Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 328: Mask

Stella sighed upon having been asked the question. "I honestly don’t know," she said. "It’s not bad, but... it’s just... so weird to not be living my old life. All the technology is foreign to me. Even the language they speak is quite changed."

"Tell me about it," Stanley said. "When I first had to come here, I couldn’t even understand their language. It wasn’t until I got these implants that I managed to communicate with people here."

"Oh... right," Stella said. "I read your file. Something about you having come from a farm. It must’ve been hard for you."

"Well, I suppose it was hard compared to everything," Stanley said. He felt a little awkward talking about this part of his life with someone who couldn’t understand most of it.

"How about your life? Are you doing well after what you found out?" Stanley asked.

Stella shook her head. "My husband died, they say. But I don’t even know who that man is... or was. They told me of our life together, but I honestly can’t remember a single thing at all. Still, it hurts knowing there was someone I once cared about, and now he’s... just gone."

Stanley stayed quiet for a bit, letting Stella take a moment to process her emotions.

"You didn’t find any extended family?" he asked after a while.

"I found some relatives, but I don’t think I even remember who they are as I am now. Too distant for me to care," she said. "And I also don’t think they’re going to let me contact people just because I want to. They are scared of a Nova after all."

"But you never did anything bad. You were always a good one," Stanley said.

"Good, yes. Exceptionally good to have hidden from them for 58 bloody years. They are very skeptical of what else I could be doing," Stella said before shrugging. "But hey, I get to eat, sleep, and do whatever I want here for the foreseeable future, so it’s great for me."

"Until they start sending you on missions," Stanley said.

"Uhh... yeah, I’m not sure I will ever be ready for that," Stella said. ’I might just join the Medical staff here. I hear the head staff is going to leave soon."

"Head medical staff?" Stanley asked, not sure who she was referring to exactly.

"Yeah, that beautiful older sister with red hair," Stella said. "What was her name... Em-something"

"Amy?"

"Yes!"

Stanley paused for a bit. "She’s leaving?" he asked.

"Yeah, soon apparently," Stella said.

"How soon?" Stanley asked.

Stella shrugged. "No clue. You will have to ask her," she said.

"I was on my way to her," Stanley said. "I will find out soon then."

"Oh, right!" Stella said. "I need to hurry. I have trained with sister Mona. I can’t be late. I’ll talk to you later."

Stella ran off, jumping into the elevator that had been waiting for her, and headed down the mountain.

’She’s training with Mona?’ he thought. He couldn’t help but wonder what sort of training the two were doing. Mona had the power to create crystals around her with each clap.

Stanley looked at the elevator and realized it was going to take some time to come back, so he headed over to another one that was already waiting for him.

He took the elevator and headed upward. The door opened on the engineering floor which was a few floors below the medicinal one.

He headed inside and found someone he recognized who had handled his previous suits and weapons.

"Sir Stanley," the man called out excitedly.

Stanley was a little taken aback by the response. He had heard people call him many things, but never Sir.

"Umm, I was told my mask was ready," Stanley said and walked in.

"Yes," the man who greeted him said. "You asked for it a long time ago, but we only got it working like a month ago. Please take a look and see if it works for you or not."

The man opened a drawer and pulled out a box with his name written on it. He opened it and revealed a black metal mask that would go over his mouth and nose.

Stanley looked at it and saw a large tube on the inside along with finger-sized cylinders attached to the bottom of the mask where it would lay strapped below his chin.

Stanley took it and realized it wouldn’t cover his nose at all. He would instead have to keep this relatively open piece of tube in his mouth while he wore the mask.

He tried it out and it fit more or less perfectly. "Can you hear me?" he asked, speaking while having the tube stick past his front teeth.

"Uhh... no, not really," the man said. "It feels like you are speaking while eating something."

"Yeah, I do have the tube blocking most of my tongue, so it’s quite difficult to speak," Stanley said as he took the mask off his face.

"Yeah... we didn’t think you would be talking a whole lot when you wore that mask," the man said.

"Gray can speak while he wears his mask," Stanley said.

"He didn’t need an engineering miracle to work," the man said. "Yours did, sir."

"What’s different?" Stanley asked.

"Well, sir Gray’s mask is more of a... filter for most of the time. There is a cylinder in there that slowly diffuses air into his mask for him to breathe."

"But in your case, you asked for something violent. Something that would make breathing happen instantly. So we had to develop mechanisms where we could fit those cylinders, break them inside your mask, and have all of that air enter you immediately while not destroying the mask."

"There was a reason we took so long," the man said. "But, it appears that we focused so much on that aspect, that we forgot to think about how to let you talk."

The man thought for a moment. "We could make it retractable if you give us a week or so?" he asked.

"No," Stanley said. "That’s fine. This is fine."