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A monstrously loud explosion was the last thing his ears consumed. Warmer colours ranging from red to the orange spectrum scintillated his vision before him and his cybernetic arsenal. It happened too swiftly, in order to envision the explosion’s aftermath one last time. Bloodcurdling screams filled the thin air as the death’s symphony, escorting the detonation’s melody meekly. They varied from the senseless and emotionless cyber soldiers to the sensitive humans. Some of them were pronounced deceased, while others managed to survive the detonation but were transported to the nearest hospital.
Once a stable military base, where Ironhand would work surreptitiously on his project, has been recently transformed into a desolate wasteland. Aggressive ambulance sirens drummed in the only survivors’ ears minutes later. The rest of the American generals were informed about the GLA’s morbid attack, specifically attracting Algrin’s mentor's attention in the blink of an eye.
General Alexander urgently ordered one of her Bobcat vehicles, escorted by a Hummer filled with a tad of infantry, to reach out to the desolated military base. During her ongoing journey, she tightened her fists, filled with pristine, inelusive abhorrence for the rival organization and the several war crimes they had committed against not only the US but also the rest of humanity.
Her country had endured sufficient losses against the organization that didn’t force her to surrender and encouraged her to come up with a different arsenal and superweapons she would ponder on. Nonetheless, the GLA general that had ordered its inhumane attack on the military base, where her pupil was stationed for now, was the last straw of her patience, and Alexis was more than ready to avenge Algrin.
In the meanwhile, she seated uneasily on the chair inside the ambulance’s back, encircled by professional medical staff who tried to reassure her during her rough mental episode, where she refrained from demonstrating any sign of emotion except silent hatred for the enemy. The Bobcat’s driver frantically drove through the path in the very presence of fast drifting Hummer that was on a duty to protect the vehicle from any upcoming offense, either ground or air-oriented.
A pair of blue eyes glassily impaled through the tiny window, surveying her surroundings while a grimace complemented her complexion. Rhythmically heavy heartbeats hammered into her frail chest, indicating her high adrenaline that skyrocketed in the last a couple of minutes.
Generally, Alexis would rather abstain from entering vehicles, specifically ambulances, since they were intended for the battlefield or providing first aid to wounded infantry. However, the situation recently was exceptional; in fact, she longed to save her pupil’s life and persuade the ambulance to pick him up urgently from the crime scene.
Upon arrival at the crime scene, a horde of military nurses stormed out of the vehicle’s back with an ambulance stretcher to retrieve the wounded juvenile general from the ruins.
In the interim, the blonde’s fingertips drummed impatiently against her trousers’ fabric, anticipating reuniting with her protégé and inspecting much more closely the unspeakable physical desecration. Her prayers were strongly accented on the juvenile man. The last thing she wanted to happen was for Algrin to be pronounced dead, even before he would be transported to the nearest hospital for recovery and surgery.
All of a sudden, the medical staff retreated inside the vehicle’s back after pushing the ambulance’s stretcher stubbornly with great efforts the motionless Ironhand’s body.
Crystal tears sprang from her slightly reddened eyelids at the very sight of her motionless protégé. Alexis attempted to muffle her woeful groan with her calloused hand. She wasn’t the kind of emotional individual who would unleash her emotions’ tempest and would keep herself cloaked in shadows. Her emotions would rapidly escalate to melancholia and unconditional care if they were related to her inner circle, with whom she keeps in touch very seldom, her military arsenal, and colleagues.
“Algrin,” Surprisingly, Alexis couldn’t abstain from silently bawling her eyes out to the disturbing sight whilst uttering her pupil’s first name. She and Ironhand would usually be in a format with one another, in spite of the mentor-protégé bond they had formed in the last four years, and hardly shattering their outstanding personas to end up calling each other with their first names. “What did they do to you?” Pristine abhorrence for the GLA pumped violently in her veins, scrutinizing meticulously how the military nurses were giving CPR to Ironhand.
His uniform, once ironed, well-polished, and elegant, had brooked several holes and rips. Signs of burns coated his hands, partially his pallid face, and his tightly shut eyes.
He couldn’t see the sorrow his mentor was consumed by after her azure blue bijous emitted a couple of uncontrollably slow tears, gliding smoothly through her mild pink rouge powdered-clad cheeks. Algrin couldn’t contemplate through her vulnerability, she would barely expose herself to a single soul except a few trusted individuals.
--- *** ---
--- Later that Day ---
Half of the day coursed as sluggishly as a frozen river, in fact, the Marine Corps General restlessly supervised her protégé after they had been transported to the nearest hospital, and doctors amusingly allowed her to overstay in his room. Even if the hours were limited for visitors, they made an exception for her this time after witnessing her woeful concern and distress.
Shortly after Ironhand was admitted to the facility for recovery, Alexis ordered and consequently funded the doctors to perform cybernetic surgery on the young aspiring general by starting from tomorrow.
An urgent physical repair was needed for his extremis condition, varying from his face to his eyes, as if he couldn’t contemplate his surroundings the same natural way as before.
Furthermore, Algrin was on the brink of death, which slowly but surely gnawed at him. He was still drowning in his peaceful slumber, even if it had been half a day since he was last awake.
Alexis’s concern about her pupil drastically escalated, especially after not witnessing a single second of him coming to his senses. Her mind was somewhere else than her military duties, plans, and potentially scheduled meetings with the Pentagon staff that are estimated to happen within the upcoming couple of days.
Her appetite had significantly dropped after acknowledging via the news about the recent GLA’s strike on the US military base, where her pupil was last stationed. The last thing she had consumed after her arrival at the hospital was a few glasses of fresh water, offered politely by the medical staff. It greatly failed to soothe her nerves and deteriorating mental health.
Her once healthily fresh, youthful porcelain complexion with a tad of make up didn’t help much to conceal the medley of her melancholia and silent anger. It rather gained a devilishly pallid hue, strongly reflecting her extreme worry for General Ironhand and what she might see before the nurses have the very chance to spot with a delay unless they’re constantly patrolling his condition.
Grave noiselessness ominously cloaked the hospital room that was shredded by the monotonous vital sign monitor’s symphony, drumming in her ears.
Childlike nervousness paralyzed her muscles to prepare for the worst or at least the unexpected circumstances. Paranoia contaminated her pair of sapphire jewelstones that frequently impaled his motionless, fleshy mask and cotton patient shirt, fabric-clad shoulders. A comfortable blanket covered his immobile body, warmly embracing him from the stray world.
A yawn unzipped from his dry lips, drawing the older woman’s attention in the blink of an eye. In the meantime, the younger general protracted his arms, resulting in coming to his senses, in spite of his lack of vision. By that second, her front teeth picked up at her bottom rosy-coloured lip after catching a glimpse of her pupil waking up after the long slumber.
A tear of relief and joy threatened to descend from her left cheek, approaching his bed by managing a modicum of proximity to respect his personal space. The heartbeats initially skipped a beat until they gradually slowed down after noting the younger man manipulating his muscles.
“Algrin,” Addressing him with his first name in honeyed northern lilt, softened his heart. His mentor was rather notorious for addressing him with his last name and sticking to formalities, however, this very moment was rather inclined to be quite intimate, not just as a mentor-pupil bond. It felt like a mother and son bonding. “You are still alive. It’s so relieving.” A rueful smile curled at the corner of her plumpish lips, wiping with the tip of her forefinger the threatening rivulet of salty tears to slide down.
Unfortunately, the juvenile general could no longer observe the older woman’s indescribable bliss visually. At least at that moment until the cybernetic surgery is performed on him to grant him back his eyesight again.
The only elements he could detect about her were ranging from her contagiously potent floral perfume to the rigidly cool touch contacting his mouth, emanating from the rim of glass of refreshing liquid. Meanwhile, elegant fingers snaked around the frail glass with liquid, aiding her pupil to hydrate himself.
“General Alexander,” Vowels and syllables primordially with confidence forged his instinctual words that came to his mind after his nostrils became a victim of medicine and floral perfume. “What happened?”
“Those filthy bastards launched an attack on your military base,” She rather lost focus on her current plan to hydrate him, resulting in delving into a profound explanation. Or at least laconic to summarize the incident briefly, not refraining from using profanities without excusing herself, regarding the rival organization, she had never had any respect and sympathy for. “That was the last straw of my patience.”
“It happened so fast.” By that second, the younger gentleman uttered casually, recalling the final moments before the explosion while not demonstrating any signs of disgust towards his mentor’s openly profanity. “And wasn’t aware of their strike until the explosion popped up, blowing everything that remained here and there.” He tried his best to recall the rest of the events without pressuring much his weakened voice, stifling his unhealthily dry cough.
“Dear, you need some water.” Abruptly, the blonde ushered her protégé gently within the rim of the glass of water to open his mouth to nurse the transparent liquid. Blatantly big gulps indicated his huge thirst for more. As if a dire animal had lastly nursed water from a pond days ago. “Here.”
Within a quarter of a minute, the glass was emptied, and she abandoned it on top of the cherry striated nightstand.
“Also, I have ordered the doctors to perform a cybernetic surgery on you tomorrow.” A delicate hand caressed his messy short mane of chocolate brown strands, curtaining his partly damaged fleshy mask.
Algrin potently reminded her of her biological son, whom she had last seen years ago. She scarcely kept in touch with her son as a result of her excessively haywire schedule, eating her leisure, and the very chances of her contacting someone related to her outside of her colleagues.
Within the developed distance between Alexis and her only child, therefore, she had always felt Algrin like her adoptive son and forming much deeper platonic and emotional bond with him. In spite of her strict nature, General Ironhand had always found a soft spot for his mentor and vice versa. Her kindness, radiance, intelligence, and wisdom refreshed his very memory of his mother, with whom he had last talked to her before his final promotion as a Cybernetic General.
“General, I don’t know how to thank you.” Boyish shyness clustered his foggy train of thoughts, accompanied by his stutter, and struggling to cut the formalities with the middle-aged dame. Her angelic caress consoled him after the worst had happened to him, besides acknowledging the good news about his upcoming surgery that was scheduled for the day after. “I’m so thankful to you for saving my life.”
“No need to thank me.” Her fingertips combed through his brown tresses. Her pupil is going to be eternally grateful to her for saving his life in extremis and being always there for him, although in quite intense circumstances. “And let’s cut the formalities.” A soft chuckle escaped her playful lips. “We’ve been working together for four years, and I don’t feel comfortable addressing you as if you are my boss.” The punchline of her joke never ceased to blossom high spirits between the platonic bond in their registered coy giggles.
“But what if they catch us being informal with each oth-“ As soon as stark vowels and syllables were on the verge to construct another sentence, Algrin was abruptly interrupted by his tutor.
“Well, son,” She silenced his stubborn, however, helpless attempts to interrupt her with a soft peck on his temple. “While we are at work, we will be formal with each other so as not to violate the military code and get caught.” Algrin maneuvered his limp body to sit with great effort, a handful of minutes before offering a kindhearted, thoughtful hug for Alexis. “But once nobody is around us, it’s fine to call each other by our first names. Deal?”
“Y-Yes!”
“Good!” Within that second, the older dame instantly recognized the offer of an embrace, subsequently, gladly accepting it after snaking her velvet arms around his upper back, leaning against his aching limp anatomy. In the meanwhile, strong masculine arms wrapped around the small of her back while his chin perched discreetly on her shoulder, cherishing the hearty embrace they wouldn’t exchange with each other unless either of them needed consolation. “I will always be there for you, Algrin.”
Shortly after half a minute, they pulled off from the warm, tight hug, the juvenile general’s hands plucked the quilt to absorb continuous, comfortable heat spreading over his anatomy. Additionally, Alexis would retreat with the empty glass cautiously to refill it with a bottle of mineral translucent liquid that seated on the nightstand and offer again her protégé to drink.
It has been a very long time since Alexis and Algrin have had tremendously wholesome episodes that etched in their moments during their military service. Nonetheless, the feeling was infectiously warm and delightful, unknotting their once tense bones, unsewing their serious pouts formed on their lips, and resurrecting a sparkle of elation.