Manhunt the Evader // Evade Fanfiction

Chapter 21 // Trooper

I held the paper in front of me, not believing on what I was seeing. I felt the rough paper texture of the wanted sheet. It was definitely from the Elysium Corporation. But what gives? Rose was extremely loyal to the Corporation; she wouldn't just abandon them like that. Maybe she left because she realized how corrupted the company is? Who fucking knows?!

"Walk faster!" Bobo said in a light tone.

I felt a strong tug on my chest, Defect must have tugged it. It was like an owner taking his dog for a walk.

"Alright, Defect! You don't need to pull it!" I sarcastically sighed before picking up my walking pace.

There it was. The artifact that we were looking for. The pedestal stretched up to the height of the platform from the depths of the never-ending fall of darkness. Dimensions are very mysterious sometimes.

"I don't know what this is, but it's beautiful!" Defect whispered, admiring the artifact's cyan glow.

The teleporter had a unique structure to it. Around its glowing energy, there are withered tree like structure protecting it with a large stem representing the staff of the artifact. With all the teleporter looking artifact, this one surprises me the most. Well, I still liked the bronze teleporter better. I had no knowledge similar to Galf, I was muted to speak its name.

"That's the Hard light Gate," a masculine deep voice confirmed.

Thank goodness Defect knows his artifact identification.

"Thanks, Defect!" I said, still having my eyes stuck on the teleporter.

"But Jard. I thought you said that!" Defect replied with a confused tone.

"Oh, sorry... Thanks, Bobo!" I corrected.

"Not me either!" Bobo answered in a cheerful tone.

Hang on. If it's not Defect or Bobo, then who was the one who identified the artifact. I spun around to check if it was someone else. Behind Defect and Bobo, there was a tall man. He was wearing a hard green helmet. You couldn't see his mouth as a black mask covered most of his eyes. Only his eyes were uncovered so that he could see the world. He was wearing a green military uniform, but much more armored than the rebels. 

"Oh hell, no..." I heard Defect muttered.

He looked at me with kind eyes. 

"Well, isn't it the interdimensional navigator I had been hearing about?" he said in an impressed tone, "glad that I had ran into you when I was wandering in the Underground Facility."

Bobo looked at him with a confused face, wanting to know how the hell he knows what I look like, but never knew my name. The man blinked, reading Bobo's expression before taking another breath to speak again.

"I don't know your name, but I heard you are the one who is responsible for the fall of the rebellion group. I am sure that your little friend here is also a part of the massacre," he continued, "that's correct, am I right?"

I wanted to lie; have the urge to say no. What if this guy is a part of the rebels and was here to take revenge of what we had done to them. I know it was Defect's plan, but he probably thought I was the ringleader.

"Oh yeah! That's us! His name is Jard!" Bobo said out of the blue as the man nodded. 

"Bobo! You are going to get us killed-"

"No need to be feared. I am here to say thank you for your work!" he said, offering me a handshake, "Unfortunately, due to company reasons, I am not to speak my formal name. You may call me, Trooper,"

I nervously took his hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Trooper," I said with some studders in my words.

"Now, I was also mentioned that Galf the shopkeeper is your current travelling organizer?" He asked.

Now I am scared. Trooper knows everything about me.

"Yes, how do you know?" I answered before asking him another question.

"I usually visit his shop to buy some artifacts that you collected," Trooper answered in pride, "he also constantly talked about how you collected them from different dimensions in perfect conditions. That was when I knew I really needed to meet you,"

Galf let the cat out of the bag... Well, Lemon out of the bag actually. 

I looked at Defect, whose face turned into a pissed bitter lemon. His body tensed up from the presence of Trooper as he darted his light blue eyes at him. I have a feeling he knows who he was before I do; it looked like it wasn't a good one. Trooper looked over to Defect before holding up his own hand for a small friendly wave.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Defected Rebel," he said in a friendly tone.

"Don't test my patience, motherfucker!" Defect hissed.

I had been with Defect for a fair amount of time. He was quite a chill person. He doesn't care what happens around him as long as it doesn't put me or Bobo in danger. But today was different, it was like an invisible force sabotaged his buttons. He was full of rage just because of one person. 

Before anything else could go bad, I lunged at the artifact before shoving it in my backpack. The backpack has many layers of cotton and polyester to soften the harsh movement of shoving the artifact deep into it. I think that was why Trooper mentioned the artifact to be in good conditions. I picked up the radar to call Galf.

"Hey, Galf. We got the artifact. Take us home!" I spoke into the communication system.

"No problem!"

The portal opened in front of us. Galf was standing in front of it as expected. His eyes widen as his smile grew wider when he saw Trooper.

"Trooper! My man! How are you doing?" he said, as Trooper gave him a wave.

"Better than ever, so is this the guy you told me about?" he asked, motioning to me.

"Of course, he is! He's the best navigator, isn't he?" he said with a cheeky wink.

Defect sighed in annoyance as Trooper walked into Galf's shop.

"Does he have to be in here?" He complained, walking through the portal.

I tugged the child leash straps as it squeezed me as tight as the hallway in my apartment. Trooper noticed the item around my shoulders.

"Why do you have a child leash on?" He asked as Bobo giggled a bit.

"Personal reasons..." I answered quickly, before taking off that stupid thing and resting it on one of Galf's wooden chairs.

"You know, that reminds me of something," Trooper said, looking at Defect with a cheeky expression.

Reading Defect's face, he has a 'Don't you dare' expression on.

"When I trained the rebellion group a long time ago, Defected Rebel kept falling off the balance rope, so one of the other rebels had to pull him up with a child leash just in case if he falls again," Trooper chucked.

Bobo made a loud wheeze of laughter as Defect dug his face into the sofa, embarrassed about his childhood. I got to admit, it was pretty funny and definitely made me feel better about wearing the child leash during our previous expedition.

"Why..." Defect sobbed, refusing to lift his face from the sofa.

I now get why he hates the guy now. But for real, Trooper used to train the rebels?