Factory Reset: Divine Corruption

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty: Slowing Down and Taking a Breath

The last few hours had been a blur to Ja'Kle.

Having been examined and looked over countless times by both Ruinate and Gear-Work, he had been unable to properly think about anything besides the present for the past hours. He had been drained off all his energy, mentally exhausted and physically inebriated.

Not to mention that he had to constantly touch Mason, either on his arm or his chest, to drain him of the Black-Boson Energy that pulsed in his body, growing and growing just a tad slower than what Ja'Kle could drain. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just exhausting.

Ja'Kle himself wasn't even sure how any of this worked. He had the basic gist of Boson Energy down, and the fact that it could reshape reality, but he had no idea what a reality-anchor was, and Mason was far too busy doing what he was doing on the Holo-Pad he had by his side to answer his burning questions.

He had grown out of his embarrassment of being nude by this point. One could only be embarrassed for so long before they just gave up on the emotion, and Ja'Kle had long since passed that point. In any case, he could see why Mason often went nude rather than put on clothes. It was rather pleasant.

"Captain, we have something. Interesting... news..." Bailout started, his voice quickly fading as he saw his captain and Ja'Kle, both nude and Ja'Kles hand on Mason's chest. The protogen seemed to take on an embarrassed face, a flush red color pulsing on both sides of his visor. Ja'Kle couldn't confirm for sure, but he thinks that was the first time he had seen a protogen blush like that.

Mason turned his head, raising his eyebrows as he laid the Holo-Pad atop the desk he was sitting on. He jumped down lightly, Ja'Kle following him while keeping his hand on Mason's chest, "Well, what is it, Bailout. We're in the middle of something at the moment."

"I can, uhh, I can see that. Anyways-" Bailout shook his head, stuttering at the beginning before regaining his composure. Mason gripped Ja'Kles hand and brought it down, interlocking their fingers absentmindedly. Ja'Kle felt a warm flutter in his heart as Mason did that.

Bailout gripped the Holo-Pad tightly, quickly sifting through countless protogenic characters that made up the language, before settling on a specific page, "Based on Druj's testimony, we managed to gain the exact protogen that licensed 'Rust-Dak' as the buyer of Occult Inc."

"That's great! Who are they?" Mason asked, suddenly gaining a new level of excitement in his voice. Even the two protogen behind them, the ones conducting research on Ja'kles entire existence, turned their heads at Mason's vocal tone.

"Juda is her name. She's a ninth ranked buy-seller, the ones that license and organize most of the economy of our Federation. She's incredibly high, as she's the direct subordinate to the 'leader' of the buy-sellers, the tenth ranked one." Bailout explained, Mason squinting to look at the small letters.

"Juda, huh? Where is the planet that she's on?" Mason asked, his voice changing from excitement to one of ominous undertones. Ja'Kle noticed the change, though it seemed that the others did not. The Mosomarian squeezed Mason's hand tighter, and the rabbit glanced at him, and smiled apologetically.

Bailout shifted through his records for a moment, before shrugging, "Doesn't say. It's confidential, and even if The Council is all dead, we would need their mental keys to unlock something so top secret." Mason sighed, nearly crushing Ja'Kles hand before he stopped his flow of anger.

"Shit, that isn't good. Even if she wasn't the one that's going to sell the Boson Energy secrets, talking to her would've given us so much information..." Mason growled, allowing his hand to fall harshly against the sterile laboratory table to his side, making a dent in the stone-like material.