Magnetic Martyr (Texas x OC) (Arknights)

Shard Of The Past

Kaleb POV
I was awoken by the alarm going off. I opened my eyes groggily, staring at the pure white, yet foreign ceiling. "Mmgf... Shut it off..." came a woman's voice from across the room. I hit the off button because the alarm was closest to me and threw my legs out of bed. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Mm... Five more minutes..." the voice called again. 'Who the hell is this bad in the morning?' I wondered as I stood up. I looked at my clothes and realised I had fallen asleep in my normal clothes instead of my sleepwear. I sighed 'Changing timezones really screws with your energy.' I thought. I looked around the room and saw that everybody else was getting out of bed too... Except Texas. The lupo girl was lying face down into her pillow, and refused to get up. "Tch. What are you, a child?" I scoffed as I grabbed a towel from my bag and another change of clothes. The tired woman moved her head from her pillow to glare at me. She looked like a demon. Her eyes shined with murderous intent, and her hair was all out of place. Her tail was ungroomed too. 'Not exactly a beautiful sleeper.' I thought as I walked out of the room. I walked towards the shower block, wanting to rinse off the exhaustion of yesterday. As I entered the room, I noticed that it was surprisingly quiet for this early in the morning. We finally reached the vehicle bay and clambered into the nearest vehicle. It was a pickup truck, a slightly older model. Texas, Lappland and Gitano climbed into the cabin and Hung and myself sat down in the truck bed. Texas started the ignition and I started to field strip my rifle.
"Sure that's wise, Spark?" Hung asked, concerned about my decision to take apart my weapon just before a battle.
"Trust me. I shoot better this way." I said flatly as I started to tweak the rifle in subtle ways. Hung shook his head but didn't continue any further. I put the rifle back together and loaded it. The rest of the drive was finished in a tense silence. We didn't know what to expect, but we were the first squad out, so it couldn't be good. When we finally arrived on scene, what awaited us was an ancient, deserted city that was being pulverised by Reunion soldiers. Our scouts that had been sent out before us were being attacked by casters and crossbowmen, with regular foot soldiers encroaching on their position. The humvee skidded to a halt. "Everyone out! Spark, Gitano, get to some high ground and provide support. Lappland, Hung, on me!" Texas ordered. We seamlessly leaped out of the car and Texas rushed into the fray immediately, taking down two soldiers with only a couple swings of her sword. 'Sheesh, remind me not to piss her off...' I thought as I climber the ladder of a nearby water tower that overlooked the main street the rest of the squad was on. As I set up my sniping position, Gitano had climbed above some wreckage to the right of the main squad and was casting spells that were decimating the more heavily armoured Reunion soldiers. I began charging my shot, and examining the situation. The casters were my main priority since they could hit Hung rather badly. Once my rifle was charged... "Let 'er rip." I whispered and the steel ball raced through the air, cracking the sound barrier easily and blasted straight through a few casters. I began charging again when I realised that an enemy had slipped by Texas and Hung, and Lappland was too busy slicing the enemy to pieces to notice. I fired again, wiping the enemy instantly. "Hey, watch the situation more closely! One almost got through!" I yelled at the squad. Gitano suddenly started throwing her spells with more ferocity, and the enemies approaching the position were obliterated with a few of her arts. After most of the first wave was cut down, we had managed to catch ourselves a few minutes to take a break. I reloaded my rifle with more projectiles and took another sip from my whiskey bottle. Hung was tending to Texas and Lappland's wounds. It was helpful that Hung could heal up the team, pulling double-duty as a medic and a defender. The sun was beating down on the ruins we were situated in, even with the light amount of clothing that I was wearing I was still sweating. I hadn't noticed it earlier because I was focused on the fight, but the temperature was incredible. I took off my hoodie and tied it around my waist before wiping some sweat off my brow. I noticed that the others kept their jackets on for some reason. Maybe they were used to the heat? I had spent a long time in the freezing mountains of Kjerag so it wouldn't be too much of a push to assume so. Lappland waved up at me from the ground. "Hey, Sparky! The next wave of Reunion soldiers should be here any moment now, Texas says to get ready!" I nodded and kneeled down on one knee, resting the barrel of my rifle on top of one of the bars of the railing of the water tower. I took a deep breathe and scanned the area in front of me. Texas, Hung and Lappland were facing forward, side by side in the middle of the street. It was a fairly narrow area, so the three of them were able to more or less block it off. Gitano was on top of the rubble still, allowing her to support the other with her area arts. Now that I had noticed it, the heat was starting to bother me. I shifted uncomfortably, and moved my eyes from my scope for a second. But that single second was enough for me to see is. A Reunion drone equipped with a machine gun, and it was aiming straight for me. My eyes widened and I rolled to the side as the drone started blasting my position. I raised my left arm reflexively, and a pale green-blue vortex formed in the palm of my hand. The bullets that were flying in my direction suddenly halted their advance, but the drone continued to fire as my magnetic barrier continued to catch the shots. I raised my other arm to add to the power of the barrier. "Guys, you'll have to make do for now! I'm pinned down!" I yelled to the group engaging the wave of footsoldiers that had appeared shortly after the drone. 'Damn annoying. Really didn't want to have to use my powers so early.' I thought as the drone continued to fire in short bursts, keeping me beneath my shield. I looked down at the group below me, they were putting up a strong fight against the Reunion attack. A few bullets whizzed past my head, and I noticed that a few more drones had accumulated to fire at me. My shield couldn't hold anymore bullets, so they were starting to break through. 'No time like the present...' I thought as I backed up slightly. I pulled my arms back a little and then pushed forward aggressively. This forced my magnetic shield to reverse it's polarity for a second, sending the bullets flying back towards the drones, obliterating them. I felt a pain in my left arm after I did that, and looked down to see my forearm's skin partially transformed into a rough, black material like some sort of rock. A few small green crystals were poking out of the patch of skin. "Pain in my ass... Making me strain my powers..." I grumbled to myself as I reloaded my rifle. 'Well, if I've kickstarted the process already, what's a little bit more?' I wondered as I pushed more of my magnetic power into my rifle than usual. The rifle quickly charged to it's normal state, but it soon started to glow red. "Kaboom." I said as I let the shot fly. The metal ball ripped through the air with devestating force. The round hit 1400 metres a second and blasted through the line of Reunion soldiers, leaving a gaping hole through each one's chest. I recoiled in pain after the shot though, and clutched my arm. I looked at my left arm again, and the darkened skin had spread more, almost enveloping my left arm entirely, and the crystals were aggressively protruding. 'I... Really hate originum...' I thought as I leaned against the tower. I pulled the sleeves down on my left arm, though it didn't do much to mask the shape of the crystals. Ignoring the gnawing feeling in my arm, I grabbed a hold of my rifle again and continued to fire into the Reunion soldiers, though without overcharging my rifle. As the morale of the soldiers broke and they retreated, I began to climb down the tower. When I reached the bottom, I grabbed my knife and pulled the sleeve back up. The crystals had lowered into the skin slightly more, and the darkened skin was shrinking again. I held the knife against one of the larger crystals and began to hack away at it. Eventually, it cracked and came loose. I picked it up and hid it in one of my pockets before putting my knife away and bringing the sleeve back down. I didn't say anything, even as the squad approached my position, or even as we re-mounted the truck. All I could think of was the numbness in my arm, and the fact that I needed to talk to the Doctor.

Back at base
The Doctor had told me to wait in this room. It was bright white, like a hospital, and it was damn near featureless. The only speck of 'colour' was the two grey chairs and the single fluorescent light above my head. I sat down in one of the chairs and pulled the originum crystal out of my pocket. I held it up against the light and looked into it, watching as the light attempted to pierce through the deep green of the crystal. Eventually the Doctor came in, and his usual cheerful demeanour was gone, replaced with a serious one.
"Just what are you, Kaleb?" he asked, his voice more commanding than asking.
"A Lupo. But I'm partially infected with a unique strain of oripathy." I replied. What I had said was true. Although I was infected, my strain was somewhat dormant. It was non-infective, and my body naturally suppressed it. The only issue was that when I used my powers significantly, the oripathy would speed up at an incredible rate, blasting past the first stage of infection. "Don't worry about people getting infected, Doctor. Just let me do my job." I said before throwing the crystal to him. He caught it and looked at it intently. He started mumbling to himself, but eventually looked back to me. "But where did your powers originate from? We detected no abnormal shadows when we scanned you." The Doctor asked, now intrigued ay the revelation of a new form of the disease. I grit my teeth slightly before saying "That's... Something I'd rather not bring up." I clutched the area where my heart was after finishing my sentence. I felt a single beat and the magnetic energy started to flow through my blood again. "Dissapointing, but not unexpected. Oh well, I hope you'll tell me when you're ready!" The Doctor exclaimed, his happy-go-lucky facade replacing the underlying seriousness. As he left the room, I found myself sitting there, and thinking back to when I got my powers.

"I wonder where my sister is these days..."