Frederick's arms roared to life, the machinery louder than ever as he took on a boxer's stance, except his hands were open, ready to use the vicious claws that tipped each of his fingers.
"Don't you worry, kid, there's not much in this forest that I won't be able to take care of." Frederick murmured to Zac, as the crashing noises grew louder and louder. Even in the midst of a crisis, the old Augmented's caring nature didn't take a backseat.
Zac knelt in the bushes, though he had a functional mana core, and might be able to fight, it wasn't as though his nature had changed with the mana core, and with so little of an understanding of his abilities, he was content to hide behind Fredrick.
The ferns to one side crashed apart, and Fredrick's hand shot back, ready to strike, as an elderly man in torn clothing stumbled out toward Fredrick.
"What the hell! Dammit, man, don't you know not to go running wildly in a Transition Zone?" Frederick said sternly, but the frail old man collapsed at his feet.
"A rescuer? Oh, lord! My prayers have been answered! Please, sir! The other survivors, they need your help!" The old man clutched at Fredrick's camo trousers, his thin fingers scrabbling at the rough fabric.
"Get up, sir. Don't humiliate yourself like this. I need you tell me your name and to take three deep breaths for me, alright.'' Frederick could tell the old man was panicked, and knew that asking him to calm down would only force his panic further, so he gave him a simple instruction that would naturally calm him.
"I'm Winston." The old man said, almost crying as he spoke, still taking short quick panicked breaths.
"One. Two. Three. There we go, alright. Now go ahead and explain what's going on." Frederick gently moved the old man next to Zac, so that he wouldn't have to split his attention in case something happened. Then, he knelt down in front of him.
All the while, Zac admired Fredrick's expert handling of the situation and thought to himself, 'After seeing Fredrick, if I hadn't managed to awaken my Augmentation, then I'd probably consider signing up to be an M-Type.'
"I, I, I have a small hostel. My tenants and I survived the transition, but after we linked up with a group of other survivors. The-, they, they forced us to walk ahead of them, to bait out nay danger. I'd heard rumors, but to imagine that people would treat others so cruelly." Winston's croaky voice shook, and he struggled to speak, and then finally broke down crying, sobs shaking his slight frame.
"Alright, that sounds terrible, I'm truly sorry we didn't arrive any earlier. Now then, sir, if I'm to help anyone, I need you to point me in the direction of the other survivors." Fredrick's face had turned grim, and Zac could see the rage brewing behind the calm facade.
As he tried to compose himself, even the pistons near Fredrick's neck moved involuntarily, truly showing the link between him and his machine parts.
"Just about half a kilometer that way. They're horrible! I snuck away, and they yelled at me and said they would kill me if they caught me." Winston sobbed as he spoke, pointing a frail hand towards where he had scrambled out from.
"Alright, this young gentleman in the silver blanket will walk with you. I want the pair of you to follow me, okay?" Frederick gave Zac a nod, a pleading look on his face as his eyes flicked over to the sobbing old man. Zac nodded back, and moved to help the old man to his feet.
"Team, I've found another survivor. He reported himself and others being used as bait, I'm going to try and locate the group. I'll fire a flare if I need backup. Over." Frederick spoke quickly into his walkie talkie, before stowing it away and heading into the tangle of plants.
"Come on, sir. I'm Zac, just come with me okay." Zac said as took one of the old man's arms and gently hurried him along toward Fredrick, who was rapidly slicing through the plants in their way, with wide swings of his clawed hands.
'I thought something like this might happen, but to think that people would try and push even such an old person to be bait.' Zac was fuming inside, but he didn't let his anger show. Just like Frederick, he wanted to help calm Winston as much as possible.
"Th- thank you, young man." Winston tightly clutched at Zac's hand, following him as they walked along the trail of dried up branches and leaves that Fredrick left behind him.
The pair of them had to break into a jog, as Fredrick's swipes grew faster and faster and he picked up his pace, eager to get to the other survivors.
As they grew closer, the faint sounds of screams and yells could be heard, and Fredrick yelled out to the pair of them. "Try and keep up, looks like we've got a situation ahead." He yelled out, and his arms went into overdrive, spinning like two enormous windmills as he blazed through the thick plants, branches and bits of debris flying off in every direction.
Zac and Winston ran after him, Zac wincing every time his bare feet stumbled over the sharp edge of a cut branch, or trampled over thorns. His feet were being cut and bruised, but even so, the mana that now flowed through him was already rushing to the wounds, and strengthening his exhausted body.
Far ahead of them, Frederick burst into the clearing, and started to yell, Zac couldn't make out what he was saying, but then he heard a whistling noise, as a red flare shot up into the sky above.