-Chapter Seventeen-
Pain

John stood up. "Thank you for your hospitality, I need to go now."

"W-wait! Where are you going?" Lana leapt quickly from the chair she had been sitting on, and took hold John's arm loosely. " If you're really from Timeless Project then you don't have any idea what's going on in the world. What are you planning to do?"

"I have someone I'll need to pick up from the lab where I was held fairly soon. After that I'll figure something out on my own."

"But we could help you! You could borrow our hovrar to take you there, pick the person up, and come back. We could explain to both of you what's been happening in the world, and help you get jobs or something!"

"No, thank you."

"B-but…"

"Leave him be, dear." Geye stood up, walked over to a box in the corner of the room, and removed an ancient, well-weathered envelope from it, and brought it back. "This is for you, John. I couldn't possibly know what you're going through, but I am truly sorry."

Taking the envelope, John shook Geye's hand and said quietly, "Thanks." After placing the envelope gingerly into his pocket, he walked out of the house, and started down the street.

What is it I'm feeling?

John began to run, his body moving through the air as if aerodynamically designed to slip through smoothly, his legs progressing forward in bounds that no natural human could make.

His speed increased. People began staring in disbelief as he streaked past, but he ignored them and continued to run faster.

No, it's not any of those; it's something… something else. Something… familiar.

He began to pass the hovrars as they sped along, hot tears coming slowly to his eyes then pressing out onto his cheeks where they were swiftly torn away by the wind.

Emptiness.

His lungs began to burn inside of him, his muscles aching with the strain, but still he continued to speed up, becoming nothing but a blur to the rest of the world. The pain invigorated him, distracted him. With the pain of his body coursing through his mind, he was unable to focus on the pain held within.

John started to near the area where the lab was located, then slowed down. Large crashes and explosions where echoing through the streets, there were also screams. Something was wrong. Extending his wings to their full span, and without even thinking, John launched himself upwards into a tremendous flip and landed on top of a nearby, two story building.

Why, and… when, did my outfit change? It's no heavier than it was, but it's now quite different. It's been replaced with what looks like a jet-black combination of high tech gear and medieval armor, minus a helmet. And what… what the heck IS that thing?

From his height, John was able to see what appeared to be a large robot. It was massive, but seemed like it had been built rather clumsily. It had a single body unit, four limbs, and something that could've passed as a head; it could've been made to be humanoid, almost. Almost, but not quite. The limbs were extremely thick, all the same size exactly, and all connected near the base of the oversized main body. The 'head', as it were, was almost as long as the limbs, but curved down from the top; it wasn't quite centered. Overall the thing was about twenty feet tall, and coated in a 'skin' of something gray that smoothed all joints and hid all machinery.

It looks like an oversized glove that's been brought to life, and is now blowing up buildings and attacking people.

True.

Let's kill it.

John moved toward the thing, then stopped suddenly. Why had he just used the plural? For a moment he contemplated the thought, but was soon interrupted rather unpleasantly. The awkward contraption had made its way over toward the building where John had been perched, and swept across the roof with one of its arm-like appendages. John, being in the process of thinking over something else, was caught off guard and flung across the road through the wall of another building.

A wide-eyed female helped him to his feet, glancing out in fear at the mechanized monstrosity through the hole that had been made. "Are you alright?"

Wiping a trail of blood from the edge of his mouth, John didn't answer. He looked down at the red mark as the nanotech fabric in his glove worked to absorb it, then began to do something odd. He laughed.

"Are you… okay?"

"Yes… he-heh, YES! I'm perfectly okay, Amy, why would you think otherwise?"

Amy, being the girl that had helped him, now started backing away. The look on John's face could not be described as anything pleasant, a contemptuous mixture of pain, sorrow, rage, and a perverse pleasure, the only thing to describe it in a single word would be dementia.

He continued to laugh, increasing in volume and harshness, at the same time as he laughed, though, tears flowed freely down his cheeks. He turned away from the girl and started walking through the hole he had made when launched into the building. Then he saw the robot again.

His face steeled, the tears ceased, the sorrow vanished. All were replaced by a single, focused hatred for the loathsome creation that was now pounding the front of a building into rubble. It became, almost, as if destroying that one wretched thing would end the pain from his emotions.

In an instant his energy was at his fingertips, an instant more and a fireball was flying toward the mechanical beast. With a satisfactory explosion and shockwave, the robot was hit. With a less than satisfactory, literally non-existent amount of actual damage done, the robot turned away from the building it had been attacking, and simply stared down at John with its mechanical eyes.

John had only enough time to extend his wings and launch himself into a corkscrew twist out of the way before the machine swung one of its massive limbs and obliterated the spot where he had been standing. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time or ability to do anything else. With its other 'arm', the robot smashed John in midair with a straight punch, sending him flying several blocks before hitting the ground and rolling backwards.

Unfolding his wings outward to catch the air, John pulled himself to a stop, and after coughing up a small amount of blood used his white, healing energy to fix any major injuries.

I'm lucky it works on me, I guess.

The robot began charging down the street towards him, its 'legs' pounding craters into the asphalt as it went. With a tremendous, wing-enhanced back flip, John landed lightly on the roof of a nearby building and pressed the button that changed his T-watch into a sword. With a start, he noticed something odd.

It's glowing green.

The sword was glowing in the exact color of the blood it had absorbed from the Toxarin, but at the moment, it didn't matter. As the robot swiftly eliminated the distance between itself and John, all that could be done was to be ready for the next move.

Sorry to all about the horrible length of time since my last update- with any luck I'll be able to be a bit more regular now. But between school stuff, job stuff, relationship stuff, and a case of depression bad enough to require heavy medicinal drug use for several months... yeah. I've got several chapters in stock, though- so even if i crash I'll still be able to update about once a week. So please R&R!

OH, and- as my schedule is quite... erm... not good, please do say, after your review, what specific work of yours you would like for me to review back, elsewise- I'll pick something short. (Just a note- my reviewing back will probably take place on whatever day I update- just so you know when to expect it.)