Chapter 57: Asset
The first thing Scar registered when he woke up was the dull, throbbing ache radiating through every muscle fiber in his body. He slowly opened his eyes, a groan escaping his lips. The stadium lights pierced his vision, revealing the empty, sprawling tiers of the stadium grandstands. He was lying on a long, padded bench in the shaded, open-air dugouts of the grandstands.
Every part of his body screamed in protest, heavy and drained, yet the searing pain of his scorched skin was entirely gone. He had no visible wounds. He glanced down at himself. The charred, ruined remains of his jacket and shirt were gone. In their place, he was wearing a massive, oversized white shirt that smelled faintly of vanilla and orange blossom. His original running pants were still on, though the fabric was heavily scorched and torn at the knees. The Talaria-X boots remained tightly laced to his feet, their gold alloy completely untouched by the flames.
Beside him, bathed in the pale blue glow of the holographic interface projecting from her wristband, sat Alicia. Her eyes darted rapidly across the scrolling metrics on her screen, her brow pinched in deep concern.
Scar moved, attempting to force his battered body upright. A sharp grunt escaped his lips as a spike of pain flared up his spine.
At the sound, Alicia’s head snapped toward him. The tension in her face instantly gave way to wide-eyed relief. She let out a breath she seemed to have been holding for hours. "You’re awake," she breathed, her voice trembling slightly. "Thank goodness. I was... I was so worried."
Scar sat up fully, rolling his shoulders to test the joint mobility. "What happened?"
In a flash, the relief vanished from Alicia’s face, replaced by a sharp, furious scowl. "You almost died, is what happened! What the hell were you thinking? I told you to stop! Your lungs were on the verge of collapsing, you were borderline having a heart attack, and you still wouldn’t stop." Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "And to make it worse, you passed out. Your body literally ignited, and somehow, your legs just kept moving while you were completely unconscious, which still freaks the hell out of me. I had to drag your sorry ass out of there before you burned to ashes, crashed into a wall, or flat-out exploded. So, you’re welcome."
She was genuinely rattled, her chest heaving, looking more deeply upset than she’d ever been in her life.
But Scar wasn’t even paying attention to her anymore. Her emotional outburst was irrelevant data. His eyes were already locked onto the system screen hovering in his field of vision.
[Last Recorded Speed Rate: 1600 km/hr]
[Congratulations! You have gained 40 km/hr through sheer physical adaptation. It has been added to your baseline speed]
[Top Speed (Baseline): 800 >> 840 km/hr]
Scar’s lips spread into a wide smirk. A cold thrill of satisfaction washed over him. The physical toll had been immense, but the reward was undeniable worth every risk. He had secured a massive gain today. He was steadily closing the gap to Mach 1, and soon, he wouldn’t even need the amplifiers to reach it. The near-death experience was entirely worth it.
"Are you even listening to me?!" Alicia yelled, her voice cracking with anger. She stared at him, watching the arrogant, indifferent smirk on his face as he completely ignored everything she had just said.
After being terrified for him, after draining every ounce of her mental strength to save him, he was just sitting there, smiling at the air, and ignoring her.
Something inside Alicia finally snapped.
She let out a sharp, bitter laugh, shaking her head. "You know what?" She said, abruptly pushing herself to her feet. "I’m done here. I’ll see you at the next assessment."
She turned on her heel and began marching away toward the stadium exit.
Only when she created distance did Scar finally decide to pay her some attention. He pulled his gaze from the system interface and looked up.
"Where are you going?" he asked, his brow furrowing.
Alicia paused in her tracks, not turning around. "Home. Since you’ve decided to be an ungrateful jerk," she said sharply. "I just saved your life, and you can’t even manage a simple ’thank you’."
Scar let out a short, cynical scoff. "Why should I? If you didn’t save me, how would I be able to do what you want? How would I get faster for you?" He tilted his head, analyzing her reaction. "You didn’t save me out of kindness or compassion. You saved me because I’m useful to you. You need me. And for that very reason, you couldn’t let me die. So basically, you didn’t save a man... you simply protected an asset."
The words hit the silent air of the stadium. Alicia froze. Her shoulders went completely rigid.
For a long moment, she didn’t move or say anything. Then, she let out a slow, trembling exhale through gritted teeth. When she finally turned back to face him, the fierce expression she had earlier was gone. It hadn’t just cracked; it had shattered completely.
"That’s not true," she whispered, her voice barely holding together.
Scar narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"I said, that’s not true," Alicia repeated, her voice rising, thick with emotion. "I know you won’t believe me, because let’s be honest, why should you? But I was genuinely worried about you. Not just because you’re useful to me. But because you were in danger, and I felt the need to save you, even though it cost me a lot."
"Yeah, sure," Scar replied, his tone flat and utterly unconvinced. "You only ’Saved me with everything you had’, so you could use me later. I’d say that’s a pretty fair investment if you ask me."
Alicia shook her head, a scoff escaping her lips. "Do you... do you think I’m a monster?" she asked in disbelief. "Do you really think I’m that awful?"
"Let’s see," Scar said, ticking points off on his fingers with a playful calmness. "First, you humiliate me and threaten to stop my heart. Then, you blackmail me into doing your bidding. Then you had the audacity to say you want to be my friend, while still holding the blackmail over my head... and now you ask me if I think you’re a monster?" He dropped his hands, chuckling softly. "I think it’s pretty obvious."
Alicia drew in a sharp breath. A broken, bitter chuckle escaped her lips. "You think I’m the monster?" She murmured, her voice vibrating with a profound, crushing grief that she had been burying for days. "You’re the one who killed my childhood friend and hijacked his body! You’re the one who stole his face, and pretended to be him, fooling all of us! Fooling me!"
Her voice cracked, the agony of her isolation bleeding into every word. "Do you have any idea what it’s like for me?" She whispered, tears pooling in her eyes. "Henry is dead! My best friend is dead, and apparently... I’m the only one who knows. I’m the only one forced to grieve for him alone! Nobody else knows! Because they think he’s still alive... not knowing he’s not. Not knowing the person they see isn’t him. And Felicity... she isn’t even acting like she lost a child. I don’t know why she kept you alive, why she lets you parade around in his skin... but it’s unfair. It’s unfair that you get to live freely while he’s gone forever!"