As the Mog scout behind me broke away from his comrades to strike me preemptively I allowed a small smile to creep into my face, not that any of my assailants could see it. He must have thought he would rush in and steal the glory of the kill, poor bastard. I waited until he was almost on top of me before side stepping his overeager sword slash. I admired in a detached way the interesting, shiny white metal the swords were crafted from as the very blade whistled a few inches from my nose. Before the Scout could turn or continue running I caught him by the collar of the long trench coat his kind favored to hide their inhuman features. His momentum jerked him legs into the air, and when he floated parallel to the ground appearing to lie on thin air I released him. No sooner had my grip loosened my left gauntleted hand struck his head violently down to earth. She was a beauty, my glove. Constructed from a padded, adaptive alloy that conformed to my hand perfectly, the back was armored with an ebony Loric crystal that seemed just about impervious to damage. It sure added one hell of a punch to my already formidable striking power. Turning my nose up to keep the spray of ash from my eyes I plucked the Mogadorian’s Sword out of the air, readying it just in time to slice another Scout out of the air as he leapt at me. The other four slowed when the witnessed the fate of the first two Mogs, and looked at one another to try to time their attacks more precisely. Picking up the second white weapon in my free hand, I too looked from scout to scout, trying to determine which ones were closest to opposite sides of me. Once I had two acceptable targets I twisted and hurled both swords, each one at a different scout, boosting their power and speed with a blast of my telekinesis. The scouts tried to block, but the force was too great and smashed right through their guards.
Witnessing the violent end of the other scouts, the two that remained alive charged me recklessly, no goal save whatever retribution they could get. They found none, both dying within seconds – one by a redirected slash from his ally, the other by my gauntlet. As the grey dust settled, I shifted up one of the layers covering my right eye and cast about to see if any other Mogadorians were lurking about in the nearby vicinity. As soon I determined that none were I replaced the moved sheet hastily and continued with the train of thought I had left off on. So how old exactly was I? I did remember what year it had been when the five of us had arrived just hours before the Nine. Keeping track of the date wasn’t high on any of our priorities. Especially not we lost our guide and keeper in the crash. Of course they give the more important ship the good landing gear and programing, stick the expendables with the shit. I signed in frustration, shaking my head as I once again climbed the mountainous path the Garde had traversed. There you go again Isaac, resenting the sound in cold tactics of the Lorien authorities that are the only reason you’re alive in the first place. Thinking about the other ship, I had a small epiphany. From what I had read about Number 4, the Lorien Garde that went public in Ohio, the Nine were between the ages of fifteen and sixteen. As I had been constantly reminded by the other four, especially Louis, I was the youngest of the group, not even two years older than the charges we were supposed to be watching over. So if the Garde are between fifteen and sixteen that makes me what, between seventeen and eighteen? It still wasn’t exact, but it was the best ballpark estimate I was likely to get.
In my self-absorbed haste I tripped and nearly fell on a gnarled, vine-like tree root sticking up out of the road. Shaking my head I willed my mindfull meandering away, for they were taking my focus away from the task at hand. For a while I redoubled my pace, senses opened wide for danger or other annoying hazards. I needed to eliminate destractions. After all, I had technically just been attacked by Mogs under an hour ago. I say “technically attacked” because after facing down dozens of scouts, squads of soldiers, and legions of beasts, a tiny seven man assassin squad seemed a laughable threat, indeed barely an annoyance in comparison.
The arrogance was quickly subdued my a small, cruel voice in my head that whispered venomously, seven scouts is one more than it took to kill Hector. I physically flinched at the words of my continence, but pushed forward relentlessly. Enough of these bothersome mental meandering! They did neither me nor my principals any good, and now, so to finding them, was no time to be wasting effort or energy of any sort. Ruthlessly I pushed all my personal considerations aside, instead simply moving quickly, fluidly, and aware of my surroundings.
About an hour or so passed before I arrived at a shallow stream. A half smile crept over my lips as I see the cool, clear water flowing gently before me. I kneel by it, intent on taking a quick drink to wet my lips and throat before continuing when I catch sight of my reflection. The single piece of thin, white cloth wrapped around my face is soiled with ash and grime. The skin left exposed – a small area around my left eye – is similarly unclean. With yet another sigh, I resolve to take a five minute rest to clean up and rehydrate. With short deft movement I remove both the wrapping around my head and the one over my right arm from wrist to shoulder. After cleaning off my arms and face in the stream I open up my book bag to take quick inventory. I was traveling pretty light; Inside were two pairs of underwear and two t-shirts, one military MRE, a metal canteen, a compass, a buck knife, and three more sets of cloth wrappings for my head and arm. I refilled my canteen in the stream and replaced my dirty bandages with fresh ones. I didn’t have time to properly decontaminate the old ones so I just folded them back up and put them in the bag for later.
When everything was resituated in its proper place I simply sat and stared off into space for another minute or so before setting off again. As I relaxed my mind wondered back to my distracting trains I had experience earlier. Why was I so concerned about my age, worried about how long I had been here? In the long run it didn’t matter at all, had no effect on me of the job at hand. Maybe that’s it. I spend all my time thinking about what needs to be done, I don’t give enough thought to my own identity, who I am. Even as the notion formed I chuckled pitilessly. That one’s easy Isaac. You’re Zero, that’s who you are. That’s all you ever are, and all you ever will be. Now if you’re done feeling sorry for yourself we need to keep moving.
Poking my head out from behind the tree I was using for concealment, I muttered a swear word. Now I remember why seven scouts seemed so trivial. I have the unfortunate habit of comparing them to problems like this. This “problem came in the form of fifteen Mogadorian Soldiers, each with four scouts in tow that were lurking about the path which I suspected lead directly to the Garde members I had been trying so feverishly to catch up with. Now faced with yet another delay, it seemed that I would not be seeing them for a good half day at best. At least this obstacle was more of a sort I was accustomed to. Observing a small gap in the Mogs’ formation as one of the Soldiers became ensnared in the thick underbrush, I darted out from cover straight towards him. In a matter of moments I covered the hundred feet or so that separated us and, as I leapted turned the well hidden, small circular dial on my gauntlet. With a subtle click a black blade matching the dark crystal armor slid out over the back of my hand. With my hand curled into a fist the arm knife has about seven inches of penetration to work with, all of which I used as I punched the entangled Soldier in the back. Before he even finished dissolving I had slashed and stabbed three of his escorts, and as I sliced the fourth’s face in two, the remaining Mogadorians cried out in alarm and began to respond. Time to go. As the energy streams started flying I sprinted back the way I came, seventy very perturbed Soldiers and scouts not far behind.
