Chapter 5 - A Ranger’s Epiphany

Quin ran back to Hayden as fast as he could. He crouched down, and elevated his head, being careful not to disturb the wound. 

Blood leaked out of Hayden’s torso, pooling on the ground.

“Somebody help! Bandages, staples, anything!”

A guard opened a medkit, “Right.”

Lieutenant Ivory spoke again.

<Lord Vath, I’ll handle the repercussions, so just get invo->

Before she could finish her sentence, Eizik had already lifted his hand, his eyes filled with rage. A wall of electricity appeared in front of Lek, preventing his retreat. Another one formed behind him, blocking him off completely.

Although Quin had seen Rangers fight before, he still couldn’t understand how they were so much stronger than an average person. If the situation were any different, he would have been staring in awe.

The guard with the medkit pulled out a syringe and injected it near Hayden’s wound. He began to carefully wrap a bandage around his body.

“This is the best I can do for now, the wound goes all the way through. The injection will staunch the bleeding for a while, and the bandages will keep as much in as possible as we transport him.”

Quin held on to Hayden’s hand, “You’ll make it buddy.”

“Yeah,” Hayden faintly spoke. He closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

He was still alive, but hanging on by a thread.

Quin set his hand down.

They didn’t have time to acquire a stretcher, so three of the guards gently supported him off the ground, and carried him out. Quin stayed behind.

It was very fortunate that the elevator ride going from the disk back into the center of Gaia was far smoother than the other way around.

“I’m sorry Quin,” said Eizik, “I should’ve just offered help from the beginning.”

Quin was sitting on his knees, covered in his friend’s blood. His arms stooped down to the ground.

“No, this is my fault,” he said, “This wouldn’t have happened if I just caught on to what that stupid pirate had said in transport.”

“You can think what you want, but you did everything you could. This goes beyond you.”

Eizik stared past the electrical wall that he had placed.

“Tell me something, pirate, who paid you to do this?”

“Huh?” Lek responded and he narrowed his eyes, “Just who are you?”

“This isn’t simple pirating, someone like you should be scavenging for parts and selling them, or whatever it is that you do.”

“I got a bit sick of that business,” he said, candidly.

“So someone did put you up to this?”

“Piss off, I won’t tell you anything. Torture me if you can, but you guys have regulations against that, don’t you?”

“What a thing to say. There aren’t many groups dedicated to exposing the passiveness of the Galactic Coalition, even less so are there ones with any sort of influence. The Partition is it?”

Lek did not respond, so Eizik continued.

“You picked a strange time too, only when there was a Ranger Lord on board, with no Human Rangers, did you strike, clearly targeting the budding Trial Rangers.”

Eizik pondered in deep thought for a moment.

“No, but that would mean… besides, the Partition barely has the funds to stay afloat, let alone hire out to thugs like you.”

Hearing this struck a chord with Quin. He punched his fist into the nearest wall, leaving a substantial dent. 

“For money… they tried to kill and kidnap my friends for that?”

“Yes,” said Eizik, “Some people live their lives in such an unsightly manner, but I’m sure you already-”

Eizik noticed the faint aura coming off of Quin. It was slight, but it was sharp and heavy.

He understood in that moment that the most dangerous person in the room wasn’t the captive pirate captain, nor the Ranger Lord that he was, but the angry young man in front of him. As horrid as the situation was, Eizik’s eyes lit up.

“Quin, what you feel right now, it’s okay to let it overtake you.”

“Is that really okay?” Quin said.

The only thought on his mind was a simple command:

Rip him to pieces.

“Yes, it’s alright. Whatever it is that you want, you have to do it in this moment.”

Quin stopped straining himself. His body loosened. He stood up straight and steeled himself.

He took a step forward, when there was a sudden pain running around his body. The propulsion harness that he was wearing felt like it was attacking him. 

He faltered in his step and crouched down, grunting.

“Don’t fear it,” said Eizik, “That’s just the Arima from your propulsion harness, your sidearm, your spinal implant, and any other tools that you may have on you. It wants to become a part of you; let it.”

Quin quietly nodded his head and gritted his teeth.

To him, it felt like thousands of blunt needles piercing through his skin. He groaned and clenched his fists through the process.

After some time, the pain subsided, and Quin stood up once more.

His body felt completely weightless. Quin had finally discovered the difference between a regular person and a Ranger.

“Congratulations, Ranger Quin,” Eizik said, “Stand tall, your quarry is right in front of you.”

The walls of electricity vanished, and Quin stared down the cornered Captain Lek with cold, sunken eyes.

The smoke had already cleared by this time, and behind Lek, the pirates had already been rounded up and put in cuffs. They were being walked away from the area. Not many would want to get involved in a fight between people like Rangers.

“Heh,” Lek chuckled, “I don’t know what your deal is, Yujunoan, but it was nice of you to deliver my prey right to me a second time.”

He fired his pistol at Quin. 

Before the beam could reach him, Quin was already prepared to step aside. Knowing that this time, no one that he needed to protect was standing behind him, he dodged it. His instincts were far sharper than before.

“Keep talking,” Quin said coldly, “You won’t be able to for much longer.”

He began walking at the defeated pirate, like a tiger stalking its prey. 

Lek fired another shot, only for it to be dodged again. Another one, and then another one. Every single shot that fired from Lek’s weapon was avoided as though they weren’t fast enough to be worrying.

He gave up on trying to shoot him, and tried to turn around to run away.

It was too late. Quin was already in range.

He lept at him, and in the same motion, jammed his fist directly into his core, the same spot that Hayden was shot in.

The fist grinded into his abdomen for a split second, then he was sent flying backwards, blood streaking out of his mouth as he went. Quin grabbed him by the collar before he could fly too far, and swiftly drove his forearm into his jaw.

Quin hadn’t had enough. He pressed him against the wall, and threw a punch straight into the middle of the eyes. He punched again, and then once more. His fists felt so much heavier.

Quin paused for a moment to see Lek’s face, barely recognizable from what it was. He let go of his collar, and the pirate captain dropped down.

As he hit the ground, it became clear that he wouldn’t be standing up again any time soon. 

There was a throbbing pain in Quin’s fist that he hadn’t noticed before. The skin wasn’t broken, but it was clearly bruising.

Quin was suddenly out of breath. He knelt down to the ground, huffing.

“Well done, Quin,” said Eizik, “That was really something for your first time truly relying on Arima.”

“I feel terrible,” Quin muttered.

“Then rest, for now.”

Quin dropped the rest of the way to the floor, and closed his eyes.

**

Quin opened his eyes to a white room. 

Lieutenant Ivory was sitting on a chair next to his bed, typing something up.

“Oh, you’re awake. It’s only been a couple hours.”

Quin stared at the ceiling.

“First off, I’d like to say congratulations. Lord Vath is working on expediting your promotion to make you a full Ranger.”

“Thanks, I guess. I didn’t do anything though.”

“You did more than what could have been expected from you.”

“Hmm.”

“With that in mind, Quin… I need to file an official report on this incident. I would like to have you take full credit for the recapturing of Lek. It would help our public image greatly.”

“That’s-” Quin stopped himself, “Fine, do what you want.”

“Thank you, Quin. You have no idea what you have accomplished.”

Quin gulped nervously, “How are Mariah and Hayden?”

“Mariah made a fast recovery. As she is, she can almost walk normally already.”

“That’s a relief,” Quin paused, “What about Hayden?”

“He’s alive, and his condition is stabilizing.”

“Will he wake up any time soon?”

Ivory looked to the ground and slowly exhaled before speaking, “Probably not. We’re expecting specialists to arrive within a couple weeks here to look into it.”

“I see.”