Chereads / The Kinetrix Runner / Chapter 8 - Tests

Chapter 8 - Tests

After Exelirus had fully recovered a few H.O.P.E agents came to run a few test on him. The boy was a bit apprehensive at first but was became cooperative in the end once he saw that they weren't trying to harm, although the most of the agents were a bit weary of him, especially after witnessing what he could when he arrived at the HQ. The agents made sure take every precaution necessary to ensure that a repeat of what happened the previous night when he arrived at the H.O.P.E does not occur, precautions like activating a special power damping device specially designed to drain Exelirus's energy if it spikes above normal and on top of that all the agents were fully armed with blasters on the ready in case something went wrong. With all this precaution one would think that Exelirus well uneasy and uncomfortable around the agents but the blue haired boy remained unfazed, not caring about the precaution placed specially for him, a fact that made the agents even more uneasy and tense around him.

First tests were simple as they involved examining his body, checking for any form of radiation, diseases or abnormalities they may be harmful to humans. After the examination was done, they found no problems with his biology, apart from the fact that he had abnormally dense bones and tough skin which was to be expected especially when considering how fast he could move, and his abnormal heart beat which raced so fast that the scanners could barely pick them up. After the physical tests were done they decided to test what he was capable of and just how fast he was capable of running. For this test he was taken a special room where he was instructed to run as fast as he could. They were special sensors in the room designed to measure the how fast Exelirus was moving and his energy output and the device that was used to suppress his powers was deactivated.

At fist Exelirus was a bit hesitant at first knowing just how destructive his speed was but was reassured by the H.O.P.E scientists that the room could handle it after all it was specially designed to be able to handle the toughest of demihumans. Exelirus, after being reassured by the scientists decided to do as they said, figuring that the sooner he got moving the sooner he would be out of there.

So with a deep breath in and then out Exelirus began to take his first steps, then slowly he began to sprint, then blue sparks of kinetrix energy began to form all over his body, the in flash of blinding blue light followed by a massive boom, the blue haired boy turned into a racing blue blur that dashed about all over the room.

The commander along with a team of H.O.P.E agents and scientist watched as Exelirus ran all over the room, moving at speeds not of them could comprehend with their eyes alone.

"How fast is he running?" asked the commander?

"Er…this can't be right" said one of the scientists shocked upon seeing the readings in the room.

"What can't be right", asked the commander.

"According to this that kid is moving at 1000 miles per second and rising" said the scientist in a shocked and horrified tone.

"And his energy readings", asked the commanders.

The commander's question was answered by the computers they used to monitor Exelirus's energy reading flashing red, signaling it was beginning overload.

"How bad is it," asked the commander.

"According to these reading, the kid is producing the same amount of energy as a nuke and if his speed continues rise like this we may not be able to contain it" said the scientist.

"Great" the commander spoke with gritted teeth, before turning on the room's speakers and yelling, "STOP RUNNING KID!!!".

But there was no response from Exelirus who just continued to sprint frantically all over the room at hyper speed.

"ARE YOU DEAF OR SOMETHING KID, I TOLD YOU TO STOP, THAT'S AN ORDER!!!!" The commander yelled once more but just like before there was no response and Exelirus and continued running and running, moving faster and faster with each and every step he took.

"Er…sir, he's not slowing down" said one of the scientist with a look of worry and fear on his face.

"If his energy rises any further the entire HQ might blow up" said another scientists.

The commander upon hearing everything the scientists said looked at the computer screen, seeing the blue blur zip back and forth through the screen, before wondering to himself 'What unearth is this kid'.

Exelirus, within the room, couldn't stop running. With each step he took he could hear the screams of hundreds of Kinerixian yelling out in pain, agony, and torment, all saying with one united voice, "Run Exelirus, run, run, RUNNNN!!!!" Exelirus could no longer stop himself, yelling voices of his people kept pushing to run faster and faster, to do what him and his people were known for, running faster than anything. Exelirus, driven solely by the haunting voices of the fallen Kinerixian, kept running and running, moving faster and faster with each step taken. That's when he saw it, faint sliver silhouette racing past like a ghost. Exelirus's eyes then widened in shock upon seeing the silhouette race past it, recognizing who it was, and upon doing so he pushed himself to moving even faster. His entire body then began to glowing blue with kinetrix energy overflowing through his entire body. The computers the scientists were using to gauge his energy readings then blew up as his energy output was way too high for them to read. Exelirus continued to run, moving at unfathomable speeds, pushing his feet to moving as fast as they could just to reach the sliver silhouette that raced past him. And with each and every step he took, the gap between him and the silhouette became shorter and shorter. As Exelirus came closer to the silhouette two more appeared near it, one red and the other blue. Exelirus eyes widened once with tears escaping it this time.

"Mom, dad, Sonikro" Exelirus spoke with a warm smile forming on his, recognizing all three of them as his family. Exelirus then, wanting nothing more than to reunite with his family, pushed himself even harder and propelled his body to moving even faster all just catch up with them. Once he was close enough to them, he extending his arms to them while mustering every single ounce of strength he had to push himself to move even faster, but just it seemed like he was about to reach them the commander slammed his mechanical arm on button activating the rooms thermal cool which caused the temperature in the room to begin to drop drastically. And as the room began to freeze Exelirus felt his body begin to slow down finding hard to breathe the heavy ice cold air in the room and move as his feet slowly began to stiffen up as the cool air blew against him. Exelirus then watched with tears overflowing down from his eyes as the silhouettes of his family continued running further and further away from him, slowly racing away out of his reach before his very eyes before finally disappearing.

"NOOOO!!!!" Exelirus yelled out furiously as he watched the silhouettes of his family fade away before slipping and stumbling on the now ice cold ground underneath his feet and crashing on the wall.

The commander along with the rest of the agents and scientist that were observing Exelirus then sighed out of relief upon seeing that he had finally stopped running. They all then noticed something that shocked them all. Watching from the computer monitors they watched as Exelirus curled against the wall he crashed in to and began to cry. Upon seeing the little blue haired boy cry they were all taken aback as, up until that point, that had only witness the destructive power the boy along with his speed had but seeing the boy in such a vulnerable and hurt state they were reminded of a simple truth that was overshadowed by the boy's destructive capabilities, and that was, that he was just a child.

The commander groaned, hearing Daniela's voice reminding of that fact before turning his back away from the computer screen and walking way.

"Commander, where are you…"The agent didn't complete his sentence before the commander walked out the door and left the room.

Moments later, the door to the freezing cold room Exelirus was busy sobbing in opened. Exelirus then shifted his gaze to the door, his vision, due how strained and tired he was along with the fact that his body was currently freezing cold, could only make out a faint blurry figure standing in front of it. The figure went to him and then wrapped his body in a warm blanket and then lifted him off the ground. Though Exelirus couldn't quite make out the figure face, could feel that one of the arms he used to lift him of the ground and carry him was hard and stiff like steel. He then heard figure speak to him, saying, "You're a tough kid you that right".

Exelirus was too weak to give a reply but he could hear a faint chuckle from the figure saying, "You know every bone in my body is screaming at me to lock you in room somewhere and throw away the key and for good reason. I've lived along life, long enough to see how messed up the world is and throughout my extremely long life I seen gifted individual, some of them from this planet and some from distant worlds far away, more often than not use their abilities to endanger the people of the world, some of them even tried to outright blow the entire planet up".

Exelirus upon hearing what the figure said raised his head and squinted his eyes in an attempt to him more clearly. Slowly his vision became less blurred and obscure, and he was able to make out the man holding on to him with one arm made of flesh and bone and the other of iron and steel.

The man then looked at him with a worried and apologetic look on his face before saying, "Please don't be like one of those monsters who use their powers to spread only chaos and misery. I know you've lost a lot and you're hurting but please don't use that pain as an instrument for destruction. I'm the Commander of the H.O.P.E and it's my job to protect this planet from every conceivable threat and that includes you"

Exelirus felt his heart sink ever so slightly upon hearing what the commander said, part understood why the commander said those words after all the damage he had caused since he arrived, but that fact didn't negate the pain and feeling of dread he felt upon hearing those words. But the fact that he was considered a threat and some kind of monster like those beasts that invaded his world and brought it to ruins added to his already unbearable pain.

"That is why you should, above all else, avoid being a threat" said the commander greatly shocking and confusing the little blue haired boy.

"Listen kid, I know you've lost your home along with everyone you love and care about and the pain you feel is unbearable but you have been given an opportunity very few are given, a second chance. I know you've lost your home and your people which must be unbearable for someone so young, that's why it would be shame to lock you up especially after everything you've been through. So as long as don't give me a reason to, I'll let you live your life on this planet in peace. Do you understand kid?" said the commander.

Exelirus upon hearing everything the commander said wasn't entirely sure if he was being threatened or not as he wondered why the commander was giving him such an opportunity especially after seeing for himself just how dangerous his powers were. Exelirus just gave a weak glance at the commander before finally closing his eyes and losing consciousness.

The commander upon seeing the boy had collapsed on his arms just sighed deeply before leaving the freezing room. The agents who had witnessed the display of care and affection towards the boy from their commander from the monitors were taken aback, never expecting to see that side of the commander before. The boy, after that, was taken back to the white room to rest while the commander went to his office. In his office, the commanders sat in silence on his desk, deep in thought about the blue haired boy. He was a tough kid and one hell of a running, the commander was sure that even Daniela, moving at her top speed, couldn't come close to moving at jaw dropping speeds that boy displayed while running, and on top of that, there was the way his power kept rising the faster he faster he run, the commander had never seen anything quite like that before. The kid's power kept growing and growing with each and every step he took. The commander felt his heart begin to race with horror and fear as he pondered to himself what would have happened if he had allowed Exelirus's power to grow even further. The commander kept his mind from venturing too much in to that possibility, not wanting to task his mind pointless to try to fathom the amount of power that blue haired boy might have been able to generate if he had allowed him to continued running.

The commander groaned in frustration as every fiber in him was practically yelling at him not to let that boy in the world especially after seeing how destructive his powers could be but at the very same time he couldn't turn off his conscious which kept reminding of that fact that the boy was just a kid who had just lost his entire people and was most likely the last of his kind. The commander then took a deep breath before looking at his mechanical arm, a reminder of his mission and everything he had had to sacrifice for it. He then thought about everything he seen while walking this path, monsters and demons that hungered only chaos, misery, and destruction, using the powers and gifts bestowed upon them to commit unspeakable crimes against humanity and had threatened the lives every living thing that walked on Earth. His mission was simple protect the world with his sweat, blood, and life, from those most but this was a path he had been walking for so long that at point he found it hard to differentiate between one of those monsters and those vulnerable souls he had vowed to protect.

The image of a crying Exelirus appeared in the commander's mind, he then took a deep breath once. With voices of Daniela and the man in white echoing in his head, he took a deep breath in, and decided for now, all he could do was pray and hope that allowing someone like Exelirus roam the Earth wouldn't end badly for the besides he could not stop thinking about what the man in white said;

"I can sense something wicked in the air and the fact that it can evade my view worries me"

Something that even he can't see, that was truly a troubling matter and something that greatly disturbed the commander. The commander then thought about what the man in white said about fate and how it had a habit of bring people to where they need to be. He then wondered if Exelirus's arrival on Earth was some kind of a sign of something that fast approaching.

The commander then got up from his seat and went to his window, opened it up and looked out through it, seeing the beautiful blues skies then everything began to morph and change. The skies became a bloody red with dark clouds hovering over it, he then heard the cling and slashing of steel bleeds against one another, yelling and battle cries filling the air. Then felt his heart begin to pound against his chest, the air suddenly became thick and heavy and he began to struggle to breath. Then commander then closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before opening them back up as he exhaled only to be greeted by a grim and horrific sight.

A battle field covered with piles upon piles of dead body and upon above the scarlet sky were legions upon legions of what seemed be divine beings hovering over the earth with some of them even have angelic wings attached to their backs like angels and then down below, an army of humans and demihumans standing side beside against a common enemy. Then with fierce battle cry by the arm, the humans and demihumans charged straight for the legion, and as the two forces collided with one another a flash of blinding light appeared out of nowhere, then everything went blank and the only thing that could be seen was a mighty throne, and seating on it was a man dawning a regal and majestic armor made of the fines of gold and silver and engraved from head toe with diamonds. And on his head was a crown made of light, on his forehead a crystal that shone bright than brightest star and his right a black crystal with silver specks that twinkled and shun like a stars on a night sky.

The man seated on the throne than looked at the commander who looked back at him with a look of fear, dread, and horror.

"You…but it can't be…you're…" commander mumbled and stumbled his words about as shiver uncontrollably from the overwhelming fear that gripped his entire body upon witnessing the man seated before him.

"The king and father of all has returned" the spoke with voice that shook blank void that surrounded them.

The commander the reawaken and found himself standing in front of the window once more with a look of dread and horror plastered on his fast. The commander then looked out on to the horizon, pondering what the vision he just had meant recalling what he saw in the vision, a great battle of the past, one that had changed very essence of the world, and him…The commander, looking out to the clear blue skies, could feel it in his bones, something was coming, something great than anything he, no, the world had ever faced and if it was anything like war of ages past that he had witnessed in his vision then whatever was coming was bound to change the entirety of the world and maybe beyond, and if the father and king of all had truly then a threat unlike any other was looming over the Earth and it was only a matter of time before he struck.