Shattered super-soldier

With Doc having ensured her subordinates would take care of the problem at hand, Matthew kind of zoned out he gazed absentmindedly at the trio of Tali, Celil and Mahmut, the three men walked up to the guards manning the gate and after exchanging a few words things seemed like it would evolve into bloodshed when Tali drew his sword and yelled obscenities that questioned the guards' parentage because they had questioned Doc’s identity as the Matriarch of the esteemed Burning ember's clan, the guard’s brandished their weapons in return but made no move to strike first

‘...Wait a moment, isn’t this…’

At that moment, Matthew snapped out of his daze and quickly sent a message to Doc over the local network

‘That’s bait… They are looking for the moral high ground’

[Yeah, I figured that was where this farce was going…]

Doc took a deep breath before she wielded her Mystic powers to their full capacity, in a moment she and the 3 riled up merchants had changed place and another person had appeared next to the guards, it was a middle-aged man in casual clothes along with the cup of tea he was no doubt enjoying behind his desk a moment earlier, before he could let his displeasure known Doc spoke with a look that was between were a half split between righteous fury and irritation

“Good morning, Guard captain Aslan, how have you been since we met 5 weeks ago?”

The guard captain composed himself for a moment before he acknowledged Doc’s identity

“Maitrach Esen, I wasn’t aware you would be visiting our holy city at this time”

Doc clearly didn’t believe Aslan, as the guards watching the gates didn’t have the stones to pull off such a sham without approval from their superiors, however she didn’t point the obvious foul play directly, instead she pointed at the unassuming metal plate that hung above the gate, Matthew squinted his eyes and made out the inscription that was engraved on it which plainly read “BlueArrow can go suck the dust out of some saggy tits, fucking bottom feeders” in perfect Trerubican, the language spoke in the Trerubic Empire from which Matthew and Doc both were born

‘...Wait, what the fuck?’

Quite aware of Matthew’s reaction and what really was stated on the metal plaque, Doc spoke quite passionately

“You have clearly forgotten the holy scripture passed down from the first prophet of the sands! I will have a lengthy conversation about your conduct with both the mayor and head priest about this”

What followed while Matthew spaced out again were a heated theological debate that lasted about 10 minutes before the guard captain were on his knees and spilled the depths of his sin to the “BlueArrow can go suck the dust out of some saggy tits, fucking bottom feeders” plaque while begging for forgiveness, at some point Doc appeared in front of him and snapped her fingers in front of his eyes to snap him out of his daze, a moment later her voice sounded out over the local network

[Matthew, you have to focus, your Mystic powers have drained your energy, it’s not dangerous yet, but it will be in a few days, before that you need to learn how to control it… Please understand that you will have to focus… That or turn into a vegetable if you fail]

As much as Matthew wanted to argue about this only being brought up at this late stage, he found his focus nearly slipping again and decided to focus on the task at hand…

-

Time blurred for Matthew, he slipped in and out of consciousness as he focused on mastering his Mystic abilities, he was vaguely aware that Doc sat him in the middle of a wide open sandstone cave with a tranquil lake in front of him at some point in time, but as time continued to pass time continued to blur together, he was making progress sure, but it was painfully slow

‘...Nothing makes logical sense… Fantastical abilities both fueled and controlled by emotions… It feels like the logic of a Laissez faire Sunday morning cartoon’

Though eventually after, our hero continued to stumble ahead on the path towards becoming a Certified magical girl. No, not that kind, the kind that was oddly out of place in the Sunday morning cartoon, the one with way more testosterone and chest hair then the rest. The one who visibly spends a significant amount of their last remaining willpower in this mortal life every Sunday morning in the cartooned episodic wonderland-like nightmare they called reality in order to not shout “Kill! Maim! Burn!” while whipping the fuel injection nozzle of a flamethrower around like a pool noodle. The one who always stars alone in the last episode in some sort of bizarre, deeply macabre and unsettling waltz across a field of burning corpses, yeah, that one

‘...Come on now Matthew, focus for fuck's sake’

Matthew breathed out deeply as he steered his train of thought away from the mysteries of his childhood back on the right track and heightened his focus to continue his meditation…

He justified his slow progress to himself repeatedly to quell his mounting anxiety…

And then suddenly at a seemingly random point in time his consciousness simply rose to the surface as he had completed his task

“Ughh… My neck…”

Straightening his posture after gods knows how long came with more than a little pain, as he stretched his stiff body his joints popped one by one as he flexed them

[Good morning master]

“Morning Aea… How long was I out for?”

[The latest suspended animation lasted for roughly 104 days, Mystic phenomena have interfered with primary and secondary functions timekeeping functions, so precise timekeeping have been rendered unreliable]

“...Have any other features degraded or been lost besides the internal clock?”

[Current extent of Mystic interference is unknown, insufficient data]

“Keep me posted”

[Understood, notifications added to list]

With that done Matthew took in his surroundings once again, it really was serene, the lake in front of him spread out for less than what one would normally call a lake, it was more of a pond, but due to the depth and serenity of it he could only refer to it as a lake, he also had the vague understanding that if he so much as touched the water he would instantly be swallowed cease to exist

“...Are you about done messing around with me?”

“You can’t blame a girl for giving it some effort”

Matthew turned around and saw Doc standing on the carved out staircase that was the only entrance to the sandstone cave, seeing her casual response he decided that enough was enough and made as much clear

“Well you better stop, because next time I’ll simply slag your 09 instead of complaining”

Ever since her 09 were brought under Alina’s control, Doc had tried to kill off Matthew indirectly, but by now Matthew was fed up with her antics, however contrary to Matthew’s expectations Doc simply answered with a calm smile on her face

“I understand, we’ve already decided to follow you if you managed to survive your meditation”

Matthew kept his eyes on Doc for a few more minutes before he asked

“...Just like that?”

“Squirming around for too long is unsightly, a classy lady knows when such things from a welcome distraction to dull”

Matthew let out a sigh, as much as he wanted to argue with her way of wording her surrender, he believed her statement, she was after all a self-proclaimed classy lady

‘I fell a little curious about how she ended up this fucked up… Must be morbid curiosity… Wait a moment’

“Doc… Did you just say we, who are we exactly?”

Doc nodded plainly

“Yeah, me and Ripper landed on this ball of dirt together, I told her she was here too didn’t I?”

Matthew looked in disbelief at Doc before he asked

“How did you manage to convince her?”

Doc shrugged and gave Ripper’s single reason

“I simply told her you had joined up with us, Major… Oh right, I believe she is waiting for us upstairs already, it appears she has a request for you…”

Matthew shuddered at the mention of Ripper’s proximity to him and immediately made his first request of Doc

“Bring me a weapon of some kind before that”

Doc blinked a few times before she spoke to reassure him

“You don’t have to worry about Ripper, even if she were to attack you I will do my all to protect you… Your caution towards her have always puzzled me, Major”

Matthew gave Doc a look of disbelief, which she simply reassured him

“Please rest assured, if it comes to blows I will help you, Ripper doesn’t have any Mystical abilities either… Besides, I don’t believe brining a weapon to an already tense situation will help to cool the situation”

Matthew let out a deep sigh before he finally agreed, he could at least see Doc’s argument

“Alright… Lead the way then”

Doc turned around and began walking up the staircase that was carved into the sandstone rock, on the way he spared a last look at the still underground lake before he asked

“...How come Ripper doesn't have any abilities like you? Didn’t you make me a Mystic just fine?”

Doc explained as the two walked up the narrow staircase

“Well, it’s not just me, most of the larger clans have several methods to make people develop Mystic abilities, then why do you think there aren’t Mystics everywhere?”

Knowing this would turn into another one of Doc’s long explanations, Matthew thought for a few moments before he answered

“Is it a limitation of resources..? No, it’s the danger associated with it, right?”

Matthew remembered the scene of carnage that had happened to the caravan, most of which he was sure was his doing

“Yeah, that’s what’s referred to as the manifestation, most people that have a fire manifestation don’t survive, and even if they have a more controllable manifestation failing to gain control over your abilities will turn you into a vegetable if one doesn’t starve first”

“...Got it”

Doc nodded as she continued

“Well that’s not the reason why Ripper haven’t undergone manifestation, we decided not to risk it because of the state of her 09, it was almost slagged by our planet fall, and it has lost almost all functions and gotten stuck in some sort of self diagnostic loop”

Images of failing bionics from his time as a Penance Marine, his fellow slave soldiers were always ‘bestowed’ the shoddiest replacement implants available, which always were followed by horrific side effects, even if he found it hard to admit, he was worried… Still he asked Doc for the details

“...How bad is it?”

Doc stopped walking, she gathered her thoughts for a few moments before she gave her answer

“Well… besides basic neurological control functions of her body everything else is completely shot, only her right eye and right ear are functions as sensory organs… Well, she isn’t exactly doing well mentally, but her 09’s life preservation functions are still in place…”

Matthew nodded, he knew Ripper well enough to know she would have little to live for besides her own hedonistic tendencies, and with her sharply reduced sensory input putting a big damper on that for the last 350 years he was sure as shit she wasn’t exactly a “Happy camper” at the moment