The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 147

Chapter 147: Mission Completed
“….id”

Reid heard but the voice seemed to be muffled and coming from afar.

“…eid” The voice came again, this time a bit closer and clearer but still muffled.

Reid’s mind swam in a haze, his body wasn’t responding to his brain’s commands.

He felt weightless, floating between reality and unconsciousness, as if he were trapped in a half dream state.

“Reid!”

The voice finally broke through the fog, causing his eyes to snap open.

The first thing he noticed was the blurry figures around him but before he could make sense of what was going on, a subtle pounding was felt in his chest.

Ba-dump.

It was pounding in a certain rhythm, almost like a heartbeat—but Reid was sure it wasn’t.

After all, he had never felt his own heart so clearly before. There was also the fact that he could feel a certain energy swirling within.

This was without a doubt, the core that was formed from the mother voidspawn.

“Reid?”

The voice came again, softer this time—gentle, almost hesitant, as if afraid that speaking too loudly might shatter whatever state he was in.

His blurry vision suddenly cleared up and the first thing he saw was Lisa hovering over him, her green eyes filled with worry.

“Reid, can you hear me?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Reid tried to respond, but his throat was dry, and all that came out was a rough exhale.

His limbs still felt heavy, his muscles stiff like they hadn’t been used in days.

Lisa exhaled in relief at his attempt to move. “You scared the hell out of me.”

Reid blinked slowly, his mind still catching up with reality. His body ached, every fiber of his being screaming in exhaustion.

“What happened?” He managed to let out in a hoarse voice.

“We were hoping you’d tell us,” Owen’s voice came from the side, his usually tired tone laced with concern. “One moment, we were fighting off those Voidspawns, and the next… they all just crumbled to dust. When we got in here, you were lying in a pool of blood, and the mother Voidspawn was no where to be found.”

Reid went quiet, arranging his thoughts. He contemplated telling them exactly what happened but he hesitated.

It wasn’t because he didn’t trust his teammates, but something told him that they weren’t ready to know about the watcher yet.

So he just decided to go with what happened but excluding the part about the watcher.

“I think I mightvknow why,” he finally spoke, his voice still rough but steadier now.

Reid tried to sit up, but his muscles screamed in protest, leaving him with no choice but to sink back down. Besides, Lisa’s lap was surprisingly comfortable.

He let out a slow breath before speaking again. “Lisa, can you help me with my uniform?”

Lisa blinked, caught off guard. “Huh?” She looked down at him, confusion clear in her green eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Help me unbutton the chest part of my uniform” he clarified.

His request immediately caused a blush to form on Lisa’s.

“W-what?” She unintentionally stuttered.

“I need to show you something on my chest” he said, not noticing the blush on her face.

“F-fine” she agreed and reached for his buttons, her cheek getting redder by the second.

Because Reid’s head was resting on her lap, Lisa had to lean forward slightly to reach the buttons of his uniform.

As she did, a few strands of her hair tumbled down and brushed gently against Reid’s face.

‘She smells nice,’ was the first thought that crossed his mind.

Surprised by the direction of his thoughts, he immediately shook his head, hoping to expel the weird thoughts forming in his head.

The blush on Lisa’s face persisted until she got to the third button of his shirt. Her face immediately paled and her fingers froze when Reid’s chest was revealed.

On Reid’s chest were multiple black veins arranged in distinct patterns. They looked eerily similar to the veins on the bodies of the hosts of Voidspawns.

“The mother voidspawn tried to take over my body, but something pulled it in instead. I don’t know how, but it got… compressed into this.” Reid started explaining, tapping his chest, right over the black veins. “It’s a core now. And it’s inside me.”

“A-are you okay?” Lisa asked, worried.

“Don’t worry,” Reid assured “it’s nothing but a core now.”

“And the veins should reced soon” at least according to the voice in his head anyway.

“I see” Owen nodded “does the core have any effects on you?”

“Not that I know of right now.” Reid answered.

According to the watcher, the core will take will take a while to fully assimilate so he wouldn’t know its effects just yet.

“I’m just glad that you’re okay” Lisa said, before frowning “don’t ever do that again.”

Although she held a warning tone, Reid could see that she was just worried.

“I won’t” he assured, before turning to where Owen stood.

“Where are the others?” He asked as he looked around.

“Guarding the perimeter” Owen answered “we’re not sure if there’re any more Voidspawns. They’re also on the lookout for our backup.”

“Which was supposed to have been here two hours ago,” he muttered, clearly annoyed by the delay.

“Two hours ago?” Reid muttered in shock before asking “how long was I out?”

“We found you like this an hour ago” Lisa softly answered.

Reid nodded and tried to stand up again, this time Lisa forced him down.

“You should lay down for a while,” she said “at least, until Ethan gets here and heals you.”

“It’s fine,” Reid said before summoning Axie “this little guy will help.”

The axolotl materialized on his chest, curiously looking around before focusing back on Reid.

Without his command, the forged beast immediately used [Regeneration] on him. Although the skill was weak, considering Axie’s rank, it was enough to grant Reid control over his muscles again.

He felt relief wash through his body when the skill was activated. Strength immediately returned to his weak muscles.

“Thanks Axie” Reid said as he pet the forged beasts’ head and slowly stood up.

He dusted himself before extending a hand to Lisa, “thank you for letting me lay on your lap.”

Lisa blushed again but still took his hand and stood up.

“Just don’t scare m- us like that again” she said.

Reid smiled lightly at her, appreciating the concern that was evident in her voice, even if she was trying to downplay it.

“I’ll try not to,” he said, his voice steadier now as his body regained more of its strength.

He glanced around the cave, his eyes falling on Owen who was standing by one of the walls, watching them with a thoughtful expression.

“So, what now?” Reid asked. “Are we just waiting for backup?”

“Now, we wrap up this mission so I can finally get some sleep” Owen said “I have too much to catch up on.”

“What about the incoming backup?” Reid asked.

Lisa was the one who replied, a frown on her face. “I radioed back to base a few minutes ago, but we haven’t received any confirmation yet. Something’s off about this whole situation.”

The sound of approaching steps were heard causing the three to turn towards the entrance.

They soon dropped their guards when the owners of the footsteps walked out of the shadows.

Ethan, Marcus and Clara had returned.

“What’s that?” Clara asked, her eyes immediately drawn to Reid’s unbuttoned uniform.

The other two followed her line of sight, their eyes also landing on Reid’s chest, or rather, the black veins on his chest.

________

Reid spent the next few minutes explaining what happened and of course, he again left out the part about the Watcher and his other personality gaining sentience.

Speaking of his other personality, he expected it to have said something by now but he hadn’t heard it since he regained consciousness.

The three new arrivals then turned to Owen.

“We’ve scanned the entire area,” Marcus reported “there’s not a sign of any Voidspawn or any other primals.”

“Are you sure?” Owen asked. He wanted to avoid the situation that started this mission in the first place so he had to make sure they didn’t miss anything.

“Yep,” Clara answered “my falcon scanned the skies, while the three of us split up to cover more ground.”

“That means our mission here is complete then” he said and pulled out his radio again.

He clicked the side only to hear nothing but static.

“Still no luck?” Clara asked.

But before Owen could answer, another set of footsteps was heard approaching them causing them to put up their guards.

“We expecting someone else?” Reid asked as he looked towards the tunnel that led to this cave.

The footsteps grew louder, echoing through the tunnel. Then, a voice rang out.

“Stand down, it’s us.”

A second later, a group of soldiers emerged from the shadows, their uniforms matching the ones Reid and the others wore.

The backup they had been expecting had finally arrived.