1.5 The Machine Part 2

“Hey Sam!”  I call as school ends, “I need to talk with you.”

“Yeah Daniel?” replies Sam as he waits at the gate for me.

“I would like to ask you something,” I say as I reach him before lowering my voice, “About the other stuff.”

“Sure,” replies Sam.

He gives me curious look. Once we’re away from the main crowd, we begin talking.

“So what was it you wanted to ask me?” inquires Sam.

“What’s it like having superpowers?” I ask, “I was just wondering how it changed your life.”

“Why are you asking?” says Sam confused, “You got the armour, the base and all those gadgets from your granddad.”

“I know, but I grew up with all of those,” I reply, “I been helping granddad with those since I was little. That’s just part of my life.”

“What about the Sentinel armour?” asks Sam, “You haven’t had that until your granddad died.”

“But that’s sort of like training,” I reply, “Except its real. It feels kind of like a Wii game without the controllers. After all, flying only works with the rocket pack so I either hover or fly in the direction that I am pointing in. The lasers and sonics are point and shoot without recoil. The strength and protection mean pretty much nothing can match me. I think only person who I have faced who could match me was Gorlack. Even Vistorix didn’t stand much of a chance against me for all his power. I could just fly and shoot him.”

“I can understand that,” says Sam, deep in thought.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” I remind him.

“As with you, I grew up with some of it,” replies Sam thoughtfully, “I have always stronger, faster and tougher than most people. My senses are superior to almost every normal person. I also expected to get my main powers. I actually kind of willed them to awaken if understand what I mean.”

“I do,” I say, “I know how your powers work.”

“For me, they just turn on and off at will,” continues Sam, “And I when I say they work at my will, I literally mean they work at my will. The flight is easy to control and quite fun as my psionic field makes most of the problems you would normally have go away.  The superstrength is awesome and again my psionic field makes it easy to use as I can just will my strength to be as powerful as I need to me. My powers literally work as I will them to so I don’t have all those problems controlling them that most people do.”

“I have to use my training to pull my punches in the Sentinel armour.”

“My psionic field also means I’m pretty much invulnerable allowing me great freedom to act without hurting myself,”

“Don’t forget how your indomitable will renders you immune to tampering with your mind.”

“Now that is an awesome superpower.”

“Luckily you haven’t had need of it yet.”

“I doubt that look will last.”

“True. But I do think we might have a year or two before that time.”

We fall silent for a few moments before switching our conversational topic to more trivial matters as our school work and the latest local gossip. We end up out in the forest together, the afterschool meeting completely slipping our minds. We only remember when Skyler calls us as we finish discussing Narszara’s conclusions regarding up mysterious enemy.

“Where are you two?” demands Sky.

“We’re talking together out in the forest,” I explain sheepishly.

“Never mind that,” says Sky, “Get over here. Now!”

“You can start without us,” I reply, “Narszara can explain it to you. She was the first one of us to figure it out.”

Sky grunts in annoyance and hangs up. I look at Sam.

“We better go,” I say and he gives a simple nod of agreement.

We’re almost at base when we receive a red alert on our League communicators. Red alerts mean that is some major trouble. The only worse alerts are a grey alert, which means deaths and a black alert, which means a wipe out of those involved. The last one is automated thanks to its nature.

Never once has the League had to send a black alert and I hope to keep it that way.

“What’s the situation?” I ask over my communicator.

“A large war robot is advancing towards Ashurst, milord,” answers Narszara, “The others are going to engage it. I am remaining as mission control. I would recommend getting down here and suiting up.”

“You’re not going?” I reply.

Her reply has me confused. Narszara doesn’t seem like the type to stay out of the fight and I’ve seen her take every chance for a fight against our enemies even though she has only had proper one so far.

“No milord,” says Narszara, “I am feeling weary. I am missing my home and it’s been affecting my prowess and rest. I would not be at my best in battle before I get undisturbed rest.”

“Oh,” I reply, unsure about what to say to her.

“Don’t worry Verigar,” say Narszara, “It is not uncommon for one of my people to settle in a foreign realm out of duty to those there. It merely takes time to adapt to the change.”

“If you say so,” I reply, still unsure of what I’m supposed to do with Narszara.

I feel a need to make things up to her. She is only here because she swore her loyalty to me and even though it was her choice, as her lord, I feel guilty about it. I guess I didn’t realise because Narszara is so stoic and obedient outside of combat.

I’ll ask her what she’s wants once this is over.

“We ought to give Narszara a good time once this is over,” I say to Sam, “Maybe go out someplace with her. If I can find a suitable place for someone like her.”

We rush to the base. Narszara is sat at the main computer. As usual, it takes just over two minutes for me to suit up. I’m certain it took Sam less time to get changed into his costume, but he waited none the less.

“What are the chances that it’ll be over when we get there?” asks Sam in a jovial tone.

“I would say high,” I reply, “We have got nine League members out there. How bad could things possible get?”