"Riri, where did that explosion come from?" Larry’s worried voice asked.
The robotic voice replied, "It came from the west—Atkinson Drive, to be precise."
"Atkinson, huh? That’s not too far from here. Let’s head there now," he said.
Larry’s foot thrusters roared to life, an ignition burst erupting beneath him as he shot into the air. He was tearing through the sky with incredible speed, moving like a missile targeted at one particular place.
He was getting closer to the area of the explosion when Riri’s voice called out.
"Sir, I’m picking up high-radiation pulses."
Larry replied, "If you’re picking up high radiation, then let’s go faster, Riri, before more chaos happens."
The thrusters burned hotter as they blasted forward at blistering speed. Upon reaching the source of the alarm, Larry glided through the air, scanning for the cause. The place was decimated by radiation; his visor scan caught something. It was a building—a bungalow. The side of the building and the roof had been destroyed by the explosion.
He quickly dropped to the ground. As he landed, his balance was shaky—he almost stumbled. It showed he was still an amateur, learning to get the hang of the suit. He headed toward the building, and just centimeters away, the entire front wall crumbled down. Larry took a step back to avoid the crash. Dust rose, covering the scenery, but cleared quickly with the wind.
Larry walked forward and saw a man in tattered wear bowing down, strings of radiation wrapping around his body. He was muttering words, but they were barely audible.
"Sir—that’s the cause of the radioactive explosion," Riri exclaimed.
Larry replied with a sarcastic tone, "Well, I can very much see that."
"Sheesh, man, it was just saying that for clarity. You didn’t have to be mean. Gosh, people hate help."
Larry yelled, "Are you okay, sir?"
No response came from the man; he just kept his head to the ground, muttering words. Larry walked forward. The man reacted to his footsteps, raising his head up and snapping.
"Get away from me! I’m okay, just stay away from me." His face was white, pale, his eyes dark with sorrow. He looked in pain—an eyesore in the face of another.
"I assure you, sir, I’m not here to do you harm. You don’t look well, and I want to help you," Larry said.
The frail man ran toward the wall and screamed, "I said no! Just let me be!"
Larry replied, "No can do, sir." He walked closer. "Look at this vicinity. The destruction was caused by none other than you. If you’re left alone, there will be severe casualties. You’re lucky this is an abandoned area—or else you’d have blood on your hands."
Larry stopped walking for a moment and thought:
What am I gonna do if he agrees to come with me? I have little idea of what’s happening to him, other than the fact that he has powers. I’m fucked.
He continued walking toward the man. In fear of not knowing what Larry was going to do, the man crouched down, hands on his head, fear written all over his face.
"I said stay away! I don’t need your help!" he shouted. Radiating yellowish discharge fired straight at Larry.
Thanks to the suit’s hyper-motility, he dodged it. The blast soared into the air and caused a loud BOOM!
"Woah, that was pretty close," Larry said with relief.
Riri called Larry’s attention, showing an upload about the man’s identity and adding an extra word: High Hostility. He read it and said, "Egist Dawson, stop this. I don’t want to have to use force on you."
"Force on me? I knew it—you aren’t here to help me!" Egist replied.
"Yeah, ’cause you’re making it hard for me," Larry fired back.
Radiating light glowed in Egist’s body—he was about to burst out a huge blast of radioactive energy.
Riri caught on and told Larry, "Sir, it’s about to become dangerous if we don’t act fast."
"I know," Larry replied. "Let’s do what we can to subdue him."
A preamble blast shot out from Egist at first, which Larry dodged. As the real blast was about to ignite, Larry—using the speed of the suit—ran in and delivered a hard punch to the stomach, making Egist spit out blood before crashing into the wall.
Larry felt pity. "Sorry, dude, I didn’t expect the punch to be that harsh."
Like a missile locked on its target, an arrow flew straight at Larry—but he instinctively caught it.
Then a cold voice said, "Who the fuck are you?"
Larry, still holding the arrow, didn’t realize until it exploded in his face. The blast pushed him back, dropping him to one knee. He got up quickly, but the suit’s vision was blurry. Riri fixed it fast, and he could see again.
He recognized one of his attackers, but not the other. He let out a heavy sigh before erupting in fury:
"What the fuck did you do? Who the hell do you think you are?"
Vilex fired back, "I asked you that first. You don’t answer questions with questions."
Larry replied, "Am I obliged to answer, or supposed to know who you are?"
Frost frowned—the words annoyed him. "What do you mean you don’t know him? It’s either you’re new here, or just moronic."
"What is he, a god or some celebrity supposed to be implanted in my head? Give me a break, sidekick," Larry grinned.
Vilex raised his arrow, ready to fire, while Frost shaped blades of ice.
Vilex spoke, "You’re a problem."
Larry shook his head and replied, "If that’s how you wanna take it, fine. I won’t sit lightly either."
He tapped the middle of his chest, and the nanites remodelled the suit. It grew in size—bigger and taller, to be exact. Larry was ready for combat.
"They’ve met—but not the way we thought. Is it going to get more intense than this? We don’t know, but one thing I can say is: don’t miss the ."