Chapter 13

After leaving the house, Jason walked for a long time.

He walked down to the common district, the streets empty beyond the lights, which floated in the air; the orange, pink, and yellow illuminated the scrap-like huts as he wandered. The smell of home hit his brain sharply as he inhaled the crisp air of the cold.

Walking back up the hill, he came to the alley where he and Panka had found Uddi; the bodies had been cleaned up, and the tree in which the girl, Chisako, was held had been cut from its stem. He sighed dryly, silently hoping she was alive despite her threat to him.

Winding through the alleyways, the air bit his throat, and his hand throbbed in pain.

After what felt like hours of walking, he came across what looked like an earth-style warehouse. On the front of the industrial door, the logo of the Soldier's Hand, a fist clasping a blade upright, was carved into the metal. Before he entered, a voice entered his head, whispering to him softly.

“Jason, what do you plan to do now that you’ve found this place? Will you go get your friends? What are you thinking?”

“Stop talking.” Jason said as he squeezed his hand, grinding his teeth as it started to sting wildly against the strap of Biji’s jacket.

“I can't stand a second more of you nagging me. Your ‘gift’ hasn't helped me at all, and I'm no closer to finding my brother. Get the hell out of my head, and leave me alone.”

Despite the venom in his words, Ukali only stayed quiet for a moment.

“... You are closer than you think.”

Jason slammed his foot into the door in rage, causing it to open. He then entered the warehouse, disappearing from the street as he clasped the jacket strap in his hand.

…

“My friend, you’ve come.”

From a high mezzanine at the top of the warehouse, Nikolai stood. Looking down at Jason, his fingers tapped the railing as he grinned.

“It seems you’ve caused my foot soldiers some problems, Jason. I commend you for taking out as many as you did. Although, I do apologize for the damage to your hand. Basketball may find itself harder now, no?” His mouth twisted into a cruel, sarcastic grin.

“So, this is him? I expected someone a bit more capable based on how you described him, Niko.”

A voice came in from behind Nikolai, speaking to him in a mocking tone.

Stepping out of the shadows appeared a blonde woman; her face and eyes pointed down at Jason like a razor, smiling with glee as she put her hands on Nikolai’s shoulders. “So, have you told him yet? I’d like to show him our surprise. She's waiting very impatiently.” Her smile broke for a moment as her eye twitched in irritation.

“Not yet.” Nikolai spoke quietly, putting his hand on the woman's.

“Jason! I have forgotten to ask in my excitement, to what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?"

“... how close are you to getting the amount of Raksha you need rounded up?”

Jason tapped his foot on the ground in agitation. “Ah, well, we have come quite close to operations being ready, actually! And all of the back of one member, no less. Let me introduce you.”

From behind Nikolai, a second figure stepped out from the darkness. The air in the warehouse grew hot as his presence almost ignited the air.

A tall, cloaked knight, sporting a mask emblazoned with a white circle, brandished his weapon down towards Jason: an excessively intricately designed sword.

“This is my enforcer, Eclipse.”

“So, what, Nikolai, are you introducing your posse to me? Is this a threat? Cut to the chase.” From his pocket, Jason had started to wrap the string of his hammer around his hand.

“No, no, my friend. I simply want to see, per se, what you’re made of.” Nikolai grinned, gesturing out to the ground beneath him. Jason groaned, “First of all, that's not what per se means, and second of all—”

Jason was cut off by loud screeching—the sound of blades being dragged along the ground.

“I told you I would be back to gut you.”

…

Chisako stepped out from the shadows. Her long black hair had been freshly washed and combed, with pale white makeup covering her wounds, beyond the white bandage on her eye. Her face was almost white with rage.

Where her shoulders had previously been left stumps, red metallic arms seem to attach, flaring in a red and black mist. Her crest, which had once likely rested on her wrist, now pulsed around her neck with an eerie crimson ebb.

“Courtesy of Ayn here, we have outfitted our favorite commander with some, ah, upgrades after your encounter.” Nikolai gestured to the blonde woman, who curtsied slightly with a wide smile, causing Jason to roll his eyes.

“... it is a shame, Nikolai.” He yelled up to Nikolai, who turned his head in confusion.

“I almost considered coming to ask for your help, to work together, but you have made yourself so obviously and unabashedly unlikable that I have to take out some aggression on you.” Jason said, pulling the hammer from his pocket, before turning his gaze sharply to the other two soldiers. “And then I'm coming up there for the rest of you next.”

“Ooh! Big words, my friend; let's see you back them up. Chisako, dance with him for me.” Nikolai smiled wide, leaning against the railing excitedly. Without exchanging words, Chisako rushed at Jason with blinding speed, slamming her arm into the ground with force enough to cause the ground to crack. Jason narrowly avoided the attack, jumping out of the way, a bead of sweat falling from his face.

‘This is the first time since the pig that I've actually been on my toes.’

Swinging her arm down in a hammer, Jason dodged out of the way in a split second before contact, scraping his face. He continued to duck and dodge around her, feeling surprisingly light on his feet.

“Hey, no hard feelings about earlier, right? We both took some damage and said some things.” Jason raised his hand mockingly. “Let’s just shake hands, then go after the real enemy here, alright?”

“Moron, what are you posturing about? I don't see anyone here but you that needs to be erased.” Chisako bitterly spat at him before rushing in again, a barrage of punches flying Jason’s way. The heat from her hands caused his skin to singe slightly as Jason was able to narrowly avoid her strikes.

‘She doesn't seem to be used to fighting with these arms yet,’ he thought to himself, breathing a sigh of relief.

Chisako, screaming with a violent rage, continued to swing; however, wanting to end the fight, Jason decided he needed a different approach:

He sprinted to the left, leaving Chisako to follow him, before vaulting against the wall.

‘This is incredibly stupid, and it’ll only work once. I can tap into as much power as possible to really make this hurt.’

With his foot leaving the wall, Jason threw himself towards her, landing a clean hit to her face and sending her to the ground. ‘Well, that was quick. I honestly didn't expect it to work that well’

As she struggled to get up, he looked back up to the mezzanine, shrugging his shoulders up at the three staring down.

“Honestly, I was expecting… more…?” Jason started before Chisako quickly fell to her knees, wailing in pain, and gripping her neck.

“Oh… What a shame! Her body must be rejecting the prosthetics.” Ayn said quietly, putting her hand to her face, “In that case, she is not much longer for the world, Nikolai,” she said solemnly, putting her hand on Nikolai's shoulder, who put his hand to his face to shield his eyes.

“... We will put her out of her misery quickly, then,” he said, gesturing to Eclipse. “I am very sorry, Chisako. You have been loyal to the end.” Nodding, Eclipse snapped his fingers, causing a loud rumbling to shake the floor of the warehouse.

A grate in the floor opened, with wails and screeches rapidly becoming louder as the Scorched approached the surface.

“No, please, I can still—AUGH!” Chisako whispered, tears falling from her eye as she clawed at her eyepatch. Jason felt a pang of pain in his chest; despite everything, Chisako seemed like a pretty average human girl.

As if his feet were moving on their own, Jason ran towards her, sinking to his knees to attempt to help her. “Are you okay?” his voice having long lost its smug edge, falling into a soft concern.

“Am I… okay? Am I okay!? NO! I'm going to die because of you; of course I'm not okay!” She screamed violently, sending a fist into Jason’s stomach. The force was enormous, enough for him to fly backwards about a foot.

He didn't stand back up, writhing in pain on the floor.

‘… Why does this keep happening, man…? In the shows when characters go to alternate worlds, they become superheroes. I've done nothing but get beat up since I got here…

‘Maybe there's something wrong with me.’

The Scorched from underground had started to claw their way up and out of the ground; horrific-looking creatures with empty eyes peered at Chisako from the hole in the floor.

Slowly, they pulled themselves from the ground, four massive creatures surrounding the warehouse.

Chisako desperately stood, picking her swords back up from the ground. “A-alright, I’ll just have to kill all of these things! I'll prove my strength to you three, just you wait!” Chisako looked up desperately to the mezzanine; Nikolai and Ayn looked back down sadly at the girl, clearly not confident in her promise.

On the ground, Jason began to slam his damaged hand into the ground, causing blood to fall from the wrap.

‘I’m pathetic. Damn it, I came off so cool back home; now that I'm here, I've felt like a fool, over, and over, and over…’

Ukali’s voice appeared in his mind once again, her voice solemn but serious.

“Tell me, Jason, will your self-perception save you in this moment? How much will your image of yourself save you from death? Will the fact you are Jason Raja save your brother?”

…

Within sports, there is a concept of a flow state known as “The Zone,” a place of mental clarity and peak performance only achievable by the highest-level athletes. Its existence initially posited by baseball players, it was later adopted by numerous sports, including basketball players, in order to describe the mindset of playing at peak performance.

…

As Chisako fought off the Scorched, one of the larger ones knocked her to the floor. As she struggled to stand up, her hand slammed repeatedly into the ground.

“NO! NO, NO! This isn't how I'm going to die! I CAN'T DIE HERE! NOT IN THIS HELL!”

From behind her, Jason had returned to standing. He wasn't illuminated with energy, but a focused look was apparent in his eyes.

“Look, if they’re gonna try to kill us, we might as well work together to fight these things off, right? I don't want to die here either, you know.” he said as he offered Chisako a hand.

“... Very well,” she said, pulling herself up. “But I will kill you the next chance I get,” she said regally, as she turned her nose to him.

“Can't say I'm shocked, but have it your way,” he said, readying the string of his meteor hammer. “Try to just knock them out. They’re people too, y'know."

“It hardly matters right now, or do you want one of them to eat you whole?” she snapped back aggressively.

The two humans stood back-to-back for just a moment before Chisako leaped into the air, slamming her fists into one of the scorches. Its screech rang through the warehouse before the creature fell hard into the ground.

‘…She hit me with that? How am I still up?’

For what felt like forever, Jason evaded strikes from the Scorched as they stomped and swung at him; these ones were much larger than the one he had fought before and much more amorphous, making it harder to predict their moves.

“What are you doing, idiot? Just kill them already! You’re going to get yourself killed like that!”

Chisako yelled down, cracking one across its malformed head, causing black blood to coat her armored arms.

Jason slammed his hammer into the side of one of the other Scorched heads, causing it to slam into the previous. In an instant, both fell to the ground.

“I’m not that helpless, you know,” he smirked.

As if the gods themselves had heard him, one of the Scorched flicked their head over to Jason before moving its arm in a flash, attempting to crush him with a comically large finger.

‘Damn my big mouth.’

From behind him, a beam of lightning appeared, severing the finger from the hand, causing the Scorched to cry out in pain.

“I finally found you, bastard.”