Picking Up the Pieces

Morning. Light shone through the window. Birds chirped. Well, maybe it wasn't morning. More like close to noon. Annie slowly opened her eyes, ready to begin another day of testing and training and torture.

But wait. She almost forgot. She escaped yesterday. And she had stayed at her newfound friend Jeisen's house. Come to think of it, Annie hadn't had that good of a rest in a long time. It truly felt good to be free.

She lazily made her way downstairs to find that the main room was empty. Strange. Jeisen seemed to be the type to wake up rather early. Upon further investigation of the whole apartment, Annie could neither find Jeisen nor his robotic companion, Nolan. They must have gone out.

Finding nothing better to do, Annie decided to check one of the computers that Jeisen had said she could use. Luckily enough, as she pressed the power button on the monitor, the computer already seemed to be on a news site. Of course, she expected the mess she made with her escape to be on there, but instead the headline was something else entirely.

"METAHUMAN BATTLE IN WEST LONDON"  The article exclaimed. Annie was intrigued. She clicked on the article to read more. A video started playing.

"Many people fled from their homes today as what seemed to be a massive battle between two metahumans broke out." The footage showed some kind of flaming man battling on a rooftop with...Annie gasped. That was Jeisen, the man who had helped her escape. Annie continued to watch the video with interest.

"The fight reportedly lasted for hours as the two duked it out. It got very messy as one of them, a fire user who we currently don't know the identity of, set a house aflame in order to attack his adversary, the man who we know as the 'Guardian Angel'. The Guardian reportedly saved a young child from the burning house, who turned out to be the son of the police chief. Many people are calling him a hero. We will cover more on this story as it develops. Stay tuned."

The video ended. Annie just sat there, astonished. All of that happened, in her sleep? That didn't matter, she had to find Jeisen. She got up and quickly got dressed before looking in the various files on the computer. There had to be some sort of tracking device in it.

When she began to locate the files, a live rang out from the computer

Nolan: "miss Annie, are you trying to find Jeisen? I sure you he is al... Well he is coming home. Unlocking the door for him now."

*************

Jeisen was struggling now to make his way across the rooftops. Pain wrecked through his body as he pushed it far past it's limits. He should have collapsed an hour ago, but he kept raggedly pushing forward. Something about the sun light rising on his back made him to stubborn just to sit down. That and if he say down he might not get up again. He knew if he stopped moving he wouldn't be able to start again.

He jumped from a rooftop, launching out with hit grappling hook to swing down to the street. Jeisen missed his shot though he was so tired and swung far to low. He crashed into the street with a dull thud. He laid there for a second before he started to rise. The motors in the suit barely working as he tried to lift himself. With an effort, he rose to his feet though he was swaying on the spot. He stumbled forward in a light jog as he tried to reach his door. He somehow managed to grab it as Nolan unlocked it.

*********

Jeisen stepped through the doorway standing there back light by te morning sun in his ragged damaged suit. His entire left arm armor was missing, his cloak was missing the bottom two feet and had small burn holes in it, the rest of his armor was covered in a layer of soot and ash. He took a couple stumbling steps forward as he made his way into the house, supporting his weight with his right arm gripping on to the wall.

"Huh? Nolan, what are you-" Annie was interrupted as Jeisen burst through the door, looking like a wreck.

Annie rushed over to the beaten man. "Oh my god, what happened to you!? Wait, n-no, nevermind, I know what happened...kind of. But how did it happen!? Who was the other guy!?" Annie paused. She took a moment to collect herself. First-Aid first, explanation later.

Annie grabbed Jeisen and supported him on her shoulder. He was heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle. She proceeded to sit him on the nearby couch.

"M-Medigel, right? That's the stuff you need? Or maybe bandages...Nolan, help me out, what does he need?"

Jeisen nearly collapsed as she supported him but held himself up just long enough to get to the couch. He sank into it as the weariness set in on his bones. He was struggling to stay awake now, looking like a limo body on the couch.

Jeisen: "if you think this is bad, you should have seen the other guy."

Nolan floated out now, diverting his energy from Jeisen's suit. He floated over to Annie

Nolan: "we need his medigel. There should be a canister tht looks silver thermos. It should be in the upper shelf. It should be right behind you"

Truthfully, Jeisen would be fine. He was far more tired then hurt. His own personal reserves of medigel had been more then enough to sustain him through the fight. At least as far as his wounds were concerned. The rest of it would just take time. Nolan however understood Annie's need to help and was glad someone other then himself was here to do it. There was only so much a robot with no arms could do.

"Right, that, got it. Maybe we should get some bandages too." Annie turned around and scanned the shelf, knocking several things over inthe process. She located the canister and grabbed it. It was somewhat heavier than she imagined.

"Now what do I do, do I just..." Annie shrieked as she accidently sprayed a little. "S-Sorry, sorry...." She proceeded to gently spray the substance on what looked to be his more nasty wounds. What a strange contraption, she thought to herself. She never knew that such a thing was possible.

She couldn't do much work while much of his body was covered in armor. "Maybe we should get you out of that armor. You'll probably be easier to treat that way." Annie said, trying to remember the basic medical training she received back at the lab.

Jeisen: "No, no the armor is...."

Andddd Jeisen passed out. He was simply to exhausted to resist sleep at this point. Nolan floated over him, getting a quick scan in before looking back to annie. He hesitated for a second before saying

Nolan: "Well... he usually doesn't like to be out of his armor around people. In fact, you might be the first person in a few years to see him outside of his armor and realize who he actually is. But... I think its removal is probably for the best right now."

Nolan began to remove the suit back into smaller pieces. Usually the suit collapses back into a backpack but with the extensive damage it suffered, Nolan didn't want to risk it getting stuck in the back pack form. Much safer if it was removed then Jeisen could repair it before letting it collapse back down.

Underneath the suit was a slim man of European/ Germanic descent. With the armor removed, Jeisen was left in a blue athletic shirt and black shorts. He had light skin, somewhere between pale and semi tan. His face had prominent cheek bones, thin angular features with a smooth jaw line. He had a small scar on his cheek running horizontal, but was only about two inches across, white with age. His face was covered in a mix of soot and sweat from his ordeal, with a mess of short brown hair. All in all he looked like a normal human.

Annie watched as Nolan removed Jeisen's armor. There was something about him...she couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about him that gave her a strange feeling that she had never really felt before. She didn't understand why he wouldn't want to be seen outside of the suit. He seemed like any other normal human being. Oh well, people had their ways.

"Right then..." Annie got to work. She sprayed some more medigel, now able to get the more severe wounds on his body, and bandaged some other wounds that were left untreated. Halfway into it, her hands were covered with blood.

So much for getting out of Europe as quckly as possible. Annie sighed. No, it was the right thing to do to at least make sure that he would be okay. Especially after he saved her from an admittedly sticky situation. Besides, something in the back of her head told her that it was best to stay for a little longer.

"Well, whoever did this must have been some nasty fellow." Annie muttered. She looked up at Nolan. "What even happened? Who was that other guy?"

Jeisen was like a rag doll he was so out of it. Occassionaly a blue spark would roll across his body and parts of him grew fussy with energy but for the most part, Jeisen just laid there asleep. Nolan floated by, supplying more medigel when needed.

Nolan: "Nasty fellow isn't quite right. This... this was the work of a demon. Or more accurately, it was the work of a half demon named Micheal, who also goes by the Hero name Entei. He was and is, Jeisen's best friend. The two actually have known each other for quite some time now. Jeisen fought his first villain with Entei and together they formed the group known as the Guardians with a third member. Those two know almost everything about each other when it comes to fighting, which is why this fight dragged out for so long and so evenly. AS for why they were fighting..."

Nolan paused, debating the best place to start. The explanation Jeisen had given him in the middle of the fight was only the barest of bones, so Nolan would have to figure out how to explain the rest.

Nolan: "I actually need to back up... a few weeks ago, Jeisen helped rescue two meta humans who were seemingly about to be arrested by government agents. We interfered by asking questions and they caused a fight break out. Now these agents weren't equipped like regular cops. They had tech that rivals our own though quite different. After taking down one of their senior agents, A pod was launched from the air. Now according to Jeisen there was a battleship up in the sky that launched the pod that I couldn't detect. Like I could see this thing on any scanners, mine or otherwise. And the pod launched was actually a advanced combat robot. It took down Big Ben in the fighting. By the end of the nigth, it became clear that who ever was doing this, was a very powerful group. These folks were smart, fast, and very well connected. Last night, we detected another similar pod launch on the edge of the city. Only instead of it being a robot, Entei stepped out of the pod. I'm not exactly sure why he was attacking, but Jeisen said he was probably being forced to attack. Something about foreign tech on his neck and entei's constant apologiesing. This group might have Uzma, enteis girlfriend, hostage. Its hard to say."

Nolan stopped now, looking at Jeisen

Nolan: "Who ever these guys are, they are good. Very very good."

"Oh my god...I had no idea it was this bad on the outside." Annie said as she stitched up the last of Jeisen's wounds. She went over to the sink to wash her hands. "And we don't even know who these guys are? If the government is hunting metahumans...that isn't a good sign for us."

Annie sighed as she dried her hands. "I...I always heard stories of these great people back in the lab. These...heroes, who would help the people in times of danger. They were...icons to the people. And now for the government to be hunting them down...and sending their little pets to do it for them...that's sick.

She proceeded to sit down on a chair next to the table. "I thought things would be better out here than in there, but...I don't really know how much better it is if we're being hunted like animals." She looked at the broken and battered Jeisen, sleeping peacefully on the couch. "And to be so...brutal..." Annie now felt anger beginning to well up inside her, but soon realized that this was not the time, nor place.

"At least he managed to save that kid. God knows it would be a shame for some kid to die because of the government's stupid prejudices."

Nolan: "Its... its good we saved the kid. But I don't know if it is the government or not... this is just too hmmmm well done? Just they have managed to cover their tracks well enough to not be found despite their funding. Or maybe because of it, who really knows."

Nolan floated over to the kitchen, messing around in the cupboards

Nolan: "Not quite sure how the british drink this stuff, but who wants some tea? And since Jeisen is asleep, I assume that means you miss Annie."

*****************

A few hours pass

*****************

Jeisen could feel his feet sliding out from under him as he miss timed his jump, the fire ball exploding just behind him. He could feel the heat of it searing through his armor, but he rolled forward to his feet again. His body moved so slowly and he seemed to make no ground despite his struggle. He could barely keep ahead of the fire behind him let alone make it in time to all the people begging for help in this smokey fog. The ash seemed to fill his lungs, burning them. Why was there so much ash in the air? He didn't have time to focus on that, he needed to keep on moving. For what seemed like an eternity, Jeisen ran yet made no progress. All the people just stood there in the ash, hands out stretched as they begged for help. Jeisen out stretched his arm trying to reach the closest one. Their finger tips were so close to touching when the person lunged forward, facing turning into demon form of entei but even more corrupted. It lunged with its outstretched hand towards Jeisen's throat.

With a jerk, Jeisen bolted up on the couch. He had both arms raised and a knife in each hand. He sat there for a second breathing hard as he tried to calm himself. He had a small film of sweat on his forehead but as he rested his elbows across his knees, his heart began to calm. He ran a hand through his hair only to wince with two realizations. One, he wasn't wearing his armor and two, someone had put stitches in him. He began to tug at the stitches slowly, removing them. His body would take care of its self with the medigel. It was slow work with his tired hands though.

Annie was in the other room. She had enjoyed a nice tea time with Nolan, (something she hadn't done since before the lab even happened), taken a shower to wash off the sweat and blood from her medical work, and was now quietly reading a book while Jeisen rested. As long as he stayed still and let his body heal, he should be fine.

Suddenly, she heard a stir in the other room. He was awake. Annie closed her book and walked into the main room just in time to see Jeisen pulling the stitches out of his wounds. She rushed in and proceeded to try to restrain him. Useful or not, removing them while they were already in would just cause more damage.

"Calm down! I just did some work on your wounds while you were asleep. You can't expect that medigel stuff to work for everything, you know." Annie said to the man. There was concern in her eyes. "Just...please. Shuffling around like that will just open the wounds again."

The knife was in his free hand again the moment he heard rapid movement from over his shoulder, ready to throw it. He tensed his arm up, but let it relax as he saw just who it was. He palmed the knife to hide it from annie as she tried to restrain him. She mamanged to pull away his hand picking at the stitches as he looked up at her tiredly. He try to say soemthing, but the words just caught in his throat so he nodded mutely. He braced his other arm against the couch as he struggled to rise, his muscles sore. He didn't mean to, but he grabbed on to Annie to try and use her for support as he wobbled to his feet. It was an effort, but Jeisen managed to stand up, swaying on the spot. He had to lean heavily on Annie to stay upright though.

Jeisen: "Thank you... Nolan... wheres my armor?"

Nolan floated over to Jeisen from above.

Nolan: "It has been moved to the work station in the basement. I have been prepping it for repairs sir."

Jeisen nodded weakly before turnng to Annie

Jeisen: "Can... can you take me to my armor?"

Annie was taken slightly by surprise as Jeisen used her for support, but was able to hold him up. "I...yes, I can do that." Annie said. She looked around the room before locating the stairs on the other side of the room. She proceeded to lead him across the room to the stairs leading downwards. It was a bit of a descent. They would have to be careful.

"Alright, let's take it slowly..." She said as she showly led Jeisen down the stairs, step by step. The descent down was a bit intimidating. She was trying her best to not drop the man. He was starting to get heavy, but Annie managed to carry him to the basement.

"Um...let's see...it should be down here somewhere..." After some searching around, Annie located a small table in the back, surrounded by other parts and tools. She led Jeisen to the table. "Is...this it?"

Jeisen grinned slightly and shook his head ruefully. He reached up with one hand, placing it on a before unseen glass panel. Nolan seemed to wink to Annie.

Jeisen: "Not.. .quite"

With his hand on the panel, he pressed his palm fully down on it it, sending a blue signals all around it like shooting streams. Piece by Piece the glass panel began to collapse to the edges of the walls, seeming to fold in on its self. Behind the glass panel was a completely different image then the small table that had been displayed before. The room went far deeper then one would expect as Jeisen had made some changes, a low blue light coming from the ceiling that light up black walls made of metal. On the left side, there was a white board with complex drawings and formulas on it. On the right, there was an impressive armory of spare weaponry and supplies Jeisen kept on hand. At the very back of the room was a impressive looking computer that was made up of multiple monitors, nearly covering the wall. Unlike the rest of the house where tech overflowed from every corner, this room was neat and orderly.

But Jeisen was here for what was on the center table. His armor was laid out, broken up into pieces. He heaved himself off of Annie and limped to the armor as best he could. With one hand he reached up above his head and made a small motion. Holographic projectors hidden in the corners of the room brought up the suits design frame. Jeisen thumbed through the electronic designs with a wave of his hand.

Jeisen: "I always love going through the suits design. I always see things I can improve and fix on it."

Annie was amazed as Jeisen revealed the extra room. This kind of technology far surpassed anything she had ever seen. It was certainly impressive. Weapons, numbers, lights, it all made her head spin. However, ahe couldn't deny that she was impressed. Had he done all of this himself? If so, it certainly was an impressive feat.

Annie watched as Jeisen brought up the hologram of his suit. The whole situation reminded her of a movie that the scientists at the lab had shown her to show her how stupid the media had made metahuman society out to be. She couldn't quite remember the name, but it involved a charismatic man who built a superpowered suit, and constantly wanted to improve on it. However, while the man in the movie gradually annoyed his friends with how much time he devoted to his suit, Annie couldn't help but smile as Jeisen seemed...at home, content. She hadn't really seen him like this before.

"Uh huh, sure thing." She made a small giggle. "Anything else you need?" Annie asked as she leaned on the wall.