The CMO's Office

Aetius stopped for several moments, trying to think of how he would explain his...condition to the CMO. No easy way of phrasing it came to his mind. Exiting his state of thought, he spoke.

"It is hard to explain. It would be best if I simply showed you, sir."

Technology was not Aetius' strong point. He looked at the PERL as if it were an artifact from an alien world. He approached it, rather uncertain of what he should do. Eventually, he gave up on trying to figure out the weapon, and turned to Jon.

"Could you make this weapon...shoot electricity, sir? I have no idea how to use it."

Aetius took in a deep breath, and held his arm out toward the electrical trail. He had not even touched it when the electricity seemed to be sucked into his fingers. With a loud blast of sound comparable to that of thunder, Aetius lit up with electricity. His eyes glowed white, and small sparks of electricity arced between the plates on his armor. When Aetius spoke, his voice sounded different, as if it were one of a diety.

"This is what I wanted to show you."

Aetius extended the fingers on his palm, and looked, almost curiously, at them, as small pulses of electricity ran down his palm. He spoke, his vision still fixated on his palm.

"Yes, that is correct."

Aetius sighed, and diverted his gaze away from his still pulsing hand. He closed his eyes for several moments, and the lightning slowly dissipated. When he opened his eyes, they were back to normal.

"I got these abilities after my father was killed. I was....angry. Very, very angry. I unlocked a part of myself that I knew nothing of that day."

Aetius sighed once more. This was a painful story to tell, but he decided he might as well narrate it to the man.

"My father and I...we were wanderers. My mother died in childbirth, so it was just him and me. We were confronted by bandits one day, more than we could possibly fight. My father stood his ground, and he told me to run. I did, but I would not have been able to live with myself had I never turned back. I ran back to him, just as he was cut down. The bandits mocked me over my grief. It soon turned to rage."

Aetius began to spark with some electricity, and his eyes glowed, but faintly.

"When I got back to my feet to fight, I felt different. Never before had I been so full of grief and rage when I fought. I felt a power, within me, in my reach. I grasped it, and all despite there being no storm or clouds earlier, I was struck by lightning, and fighting in a thunderstorm. I had control over the air, over lightning, over the storm itself. I used it to kill the bandits, down to the last man. When they were all dead, my powers subsided, and the clouds were gone."

Aetius returned to normal once more when he had finished his narrative. He sighed deeply, and waited for Jon's response.