The Adventures of Mavus Pt. V

The Adventures of Mavus Pt. V jumps forward in time, and follows the events of The Diary of Aaron Sterling. Mavus and the Inquisition have lost their fight against the New Militia and the Street Angels, having lost a crucial magical item to the enemy.

Chapter 24 - Conlan Catches Me Sleeping In Class

RING RING RING

"Morning sleepyhead!" Junon gorgeous face peered over me.

"Five more minutes." I covered my head with my pillow, attempting to turn the phone alarm off. Junon grabbed the phone off the nightstand away from my reach as it continued its alarm of torture.

"What the hell! I was in the middle of dreaming about you---niversity..."
"We have class. Varen, Truman, and Khione are all waiting for you in the breakfast hall."

Yeah, so I guess I should probably update you guys on what's been happening. I fought Plyth and got a vision, then I got my ass handed to me twice by Giantkiller. Rev 3 and Rev 4's corpses were sitting in our room in pieces. At this rate, my side of the room was starting to become a graveyard of dead inventions.

"Consider it a learning experience!" Junon had once told me. Yeah, well I'm definitely not forgetting these experiences.

I trudged to the chow hall and ate my breakfast. Varen put his arm around me. "Good morning metal warrior! How was your rest?"

I started at him. "Dude we literally got wrecked by the New Militia, why are you still so happy?" I noticed Truman stuffing his face. "And how do you still have an appetite after what's been happening?"

Varen looked confused. "One loss isn't enough to quell the fires of a warrior's spirit! We must look forward to the next battle!" Truman was stuffing his face. His mouth was full of bacon. "Yeah Mave, gotta look forward. You did better against Giantkiller your second time! Least you landed more than just a tiny headbutt."

Khione's arm was still in a cast from when she attempted to fight one of the Street Angels. "How's the arm?" I asked.

She looked at her cast. "It's healing... I guess. How's your mech's?"

I smirked. "Like all my hopes and dreams. Ripped and in tatters."

We all went to the other building to attend lectures. Since preparing for the new threat was a huge deal, all supervisors were asked to join their squads to ensure "maximum learning benefit". Junon was Darkstar, but since she was an unpowered, she didn't need to worry about teaching stuff like spells or front line combat. She passed on the hand-to-hand instructor position to Yuko.

Basically, now I had to impress her in class too.

"And this, is known as a pincer move." Conlan continued, showing us a slide on the two groups of stick people charging in. Oh my God!!! This was torture! Why did I need to learn about this. At least it wasn't as bad as Corinese Class. That class was actually a sleep inducer. I was considering putting Mr. Reiss on loop every night to help me go to bed easier.

I turned around. Junon was busy taking notes alongside the rest of our squad. Now's my chance! I put my head down and closed my eyes. Nothing too obvious. What's one military commander to one stealthy boi?

"Shaw. Would you care telling me what that is?"

I jumped up. Everybody in the lecture hall was staring at me. Oh crap! I wasn't paying attention and he called me out. I stared at Conlan, who was looking at me. Then I turned to the side. Junon was raising her fingers, four and a two.

"The answer to life." I replied.

Conlan raised his eyebrow. "The optimal number of units to disperse the enemy is the answer to life?"

Everybody laughed. Junon facepalmed. Oh. I guess she meant to tell me the answer was forty two. I looked at my squad sheepishly, Truman and Khione were laughing so hard that they were struggling to breathe while Veran gave me a thumbs up for some reason.

"A true warrior always brings humour to the battlefield!"

Class ended and I left with a little too much enthusiasm, I was the first to leave, instinctively constructing a pair of boot propulsors that jettisoned me out of the building.

Junon caught up with me, laughing. "Wait for the rest of the squad, Mavus!"

Khione and Veran caught up with us, while Truman was breathing hard. Good old cardio in the morning never hurt anyone, unless you were Truman. We stood together outside of the building. We had an hour until lunch. Khione scratched her head. "So... what now?"

Junon put her notebook into her bag. "I'm going to plan with Kyrael and Amana. I'll catch you guys at lunch!" She walked off. Veran stretched his arms. "I shall go hone in my combat skills!" He put his arms around Khione and Truman. "You two shall assist on my training!" Khione turned bright red in embarrassment.

I put my notebook back in my bag too. Of course, I didn't really take notes. It was just doodles of the troll face in like fifty different styles. "I'm heading back to my room to work on Rev 5. I'll catch you guys later."

I headed back to my room in the castle. I walked to my half of the room, the messy half, and brushed all of the scrap pieces off the table and onto the ground.

"Juno, bring up logging files on my last fight with Aaron."

Chapter 25 - Junon's Ex

I continued working on my Rev 5 repulser when Junon walked in on me.

"Still tinkering, huh."

I willed the final two plates to assemble. "Yeah, the quest to beat Giantkiller never ends!" Junon smiled but her face was troubled.

"Did I do something wrong? I reaaallly tried to concentrate on Corinese, you have no idea how hard it is to keep your eyes from closing. I think there's a medical term for it."

Junon laughed and sat on the bed. "No... I'm fine. I was just thinking about Aaron... and Adam."

Yeah, in case you guys were wondering, I found out that Adam was Junon's ex. It didn't take long, since every time she mentioned his name she tried to hide her undertone. Junon never could hide it that well. He was also a cyborg. I guess Junon was into metal boys. Spooky.

Junon stared at the repulser. "Adam was, always scared of machines. It didn't matter if it was a robot, or a mechanism. He hated himself for being a cyborg, always thinking he was a monster."

I opened up the hatch and peered inside. The HUD from my vision module that was attached to my ear showed potential sources of energy leakage. I hovered my hand over the tech, the components glowing green as they moved around and rearranged themselves.

"Being a machine isn't all bad. When I'm fighting alongside you, I'm a machine. There's perks to it, like never having to worry about going to the bathroom..."

Junon managed a slight laugh. "You're like Adam in many ways, but at the same time, you guys are completely different. I just... I didn't think he would join the New Militia... I definitely said the wrong thing, but I didn't know what to tell him. It was just a shock to see him even alive.

"I just wish he and Aaron came back to me. There is no reason for them to work for Ariandal, yet they are doing it anyway. When is this nightmare going to end? How many more of us are still alive?"

I put the vision module down and turned to her. "You did what you could, Junon. Those two chose it, so I guess we just gotta fight them. I'm sure they'll realize how much of a nutcase Ariandal is eventually. Then we'll welcome them with open arms! Well first I gotta beat Aaron, but then we can welcome them with open arms."

Suddenly, the repulser sparked. Oh crap! I rerouted the reflectors the wrong way!

I quickly rushed to the nearest extinguisher and sprayed the repulser, making my side of the room even more of a mess than it already was.

Every time Junon mentioned Adam, he was always brooding about something. Or he would be in trouble, or he would have done something and regret it later. The more Junon talked about him, the more of a beta male he seemed. Of course, I wasn't one to talk, I was as beta as it was. Despite that, it really made me question. Why would she be into someone who was always like this? Would you date a guy who was always upset with everything around him, even himself? Probably not. If you got to choose between some edgy cyborg emo, or Corinth's most handsomest asian guy, pretty sure you'd choose your boy.

I wrapped the fried repulser concept in a cloth. I guess ill just work on it tomorrow. I sat next to Junon.

"So uh... how did you and Adam... you know..." Junon raised an eyebrow. "How did we get together?"

I nodded. It was a pretty selfish and insecure question, but I was genuinely interested what she saw in the guy.

"I saved Adam thinking he was John Crypt, he had his memories grafted into his mind. We were on the run, and he protected me and my best friend, Ally. We were all unpowered, but John, I mean Adam, was a cyborg. He protected us."

"Wait, John Crypt? Wasn't he that lanky kid with dark powers? Why would anybody want his memories?"

Junon laughed. "I wouldn't call him lanky, in fact he's in Darkstar too. He's one of the leaders."

My eyes went wide. "What? Jason? Nah stop playing around". I laughed. There was no way they were the same person, but Junon's expression was serious.

"Oh my God..." I muttered.

Junon tied her hair back. "Why are you suddenly so interested in my exes?"

I stopped fiddling with a piece of tech that I had accidentally began developing, a moving hexagonal diamond tesseract, as I tried to phrase my questions. "I just wanted to know what about Adam made you like him, that's all. He seemed to always be plagued with something, you know? Like he was either insecure about his powers, or got himself beat up. I just don't see how this-" I waved my hands. "I just don't see how it happened. I don't mean to be rude or anything."

Junon leaned back. "Nope. I totally get what you mean. But the thing is, they were things he never told me. Everything I have told you now was what I figured out myself. Adam's insecurity over being half machine, he never told me directly. But whenever he used his freakish strength to hold back the Automatons while we escaped, or whenever he tried to take a hit, shielding us and exposing his endoskeleton. He always had a face of horror and disgust. He would always try to mask it whenever I asked him about it.

"At the time, I found it annoying. Why would he pretend everything was okay. But then I realized that he was doing it for me. He didn't want me to worry because he knew I was already going through enough trauma. I had watched my entire family being slaughtered by those machines."

The device I made began powering up, emanating a green glow. That usually happened when I was flooded by a wave of emotion. "I- I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Junon glanced at the tech in my hands. "No. You don't have to be. The past is in the past. But to answer your question, I fell in love with Adam because he cared about me in a genuine way. Not in a way that he wanted something in return, but rather in a way where my happiness was his top priority."

I put the tech down. It broke apart into its components and dissolved. "I'll bring Adam home. And Aaron. Even if it means beating those guys up."

Junon looked surprised. "Maybe leave out the beating them up part."

I gave her a thumbs up. "No promises. Don't worry, leave the rest to me."

Chapter 26 - I Take On Some Stealthy Bois

"Hey, brat! Stop running away from us! We're here to help!" I shouted at the kid who was running away from Varen and I.

"A true warrior never runs from danger! You want to be a hero, do you not? Face us so we may talk!" Varen exclaimed. I turned to him.

"Dude what? How is that gonna make things better? You literally just told him we're dangerous!" Varen frowned.

We were on a mission to rescue a kid who was being targeted by the New Militia. Junon had received intel that they wanted his powers for something and stopped at nothing to get him. As a result, he was on the run, and it was our job to keep him safe.

Unfortunately, the kid thought we were the bad guys too.

"Screw this!" I shouted. I extended my hand, and the shards of metal particulate embedded in my jacket fibres extended, transforming into my Rev 4 repulser. I aimed my palm at the kid running, the repulser charging up, the indicator lines on the sides of the bracer glowing green.

"Mavus! What are you doing?! Don't kill him!" Junon's voice appeared in my coms unit.

Varen bounded after the kid while I stood still. The kid kept bobbing and weaving into different buildings. Varen, being the gentlemen he was, barged right through. "Excuse me! Coming through! Don't mind the hole in your walls kind citizens!"

This was so stupid. Why would Junon task us with an extraction mission? I was literally the complete opposite of stealth. The last time I did something stealthy was trying to sneak naps in one of Conlan's lectures. That ended with him putting me on blast in front of Junon.