[Alert!]
[‘Antares’ has entered critical condition!]
[Locating….]
[…..]
[……]
Haley was suddenly displayed a map that showed the address that he had sent Antares to previous for training, without a moment of hesitation he ordered #01 to meet up on his way – he quickly grabbed a rifle that was lying in a crate in the training room and rushed through the hallways towards the exit.
The drones standing guard didn’t bother him as the quickly parted for him, the doors to the exit opened allowing him to rush out, shutting quickly behind him as he left.
He could see that it would take #01 a couple of minutes to get to him so instead of waiting he began to run in the direction of Antares, the direction that #01 was coming from in the first place, and ordered it to readjust its pathfinding to meet him as fast as it could.
With his improved physique and what felt like endless energy coursing through him from the passive boost that ‘Power Boost’ v1.0 provided he didn’t feel tired even after running at his full speed for a minute – as he was rushing through an alleyway he noticed #01 land just ahead of him silently.
Without a second thought he jumped towards it, jumping several meters before creating a large thud as he hit the top of #01, luckily the drone only gained a dent in its reinforced head from this and quickly took off in the direction of the building.
Just a minute later, he was in front of the building. The run itself would’ve only taken Haley five minutes by using his legs but it was best that he didn’t risk not being in his best condition in preparation for the worst-case scenario.
Bang!
Haley deftly kicked open the door, it swung off its hinges and fell down a flight of stairs behind the door, several seconds later he heard it finally stop and land at the bottom.
The flight of stairs behind the door was somewhat surprising but not unexpected considering the surrounding buildings looked rundown, for training in combat techniques it was only expected that they had a big area hidden somewhere.
He quickly descended the stairs while ordering #01 to keep guard outside, the new swerving rifle mantled to the bottom of it made it the perfect guard for situations like these.
After a few seconds descending the stairs Haley was introduced to a vast gymnasium, the remains of several wooden puppets lay on the floor – wood splinters were everywhere, a lot of the wood was painted red from absorbing blood from the blood pools that were littered around the floor, they had all become connected like a small river.
The eerie sight didn’t disturb Haley as he quickly analysed the room for any exit, after finding none he grew concerned but not disheartened. He knew it was very unlikely for 001 to be wrong, the only other possibility was that wherever they had taken him was deeper underground than where he was.
Without a thought he extended his data link towards a camera he had seen in the corner of the room, it blended in well with the roofing of the room but the slight raise it had made in the roof didn’t go unnoticed by Haley.
He watched the playback of footage as Antares completely decimated the room, a small scowl appeared on his face, ‘He was told to survive not that he had to fight back, stupid kid.’
But despite his beratement there was a small prideful smile showing through the scowl that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
He watched from the playback as the wall opened up only for several people in medic uniforms to rush in and place him on a stretcher before leaving the room in a hurry, from the time stamp on the video this was only a few minutes before he had arrived.
Click.
“Who the hell are you? This is private property!” Haley suddenly heard a voice echo in the room, he could hear the worry in their voice as he spoke but ignored it and walked over to the wall he had seen open up in the video feed.
“What are you doing! Do you want to die?!” The voice screeched, Haley ignored it and took a stance, pulling his fist back he channelled as much of his strength into this one punch as he could, then he struck.
BANG!
The wall completely shattered, the mechanics behind it broke in several tiny pieces as the force of his punch annihilated the wall revealing the hidden corridor behind it.
Click.
Haley chuckled as he assumed that he had just made the man on the other end completely speechless, without a second thought he leisurely strolled in the direction of the blood splatters littering the ground.
He was certain Antares was okay but it was better for him to ensure that one of his own people was being treated well with his own eyes – he also saw how if it wasn’t for the carelessness of the man on the other side not monitoring him then Haley could’ve lost a useful resource, something he found completely unacceptable.
Haley didn’t notice but, he kept altering between thinking of Antares as a person and as a resource – it was as if both meanings had blended in his mind, they were no different from each other which lead to his state of obliviousness.
As Haley walked down the corridor, he could hear several voices shouting back and forward a each other, he could hear the panic in their voices – most likely having just been informed of his existence, but despite this he didn’t stop his progress.
It didn’t take long for him to reach the end of the corridor where it began to split off into branches, what stood out most to Haley however was the logo present on the middle wall, “Lost Gold Mercenaries” emboldened in gold.
“I’ll just wait here then…” He muttered; he could hear the footsteps of numerous armed men running towards him from every off-branching direction. There was no way for him to avoid this confrontation, so he took a moment to rest and collect himself.
Thanks for the chapter!