Artus sat himself on the edge of a roof of his favorite café as he laid on his back and edited a playlist of his favorite songs. "I wonder if that movie was right about childhood?" Artus asked himself with an uncertain tone before deciding on a song and laying on his back. "I see myself leading squads as one of the season ranks, Art." He recalled being told from someone with a missing tooth yet a beaming smile.
A group of young women rushed after recognizing his dangling armored legs and began squealing with excitement. "Oh my gosh— oh. my. Gosh, damn it, you're the hot tall super cop, aren't you?!" One of the many fans shouted ecstatically.
Artus unleashed a high pitched scream before he conjured a gun above him accidentally that plummeted onto his helmet. "Appreciate the compliment but he's stationed in another city." He replied as he hopped eight feet to the ground. Another fan came around who shoved the girls that were fawning over Artus out of his way, he was the most enthusiastic and happiest to meet him, moments passed he had a acrowd surrounding him asking questions. Artus' eyes lit up as he held a beaming grin under his helmet while grabbing a pen from another fan offering it to him. "Okay guys, one at a time please!" He had to yell as loud as he could because there were many. "Sir, this is officer McConnaway, we have a fella at the station requesting the attention of a thickset gen-oath officer." He heard the call from his helmet's headset.
The gen-oath's sanguine marksman eventually felt overwhelmed after thirty minutes of perpetual attention. "A shout out to my brother for teaching me this neat trick, fans!" He kept to himself before dropping a smoke canister. After five minutes, the smoke cleared away as Artus watched the crowd grow saddened and disappointed far from their sight while lowering his brows. "Apologies for taking 'bout an hour to respond. Tell the fella I'm on my way— though address him as the chilly churro for me, sir." Artus responded after having him on hold. The officer on the call sighed. "No, sir. I'm not doing that." Artus heard before the call was hung up. "You know my question, Art?" He heard from a familiar voice through his gauntlet's built-in communicator. Artus glanced to his left before drifting to the direction of the police station. "Overwhelming, Matt. Fame's not all it's cracked up to be— like I cracked it to be." He answered with a calmness to his voice.
-
The gen-oath's sanguine marksman panted as he snagged attention after entering. "Where's the man that was causing noise and spraying water at?" asked Artus to a young man that worked in custodial clothes when he arrived at the police department that the citizen had been causing trouble in.
A nearby officer that listened to the question pointed. "The civilian request room is to the right of the corridor, Oath." The officer that contacted him enlightened. He arrives where he was guided and realized he was reunited with his best friend, sitting and waiting in a chair with his hands out and a large puddle of water in the shape of a zebra was between them. Artus recognized the awe that he felt. "Your growth always was phenomenal and applause worthy, dude." He commented as he wrapped his arm around the citizen that was shaping water. The tourist felt the squeeze he was given while he walked with the oath's sanguine marksman. "Okay. I guess we're leaving now." He replied as he stepped with Artus out of the station. The oath's sanguine marksman turned off his voice modulator, when Artus inched close enough behind him. Artus had firmly grabbed his shoulder and leaned towards the citizen. "Someone told me you sprayed them with water. I came just in time because that station looked like they were going to lock you up." He whispered as they were near the station's exit. The tourist, who had requested his aid, nodded before giving a thumbs up. "Gotcha, thickset." He replied in jest with a beaming smirk. The tourist noticed the station's receptionist was admiring him from afar. Artus noticed that the strangers wouldn't take their eyes away from each other. "Yeah, I've asked a favor of someone on the force to drive that Lamborghini you let me borrow to go save that family from those vicious goblins, bro." He shouted with an ecstatic tone. The tourist lightly tapped Artus' rib before the two erupted with laughter while they exited the police station. "Still the wingman that every fella needs on this heliocentric ball of dirt, Art. That charisma helped me get Didessa's attention." He struggled to finish while holding onto his hips. Artus accepted the tourist's offer to dap and hug. "I need a moment without this stuffy helmet, bro, want to see where we're staying these days?" He commented and asked with an enthusiasm present in his tone.
Artus led Zander to the alternative entrance of the Trio's headquarters. "I just found out that this actually existed, dude." He said with a grin on his face. Zander hugged himself as he surveyed the area of the alternative entrance. "Where's Ly and Embs?" He questioned. Artus glanced downwards and noticed his buddy's shoes as he thought about what was asked to him. "Prowling the city, accepting commissions in other stations like the way that you called me— we're basically the city's official superheroes." Artus answered. Zander's eyes flew open as he leaned in with a low gasp. "Really, dude?" He asked, "That's kinda badass!" He finished amazement in his tone.
Artus led the academy's sloth down the alternative entrance's underground road. "Yep, though, of course Lyle and Ember fit in so well because they're also wet blankets like most of the force." He replied. Zander exploded with laughter. "Yeah, like remember that one night when Ember laughed and tore us a new one for being caught sneaking out of our dorms to take some junk food?" The wandering whiteout reminded him with a tone filled with sentimentality. Artus' response was slowed as he gazed towards the ceiling. "Yeah man. Mentor Duraenou was never happy with us." The oath's sanguine marksman replied as he continued leading, "Enjoying life just fine by the way, Zand?" He asked with a sudden seriousness in his question.
Zander turned his eyes away. "Yeah, in my opinion– you know that I don't need the greatest this world has to offer to enjoy the moment though, Art." He told him. Artus rubbed his hands as he steadied his eyes into his pal's while they continued forward. "Just spend the night with us for the sake of our childhood, tundra hermit?" He offered. Zander rubbed his ear while keeping his eyes away. "Totally– definitely would but our smokey strategist and fleet-footed swordswoman, ya know?" He replied with subtle nervousness. Artus shrugged with a slight grin as he turned his head. "They adore you– and how you've never started an argument with them or the academy, dude." He verbally opposed, "Spend more time with them, you'll notice that Lyle's just as harsh with me and Ember's have a tendency to–" He finished.
Zander wrapped his arm around his pal as he offered a fist bump. "The perfect example of supercilious gal?" He interrupted to opine. Artus' eyes widened. "I'm not comfortable agreeing or disagreeing." He answered. Silence grew as steps and appeared in the dim tunnel they found themselves in. Zander whistled to break the silence. Artus opened a formidably heavy door leading the duo to begin a journey up many flights of stairs. "Oh yeah, you know where Iona went after the– tragedy?" He questioned with noticeable concern as he asked.
Zander rubbed his ear while his gaze shot towards the sight of more stairs above them. "I thought I had heard her say before we got separated that she had thoughts about traveling to specifically JinJunyë or Louisiana for something important to her." He answered. Artus had to take in that info for a moment. "As long as she's living well." He responded with a nostalgic tone. Zander began scratching his chin before a brief revelation and it showed on his face. Artus noticed his pal felt more powerful. "The day you were inspired by Mentor Duraenou— have you kept it?" He asked before tapping his shoulder with his fist.
The tundra hermit held his hand out, palm open, and above it quickly formed from seemingly nowhere an oval of water sitting in a lemon chiffon vase on his palm. "After this visit for old time's sake is finished— I'm going to visit Aomori city but I've just been traveling through Europe. Admiring ." Zander answered. Artus listened to the sudden appearance of a familiar voice sounding through his communicator. "Artus, we need your help, there's another bank robbery near you!" His elder sister had informed him. Zander leaned his head to the right. "I— this'll be the perfect time to see my training in actual action, Art!" The tundra hermit shouted ecstatically as Artus felt the area grow slightly sticky. Artus sighed as he briefly stared at his feet. "Sorry, dude, the city's wet blankets would remind me how stupid they think I am if I allowed you to come. Just continue heading up these flights of stairs, take a right and make yourself." He replied before leaping over the banister. Zander leaned over the banister and watched his pal plummet before switching his gaze upwards with a dejected expression.
-
The Trio returned from their shift on patrol and finished their commissions. "Zander, prepare for a family reunion, fella!" Artus shouted with an emphasis on his pal's name. "Yo!" They heard in the direction of a bathroom.
The oath's blue-stocking blade sounded a low frustrated growl. "Zander's here?!" Ember questioned, filled with shock, "I'm too tired to deal with his bull— I'm going to bed." She finished before a lengthy yawn. Artus noticed his brother leaning against a wall staring towards him. "Gonna come hang with Zand and I?" He asked his brother. Lyle thought about his answer for a brief moment.
The oath's sanguine marksman woke up and noticed his muscles feeling looser than ever as he stretched. "The next sunrise arrived, it shone its light upon the three cities and it shined its light, it did." He kept in his thoughts. Artus made his way to where he made sure his buddy, Zander, was in the fourth room and walked in to see that his friend had vanished and instead a piece of paper was left. Ember's search for her brother came to a conclusion and noticed the heart break on his face. "Okay, Art allowed that thieving bastard in so we're going to go on a treasure hunt to find out what he took." Warned Ember with a legitimate tone. The oath's sanguine marksman slowly turned his head in her direction. "This is why I couldn't have your back yesterday, sis." Artus replied with a calmness heard in his tone. Ember crossed her arms as she stared daggers at her brother. "Care to elaborate on that, Art?" She had questioned.
Artus stood up straight. "We were reflecting after Ly left last night. You make yourself unlikeable sometimes. I don't enjoy being dishonest." He replied.
Ember looked somewhat hurt, but she stuffed her taco meat back in it's shell, or at first tried to. "Alright, Artus, I'm going to be candid. I can't respect someone who'd call somebody their brother but put their own comfort and life over their sibling's lives." She confessed free-spokenly. Artus kept his eyes trained to the right of him. "I forgave and let that go. He lied and snitched to Rylan. We were young." He argued in return. Ember deeply sighed while repeatedly snapped her fingers. "I'll simplify, he's a a lazy support unit that only feeds words to the team while feeding off their success at the same time." She further explained with a much softer tone. Artus turned his back away from his kin. "He's changed since the days when the head of the academy was going to force him to become our custodian. The day of our graduation, he was going to reveal the results of his training. I got a glimpse last night." He replied with humorless eyes.
Lyle's eyes widened as he leapt from the wall that his back was against. "You hadn't shown him our armory, right?" Asked Lyle who's been quiet that whole time. The oath's sanguine marksman switched his attention over to his brother while his mouth was gaping. "Yeah, Bro, why?" Artus answered and questioned in return. The oath's sangfroid paragon eased into a thoughtful stance. "He's gone. He enjoys taking what's not his own. The understandable fascination when we partied and we let him grab the value." Lyle verbally tossed forth and answered. Artus' brows flew low as he took a frustrated breath before he attempted to prove them wrong and instantaneously move his battle gear onto him yet nothing took place. "Umm—?" He reacted with a low confused voice.
The oath's blue-stocking blade chuckled with a smug grin before sprinting to their armory and checking if her little brother was correct with the sanguine and sangfroid duo following only half of their hall behind her.
Artus and his siblings opened bursted into the armory. "Wow— okay!" Artus replied as he tossed his arms into the air. Lyle took swift notice of a note that he couldn't recall being in its spot hours prior. "Forgot the horrors of his hand writing. Seems he's heading for an organization. Likely going to sell it to one." Lyle informed his siblings. Artus deeply gasped with an expression that had shown his shock. "He couldn't have become one of those?!" He asked himself in his thoughts. Ember patted her younger brother on his back. "He's a ton of things but I can't believe he would until I see him as one with my own eyes." she shared the pensive thought.
The oath's sanguine marksman stared in the corner of their armory where his gear should be sitting with a stony-faced. "I'll go confront him and find out. And he'll give me the answers." Artus declared with a broody expression.
The oath's sangfroid paragon moved his eyes after they were locked in place since his last sentence. "Lemon chiffon essence and impeccable technology, Art. Utilize the tracking unit." Lyle answered his brother. The oath's sanguine marksman rested a hand on his right hip and the other for rubbing his chin. "And the tracking source was, again— for me real quick?" Artus asked in a curious tone.
Lyle "Our Gen-Oath communicators. Researcher Jikolsen thought of it." Lyle answered in a calm tone.
The oath's sanguine marksman checked for his own. "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I'm off now, don't wait up!" Artus blurted. Ember sped to the door before him and slammed it shut before her brother left the headquarters' armory. "You don't want us to come with you?" She asked in a curious tone.
Artus looked to the ground with a thoughtful expression. "No. I have him myself. The city still needs you guys on duty too." He told his siblings. Hearing all of what Artus said, Lyle poofed away for a moment. The oath's blue-stocking blade pointed towards Lyle. "I understand, but don't hesitate to beep the Gen-oath unit in whatever city if any trouble is too overwhelming like—?!" Ember demanded with a genuine tone, Lyle vanished from her hip so she didn't know where to point to, "Damn bastard, always leaving." Ember complained, before she sighed.
Artus chuckled hard then rushed off to where the tracker told him to go. Lyle poofed back right beside his elder sister. "He's going back to Seyort. We can focus on our duty here, he has great backup." He commented as he squinted. Ember's head swiftly twisted towards him. "Back to Seyort?" Ember asked while turning his way, "I'm surprised he hadn't noticed the tracking on the gear yet. Seyort is the least surveilled city. Zander's not a fool, if he was a traveler and passed through, he'd have figured it out." Lyle opined and thought to himself. Ember released a low growl. "Stop ignoring me! You're going to have to enlighten me about when you nimrods went to Seyort the first time." Ember demanded, "Seyort's gotta be beautiful with a name like that!" Ember thought to herself.
-
Artus had to return after rushing away to change first he didn't want anyone to see his pajamas.
Because he could, after he got dressed to fit in with Seyort, he jumped out of his window but fell flat on his face hitting the ground, but he could so he did. After the fall, he rushed to Seyort in a cab made for traveling through the cities.
The cab only dropped him off at the city, not at the location he wanted, it takes some hours to travel from one city to another.
Because it dropped him off at one of the earliest points, he knew he'd have to battle his way through Seyort's obscure but very active gangs, who feared Josue's power but couldn't give in.
He wondered how Zander traveled so quickly, though.
No more than half an hour of traveling through the city, Artus encountered 14 strange humanoids that looked inhuman rioting and causing a panic in Seyort.
"Yuck, you guys look like a science experiment gone wrong but smell like what went wrong was that it killed you, yeevsh!" Artus said as he covered his nose, which caught their attention.
The creatures snapped at him, "BentusBoontus!" In a low tone as they angrily stampeded his way.
Artus jumped feet in the air, and jumped over the rushing creatures, his agility truly is surprising for his large size.
In a fraction of a second, he conjured up an SMG and began spraying the creatures down; he could go as crazy as he wanted with no civilians on the road.
The bullets he blew into the creatures came out as they stood back up on their two feet, completely healed again.
Artus pumped some more from a shotgun until he shot one's head off by accident except it didn't rise again, he realized their weakness then at that point.
"My bad, I've been treating you guys like a human this whole time, as Duraenou taught us, I should have always aimed for the head!" Artus yelled aloud pumped up.
For better accuracy, he evoked duraenou's desert eagle and copied an exact copy of it, and within 2 minutes, shot off 13 shots, each in the creatures heads, and that was the end of that battle.
"Where's the Seyort Gen-Oath at?" Artus wondered to himself as he continued moving.
Artus continued to journey through Seyort, to his friend Zander, this time he hastened up.
Taking a shortcut that was said to be mandatory to get to his destination, he encountered another issue, or multiple ones.
"Whoa, you look like a rich boy!" Said a dude with 16 other men behind him, who all carried various weapons with them and looked malicious at the same time, vicious.
"Guys please, I'm not the greatest fighter but I can take you guys down with my eyes shut, this isn't a threat, I'm giving you this one warning." Artus said pretty confidently and truthfully, "Turn around and leave me, I won't horribly embarrass all of you, pretty miserably." Artus warned the gang.
The leader did a double take at Artus and his men, the face he made was genuine, he chuckled and laughed at Artus, "Man quit joking, it's 17 of us and one of you, just come with us and we won't hurt you until we get to our place." Said the leader, still smiling at What he thought was a joke.
Artus placed two fingers on his forehead in a similar way that Ember does towards him.
"This proves movies are never wrong about these!" Artus said lowly, he summoned two pistols and inhumanly quick, tossed them at the thug's foreheads knocking them out, he knocked out 4 thugs this way.
One of the thugs rushed at him, attempting to slash him, he dodged the blades with ease, then grabbed it from the thug and tossed it.
One with a mace came his way, he blocked it with his forearm alone then knocked out the man with one uppercut.
The leader and one of the thugs struggled to jump into the fight, for as bad as the leader wanted in, it was too many of his men trying to get in before him.
"That guy is glowing, why is he glowin?" Asked one thug to his boss, "I don't know but I don't think he's unstoppable, c'mon!" The leader answered, the thug who asked took off, cursing and swearing and terrified.
"Hey guys, did you know I can bench press something like atleast a thousand and a half pounds?" Artus bragged.
Before he realized it, the area had men knocked out all around, except for one who never got to jump in.
"What... are you man?" The leader of the gang asked, Artus gave the leader his Lyle impression, just glared at him in silence.
The leader asked a few more questions and a few more, but Artus remained silent and continued to give his Lyle glare.
Artus noticed the face someone makes when they're intimidated, he ran off scared and afraid.
The man ran and ran away, until he bumped into a man wearing a weird robe and was knocked down.
-
Artus continued to his friend Zander, to talk to him some, for Artus, this wasn't about the Armor because it was about a close friend.
Only 20 minutes away from his friend, a portal similar to that of the one Josue came out of when they first met popped out of nowhere but out came a few flying creatures, strange vulture-like creatures though they were larger.
He halted because he knew he'd have to deal with this problem.
One of them came swooping down at him, to kill him but it was so fast he couldn't dodge it, thanks to him keeping his ability still active, he wasn't killed right there since he also doesn't have his armor either. "These things are fast, that could've been the end of me just now!" Artus noted in his head.
The bird dropped him on a roof, but weirdly further away from his friend, he noticed something had been trying to stop him but what he could only wonder to himself.
Artus got up but noticed that each bird flew at him with different speeds.
"Hmmm, what would Zander or the Smokey strategist do in this situation?" Artus asked himself.
The birds seemingly got quicker and quicker, the more attacks they got off on him, they became faster.
The birds kept repeatedly attacking him as he was trying to think, one of the large, queer birds grabbed him off the ground again and flew around with him. Artus shot the bird, got off a few clean shots but their body seemed bullet resistant even to his, frustration growing bigger, he shot off a rocket from an RPG at the bird by accident, of course, he was sent dropping back to the ground but when he recovered and looked around, he saw the bird was sent plummeting with him.
Artus and the birds stopped as the dead bird fell to the ground, cooked.
Artus looked from the side, "Wha?" He whispered, "Wow, of course explosions and fire would be a bird's weakness!" Artus thought to himself laughing and chuckling as he thought about chickens.
The birds flew down some, trying to attack Artus but he noticed with each bird he killed, the slower the others got, as if they were all connected.
After 14 minutes, all 5 birds were dead and gone, then Artus leaped off the building he fell on and to his friend.
Artus tracked Zander to one of Josue's homeless shelters, which was sort of the entire reason he started everything in the first place, when he got inside, he caught him asleep on a bed wearing his armor.
"Nobody unmasked him, wow!" Artus said to himself as he made his way to him, "Josue, Man, Josue..." Artus finished.
Artus made sure nobody was looking when he unmasked Zander and placed it on himself, Zander was a heavy sleeper so he never woke up, then he showed everyone his badge and told everyone to leave urgently so believably, to evacuate the area and hurry to leave.
Everybody panicked and left the room like a shootout was about to begin or so...
The panic and screaming everyone made woke Zander though, "Please my lady, don't cut off my toe nails for you see I-" Zander yelled dramatically as he woke up from his nap but cut himself off before he could finish when he realized he was awake and there was no princess.
Zander looked around then noticed a man standing above him, his body language told him he was angry so he assumed it was Artus.
"I uhmm, OOF!" Zander struggled to say something after he realized it was Artus.
When the entire room was cleared, Artus took off the helmet and held it in his hand, so he could speak to his friend clearly, no debatable words heard.
"Can you explain to me what's going on here, Zander, did you really come visit 'cause to sell my armor for a cheap buck?" Artus asked madly, furious.
"Listen pal, no, no, I did wanna see you and at first, I was never going to sell your Armor buddy, I just, I don't know, it's like something MADE me do it!" Zander answered, genuinely.
"Alright, this has nothing to do with the armor, I was just curious, tell me what's going on with you, your body language the other day snitched on you!" Artus demanded.
"Erm, technically it's earlier you mean to say, man!" Zander said as he attempted to stall, "DUUUDE!" Artus yelled out in a similar manner as Ember, the anger was clear in his tone.
Zander sighed, he was sandwiched between two options that he couldn't choose between because of his own reasoning behind them.
"I had to fight monsters and gangsters that could've ended my life to get to you, c'mon bro, don't make me have came here and forced through all of that for nothing!" Artus reasoned with Zander, but he still hesitated to talk to him.
Artus' meter was filling up and filling to the limit it was, his frustration measurements.
"Fine then, if you won't even come clean to someone as close to you as I am, then you have no right to have bros at all, and you have no right to talk about judgy people like Ember if you won't show them the best kind of you that you've showed me, either!" Artus bursted out with as his anger and frustration had reached the limit.
Artus tossed the helmet to Zander, disabled the tracker on his suit using the communicator then got up and walked away without looking back to his friend even once until he called for him right before he left.
"Wait, Arty, where are you going?" Zander yelled for Artus' attention, Artus continued walking then stopped and turned around, "I've given up on you, Mentor Dain always told us that sometimes action helps more than words or advice, and I know there's truth in that because that's how I learned and Lyle, you were never like that but now you're going to get a taste of it." He replied.
"What about the suit, man?" Zander asked, "Keep it, I can get a new one, sell it and start a new life with the money or don't, I don't care I'm tired, I'm going home now." Artus answered then he continued his walk home.
-
"You guys, I'm back, OOF!" Artus yelled when he got back to the apartment.
Lyle and Ember walked out of their rooms to see him once their attention was caught.
"Yeah, Jikolsen and I, are gonna start working on a new suit for you, I had a feeling you were going to let Zander keep it." Said Lyle when he noticed Artus didn't have the suit on him.
Artus fell to the floor, banging on it with his fist, "Ember, you were right, He didn't want to go anywhere but for some reason he always worked harder than I ever did, and I don't know what his problem was or is but he's a moron!" Artus cried with no tears, he just had pure emotion after losing a longtime friend that his words sounded like gibberish.
"I feel like I can relate for some reason, he comes off like you, bro. Confident, suave, a real extravert but he's nothing special, S.I.O.M finds kids like him, like me, like you two, kids with abilities that's been abandoned by their families or had none to begin with, and train them as weapons, tools, turns them into fools for the country but you're special man. I didn't want to believe Dain when he told me that once, but You were able to keep me from falling into their web and brainwashing, and keep your humanity and that idea of fun while we were being stripped of those, and while you kept yours, you both helped me keep mine also." Lyle voiced while keeping composed and calm tone as always, but this is the closest to "sharing his feelings" Lyle ever came since the siblings knew him, he took especially Artus' breath away.
Ember went to comfort him as much as she could too, but she couldn't think of anything to say to him that would comfort him. Lyle said the right words, in a surprising turn of events, that cheered his brother up, but Ember's hug did enough for him too.