The Legendary Junkmaster

Chapter 115: Bigger Picture (5)

The Trion roared before bounding towards Jason! 'Fuck me sideways!' Jason thought as he threw himself to the ground, hoping that it would accidentally overshoot him.

However, he heard frantic yelling instead. The Trion had changed direction and went for Horst! The latter was making strange structures out of his gum Power to try and keep the hungry beast at bay.

Jason could not have been more excited by this development! He hurriedly scrambled to get back to his feet, but his body suddenly froze. Or, to be more exact, the Infinity became incapable of moving!

"Not now!" Jason hissed as he tried to pull the trigger to release the hatch manually. But even that was unresponsive! 

"Stop struggling!" A cold and rough voice shouted from the cover of the forest.

Jason immediately recognised this voice and stopped what he was doing. 'Sentinel!' Jason's mind went blank as a crimson flash passed by him to tear through Horst's defences.

The foreign enemy screamed in fury as his structures popped! The Trion, on the other hand, roared in delight as it pounced on him! The agonising screams that came from Horst were traumatising as the Trion tore him limb from limb.

Jason had no idea what to make of the situation as he listened to Horst's last moments. As the screaming faded to silence, Jason discovered that he could move again. He stumbled forward a few steps as he had been off-balance when the suit had seized.

When he spun towards the direction that Sentinel's voice had come from, he could see a single red glowing orb shape as heavy footsteps sounded. The sight and sound combined were rather eerie, but Jason had never felt so safe in his whole life.

The shape of Sentinel's head became apparent around the glowing orb, which was his cybernetic eye. Jason heaved a sigh of relief as he watched his mentor approach them. By this point, the Trion had begun to walk towards them.

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Jason grinned as he wondered how stupid this beast was. After all, he was confident that Sentinel could vaporise it at the first sign of aggression!

"Thanks for your help Trigger." Sentinel hummed as he walked up to the beast and stroked its metallic fur.

Jason was gobsmacked at this sight! Did these two know each other? Why did the Trion have a name? That made it sound like it was a pet!

A soft chuckle came from overhead which drew Jason's attention. Rust was floating down to join them on a small disk. When the disk reached the ground, Trigger purred happily before racing over to the old woman in armour.

The beast flopped to the ground in front of her and exposed its belly! Rust chuckled before she gave the Trion a belly rub using both of her hands.

"Don't look so shocked. Trigger, and I go way back." Rust's helmet turned to glance in Jason's direction.

Jason's eyes moved between Rust and the vicious beast before he had a revelation. 'Is this what they meant when they said that women could become crazy old cat ladies?' 

Syssie slapped herself in the face at Jason's stupidity as she read his memories of people saying such things back in Highrise when he was younger. However, even she had to admit that there might be some truth to it.

Since the Trion lived in this area, it meant that Rust had probably tamed it during one of her visits to Highrise. Unfortunately, there was no telling if she was actually the origin of that saying.

Sentinel marched up to Jason and studied his appearance. He nodded as if he were happy with Jason's work on the Infinity, but he also looked annoyed when he saw that the visor was broken.

"So? What do you have to say for yourself?" Sentinel finally asked as he stared into Jason's eyes.

"I'm sorry, sir. I couldn't stop them on my own." Jason hung his head as he felt that Sentinel was disappointed in him.

However, Jason suddenly felt a heavy force connect with the back of his head. Sentinel had smacked him while displaying a furious expression!

"Not that, you idiot! Why'd you even put yourself in danger in the first place? Hm?" Sentinel growled as he grilled his student.

"Because, I was asked to help? If the beasts had overrun the city, I would've died anyway." Jason was perplexed by Sentinel's words. He had no idea what he was getting at.

"Looks like I'll have to talk with the brass when we get back." Sentinel's expression became dark as he thought about it. "Anyway. What I meant was that you're worth more than several platoons of cadets! But you haven't reached a point yet where you can display your value!"

Jason felt a chill in his soul as he listened to Sentinel talk. He was talking as if he would happily sacrifice hundreds of people like Adam and Dani if it meant keeping him safe.

"Kid, you've got to look at the bigger picture from now on." Rust sighed as she joined the conversation. "People like your friends might become Pillars if their Power develops, but for you, it's pretty much a guarantee."

"At most, they'll only be helpful for war, but they'll still be a dime a dozen. You have the potential to really benefit the entire Empire as a whole." Sentinel stared at Jason meaningfully as he waited for the latter to show that he understood.

Jason slowly took in the information and understood their point of view. But at the same time, it did not sit right with him to just sacrifice people in his stead. However, if he told them that he was sure that he would be scolded so he just silently nodded his head instead.

"Ok, since you seem to understand. Don't be so reckless in the future!" Sentinel grumbled as he looked towards Rust.

The old woman sighed as she called a couple more disks down from her fortress. They sped towards them at high speed, and Jason even wondered if Rust planned to cut them in half with them!

However, they quickly came to a stop in front of them. Rust said her goodbyes to Trigger, who made pitiful noises. It almost sounded like he understood that Rust was leaving him again, and he was sad to see her go.

Rust waved to the large cat as they each set foot on separate disks. Jason felt like he was watching an owner say goodbye to their pet for the last time. It was a strange sight, and he could not understand why a tear had come to his eye.

Trigger's howls followed them into the sky, and Jason could see his figure racing through the trees chasing after them. 'When I come back here, I'll make sure you are not so lonely.' Jason breathed deeply as they docked with the fortress in the sky.

His mind began to wander to any improvements that he could make to the Infinity after everything he had gone through. However, nothing came to mind. It was as if he had reached his limit for now in regards to his personal gear. 

'Maybe I should try and make better stuff for some of the cadets?' Jason wondered for a moment before he remembered that the best estimates meant there was only half of the platoon left. Of course, that number could turn out to be lower.

Sentinel showed Jason to a private room for him to get some rest on the journey back. Rust had picked up the other two cadets that had been taken along with him, but they had secluded themselves in their rooms since they were freed from the bubbles.

Jason expected to be left alone in the room, but he was surprised when he heard Sentinel's footsteps behind him when the door closed. His mentor seemed to be struggling with something, but Jason felt it was inappropriate to ask what was on his mind.

After some minutes of hesitation, Sentinel finally sat down and rubbed his face. His eyes landed on Jason before he gestured to one of the other seats in the room.

Naturally, Jason was curious as to what Sentinel would want to say to him in private. As Jason released the hatch of the Infinity and let himself out, Sentinel poured two cups of water with the jug on the table between them.

Sentinel downed the cup as if it were alcohol, and Jason followed his lead. But that was just because he was thirsty and had nothing to do with nerves.

"Jason, how much do you know about the Empire?" Sentinel asked cautiously.

After all, the Emperor himself had forbidden the Lords from teaching their citizens too much. Jason had to think about this question for a while. He knew what he should say, but people obviously talked. However, he did not know whether the stories he had heard were true or not. 

So looking at his knowledge overall that he had about his home, he realised that he did not really know anything. Sentinel saw the confused expression on Jason's face and decided it was time for a history lesson. If he was going to be a Pillar in the future, then he had a right to know anyway.

"Jason, I'd like to share some stories with you. These stories are the history of our Empire that has been passed down from Guardian to Guardian. I think you'll find a few things in them that might be of some use to you..."