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X Rider’s body was designed for diving, not combat. The evidence: He had a target literally painted on his back.
Underwater, his lateral line was a constant source of wonder. Like the denizens of the sea, he could detect even the slightest change in water flow and pressure, moving in lazy, sinuous tandem with the sharks he swam with as they adjusted their path.
On land, however, it was a blasted nuisance. All it conferred on Keisuke was heightened sensitivity along the red lines. Wind and air pressure were an ever-present annoyance, his system throwing up blanks as it tried in vain to interpret the environmental feedback. Summer was fast approaching and he was still wearing winter coats to block it out, steadfastly ignoring the sidelong glances from passerbys.
During fights, it got elevated from nuisance to vulnerability. Keisuke had to do his damnedest to keep his back away from the reach of GOD’s endless parade of cyborgs. But sometimes… There wasn’t anything he could do about it. Such as right then, when Apollo Geist hurled his furiously spinning shield into the air, the disc of doom arcing around to hit X squarely in the upper back.
X momentarily blacked out. He came to spreadeagled on the ground, face pressed into the dusty gravel. There was a line of searing white fire where the shield’s razor edge had made ruinous contact, the pain radiating out along his entire lateral line.
Black boots appeared in his vision. “Get up!” Apollo said loudly, voice booming in the open air of the empty, abandoned quarry. X tried to follow the command, strained groaning and hands against the ground as he started to lever himself up, his body screaming at him— Then Apollo’s boot came smashing down on his back, right where he'd been hit.
X blacked out again.
When he next came to, close to half an hour had passed. The Ridol Stick was in front of him, dotted with dusty fingerprints, and he could hear the steady hum of Cruiser’s idling engine somewhere behind him. X’s shaky fingers closed around Ridol’s shaft, and— He seemed to have exhausted his available actions, the pain an overwhelming, paralysing force.
“Oh, good,” Apollo’s bored voice said from close by. X turned his head. Apollo was sitting on a camping chair, one leg crossed as he read the book he was holding up, two GOD combat agents flanking him. His elbow was on the arm rest, the side of his face resting against his hand.
“I was wondering if you’d died,” Apollo said, still reading. He closed the book, its pages coming together with a soft, forceful thump as he shifted his gaze to X. “Get up,” he said. When X didn’t move, he raised an eyebrow. “Unless you want me to kick you again?”
X did not want that in the slightest. But he could barely move, barely breathe— He rolled onto his back to protect it, a half-suppressed shout leaving him as the contact with the ground pushed the lateral line’s sensors into the red. There was a whirlwind flash as the Ridol Belt finally gave up, X Rider disappearing and leaving behind plain old Keisuke.
Apollo let out a long, put upon sigh, as if he was the one suffering. “Pathetic. How have you lasted so long like this?”
Keisuke truly didn’t have an answer to that. The two combat agents hauled him onto his feet, Keisuke hanging limply in their hold. Apollo grabbed his chin, gloved thumb pressing against his lip as he held his face up. Keisuke did his best to meet his eyes, expression reflecting pure misery. There was no point in adjusting it to something less telling when he couldn’t even stand. Apollo’s eyes narrowed as he inspected him critically, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
Apollo let go and Keisuke’s head fell, gaze landing on his pristine white loafers. He watched the sharp, precise movement of them as Apollo turned around and whistled at somebody. There was the distant sound of two car engines being started up, followed by a much closer, very familiar engine roar. With a screech of tires, Cruiser attempted to ram Apollo, apparently having determined Keisuke was in immediate danger.
“Calm down!” Apollo barked, a hand holding it back by the headlights. “I’m taking him home!”
Cruiser’s tires lost speed for a moment, then it resumed its mission, not believing him. Apollo sighed impatiently, motioning at the combat agents. They moved forward and he put an arm around Keisuke’s hips, slinging him onto his shoulder as the agents carefully flipped Cruiser upside down, leaning well away from its violently spinning wheels.
Keisuke didn’t recall much of the ride back to COL. He’d been half-sitting, half-lying in the seat to avoid any contact with his back, his head in Apollo’s lap. He’d closed his eyes at some point, his system teetering between high alert and shut down. He was with the enemy, he couldn’t pass out— But it was Apollo, he was safe, wasn’t he?
Pressure built up as Keisuke struggled between the conflicting lines of thought. His closed eyes scrunched up and he let out a pained breath. There was a sigh from above him, softer than the previous ones. Apollo’s fingers carded through his hair, a soothing, rhythmic movement.
The contradictions were interlinked truths, melding together to form a strange whole. Keisuke let out a subdued breath, followed by another, Apollo’s touch lulling him into sleep.