Chapter 5: Ch 5 – Drive

"Haha!"

"Oh my god!"

Two shouts were heard alongside an echoing roar. Issac and his new friend both had wild expressions on their faces as they gained air for a short second. 

*Thud!*

"Ahh!"

The girl in the passenger seat let out a small scream as they hit the floor, her hands grasping tightly to any grabbable surface. Meanwhile, Issac wasn't even strapped in, just going with the truck like he was one with it. 

At some point though, the truck rolled onto paved road. Feeling this change, the girl grabbed Issac's arm and shook it. 

"Hey! Pull over! For just a second!"

"Hehe, sure, sure."

Issac chuckled a bit as he hit the brake. The back of the truck spun around, forming a donut before screeching to a halt. The girl burst from the passenger door the next moment, steadying herself as she touched the floor. 

"Oh god."

She let out a small groan as she settled her stomach. This was a repeat of the scene with Anthony, causing Issac to find it humorous. 

"I gotta say, for someone who has never been in a car, you handled yourself well."

"That... was more dangerous than flying that stupid starship."

The girl mumbled as she stood straight, her eyes closed as she concentrated on settling her body. Issac smiled sheepishly. 

"Eh, sorry. I guess I overdid it a little."

"No no, I asked for it. But I will not make the same mistake twice. You let me drive."

Opening her eyes, the girl focused her gaze on Issac. He was surprised.

"You drive? Do you even know how to?"

"For the sake of my stomach I will learn."

"Hehe, okay. Hop into the driver's seat."

With an excited clap, Issac ushered the girl behind the wheel before jumping into the passenger seat. When the doors were closed, he gave a simple rundown.

"Alright, there are three main aspects to driving a car. The wheel is to steer, the pedal by your foot on the right is to accelerate, and the pedal next to it on the left is the brake."

"Hm. Seems simple enough."

"Then go ahead and lightly press the-"

*Vroom!*

Before he could finish speaking, the car suddenly jolted forward. Issac braced himself as his body shifted. 

"Woah! This thing is touchy."

The girl exclaimed. Issac nodded as he quickly strapped himself in. 

"Yes. This truck has a very powerful engine. Honestly, I should probably throttle it more."

"No! I got this. I just gotta tap and go~!"

The girl pressed into the gas pedal more. The car shot forward, causing Issac to recoil. When he then saw them drift toward the right side of the road, he reached over. 

"Hey, steer it over!"

"Got it!"

*Screech!*

With a twist of the wheel, the truck yanked itself to the left. Issac's body slammed into the door as they veered straight off the road. 

"Ah!"

The girl let out a thrilling scream as the truck jumped onto the uneven dirt. She then slammed on the brakes, bringing the truck to a skidding halt. 

"..."

Issac was silent as his entire body pushed itself into the seat. The girl looked over, seeing his odd pose and slightly terrified face. 

"Pfft... Bwahaha! Oh, you are too much! Hahaha!"

The girl laughed uncontrollably as Issac slowly sat straight. Fixing his clothes, he sighed. 

"I'm going to throttle the engine."

"No! I got this! Here, I'll take baby steps this time. Please?"

The girl smiled widely as she pleaded with Issac. Seeing her puppy eyes and unbearably cute appearance, Issac could only scratch his cheek. 

"...Fine. Baby steps."

"Yay!"

"Alright, now first get this thing on the road. Slowly."

"Of course, of course."

The girl assented before grabbing the wheel again. Then, she slowly applied pressure to the gas pedal, moving the truck forward with a moderate pace. 

Issac smiled.

"Good! Now get used to the steering. It doesn't require that much turning."

"I think I got it."

The girl spoke as she played with the wheel, feeling its sensitivity. Like that, the truck gradually made its way back onto flat road."

"Very nice. Now, my house is only several miles away down this road. All you have to do is drive straight."

"Okay! Can I go faster?"

"So long as it doesn't end with us flipping over."

"Sweet!"

She cheered. The next moment, the truck gradually accelerated, speeding down the road at increasingly high speeds. The girl maintained control, simply following the straight road without turning the wheel much. Despite that though, Issac wasn't totally assured. He still held onto one of the safety handles. 

Like that, the two made their way to the house. They passed by fields of trees and green, and the drive eventually turned smooth. At some point, the girl glanced over at Issac. 

"...You know, I never got your name."

"Oh, right. My name is Issac. Issac Exos."

"Well, nice to meet you, Issac Exos. My name is Asphodel Vanadis."

"...Say that again?"

Issac asked with a peculiar face.

"Asphodel."

"Asfadel?"

"No. Asphodel."

"Ass..."

"Asphodel!"

"...Pfft."

Issac couldn't help a chuckle as the girl snapped at him with a smile. She also laughed a bit. 

"Ashfadol."

"Asphodel."

"Ash... You know, I might just stick with that."

"Ash?"

"Yea. Your name is too long. You should shorten it, like mine. Issac is easy."

"Hm, no, too simple. It's got no flair. Asphodel is elegant."

The girl, Asphodel, flicked her crystalline hair with a bit of sass as she said that. Issac's eyebrow raised. 

"Oh? Well, Issac can be 'elegant' too. I can also flick my hair."

"Haha, give it another foot of length and you just might be able to."

Asphodel laughed as Issac flicked some nonexistent hair. At that moment though, Issac suddenly spotted the road to his house. It was a passage through some corn stalks that wasn't very noticeable. 

"Oh! That road right there! Stop!"

"Where?!"

*Screech!*

The car jolted as Asphodel slammed the brakes. At the same time, she turned the wheel and directed the truck into the field of corn stalks. 

"Ah!"

"Wait! Just reverse!"

"I don't know how! Wait, I think I see the road! Sorry plants!"

"Ack!"

Issac braced himself once more as Asphodel jerked the car toward the faint outline of a road. After a long trail of corn stalks were flattened, they poked onto the road again. 

Only, Asphodel couldn't correct herself in time, so she crossed the road straight into more corn stalks. They disappeared into plants once more, Asphodel turning erratically to get back to the road. 

The car roared as she eventually found her way onto the road. Not long after though, she entered a clearing. It was then that the two saw the large house. 

Asphodel was barreling right toward it. 

Issac's eyes widened. "Breaks!"

"Breaking!!"

She shouted as her foot slammed the brake pedal. Issac's body was thrown forward into the seatbelt. 

For three seconds, the car slid forward. When it came to a stop right in front of one of the house's walls, it jolted back. Issac and Asphodel fell back into their seats. 

After a second, the two turned and looked at each other. They then burst out in another fit of laughter. 

"Hehehe, that was close."

"Haha, yea. Nifty, please take control of the car."

"Aww!"

Asphodel pouted as Nifty jacked into the car. Then, the car backed out and drove itself into a parking spot. When it shut down, the two opened the doors, jumping out onto solid ground. 

"Hey, I think I did pretty good for my first time!"

"We almost died."

"Psh, no~. It was a fun experience!"

"I've never felt more afraid for my life."

"Blegh, you dork!"

"Issac?"

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As the two were playfully bantering, Issac suddenly heard his name. Looking over, he saw his father, Max. The man was looking at the two with a quite a bit of confusion. 

"Oh, dad."

"Yes, I am your father. First I get word of a foreign starship barreling through the atmosphere, and then I see my son come back home with an Aatrix. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that these two events are related."

"Uh, yea."

"Heh."

Max smirked a bit as Issac shied away. His gaze turned to Asphodel.

"I must say, you're a far way from Aatrix space. I don't think I've ever heard of one of you getting stranded in a human farming colony."

"It's a long story, but yes, this is a very rare occurrence. Am I not welcome?"

"Oh no, by all means. I don't believe the Humans and Aatrix have hostile relations, and I myself have a good impression."

"Then I'll thank you for the hospitality."

Asphodel nodded her head. Despite her messy appearance, she still carried a certain elegance and charm. Max responded similarly before looking back at his son. 

"So, mind explaining things?"

"Her starship broke down and she has to wait a day until she gets picked up. I offered the house until then."

"Hm, you leave for an hour and come back with a girl. Very well. Not that we don't have plenty of space. But you've got work to do, so don't think you'll be playing around all day."

Max smirked a bit as he walked into the house. Issac followed him, and Asphodel follow Issac. 

"What work?" Issac questioned as they walked.

Max glanced back at him. "Well, you've made your decision, right? Your mother is scrapping the lab. You need to head down there and pack everything, cause you're taking everything with you. Same thing with all the crap in your room. By the end of the day, you need to have everything ready to move."

"Oh, right. I can start on that."

"Do so. I'll take care of your friend here. It looks like she's seen better days, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind an opportunity to clean up."

Asphodel smiled, agreeing with Max's evaluation. "I thank you in advance." 

With that, Issac nodded. Before heading down to the portal room though, he turned to Asphodel. 

"I guess I'll see you later today then."

"Your work sounds important, so take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

"Mm."

Issac found himself smiling. With that, he and Nifty took large strides to the portal room, heading into the lab. 

Max rolled his eyes at his son before glancing at Asphodel. 

"I'll show you to the bath."

"Thank you. I'm Asphodel, by the way."

"Maximus. You have a nice name, Asphodel. From what I know of the Aatrix, it's very traditional."

"It is. I tried to tell your son that, but he couldn't even pronounce it right."

Asphodel spoke with a playful huff. Maximus just smirked. 

"He can be a bit slow at times."

"Then surely driving his car is what he excels at most."

"Haha! Indeed."

Maximus couldn't help but laugh.

.........

As Asphodel cleaned up, Issac was moving about the lab. The entire structure was being cleaned out and effectively decommissioned, so anything left behind would just get buried with the lab. 

Right now he was in room 87, the area containing his suit. After arriving, Nifty jacked into several terminals and made copies of every possible file, storing it onto itself. 

As for the suit, Issac was doing last minute preparations. The suit had been basically finished and could now operate independently, so he planned to move it personally back to the house where it would wait to be transported. 

Under Nifty's control, the suit opened up. Issac stepped into it, quickly being covered up. 

Then, the black suit glowed blue. The thousands of Black Iron threads throughout the suit shone with Issac's blue Hardlight. Several components shifted as the entire thing powered up. Then, the visor glowed. This was an independent startup, and Issac was happy as it succeeded. 

At the same time, threads of Black Iron plugged into a device on the back of Issac's head at the base of his skull. When that happened, Issac could feel his senses extend through the entire suit.

The device on the back of Issac's head was called a Neural Interface or a Neural Implant. It was a device constructed from Black Iron that Issac received at birth. Over time, the device released nano-wires that grew throughout Issac's nervous system. Now, the device was present throughout his entire body, connected to every single one of his nerves. 

This was for a special purpose. Powers, or the dark energy that enabled powers, traveled through the nervous system. However, this was harmful in large amounts, so to enable greater power output, these neural implants were installed. The Black Iron the implants were made of withstood a great amount of the burden of powers since the dark energy could be channeled by it. 

Not only that, but these implants enabled one to directly link to mech suits, such as the one Issac was in. This was why Issac felt so incredibly powerful while inside the mech suit. 

After the connection was established, the suit's core on his back swirled with his blue power. Issac could feel every minute change in the suit, his brain now directly linked with all the suit's systems.

After the core was filled, Issac moved, his body standing from the platform the suit rested on. His now 7 foot tall body stood high and mighty, the black synthetic muscles of his suit moving alongside him. 

"Oh yea! This feels fantastic. Did I build this thing? I'm a genius! And I'm probably going to be using it soon. I really can't wait. Now, eject."

With a word, the suit suddenly opened up. Issac disconnected from it before jumping out. He turned as the suit closed. 

"Go ahead and send this thing to the house, Nifty. Put it in my room."

*Meow*

Nifty let out a cute sound as it unplugged from one of the computers and jumped onto the shoulder of the mech suit. After that, the suit started walking itself to the portal, taking itself home under Nifty's control. 

With that, Issac quickly went to work on packing myriads of other items. The suit wasn't the only thing he worked on, and there were many small devices he experimented with over the years. While some were trash, others were valuable, so he planned to take them with him. 

This cleanup lasted several hours. By the time night had fallen, Issac had moved around 7 boxes into the portal room under his house. All of them were filled with random gadgets, and compiling everything had taken its toll on him. He let out a deep breath as he set down the last box. 

"I think that's it. I at least have the essentials. Not like I can't rebuild anything I need. And where the hell did Nifty go? He just up and left me, stupid cat. I let your AI evolve over the course of 8 years and this is how you repay me?"

Issac grumbled as he went up the stairs, leaving the portal room. After reentering his house, he was quick to find his parents sitting at the dinner table. There were also three other people with them. 

The first was Asphodel who had already cleaned up. Issac was surprised to find her wearing one of his old shirts. 

The two others were Anthony and his father, Cornelius. Cornelius was a large and overbearing man with a bit of a valiant look to him. He definitely had the aura of a battle-hardened leader. He was actually a bit taller than Issac, standing at 6 foot 5 inches. Quite unfortunately for Anthony, he didn't inherit that height. 

As Issac walked in, everyone seemed to be talking with Asphodel, especially Cornelius. However, when everyone noticed his presence, they went quiet. Issac walked over awkwardly, all eyes on him. 

"Did something happen?"

"Oh, nothing much. Asphodel was just telling us about how she..."

Max spoke. Only, when he saw Asphodel slightly shake her head, he hesitated for a moment.

"...crash landed. Yea, she was telling Cornelius about her crash landing."

"...Okay?"

"Hey, come sit over here, friend."

After Issac walked over, Anthony motioned to him with some evil eyes. Issac chuckled as he sat down next to him. 

"Oh yea, sorry about leaving you."

"You better be! I had to walk three miles before getting picked up by an APC! Do you know how smelly those things are with all those soldiers sweating inside of them every day?"

"Hey, you were the one who wanted to make a call."

"Shut up! You owe me."

"Fine, I'll maintain your mech suit for the next month."

"Two months, you lucky bastard."

"Alright, settle down."

After Anthony snickered, Cornelius stepped in with his deep voice. He looked at Asphodel the next moment. 

"Asphodel, you said there are people coming to pick you up? I'll be sure to open the airspace for them. They'll have no trouble passing."

"Thank you, Admiral Hayle."

"It's no problem."

Cornelius smiled as Asphodel thanked him. Issac also smiled. It seemed everyone was getting along. 

After a bout of silence, Victoria looked at Issac.

"Issac, did you pack up your stuff?"

"Yes. My lab is empty."

"Good. Tomorrow a ship is going to be stopping by. All our items are going into it. This house will be barren by the end of tomorrow night."

"Alright."

Issac nodded as he put a slice of meat into his mouth. 

After dinner was concluded, Cornelius brought Anthony out of the house and left. Anthony also needed to make preparations to leave as he would be going with Issac. With that, it was just Issac, his parents, and Asphodel at the table. 

Max looked at his wife before looking at Issac.

"So Issac, Asphodel told us that she is also a Dark Technician."

"Really?"

Hearing this, Issac was surprised, looking at Asphodel with wide eyes. She smiled. 

"Yes. My family has some Dark Technicians in it, so I was raised around that stuff. I've been officially training as one for a few years now. Though, I was more surprised to hear that you were also one."

"My mom is a technician, so I guess I was also raised around it."

Issac glanced at his mother as he spoke. The next moment, he thought of something. 

"Hey, I've got some tech up in my room. How proficient are you?"

"I told you I pilot mechs, right? Well I also maintain them."

"And dark energy theory?"

"I don't believe there's anyone smarter than me in my age group."

"Hoho? Challenge accepted. Come on, let's see if you're just blowing smoke."

"You're on."

Asphodel and Issac smiled at each other as they stood from the table and left for the stairs. 

Seeing this, Victoria was about to call them out, but Max stopped her with a hand. After the two disappeared, she sighed. 

"We're just letting some girl go into our son's room?"

"Please, I thought you'd be happy about that. And usually it's the girl people would be more worried about. Just let them be. Our son isn't a child anymore."

"I get that, but still. This kind of thing affects more than just his feelings. If he slips up and says something..."

"He won't. Time to start trusting our son, Victoria. He may be a bit happy go lucky, but he's the farthest thing from stupid. Let him live a little, and for your sake, stop stressing so much."

"Eh, I can't help it. It's my job to worry, isn't it?"

Victoria let out a small breath. Max just smiled a bit, taking a sip of the drink in his hand. 

 

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