Chapter 16: His Own House
*BOOOM*
With both men reappearing in the center of the enormous arena, they started gasping for air. Even though their actual bodies had nothing, the pain simulators in the VCP were very high-tech.
So they had both just endured the pain of blowing up into smithereens.
Henry burst out into laughter.
"HAHAHA, WHAT A RUSH!!!"
"What the actual FUCK Calvert!" yelled Landon.
"ARE YOU A MADMAN?!!"
"What's wrong, Commander? Can't tolerate a little pain?" Henry berated.
"You are literally crazy! You felt that pain, too, you fool! How can you still laugh?" Landon cried out.
This was the most pain Landon had felt in a long time—the feeling of being torn to shreds.
To him, it had appeared an eternity, too. Landon had dropped the limiters on his body as a last attempt to escape the explosion, but Henry had latched on to his wrist to keep him close.
Since returning to full force, Landon's perception of time had significantly slowed down. Resulting in him feeling his skin peel off from the explosion.
Then he felt his flesh rip apart, followed by his bones shattering and his organs being reduced to nothingness. To him, it had felt like several seconds, even though, in fact, it had taken less than one.
"I've had enough for today. You! You better see me later in my office. We need to talk," the Commander dropped bluntly.
And without further discussion, he logged out of the VCP and left the training room.
This was nothing new to Henry, who was still lying on the ground laughing. He had experienced worse during his training.
Getting up after a few minutes of hysterical laughter, he also logged off from the VCP. Getting out of the simulator pods, people were looking at him strangely.
He was used to those bizarre looks from the training grounds, but could see something different in some eyes. Was that... respect?
Walking straight to the door to go rest, some big soldier intercepted him. Not used to be stopped in such ways, Henry slowly brought his hands to his two knives.
"What do you want?" Henry asked with a coldness in his tone.
"Woah there, friend. I have no ill intentions. I just wanted to say good job in your fights."
"Thank you, I guess?" Henry responded, lowering back his hands.
"Hey man, it's not every day we see a new guy going even with a ranking officer. Where do you come from?" the big guy asked.
"Earth," Henry said.
"WOW. You're actually from the homeland. The name's Ben, by the way. Benjamin Graves. Space Marine lieutenant. What's your name, and what force are you in, mate?"
"Calvert. Henry Calvert. Special Forces," Henry said, not wanting to say too much.
"Listen, Ben. I don't want to be rude, but I'm exhausted and want to rest. Mind letting me through?"
"Oh, ya. Hah. Sorry, Calvert. Sure thing. Rest well. The Commander looked pissed. I think you'll get thrashed on when you see him. Haha," Ben laughed, moving out of the way.
Henry walked out swiftly, heading to the administrative building. Once inside, he asked the man at the desk where his quarters were.
"Name and unit, please," the man answered.
"Calvert Henry, Special Forces."
After a few seconds of tapping, the man gave directions towards Henry's new living quarters.
"Welcome to the military, Agent Calvert. I hope you don't die on your first assignment."
"Jeez, thank you, man. Don't you sugarcoat it for me now," Henry said sarcastically before leaving for his quarters.
After a few minutes' walk from the administration building, he got to a small cabin, recluse in the woods. He slowly pushed in the door to ensure he was in the right place.
Walking into the empty house, he noticed how dusty it was. At that exact moment, he thought the cabin had clearly not been used in quite a while.
Setting his stuff down on the porch outside, Henry started cleaning the inside of his dirty new home. It took the man about one hour to bring this dusty shack back into the world of the living.
He was now standing in a cozy little cabin resembling his childhood cottage.
While cleaning outside, Henry had found the main power switch in the back of the cabin. Of course, it was off since the place was not being used.
Once his task was done, he went to the switch and flipped it on. Going back inside, the few lights hanging from the ceiling now shone a dim yellowish light into his new abode.
Satisfied with his work, Henry started bringing his stuff inside. He had a small room, a bathroom, and a common space composed of the kitchen, dining room, and living room.
There also was a cozy fireplace.
Not wanting to be spied on, Henry asked the System, "System, can you scan for any EMF signals from cameras or mics in the house?"
After a few seconds, he got his answer.
"We detect no such devices on the premises. However, the scan revealed EMF signals from under the ground. System believes there is a room under the house."
"Oh, really now? Can you find the way into that room?"
"System detects a device hidden behind a wall mount next to the fireplace."
"Huh. Typical."
Walking to the fireplace, Henry pulled on the light mounted on the wall to the right. The wall mount hinged down and revealed a small button.
Pressing on it, Henry heard a mechanical click, followed by the sounds of cogwheels turning behind the wall. The fireplace then slid to the left, revealing a small spiral staircase.
"System detects a life form named Joseph Landon in the basement level. No hostile intentions detected."
Going down the stairwell, Henry got into a whole underground level. Walking into the main room, he found the Commander sitting in a chair, waiting for him.
"Hello again, Joseph. Care to tell me what you're doing in my lodgings?"
"Shut up, fool!! What kind of dumb tactic was that? Blowing yourself up. Are you stupid, perhaps? I mean, what kind of idiot suicide bombs? That's not a victory. What did they teach you at that camp, you freaking madman?" Landon angrily responded.
"Awww, are you still angry you got blown up, Joseph? It was all virtual. Don't cry, you big sissy," Henry laughed.
"Now answer me, why are you in my home?"
"This home is provided by the military, Henry. I'm your superior, so I can go wherever I like. Also, this was my own lodgings when I started serving. Now sit. We need to talk," the Commander said, taking on a grave face.
Sitting before Joseph, Henry took on a serious look of his own. He wondered what was so pressing for Joseph to take on a serious look that could be mistaken for a glare.
He had a feeling he had done something wrong. Then again, he had done nothing since he was out of the camp.
"Henry, I have received some orders for your first deployment from my superiors. You will be deployed on the morrow. Your assignment will bring you back to Earth.
"It will be a simple search and destroy task. Tamarain troops have settled near a human city on Earth, and they threaten the civilians' security every second they pass there."
"Why, have they besieged the city or something?" Henry asked, leaning in, suddenly interested.
"No, not yet," Landon answered.
"Then are they threatening to bomb the place? How are they a menace to civilians just by being near them?"
"Shut up for a second, Henry. They settled near the Legacy Cave. I believe the name rings a bell?"
Realizing why he felt he had done something wrong, Henry paled.
The Tamarains were most likely looking for him.
Temporary Haitus
Going on Haitus for a while. Burnout is making 2 books hard. Sry
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone