Chapter 4: Unsafe Streets
After what seemed merely an instant, Mason's eyes snap open. Despite the time between him falling asleep and him waking up seeming to be incredibly quick, he felt surprisingly refreshed- more so than he had ever felt over the course of the last year. Quickly getting out of bed to stretch and exercise, he felt completely sound in body and mind, coiled up and ready to spring at any time toward any problem he might encounter. Turning his eyes to gaze out his window toward the streaming rays of star light and the nonexistent scenery (nonexistent other than drab brown buildings nearly identical to his own), he felt in an unnaturally good mood.
Quickly showering and preparing for his final work day of the week, the young man made sure he looked presentable before stepping toward the front door to his small room, grasping the knob, and glancing back at his room in a cursory manner-
before seeing the small invitation slip again and hearing a mental record scratch.
Quickly deflating like a punctured helium balloon, Mason walks back over to his bed and plunks down with his fingers at his temples, sighing, curly hair shrouding his now lethargic face, currently devoid of any resoluteness.
"What a bizarre day yesterday... Dynamo University huh? And that guy in the exosuit is a whole other problem," Mason mumbles to himself.
Pulling over the outdated laptop and laying down in bed, ideas of going to work abandoned, Mason taps away at the keyboard, searching for info on registration days for this year's new entries to Dynamo. His eyes widen in surprise at the results.
"The last day of entry is... today!?"
Snapping out of his previous state, Mason grabs the invitation and shoved it into his pocket, before swiftly exiting his room- and locking it of course. 'Hopefully there won't be another intruder today' he couldn't help but think as he hurries down the flights of stairs, finding himself back on the ground floor's common room. There, he yet again spots Zack as per usual lounging on the same couch. At this point, a sudden thought occurred to Mason... when was the last time he saw someone other than Zack in the building, let alone talked to them? A sense of suspicion that previously nonexistent surfaces.
"Hey Zack, can I ask you something?"
As Zack turned his head to face him, Mason couldn't help but feel the air about him seemed somewhat... different. Before he could think deeper about what it might be, Zack responded.
"Ask away," he said in his familiar drawling voice, surprisingly pleasant to the ear. He looked at Mason with half lidded eyes, yet another familiar feature that emphasized his lethargy.
"Are... are we the only ones in this building?"
An eyebrow of Zack's raises, as if concerned about Mason's mental capacity. Another familiar look of his.
"Of course not. Also, I'm surprised you didn't ask if I'm going to work today."
Mason forces a slight smile in response.
"Yeah, of course, my mistake. As for why I didn't ask about your work, I've decided that you probably won't ever go, so I've given up."
"Ouch. That hurts."
With those parting words, Mason picks up the pace as he pulls open the heavy screeching door and walks toward the closest rail station. Zack watches him go with the same half closed eyes, but a strange glimmer rests within them. Ruffling in his pocket, he pulls out a top of the line hand held communication device and swiftly begins tapping away a message toward some unknown party.
***
'I thank any and all beings responsible for free public transportation' thinks Mason as he steps out of the rail station along with a throng of other civilians, looking around to find his bearings.
Having chosen to go to the closest stop to Dynamo University, the center of the city of Dynamo, it was obvious that the place was incredibly crowded. Even still, since Mason worked in a similarly crowded area in the restaurant district, Mason weaved through the crowds in a similar manner to how he did just the evening before today, keeping himself high and dry from the pushing of the crowd.
At a moment where the crowd seemed to relax it's grip, Mason finally had a chance for a breather beside the entrance for one of the many office style buildings that covered the city. Looking up, he could see part Dynamo University towering over the buildings while they were still very distant to him. At this point, he couldn't help but feel lost and wondering just what his plan was for coming here. After all, he wasn't some scion of a prestigious family overflowing with natural talent, blessings, or talent. Or was he?
As he subconsciously feels his face and grips his bog-standard clothes, he shakes his head silently, discarding that notion.
While this light moment of lamentation occurred, Mason brushes himself off and strode toward the distant university- his first order of business was getting close enough to the destination to figure out what the next step could possibly be. By now the crowd was beginning to close up on him yet again, considering he was entering it of his own volition.
Then suddenly, a tingle- similar to the one when that exosuit arrived in his room, but far weaker- but not a feeling Mason could ignore.
In an instant without turning his head, he sends his left hand hurtling back In a knife shape toward the location of either his assailants neck or head, before turning in tandem with his swinging arm to slide backwards to evade the oncoming blow. Now facing the direction of his attacker, Mason could get a better grip of the situation.
As shouts of surprise and screams of fear rang out around him, Mason's eyes zeroed in on the ordinary looking man in front of him- sallow skin, short brown hair and a clean shaven, average looking, middle-aged salaryman's face looked back at him. In his left hand was a black pointy object reminiscent of a dagger- Mason recognized this armament as a known cheap mental energy catalyst for the sake of self defense. In addition to this, the fluctuations of mental energy let him determine that this man was no amateur- he was certainly aiming to kill. The faint surprise on the man's face over his evaded strike and the effort needed to in turn evade Mason's strike did little to diminish the killing intent he possessed. Even though an assassination failed, they were still planning on taking him down.
Expecting someone without a weapon to fight a person with one, especially one infused with mental energy, was completely absurd. Yet in this case, Mason knew he had no choice. This man before him was actually a better practitioner of physically applied mental energy than he was- Mason specialized more in the use of mental energy being output from a catalyst to be used outside the body. The opposite was the case for his attacker- they enhanced their body primarily and their weapon with what extra proficiency they had.
Swiftly stepping forward, with Mason's impressive mental acuity it was easy to spot where and how exactly the attacker would approach him... dodging and counter attacking would be the tough part. His mind outstripped his body significantly; even though he was far from a slouch in terms of physical fitness, fitness alone would be hard pressed to match someone enhanced with mental energy.
In spite of this, Mason stepped forward with determination rather than retreating and seeking help.
Extending the confrontation might grant more time for exosuit clad law enforcement to arrive, rather than attempting to push through the crowd in attempted escape of this would-be killer.
Narrowed eyes constantly kept track of the attacker, flicking from their feet to their hands, up to their face and back down to their feet. And as he sees the man's arm tense-
Now!
Mason steps throws himself to the side, hitting the sidewalk just next to the man, before lashing out a foot to trip him, then quickly regaining his footing!
Baiting the attacker into thinking he was looking to risk his life was the most sensible strategy. Who would be so stupid to bring their fists to a knife fight? Mason wasn't in such a hurry to die.
Even quicker than Mason the man saved himself from stumbling further, but failed to right himself completely before a devastating kick whipped out from Mason now that he had the upper hand.
Confronting the back of the man's head with expert accuracy, Mason's roundhouse broke straight through the faint flickering light around the man's head (courtesy of his shoe being enhanced with mental energy as well) before colliding with the back of his skull. The man was quickly sent flying face-first into the sidewalk, smashing his face with a crunch and a mess of blood and bone- they lay twitching, yet incapacitated. In this short minute, life and death could have easily been decided- but Mason used his efficient use of mental energy to deal a critical blow. A sigh (one of many over the past few days) was released from his mouth. Now, sirens of the Dynamo Law Enforcement could be heard, as the crowd gathered around the scene with collective whispering as well as loud yells of surprise and fear.
"I've gotten to be real popular these days, but this isn't exactly what I was looking for..."
Of course, no one responded to this statement of his, as he patiently waited for the exosuit clad officer to arrive, lamenting his bad luck.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Seismac
Seismac There was a bug buzzing around my room and it was 3 AM, so I uploaded a chapter. The bug is now dead, and I’m feeling equally so.
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