"So...did you remember anything?"
The young man merely shakes his head as March, Dan Heng, and Theo look at each other, with the former giving a concerned look.
"...do you at least remember your name?" March asks as the young man nods.
"Y-yeah, it's Caelus," The young man, Caelus, replies as March beams a bit.
"Well, that's good news," March tries to sound optimistic, but Dan Heng merely gives her a dry stare.
"I don't think that could be considered as one," Dan Heng mutters as March stares at him disapprovingly.
"At least try to be positive a bit," March huffs as Dan Heng ignores her and walks towards the door. March grumbles before looking at Caelus with an apologetic look.
"Sorry about Dan Heng, he's not exactly good at socializing," March apologizes as Caelus merely nods before staring at Theo, who raises his eyebrow.
"...is there something in my face?" Theo asks as Caelus tilts his head.
"Do...I know you?" Caelus asks as Theo gives him a questioning look.
"...not that I could remember," Theo admits as Caelus frowns a bit.
"...I don't know why, but I feel like we've met. Like a...." Caelus trails off.
"Like a deja vu?" March chimes in as Caelus nods. This makes Theo a bit confused. He doubts he had ever met face-to-face with the protagonist of Honkai: Star Rail, besides playing as him in the game.
"Sorry, but maybe you have encountered someone who just happens to look like me," Theo says. "Then again, unless you manage to get into another universe, you wouldn't find someone like me."
"...huh," Caelus blinks as he scratches his head in confusion.
"You know, for someone who's supposed to be from another world, you seem to be very nonchalant about it," March can't help but point out. "Is it because you have some ways to go back?"
"...oh, right! I forgot about that!" Theo says with a bright smile, catching both March and Caelus off guard. "Hold on a moment, I need to let it out for a moment."
"...that's not how things work..." March mutters as she stares at Theo weirdly.
"Please don't scream, we don't need to attract Voidrangers towards us when we have two defenseless civilians here," Dan Heng says in a deadpan manner.
"...I know I am defenseless, but I can't help but still feel insulted," Theo mutters with a pout as March chuckles and pats his head.
"...can you walk?" Dan Heng chooses to ignore Theo and faces Caelus.
"Hey, don't you think you're being a bit heartless asking that to someone who was just unconscious for Aeon-knows-what?" March asks as Dan Heng goes silent, but in his mind, he winces at the accusation.
"I-I can walk," Caelus says, trying to reassure both of his rescuers.
"You don't have to act tough if you're not fine," March says concernedly.
"I-I'm seriously okay. I-I feel fine, just...not remember anything besides my name," Caelus tries to reassure them, but it fails so miserably that Theo had to facepalm hard.
'That's not how you reassure someone, bro...' Theo thought as Caelus noticed how bad it sounded before wincing.
"...yeah, we're not letting you fight at all," March deadpans as she glances around and notices a baseball bat. "But, you might need something to defend yourself, maybe get the bat."
"..." Caelus didn't argue with her and approached the bat, grabbing it and starting swinging it a few times. "...this feels nice."
"It oddly fits you," March nods.
'And the Galactic Baseballer is now born into the world of Honkai,' Theo thought before glancing around, and he felt a bit disappointed. Nothing in the storage room seems to be a weapon fit for him.
The world's protagonist truly bends the world to their will, huh?
All of a sudden, every Aeons in the universe suddenly feel the urge to call out someone for being a hypocrite.
"And as for Theo, please stay near us," March says as Theo merely nods. He supposes he can't argue, given that he lacks any battle experience and has no idea how to use his new body or the hacks gained from it.
Going through the Space Station was like going through a bar fight, voidrangers jumping on anything that moves and wildly attacking like a drunk-headed fool. March and Dan Heng casually deal with them with their fighting skills.
What surprises Theo the most is Caelus. Sure, the game has shown Caelus to be more skilled and powerful than he looks, but he honestly believes the game didn't do it justice to showcase it. He saw Caelus pull an Bayverse's Prime special on 5 Voidrangers but with a bat.
He didn't know how tough Voidrangers truly are, but judging from the armor attached to its skin, it's safe to say superhuman strength is needed to pull that off.
As they walked, they were greeted with a locked door. Dan Heng tries to access it, but the panel next to the door shows 'Access Denied', which earns a groan of frustration from March.
"Great, the universe seems to hate us, because why now of all time?" March complains. "Now, how are we going to open this door?"
"Did you forget? We have visited this space station a few times." Dan Heng says as he faces March. "We need one of the employees' access cards."
"...didn't we evacuate most of the scientists to the safe zone, which happens to be behind one of these doors?" March points out. Dan Heng held his composure, but the shock he felt was too much as he widened his eyes a bit upon hearing March's rare showcase of intelligence. March notices this, and she feels a bit insulted.
"You are right," Dan Heng says reluctantly, causing March to smile smugly. "But, you forgot one thing. The head of this station's security department is Arlan. He has one, and I doubt he's in a safe zone, given his job,"
March's smiles fell as she pouted at Dan Heng. Caelus watches the interaction and scratches his head. Meanwhile, Theo stares at the panel in front of him, feeling an invisible tug on his body from the screen, and his eyes glow blue for a moment. Without knowing what he's doing, he slowly approaches the screen and tries to climb the wall, but fails since the wall is a smooth surface with no handle.
"...forgive me, Lady Herta," Theo mutters quietly before using his claws, and to his surprise, the walls feel like wet tissue paper as his claws dig deep into it. He climbs the wall once more before touching the screen, and when the (unofficial) trio notices what Theo is doing, a blinding light covers the entire hallway.
Theo gasps as a huge amount of information loads into the brain. He didn't know how to explain it, but he could see everything in the Space Station. The security cameras around the station, the research data files from every scientist in the space station, their private chats, the financial report, and so on. Theo feels a bit dizzy from all the information, causing him to fall from the wall before the door in front of them suddenly opens.
"W-what...?" March mutters in surprise.
"Oh, Yggdrassil....I feel like my head is about to be split into two..." Theo groans as he shakes his head and looks at the open door. "Well, mission accomplished."
"How...did you do that?" Dan Heng asks in confusion.
"...I think I might be a technopath? I'm not sure. This is new even for me," Theo admits before pausing. "Oh, by the way, I saw something in the security feed. There's this white-haired boy with dark skin who is injured, and Voidrangers are surrounding the room where he's hiding."
"That's Arlan," March mutters, recognizing the person whom Theo described.
"Can you tell us which room it is?" Dan Heng asks as Theo nods before walking through the door, which causes March to stare at Dan Heng with narrowed eyes while Dan Heng just ignores her.
"...he's on the other side of the door," Caelus recalls the earlier conversation and sweatdrops.
"It's more of a shortcut," Theo responds before running at a surprising speed, confusing the trio.
"...w-wait, don't just run off!" March exclaims, remembering their early conversation. "Didn't you say you were defenseless!?!!"
This makes Theo pause, then turn back and hide behind Dan Heng's legs before pointing the way. This causes Dan Heng to stare at the tiny dragon dryly, while Caelus and March chuckle lightly. Theo guides the group, clearing the way before finally reaching their destination. They see a large group of Voidrangers surrounding a huge room, and they also notice there are more people in the room, completely defenseless.
Without any hesitation, the group charged at the Voidrangers, and Theo could honestly say it was a one-sided massacre, and it was too graphic for his poor soul. Hell, he even saw several heads and limbs flying all over the place.
"...ROB, why did you send my ass over here?" Theo mutters as the group tries to open the door, but the screen panels were broken by the Voidrangers earlier.
"Great, now we have another locked door that's in our way," March groans before she glances at Theo, and coincidentally, Caelus and Dan Heng join in. Theo blinks at the sudden attention before pointing at himself.
"...are you guys for real? That thing is busted," Theo exclaims as he points at the door. "I can't just expect a simple 'Open Sesame' to be enough to make the door open."
All of a sudden, the door opens automatically, causing Theo to freeze while March, Dan Heng, and Caelus glance at him with raised eyebrows.
"...to be fair, I wasn't expecting my 'supposed' technopathy to work on a broken door," Theo says, still trying to process everything. Thankfully, no one is questioning it as Dan Heng, and March approaches the group of scientists and an injured white-haired boy lying on the ground.
Theo lets out a sigh before taking a step forward, and suddenly, everything goes dark. Theo blinks in confusion as he glances around, but all he sees is darkness, until suddenly a bright red light shines from above. He squints his eyes before lifting his head upward and blanches.
Right above him is a giant droid head staring at him from its side.
"....okay, this is a perfect place to let it all out," Theo takes a deep breath before screaming at the top of his lungs.
To be Continued