- The Man of the Sky - Chapter One - Part Two -

(Thanks, Tommy. )

Okay, so the big guy with the gun just shot Jason with the tranquilizing dart. Here's Chapter One - Part Two:

(And it's pronounced "New-dawn-row". I just felt like giving everybody silly names for some reason. XD Okay, here goes:)



Nuedonroe leaned against the stone wall, seeming surprisingly patient for how long he'd been waiting. True, the two men he sent were supposed to be back by now, but it gave him time to think to himself. Alone. Just the way he liked it.
He was standing in a rectangular, concrete room that had a fireplace on the far side, and a steel door sitting atop a staircase on the other. A long table went through the middle of the room. The table was wooden, not that you could even tell: it was covered in hundreds of different instruments, some just strips of scrap metal. Most of them seemed broken, and some were even burnt. Nuedonroe studied them with wary eyes, unmoving.
He sighed, then slowly walked away, his footsteps echoing around the room. He stopped at the fireplace and stood facing it, absorbing it's warmth. He bent to his knees, and carefully lifted a hand, moving it closer and closer to the warmth of the fire, until it was actually touching. His hand, which should've been burning, was steady and clean. His face, which should've been showing signs of pain, was calm and relaxed. Slowly, his lips curled into a smile. It felt like home.
A long squeak interrupted his thoughts. Nuedonroe recognized it as the door. It was followed by hurried footsteps, making their way down the staircase.
"You're late, Gordon," Nuedonroe said without turning.
"Yes, sir," said the scrawny little man standing behind him, sounding calm. He carried several mechanical objects in his hands. Gordon still wasn't used to working for Solarians, the people of the Sun. He knew his boss felt comforted in the heat, but it still made him shiver to see him burning.
Nuedonroe breathed slowly through his nose. "Explain."
"Cops patrolling the Border. Had to be sneakier today. I actually think they might know about the crashed ship. The, uh, the human vessel."
"Where is Kard?"
"I... I don't know, sir."
Nuedonroe suddenly stood, shaking ash from his hand as he did. "Right, then," he turned to face him. "Let's see what you've got,"
Gordon was stunned for a moment, staring at his boss's horrific face. It wore a calm expression, and a grayish beard, but it also had burn marks stretching from above his left eye to the bottom of his neck. It was all he could look at for a moment.
He had heard about this: apparently, he stepped into a solar flare, and his face ended up like that. Gordon suddenly remembered the weight he was carrying, and dumped it onto the table. The metal clattered together, the sound hanging in the air. Luckily, Nuedonroe didn't seem to notice his pause.
Nuedonroe shuffled through the pile of objects Gordon had found. A few months ago, a human spacecraft had crash landed onto the Moon, and the new radar he had been working on had picked it up. He figured that if he could combine the human technology with modern Moon technology, he could make devices great enough to conquer the Earth and the Moon, possibly every rock in this solar system. So far, he found nothing too useful, and it didn't look like he was getting anything today.
"Thank you, Gordon," he finally said. "I appreciate your hard work. Perhaps tomorrow - "
He was interrupted by a door squeak. Both Nuedonroe and Gordon looked up to the top of the staircase, and their previous expressions were replaced with curiosity.
A large man walked down the stairs slowly, his feet thunking loudly each step. In one hand, he held a large circular device, with lots of tubes and wired poking in and out. It the other, a bloodied-up boy.
He reached the bottom of the stairs, and dropped the device on the table, which echoed, like everything else. Then, he dropped the boy, who landed in a heap on the floor.
There was a pause, then Nuedonroe said, "Why have you brought this boy, Kard?"
Kard sniffed. "I was walking back to The House, but I heard this one "—he nudged the boy with his foot— "drop something, and... Well, I tried to avoid him, but he followed me, and then I started to wonder how much he saw, and I couldn't just leave a body in the streets, the cops already suspect me, so... I brought him here."
Gordon looked suspicious, but Nuedonroe said, "Good, Kard. We'll deal with him later."
Kard grinned nastily.
"But for now, let's look at what you brought." Everyone shuffled around the spot on the table where Kard had dropped the device with the tubes.
Nuedonroe picked the thing up, then examined it closer, looking inside the different tubes, and studying the wires.
"Clever," said Gordon, who was peeking over his shoulder.
"No," Nuedonroe countered. "It's genius."
Behind them, the boy stirred. He opened his eyes, which, for some reason, seemed heavy, like bricks. He was lying on a cold floor, and there seemed to be others in the room, talking. He struggled to remember how he'd gotten there, but it all seemed blurry. There was... a gun. Shooting at him. Who was firing? He searched harder, but found nothing. Suddenly, he felt stinging in his arms and legs. He was confused at this for a moment, but then remembered. Of course, he fell off his graviboard, and scrapped himself on the road. Then he saw a man...
He suddenly lurched up into a sitting position as these memories flitted back to him. He was running... Then shot. Shot? No, just with a tranquilizing dart. He looked down, and saw a tiny ring of blood circling a barely noticeable hole in his shirt.
He felt something change, but wasn't sure what it was. But something in the atmosphere was definitely different. Slowly, he lifted his head, and saw three pairs of eyes staring down on him. Jason saw something familiar in the larger of the three, and quickly recognized him as the shooter. His eyes widened in horror.
Quickly, the shooter slipped the gun from his coat, and aimed it at Jason. "Should I finish it now, sir?" He asked.
"Hold your fire, Kard," answered a man with a horrible scar etched across his face. "We may be able to use him."
He bent down until he was eye level with Jason. "What's your name, boy?"
Jason stiffened, but didn't answer.
The scarred man smiled. "Fine. We don't need a name. We'll just call you Tester One. Now, Tester One," he stood. "Let's test some of Uncle Nuedonroe's latest inventions."
The scarred face, Nuedonroe, walked away to the other side of the long table. He opened a closet door, and shuffled through it for a while. Jason watched curiously, wondering what he'd be forced to do.
Finally, Nuedonroe returned with a flat, metal disk, with lots of wires and buttons.
"This," he said. "took me years to finish. Now," he walked closer. "You get to try it out."
Jason looked into Nuedonroe's eyes. It was obvious this man was crazy.
"Sir," said a short, skinny man. "I thought that one was supposed t -"
"I know. We'll be going outside for this. To the Near Side," Nuedonroe started towards the stairs. "Kard," he called. "Put some blindfolds on Tester One. You can't be too careful."
Jason looked up at the shooter, and watched as he dug into his pocket, finally revealing a long, black cloth. He reached down and pulled Jason up by the scruff, tying the blindfold around his eyes a little too tightly. The rough hands on his shoulders guided him up some stairs, through two doors, but then, he could feel the chilliness of the outdoors seep into him. But he was still led onward, for how long, he couldn't tell, but it seemed like forever until the blindfold was removed, revealing... nothing. He was standing in a wasteland of craters.
"Gordon," Jason heard Nuedonroe say. He sounded stern. "Give me the disk." Jason tried to turn around, but Kard's hard hands kept him in place, so he tried to look over his shoulder. He saw
Nuedonroe speaking with the skinny one, who was holding the large, metal disk. Nuedonroe snatched it from him, saying something just out of Jason's hearing. Nuedonroe pressed a couple buttons, and the disk expanded, like a clothes hamper popping up. Only it moved slower, tubes and bars gradually poking their way out, until it was about as tall as he was. It was shaped like a cylinder, only with a tip at the top, like... like a rocket.
Nuedonroe looked in his direction, making eye contact. He smiled as he took in Jason's expression. What did he look like? he wondered. He quickly tried to make his expression blank, not wanting to give away exactly how frightened he was to "test" this thing.
Nuedonroe walked over him, still carrying the thing, whatever it was. He would have to be very strong to carry something that size. Unless it was hollow.
He set it down in front of him. "Are you ready, boy?" he asked.
Jason only gave him a look of scorn.
"Well, whatever." He went back to the thing, and grabbed one of the bars sticking out. He pulled, and a hidden door opened, revealing a tiny space that looked like it could hold two, maybe three people. "Kard," was all he had to say, and Jason was shoved into the tiny room by the large man. He tripped and nearly fell once more, but caught himself on the machines interior wall.
He turned back to the door, but Nuedonroe was blocking his way, a huge grin on his face. "Tester One," he said. "Welcome to your first assignment. Unfortunately, it will also be your last assignment. Goodbye." And with that, the door slammed shut, the sound bouncing around the tiny room. At first it was dark, but a tiny green light slowly brightened the room. The entire pod began to shake, but it soon died down. Jason did the only thing left to do: sit down and cry as he was carried away to who knows where.

So... yup. End of Chapter One. Was it okay? Did anything seem too confusing? I want to hear everybody's opinions, please!!!