Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Avery aimed his laser pistol at Delia and Layton and opened fire.

The red beams flew towards them, and obviously neither of them had the reflexes or training necessary to dodge the attacks.

Of course, they had no need to.

An invisible wall of force in front of them shimmered and absorbed the lasers.

Avery had already sensed the shield generator that had been set up, but he had wanted to shoot at them to see their reactions.

'Not a hint of fear. They truly believe that they are not in any danger right now.'

Rushing forward, Avery pulsed energy through his recently improved exosuit and began pummeling away at the shield in front of his targets.

At the same time, he brought his psionic abilities fully to bear and hammered into the shield with his energy severance.

He could tell that he was depleting its capacity quickly from the very subtle hint of surprise on Delia's face.

What normally would have held up for at least a couple of minutes under a constant bombardment from dozens of people was being punched through by a single man.

"Enough of that now." Doctor Sarelett said as he pushed a button on a remote he was holding.

Avery watched for the change in the flow of energy as whatever the device Layton had just activated drew in power.

He was just about to cut off the supply of power when he suddenly fell to his knees and instinctively cupped his hands over his head.

The most horrid noise he had ever heard was assailing his ears.

It was like nothing he had ever felt before.

His body was ceasing up and he felt like his mind was muddled.

A sonic attack like this should not have been particularly effective against him though.

Not only due to his durable body, but because of special earplugs that he and every member of his team wore during combat operations.

They normally were inert, but when they detected harm levels of sound, they would seal themselves to protect the wearer.

The fact that they had not meant that the device Doctor Sarelett was employing somehow bypassed the function of Avery's earplugs.

And oh boy, was the sound grating in all of the most terrible ways imaginable.

Avery had felt pain before. Both physical and emotional.

The recent battle with people that had been mutated into monsters had seen him taking several pretty bad injuries.

None of it could compare to what he was currently experiencing.

It was like someone was drilling into his head while at the same time electrocuting him. The agony was almost unbearable.

Avery attempted to use his psionic powers to severe the flow of energy to the device, but he could not focus his mind enough to do so. The sound made it impossible.

What truly infuriated him was how Delia and Layton were completely unaffected by the sonic attack. In fact, Doctor Sarelett was examining Avery like he had just found an interesting lab animal.

It was similar to how Doctor Raiti looked at him, but this man had a far crueler look on his face.

Avery's fingers dragged into the metal of the floor he was slumped against and sheared away the surface.

He gritted his teeth so hard he felt like they were going to shatter, but with every ounce of willpower he had, he pushed himself back onto his feet.

His footing was still unsteady, but he did not fall back over.

"Impressive. A normal Awakened would have started convulsing and been fully paralyzed. A True Awakened really is something special. I can't believe my luck in finding a young one that is still containable." Doctor Sarelett said, his tone gleeful.

"You won't be so grateful once I've ripped your head from the rest of your body." Avery growled.

The effort was monumental, and even after just one step forward, he felt like he was going to collapse again.

Still, he kept going. All the while trying to push back against the noise that was shearing into his mind.

He wanted to sue his psionic abilities to cut it off, but no matter how hard her tried, his powers petered out before he could use them.

"It's a wasted effort. The frequency being emitted is something that only awakened can properly hear. It induces paralysis and also jumbles the mind to the point where using your abilities is impossible. All psionic powers take immense focus, but that is impossible for you right now. I only wish I had developed this technology before all of the previous specimens rebelled and escaped. But I wasn't given enough funding or time back then. It was such a shame how it all ended."

Despite the noise assailing him, Avery was still able to hear Doctor Sarelett perfectly fine, though it did take him a lot longer than usual to process the words.

Still, the mention of his "previous specimens" brought the anger roiling inside Avery to even greater heights.

Letting rage take over, he smashed his gauntleted fists into the shield separating him from Layton and Delia. Now more than ever, he wanted to kill both of them.

"You bastard! My mother was one of the people you abducted and experimented on!" Avery shouted as he slammed basically his entire body against the force field.

"She was so traumatized that she sealed her own memories away!"

Again, he punched into the shield, letting his rage carry him through despite the agonizing noise attacking him.

"And when she did remember, I could see how anguished she was just telling me a little of the horrors your forced upon her and the other children like her. You deserve a billon deaths, each one more painful than the last."

Avery was not sure if he had ever been this angry before. Fortunately, it allowed him to push through the sonic assault and continue to attack the shield preventing him from reaching two people he wanted to rip apart.

Soon, it started to waver, and Delia's mask cracked with hints of fear as Avery proved that he was still able to fight and break through their defenses.

"Your resilience and strength is truly astounding. Like old tales of the gods of the Reswen Theocracy. I can't wait to see what results I get from examining you." Doctor Sarelett said, his tongue licking across his lips like he had just spotted something delicious.

Avery barely registered the motion and kept on striking the shield.

He could not really form much in the way of a coherent thought right now, so he just let his instincts take over.

However, the sonic weapon meant for use against the Awakened was not the only countermeasure that Layton had prepared.

Four hidden entrances into the room opened, and out of each one, a lumbering mutated monster came stumbling out.

Avery had difficulties fighting them even when he was in the best condition, and right now, he was not in any shape to take them on.

"Capture him. Though make sure not to kill him. He is much more valuable alive than dead."

Distressingly, unlike the previous monsters Avery had faced, these new ones were not entirely mindless beasts.

They were still able to follow rudimentary instructions, and there was a small spark of intelligence in their eyes.

Avery did his best to avoid them, but in his current state he was sluggish and unable to properly keep track of four opponents at the same time.

He had only just barely been able to thrash the shield that had been right in front of him.

Any feats of impressive agility that would have been easy for him before were impossibly difficult now.

He attempted to put up a good fight, but it was less than a minute before one of the hulking creatures had him slammed into the ground and pinned down.

"Good, now to administer the sedative. It is a bit strong to make sure it works on you. A normal awakened would end up with permanent damage or dead, but I'm sure you'll be fine." Layton said before pressing another button on the remote in his hand.

This time, a spherical drone flew out of a hole in the wall.

Avery was barely able to turn his head to see it, but he could not miss the giant needle sticking out of the thing.

It slowly floated over towards him and lined itself up with his neck.

Expect, just before it jammed itself into him and injected its payload, the agonizing sound suddenly stopped.

Immediately Avery felt a wave of relief wash over him.

His strength quickly returned to him and his mind was no longer unable to focus.

With a single thought, he cut off the flow of power within the menacing drone, and the thing clattered to the floor inert.

He then started hearing the rhythmic tabbing of boots against the floor of the warehouse. Someone was approaching.

"Sorry that I'm late, Avery. There were a few pests outside that I had to deal with. But I'm here now, and it seems that my timing is quite good. You look like you could use some help." Cerise Gunvald said, her lips turned up in a confident smile.

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