Shattered super-soldier

Matthew stared at his hand as he wielded his Mystic powers, it wasn't as much fire as much as it was pure heat, the air above his hand blurred as the intense heat created a mirage, however this heat was completely contained within the shape he desired, even if he had almost caused a few steam explosions in his experimenting, he was pretty confident in handling this ability by now

[Internal body temperature is still elevated and is holding steady at 89.2 degrees]

Matthew let out a sigh as he dispersed the heat field and sunk further back into the bathtub, at the temperature Aea had started it would be reasonable to expect server health problems, however it would seem that the only part of his insides that wasn’t able to handle this was his 09 and some of the more delicate bio-nanites

“How was it?”

[Waste heat is being vented, at current specifications long term Mystic ability use is highly discouraged, progress on adapting Code Arrow 09 is currently underway at 1.2%, estimated completion of full adaptation to new host perimeters is currently unknown]

“Do you need any more data?”

[Not at the moment, the neurological adjustment to master’s current physical body have also finished]

Matthew nodded, then he sat himself up in the tub before he disconnected the nutrient tube that had been stuck in his shoulder for the past 15 or so hours, a few moments passed before the open wound on his shoulder closed, then he let out another sigh and muttered

“...Time to get to it”

It had been around 21 hours since Matthew had dunked himself into the bathtub, and as much as he wanted to continue lazing around he had things to do, after drying off he got dressed in some traditional holy Uliat clothes, a pair of heavily embroidered pants and a long sleeved shirt both made from pure white fabric, they were all couple of size bigger than the clothes he had discarded before he jumped into the tub

‘...Still not fully grown, but still better than before’

Matthew opened and closed his hand a few times before he spoke out loud

“Send word to Doc that I am on my way topside”

[Yes master]

Even if the plans that Doc and Aea had laid for him, they still grossed him out somewhat, still the figure he had been separated from up North was caught in his mind’s eye and that unease wouldn’t lessen if he took his sweet time, he was quite sure it would only increase if he took his time

After riding a small elevator for half a minute he stepped out into a small bare sandstone room where he sat down on a carpet that was placed on the floor, after he took his seat the wall closed to conceal the elevator entrance perfectly, as far as anyone in the temple knew, he had been in quiet meditation ever since he arrived in the holy city

‘Now then, ready the script Aea…’

[Confirmed, act 1 start]

Matthew felt the control over his body being leveraged by Aea, if he wanted to he could end the control at once, however the 4-6 hour religious debate which Aea had scheduled for ‘act 1’ wasn’t anything he felt like acting out, thus he mostly spaced out for ‘act 1 - 4’ which took place over the next week, which established Matthew as a wise prophet of the sands who had complete oversight over the theoretical knowledge and history, it was subtle in the start, but by the weeks end Matthew were finally officially recognized as the 4th prophet of the sands, and as the sun sat at its apex on the 11th day Matthew found himself in the central plaza of the holy city, whipping up some of that religious fervor

“IF THEY WON’T LEAVE US IN PEACE, THEN WE WILL FIGHT AGAINST THE NONBELIEVERS!”

The roar of 30.000 people followed his statement as he was nearing the climax of his 10(ish) minute speech which was a response to the 2nd assassination attempt on his life which he had foiled exactly as Aea had predicted which just so happened to take place on the holy plaza as he was holding a speech, just as Aea had planed it to

“WE WILL MAKE THEM BLEED, WE WILL TAKE THEIR CITIES, WE WILL TAKE THEIR LAND AND WE WILL FINALLY HAVE OUR PEACE ONCE WE HAVE CLEANSED THE LANDS!”

The excitement of the of crowd were at its peak at this point, however, when a set of Mk. 22 armor covered in holy scripture etched into it, they went completely ballistic, a moment later Matthew entered the armor and raised a large sword towards the sky as the power armor increased the volume of his voice so each and every part of the city could hear it as he yelled

“THEY HAVE SHOWN US NO QUARTER, SO WE WILL SHOW THEM NONE IN RETURN! WE RIDE WEST AT DAWN!”

The fanatic crowd followed Matthew out of the city as he would over the next 4 months as he would lead his 1st crusade towards the west

-

“Alright, that’s enough…”

The holographic display turned off at Matthew command as he leaned back in the soft couch, the broadcast had been live, however it hadn’t really been him that had whipped up that religious frenzy, it had been a clone of his likeness embedded with an A.I. core to act out the perfect prophet of the sands which he had changed places with doing act 2

“As we discussed, I will shadow and mange the clone on its crusade towards the West”

Matthew nodded to Doc, she would be the home crew while Matthew headed North with Ripper to fetch Alina, speaking of Ripper, she was laying on her stomach on her own couch eating fried potatoes, she wasn’t entirely in top form yet, about an arms metal had been added along her 09, this was a maintenance module that would be repairing it and realigning her senses over the next few months, she gazed over at Matthew and spoke

“...I will do my best to keep up, Major”

Matthew nodded, he thought for a few minutes before he decided

“We’ll leave for the first leg just before dawn”

As much as Matthew wanted to just jet it North, that wasn’t really an option, thus they had decided to part it into legs, at each leg they would establish an outpost to resupply and maintain their transport of choice, the Haliea heavy vertical take off and landing transport, high endurance drones which would be deployed along the way would chain their communications together so they could keep in contact

“I got it…”

Ripper slowly rose from the couch and carried her bowl of fried potatoes away towards the hanger, Matthew watched her slowly walk along grabbing a sleeping bag before she boarded Haliea-001, their transport for the first leg

“Don’t tell me she’s just going to lie around in there until we leave?”

Doc shrugged

“I would take it easy on her for a bit, she’s going through it… And I am not just talking about the spine surgery or the gradual return of her physical senses”

Matthew let out a sigh, he hoped she would recover before they reached the Northern Basecamp

‘There’s no way the Willmir empire has behaved itself while I was gone… There’s also a chance Wicka is still monitoring the area’

“Major”

Matthew snapped out of his thoughts and looked across the central table at Doc that spoke

“You have known Ripper for a very long time, that alone should be enough to earn a decent response from you… I am saying this for both of your sakes, Major”

Matthew gazed at Doc in annoyance for a few moments before he let out a tired sigh and promised

“I will, once I sort out my own feelings”

Doc looked at Matthew for a few more moments before she showed a wide smile which earned her a glare from Matthew, still she just smiled silently at him for a few more moments before she spoke

“I’ve only wanted that answer out of you for the last 260 years, please allow me to gloat just a little, Major”

Matthew let out another sigh which earned him a giggle from Doc before she rose to her feet and left with a rather unwanted comment

“There’s birth control in the front left side A-11 compartment~”

Matthew ignored her to the best of his ability as he started questioning his own desires and lack there off

‘...What is it that I want in a partner… And do I even deserve… Why… How did I get so…’

Matthew suddenly began violently scratching his head, a hint of rare embarrassment was clear on his face as he muttered in defeat

“How do people figure this shit out…”

[Do you require assistance, Master?]

Matthew sunk further into the couch in defeat as he muttered

“Yeah… That would be nice…”

-

A funny thing about time was how it was experienced, this was mostly based on the perception of the person experiencing it, Matthew normally found his experience of time to be mostly consistent, of course there were time when that perception slowed, the moments before his pod entered orbit, as the heat shield came alive and interception artillery whizzed past a normal 24-second orbit drop could feel like minutes… However, at this point in time his exhausted mind longed for the monotony of orbital assault

‘Why do emotions have to be this complicated…’

[Most males normally experience mild Alexithymia, in layman terms it is often referred to as emotional color blindness, however Master’s current case is quite severe, but despair not Master, just like field stripping a Mk. 46 High-voltage Coil rifle, getting better at understanding emotions is a skill that you should be able to learn with hard work]

‘...You don’t have to soften the blow like that, give it to me straight’

[Fine, in my recorded data banks there have been more severe cases recorded as examples for rehabilitation like the session we have undergone over the past]

‘And how were those handled?’

[With consent of the patient and 4 close family members selective neurological purging, high voltage current were used to burn out selected clusters to purge the memory that made up the basis for the experienced trauma, a full recovery followed after 3 months of therapy]

“Well, why don’t you just cover me in rocket fuel and shove me out of an airlock instead?”

[We are currently unable to reach the cold vacuum of space, Master, the point I was attempting to make that the patient's consent was needed, I was merely outlining the option]

Matthew rose to his feet and proudly stated

“I am too much of an old dog to learn such new tricks, there’s not much use in throwing my hand of cards back at the deal, I’ve accepted the hand I’ve been dealt in this life… Well, it’s not that I am against learning”

[That is perfectly fine too, I shall do my best to assist you Master]

Matthew picked up his pack and made his way towards Haliea-001 with cautious steps, inside he found Ripper, or rather the vaguely Ripper shaped sleeping bag that was stabbed to a seat with the proper safety harness, Matthew put down his pack in the seat next to her before he took a seat on the opposite side, after a few minutes of silence passed he addressed the sleeping bag

“...Can we talk?”

A few moments passed before a response came in the way of grumble

“I’ve already… Been briefed…”

“Not about that… About us”

A few minutes passed in silence before Ripper’s head emerged from the sleeping bag, she didn’t look at him, but she was clearly ready to listen to what he had to say, Matthew felt his mind churn as one thought sprung to his mind

‘...Man, I would much rather be screaming towards the ground at 3 times the speed of sound in a twice reused drop pod covered in jet fuel than have this talk’