"Let's get you out of there."
Stumbling for a bit on his feet, Jamie pulled out his pistol and shot the lock off the cage, opening the door. The purple haired young man stepped out before sticking his hands out, showing that they were also bound.
"There you go."
Jamie shot the cuffs, and they fell off the guy's wrists. The young man released a shaky breath as he rubbed his wrists, happy to be finally free.
"Thank you-"
"Hold it right there!"
The two boys turned to see a bald man in a white and blue coat walk towards them. He was covered in dust and was holding a shotgun, visibly shaking.
"Who…?" Jamie frowned. Was this guy stupid?
The man next to him on the other hand, glared at the bald guy. Griggs flinched before turning the shotgun on his freed captive.
"You will listen to me!"
"No."
The man's purple eyes began to glow, and behind Griggs a hulking, transparent creature appeared, covered with a purple hue. It hugged the unaware Griggs, digging its claws into his sides.
"YAAAAAAH! No, please, I'm sorry!"
The young man ignored Griggs' cries, turning to inspect Jamie's severed arm. With nothing stopping the creature, it pulled back it's arms, the embedded claws tearing Griggs to pieces.
"Holy shit!" Jamie recoiled at the sight of innards and blood spraying all over the area. "Are you a Wizard?"
"They always called me that. They said I was a Ghost Wizard." The man said, still inspecting Jamie's stump.
"Ghost? That's an affinity?" Jamie thought of the transparent creature. "Huh…"
"Do you want a new arm?" The man asked suddenly, taking Jamie aback.
"Well, yeah, I would love having a left arm again."
"Okay."
The young man placed his hand above Jamie's stump, gathering mana. To Jamie's bewilderment, a transparent purple energy began to sprout from his stump, growing until it became the shape a left hand, seamlessly connecting to the stump.
"What the…" Jamie's jaw dropped as he could feel the new hand. "This is amazing!"
He flexed the fingers, moved the hand up and down, and rotated his wrist. The ghost hand executed each movement perfectly. It was like he'd never lost his left arm (if he could ignore that it was now just a purple outline of an arm).
"Thank you dude!" Jamie tried to touch it with his other hand, though it just passed through. Upon focusing, he was able to touch his ghost palm without passing through. "Woah…"
"You can also make it go away at any time and vice versa." The man smiled.
Trying it, Jamie was able to make the arm disappear, returning it back to a stump. After realizing he couldn't feel the hand anymore, he willed it to come back, being able to feel it again.
Jamie laughed before freezing, a sweat drop rolling down his forehead.
"How am I gonna explain this to everybody…" He smacked himself in the forehead with his ghost hand. "Amanda's gonna be so mad I lost an arm…"
He sighed before turning to the man he just freed. "Anyway, what's your name?"
"I don't have one." He shook his head.
"Oh." Jamie blinked. "Why did they lock you up?"
"I stole food." The man's face fell at this. He must have recalled a bad memory.
"Yup, sounds like Dynamos. Well, it was nice meeting you, gotta finish a mission."
Jamie shook the man's hand before walking back to the main port, looking for his communicator. He looked around all the craters and dead Killipedes before finding it on the floor.
"Still intact, good." Jamie dusted off the communicator, sensing someone behind him.
Turning around, he saw the man was following him. Jamie stood up and faced him, narrowing his eyes. He took a step back. The man stepped forward. Two steps back. Two steps forward. 3 steps… 4…
Jamie ram across the port, the man chasing him. He came to a sudden stop, and so did the man.
"Dude! Why are you following me?" Jamie asked, making the guy flinch.
The guy coughed and looked away sheepishly. "I don't know where to go now…"
"Seriously?"
"I've been in that cage for the last ten years…"
Jamie sucked in his teeth. He looked at his ghost hand, then at the man, back to the hand, then the man, over and over until he made up his mind. Jamie sighed.
"Fine, you can come live with us."
"Yes!" The man pumped his fist in the air. "Thank you so much…?"
"Jamie."
"Jamie!" He hugged Jamie. "Are we going to be a family!"
Seeing the guy's eyes glittering, Jamie softened. "Well, you could join our family. We all take care of each other."
"Okay! I will be a great brother!"
"Come to think of it, how old are you?" Jamie asked. The man looked to be around his age.
"I'm 19."
"Woah. I'm only 18."
"I'll be a good big brother."
"Sure. So, what do we call you now?"
"I don't know. Do you have an idea for a name?"
"Hmm…"
Jamie put his hand under his chin, thinking about his family so far. Amanda, Amy, Aiden…
"I'm beginning to see a trend…" Jamie mumbled.
"Got a name?"
"Yup." Jamie pointed a finger at him with a smile. "Armin!"
"I'll take it!"
"Wow, no hesitation, huh?"
"I mean, I don't have a better idea."
"True. Anyway, let me just finish this call."
Leaving Armin to be happy at the prospect of living free, Jamie turned on the communicator, calling Beck.
"Bzzt! Jamie! Jamie, is that you!?" Beck's worried voice came through.
"Sure is. Mission accomplished by the way. Victor's dead, and he basically drained the power plant. I doubt any hidden communications rooms are still operating."
"That's great! I knew you could do it, kid!"
"Anyway, that was Phase 1!?" Jamie suddenly barked at the communicator, hearing Beck wince. "I nearly died fighting Victor, and you're telling me we got two more of these to go through!?"
"At least it was successful!" Beck shot back. "Besides, the next two phases won't be as hard. I think you'll rather enjoy it."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going home now. I'll go to you when I'm ready for the next step."
"Of course."
Shutting off the communicator, Jamie sighed as he turned to Armin.
"Well, let's go home - Urk!"
Jamie suddenly froze up, falling on his back, unable to move. If he was able to, his eyes would burst right out of their sockets as he realized why this just happened.
"Overdrive… side effects!" He was barely able to say.
"Jamie! Are you all right?" Armin kneeled next to him, wondering what just happened.
"Take us… home!" Jamie struggled to say. Fortunately, Armin understood.
"Home? Okay! Just… direct me!"
Armin picked up Jamie, not finding any difficulty in doing so, his Wizard strength at hand. He began to walk towards the slum when Jamie stopped him.
"Wait! Prime…"
Armin turned to see the mecha just standing there looking at his feet, the light previously in his eyes and panels now gone. To Jamie's horror, he found that Prime was deactivated and he couldn't control him.
"Your robot? Alright, we'll bring him!"
Armin's eyes glowed as he snapped his fingers, and a transparent purple platform with wheels appeared under Prime's feet, sprouting a frame with hooks that attached to the mecha to keep it stable. Once the construct was complete, it rolled over to Armin and Jamie.
"Okay, use your left hand to guide me."
Luckily, Armin was right, and Jamie could freely move his ghost hand. They began to wander the streets, Jamie pointing at streets and alleys Armin needed to go to. Some stray cops and rioters tried to target them upon seeing the mecha, but Armin easily dispatched all of them with his ghost magic.
"Mechanic… shop…"
Jamie pointed towards an alley that led right to the shop. As they passed through, they saw the shop was open, hearing sounds from the garage.
"This is your home?" Armin looked around. "The 10 guys around here with guns meant to be there?"
"It's… fine…" Jamie grunted, realizing he meant Beck's men. How did he sense them?
"Jamie!"
Amanda peeked out of the garage, only to see a blood covered Jamie being carried by an unknown man. She immediately ran over, wary of the man.
"What happened to you!?"
"Nothing…"
"He was fighting a guy that cut his arm off. Oh! He also bled from his face before falling over like this."
Armin explained to Amanda what happened, not realizing that Jamie wanted to keep it hidden.
"WHAT!?"
Although immobilized, Jamie managed to growl at Armin, who realized his mistake. He cleared his throat and tried to salvage it.
"He's fine now, though! Look, I gave him a new arm and everything!"
He gestured to Jamie's ghost arm, which turned into a thumbs up, Jamie also smiling in an attempt to play it off.
"That is… purple. Your left hand is now purple. And transparent."
"Inside…"
"Let's take him inside. I'm Armin." Armin introduced himself while carrying Jamie inside, Amanda directing him to the couch.
"Amanda. So, how do you know Jamie?"
They set Jamie down on the couch while the platform brought Prime to the garage, hooking him up to Amanda's frame hooks. Armin and Amanda shook hands.
"He rescued me from a cage, and now I get to be with you guys! I'll be a great brother!"
He suddenly hugged Amanda, who was very confused about the situation. "Okay…?"
She glanced at Jamie, who pleaded with his eyes for her to stay silent. She complied, inwardly deciding to talk with him about it later.
"How long will Jamie be like this?"
"Oh, I have no clue."
"Ugh…"
They looked at Jamie, who groaned.
"Water?" Amanda offered.
"Yes please! Also, is there anyone else in the family?"
"Well, there's my younger sister, Amy, and Jamie's younger brother Aiden, but we're one big happy family…"
She led Armin to the kitchen, leaving Jamie to lie there frozen. He looked around and tried to move something, anything, but only his lips and ghost hand responded.
"...Fuck."