Chapter 7: Chapter #7
[Hi] System Speech.
<Hi> Radio Speech.
'Hi' Thoughts.
I should have made an auxiliary chapter about this but I am lazy.(Edit: *Glaring at the auxiliary chapter.*)
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01.01.2020 Roosevelt Island.
CryNet Headquarters.
"Zeno, I heard you were taking a long leave?" Hargreave asked in an inquisitive tone while looking at the young man in front of him.
Hargreave respected the young man for his work ethic or rather the lack of it and his general behavior of not asking too many questions.
After getting his PhD Zeno quickly became one of the leading researchers of the Nanosuit Project.
His achievements just kept growing as he worked, he also kept buying more CryNet Stocks increasing his standing on the board of directors.
'He reminds me of my youth.' Hargreave thought to himself.
He too had to work his way up from the bottom like Zeno had when his father went bankrupt.
"Yes, I am beginning to feel weary. I have been pushing forward for so long. I don't even remember when was the last time I ate something for pleasure." Zeno explained his reasoning.
He couldn't say he wanted to find a lover or something like that because over five years ago someone spread a rumors about him being asexual and he never bothered to correct it.
As far as he was concerned it would get rid of the bothersome gold diggers he kept rejecting.
"Ah, youth. It is important to enjoy it while it lasts. I hope you'll enjoy it, Zeno." Hargreave approved Zeno's decision.
"I am thinking of finding myself a nice island, building a cottage and living like a caveman with WiFi." Zeno dreamed about his vacation.
Naturally he cannot say he will be going to Lingshan Island. Hargreave probably has a map about where Ceph is located.
"Haha, don't stray too far from civilization. I was hoping you would be there when we introduced the official N1 Suit to the US Army." Hargreave said as he pointed the Nanosuit in the glass case.
He actually had been getting worried about Zeno since he was holed up in his lab. Hargreave cannot afford to lose the scientist that created the medicine that kept him living.
Both of them kept drinking their tea while admiring the N1 Suit, both thinking about different things.
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14.08.2020
Lingshan Island.
At the outer coast of the island stood a small cottage made of wood. It looked new like it hasn't been a year since it was built.
In front of the cottage sat a man with blonde unkempt hair wearing a type of glasses seemingly letting him see through the night.
Beside him was a futuristic looking rifle with heavy modifications to the point it had to be illegal.
Man who was Zeno looked through the in-built binoculars of his glasses and saw the Raptor Team jumping out of the plane to begin their rescue&evacuation mission.
Zeno had been on this island hiding from locals and now the North Korean army for so long that the Nanosuit clad soldiers were a happy development for him.
He wasn't planning on hiding but the locals were not as kind as he expected.
'That one is Nomad I presume, he was the second last one to jump.' Zeno thought as he took up his rifle.
He wanted to shoot the Ceph Scout that would crash into Nomad and kill it. That would allow him to get his hands on a fresh Ceph exoskeleton.
'I can also pre-warn the army with my bullshit by using the Ceph Corpses as an excuse.' Zeno smirked watching Nomad flail around like a fish out of water before taking his shot.
*Bang!*
'Bullseye!' Zeno was proud of his sharpshooting skills.
It was one of the skills that he didn't cheat using his past life. Although he didn't feel guilty or anything, the skills he mastered himself gave him an extra sense of accomplishment.
Calculating the Ceph Scout's trajectory Zeno got to move. To his bad luck it is going to crash on the beach where Nomad will wash ashore.
'I won't be able to hide for long I guess.'
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<Prophet, I made it to the beach> Nomad told through the radio.
Looking around he saw someone walking towards him at a hurried pace.
<You hit the water pretty hard, some of your suit's functions are offline. I'll run diagnostics.> Prophet answered as Nomad pointed his weapon towards the newcomer.
"Hello there!" Zeno greeted the jump soldier.
"Stay there, you don't look like a local, identify yourself!"
<Nomad? Is everything okay there?>
"Man, you need to say. General Kenobi! But if you want..."
"Answer me!"
Deciding the meme wasn't worth getting shot Zeno pulled his ID card and threw it to Nomad who looked at it.
<Prophet, I got a situation here. I ran into Dr. Zeno from CryNet.> Nomad relayed the information he confirmed.
<What!? What is he doing here!?> Prophet sounded agitated.
"Sir, may I know why you are here?" Nomad asked with his radio on to let his teammates listen, but this time he was respectful.
Zeno was not known by many due to his antisocial behavior, it was normal for Nomad to not recognize him.
"I am on vacation, hunting to be exact." Zeno replied while looking at the sky.
<Man, this guy knows how to spend his holidays.> Psycho commented before he got muted by Prophet.
Zeno seemed to be slowly backing off but Nomad didn't find it weird. He too would back off in a similar situation.
"What are you hunting? This island has a hunting ban." Nomad pressed on.
Instead of answering Zeno just pointed at the sky. At this point the sound of something falling from the sky had already alerted Nomad who lunged forward to cover Zeno.
*Crash!*
<Nomad? Nomad?> The others yelled through the radio only to hear Zeno's laughter.
"I am hunting that! Hahaha!" Zeno laughed as he took off towards Ceph Corpse.
He quickly took out several gadgets from the bag he was carrying and started to scan the Ceph.
"What the fuck!?" Not a second later Nomad arrived.
<Talk to us Nomad, what happened?> Prophet asked once more. He honestly had a bad feeling ever since he heard about Zeno being on the island.
Due to working for Hargreave, Prophet knew about Zeno and how he went off the grid eight months ago.
Hargreave put a lot of faith in Dr. Zeno. If not for this sudden mission, Hargreave would have sent him to look for him.
Him being on this island and considering his mission, let's just say his stomach was churning.
He could only hope that Dr. Zeno didn't know about him.
<I can't really describe it sir. I am opening a video feed.> Nomad opened the visuals, he was still shocked by this alien looking aircraft.
"Sir, what is that?" Unable to stop himself, Nomad asked.
"This my dear nameless soldier is an alien. They are called Ceph in short, also they are the ones we stole your suit's technology from." Zeno answered honestly.
<"What!?"> Nomad exclaimed along with the rest of the Raptor Team.
Only Prophet was sighing over the radio. This was worse, Dr. Zeno knew the truth and he was sure that Hargreave hadn't told Zeno about this.
"Sir, there is no time for jokes..." Nomad wanted to continue but he stopped since his suit's interference was hacked.
Nomad saw a bunch of data flash through his HUD, he didn't understand any of it but he could tell the data belonged to the alien in front of him.
Nomad wasn't an idiot and he wouldn't ignore the evidence in front of him either.
He suddenly felt like the world was really cold and only the Nanosuit on him could give him some warmth.
Zeno, who had just hacked Nomad's suit, transferred all the data from Ceph exoskeleton before cutting the connection.
Then he started to dismantle the exoskeleton for it's parts.
"You were saying something nameless soldier?" Zeno arched an eyebrow at Nomad before going back to dismantling the exoskeleton.
"They call me Nomad sir... Also, I think we need an explanation." Nomad said.
He was honestly scared to ask what Zeno was going to do with the alien parts.
"Well, let's talk while we move. I got everything I need from this one." Zeno got up and started walking.
He had a pistol in one of his hands while the other held a part he dismantled.
Seeing Zeno not taking his bag full of gadgets, alien parts and rifle, Nomad sighed and took them with himself before catching up with the mad scientist.
"It all began in Tunguska where Hargreave first discovered Ceph..." And so Zeno started explaining the lore as he walked.
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