Origins Book 2: Hawk: Invasion of the Apocalypse

Chapter Two: Yay!

-Paul-

I woke up to a high-tech medical room. What I saw around me must've been, like, twenty or thirty years more advanced than what I'm used to. I look around the room and see a glass window to my left about the size of my bed. Guess who's on the other side of that window? Oh, no one, just my girlfriend who, last time I saw her, was complaining about voices in her head. She had a device sticking to her head. Four discs stuck to her face. One on her chin, one on each temple, and one on her forehead. Each disc, except for the one on her left temple and forehead, are connected by a black, strong-looking wire. 

I hear a buzzing sound and a door opens. There's a dude with blue hair, a blue mark on his left eye, and a long, leather trench coat. He's also wearing some heavy-duty boots, which are where some throwing knives are attached.

"Hello," he says. "My name is Thorne. You have no reason to worry, we're not the bad guys. We picked you up back in Centennial Park. We checked Park security camera footage, and we saw you tried to kill the creature. Then, you passed out, along with your girlfriend, and then there was some interference and the creature was gone. We need to know what that is on your chest, too." He points to that gem on m-- wait. I've had this on the entire time? Why didn't they take it off? No, you know what? I don't want it anymore.

Wait, what's happening? Why is my suit coming off? Oh, crap! I caught the gem just as it was about to hit the ground.

"Interesting," Thorne commented. "It seems to be a telepathic connection between the gem and the host."

I held up the gem and stared at it for a second before I remembered something so big, it was like a baseball bat to the gut. "What's Jen doing in there?"

Thorne turned to the window. "Ah, yes. The blood of that alien race has certain combines and enzymes in it, doing wonderful things to the human body, depending where the blood went," he explained. "Seeing as it landed on her head, she has been given the gift of telepathy and psychics. She should be waking up soon, so don't you worry. We will notify you as soon as she wakes up. You can follow Dart here," he said as he gestured to a badass-looking dude wearing a red and silver mechanical suit, "to your quarters."

"Come," Dart said. Wow. He sounded young, just getting that low voice. I remember those days. Ah, middle school.

I followed him through a string of long hallways with several rooms on each side. Good Lord, how does he not get lost every day? Anyway, once we reached my room, he pushed open a door that read "P. FOWLER" on it. Jeez, how do these people know my name? And who are these people?

As if Dart had read my mind, he told me, "I know you're very confused, so let me clarify things for you: you are in a secret base orbiting Earth. This agency is called T.H.O.R.N.E, which stands for Tactical Helping Operational Righteous National Enforcers. If you need anything, ask Nighthaven, our A.I support program. She's the best in the biz." At that, he walked away without another word. Damn, that was a lot to take in. Time to go find out who or what Nighthaven is.

As I walked into the room, I noticed how the place was decked out in accessories, toiletries, you know. I look around for a while, trying to find a big, red button that says Nighthaven on it. "Nighthaven, where are you?" I call out. As a response, a big, blue, holographic, human female head hovers in the center of the room. Alright, I give up. I'm dreaming. Time to test my theory. I jump on the air, arms outstretched, expecting to fly away. The head's-- or, more likely, Nighthaven's-- eyes watch me as I fall to the ground.

"You need that gem of yours to do that, silly." Nighthaven said. I look up to the nightstand which I had put that thing on. Then, I remembered flying straight through that alien thingee. I slowly got up and walked over to grab the gem, eyes trained on Nighthaven. I grip it with my right hand and think about it being stuck to my chest. It forced its way out of my hand and stuck to my chest, making that suit emerge once again. Interested in what I look like, I walk over to a tall mirror attached to the door. Dear, sweet Jesus, I look AWESOME.

I have a dark blue helmet with a white area with lines stretching downward covering from my chin and jaws all the way down to my chest and shoulders. I see that four-sided grey gem on my chest again, glinting in the light. The entirety of my arms are blue, and I see those metallic, hovering wings again. Oh, crap, how am I going to avoid breaking everything here with those getting in the way? And then I see those wings liquify and mold onto my arms, making them grey. Let's see, how do I explain this? My legs are grey, but there are grey part slants coming down from my thighs inward. I turn around to see that the grey coming from my thighs goes all the way up my back to that white-lined area. I look back to my gem, noticing that there's a sort-of grey hollow arrow pointing down, encasing the gem. Then I s-- HOLY CRAP!!! I HAVE TWO FREAKING BENDABLE SPIKE THINGAMAJIGGEES ON MY BACK!!! THAT'S SO COOL!!!

I wonder if I can control them. I think about them waving around, acting all silly. When I look back at them, they're doing exactly what I wanted them to do. Lord, is this entire suit telepathic? It just might be. Wouldn't be surprising.

Then, I hear a knock on the door. I force my suit to come off, and I set my gem on the nightstand. I walk over to the door and open it. "Hey, Paul," Jen says.

Oh, my God. I've never been so happy to see her alive.

"Jen!" I exclaim as I wrap her in one of my world-famous hugs. I pull back and look at her face, remembering how there was a device stuck to her face a few minutes ago. And ... yup. It's still there.

"What's this on your face?" I ask, hoping for a definite and positive answer. Fingers crossed!

"That," she explains, "is some sort of portable containment device. It sticks to my head because of the ... let's just say 'abilities'. It keeps them from overloading my mind and making it explode. Unfortunately, I can't remove it. But, on the bright side, I can do this now."

She holds out one hand and aims it at a pillow on my bed. I look to her face. She's sweating like crazy, and she looks like she's really struggling. I look back to the pillow, which is now hovering about a foot above where it was sitting. It suddenly drops, and I hear panting behind me. Jen is doubled over, one hand on her forehead. "Jen, are you okay?" I ask her. My Lord, what's happened to her?

"I'm fine," she says. Whew. "I just need to learn how to not, like, pass out doing that." She looks up at me with a half-hearted smile. I help her hobble over to my bed so she can sit down and rest. We've both been through a lot. I'm barely holding myself together. Oh, and now that's she's shown me what she can do, I can show her what I can do.

"Here. Let me show you something," I tell her. I get up and grab the gem that I left on my nightstand. Alright, let's see if I can do this again.

I close my eyes and imagine the gem staying on my chest, making that suit emerge again. When I open my eyes, it's there again. I think I'm getting the hang of this. I looked at Jen sitting on my bed. She sat staring at me in amazement.

"Woah!" she exclaimed. "That thing is badass! How do you control that thing?" I tell her that I do this the same way she made a haunted pillow come to life. "Well, anyway, I'm exhausted, so I'm gonna head over to my room and get some sleep," she tells me. I ought to get some sleep, too. "Alright, hon', um ... see you tomorrow, I guess?"

She kisses me on the cheek and leaves my room. I take off the gem and shut the door behind her. I took a shower, got dressed again, and fell asleep. Nighty-night!