Biotech-Hunters

I still write, kind of

2011-10-16T02:13:00.000-07:00

Alright I know I don't post all that often (Okay, I post about once a month...) But that isn't my long term goal. I want to finish around 15 chapters of Biotech-Hunters, and an undecided number of chapters of Dark Destiny.

However, I haven't been able to find much will to write lately. I'm going to try to write 50,000 words for http://www.nanowrimo.org/ which will prove to probably be a daunting task.

Aside from that, I have been kept busy working on an extension for Google Chrome, which can be found here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chcnifjbmpcbjclkmpblgapodnmmbfcm

I also have a bizarrely weird sleep schedule, Staying up to not long from now and getting up at noonish. Not the best in my opinion.

Well that concludes my small update to this blog, assuring what few people that happen to glance over this page that I have not abandoned writing, it has simply fallen by the wayside. I'm about 30% done writing chapter 5 of Biotech-Hunters by the way.

Update:
Since the deadline for writing my next novel is coming up really shortly, (have to start in 15 days...) I was wondering what I should write about. I could continue directly after the ending of my first novel, or I could continue really from many other points. But that isn't the point really, I guess it's more of, what am I trying to say (both in this paragraph and in the next novel)...

Novel 1 I'm trying to get across a feeling of instability as well as corruption. Instability in the frequency of the wars. Galactic War, then a few years, then UHAD Wars, then a year, then the events of Novel 1, essentially an assault on Earth and therefore humanities core.

Novel 1 tries to focus on several key characters, namely the two opposing sides, General Andrews, Biomech's former superior who doesn't always follow regulations, but has been commended for his actions. And then we have the Lazarith family, seeking human ascension or "evolution through force".

Novel 2 I want to set some time after the events of novel 1, but not so much that I have to completely back track, as I already have tons to explain for pre-novel 1.

Okay that's all my brain will let me focus on at this hour, night.

Biotech-Hunters: Chapter 4

2011-09-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4: Train of Memories

The first cyborgs were more reckless and careless in their method of approaching Semi-Devil and Eri. They preferred to simply run at the building and smash through its thin walls to get a piece of the newcomers. One went down with a shotgun blast from Eri, while the other ran headlong towards Semi-Devil and was repulsed back fifty feet by a barrier.
Eri looked astounded at the sight of the cyborg flying out of the house and into its comrades.

Noticing this, Semi-Devil explained, “Retractable barriers, much more efficient than regular ones. They use a quick burst of power to expand outwards when something gets near, then they settle back down. Works great as a land mine too.” Semi-Devil threw one on the ground by the doorway. “We should probably cover up now,” suggested Semi-Devil, gesturing behind him towards Biomech.

Eri nodded and tapped the button on the back of her neck to expand her helmet over her head. She looked outside at the cyborgs, now spacing themselves out, considering how next to approach the house. “We bought ourselves some time with those barriers I think.”

Biomech had obviously gotten into the system now, because the virtual lights in the dome above began to fade and the mist lifted. Then the slightly cloudy backdrop disappeared altogether with the lights, leaving the area in pure darkness. The red eyes of the cyborgs flickered around in confusion and then Biomech turned the brightness of everything he could to the absolute maximum. Numerous cyborgs screamed out in pain as their optical sensors were overloaded, or eyes blinded. A few of the older cyborgs had guessed what was coming and shielded their eyes and sensors from the light. Just as soon as the flash had happened it disappeared in a shower of sparks as nearly half of the panels in the dome had been overloaded. The dome settled back into its previous state of light and Biomech replaced the weather with rain.

“Well, it’s just us now,” comment Semi-Devil, picking up another one of the barrier generators he loaded from the floor.

“Semi-Devil, hurry the hell up with those barriers,” said Eri, gesturing to a cyborg coming up from one of the back houses.

The cyborg stood over fifteen feet tall with long fingers, each ending with a sharp talon. Its skull shaped head had rows upon rows of sharp teeth below its blood red mechanical eyes. Even the other cyborgs gave this one room as it walked past. It reached into its body, pulling out two long blades, each stained with blood. It raised its head and roared as loud as it could, its voice echoing to all reaches of the dome.

Semi-Devil looked up at what Eri was pointing at and dropped the barrier he was setting up. “Oh…” he said in surprise.

“‘Oh’ hardly covers it! Either get those barriers up or grab a gun and start shooting!” said Eri, grabbing a handful of shotgun shells for her pocket.

The cyborg ceased roaring and looked directly at Semi-Devil and Eri. It took a step forward, swinging its swords widely, searching for Semi-Devil’s barriers. One sword triggered a barrier, smashing the sword out of its hands, but the cyborg swung quickly with its other sword, hitting the barrier and shattering it. The projector on the ground exploded in a fury of sparks.

“Hmm, those are rare swords. They must carry an electric current through them that can overload the generator. That’s some pretty high tech stuff there,” admired Semi-Devil.

Eri fired another bullet at the cyborg but was deflected with its sword. “It bloody well better not be able to do that to all the barriers,” said Eri, reloading her gun. “God damn it, why don’t we have any guns that fire faster?”

Semi-Devil pointed to the remnants of her assault rifle lying on the ground outside the house.

“We did have one.”

The cyborg drew another sword and continued its slow advance towards the house. The other cyborgs advanced anxiously behind, awaiting the chance to do battle.

“Screw you, guys,” said Eri, taking a grenade out of her backpack. She pulled the pin and threw it wide, aiming to bounce it off of a building and around the range of the large cyborg in front. A child cyborg ran up and kicked the grenade back at the house. Eri threw her arms up to block instinctively and uselessly when the grenade triggered a barrier below, sending the grenade to the roof of the dome. It exploded sending rubble down. The first bit was blocked by the barrier, then it overwhelmed the remaining barriers, sending them exploding in sparks.

Eri aimed her gun at the wall. “Got anymore barriers?” she asked, not expecting anything.

Semi-Devil dumped the contents of his backpack onto the floor, revealing a dozen various hand sized generators. “Just a few. I was hoping to save these though, since now we have no idea when we’ll be back at base.”

“Do you have a cone shaped barrier?”

Semi-Devil and Eri turned to see Biomech sitting on the floor staring at the blocked doorway. He turned back to the generators on the floor, waved his hand around for a moment as he searched, and grabbed one and tossed it to Biomech.

Biomech caught it, taking a moment to examine the exterior before putting it in his pocket. “A burst one?” Biomech stood up and caught it from Semi-Devil. He faced it towards the center rock blocking the door and activated it, triggering the barrier and blasting the rock out of the way and through several cyborgs. Biomech deactivated the barrier and swung it ninety degrees to his right and reactivated it, blowing a hole in the wall. “Go.” said Biomech, deactivating the generator and tossing it back to Semi-Devil.

The large cyborg shoved the rest of the rocks out of the way and stood face to face with Biomech. He batted the other cyborgs out of his way and roared right in Biomech’s face.

Seizing the opportunity, Biomech raised the cone barrier and activated it right in the cyborgs face. The barrier exploded outwards, decimating the cyborg. Biomech took a plastic explosive from his belt and attached it to the barrier generator.

“Biomech!” yelled Eri from the far side of the dome.

Biomech turned and threw the barrier generator against the ground. He began running over to where Eri and Semi-Devil were holding out, sparing a glance back at his explosive. The cyborg children had gone and picked it up to examine it. Without hesitation Biomech triggered the explosive, vaporizing the three cyborg children and a corner of the house.

“They were just kids!” yelled Eri as Biomech reached the two.

Biomech ignored Eri and grabbed Semi-Devils burst barrier and one of Eri’s grenades. He pulled the pin and tossed it against the wall, activating the burst barrier to keep it there. When it exploded, the force of the explosion was completely redirected into the wall, decimating it. Instantly the wind outside swept itself into the dome. The cyborgs began grabbing old weapons from the Galactic War time and were aiming at the trio. Biomech held the burst barrier out to defend them as they left, pausing to pull out his pistol.

Eri made a swing at Biomech’s head which Biomech dodged and followed up by grabbing her arm and flipping her over him onto the ground. He put his weight on his knee on her chest and his blade to her throat.

“They were kids,” she said tearfully.

“This is a war. They were casualties. Now we move, before we add to that number. They aren’t going to be stopped by these barriers for long. Biomech stepped off Eri and left through the broken wall to the forest outside.

Semi-Devil offered his hand to Eri. She accepted and stood up. “We’re not making any progress like this,” he commented.

“No, and he’s just going to leave us behind,” said Eri, following Biomech’s lead through the broken dome.

Semi-Devil looked back at the cyborgs in the village. One had rushed into the main house to check their computer, only to be returned to his comrades in pieces as the entire house exploded. Several cyborgs then began rushing to where Semi-Devil was at the wall and were repulsed back. They stood shooting and throwing grenades at the barrier but it was all repulsed.

Semi-Devil left and caught up with Eri and Biomech. Already he heard an explosion by the wall signaling the cyborgs intent to hunt them. Cyborgs poured out of a newly made hole in the wall, firing weapons that left various sizes of holes beside Semi-Devil. He quickly increased his pace to catch up with Biomech and Eri, to which Biomech stopped and shoved the two of them ahead.

“The trans-continental railway, that’s our target, call the train once you get there.

Looking back at the cyborgs, Biomech saw they had spread out to prevent from being easily subdued. Several of them blasted at Biomech, which Biomech used to fake his demise. He waited for the cyborgs, and one came to check his body. It leaned in; close enough to smell the rotting flesh on its body, maintained by mechanical life support systems. Biomech reached up and pulled the cyborgs weapon out of its hands, quickly spinning it around and liberating the cyborg of the upper half of its rotting body. Biomech got on his knees now, quickly taking out the cyborgs in the back before swinging around and countering several blasts. Biomech followed up each defense with a second blast, tearing through the cyborg ranks. He heard the old weapon choke, signaling the end of its life. Without any element of surprise remaining, Biomech threw the weapon at the cyborgs and retreated towards the cyborgs he had destroyed earlier.

Several cyborgs broke pursuit of Biomech and resumed hunting Semi-Devil and Eri. Biomech took notice of this, but at the cost of absorbing two blasts from the cyborgs. His UHAD had protected him as it always had, but he could still smell the burning flesh on his back. He reached the fallen cyborgs and grabbed their weapons, one he snapped to the mechanical spine on his back, the other he quickly took his knife too and remodeled it to be lighter. He countered two more blasts from the cyborgs, and dashed towards them, leaping around trees as the ground around him exploded. He heard one cyborg yell and made a bee line dash towards it. Upon reaching the cyborg he tossed his weapon at it and grabbed an arm in each hand and kicked it in the chest, sending it tumbling backwards and ripping its arms off. He quickly pulled his pistol out and dealt with the last cyborg by unloading three rounds into its chest and skull.

Biomech knelt down, surveying the forest. There was no movement save the roar of the wind through the trees. The cyborg dome released smoke high up into the sky, which was certain to cause problems to both the human armies and the cyborgs, but that didn’t matter to Biomech. He heard sounds of explosions off in the distance and put his pistol away, reaching to sweep up two more weapons, one more to attach to his spine, the other he held under his arm as he dashed to meet up with Semi-Devil and Eri.

Eri and Semi-Devil had made it to the trans-continental station; the heavy winds had changed direction, instead buffeting the interior of the train station. Nara and Eri held out against the cyborgs behind Semi-Devils barriers, the two returning fire in between blasts from the cyborgs.

“It would be really nice if Biomech came back!” yelled Eri over the wind and cyborg blasts.

One cyborg fired several blasts into the roof above Semi-Devil and Eri, raining cement down on the pair. With barely a second to spare, Semi-Devil moved a barrier above, deflecting the debris.

Several blasts came out of the forest from behind the cyborgs. One cyborg turned around and got out one blast before it disappeared from view. The others turned to see what happened, and one was treated with a blast through its midsection.

“Making up for lost time I guess” commented Semi-Devil, glancing over at Eri. She wasn’t moving.

Biomech dashed around trees to the last cyborg and brought it down with his knives. One in each shoulder to bring it to the ground, then one in the skull and chest to finish it. Biomech stood up and sheathed his knives, looking at the train station. Semi-Devil was bent over Eri, and the train hadn’t arrived yet. Biomech exited the forest and paced over to Semi-Devil and Eri. At a glance he could see that the falling rubble had disabled Eri. He grabbed Semi-Devil by the collar and dragged him to his feet.

“You didn’t call the train.”

“I was—”

“I don’t care, you didn’t call the train.”

Disgusted, Biomech threw Semi-Devil to the ground and turned to the empty tunnel for the train. He looked down the black tunnel for a moment, then turned to the wall and attached the cable from his side to a small control panel. Within moments the sound of the train could be heard, and in mere minutes it arrived at the station.

“Get her on the train.” commanded Biomech.

Semi-Devil did as he was told and picked up Eri, carrying her into the train. The interior of the train was much more comforting than the exterior. It was furnished with plush chairs and brightly lit cars. The floor and walls were adorned with a soft red carpet, highlighted by the light strips in the roof. He placed Eri along some chairs, and sat down beside her, checking her vitals through a projection on her helmet.

Biomech boarded the train, trailing the cable attached to the control panel. He sat on the opposite side of Semi-Devil and Eri, and tugged on the cable, retracting it. A moment later the doors sealed, and the train launched off to its destination.

“Arkahn.”

Biomech stirred. Arkahn? He thought. Why now?

“Arkahn pay attention.”

Biomech opened his eyes. He was in the cockpit of the Armageddon, the war machine most commonly referred to as the “god of death” during the UHAD Wars. He looked off to the left and saw a communication icon. He touched it and a virtual image of Climili appeared in front of him.

“There we are, can’t have you falling asleep on me now!” Climili said cheerfully.

Biomech remembered this day well. It was the day everything started to go wrong. Climili and I had been assigned to a United Galaxies Space battle cruiser to look throughout the galaxy for the UHAD Corporation. We ran low on supplies so I was sent down to a nearby planet to gather some. Little did we realize, the planet was the headquarters of UHAD Corporation. We walked right into their trap.

“Supplies are located underneath a vast tunnel network, so I’m afraid we can’t keep in touch due to electrical interferences. See you back on the surface shortly!” she said cheerfully. She took a quick look left and right then blew a kiss Biomech’s direction and winked and then she was gone.

Biomech commanded the Armageddon into the tunnels and down a supply shaft. As he went in deeper the signals from the surface became more and more faint. When he got about halfway there he stopped. A faint blip appeared on his radar. Any other soldier would have ignored it as a malfunction caused due to atmospherical interference, but not Biomech. These sensors were personally calibrated to find enemies so he could protect Climili. He abandoned his operation of collecting supplies and immediately bolted for the surface. As he got closer, more and more blips appeared on his radar. He finally reached the surface to see the sight of the battle cruiser retreating with sections ejected in flames being sucked down to the planet from the effects of gravity. Biomech unlimbered his weapon and synced it with Armageddon’s aiming system. He took aim at one of the ships attacking the battle cruiser and fired. What looked like a shooting star emerged from the gun and flew towards the ship, destroying it on contact. Biomech fired at several more ships, bringing each to their demise. From out of the mountain came enemy war machines. Biomech dropped the gun he was carrying and equipped a knife in each hand. He charged forwards, deflecting their bullets with carefully applied barriers. Biomech reached the first war machine struggling to get out its close range weapon. Biomech rid it of all of its limbs and its head, then dealt a finishing blow to the pilot in the body. Biomech rushed to the next one, sparing a glance up at the flaming battle cruiser in the skies above. He saw escape pods pouring out of it now, but many of them were being taken out by the guns on land and in space. Biomech reached the next war machine and tore it to pieces, ripping the gun out of the corpse machine’s hand. He aimed the gun upwards to destroy the last of the aircraft attacking the escape pods but a blade went through the gun. He turned to the source and barely managed to block a fatal blow resulting in one of Armageddon’s arms to be chopped off.

“What’s the matter soldier can’t fight and defend at the same time?” sneered the pilot of the other war machine.

Fight and defend at the same time, thought Biomech.

Biomech jumped to alert, checking both of the adjacent carts for new passengers. He focused on the cart he was in now, seeing Eri and Semi-Devil sitting on their chairs, staring at Biomech as if for answers. “I did what I could,” he said, then went back to sitting in the corner of the train, gaze set on the floor.

“Biomech, Climili was her name, wasn’t it?” asked Eri, standing up and walking over to where Biomech sat.

“Climili Aya Saorlin.” Said Biomech.

“I’m sorry, we were never told.” Eri sat on the opposite side of the cart facing Biomech, a solemn expression on her face.

“You have a chance to redeem yourself, Biomech. Or should I say Arkahn?” said Semi-Devil to Biomech. “When we find this device, we can save everyone who was lost in these wars.”

Biomech refused to return Semi-Devil’s enthusiasm. “Once someone is dead, they are dead. You can’t bring them back. Protect what you love while you still can.”

The train lurched to a sudden stop, hurling the three from their seats and onto the floor.

Biomech looked ahead to see each car being thrown away by a massive clawed hand one after another. “Escape,” he commanded, standing up and heading to the front of the cart.

“Arkahn, don’t lose sight of yourself,” advised Semi-Devil as he helped Eri to her feet.

Biomech opened the door of the cart and paused.

“Arkahn died one year ago,” he said, and vanished through to the next cart, closing the door behind him. He looked ahead at the open end of the tunnel where the cart had been split open like a funnel. Outside were hundreds of cyborgs, as well as some ancient cyborg war machines which were supposedly retired years ago. Biomech pulled out a knife in one hand and one of the cyborg weapons in the other and stepped gingerly out of the destroyed train cart into full view of the cyborg army.

“Bring it on,” he muttered to himself.

Biotech-Hunters: Chapter 3

2011-09-25T18:51:00.001-07:00

Chapter 3: Cyborg

The main Earth branch of United Galaxies, situated on top of the old American Pentagon facility could always be found to be full to the brim with dealing with expanding space colonies, studying USE or developing weapons. Today, however, the occupants were much more worried about how an entire country was wiped out in a mere hour.
Senior Officer Tainui Lazarith had been scouting out a planet to colonize when he received the message that United Galaxies Southern Asia branch was under attack. He immediately requested transport back to earth, for his older brother, Krozak, was discussing treaty disagreements with the cyborgs in the Arctic Northern Asia. He landed on Earth one day after the incident, discovering that Southern Asia was in the process of being evacuated due to an unprecedented virus attack. The evacuees were being directed to migrate to other colonies away from Earth until the virus could be contained. Tainui arrived at the main branch and was instantly asked for identification upon entering the premises. He flashed his badge and made his way to the elevators, grumbling inaudible complaints about security protocols, and how he would run the place if he was in charge. In the elevator, several junior officers saluted him, to which he regrettably had to return the favor. He was the last one to get off, doing so at the farthest sub level of United Galaxies. If it weren’t for strict environmental and cleaning codes, this level would have turned green from mold and age long ago due to the nature of its contents. The sub level, though, was one of the most well-kept, the massive room had to be kept at a constant temperature and pressure to avoid ancient documents from cracking or disintegrating. This level maintained the entire publicized history of Humanity and even some unpublicized information. The only people who knew of the true objective of those that worked on this level were the workers authorized to be on this level. To anyone else, it was a mere archive, but to the Lazarith family, it was their home, their life’s work. Tainui tossed his coat against the sterilized hanger against the wall. When the area was clear, the rack would retreat into the wall and clean all the jackets on it. Tainui stepped into the final cleansing airlock, went up to the three digit lock and typed his three digit password, as well as a four. Both doors of the airlock sealed and it lowered down four levels before one side opened up revealing a well-lit white plated chamber. Tainui stepped out of the airlock, the door automatically closing behind him. Within moments he was confronted with a dozen holographic popups, asking for permission on operations, or requisition of materials. Tainui sent them away with a flurry of hand gestures and waves and pulled out his communicator. He flipped it open, selecting Krozak’s name from a list of contacts. It rang for a minute or two. While he was waiting, he began his long trek through the white, sterilized facility to his office at the far end. It seemed the more important you were to the operations here, the farther you were from the door.
“Hello?” asked a voice on the other end of the line.
“Krozak! What the devil is going on? Just yesterday I was told we were under attack, now there is some sort of super virus?” demanded Tainui.

“Oh!” exclaimed Krozak over the communicator “Isn’t it exciting? Such a fascinating virus it is! It can penetrate walls, tear through clothing, nothing can stop it!”

Tainui moved the communicator away from his ear as Krozak exclaimed his excitement for the virus. Tainui rubbed his head wearily, waiting for Krozak to finish. He put his ear to the communicator to hear Krozak still fascinated. Tired of his mutterings, Tainui interrupted him. “Krozak, do we know of a way to stop it?” asked Tainui firmly. The communicator immediately replied with sounds of Krozak searching manually through file folders for the information requested of him.

Finally he replied “Well, there is a way, but shouldn’t we wait longer? There is lots of data we can gather from this…”

Tainui lost his nerve at his brother’s comment, yelling straight into the communicator. “Have you lost your mind? Nothing is ready yet! This was a wasted test! Why must you continue wasting our budget on your pointless tests?” Tainui closed the call angrily and nearly managed to link his communicator back on his belt before he got a call from one of his subordinates.

“What?” he asked rudely.

“Sir, one of our assets was requested by one General Andrews. They haven’t returned. It was reported that the entire team that was hired by has not returned. None of the video feeds were available, nor any names of people on the team.”

Tainui pulled out a wireless headset and linked it to the communicator, allowing him to have two free hands. Arriving at his office desk, Tainui activated his hologram monitor. He received the data sent from his subordinate, a broken mission report stating only a rough location.

“Who the hell would authorize a mission this vague?”

“General Andrews is a very well respected General. Rumor has it for the past year he has been submitting mission reports as vague as this, and calling soldiers personally for mission requests, so there is very little evidence of what he has been doing.”

“Get a team to the rough location of his last three missions. I want to know what he’s been looking for.” Tainui closed the line and looked up General Andrews on his computer. He grabbed a glass from within his desk and began filling it up with a large bottle of wine. He stopped when the glass was half full and put the wine bottle away underneath his desk. He glanced back at the computer to see his search completed. Last registered mission was one year ago, and he had commanded a small squadron of elite soldiers against the UHAD Corporation. Tainui tightened his grip on his glass, threatening to break it. His face twitched and twisted in rage. It was you all along, he thought.

As General Andrews retreated back to his main base of operations in Europe to help the evacuation Nara took another route using a transport jet and managed to drop Biomech, Eri and Semi-Devil off at the border of Alaska with barely enough time to leave before heavy winds hit.
“How the hell can you be fine in this?” yelled Eri over the wind. Even the power of her helmet microphone could barely top the roar of the wind through the many trees.
While Eri and Semi-Devil had dressed warmer for the northern weather, Biomech had retained his ragged uniform. Biomech pretended not to hear her as he scanned through the trees as best he could for the path they were searching for. Once or twice he stopped to punch his fist into the ground and pull up debris or a rock. After staring at it for a moment, he would toss it away and begin heading off in a new direction.

Eri once made the mistake of picking it up and examining it after Biomech had thrown it away, to see if she could gain some insight on how he knew where to go, only to end up nearly getting left behind by the other two.

“Can we really trust this guy for anything?” asked Eri through a private channel to Semi-Devil, which was not entirely necessary as Biomech had no helmet or otherwise visible digital communication devices. “I heard he’s killed people because they looked at him strange.”

Semi-Devil paused to scan a mountain off in the distance, then resumed following Biomech.

“You can’t trust reports these days. Though if General Andrews specifically requested Biomech back from the dead, I’m assuming if he isn’t trustworthy, he’s at least a worthwhile asset.”

Eri shrugged.

“As long as I don’t have to trade shots with him I’m good. After all, he’s died once and been brought back.” She shivered violently against the cold, drawing her arms closer. “I hope we get somewhere warmer soon or I swear I’m going to turn into a human popsicle.”

Up ahead, Biomech stopped walking and stopped by an old tree stump wider than he was, and half as tall.

“What is it?” yelled Semi-Devil over the wind.

Biomech didn’t reply, merely placing a hand on the edge of the stump and lifting himself into the center and away from site.

“Great,” voiced Eri to herself.

The two approached the stump, looking inside. The stump was hollow on the inside, lined with mechanics. Eri looked over to Semi-Devil.

“Ladies first,” offered Semi-Devil over the wind.

Eri scoffed as she pulled her backpack off of her mechanical spine. She set it in front of her and pulled a cabled and support mechanism from it.

“That would be you right?” she replied, running the rope through the support mechanism before attaching it to the front of her belt. Eri was assaulted with the sound of Semi-Devil’s laughter echoing through her helmet. She tossed the rope into the stump and looked over at Semi-Devil who had stopped laughing, but tapped the side of her helmet by her ear just the same. Semi-Devil shrugged in response, tossing his rope down the stump as well. Eri tossed her backpack down the stump and secured one end of the rope to the top of the stump before rappelling down. She reached the bottom and detached herself from the support mechanism. The only entrance was a small hole only big enough to crawl through. Semi-Devil landed down beside her and similarly detached himself.

“Ladi--” began Semi-Devil before he was silenced by an elbow to his gut.

Eri kicked her backpack and assault rifle through the small hole in the floor and started crawling through.

“If your crawling behind me you better be staring at the ground or you’ll find a boot in your face before you can pull up one of your remarks.” threatened Eri. On the other side of the tunnel she experienced an immediate temperature increase, caused by several sun cubes lying about the small room outside of the tunnel. Upon reaching the end of the tunnel, Eri grabbed her bag and weapon and moved them to a corner of the room. She stood up to find the room furnished with pipes and cables of all forms along the roof and walls, while the floor was solid rock. On one side was a long and dark passageway. Eri ran her hand along one of the pipes, but quickly retracted it.

Semi-Devil poked his head out from the tunnel, looking around the small space.

“Cozy little place. Don’t suppose you know where Biomech is?”

Eri took her gloves off and tossed them on top of her backpack, following up with a stretch, rolling her shoulders and twisting her neck. She collapsed her helmet and straightened out her hair.

“I’ll take that as a no,” said Semi-Devil, collapsing his helmet and taking refuge on the opposite side of the room. Semi-Devil carefully folded his gloves into his bag as well as the thermal padding in his jacket. When he was finished, he sat cross legged on the floor and pulled out a mirror and started running his hands through his hair. Eventually Semi-Devil put away the mirror and laid down for a short sleep.

Eri scoffed at his carelessness, but soon felt drowsy as well. Where is Biomech? she thought as her consciousness faded.

A cyborg walked in and paused at the doorway. He wore a dark, old and worn trench coat covering slender but powerful mechanical arms and long legs, easily making him ten feet tall. He saw Eri still half-awake but quickly reaching for her weapon. In response the cyborg raised his hand extending a long needle like protrusion from his palm aimed at Eri. He began aiming at Eri when Biomech’s hand reached from the shadows and grabbed the cyborg’s arm. The cyborg snorted in disgust and swung his arm, flinging Biomech off. Biomech landed on his feet, knives drawn as the cyborg lifted his arm to point the protrusion at Biomech. He paused and looked at his arm, noticing large welts in the plate that Biomech grabbed. “What do you want, human,” asked the cyborg in a voice of grated steel.

Eri and Semi-Devil were wide awake now, paying close attention to make up for their lack of attention earlier.

Biomech put his knives away. “I’m no human,” he said coldly. With one hand he reached into a pocket and pulled out an old military personnel card which he held up to the cyborg. “We need access to your main computer systems. We’re looking for something.”

The cyborg looked around at the small group nervously. “We have no reason to help you, human. Go back to your land. It is not in our treaty to help your kind.”

Biomech pulled out his pistol. “I guess I should just kill you and see if the next guy to come along is more willing then.”

Without a moment’s hesitation the cyborg replied, “You would not receive such a blessing.”

Biomech cocked the gun and started walking towards the cyborg, aiming at various locations on his body.

“What hurts more, if I just shoot you in the head? Or do you have extensions in your body for that event. Of course I could rip of your limbs as well and then refuse as you beg to be ended. You tell me.”

Contemplating for a moment the cyborg eventually gave in. “I offer you five minutes of connection time, human, no more.”

Biomech pulled the trigger on the pistol, creating an echoing click from the empty gun. “Semi-Devil, Eri, we head to the cyborg camp,” said Biomech after putting away his empty pistol.

The cyborg turned to one of the walls of the room they were in and reached into it with one arm. Eventually he found a switch which he pulled to open a stairway leading further underground. “We will follow this path until it ends, then we go up to the village. There, you will find the computer you want.”

Eri and Semi-Devil quickly grabbed their gear and followed close behind Biomech. They both had their weapons drawn. The hallway was dark and poorly maintained, water leaked down in several places while others looked on the verge of collapse. At the end of the hallway was an old ladder leading upwards. The cyborg went up first, followed By Biomech. Up above on ground level was an entire village enclosed from the elements by a massive steel dome. The roof of the dome projected a lightly cloudy sky and a slight mist descended from the center of the roof. Houses lay scattered in various states of disrepair, living inside and working around the village were cyborgs of all shapes, sizes and ages. Eri and Semi-Devil noted some cyborgs that appeared to be children playing with a makeshift ball.

“It’s just like a shanty town of old Earth,” commented Eri in surprise.

“What more do you humans want from us?” demanded an old cyborg lying against a shack. He had no legs and only one arm, sustained by various cables feeding his body from some other location. “You took everything from us.” He said in sad gravelly tones.

Semi-Devil approached the old cyborg carefully, observant of his beady mechanical eyes. “We aren’t here to take anything from you; we just wish to be honored with some information from your computer.” He said as cheerfully as he could.

Eri put her gun away behind her back, sensing no hostility from these cyborgs. She looked at the children longingly remembering her past, her brothers, her father, her reason for joining United Galaxies.

Biomech stepped out of one of the houses and took a glance around for Semi-Devil and Eri.

“Don’t let your guard down,” advised Biomech before he disappeared back into the house.

Semi-Devil followed Biomech into the house with one last passing glance at Eri to see where she was.

Eri ignored Biomech’s comment, just attributed it to him being too depressive to enjoy life. Besides, the relations between us Humans and the Cyborgs are good enough, she thought. She walked over to where the children were playing ball and crouched down to watch them. After only a short while of her watching the children stopped playing and began to examine Eri. They spoke in a tongue Eri couldn’t understand, examining her with furious curiosity.

One of them grabbed the gun off of Eri’s back and examined it. “Bad people.” It muttered.

“Sorry?” asked Eri, recognizing the mumble as being in a language she could understand.

The cyborg children stopped examining Eri and looked stepped back to look at her with scornful and sad expressions. “You smell like that bad person,” said one.

“Used to smell,” added another.

“That bad person took everything away from us.”

The third one looked down at Eri’s gun that he held. His grip tightened on it, making audible creaks.

“What are you…” began Eri, but was interrupted by the realization of what the cyborg child was doing.

The child gritted his teeth and tore her gun in half. It dropped both parts to the ground. Other cyborgs from around the area began to show up, each regarding Eri with suspicious eyes.

Eri glanced to the side at the house Biomech and Semi-Devil were in, but there were a dozen cyborgs between her and the house. The groups of cyborgs were slowly closing in on her now, each with a look of malice growing on their metallic faces and chanting something in their tongue. Eri reached for her pistol, sensing hostilities. But a pistol wouldn’t be enough if this crowd became hostile.

A cyborg came out of the house Biomech and Semi-Devil were in and yelled something in their tongue. Afterwards the cyborgs dispersed back to what they were doing before. Eri was left standing there slightly dazed. The cyborg came out of the house and patted Eri on the shoulder. “You put your gun away now. Go to your allies. Then leave. You are no good.”

“No good, what do you mean no good?” asked Eri, turning to face the cyborg. But he was already gone, mingling with the crowd. Eri retracted her hand from her pistol holster and paced over to the house Biomech and Semi-Devil were in. In the house, they were watching over a cyborg that appeared to be trying to build a bridge between the human and cyborg systems so we could access their data.

Biomech was already fed up with the amount of time this was taking; he had equipped his knife and was tossing it between hands to pass time.

Eventually, the cyborg looked up at Biomech and said “It’s no good. No good.”

Biomech caught his knife mid throw, and stood there for a moment. “Get out of the way,” he demanded.

“You’ll ruin everything!” exclaimed the cyborg. “That’s what you humans do, that’s all you humans do!”

Biomech slammed his knife deep into the table beside the cyborg. “Move. Now.”

“No, no, no, no! You can’t! You…”

Biomech brought his knee into the cyborgs face with such force it sent the cyborg across the room. He walked over to the cyborg and pulled open his chest plate. Within a moment Biomech had ripped out several cables and an entire component from the cyborgs innards and finished off by smashing them against the wall. As soon as Biomech let the cyborg free he ran out of the household. His mouth moved rapidly, but no sound came out.

Semi-Devil sighed. “There goes our free walk out of here.”

“I need five minutes. Semi-Devil, you were good with barriers right? We’ll need a lot of them right now. Is this enough?” asked Biomech holding up a handful of USE crystals.

Semi-Devil took the crystals in one hand and began opening his bag with the other. “I was hoping you would ask!” exclaimed Semi-Devil.

“Eri, use Semi-Devil’s gun. He’ll need cover while he sets up the barriers.” Commanded Biomech as he grabbed out his pistol and put a clip into it, making sure it was ready to fire. After putting his pistol on the floor beside him, Biomech pulled a small cable out of his side. It squirmed and wriggled as if it was alive, and he fed it directly into the cyborgs computer system.

“Eri!” yelled Semi-Devil to get her attention.

Eri snapped back to reality from watching Biomech and ran over to grab Semi-Devil’s gun. She took a glance out one of the windows to see cyborgs gathering into a mob outside, passing weapons to each other. “I guess things get real now.”

“The cyborg treaty never really included any human-cyborg interactions. Basically we leave them alone, they leave us alone.” said Semi-Devil, inserting the crystals into small hexagonal devices, sealing each one afterwards and setting it on the floor beside them.

“Until those missiles.” returned Eri, looting through Semi-Devils bag for ammo.

“We don’t know who that was yet, that’s why we’re here.”

Biomech turned to Eri and Semi-Devil. “I’m going to change the weather outside to replicate the effect of a flash grenade. From then, I’m going directly into the system to find the data rather than downloading it all, meaning I won’t be mentally here.”

Eri and Semi-Devil turned to Biomech and saluted their understanding. The two looked at each other for a moment, then went back to their tasks.

“Just like training eh?” said Semi-Devil with a smile.

Eri rolled her eyes. “Just get those barriers up.”

Biotech-Hunters: Chapter 2

2011-09-25T18:50:00.003-07:00

Chapter 2: First Step

Father has arranged a training exercise for me today, thought Captain Nara. No, that was yesterday? No... Biomech? Captain Nara abruptly woke up, taking a glance down at her body. Instead of seeing the ground of the forest and the tree she was resting up against, she found herself resting in a military bunk bed. Her boots sat beside her bed, awaiting the arrival of her feet. Her chest lacked the swelling it gained from her fight, instead replaced by a soothing medi-bandage wrapped around her ribs. She wore a medical night gown that had been enhanced by the military with shock pads and simple Velcro straps for emergency weapons. Captain Nara rolled out of the bunk bed, landing on the balls of her feet on the floor.

She stretched the length of the small room and flipped a small old fashioned mechanical lock on the door. It’s one of the cheap rooms. So I’m not at base, she thought. Captain Nara walked over to a locker in the corner of the room opposite of the door and pulled it open. Inside she found the rest of her gear: an assault rifle, a pistol, a combat blade, a belt with ammunition and tools, a weight collar, a stealth suit and a new backpack, as well as her clothes folded neatly at the bottom of the locker. Captain Nara undid the upper most buttons on the back of the night gown, allowing it to fall to the floor. From the locker she stepped into a pair of tight fitting shorts and pulled on a padded tank top. Afterwards she selected the stealth suit and pulled it on, fitting it tightly to her skin and zipping the front up to her neck. She clipped the weight collar to the top of her stealth suit, and the belt to her waist. With practiced agility Captain Nara slotted the combat blade into a holster and attached it to the back of her belt. She attached a shoulder strap to the assault rifle and clipped it to the front of her weight collar, allowing it to dangle as she strapped the pistol to her leg.

Captain Nara unlocked and opened the door, revealing what appeared to be an old tunnel. She took a quick scan using her weapons built in thermal imager and found two bodies at the end of the east hallway. As Captain Nara got closer, she could hear two voices, both male. Captain Nara opened the final door into the room where the two bodies were located, to find Biomech and General Andrews discussing something in relative confederacy. The operations room they were in had only one door, with a dimly lit projection covering one wall.

When Captain Nara opened the door and walked in with a partially confused look, General Andrews turned his focus to her. He cleared his throat and spoke.

“I see you have recovered Captain Nara. It was quite courteous of Biomech to apply the medi-bandage to those wounds you received, despite my persistence that it was unnecessary.”

Captain Nara glanced over to Biomech, leaning against the far wall of the room, head tilted towards the floor obscuring his expression. Captain Nara unconsciously allowed her hand to stray to the zipper of her stealth suit.

General Andrews continued, not waiting for her reply.

“A team of two other specialists will be joining us for discussion of the contract shortly Captain. I expect you to remain silent through the briefing as well.”

Biomech shifted his feet along the floor, breaking the awkward silence between Captain Nara and General Andrews and drawing all eyes to him.

“You haven’t sold me yet, Andrews.” He stated, keeping his eyes to the floor, his face angled out of the light obscuring his expression.

General Andrews shifted his hands behind his back uneasily.

“Biomech, these pressing times call for selfless acts. There is no one else I can trust.”

Captain Nara felt a vibration from her belt, signifying a notification from her mobile computer. She detached the hand sized computer from her belt and flipped open the screen revealing an icon and message stating “United Galaxies Operatives Eri and Semi-Devil have arrived.” Captain Nara clipped the computer back on her belt and stood at attention to General Andrews.

“Semi-Devil and Eri have just reached the perimeter, sir.”

General Andrews nodded acknowledgement and tossed her a key card.

“That should grant you access to the arms room in this facility, as well as the map. Update the team’s maps with layouts of the facility.” commanded General Andrews, waving Captain Nara away and returning his attention to Biomech.

Nara left the operations room, closing the doors softly behind her, keeping her eyes away from Biomech.

“This facility doesn’t have all of the modern technological gimmicks we have become so used to. The doors are locked via key cards, the computer systems are hard wired, even the maps cannot be easily accessed.”

“Spare me the lecture.” retorted Biomech. “Why here.”

“This facility was built back before the Galactic War by smugglers. It’s not networked to the United Galaxies, which provides perfect cover for command of covert operations.”

Biomech tensed his hands against the wall.

“Secret operations aren’t sanctioned by the United Galaxies Security Counsel. Commanding one outside of war time could cost you your career, maybe even life time confinement.” Replied Biomech sternly.

General Andrews took in a deep breath, and slowly let it out, along with the stress he carried from talking with Biomech. How much one could change through war, he thought.

“This operation supersedes trivialities such as rank and order. If the information decoded from your report of the Universal Human Advancement System matches with information I gathered, We might have a way to bring back everyone who died.” said General Andrews, but noticing Biomech’s continuing lack of interest, added “Especially those lost during the UHAD Wars.”

Biomech slammed his fist against the wall, creating spider web cracks from the impact and knocking loose dust from the roof as the sound echoed through the otherwise empty caverns of the facility.

Immediately following the sound of Biomech’s punch, rapid footsteps were heard, followed by a palm slapping against the door leading to the room, swinging it wide open. Two humans burst in; each dressed in full military uniform wielding assault rifles. In synchronized harmony they locked their weapons onto Biomech as he pulled out two knives and took a fighting stance.

“Arkahn shouldn’t you be busy being dead?” remarked one soldier caustically.

“It’s Biomech now, according to Andrews.” replied Biomech with equal enthusiasm.

“General!” retorted the soldier defensively, “General Andrews. Have some respect.”

General Andrews stepped in between the soldiers and Biomech, commanding the attention of both parties by putting his hands up to the soldiers.

“I see there is no need for introduction from one side. Stand down you two. Biomech, these two will work together with you on this operation. I believe I can let you two introduce yourselves without my intervention?”

The soldier that remained silent was the first to let down his weapon. He swung it over his shoulder, clipping it to his backpack. He reached to the back of his neck and pressed a button on an external mechanical spine, collapsing the helmet into the mechanical spine, revealing a young man with short, straight blond hair and blue eyes.

“I’m glad you weren’t an enemy.” said the soldier, gently closing the doors to the room. “Fighting really isn’t my thing.”

Biomech rubbed his forehead. If you don’t like fighting, thought Biomech, shaking his head. He put one knife away in a holster on the back of his belt, leaving the other one to toss in the air.

The other soldier collapsed their helmet with a wave, revealing a young woman with flowing blue hair. She shook her head, loosening her hair after having been stuck in the helmet and donned a frown.

“I won’t apologize for anything, just was following procedure.”

General Andrews laughed, filling the cold room with the warm sound.

“Good, good. This will work. Biomech, meet Semi-Devil, our resident defense professional.” said General Andrews, gesturing towards the blond haired soldier. “And our spritely young woman over here is Eri. She’s our contact within United Galaxies for this operation.”

Semi-Devil gave a slight wave, while Eri scoffed and snapped her rifle to her mechanical spine. She pulled out a small cylindrical case from her belt, and unscrewed the cap. She pulled a toothpick out of the case and quickly sealed it and replaced it on her belt. She settled it in between her teeth and leaned against the door frame, resting her eyes on general Andrews.

“The attack against Southern Asia yesterday has set the entire world into panic. As expected, we humans are the first to point fingers, the target being the Cyborgs.” began General Andrews. “Now I know none of you are particularly fond of the Cyborgs, but I need you to head up to their facility in the arctic and acquire the truth from them, with whatever means necessary. Do your best not to worsen our relations with the Cyborgs if you could, but in no way am I ordering you to improve the relations.”

Semi-Devil stepped forwards; indicating his wish to question.

“What do we know of the attack General? What are the odds of us finding the Cyborgs as criminals?”

General Andrews shook his head.

“We can’t know for certain where the attack originated from, the missiles were only detected by the shockwaves of entering our atmosphere, meaning they could have been launched from anywhere. I doubt the Cyborgs have the technology to create such a potent virus, but it would help to eliminate them as suspects. Aside from that, in the past year, I may have found something that can counteract the virus.”

General Andrews displayed a hologram image of a complex diagram. On one side of the diagram was a person with certain areas of the brain highlighted amongst other body parts. The flip side showed a humanoid machine, with illegible text surrounding it. General Andrews tapped a key on the projector bringing up a second image containing Biomech with a large metal plate embedded in his chest. A side view showed that the plate went further into his body, connecting to many vital organs, even his central nervous system.

“To make this next part simpler, Biomech I ask that you show your UHAD.”

Biomech looked up at General Andrews, then back to the floor with a deep sigh. He sheathed his knife and took off his armor vest, pulled off his military shirt, and removed his tank top, revealing a complex metal structure built into the majority of the front of his body. In the very center of it, lay a small built in turbine like structure with an amount of yellow fluid spinning within.

“This is one of very few successfully engineered Universal Human Advancement Devices, or UHAD. It allows the end user to experience dramatically increased strength, agility, cognitive ability and regeneration.” General Andrews began to explain, “A step towards becoming the perfect human being you might say, but with a success rate of a mere 5%, the project was shut down, forcibly. I commanded the mission over one year ago to put an end to the UHAD Wars by destroying their base of operations, the inhumane Human Advancement Facility.”

“If he escaped,” questioned Eri, “then why do the reports state him as dead?”

Biomech threw back on his tank top and started buttoning his military jacket, pausing to brush off some dust.

“A week before the final operation, my entire team was ambushed and killed off, one by one, save myself and two others. The final operation took their lives, but I escaped with mine. The report stated that the facility self-destructed with me and my team inside, leaving no trace of remains. No mention of the assassinations, but I personally ended the lives of the people in charge. The facility was remote triggered to self-destruct.”

Semi-Devil rubbed his temples. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would someone of our own government lie in an official report?”

“That remains to be unknown,” answered General Andrews. “The report also fails to mention its authors, and no amount of research prevailed in discovering anything.”

“So...” began Eri.

“...that organization is not as dead as it may seem,” finished Semi-Devil.

Eri looked towards Semi-Devil, sending her best glare his way. “Meaning...”

“This current incident--” began Semi-Devil, but Eri punched him hard in the side before he could finish.

General Andrews looked distastefully at Eri and Semi-Devils conduct, but continued his briefing.

“That same organization Biomech shut down last year had gotten ahold of United Galaxies Human Restoration project, and had been making strides of success where United Galaxies had abandoned it in a dismal failure, due to the large number of casualties it created amongst test subjects.”

After resuming leaning against the wall, although looking somewhat interested now, Biomech commented to General Andrews, “Andrews, care to inform the uninformed what this restoration project is?”

Eri and Semi-Devil stopped bickering on the side to pay after a stern glance from General Andrews.

“The Human Restoration project, initially started by United Galaxies, was targeted at the military as an application of reviving those lost during times of war. The only part of the project that was publicly implemented was small chips recording implanted into every humans body at birth that would record memories, thought patterns, personality traits. The UHAD Corporation had little interest in following laws, and it seems they took up the project along side of UHAD; though it seems it was worked on by different people.”

Noticing Eri’s puzzled expression and Biomech’s blank stare, General Andrews continued.

“The UHAD Corporation made a working prototype of this device, but all records of the location of it and what it actually does in trial have been destroyed; save one dated to last week stating that the device would undergo further trials.”

Eri contemplated the complex device, tapping the side of her head. She snapped her fingers with realization, her eyes widening with the thought.

“That means…”

“Somehow, this device can be used to restore all the people who are dying right now!” concluded Semi-Devil cheerfully.

Gritting her teeth, Eri curled her hand into a fist and pulled it back aiming to hit Semi-Devil really hard. The sound of Biomech smashing his fist against the wall made her stop in her tracks and nearly jump out of her skin. She retracted her fist slowly, and Biomech passed between her and Semi-Devil slamming open the door out of the room.

“It doesn’t just mean that it could have the ability to revive people. It means they launched those missiles with the direct intention of testing that device.” Biomech stated before leaving the operations room.

Shocked, Eri spun to face the General.

“What was that about?”

Semi-Devil brushed dust off of his shoulders as he paced over to beside Eri.

“He’s a bit sensitive about the UHAD Wars still.”

Eri grumbled and leaned against the wall.

Biomech stalked through the empty corridors, leading towards the entrance he had been brought through by General Andrews. I’m done with these people, thought Biomech. No better than the government, I’m nothing but a tool to them.

In the supply room, Captain Nara unlimbered her knife and held it at eye level. The scars traced into the blade from earlier trainings remained, a constant reminder of past lessons. She slammed the blade down on the workbench of the supply room. Why did he leave me, she thought, was I not worthy? Was it because I’m a woman? She grabbed a pair of gloves off of the wall and tossed them on the table before leaning down and selecting a file from a rack. She put one glove on her right hand and used it to hold the blade of her knife. With her other hand she grabbed the file and ran it along the edge of the knife, staring at the cold steel. Hearing some footsteps she finished the stroke she was working on and set the file down on the table. She looked up and saw Biomech storm past the door.

She slammed her hands down on the workbench, her heart racing. She tore the glove off of her hand and grabbed her pistol as she used her other hand as support to leap over the workbench. She cocked her pistol and leaned out the door, holding the door frame to keep her balance and aiming the gun down the hall where she expected to see Biomech, but didn't.

Biomech grabbed her shoulder, spinning her to face him and brought his elbow down hard against her hand, causing her to drop her pistol.

Captain Nara released her hold on the door frame and swung her fist at Biomech, aiming for his chin in hopes it would be weak.

With hardly any effort, Biomech knocked her fist aside and shoulder checked her in the ribs, sending her crashing to the floor. Biomech leaned against the wall beside the door frame looking silently at the floor.

Captain Nara groaned as she forced herself to roll over to her side with her back against Biomech and began coughing as she fought to get air back in her lungs. After a moment she got her breath back, taking in long deep breaths at first, then she let it out in a long sigh.

“I shot you.” she said, keeping her back to Biomech.

Biomech unsheathed one of his knives, tossing it from hand to hand.

Captain Nara rolled onto her back, slowly and painfully. She looked over at Biomech to see him staring at the floor away from her. She turned her head to face away from him and sighed.

“Have you ever been shot?”

Nara was caught off guard by Biomech’s question. Twice in as many conversations now… she thought.

“With this device, there comes a point where getting shot is just part of the mission. As long as USE exists, more and more humans will be turned into monsters like me.”

Silence befell the two, as Nara lay on the ground, staring at the floor as if it would swallow her up. She heard sounds of metal scraping along the floor not far from her, but refused to look. The sound was followed by the unmistakable noise of her gun cocking, but then the clip being removed. Biomech walked over to where she lay and placed the empty gun and clip beside her on the floor. Nara averted her gaze as Biomech walked past, keeping her face shielded by her arms until his footsteps were gone.

Biotech-Hunters: Chapter 1

2011-09-25T18:50:00.001-07:00

Chapter 1: Initialization

Planets of the United Galaxies are always changing, unfortunately the Earth hasn't, and remains the most prosperous. Southern Asia, once known as the country of India, has prospered greatly from the finding and implementation of USE. However this was not the case for its military. During the Galactic War, Southern Asia was trapped early on by the villainous cyborgs from Russia. Southern Asia suffered poverty and starvation under the oppressive control of the cyborgs, right up until after the war ended, and the cyborgs were forced to migrate back to Russia.

The main military force stationed in Southern Asia could hardly be considered the size of one battalion by the United Galaxies standards, with their main base stationed a mere two stories underground. Inside the ops room, soldiers and navigators monitored various terminals, where important information was being sent to the main display, taking up an entire wall.

One navigator detected something on his system. As per procedure he signaled his superior over to have a look.

“What do you think?” asked the navigator, pointing to several moving dots on screen.

His superior's face flushed. He turned to the Commander-in-Chief and said “Commander, I think you need to see this.”

The Commander-in-Chief pulled up the navigator’s screen on his terminal and double-checked it with a satellite photo to make sure the information was accurate. Then he picked up the intercom and switched it to broadcast to the entire base.

“As of 16:00 today, I am initiating a state of emergency for this base. We detected a large quantity of missiles heading for various targets all around Southern Asia. We will destroy all of them. That is all.”

As the Commander-in-Chief hung up the intercom, the ops room filled with activity. Navigators communicated to their respective divisions, giving orders passed to them by their superiors. Soldiers scurried to their points of defense, covering exits and entrances. Anti-Air weapons were deployed on the surface to intercept the missiles before they could strike.

A navigator turned to the Commander-in-Chief.

“Sir, I was unable to get in contact with General Andrews.”

The Commander-in-Chief nodded.

“I will keep trying. See if you can find where those missiles came from, and call Europe for reinforcements.” General Andrews would know what to do in a situation like this instantly, thought the Commander-in-Chief. This is why he was the general, and not someone else. The Commander-in-Chief noticed new dots appearing on the screen, smaller signatures than the other ones, moving rapidly towards various points in Southern Asia.

“Someone tell me what we’re up against here!” he yelled, trying to comprehend how something could move so fast with such a small signature.

He could hear the room filled with the sound of rapid typing, but no one replied. Then a visual from one of the officers outside the base came on the main screen.

“Sir, we’ve encountered several unknown hostiles. Teams Alpha and Bravo are moving in,” reported the officer. Gun fire was heard somewhere off camera, causing the officer to switch his attention towards it.

“Team Bravo is engaging the hostiles!” reported a navigator, followed shortly by “It’s no good! Team Bravo has been overwhelmed! Team Alpha, their coming from the north!”

Someone dropped into the frame of the officers’ video, inside Team Alpha. A commotion exploded in the ops room as people began reporting fatalities, one after another, all from Team Alpha. On the main screen the officer was firing against an unseen enemy, though the enemy quickly revealed themselves. A female figure tore the gun out of the officer’s hand and thrust a clawed fist into his stomach. The Commander-in-Chief blinked, taking his eyes off of the screen long enough to miss the sight of the officer torn in half.

Something roughly grabbed the camera, and after a moment of jostling, it fell to the ground facing upwards. Another female figure with skeletal arms appeared on the image for a moment, the last frames capturing her armored foot speeding towards the camera.

A navigator broke the silence.

“Sir, Alpha and Bravo team have been destroyed, and the enemy appears to be moving in on our Anti-Air weapons.”

The Commander-in-Chief slammed his fist on the table.

“Damnit. Where are the reinforcements from Europe?” he demanded.

“We were answered by someone calling himself ‘Tainui’. He said that we have reinforcements en-route, but they won’t get here for another hour,” replied a navigator.

The Commander-in-Chief kneaded his forehead, as if expecting a solution to appear.

“Utilize what we can. We must hold out until we can come in contact with General Andrews!”

“Sir, it’s too late! The missiles will strike imminently!”

Missiles the size of trucks rained down from the sky to carefully selected targets all across Southern Asia. They had all been carefully tailored to be able to withstand impact while only retaining superficial damage. Panic struck the population at first, but that was replaced with curiosity when the missiles didn’t explode, which marked the beginning of the end for the nation of Southern Asia. As the first curious citizens approached the missiles, an internal program was activated. The missiles opened up unleashing a wave of death, moving systematically away from the point of impact.

“The government offices have been hit!” exclaimed one navigator.

“Civilian districts as well! The death zone seems to be spreading outwards at a rapid pace!”

The Commander-in-Chief headed to the nearest terminal.

“What are we dealing with here? A virus?”

The navigator shook his head.

“We don’t know sir. Every possible method of scanning has turned up negative. We have a squad heading in now to attempt to manually scan it.”

“Put it on the main screen.”

The main screen flashed for a moment as the content reloaded. A live video started playing from the inspection squad.

“Inspection squad one here, we are nearing the infected area. As far as I can see, this appears to be a virus, but nothing I’ve ever seen before; it’s infected everything living and-- Oh God!”

The camera turned to face another member of the squad. Through the visor in his uniform his flesh appeared to be melting away. Within moments, all that remained of him was an empty blood splattered suit. Then the camera rolled over and lost connection.

The Commander-in-Chief looked gloomily at the main screen.

“First a massacring soldier, now a people-eating virus,” muttered the Commander-in-Chief. He walked over to his subordinate. “I’m promoting you to Commander-in-Chief,” he said, as he pulled out his pistol and shot himself in the head.

Canada, on the other side of the world remained unscathed from the plague in Southern Asia. There had been a petition within the last two years to allow the forests of Western Canada to grow freely and without human inhabitants, which passed the following year. This meant that the group of soldiers hired by General Andrews now had to traverse through thick, untamed forests instead of traveling on a road or even a beaten path. Special permission from the United Galaxies had to be acquired so that they could even enter the forest. This team of five had been handpicked by General Andrews, each specialized in their own area, and captained by one who has risen through the ranks in four years, Nara Andrews.

“I can’t believe they would only let five of us in here,” complained one soldier, purposefully stepping on a fallen tree branch, producing a loud crack that echoed through the otherwise silent forest.

“Hey, keep it down,” said another. “Be happy that we got five. I heard this Biomech guy is tough.”

“How tough could one guy be?” retorted the first soldier. “And what kind of name is Biomech?”

The third soldier, the navigator of the group, sent a message to the team’s Heads Up Display, detailing all that he knew on Biomech. The message read, “Real name, unknown. Code name, Biomech. Age believed to be eighteen. Served in the United Galaxies army for over eight years. All other information is unknown, likely deleted by Biomech himself.”

“A child soldier? Damn, that would make him our senior!”

Annoyed, Captain Nara stopped and turned to face the rest of the team, saying, “Damnit, Alpha, Beta, Shut up! Gamma, thank you for the information.”

The first and second soldiers, Alpha and Beta respectively, did what they were told and shut up.

The group continued walking in silence, Alpha making careful note not to step on anymore tree branches. Throughout their travels through the dense green forest, the group had hardly encountered a single animal. They proceeded onwards, wary of any human contraptions that might lead to Biomech’s location.

Captain Nara signaled the group to stop just in front of a two story tall thicket. She ordered the group to crouch and ready their gear, which consisted of collapsible helmets, an assault rifle and pistol, three grenades and a knife. Each soldier pressed a small button on the neck of their outfit, causing their helmet to unfold over their head.

“Delta, it’s time to go ahead and see if he’s there,” she said.

Delta, the team’s stealth soldier, cloaked himself and advanced through the thicket ahead. Delta clambered through the thicket for a good five seconds until he finally got to the other side. The first thing he saw was a cylindrical piece of wood flying towards him. That can’t be right, he thought.

Captain Nara tensed with adrenaline as soon as she heard the ‘thak’ from the other side of the thicket.

“Don’t panic!” commanded Captain Nara, though she was a bit unnerved that her stealth operative was taken out so easily. She signaled silence with her hands and gestured to Beta, the medic, to go through the thicket.

Beta chose a different spot to go through, followed closely behind by Alpha and Captain Nara. They got to the other side but couldn't see Delta right away, under stealth or not.

Captain Nara looked back and didn’t see Gamma either. She signaled for Beta and Alpha to hold and slipped back into the thicket looking for Gamma. On the other side, she discovered Gamma packing up his equipment. She let out a sigh of relief and was about to gesture to Gamma to hurry up when she noticed a small nearly invisible noose-shaped string hanging down near Gamma’s head. She ripped a thin branch off a nearby tree and tugged down on the noose with it. With only a small fraction of pressure, the noose tightened and jumped up over fifty feet, tearing the stick out of Captain Nara’s hand.

Gamma stared blankly at the noose that would have had his head. He looked back to Captain Nara and nodded his appreciation.

Captain Nara shook her head.

“Pay more mind to your surroundings soldier, I’d prefer you alive and helping!” she said with the firmness of a commanding officer.

Gamma watched her work her way back through the thicket. Damn, missed my chance, he thought, looking down at his hands.

“Though maybe not,” he muttered softly, “Hey Cap--” was all Gamma could yell before a powerful hand ripped the radio right out of the helmet. A harsh pain in the back of his neck was the last thing he felt.

Captain Nara found Alpha on the other side of the thicket, pinned to a tree by a rope around his neck. His rifle and knife were missing. She took out her own knife from her belt to cut the rope. Afterwards she carefully leaned him down against the tree. He had a faint pulse with minimal response to stimuli.

“Beta!” she yelled over the intercom. There was no response. With one last look at Alpha, she sheathed her knife and pulled out her assault rifle. Sliding the infrared scope across her visor with a gesture command, she looked through the thicket at where Gamma was supposed to be. All that was visible on the other side was the heat from Gamma’s laptop, and another smaller heat source. She passed back through the thicket cautiously, expanding the radar in her HUD to allow her to have ample time to detect a surprise. The small source of heat turned out to be the head of Gamma and nothing else. The sight took her breath away. In her surprise she stumbled backwards, causing her to trip over something. Her blood now filled with adrenaline, she bolted upright, instantly turning her attention to what she tripped over and nearly threw up. Delta was lying on the ground with a thick wooden pike driven through his skull. She turned and crawled to her feet and trudged into the forest to get away from the sight, her mind going numb from shock. The soft impact of her head bumping into something woke her up enough to take a look. She saw that the ‘thing’ was a human, not much older than herself. He was wearing old military gear but had no gun or visible weapon of any kind. His face had a scar going down one cheek and cold black eyes matching his short hair. Instinctively, she punched him, rolled out of his reach and aimed her gun in the direction he was standing, except he wasn’t there anymore.

“What does it gain you to kill your own allies, Biomech?” she asked, trying to persuade him into the open.

“I’m not doing it for me.” he answered coldly from behind Captain Nara. With as little effort as one might throw a coin, Biomech grabbed her by her backpack and threw her against a nearby tree.

Captain Nara gasped for breath from the impact of hitting the tree, clutching her stomach tightly. She got one breath in and then felt a foot on her lower back, just below her backpack.

Biomech tore her backpack off, ripping it from its reinforced straps, causing severe pain to Captain Nara in the process. He unzipped it, laying the contents on the forest floor. After a moment of rifling, he found what he was looking for: a United Galaxies issue communicator. He began typing in an address to call, but paused when he felt a cold steel barrel press up against the back of his head. Biomech sighed.

“How long have you been with United Galaxies?” he asked, devoid of emotion.

Captain Nara blinked in surprise. “I’ve been in the army for almost four year now...”

Biomech started to move his hand to put down the communicator when Captain Nara yelled at him to stop and put his hands up. Biomech complied and raised his hands. The moment his hands were at full height, he dropped the communicator and spun around, grabbing Captain Nara’s gun.

The moment he grabbed her gun, Captain Nara squeezed the trigger by reflex, firing a bullet right into Biomech’s core. Biomech flinched as the bullet pierced him, but ripped the gun out of her hands and kicked her in the stomach. She hit the same tree Biomech threw her into before and fell into a state of near unconsciousness.

“Stubborn, just like your father.”

A voice spoke from the communicator, asking for a response from Biomech.

Biomech picked up the communicator and switched it on, allowing sounds of the forest to flow into the device. Then, he switched it off, waiting for a response.

The response came quickly enough. A firm, authoritative voice replied.

“Biomech, this is General Andrews.”

Biotech-Hunters: Prologue

2011-09-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

Prologue

War followed humanity in their expansion to outer space. Humans became secluded, hostile creatures amongst the great void of space, fighting against the half-human, half-machine cyborgs. This war spanned galaxies and centuries marking the first Galactic War, until an organization stepped in from the shadows. They assimilated the United Nations into their organization, and then labeled themselves the “United Galaxies”. Within a year they bought or acquired most of humanity’s military forces, becoming the largest military super power in the war. Everything was going downhill for both sides in the conflict, until someone found a solution: a replenishable crystal dubbed “Universal Source Energy”. United Galaxies quickly gathered as much of this resource as they could, and began providing cost effective methods of converting from old outdated nuclear power to USE power. Business and industry flourished with the new resource, and thoughts of war were quickly forgotten, replaced with increased capacity for work for the masses and the benefits of productive societies. Civilizations boomed as cities were restored beyond their past glory.

This time of peace was short lived, as a new war broke out when the inevitable happened and United Galaxies found a way to weaponize USE. The official records of this war have since been destroyed, but it is implied that the war lasted for at least five years. It has been over one year since the end of that war.

Dark Destiny: Log 3 Original Draft

2011-09-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

Eri woke up. It was no different from any other morning inside the infinite reaches of the tower, save the sudden shocking memory that hit her like a fatal wound. It wasn't the first time she remembered and it wouldn't be the last time either.

Nara was dead.

Eri pulled Nara's cloak off of her as she sat up, staring blankly at the worn cloth. She had considered leaving it behind as an honor to Nara's memory, but the lack of supplies won her over and she brought it with her. Even though she had been traveling for a week, she had hardly made any progress, the sorrow and guilt of failing to protect yet another person was overwhelming.

She heard a clatter of metal, and snapped out of her state of disarray. She grabbed Nara's cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders and securing around her neck. with a quick glance around it was evident that there was no easily accessible weapons. Eri pulled her knife out from the pouch on her belt and at the last minute remembered to reach to the back of her neck and activate her helmet, which folded over her head and covered her face in a matter of seconds.

The clattering was clearly closer now, and with no place to hide, the only options to run away from this potential threat or, or straight towards it on this narrow walkway. Eri decided on a running start, in an attempt to startle whatever was coming towards her to gain a tactical advantage. She brought her knife close to her, towards her core for optimal force. At the end of the walkway there was a ladder leading both up and down, where the sounds of someone humanoid climbing could be heard. Eri made her first mistake of the day, failing to look up as she assumed the threat would come from below. She reached the ladder, grabbing on to the railing and looking down, her knife poised to throw.

What she saw down below for an instant was a red dot. Eri managed to hear her on board computer warn her of an imminent threat before the back of her head and her upper back was pelted with bullets. The force of the impact caused her to lose her grip on the ladder and plummet down three levels before landing harshly on the ground below. eri winced as the power core in her chest activated and accelerated her bodies healing systems, pushing the bullets out of her back and repairing tissue.

"warning, USE levels reaching minimum, advised resupply." Informed her computer.

"Damn it's another one!" Yelled one of the soldiers. Eri's computer detected the broadcast through secure channels and had decided it and played it back to Eri.

"Fucking government, how did they find us down here, this is supposed to be out of their jurisdiction!" Yelled another soldier.

"ID's decoded. Detected one squadron of Atlantis soldiers." Explained the computer. "no details as to their mission."

Eri slowly moved herself along the floor by dragging herself. She couldn't yet stand inbetween her random muscle spasms, a side effect of her nervous system overloading due to the power core.

"what the hell is atlantis?" Eri managed to slur together inbetween ragged breaths.

Eri saw on screen visuals appear, detailing a large city built on top of the massive sphere that covers earth. The pillar she was in led right to the heart of the city.

"your brother appears to be governing this establishment, under the guide of another, however access is restricted."

"useless computer." Eri commented before she leaned over the edge and vomitted. thankfully for her, the computer detected the upset in her system and opened the area surrounding her mouth on her helmet.

A soldier dropped down on the platform Eri rested on, brandishing a refurbished rifle. His armor consisted of small hexagonal plates that appeared to mutate their position and density to provide different forms of defense. Some of the tiles were missing as it appeared giant claws had seared them off.

Eri was then forced to lean over the edge to vomit again.

The soldier took the clip out of his gun and put it on his belt, replacing it with a different one.

"I hate you fuckers, just wanted you to know that. I'll make sure to make this as painful as possible for you." The soldier cocked his gun and took aim.

Eri spat, revealing blood.

"USE contamination detected. Three minutes of active time remain. Suggested defense scheme and retreat." Suggested Eri's computer.

"fuck, give me one minute of powerball" said eri, tightening her grip on the edge of the platform.

"understood. activating battle scheme."

The moment the soldier began shooting, eri launched herself backwards, but not quite quick enough to miss all the bullets, as two penetrate her lower right leg.

"just fucking die!" Yelled the soldier, re-training his gun on Eri.

Eri placed a firm foot on the ground and kicked off with all of her own strength and her added strength from the power core, launching her right into the soldier.

"six bullets absorbed, damage contained. Twenty seconds of operational time."

Eri yanked the soldiers knife out from it's pouch on his side and stabbed as hard as she could into his throat. She found the knife blocked by a small barrier, remeniscient of Biomech's armor.

The soldier released his hold of his gun and kicked Eri back. To his surprise, Eri grabbed his leg and tried tbe knife again. Yet again, a small barrier deflected her stab. With surprising strength, Eri pushed the soldier into the ground and grabbed his gun away, tossing it over her shoulder behind her. The soldier saw armor gather around the front of her helmet as Eri tilted her head back. She brought it forwards with tremendous strength onto the soldiers helmet, cracking the visor. she lifted her head up to bring it down again when a bullet pierced her chest, causing a rain of sparks and sending her sprawled backwards on the ground.

"call for back up next time." Replied a soldier that had arrived at the bottom of the ladder wielding a sniper rifle. Another dropped down, pushing through and standing over Eri's body.

"what the hell were you doing." He snapped. "we finally find one of these things alone, and you try to fucking kill it? We need to work same team, we can't have personal vendettas."

Eri's computer detected an opportunity to negotiate and spoke up. "I --" began the computer.

Dark Destiny: Log 3

2011-09-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

Nara moved quickly through hallways and up ladders, eager to lose Semi-Devil. However, after three days of climbing she had no luck losing Semi-Devil, and she had lost sight of her goals. Flashbacks of what she assumed were her past had recurred every night, continuing to haunt her existence.

Semi-Devil brought her back to reality with a question.

“You would think you were focused on nothing but trying to avoid me, with the direction we are heading.”

Nara faltered a step as she became accustomed to her surroundings. She glanced around and discovered that they had wandered into a section of the pillar that had fallen into disrepair. What few lights still worked cast an eerie glow across the walls, leaving much of the section shrouded in darkness.

“It’s not like that...” replied Nara, watching two shadows disappear from her view. “Shadows don’t move right?”

“They do if they are attached to bodies.” answered Semi-Devil, pulling out a small metal slate and interacting with things that appeared on the display.

“Let’s get out of here.” said Nara, elbowing past Semi-Devil. As she passed, Semi-Devil quickly stuffed the slate into a holster on his pants and grabbed Nara’s hand. Nara ripped her arm away and kicked Semi-Devil back away from her. Satisfied to see him crash on his back, Nara began to turn when a shadow caught her eye. She looked up to see a heavily armored humanoid falling from above, wielding a large cube of metal. The humanoid chucked the cube down with tremendous force, slicing through the walkway. Nara let out a small shriek as her end of the walkway angled downwards, readying to fall. Nara lost her balance when the walkway angled more, only managing to prevent herself from falling further by grabbing onto a groove in the walkway.

She looked up to see Semi-Devil leap away from the walkway onto a thin path on an opposing wall. He shimmied to a door and placed his slate against it. In a moment, the door opened and he stepped through. Taking a sparing glance back, he saw Nara struggling to acquire footing on her falling walkway.

“Best of luck!” he yelled out before closing the door behind him.

Best of luck, thought Nara. That does it, if I get out of here I’m kicking him off. Nara pulled her knife out from her belt and slammed it into the walkway, providing her two handholds. Nara felt her stomach lurch as the walkway fell another foot, signalling the near arrival of her fate. Nara frantically looked around for another ledge to grab on to, but there was nothing within reach, the walkway had fallen low enough to prevent any form of salvation. In frustration, Nara kicked the walkway, which coincided with a grappling hook landing several feet above her head. She barely had time to acknowledge the hook before the walkway started being pulled up. The steel connections groaned as they were bent back, several of them simply breaking under stress, causing the walkway to fall sideways as it was being dragged up. Nara held on to the walkway as best she could until a powerful hand pulled her off the walkway. She looked to see the monstrous humanoid holding a cable in one hand and her in the other. He set her down gently and plucked her knife from the walkway before letting it go.

Nara waited for the crashes of the walkway to become more distant before she spoke.

“Uh, thanks.” she said, looking dumbfounded at the humanoid.

The humanoid didn’t reply, but instead looked up towards the roof. A second humanoid leapt down from the shadows, digging a massive spear into the wall to slow his descent, and landing nimbly on the remnants of the walkway. The larger humanoid signalled towards the door.

“What are you two?” asked Nara, not certain whether to be defensive or welcoming, as she hadn’t yet decided whether it was a failed attempt to kill her, or if she was saved intentionally.

The new arrival, a slender humanoid with distinctive armor around his limbs and body stepped forwards. Upon closer inspection Nara noticed that while these humanoids appeared to be mechanical, they had a form of muscle underneath their mechanical exterior. Similarly, his body also appeared to dense enough to have organs.

Nara jumped back, defensively raising her hands into fists.

“Stay back, Cyborgs” she said, mustering up her most threatening glare.

The slender humanoid stopped and looked at Nara with disgust.

“We save you, and that’s how you address us? As backstabbing Cyborg scum?” yelled the humanoid, then he looked away in frustration. “We’re the same as you, biological outcasts from the city. There are hundreds of us, scattered around the pillars.”

Nara looked skeptically at the humanoid.

“I’ve never heard of this ‘city’, nor do I know of there being more than one pillar.”

The large humanoid held out his hand, revealing a Power Core. He gestured for Nara to take it.

Nara took the core and examined it. The only markings it had were a yellow ring in the center, presumably to show power levels. She reached under her cloak felt the hollow cylinder in her chest and realized the core she was given would fit. Experimentally, she pressed it up against the cylinder, sizing it up, when her body latched on to the core and sealed it with a mechanical hiss.

“That’s got to feel a lot better right?” asked the slender humanoid. “Giovanni is like an artist with those things. I’m Atlas, by the way. Though Giovanni can’t speak to pass the secret along, so I protect him. Not that he needs protecting a lot... What level was the core you were running before? I couldn’t scan it.”

“None.” Nara replied, confused. “What are these things? I can actually think now!”

“None?” questioned the Atlas.

“Yeah, I was... unconscious, and that Semi-Devil guy found me. I don’t really know what happened.”

“Oh shit. We walked right into this one. Giovanni, hold her down please.” requested Atlas. Giovanni opened his arms wide and quickly swept Nara up before she could protest. “We need a wall... and lots of pipes.”

Giovanni was sure to cover Nara’s mouth, but otherwise he held Nara gently, only firm enough to prevent her escape. He scanned the section they were in, but there was no adequate space to perform an operation. he looked to Atlas and shook his head.

“Damn, I was hoping we didn’t have to do this here. Oh well, you know the drill.” Atlas reached up and undid Nara’s cloak, taking it off her and laying it on the floor. He tapped Giovanni’s arm and Giovanni moved his hold on Nara to allow access to her chest. Atlas grabbed one of Nara’s hands and forced her to hit the Power Core on her chest, then he released her arm. The Power Core unlocked and Atlas grabbed it and removed it from Nara. The resting place of the Power Core revealed a small rectangular chip board. A light flashed on the board and Nara swung her leg out, knocking Atlas’s feet out from under him, and then following up with a swift kick to his face.

Giovanni quickly sat down, capturing Nara’s legs with his own.

Atlas got back up, massaging his metallic face. He reached to Nara’s chest and ripped the chip out.

“Okay she’s good.” he said to Giovanni.

Giovanni removed his grasp of Nara, allowing her to stand up. Atlas handed her the Power Core and her Cloak.

“Sorry...” she said timidly.

“It’s fine. It’s my fault for not checking first. So what should we call you?”

“Nara. What that?” she asked, re-attaching the core and tightening her cloak.

“You really don’t know anything huh...” commented Atlas. “That was a small virus engineered by our least favorite exiled human here. He goes by the name Semi-Devil, says it has some meaning to some relative or whatever, but personally I think it fits regardless of where it’s from. He’s with a bunch of other outcasts around here who call themselves ‘the Authority’, they treat him special because he knows ways of the old world.”

“The old world... Earth.” said Nara as if in a trance.

Giovanni and Atlas looked surprised.

“Earth, yeah that’s it, rumor has it if you head down these pillars you’ll find Earth, but the city kept going on about how Earth was nothing but a ruin, uninhabitable, all that crap. So we have nothing to do but live in the pillars.”

“Pillars... Earth... It seems so familiar...” Nara collapsed to her knees, holding her head in her hands. Nara yelled and slammed her head into the walkway.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” exclaimed Atlas. “Shit, did they do something different with this virus?”

Giovanni reached down and grabbed Nara by her shoulders, preventing her from slamming her head on the ground. With one glance at her face he was distraught. Nara appeared to have signs of traumatic memories. The memory loss would make sense in that situation, as would pain from trying to recall the memories, especially if the memories had been removed chemically. With no way of communicating, Giovanni did the only thing he could think of, and slammed her head into the ground. Nara collapsed to the ground unmoving.

“What was that for?” exclaimed Atlas, slapping Giovanni on the shoulder.

Giovanni swung Nara over his shoulder and gestured to the door that Semi-Devil went through.

Atlas frowned.

“You should be happy you can’t speak, or I’d kick your ass until you did.” He leapt across the room to the door and curled all of his frustration into a series of blows that reduced the door to scrap metal. He stepped through into a wide hallway with doors on both sides roughly every ten feet. Atlas punched through the wall at each corner, allowing for Giovanni to hook shot through and pull the wall down, which Giovanni did.

The two walked wordlessly through the hallway, Atlas more than willing to express his frustration in the form of breaking doors or wall plating. The two stopped walking forwards, staring at the floor as if it wasn’t there. Atlas punched the floor, his fist puncturing through into empty space. Atlas looked behind to see the roof begin to collapse from the doorway outwards. He detected massive blocks breaking through, causing the destruction. Immediately Atlas started punching holes in the wall beside them, and Giovanni outfitted each one with a grapple hook. With a swift tug, Giovanni opened up a chasm in the wall. The two walked into the chamber to find it had no lights, or any exits. But the floor was safe. The last block fell behind them, blanketing the room in darkness.

“Where the fuck did the Authority get the technology to set traps like that?”

Giovanni shrugged in response, feeling along the wall.

“It was a pretty bad trap, but what can you expect from those fools.”

Giovanni’s hand rested on a spherical object, leading him to put Nara down. He punched several panels from the wall, flooding light into the room. Giovanni grabbed the sphere and put it in front of the light, revealing a bullet ridden corpse.

Dark Destiny: Log 2

2011-08-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Nara woke up, feeling more pain than she had ever remembered. She moved her arm slightly and felt a soft fabric. She cracked open her eyes, seeing a blurry skeletal android standing over her. It leaned over, reaching for her face with bloody claws. Nara tried to lift her hands to defend herself, but her arms refused to respond. She tried screaming, but there was no sound. She closed her eyes tightly, as if that would make the inevitable pain more bearable. For one long minute, Nara lay there, still as a stone, waiting for a pain that never seemed to arrive. Eventually, she slowly opened one eye, to find her environment changed. She opened both eyes fully and tried to move her right arm. This time, it cooperated easily. She gripped the soft fabric on top of her and sat up, surveying the land. She was surrounded by people of all different ages and sizes. The crowd moved in and out. Some were yelling, cursing the world. Others were crying, and there were even a few who seemed to be having fun. Every single one she looked at though, was looking up towards the dark sky. She looked up, too, to see one by one, each of the stars disappear. It was as if a giant veil was thrown over the world. “Earth’s Cage,” she thought, then, “What ‘cage’? What is ‘Earth’?” She found no answer. A hand reached out to her, distracting her from her confusion.

“Come on, Nara.” the hand called out.

Nara looked up to the owner of the hand, to find a masked woman. “Do I know this person?” she thought. Nara reached up and accepted the hand, allowing her self to be pulled to her feet. She blinked and saw herself reaching an arm down to the same woman. Something was different though. The woman, lying in a pool of blood, had her mask off. Long blue hair untidily spread out on the ground. Nara stepped back in panic, seeing the gaping wound in the woman's chest which revealed a mechanical device and the heavy smell of iron. With another blink, the scene, just a figment of her imagination, was gone. Nara was back to being pulled along by the masked woman towards a metal pillar that reached the sky. The smell of iron remained.

The woman slid one of her fingers along the edge of a plate of metal on the pillar until it caught on a small opening. With an application of strength, the woman peeled back the plate with one finger at first, then two, then three, then four. “Nara, hurry before everyone else realizes!” the woman said urgently, gesturing to the inside of the pillar.

Nara entered reluctantly, careful where she put her weight, in case the structure was not as sturdy as it seemed. The extra caution was unnecessary though, as it proved to be relatively safe. On the inside of the pillar, a metal staircase wound upwards as far as Nara could see, lit by small lights embedded into the walls.

“Come on, enough staring. Biomech said we had to reach at least three hundred meters before sundown,” explained the masked woman. She paused a moment, noticing Nara’s puzzled expression. She then turned and went back down the stairs to where Nara stood. “What’s the matter?” she asked, putting a hand on her shoulder and used her other hand to tilt her head up gently.

Nara batted her arms away and backed down the stairs. “I don’t know who you are,” she started, her voice growing steadily higher. “I don’t know where this is or why I’m here. I just don’t know!” Nara collapsed to her knees, clasping her hands tightly around her head. Dozens of images flashed before her tightly shut eyes, depicting places and people she didn't know, memories that were foreign to her. One image stood out over the rest though. It depicted a white clad warrior standing strong against an oppressive force. “I don't know who that is!” yelled Nara.

The masked woman kneeled down and grasped Nara by the shoulders. “Nara, what’s wrong? What happened?” she asked, shaking Nara back to reality. She reached one hand to the back of her neck and pressed a button, causing her mask to collapse. “Nara, it’s me, Eri,” she said, holding out some of her blue hair.

“Eri...” Nara said slowly. An image of Eri and two other unfamiliar male humans appeared for a moment and then was gone. “Ugh, I don't remember.”

Eri stood up abruptly, looking up the pillar with a solemn expression. She took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. After a moment, she looked back down at Nara, offering her hand once more and said, “How about this, Nara, will you work together with me until you remember who you are?”

Nara forced the confusing images to the back of her mind and slowly rose to her feet. She pondered Eri’s words for a moment, looking back towards the makeshift entrance they came through. “I feel like... Once I go up, everything out there, all of those people, will be gone forever,” said Nara, reaching out and grabbing the air to enunciate her point.

Eri walked over and put her hand on Nara’s shoulder, soothingly gripping it while encouraging her up the stairs. “Trust in me, Nara, I’ll take you to safety okay?” Eri lead the troubled Nara up the spiral stairs. “We’ll be safe, you’ll see. He promised me...” said Eri, staring blankly ahead, “Oh, that’s right, you have probably forgotten who he is. I’m talking about Biomech, the world’s savior.”

“Biomech?” Once again the white clad warrior came to mind. “Why isn’t he here now?” asked Nara. The question triggered a flood of memories and emotions, blinding her. She yelled in pain and staggered sideways, clutching her head, trying to ease the pain.

Eri turned around but only had time to yell, “Look out!” as Nara took one step too many and slipped off the spiral stairs.

Nara reached out in vain, trying to catch the edge, unable to believe her luck. She blinked a tear out of her eye and was suddenly in an entirely different situation. She was falling, clutching on to a strange skeletal android. She caught glimpses of bodies along the way down and spared a glance behind her as best as she could to see what was below. A platform was rapidly approaching, the imminent impact caused Nara to instinctively tighten her grip on the android she was holding. Moments before impact, she heard her name being called and opened her eyes. She was in a small metal room with one bright light on the ceiling. The only way into the room was one door to the far side. Nara took a deep breath, settling her heart rate. She felt something odd about her chest, and reached to pull the zipper down on her outfit when again, she heard her name being called, this time from the direction of the door. Her heart sped up again with the sound of the door opening. She threw off the cloth covering her and sat up, looking in the direction of the door.

A blonde man, roughly mid twenties stepped out carrying a cloak with various supplies on top of it. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her and set the cloak down on the ground beside the door. “How are you feeling?” he asked politely, “You were having quite the nightmare.”

Nara considered the question. She still couldn't quite understand what had happened to her or how she got here. With that dream, everything merged together. Nara took a look at herself. She was wearing a leather jumpsuit with various areas of her body populated by mechanical devices.

The stranger continued, “It’s not my business to pry. But you seem to have healed up very well. You were a mess when I found you, frankly I'm shocked you’re still alive,” with a small salute, he turned to leave, but paused at the doorway, “I recovered these items from around where you fell. I believe they are yours?”

Nara slowly stood up and paced over to the door. It had a small latch that could be used to lock it from the inside, which Nara did. With some time alone finally secured, she reached down and unzipped the front of her jumpsuit, pulling it open. Underneath, embedded right in the middle of her chest, was a hollow metal cylinder. “No power core,” Nara said unconsciously. She slowly peeled back one of the shoulders of the jumpsuit to find, to her dismay, that the other mechanical extensions were not part of the suit as she had hoped but similarly embedded in her body. With a sigh, she zipped up the jumpsuit and bent down to pick up a small knife from the pile, as well as a cloth holster. She combined the two and then clipped it around her waist. Nara fastened the cloak last, careful to cover as much of her strange body as she could. She flipped the latch on the door and pulled it open to see the stranger sitting on a chair of cables using a small metal object. Nara took a quick glance around the room and then headed to the nearest door.

The stranger stood up and asked her to wait. “Do you have to go so soon? You have only just recovered.”

To his disappointment, Nara nodded. “There is something I need to do. Someone I need to meet.”

The stranger put away his metal device and smiled. “If that's the case, why don’t I come with you?” Then he snapped his fingers, remembering something. “That’s right, I haven’t introduced myself yet. Call me Semi-Devil.”

Dark Destiny: Log 1

2011-08-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

During the time of humans, Earth had expanded outwards nearly tenfold. People experimented with themselves, eventually creating three distinct human species. The first were pure humans, the unaltered branch claiming superiority. Second were half machine, half human cyborgs with life spans extended to near immortal status. The newest branch were genetically superior biotech humans, who were capable of controlling mechanical and biological systems through bio-mechanical implants. The pure humans left Earth to colonize other planets and continue their growth and dominance, leaving the remaining population of Earth scattered erratically inside the massive hollow columns that extended nearly infinitely.

“How many more floors, Eri?” asked the younger of the two. They both wore helmets and long black cloaks covering them from neck to toe. Eri, the elder, looked up at the seemingly endless column they were exploring. The only light came from various lamps and lights built into the structure, no sky visible up above.

“I don’t know, Nara,” Eri sighed. They had already been climbing for a month, trying to find more of their kind after their settlement had been massacred by the cyborgs. They continued up stairways, across bridges and along beaten paths.

Eventually Nara sat down against the wall of a walkway. Eri scanned the walls and eventually found a pipe that was thin enough to fit in her hand. She took out a knife from inside her cloak and began cutting it away from the wall. “They won’t come here, Eri,” said Nara.

Eri continued to cut the pipe until it resembled a spear. She started carving another pipe out of the wall for Nara. “Just because the cyborgs haven’t marked this place as their territory doesn’t mean they aren’t around. Our village wasn’t part of their territory either and that didn’t stop them.” Eri sheathed her knife and sat down beside Nara. She placed the spear behind her to prevent it from rolling off the narrow pathway into the abyss. Reaching into her cloak, Eri twisted out a cylindrical object from her chest. This was a Power Core, the source of inhuman strength and power of the biotech humans. The core connected directly into the nervous system and to the heart to provide increased reaction time and regeneration. Without a power core for longer than a few minutes, all of the extensions would start to destroy the body. “I have roughly half power left,” said Eri, checking a gauge on her Core. “What about you, Nara?”

Nara removed her core, looking at its gauge. “Mine seems to be full. You take it, Eri; you’re stronger than me,” replied Nara, handing Eri her Core.

Reluctantly Eri took it and twisted it into place. Internal mechanisms automatically locked it in with a mechanical hiss. As Eri began to pass her Core to Nara, an arrow shot out of a window on the other side of the column and pierced through Eri’s hand. The shock caused Eri to drop the core, which hit the pathway once, then bounced into the bottomless abyss of the column. “Damn it!” yelled Eri. She scrambled to the edge of the pathway, just in time to see the Core exploding against the edge of a bridge. The sight caused her to smash her hand against the floor in frustration. She looked over at Nara, who sat looking terrified at Eri. “What?” Eri asked, as she followed her gaze.

Nara was looking shakily at the arrow still embedded in Eri’s left hand.

“Ah,” Eri said in realization and pulled the arrow out. It was made of bone. “Bone, eh? Who uses bone?”

Just as Eri asked, a massive cyborg crashed into the bridge opposing the two. He had various bone weapons embedded in him and was barely alive, having been modified so extensively that nearly no vital organs remained. Three human-like, skeletal androids landed down beside the cyborg, one curled its hands into a fist and destroyed the cyborg’s head, spraying blood across the bridge.

As the three began to tear their weapons from the cyborg, Eri grabbed the shocked Nara by the shoulders and began leading her towards the closest door. They almost reached the door, when the skeletal androids discovered them and fired an arrow at the pair, narrowly missing them. Eri pushed Nara through the door and tossed a spear in with her. “Just wait in here!” she said, slamming the door. She turned to face the skeletal androids.

The three of them were slowly and cautiously moving along the length of the bridge, towards the walkway that Eri stood on. Tightening her power core, and gripping her spear in her undamaged right hand, Eri prepared to bring the fight to them. She braced against the back wall and leaped twenty feet to the far end of the bridge. She landed hard, indenting the paneled floor of the bridge, and quickly dashed up to the closest skeletal android. She thrust her spear into and through the android’s chest, catching a glimpse of some characters printed onto the android. Guardian. “So, that’s what I call you bunch!” Said Eri, grinning. Her grin vanished when the second guardian ducked low and grabbed her leg, throwing her right off the bridge with ease. Eri slammed hard into a wall, and began falling down the column. She managed to grab onto the side of another bridge, some three floors down. The impact strained her arms, threatening to dislocate them. She pulled herself up, groaning all the way. Eri looked up at where she was knocked down from, and glimpsed two of the guardians jumping down to finish her off, as the third would chase Nara. “Fine, if that’s how you want to play, I’ll just have to scrap you before you can get to Nara!” grunted Eri defiantly.

The two guardians landed down on the bridge, leaving noticeable craters. One guardian still had Eri’s spear in it. Eri and the guardians rushed at each other. Just as the guardian was near Eri, she jumped over it and simultaneously grabbed her spear and kicked it in the back, sending it stumbling forwards. She landed and curled up into a ball to absorb some impact. The other guardian paused to adjust to Eri’s unexpected move. Taking advantage of the distraction, Eri ran to the end of the bridge and began scaling the stairs and wall up to the floor she fell from.

The second guardian pulled out a bone sword and threw it at Eri. One flew into the wall in front of her foot, tripping her. The two guardians then jumped up to the floor Eri was on.

“Blast. You guys don’t give up!” commented Eri, picking herself up. Eri waited for the guardians to reach her position and then slashed off the legs of one of them mid-jump. The first guardian rendered Eri’s spear useless by trapping it in his hand, then clawed Eri’s front with his free hand. Moving back just in time, Eri only took surface damage, most of it absorbed by her cloak. “Give me a break. These things aren’t free!” groaned Eri, slashing the first guardian’s head off.

The second guardian ripped the legs off of its downed comrade and fused them to itself. It stood up and jumped backwards to a safe distance, pulling out a crossbow.

“Damn!” swore Eri, realizing that the guardian could safely shoot her from that distance. She took a running start and leaped at the guardian. The two collided, blood spraying over them and the wall. Eri tossed the bloody corpse of the guardian aside, and sank to her knees. She had two bone arrows in her, dangerously close to vital organs. She was only saved by having tough muscles to slightly parry the arrows. “It’s been way too long. I hope Nara’s okay.” Eri said. She pulled one arrow out. It had a barbed tip. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed and ripped the second arrow out from beside her heart. She bit her lip so hard that it bled; holding back tears and cries of agony. She let the arrow fall to the ground and wiped the blood off her lip with her cloak. She undid the clasp on her torn cloak and threw it aside, revealing a tight leather jumpsuit with various mechanical extensions on her limbs and body. Along her back she had an external mechanical spine which attached to her helmet. She pulled a small syringe out of a belt on her waist and injected it into her power core, causing her to go numb for a moment. Sighing as the drugs passed through her system, she pressed a button on the top of her spine, collapsing her helmet along her back. She shook her head allowing her long flowing blue hair down. “Ahhhh. I’d forgotten how long it’s been,” said Eri, running a hand through her hair.

The third guardian dropped down beside her, its white claws stained red with blood. Eyes wide, and senses wild, Eri looked around for a weapon of any kind. Her eyes passed over the arrows, but the guardian launched at her, pinning her to the ground by her shoulders. The guardian opened its mouth, revealing row after row of razor sharp teeth, and began fiercely tearing away at Eri’s power core. Eri screamed as she was literally being eaten alive, unable to move with the guardian on top of her. Eri grabbed her knife from her belt the moment the guardian lifted its arm. It was a short lived effort though, as the guardian caught her by the wrist and slammed her arm down against the edge of the walkway, breaking it. Eri screamed out again as the guardian used its free arm to tear her jumpsuit apart to get at her mechanical extensions.

A spear pierced through the guardian, distracting it from its meal. It turned its bloody face towards the attacker, only to receive a knife in its face. Eri saw Nara kick the damaged guardian off the edge and into the abyss below. “Nara…” gasped Eri, barely clinging to her consciousness and sanity.

“Don’t speak,” said Nara, pulling out a roll of gauze.

Eri fell into unconsciousness as Nara wrapped her up as best as she could, carefully covering her raw chest, and casting her broken arm. When Eri woke up she looked over at Nara. She was leaning against the wall, weakly brandishing her knife. Eri tried to sit up, but the effort numbed her body and made her cough up blood.

Nara heard Eri cough and turned to help. “You can’t move yet. You’ll die from the wounds!”

Eri knew Nara couldn’t last without a power core for much longer, she could already see Nara’s hands shaking as she stood back up. But she couldn’t give up her core for Nara, or she would die. Eri fell back unconscious because of her wounds.

When Nara was sure Eri was asleep, she collapsed her helmet revealing her short spiky red hair and a pale complexion. She unclipped her belt and took off her cloak to lighten her weight for the rare chance it could extend her life. Sensing the presence of another guardian, Nara spun around receiving a sharp blow to her shoulder. The second guardian that had fought Eri was operational again. The guardian judged Nara not to be a threat because of her fading life force shoved her off the walkway by her shoulder. Nara grabbed the clawed hand of the guardian as she fell. Without any more strength to fight, Nara had one choice. “I won’t let you hurt, Eri!” she said, as she kicked hard against the wall while holding on to the guardian. The two fell down into the black abyss below.

Welcome to Biotech-Hunters Log

2011-08-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Biotech-Hunters log, my blog for my writing and other Biotech-Hunters related media. I'll update this with images of the characters, or various explanations for the massively complex plot. Other than that mentioned, you may enjoy reading the short stories and novel chapters that make up the world of the Biotech-Hunters. Enjoy!