Nine-to-Five 030 (Patreon)

Workforce Development V

~~~

The fire alarm going off was the last thing Nathaniel Robards expected that morning.

The old Exceed slowly set down his newspaper next to his steaming cup of coffee, his third one that morning, and glanced towards the balcony. Copious amounts of snow were still falling from the sky thanks to Jack Frost’s ill-conceived scheme. A scheme that, nevertheless, one would assume should prevent fires from happening. Blizzards, after all, were not known for their fiery wrath.

And yet, the alarm blaring in his ears told him a different story. The temptation to use his power to inspect the building was strong, but Robards ultimately decided against it. He almost always did. No matter how careful he was with it, his power always left him with a bad headache.

As the minutes passed and the alarm showed no signs of stopping, it became clear to Robards that this was not something he could ignore. This did not seem to be a simple case of someone making a mistake while cooking breakfast.

He stood up.

Robards had already showered and was dressed in black slacks, a white button-down shirt, and dress shoes. Some people liked to dress more informally in the privacy of their homes, but Robards found such habits slovenly and a mark of poor character. One should always dress well, not for others but for themselves. Once he put on his coat, tightened his tie, and double-checked the small, metal case containing needle and ampule in his pocket, Nathaniel Robards left his apartment.

There were already people out in the corridor. Most of the building had chosen to stay indoors due to the blizzard and were now forming a line in front of the elevators like idiots. Unlike them, Robards took the emergency stairs to the first floor. He only came across seven people that way, which said a lot about the average intelligence of his neighbors.

Not that he’d ever needed confirmation.

“Tommy,” he said once he was in the main lobby, briskly walking over to the reception desk. There was a small crowd of residents gathered there, but he pushed his way through. “What is the emergency?”

“Mr. Robards, good morning,” the man said. “Sorry, we’re still looking into it. The fire department should be here shortly.”

Robards frowned. “I see. In that case, I shall…”

The glass doors broke.

Only the enhanced reflexes brought about by his Exceed physiology allowed Nathaniel Robards to turn around in time to see some sort of large mechanical claw connected to a steel cable flying towards him. The sight was so unexpected he didn’t even think to dodge.

Before his brain had fully comprehended what was happening, the claw had wrapped around his torso. Screams and shouts erupted from the other residents as he was yanked out of the lobby. Robards yelled as the claw dragged him out into the streets and all the way up to the roof of the two-story building across the street. Due to the blizzard, it was already covered in snow.

“Well, what do you know?”

A cold hard fist collided with his jaw as he tried to get up and sent him back down.

“They did get you out of the building.”

The voice was female but sounded as though the person was talking through an old speaker. That little detail passed through Robards's mind as he laid eyes on his attacker.

She was a vision of black and red. Sleek black armor covered her body and was contrasted with harsh red lines that mimicked the shape of circuitry. Her head was completely hidden by a black helm with a visor that glowed with ominous red light. Were it not for the anger in her voice, Robards would have believed this was some sort of robot rather than a person. She certainly looked the part.

“Well?” She asked. “Nothing to say? That’s just as well. I don’t need you to speak.”

The red knight raised her hand. Red light glowed on her palm and filled Robard’s vision.

She fired.

He activated his power.

His body was lifted by invisible arms that carried him out of harm’s way. Though perhaps he need not have bothered. The red light blasted apart the snow but did not otherwise do much damage. As that thought filtered through his mind, the claw holding him was wrenched away, leaving him free to move.

The knight paused. Somehow, she stopped moving so completely that Robards began to doubt whether she was human or not.

“That..” She cocked her head to the side. “...was not quite what I had been told.”

“I don’t know what you have been told,” he said, trying to smooth his jacket as he moved them into position, “but I assure you I…”

She fired again.

This time, Robards moved with the agility one wouldn’t associate with a man as old as him and dodged the blast. Then the next one. And the next one.

“Don’t waste my time talking,” she told him, firing at him without pause, not even moving from her initial spot.

It made getting close to her all too easy.

Robards allowed himself a small smile as his attacker’s head suddenly went flying back as if she had been punched in the face.

Because that was exactly what had happened.

Right hook. Left straight. Low kick. Heavy blow. Though he was several yards away from her, Robards hit her again and again with all his might.

This was his power.

Robards could create invisible copies of himself to do all sorts of tasks for him. It’d be useful if it didn’t always give him a headache. Whenever he used his powers, he couldn’t help but see what his copies saw. Having so many different points of view being transmitted to his brain at the same time was disconcerting, to say the least. That was why he tried not to summon more than three at a time. Luckily, it didn’t seem like he was going to need more for this

A bullet struck the side of his head.

Exceeds were bullet-proof. Robards had never tested it out, but all he had read on the subject confirmed it. Even so, the small projectile traveling at the speed of sound hitting his temple left him seeing stars.

The confusion was enough to momentarily make him stop controlling his copies.

A blast of red hit him right in the chest.

“So that’s how you did it,” his attacker said, voice more angry than winded. This time, he was the one repeatedly struck as she fired at him without pause. “There was never anyone watching 24/7. You just needed to fake it once.”

What?

What was she talking about?

Wait…

“Are you talking about…”

“Not interested.” Another bolt of red struck his side before he could finish speaking.

However…

“Those are not that strong.”

One of his copies tackled the red knight out of the way, preventing the next bolt from hitting him. He created three more to attack her while he dashed for cover. As he turned away from his copies, the pain in his head intensified. Handling the different perspectives was always easier when they were all looking at the same thing. However, there was no other way. Staying on the roof was just asking to get shot.

As an Exceed, Robards could survive jumping down the building, but that would still leave him at the mercy of whoever was snipping him. That was why he dashed for the rooftop door instead.

Before he could get there, the red knight shook off the copies trying to hold her down and threw one at him.

“So they do have mass,” she said as Robards went tumbling down. “Good.”

Robards vanished the copy above him and summoned three more mere feet away from the red knight. His other copies were already rushing at her from the back.

The knight dodged.

Moving with fluidness that had so far seemed beyond her, she easily side-stepped the copy coming from behind her, leaving her arm out, so it hit it in the throat. Her other arm grabbed another copy by the throat and swung it into the other two like a baseball bat.

The whole thing didn’t even take a second.

How?

“It’s not hard,” she replied to his unspoken question, barely pausing as she punched another one of his copies. “If they have mass, they leave imprints on the snow and make noise when they move. Mapping out their movements is easy enough. Now, you said these aren’t that strong, did you..?”

The red light on her palms began to glow brighter.

“Let’s fix that.”

Brighter and faster than before. The bolt didn’t just hit him in the chest. It knocked him clean through the door. Before he could do anything, the knight was already in front of him, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.

“Can’t have you leaving!”

She tossed him like a ragdoll, dragging him out to the roof once more.

“How is this?!” She asked, running up to him to kick him in the ribs. Spit flew from his mouth as he gasped in pain.

“Not fun when you are the one suffering, is it?!”

She kicked him again.

And again.

And again.

She didn’t give him any time to react or mount a defense. The red knight just kept stomping on his body with frenzied zeal. He could feel his ribs beginning to crack.

And in his panic, he struck.

He reached deep into himself and created as many copies as he could between himself and her so that their bodies would push them away from each other. Dazed, he reached into his pocket. The ampule was ready.

A single stab. Something he had sworn he’d never do.

The blue liquid entered his veins.

And then everything changed.

~~~

Disk was on clean-up duty, and he was okay with that.

Many people didn’t think so. He had read the message boards and their many theories about hidden scandals and career-breaking injuries. Many people were still desperate to know what caused his “downfall.” Surely, being placed in a building widely known as The Disk had been a deliberate insult to him by his superiors. What other reason could there possibly be for a hero with several years of experience to be stationed in a place like Port Stanley?

However, that was just the thing. Disk was a hero with several years of experience.

He was closer to fifty than forty and had done his fair share of good. He’d even fought Behemoth once, and once had been enough for him to know he never wanted to do that again. There’d been no hidden insult behind his placement. It was he who requested it because he thought it would be funny.

Besides, Port Stanley had some good schools, which mattered to him and his wife. It was a good place to raise a family.

There was no great mystery. Disk was just a man who had decided to retire from the frontlines.

Jack Frost’s attack was an unexpected and unwelcome surprise. However, it was nothing to worry about. Slate and Osseous had already been dispatched to deal with him. They’d get this solved quickly. Slate had always been reliable, and Osseous was CHEM’s newest prodigy. He knew for a fact that they were grooming him for eventual membership in the Supreme, and frankly, the kid deserved it. Disk wished him the best.

However, that life wasn’t for him.

That was why he had volunteered to help the police and firefighters with relief efforts.

That was why he had been close by when a series of odd 991 calls had come from this area.

And that was why, when he was heading to the site in question, an armored man dropped down from a building to cut off his path.

“Hey, there!” A menacing black and green knight waved at him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you pass.”

~~~

AN: 

Short chapter this time. Things happened. More news later.