The hangar was massive. At first he thought he was outside on some dark alien planet, but then he noticed the dome lights above. Then there was the matalic wall and ceiling. Finally the large ships below made it painfully obvious where he was. He barely managed to see their military ground vehicles, but they were there too. The giant ones were easy to see though, looking like shadows of giant monsters standing near the distant wall. Dale found he was on a metal platform high up. He could hear the sound of the aliens talking through the speakers. Based on how repetitive it sounded. He assumed it must be some kind of alert.
"Be careful. They're here and they are watching." The girl said. Dale saw the girl standing by him again. She looked like a short vampire. Blood red irises and white hair.
"What the Hell are you?" Dale asked as he started glancing around for them.
Thats when he noticed multiple platforms accross from his at certain levels of hieghts. He could sense them, but he couldn't see them.
"I suggest you run..I don't wanna be hurt either." The girl said.
Dale wanted to ask why she'd be hurt. She was a hologram afterall. Or some kind of hallucination.
Instead, he sprinted to his left. He saw three ships docked near a hole in the wall. They were the size of a personal jet. Mounted with weapons on each wing.
"That must lead out of this ship." Dale said.
"Can you drive a space ship?" The girl asked.
The girl was no longer in sight, but he could still hear her voice.
"No..I never even got my drivers license." Dale admitted. He felt embarassed.
"What are you? A dunce?" She said.
"Hey, cut me some slack..I probibly couldn't drive them with or without a license. Its alien technology."
"In that case. Your only option is to jump off. Were in space right now. So you might not survive entry. Even at low Earth orbit." She said.
Dale was amazed at how much she knew and how accurate it sounded.
"How do you know all this?" Dale asked.
"Thats easy. I'm a ghost. I'm just lingering around my body now. But I can see what you cannot. Now lets go, guy without a driver's license." She said.
Dale felt agitated by her license remark, but he ignored it.
"What do you mean..your body? Is this armor your body?" Dale began to feel uneasy. There was something strange about the young girl. Something wasn't right and Dale felt he was extremely close to the answer.
"No. The body inside that parasite armor. Thats my body..was my body." She said. Dale kept walking through the ship launch pad. He could see the blinding light of the Earth's surface now.
"This is my body..I grew up with it." Dale was confused.
"Haven't you noticed? Doesn't it feel deferent? The way you swollow, the way your muscles feel?" She said.
He did feel deferent. It was hard to notice, because he was also feeling the armors senses. Now that he thought of it. He did feel smaller. Nothing felt right since he wished for this armor.
"You never wished for new armor." The girl said.
Those words sounded cruel. As if he'd been duped in some way by some devil. No, the truth was, he screwed himself over for not being specific.
"You're right..I didn't." Dale felt scared now. What had he done? Had he actually become a monster? Maybe this wasn't a suit, but a monsters body.
"I can feel your fear…The truth is. You're using a Scarlet body. They are super soldiers designed to combat bioweapons, at least in my world they are."
Dale reached the end of the tunnel. He could see Earth, the moon, and the stars. He'd often imagined the stars wouldn't be visable because of the suns light, but he could see them.
"What happened to my body?" Dale asked as he soaked in the amazing sight.
"I don't know…I do notice you have a mark on your wrist. That isn't part of the knight project." She said.
"We'll. I'll worry about that later. It wont matter if I die in the atmosphere.." Dale said.
He reached out and thats when he noticed a wall of energy. His arm could pass right through it. He studied his hand in the vaccume if space and clinched his fist.
"Everything is good..the knight armor seems to be resistant to the vaccume and radiation." The girl said.
"I guess were off then." Dale said.
He kneeled and put a foot off the edge. Then he pushed himself forward with all his might. He was flying through space, but it felt as if he wasn't making any progress.
"It'll take a few hours. Until then, you best watch your back." The girl said. Dale looked back. He was getting further and further away from the massive alien ship. From their view, it just looked like a massive metal wall. If there was to be an end to space. This is what it would look like. In reality, he shouldn't be too surprised at the ships size. If it was visable from Earth, it must be huge.
"Oh, no.." The girl said.
"What is it?" Dale looked back.
The launch hole they exited from began to flash. The tunnel lit up and ships began to come out. Every ten minutes, another ship would come out.
"Please tell me I have guns.." Dale said.
"You don't…besides. Those ships have some kind of energy sheild..I can see it." She said.
The ships passed by. He couldn't hear a thing though. It was as if someone muted the world. Dale felt anxiety at the lack of sound.
"Don't be scared..thats the worst thing you can do to yourself." The girl said.
Hearing her voice managed to ease his nerves a bit.
"Fine." Dale said.
The ships were before him, then they turned and started flying right at him.
The ships looked triangular, like something even the U.S airforce would be using.
"I'm screwed." Dale said as he raised his arms to block.
He was still floating towards the Earth, but it felt like he was just waiting to be shot. The girl said it would take hours, but that was too long.
The ships began to fire. Dale braced himself for the pain. Possibly even death. To his surprise, every shot missed. The fighters passed by.
"Yeah, they're having trouble seeing you..even their computers cant see you too well." The girl said.
"How do you know all this?" Dale asked.
"Easy. I'm a ghost. I can go where I want, and I'm inside one of their ships." She said.
Dale raised a brow.
"Well..can you maybe attack them?" Dale said.
"No, you idiot. I'm a ghost..not a weapon." She said.
Dale was already expecting that answer, but he was desprate enough to ask. The ships made a u turn for another attack.
Dale covered his face with his monsterous hand. He was going to die here in space. Maybe a few years ago, on a hot summer day in Arkenfel. He would have possibly wanted to jump off the bridge. Although after confronting his fear and swollowing his pride. He knew he didn't want to die now.
Dale could sense the distance of the small ships. If he was going to survive. He'd have to utilize every small sense he had. Maybe even figure out what makes this suit of armor the strongest.
"Scarlet? Who wore this armor before me? I need to learn its abilities." Dale said.
"Richard Rosewater did..although that won't help now. We're only a copy of them." She said.
There it was again. Her strange remarks, them and us. He would have to figure that out later though.
"Screw it, I guess I'm going to hitch a ride." Dale said.
"Wait..are you nuts?"
It was the seventh turn now. The ships were coming in for another shooting spree. Dale widened his eyes and somehow he knew where the ships were. Perhapes it was megnetic based senses, he didn't know or care. What he was focused on was grabbing the ship. With his claws, he managed to grab on. To his surprise, his claws had broken deep into the ship. He could see the engine and a few pipes that were torn.
"That doesn't look good." Dale said.
"Well, what did you expect at these speeds?" The ghost girl said.
"I thought I'd get a free ride?" And he wasn't wrong. The ship was moving quickly towards Earth. The alien probibly lost control, he thought. Dale moved near the back to avoid heat damage, but he felt himself faint. They had crash landed in a desert full of sand. The ship did too. When he awoke, he studied his body and the crater he left in the sand. He was surprised he survived that and with a bareable amount of pain.
The ground crackled as he tried to move. To his surprise, it had partially glassed over. At least a foot of the area around him. The twin tailed girl stood over him. She made a smirk.
"You're alright, get up." She said.
Dale sat up, he felt lightheaded and it reminded him of the time he fainted.
"Did I pass out?" Dale asked in a dissapointed tone.
"We died during entry through the atmosphere. It was a subtle death. We're fine now though." She said.
Dale's jaw dropped at that.
"Stop screwing with me…" Dale felt uneasy again.
"You're not wrong, it is screwed up, but we have more important matters." She looked over to the right.
"Thats cruel..I just died and you're acting all cool about it." Dale said.
The girl made an agitated look.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Why did I end up with such a whimp.." She said.
The sky was a clear blue, but there was a streak of smoke very close by. Dale climbed up the crater and he could he the dunes of sand. The smoke was behined a massive mound of sand.
"Alright…the alien is there. You kill him, look for water, and we walk." The girl said.
"Isn't that a bit fucked up? I wouldn't hurt a fly." Dale said.
"You already killed over twenty of them. I swear you're such a whimp…get over it or you won't survive. Remember what they did to you in that lab?" Her vampire like eyes were serious as she stood by the crater's edge.
"You're right..they did more than that. They've destroyed hundreds of people and homes." Dale said as he nodded slowly.
"Then go out there and..ugh..snap his kneck or something." The girl sounded uneasy about the situation. Dale knew she was being a hypoctrite, but he also knew she was right. That alien was an enemy, and it tried to kill him. If it had the chance. It wouldn't hesitate to kill him. Dale struggled to climb the sand. Each time he took a step, his monster like leg would sink into the crater. He made progress, but it was difficult.
"Here, get out of the armor and I'll walk. You're doing it all wrong." The girl said.
Dale felt the back open and he no longer felt big. A skin like object was before him. He slid his arms out of the armor and managed to climb out of it. His unform was a solid black, with a logo.
"What the Hell am I wearing?" A female voice came out of his throat. Once he was out of the monster like armor, it closed up and he saw it begin to move on its own.
"I'll drive the armor, and you kill that alien…oh and congrats. You're Scarlet now…you did ask to be the strongest warrior.. well there ya go." The ghost girl said.
Dale's hands were shaking. He didn't know if it was due to the hot sun or shock. Maybe both. He wasn't wearing pants either, but a skirt.
"I'm weak..I'm tiny, how am I supposed to Kill that thing?" Dale said.
The armor climbed up and it looked back at Dale. The suit of armor looked like a God damned monster. Bug like eyes, mandibles, and a bulky body.
He stared at it in a mix of awe and fear.
"Snap out of it…that alien needs to be killed." The girl said.
He couldn't see her, but he knew she was controlling the suit of armor.
Dale read the arm band -BIOTEK HAZARD CONTROL UNIT OF ARKENFEL CITY
"Arkenfel City? I've never heard of a Biohazard police in my home city." Dale said.
"I'll explain it all later, hurry. We gotta go.." She said.
Dale climbed up. It only took thirty minutes to get to the the ship. The dune had looked closer than it actually was.
They were at the crater now. Below, they could see the alien trying to repair the engine Dale clawed into. The ship looked like a jet. Dale could make out the turbines, fins, and other air based parts.
"Alright, I'll be the decoy and you punch it in the face. Look at me." The armor grabbed his face. Dale had no choice but to look it in the wasp like eyes. He could see the hexagon cones in each eye.
"You punch it as hard as you can. Don't hold back." She said.
"Right…right. I'll do it." Dale nodded his head quickly.
"Three…Two…one…go!"