Page 3 of 3013: Hellion

Tapping the earpiece of his sunglasses, he activated the built-in comms unit to contact Evo. Besides being the nickname for the planetoid, Evo was also the name of the artificial intelligence system that ran all of the on-site tech and in the game. Since the Artanes had programmed it with the latest nanotech and adaptive learning capabilities, Evo was now more than just a computer system.

While most of the commanders on the planetoid had opted to get the nanotech tattoos that allowed them direct access to Evo, Xian had refused. Even the thought of giving the AI system direct access to his mind was nightmare fuel. Since he had inherited his mother’s seeker abilities, having other people in his head was something he had spent his entire life avoiding.

With a simple touch, he could hear a person’s thoughts so he normally wore special gloves to protect himself and those around him. He could also pick up on lingering thoughts from objects someone just held, which was why he’d built his home on a secluded island and never allowed anyone inside his living quarters.

He didn’t like to pry into people’s heads, and he liked having their thoughts invade his mind even less. The only time he felt comfortable using his seeker ability was to help solve crimes or to aid a friend. Otherwise, he limited his contact with people as much as he could.

But that hadn’t always been easy.

As a mixed-race couple, Xian’s parents had a hard time fitting in. His D’Aire mother had been an explorer, and after she’d discovered her mate on the Krytos home world, they had spent most of their time traveling together. Even after Xian and his older brother had been born, they had continued spending most of their time living on their vessel rather than settling down somewhere.

Then, the war with the Zyphir happened.

Their family had joined the fight, but only Xian had survived. Since he’d still been in his teens back then, he’d returned to the D’Aire home world to stay with his great uncle, who had been his only remaining family. Once his great uncle passed on, he decided to travel again.

He’d moved around for a while before settling down on New Vega. The destroyer class vessel had been converted into a space station by the Adaros, a powerful Krytos clan. Since New Vega catered to all races, it was the first place he had truly felt like he didn’t stick out. Despite living in an environment where he could blend in, staying on the space station had been difficult for Xian. Not because of the people. He had formed a lot of close friendships there despite being a loner.

It was his seeker ability that had made living in such close quarters hell.

After he’d started picking up on stray thoughts without touching anyone, he’d known it was time to get the hell out of there. When Rogan and Lucian Adaro announced that they planned to move to Earth to open a sanctuary, Xian decided togo with them. They’d chosen to open their sanctuary in Zion, the only city that had survived the war virtually untouched, for the ambiance and the mix of races that lived there. It had taken a few years to get Exodus up and running, but once it was fully established, he had traveled to the other cities to help other Krytos set up more sanctuaries.

He’d met the Artane brothers while he’d been helping out at the sanctuary in Jade City. They’d still been students at the time, but they only attended the academy half the time since they had already taken over their family’s company.

He hadn’t meant to form a relationship with the young geniuses. It has just happened. After Magnus, Nico, and Razar had decided they wanted to be friends with him, he’d had a hard time getting rid of them. They were like the younger brothers he’d never wanted, but since their own family was a bunch of useless fools, he had reluctantly accepted them.

When Magnus and Nicolo told him they had wanted to go through the conversion to become Krytos in order to formally bond with their adopted brother Razar, he’d thought they were out of their minds. He suggested that they wait until they were older, but they had been dead set on their plan. Wanting to be absolutely sure about their resolve, he had broken his rule and used his seeker ability to read them.

Since he couldn’t change their minds, he had agreed to help them.

That had been one of the only times he had allowed anyone to stay in his secluded home on the outskirts of the city. The conversion was a painful process that was best done in private. To minimize the risks involved, Xian had recruited a couple of expert healers and a Krytos that had gone through the process herself.

Luckily, everything had worked out and there were no issues during their conversions, but the fallout afterward had beenspectacular. The brothers’ family, the academy, and the entire Alliance had been shocked by what they had done, but they had never regretted their decision.

When the brothers had come to him with their plans for Evo, he didn’t doubt they would succeed. Whenever they put their minds to something, they always achieved their goal. Even so, he hadn’t been sold on the idea of going with them to the planetoid and signing up to work on the security team.

The fact that Zenix Li had been selected as the Head of Security had helped. Xian had worked with him in the past while Nix had been an undercover operative for the Alliance. Xian had helped him gather intel and had used his seeker abilities to assist in taking down some really bad people.

Xian already had more credits than he could use in one lifetime, so the generous salary wasn’t enough to sway him. He also didn’t play video games so that hadn’t been a determining factor either. What had tipped the scale had been the promise of a home on a secluded island and endless gourmet meals prepared by the most talented chefs available.

It was a little quirk of his, but Xian absolutely loathed cooking. That was a shame since he really did love to eat. Fortunately, all of the restaurants on Evo were excellent, and the magically enhanced food consoles ensured he could get just about anything he wanted delivered directly to his home in mere minutes.

Thinking about food, he silently lamented that he would be missing lunch while he tracked down the missing kids. He detoured to the employee canteen on the main level of the transport center to grab a couple of energy bars to shove in his pockets before he headed toward the platform where the transporters were located.

Tapping the comms unit to activate an open line, he said, “Evo, how the hell did two teenagers manage to get past all ofour security protocols and your safeguards to make it onto the restricted island?”

It only took a few seconds before Evo responded, sounding as annoyed as an AI system could be without real emotions.“They had valid identification declaring them of age so they passed the scan at the boat rental. I cannot confirm how they managed to get through the protection barrier around the island. From my review of the security footage, it looked like there was a disruption in the barrier for a few seconds, which allowed them to enter. I believe they used some sort of jammer or something else I do not have programmed into my system to scan for.”

“Clever little shits,” Xian muttered as a picture of the forged ID appeared on his lens next to images of Edward Reed and Cosmo Laros’ academy IDs.

“I want them punished.”

He snorted out a laugh. “I bet. Display a map of the island and show me their current location.”

A map made of lights appeared on the lens of his sunglasses, allowing him to see exactly where the two kids were on the island. He let out a vicious curse when he realized which section of the island the boys were in. Of course, they were in the death trap obstacle course known as the Final Destination Zone, where just about anything could kill them and send them back to the beginning.

That had to be Xian’s least favorite sector of the city. He just didn’t understand the appeal, but a lot of people were excited about it. While the obstacles weren’t designed to actually kill anyone, they were quite dangerous. They had been specifically created to stop people from reaching the finish line.

There were several small groups waiting to use the transporters that would take them to the various locations around the planetoid. The transporters were an innovative mode of transportation that combined technology with magic,allowing people to travel anywhere on the planetoid in a few seconds.

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