stay open for just a few second, but the soldier was already too close.\n“Stop!” he called, taking aiming for me as I was about to jump through the slowly closing door. Though it was enough time for the guy to react and shoot. \nHis shots where accurately aimed for my right thigh, the entire burst hitting! The first few shots blocked by the shield, but since it were not energy based projectiles, it was somewhat more strain to the force-field, leaving it weak enough by the time the last bullet hit, shattering the field and sending the bullet through my suit, fluff and skin, right into my leg. I already jumped at that point, so I made it regardless, but the stinging pain shot through my body! The bullet drilled it's way into the muscle as I slumped to the ground and held on to said leg. Blood staining my fur and suit, as well as dripping onto the ground as I cried out my pain and groaned, breathing heavily.\nTalina gasped rushed to me, shocked of course, but staying mostly calm thanks to her training: “Fuck, Percy... that doesn't look good! Let me see it...” She said, already fiddling her first-aid equipment out. Though while getting out all sorts of bandages, she seemed frustrated: “Why the hell are there no tweezers!”\nOnly once she mentioned them, I realized that she was gonna have to get the bullet out... That was gonna be a lot of pain... Though there was no helping it! I clenched my teeth, grabbed my high-tech screwdriver and hit a button, revealing a tweezer configuration. Even technicians needed those here and there.\n“H-here...” I said. The pain making my voice sound shaky. Freezing for a moment, Tal grabbed the tool and went to it. … She hesitated at first, just starring at the wound, but … eventually she took a deep breath and did what had to be done! Shoving the pincer into the wound sure was as painful as it sounds... Once she got a hold of the bullet, it didn't get any better! The opposite even. Though once she got a hold of the projectile, she just ripped it out in one fell swoop. Once again, the agony rushed through my body and I let out a cry of pain! Quite a loud one at that as my eyes began to tear up...\n\nThe sound of gunfire in the distance stopped moments later as I still recovered from the pain. There was no time for me or Talina to think about it. As I tried very hard to ignore the injury, the panda-woman was thoroughly bandaging it to make sure the bleeding was stopped. “I think this should do, Percy. We will wait a moment to let you recover some. How did that happen though? Is your shield not supposed to stop that? It did a point blank shot earlier from me.” she wondered, kneeling next to me.\n“I-It will grow weaker if I keep using it for this long... Though it would have taken normal fire, that guy shot the same spot multiple times... I-It couldn't keep up with that pressure on one spot anymore. That was m-my mistake not to turn it off at any point to let it regain stability...” I explained, still groaning and enduring the pain.\n\nUnderstanding it, Tal then went rather quiet, wanting me to relax and rest a bit. Though not even minutes later, steps could be heard approaching us. But it sounded a lot different to the soldiers, who were giving off a rather distinctive tone because of their armor. Having my suspicions, I dropped a small device between me and Tal. It looked like a elongated square. Upon hitting the ground, it opened and promptly created a light-blue, see-through barrier, easily enough to cover the panda. She could only mutter something in confusion, before the individual reached us. I was right! It was Jey. And upon seeing me injured, in her frenzy, she indeed opened fire at Talina right away. Luckily ignoring my barrier entirely, which took all the abuse.\n“J-JEY! Stop it! She helped me, you hear?! This isn't a enemy!” I explained, punching, although weakly, against the cat's leg, trying to bring her to her senses.\nAll the while, Talina was scared for her life. But … my words got through. While still starring like a beast, Jey stopped fire, freezing with a heavy breath. Though she then eventually dropped to her knees and hugged me! … Like … VERY firmly! I was almost shocked and surprised … if it wasn't for my leg acting up at the movement.\n“O-Ow, w-watch it, Jey!” I said, though very glad and moved behind the pain.\n“Damnit, Percy! Don't you do this shit, you hear me?! I don't need to loose another partner...” she whispered to me, and I could swear I heard the usually tough girl sob. Though just as the cat did, she already pulled away again, growling at Tal: “Now, what is this woman doing here?! You cant just trust a enemy like that! Give me a reason not to just knock her out right now...”\nDespite being physically superior to the cat in every way except speed perhaps, Tal was visibly scared of the cat.\n“Jey, Talina here helped me escape! She not only knocked out other soldiers, but also killed some of them! … Sure, be wary, but she is on our side.” I pointed out, with Talina simply just nodding a little. “I-I can explain it to you later, but we should get out of here first! Please, take all my weapons and cuff me if you like. I even rather die than to go back to these troops.” the panda said.\nI could tell Jey didn't trust Tal, but for the moment, she decided to go along with it: “Fine! You carry Percy and head down the hallway in front of us. I will tell you directions while keeping any potential attacker away from us. I know where the exit is.” Jey said, briefly preparing herself.\n\nIt appeared that Jey had regained her focus and such. However, that also meant, she was not such a beast anymore that could just take on everything here by herself. Either way, Tal followed behind Jey, carrying me bridal style. Of course, we took the deployable barrier with us again. Eventually, someone managed to catch up with us! It were a bunch of the soldiers coming from the front! Though at this point, we were at the entrance. Two corridors, leading to the entrance of the facility and the last turn was just in front of us. Though while Jey had no trouble fending off the attackers in front. I noticed one coming up behind us! He already was pointing his gun at us, so there was no time for warnings! The adrenaline made me react quicker than usual, leading me to pull out the magnum from before in no time. Being hidden behind Tal for the most part, the guy didn't notice in time and to even the Panda-woman's surprise, I just shot the guy with no hesitation! With all the pain and the pressure … I was not able to care anymore. However, as the gun went off, I forgot this wasn't just a energy weapon. It had notable knock-back! And my untrained paw was not prepared, leaving me with a injured wrist as well! The surprise knocking the gun out of my hand as well. “Nah! F-Fuck...!” I yelled in mild anger. Though it was nothing major, it would definitely be hard moving it without a bunch of pain for a while. … Well, if I even live that long. Though with that, we moved on! That was … until we ran into another little issue moments later...\n\nJey was the first at the exit. She nearly ran into it though, since it was locket! Presumably our stunt at the start caused some sort of emergency lock to be set off. “Damn it! Why the fuck cant anything be easy today?!” she just answered in sheer anger, punching the door.\nTalina just looked at me for a sec, walking up to the terminal and speaking to me rather calmly: “U-Uhm, Percy? Think you can hack this?” I could tell she was a bit afraid of Jey, but I just gave her a nod in responds, despite the pain I was in at this point. “Nhh... third times the charm, huh?” I commented and went right to it!\nOnly using my prosthetic hand, Jey wasted no time to deploy some of the barriers. Just in time too, since we were about to get attacked once more!\n\nThough I was severely limited with my head hurting from the last door I opened, my leg aching and my right paw needing rest as well, I did surprisingly much better with this terminal. Though this was due to the reason this was locked. There was no code to get by, so it was just a matter of getting the system to understand there was no reason to keep the entrance closed. After a bunch of tipping on the display and Jey fighting off a few attackers, I was just about to open the door! Finally I could actually do what I was here for without having to resort to extreme measures. But just when I was about to finish, just one push away, a stray energy bullet hit the display, breaking the device and ruining all the hopes of opening it.\n“Oh come on!” I yelled out, though my head and leg starting to hurt as soon as I did, leaving me grunting in pain again.\n\nTalina put me down and got handed a gun from Jey, who had no choice but to trust her if we wanted to stand our ground. Together, they fought off the enemies quite valiantly. These guys sure had a lot of reserves. Eventually, I got a call. It was not Tarry this time, but Rorik: “Percy? I heard from tarry I can contact you. Where are you guys? The door to the lab is busted”\n“Rorik! Just … Blow it up! Please!” I groaned, holding my head with my energy arm. He could tell I was in pain probably...\n“Percy!? You ok?! … fuck this...” he replied and with that, the call ended. I knew he was gonna do as I said and gestured Jey and Tal to be careful. Sure enough, not much later, the door blew up with a loud explosion! The whole thing knocked right out of the frame. Seeing the enemies, the hyena immediately threw a bunch of remote-detonated grenades into the hallway. Scaring them off rather easily, he then noticed us and waved for us to come out of there.\n\nTalina picked me up and ran for it, while Jey made sure nothing followed. As we did, the hyena prepared a motion sensor that would blow up the entire entrance area if triggered, though it wasn't likely they would risk going past those bombs to begin with. Once we all were out of there, Rorik followed and together, we made a run for it into the forest, towards our ship...\n\nAfter a while, we were out of danger. Slowing down, I could tell just how worried Rorik was about me from the look on his face. Though he wouldn't waste time to lemme know anyway: “Are you ok, Percy? … Looks like you got hit.”\nAll I did was throw him a bit of a glare before responding: “Yea, a bit. … Fucking shot, my head feels like its gonna blow up and my paw is in pain too. I JUST got hit...” Rorik didn't take it personal, but sighed. After, he began to call Tarris, telling him to get the medical equipment ready back on the ship.\nIn the meantime, Jey turned her attention towards Talina: “Alright alright, now … we are safe enough I would say. Who are you, why are you helping us and why should we believe you?” \nThe panda sure was still intimidated, but with a deep breath, she calmed herself. Her explanation was … awfully long and … well, interesting: “My name is Talina. … I have been working for the private military division for four years now. I know, it sounds off to have me turn my back on them so suddenly, but … I can tell you how things went and you can probably understand it some more if you like”\nJey simply shrugged, our gazes meeting for a moment, before focusing on Tal again. “Go for it.” the cat said.\nTalina nodded and proceeds her story: “I used to be Percival's class mate back in school. … That's how I know him. … Usually, if you want to turn in to a carrier as security, you have to do some physical training after school in a police academy. Takes a while and costs a bunch, but in our school, we had a … offer show up one day. A bunch of voluntary positions for different jobs. It was said to be from a school that was in production with the goal to offer all sorts of things you need for every carrier. Nowadays it sounds rather ridiculous of course, but as a teen? You see a easy solution for a problem on the wall of your school, a place you think you should be able to trust. So I signed up...\nWell, I was picked as one of only few! I was quite excited and everything went as you would expect … up to the point after which you already agreed and signed the contracts. Suddenly, you were shipped off not to the place you signed up for, but instead, the fucking military camp of those guys! At the start, I hoped it was just a harsh way of doing it, but soon, I realized, I was tricked. We all were. \nThe higher ups didn't allow you to back out. Anything that was considered defiance or active sabotage was treated as treason and punished harshly. Eventually even by death or life-long sentences. You had to submit and work for them or pretty much die. No one gives a shit about you either... No camaraderie at all. Selfishness is all there is, since the better your rank, the more you can command the others around... This is THE chance to escape, so do you think I would not make use of it? I may be pursued by them, but not outlawed. If they even notice I didn't just die in the masses back there.”\n\nListening to all of this was … mind-blowing. Sure, Jey was not trusting Talina, but even she knew that, if her story is true …\n“So, you basically run away now, trying to regain your life and start a new one?” the feline asked with a cocked brow, more or less just for confirmation.\n“... That is a awfully direct and specific way to ask, but yes?” Tal replied, wondering why Jey seemed to have such a good idea of the situation, but quickly picked up on it and looked at me with wide eyes: ”... The thing you told me earlier... are you telling me...?”\nI just gave a nod, holding up my Prosthetic before eventually telling my story once again: “Yes, it was the same thing. … I signed up for a project at some laboratory, but they tricked me into being a free lab rat to test on freely, with minimal maintenance costs needed. After all, living things only need nutrition to “repair” themselves. … They blew up my arm, they ripped my lungs out, they genetically modified me to stay in this teen state forever... All in the name of prototype testing for military and any other kind of people. … I got out when one of the fuckers had his authority over me grow to his head. He tried to rape me, so I nearly killed him and broke out. … I don't actually know if he died or not, but I couldn't care less. Jey here found me when they tried to recapture me and saved me from them. … Now I'm a mercenary too and … heh, I wouldn't want it any different...”\nI could tell in her expression that Jey was moved by the last bit, though now they all picked up on why exactly I could tell this was a setup.\n“... Someone is abusing teens who are just done with school for their advantage. Whoever this someone is, knew Percy is with you guys, so he took the military at their disposal, to reclaim him, by tricking you into coming here for a presumed job. Why? Probably to prevent this scheme to come to the light!” Talina put together like I did long before.\nJey got mad again, but not at anyone here, clenching her fists. “Shit, and we fell right for it!”\n“Jey, we had no way of knowing. Important is just, that we are all still here and safe.” Rorik replied, having been quiet for a bit.\n“Rorik, I swear, if you gonna play down the pain I'm in right now, I will kick you in the dick...” I said to him, though he just chuckled a bit. I guess he knew he would deserve it if he did such a thing. “Calm down, Percy, I will give you pain killers. … And serve you for the next few days!”\nTalina simply laughed at it.\n\nAs we reached the ship though, Jey turned to face the panda again: “Hand Percy over to Rorik here. As true as your story may be, I wont risk anything whatsoever, so I have to cuff you. Its just until we are at the next place we can part ways.”\nTal let out a sigh and did as instructed, agreeing hesitantly: “I guess, I cant judge you for that. Everything is better than being a slave or dead.”\nNodding to her, Jey headed inside and got the cuffs she needed. They covered Talina's hands completely, so there was no fiddling with anything at all and entirely secure.\n\nWhile the girls where busy, Rorik carried me to Tarry, who was ready to properly take care of my wound. It wasn't anything overly extreme to take care of, but proper bandaging and disinfecting was necessary. Of course, only after I got a pain-killer first. Though I didn't know Tarry was a medic until now. Once they were done I let my head drop back. All the pain and stress drained me. Not to mention, the use of my new configuration on the facility-terminal. “Just … bring me to bed, ok? I want to sleep...” I said. Of course, Rorik picked me up again right after Tarry was done and brought me to my room, just as I asked him to.\n\nWhile I didn't notice any of it, Talina was left in the main room, ending up having to chat with Tarris most of the time. They seemed to get along rather well now, compared to his reaction on the screen earlier. Soon enough, Jey got us off this planet and together with a temporary passenger, we went off again!\nSleep was all I had in my mind after such a event. Though before I could get my rest, I heard another transmission from Jey towards all of us: “Guys? No accepting jobs. … This wont stick, I have no one mess with me like that! … Especially not if it is such a targeted attack on one member of my crew! Whoever this was, we will find out, and expose them! … Oh, and Percy? You did great, you hear?” With that, the transmission ended. Though... I didn't agree with her...\nI did NOT do well. … I messed up not once, but twice. I may not be a hacker parse, but I still know how to do it. And it was my main purpose. … I did not fulfill my purpose whatsoever! All I did was get in danger, get hurt, worry my friends and … do literally nothing to redeem myself. … Its depressing, and its nothing I can just take lightly either. How can they act like I did well? Oh well, I guess I cant change the past, now can I? It sucks...","writing_bbcode_parsed":"“Life” in beta testing.
Chapter 7
Me and Talina swiftly made our way through the facility. It was hard to tell where anything was though. We didn't exactly have a map and where I came from, was the only directional sense we had to go off of. Here and there, we had to silently take out some soldier. But even if we been silent, eventually the missing responses from said soldiers would be noticed. Luckily, Jey was keeping them busy. They had to use all their forces just to keep her from annihilating everything by the look of it. Though the more we checked through the hallways, it seemed more and more like we had only one way to go, which was held by my boss and thus way too dangerous right now. It was where all the shooting happened after all.
Eventually though, me and Tal got lucky. Another blast door that would most likely lead to the exit too. Though again, I had to hack it. Messing this up again was not a option, so I had to take my time and really take the safe route at it.
“Tal, here! I can open this door. But you have to cover me.” I explained to her, already tapping on the display of the terminal, thinking about how to go about it.
“You can? Well, that explains how you got all the way in here. No one expected the blast doors to open.” she replied, getting ready to do as she must.
I proceeded to connect my holo-screen to the terminal and try my best to work on opening the door, replying to Tal rather cold: “Yea, too bad I caused the whole place to glitch out like it does...”
“Wait, that was you? Damn, Percy~ I can tell why they took you into this place if you can hack so well.”
“Yes, “well”, like it wasn't a unwanted side-effect.”
As I focused on getting this to work, Talina had to fight off a bunch of soldiers that ended up checking here. But the lack of lighting was good for surprises and thus she didn't have much trouble. Especially with her Training. Using my heat-vision goggles, I could tell exactly when people were about to come too, giving us a even better advantage.
“Say, how did you learn all this?” she asked, not loosing her focus though.
“I … been “working” with tech for the last four years since I left school. … But I learned most I know now in the past months. I hope to forget those years before I met these guys anyway.” I explained. Tal quite obviously noticed I have been through some stuff too.
“... Come to think of it, what have you been through? … Did you loose that arm recently?”
“No... It was about three years ago. … Something blew up and ripped it to shreds...” I replied as best I could, while still focusing on the panel.
“D-damn, lucky someone could at least install that replacement, eh?”
“Lucky!? Those fucking assholes where the ones who blew it up in the first place! Do you have any idea what the lab I ended up at did to me?!” yes, I was furious. She hit a spot that really shouldn't be hit, even if she wasn't at fault, “They used me as a lab rat... they made me stuck with the looks of a teen... they literally ripped my lungs out for nothing but testing their stupid enhancements!”
My anger visibly ripped her out of focus. That gaze of shock as she starred at me... It let me pull back out of the friendzy, realizing I was getting a little too much into it. Though I was still visibly agitated.
“I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to invoke those memories... Fuck, I had no idea...” she said silently and with a sorrowful voice.
Moments of silence later, I just grumbled in frustration. The Terminal wouldn't give in. Though I swore never to use prototypes myself unless I was happy with the result, there was one I had that could solve the issue, if it worked. The risks of this one was extreme in general, but … my anger clouded my judgment and eventually I was so sick of the terminal, I threw that care out of the window.
“Fuck this shit!” I exclaimed, lifting my artificial arm and slamming it onto the terminal! Palm first though and not enough to break anything. No, I grabbed on to it as best I could and hit the button to change configuration. I had worked on a new function for my arm in secret. This one was something I didn't want to use yet... My arm then began to connect to the terminal itself, more or less fusing with it! Now, the potential negatives of this could be fatal! … If I connect to the electricity circulation of the facility directly … I will literally get fried by the currents. Not just a little, I am talking lethal shock. But … if it works, I would get not only better access to the device … but actually mental access.
The technology of these prosthetic allows me to control it with my mind just like any other part of my body. So my idea was: “why not enable it to connect directly with other technology, to control THAT tech the same way?
Well … it did work! … Somewhat. As good as it could perhaps. One's mind was not made to work with this broad of a spectrum though. A headache was immediate and staying connected was not easy either. This quickly drained my stamina, but... it worked regardless!
“What are you doing, Percy?!” She wondered, watching intently.
“Nhh... I get us out!” I started, before the door finally opened! No downsides, it opened with no side-effects, “Go! I will keep it open long enough for me to get through too.”
“Are you sure that will work?”
I spotted someone coming in the distance, growing more hectic: “Yes! Get moving!”
Tal didn't notice herself, but complied and rushed through the now opened blast-door. Just as she was through, I forcefully ripped my arm away from the terminal, breaking the projected energy to free myself as I didn't have a disconnection function integrated yet.
The door was set to stay open for just a few second, but the soldier was already too close.
“Stop!” he called, taking aiming for me as I was about to jump through the slowly closing door. Though it was enough time for the guy to react and shoot.
His shots where accurately aimed for my right thigh, the entire burst hitting! The first few shots blocked by the shield, but since it were not energy based projectiles, it was somewhat more strain to the force-field, leaving it weak enough by the time the last bullet hit, shattering the field and sending the bullet through my suit, fluff and skin, right into my leg. I already jumped at that point, so I made it regardless, but the stinging pain shot through my body! The bullet drilled it's way into the muscle as I slumped to the ground and held on to said leg. Blood staining my fur and suit, as well as dripping onto the ground as I cried out my pain and groaned, breathing heavily.
Talina gasped rushed to me, shocked of course, but staying mostly calm thanks to her training: “Fuck, Percy... that doesn't look good! Let me see it...” She said, already fiddling her first-aid equipment out. Though while getting out all sorts of bandages, she seemed frustrated: “Why the hell are there no tweezers!”
Only once she mentioned them, I realized that she was gonna have to get the bullet out... That was gonna be a lot of pain... Though there was no helping it! I clenched my teeth, grabbed my high-tech screwdriver and hit a button, revealing a tweezer configuration. Even technicians needed those here and there.
“H-here...” I said. The pain making my voice sound shaky. Freezing for a moment, Tal grabbed the tool and went to it. … She hesitated at first, just starring at the wound, but … eventually she took a deep breath and did what had to be done! Shoving the pincer into the wound sure was as painful as it sounds... Once she got a hold of the bullet, it didn't get any better! The opposite even. Though once she got a hold of the projectile, she just ripped it out in one fell swoop. Once again, the agony rushed through my body and I let out a cry of pain! Quite a loud one at that as my eyes began to tear up...
The sound of gunfire in the distance stopped moments later as I still recovered from the pain. There was no time for me or Talina to think about it. As I tried very hard to ignore the injury, the panda-woman was thoroughly bandaging it to make sure the bleeding was stopped. “I think this should do, Percy. We will wait a moment to let you recover some. How did that happen though? Is your shield not supposed to stop that? It did a point blank shot earlier from me.” she wondered, kneeling next to me.
“I-It will grow weaker if I keep using it for this long... Though it would have taken normal fire, that guy shot the same spot multiple times... I-It couldn't keep up with that pressure on one spot anymore. That was m-my mistake not to turn it off at any point to let it regain stability...” I explained, still groaning and enduring the pain.
Understanding it, Tal then went rather quiet, wanting me to relax and rest a bit. Though not even minutes later, steps could be heard approaching us. But it sounded a lot different to the soldiers, who were giving off a rather distinctive tone because of their armor. Having my suspicions, I dropped a small device between me and Tal. It looked like a elongated square. Upon hitting the ground, it opened and promptly created a light-blue, see-through barrier, easily enough to cover the panda. She could only mutter something in confusion, before the individual reached us. I was right! It was Jey. And upon seeing me injured, in her frenzy, she indeed opened fire at Talina right away. Luckily ignoring my barrier entirely, which took all the abuse.
“J-JEY! Stop it! She helped me, you hear?! This isn't a enemy!” I explained, punching, although weakly, against the cat's leg, trying to bring her to her senses.
All the while, Talina was scared for her life. But … my words got through. While still starring like a beast, Jey stopped fire, freezing with a heavy breath. Though she then eventually dropped to her knees and hugged me! … Like … VERY firmly! I was almost shocked and surprised … if it wasn't for my leg acting up at the movement.
“O-Ow, w-watch it, Jey!” I said, though very glad and moved behind the pain.
“Damnit, Percy! Don't you do this shit, you hear me?! I don't need to loose another partner...” she whispered to me, and I could swear I heard the usually tough girl sob. Though just as the cat did, she already pulled away again, growling at Tal: “Now, what is this woman doing here?! You cant just trust a enemy like that! Give me a reason not to just knock her out right now...”
Despite being physically superior to the cat in every way except speed perhaps, Tal was visibly scared of the cat.
“Jey, Talina here helped me escape! She not only knocked out other soldiers, but also killed some of them! … Sure, be wary, but she is on our side.” I pointed out, with Talina simply just nodding a little. “I-I can explain it to you later, but we should get out of here first! Please, take all my weapons and cuff me if you like. I even rather die than to go back to these troops.” the panda said.
I could tell Jey didn't trust Tal, but for the moment, she decided to go along with it: “Fine! You carry Percy and head down the hallway in front of us. I will tell you directions while keeping any potential attacker away from us. I know where the exit is.” Jey said, briefly preparing herself.
It appeared that Jey had regained her focus and such. However, that also meant, she was not such a beast anymore that could just take on everything here by herself. Either way, Tal followed behind Jey, carrying me bridal style. Of course, we took the deployable barrier with us again. Eventually, someone managed to catch up with us! It were a bunch of the soldiers coming from the front! Though at this point, we were at the entrance. Two corridors, leading to the entrance of the facility and the last turn was just in front of us. Though while Jey had no trouble fending off the attackers in front. I noticed one coming up behind us! He already was pointing his gun at us, so there was no time for warnings! The adrenaline made me react quicker than usual, leading me to pull out the magnum from before in no time. Being hidden behind Tal for the most part, the guy didn't notice in time and to even the Panda-woman's surprise, I just shot the guy with no hesitation! With all the pain and the pressure … I was not able to care anymore. However, as the gun went off, I forgot this wasn't just a energy weapon. It had notable knock-back! And my untrained paw was not prepared, leaving me with a injured wrist as well! The surprise knocking the gun out of my hand as well. “Nah! F-Fuck...!” I yelled in mild anger. Though it was nothing major, it would definitely be hard moving it without a bunch of pain for a while. … Well, if I even live that long. Though with that, we moved on! That was … until we ran into another little issue moments later...
Jey was the first at the exit. She nearly ran into it though, since it was locket! Presumably our stunt at the start caused some sort of emergency lock to be set off. “Damn it! Why the fuck cant anything be easy today?!” she just answered in sheer anger, punching the door.
Talina just looked at me for a sec, walking up to the terminal and speaking to me rather calmly: “U-Uhm, Percy? Think you can hack this?” I could tell she was a bit afraid of Jey, but I just gave her a nod in responds, despite the pain I was in at this point. “Nhh... third times the charm, huh?” I commented and went right to it!
Only using my prosthetic hand, Jey wasted no time to deploy some of the barriers. Just in time too, since we were about to get attacked once more!
Though I was severely limited with my head hurting from the last door I opened, my leg aching and my right paw needing rest as well, I did surprisingly much better with this terminal. Though this was due to the reason this was locked. There was no code to get by, so it was just a matter of getting the system to understand there was no reason to keep the entrance closed. After a bunch of tipping on the display and Jey fighting off a few attackers, I was just about to open the door! Finally I could actually do what I was here for without having to resort to extreme measures. But just when I was about to finish, just one push away, a stray energy bullet hit the display, breaking the device and ruining all the hopes of opening it.
“Oh come on!” I yelled out, though my head and leg starting to hurt as soon as I did, leaving me grunting in pain again.
Talina put me down and got handed a gun from Jey, who had no choice but to trust her if we wanted to stand our ground. Together, they fought off the enemies quite valiantly. These guys sure had a lot of reserves. Eventually, I got a call. It was not Tarry this time, but Rorik: “Percy? I heard from tarry I can contact you. Where are you guys? The door to the lab is busted”
“Rorik! Just … Blow it up! Please!” I groaned, holding my head with my energy arm. He could tell I was in pain probably...
“Percy!? You ok?! … fuck this...” he replied and with that, the call ended. I knew he was gonna do as I said and gestured Jey and Tal to be careful. Sure enough, not much later, the door blew up with a loud explosion! The whole thing knocked right out of the frame. Seeing the enemies, the hyena immediately threw a bunch of remote-detonated grenades into the hallway. Scaring them off rather easily, he then noticed us and waved for us to come out of there.
Talina picked me up and ran for it, while Jey made sure nothing followed. As we did, the hyena prepared a motion sensor that would blow up the entire entrance area if triggered, though it wasn't likely they would risk going past those bombs to begin with. Once we all were out of there, Rorik followed and together, we made a run for it into the forest, towards our ship...
After a while, we were out of danger. Slowing down, I could tell just how worried Rorik was about me from the look on his face. Though he wouldn't waste time to lemme know anyway: “Are you ok, Percy? … Looks like you got hit.”
All I did was throw him a bit of a glare before responding: “Yea, a bit. … Fucking shot, my head feels like its gonna blow up and my paw is in pain too. I JUST got hit...” Rorik didn't take it personal, but sighed. After, he began to call Tarris, telling him to get the medical equipment ready back on the ship.
In the meantime, Jey turned her attention towards Talina: “Alright alright, now … we are safe enough I would say. Who are you, why are you helping us and why should we believe you?”
The panda sure was still intimidated, but with a deep breath, she calmed herself. Her explanation was … awfully long and … well, interesting: “My name is Talina. … I have been working for the private military division for four years now. I know, it sounds off to have me turn my back on them so suddenly, but … I can tell you how things went and you can probably understand it some more if you like”
Jey simply shrugged, our gazes meeting for a moment, before focusing on Tal again. “Go for it.” the cat said.
Talina nodded and proceeds her story: “I used to be Percival's class mate back in school. … That's how I know him. … Usually, if you want to turn in to a carrier as security, you have to do some physical training after school in a police academy. Takes a while and costs a bunch, but in our school, we had a … offer show up one day. A bunch of voluntary positions for different jobs. It was said to be from a school that was in production with the goal to offer all sorts of things you need for every carrier. Nowadays it sounds rather ridiculous of course, but as a teen? You see a easy solution for a problem on the wall of your school, a place you think you should be able to trust. So I signed up...
Well, I was picked as one of only few! I was quite excited and everything went as you would expect … up to the point after which you already agreed and signed the contracts. Suddenly, you were shipped off not to the place you signed up for, but instead, the fucking military camp of those guys! At the start, I hoped it was just a harsh way of doing it, but soon, I realized, I was tricked. We all were.
The higher ups didn't allow you to back out. Anything that was considered defiance or active sabotage was treated as treason and punished harshly. Eventually even by death or life-long sentences. You had to submit and work for them or pretty much die. No one gives a shit about you either... No camaraderie at all. Selfishness is all there is, since the better your rank, the more you can command the others around... This is THE chance to escape, so do you think I would not make use of it? I may be pursued by them, but not outlawed. If they even notice I didn't just die in the masses back there.”
Listening to all of this was … mind-blowing. Sure, Jey was not trusting Talina, but even she knew that, if her story is true …
“So, you basically run away now, trying to regain your life and start a new one?” the feline asked with a cocked brow, more or less just for confirmation.
“... That is a awfully direct and specific way to ask, but yes?” Tal replied, wondering why Jey seemed to have such a good idea of the situation, but quickly picked up on it and looked at me with wide eyes: ”... The thing you told me earlier... are you telling me...?”
I just gave a nod, holding up my Prosthetic before eventually telling my story once again: “Yes, it was the same thing. … I signed up for a project at some laboratory, but they tricked me into being a free lab rat to test on freely, with minimal maintenance costs needed. After all, living things only need nutrition to “repair” themselves. … They blew up my arm, they ripped my lungs out, they genetically modified me to stay in this teen state forever... All in the name of prototype testing for military and any other kind of people. … I got out when one of the fuckers had his authority over me grow to his head. He tried to rape me, so I nearly killed him and broke out. … I don't actually know if he died or not, but I couldn't care less. Jey here found me when they tried to recapture me and saved me from them. … Now I'm a mercenary too and … heh, I wouldn't want it any different...”
I could tell in her expression that Jey was moved by the last bit, though now they all picked up on why exactly I could tell this was a setup.
“... Someone is abusing teens who are just done with school for their advantage. Whoever this someone is, knew Percy is with you guys, so he took the military at their disposal, to reclaim him, by tricking you into coming here for a presumed job. Why? Probably to prevent this scheme to come to the light!” Talina put together like I did long before.
Jey got mad again, but not at anyone here, clenching her fists. “Shit, and we fell right for it!”
“Jey, we had no way of knowing. Important is just, that we are all still here and safe.” Rorik replied, having been quiet for a bit.
“Rorik, I swear, if you gonna play down the pain I'm in right now, I will kick you in the dick...” I said to him, though he just chuckled a bit. I guess he knew he would deserve it if he did such a thing. “Calm down, Percy, I will give you pain killers. … And serve you for the next few days!”
Talina simply laughed at it.
As we reached the ship though, Jey turned to face the panda again: “Hand Percy over to Rorik here. As true as your story may be, I wont risk anything whatsoever, so I have to cuff you. Its just until we are at the next place we can part ways.”
Tal let out a sigh and did as instructed, agreeing hesitantly: “I guess, I cant judge you for that. Everything is better than being a slave or dead.”
Nodding to her, Jey headed inside and got the cuffs she needed. They covered Talina's hands completely, so there was no fiddling with anything at all and entirely secure.
While the girls where busy, Rorik carried me to Tarry, who was ready to properly take care of my wound. It wasn't anything overly extreme to take care of, but proper bandaging and disinfecting was necessary. Of course, only after I got a pain-killer first. Though I didn't know Tarry was a medic until now. Once they were done I let my head drop back. All the pain and stress drained me. Not to mention, the use of my new configuration on the facility-terminal. “Just … bring me to bed, ok? I want to sleep...” I said. Of course, Rorik picked me up again right after Tarry was done and brought me to my room, just as I asked him to.
While I didn't notice any of it, Talina was left in the main room, ending up having to chat with Tarris most of the time. They seemed to get along rather well now, compared to his reaction on the screen earlier. Soon enough, Jey got us off this planet and together with a temporary passenger, we went off again!
Sleep was all I had in my mind after such a event. Though before I could get my rest, I heard another transmission from Jey towards all of us: “Guys? No accepting jobs. … This wont stick, I have no one mess with me like that! … Especially not if it is such a targeted attack on one member of my crew! Whoever this was, we will find out, and expose them! … Oh, and Percy? You did great, you hear?” With that, the transmission ended. Though... I didn't agree with her...
I did NOT do well. … I messed up not once, but twice. I may not be a hacker parse, but I still know how to do it. And it was my main purpose. … I did not fulfill my purpose whatsoever! All I did was get in danger, get hurt, worry my friends and … do literally nothing to redeem myself. … Its depressing, and its nothing I can just take lightly either. How can they act like I did well? Oh well, I guess I cant change the past, now can I? It sucks...","pools_count":1,"title":"\"Life\" in beta testing. ch.7","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"application/msword","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"2","rating_name":"Adult","ratings":[{"content_tag_id":"3","name":"Violence","description":"Mild violence","rating_id":"1"},{"content_tag_id":"5","name":"Strong Violence","description":"Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death","rating_id":"2"}],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"f","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"0","views":"2","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}