Luke

"Dammit!" 

In the sky of a certain area, there's a young man clad in black mech armor. He flew in a zigzag way as a barrage of bullets came at him from the dozen of humanoid shaped drones. The sky was painted in red even though it was at night. Crimson clouds covered the stars and moon as thunderstorms rumbled within them. 

"My drone is already badly damaged.." muttered the young man softly inside his helmet as he pointed his handgun towards the crowd of drones. 

"Let's see if you can deal with this." 

Pouring a big chunk of his magical energy into the weapon, he chanted a spell, "ᚲᛟᚾᚾᛖᚲᛏᛁᛟᚾ.. (Connection..)" 

Magic circuits began to spread into the bullet inside the gun's barrel, without stopping, he continued, "ᚲᛟᛗᛒᛁᚾᛖ: ᛟᛪᚤᚷᛖᚾ ᚨᚾᛞ ᚲᛟᛗᛒᚢᛋᛏᛁᛟᚾ... (Combine: oxygen and combustion...)" 

Shouting loudly as if wanting to vent out his frustration, the young man was hardly able to maintain the spell to not be thrown in chaos, as this definitely was the worst place to perform a magic spell. 

"ᚨᚾᚾᛁᚺᛁᛚᚨᛏᛁᛟᚾ! (Annihilation!)" 

The tip of the handgun started to shine in orange color as something small, just as big as a sesame seed, began to shoot from the handgun and flew at unnatural speed right into the midst of the drones. Half a second later, a sea of flame spread out in the air and engulfed everything on its path, including all of the drones. 

In the next moment, a shockwave erupted in the radius of five hundred meters. The flames started to move like a living being, swirling unto the shape of a giant sphere. The flames revolved nonstop until it became smaller, smaller, and so small that it disappeared completely. Leaving no ashes at all, with only just drifted smokes in the air as proof of their existence. 

"*Not bad, human.*" 

Screeching noises emerged inside the young man's head as the voices invaded his head forcefully. Although his mech helmet had been enchanted with a mental resistant attack, the power behind that assault was too much for his helmet's defense as some of the power seeped into his brain, giving him an unbearable headache. 

"I know I should go away the moment I had the chance.. Why did I even try to play the hero in this damned world…" holding his head, the young man said to himself in regret. 

But not too long after his lamentation phase, the ground began to shake as winds howled into a certain building in the area. Then, a huge pillar of light arose from that building and flew straight, piercing the sky. Looking at the spectacle, the young man understood what just happened and only could mumble a few words. 

"Ahh… crap... "

In another place of this time, there's a certain car speeding up like crazy, as if the driver had become drunk or in frustration. 

"Sh*t…" 

A man in a suit cursed loudly as he drove the black sports car on a highway. His eyes a little bit reddened and his body gesture became more agitated as time passed. Beside him, another man looked at him anxiously and asked, "Still no response?" 

"None.. F*ck the CSIF (Control State of Information Federation)... They should already have their man back up the lads by now!" 

Hitting the steering wheel in frustration, the man gritted his teeth as his eyes became more bloodshot. His appearance would be like those kind, middle aged men in your neighbourhood. But the word kind would be far from what he looked like right now. His face was warped in fury while he focused on driving the speeding sports car on the road. 

"Don't worry, although their corrupt politicians might have delayed the response, as long as we could take over the charge on the site, we will-" 

Before his companion could finish his sentence, an explosion that seemed like a mushroom rumbled at a distance. Although it was pretty far away from where they were driving, the sound was loud enough for anyone to hear. Along with it, a particular cloud in the distance parted away and made a broad, cloudless sky. 

With a face full of horror the man muttered, "That's Bluewest street.. Where our lads, ADF-14 stationed... "

"Jerry! Quick!" shouted the man's companion as he glanced back at the man named Jerry with a despaired face. 

"You don't have to tell me….!" 

Stomping on the car's pedal to its limit, the man kept pushing the horn and hurried to his destination. 

"Stay safe… Luke."

Cold sweat dripped down on the man's forehead as he tried to recall how that it wasn't supposed to be like this. 

*****

[FLASHBACK]

Two hours ago in downtown LB Mark street, inside one of the buildings along the sidewalk, the Metropolitan Police Station (MPS).

"Yo, Luke." 

A man with blond hair, with stature of 6'2 and a muscular build smiled at a young man with black hair and blue eyes. The man was typing on the holographic keyboard that was being projected from his black wristband. Hearing someone call his name, the man turned towards the voice and said, "What do you need, sir James?"

Sneering at the question, James crossed his arms leisurely as he rested his body against the wall, "Heard you would be participating in the upcoming 'Blue Killers' case. Sounds pretty fancy, a special force as the spearhead of our operation." 

"What are you trying to say, MPS head officer, James Braun?" 

Furrowing, James said in a little lower tone, "This case is mine and you know I had the tactical authority on the field. The special force of HAC has had cases where they had messed up the operation thanks to the unauthorized permission to act based upon their own judgement. And I don't like that." 

"And there's nothing you can do about it." answering nonchalantly, the young man turned his gaze back to the holographic screen and continued, "With all due respect, sir James, if you don't have anything else to say, please excuse me to make preparations for our infiltration plan."

Sneering once more, James replied, "I knew you would say that." 

Walking towards Luke's desk slowly, James placed his left hand on Luke's shoulder as he said threateningly, "Listen here, big boy. I don't care if you are a soldier of HAC or your body has been reinforced. You are currently sitting in a chair in the office in Metropolitan Police Station's headquarters, not your Association of Development Force. My place, my rules. Understood?"

Squinting his eyes and as if forcing himself to not show any expressions on his face, Luke said in a monotone voice, "understood." 

"You better," snorting at the young man in front of him, James turned his body and left. 

Trying to suppress a sigh, Luke glanced at his colleagues in the operation. He noticed around fourteen people in a glance. Some were busy in paperwork, while the others tried to maintain their composure as they stole a few glances in his direction. Tired, Luke got back to his holographic computer and inspected the design of the building where the operation would take place.

It has always been like this. No matter where the ADF men went, they would always attract the attention of others working in federal security. Famous for their soldiers being part of the elite of the army and being acknowledged as the private army for the government, ADF was a special task force that dealt with matters within the country while being a branch of the army and was given some special privileges. 

While most enjoyed the recognition and awe, Luke was definitely an exception. Unwanted attention meant unwanted trouble and matters to deal with. He would love to be a low key person. But that was just a dream within a dream. Being one of the top 100 strongest soldiers in the army and being groomed by the country, his fighting prowess had surpassed the ordinary soldiers. 

*Tririring*

The ringtone of his communicator played. Pulling out the communicator from his pocket, shaped like an AirPod and black in colour, he put it in his right ear. Luke waved his hand in the air and a holographic panel displaying a picture of a middle-aged man and a name Jerry appeared. 

Luke tried to answer calmly, hiding the disappointment in his tone. No matter what, a call from Staff Sergeant Jerry always ended up with more work for him, "Hello, what can I help you with, Sir?" 

"How's your new workplace, Luke? Is it comfortable?" asked the man in a jovial tone. 

Taking note of the nearby people talking in hushed voices and some girls from the police department stealing glances at him, Luke tried his best to not cringe and replied in a firm voice devoid of hope, "It's good and everyone is really friendly, Sir." 

"Hahaha, as motivated as ever! I'm glad you could adapt quickly with those MPS officers. Heard their seniors have a bad reputation for their ego." 

Furrowing his eyebrows slightly, he recalled the scene with the Head Officer and shook his head, "Everything is fine in here, Sir." 

"Good, good," smiling at the end of the line, the middle-aged man named Jerry, lit up a cigarette as he said, "but I did not call only to ask how you are so far, Luke."

'I knew it…' Suppressing the urge to groan, he closed his eyes slowly in resignation and said, "I'm ready for the duty, Sir." 

"Great. Now listen carefully, Corporal Luke." 

The voice of the middle-aged man had become heavy and serious as he continued, "Do you remember an ambush of our stationary armoury post a few weeks ago? A leakage of our post design was found and that has cost us heavily. Although we have the preparator and the traitors detained, I'm afraid we have yet to uncover the veil." 

"Sir, are you trying to say…" 

Before Luke could finish his conjecture, the man said, "Two days ago, we got the news that two of our ADF men were found at the border of the Rosiellve Empire. Both of them carrying the core parts of the STD bombs." 

*Clack*

Dropping the pen he was holding, Luke had a blank expression on his face as he asked again, "I'm sorry, Sir. I think I didn't hear you clearly. Did you just say STD bomb?" 

"That's right, Corporal," knowing that the soldier was stunned because of how serious the situation was, the man continued, "it is as you had guessed. The infamous bomb which was named after the genius mad scientist, Dickky. The Space-Time Dickky bomb." 

'Yeah… Right…' groaned Luke inside as he face-palmed. His brows furrowed more and more each time the Staff Sergeant talked about the accomplishment of the genius scientist Dickky and to what his creations could do. 

After some time, the man said, "Luke, if both of our members had the banned weapon of the federation. You know the implication behind this, don't you? Soldier." 

Feeling his stomach churning, Luke answered with heavy reluctance, "A mole, Sir." 

"That's right. A mole." Nodding to no one, the man continued, "I have something for you to do, soldier." 

'Nice… more job to do... F*ck me.'