Premonition

Chapter #13: To Meet a Challenge

***3 Days later***

Once Keiji and Sarah had cashed out their earnings from the casino, Duke had made sure to get their contact information and where they were staying within Mecha Station. Duke also mentioned he would be in contact with them, and would require Keiji to be ready to leave on a moment’s notice. During that interim of 3 days, Keiji decided the best thing he would need is rest as he found out one thing about his powers of precognition. Using them consistently for a couple of hours led to him feeling like he had been working for a full day – or 12 working hours. Indeed, he slept like a log during those 3 days and only got up to eat and go to the bathroom. On the 3rd and final day, Keiji made sure he was ready to leave. Sarah packed him a lunch and dinner, just in case he would be gone for more than one day.

“Be careful Keiji,” Sarah said dutifully.

“I will be sis, don’t worry about me. You just take care of yourself for when I’m gone. Keep the doors locked and don’t go out for any reason,” Keiji said.

“Until you get back…ok,” Sarah said. As she finished saying this, there was a knock on the door. Sarah rushed to open it and sure enough it was Duke and another person.

“Sarah! Nice to see you again,” Duke said as he waited for Sarah to give the go-ahead to let them walk inside. Sarah moved back, and Duke and the other person walked in. “Keiji! All ready to go?”

“Yeah….but who’s this?” Keiji asked politely.

“This is Mike, he’s apart of Alpha Squad. Not my squad, but I brought him with me because we need someone to watch over Sarah while you’re gone,” Duke said.

“I should be fine Duke….” Sarah started saying but was cut off by Duke.

“Don’t be scared. Mike’s a good guy, and he’s trained in combat. Any thug from the casino who’s planning on collecting your owed cash would think twice with him around. Trust me,” Duke said assuredly.

“Ok…” Sarah said.

“Duke, how long will I be gone?” Keiji asked.

“Not long, but you will be coming back to the location I take you too everyday for 2 weeks. Today is just a welcoming of sorts….you’ll see,” Duke said with a small smile.

“Alright, let’s head out,” Keiji said.

As they left Sarah’s cabin and the apartment complex, Keiji followed Duke to his car.

“I want you to remember the directions were taking today, because I won’t be picking you up tomorrow,” Duke said.

“Sure thing,” Keiji said. Once entering the car lanes of Mecha Station, Duke explained the route he was taking and where he was going. Once leaving the car lanes of the station, they started taking side streets until they reached what looked like an abandoned brewery.

“This is where we’ll be meeting the rest of our squad and training you,” Duke said. “Do you have any questions before we start?”

“I do have one question. After using my precognition at the casino for a couple of hours, I was left in a very tired state. Almost as if I worked a 12-hour shift. How long will I be using my powers today?” Keiji asked.

“That’s interesting. I’ve never heard of any one losing that much energy after using abilities gleaned from NX7. It might have something to do with the length of time you can see into the future. As I said, your ability far exceeds that of mine or of anybody else. So, maybe, it exhausts you more. We’re going to have to build your stamina. Today, however we are just meeting everyone. Come on,” Duke said. The two entered the brewery through a locked door on the side of the building. As they did, Keiji noticed the room was filled with stacks of empty kegs and tables. To the center of the room, was a table where 2 other people were sitting at. A brown haired woman waved at Duke, who waved back. The other man was blonde and shorter than Duke and carried a small scowl, however he got up from his seat as well once Duke entered.

“Duke my good man! Who have you brought us today?” said the brown haired woman.

“Hella! It’s good to see you…you as well Ricky,” Duke said.

“I must say that having another person to train makes our duties with capturing Jin Woo much harder, why did the Chief agree to this?” Ricky said with disdain. Keiji felt at off-put by his comment but held his tongue and let Duke do the talking.

“It was in our best interest to recruit him, in short he has some abilities we’ve never seen before,” Duke said. “…..He was able to clean out my table of blackjack, even surpassing my abilities.”

“I don’t believe it,” Ricky said. “You’re the most skilled we have at precognition, how would someone even best you?” Keiji took this time to jump in.

“Maybe not everything is as you think it is,” Keiji said. Ricky looked at Keiji, not with malice but with the solid eyes of a challenge. Ricky smiled.

“Well, I guess we should test his abilities?” Ricky said looking at Hella. She, however had a boring look on her face and groaned.

“Why is it you always have to start something Ricky?” Hella said. “Just welcome the man.”

“Because our squad is already good as is. I want him to prove me wrong.” Ricky said.

“Then let’s get this test underway,” Keiji said with steel in his eyes.