Anomaly
Ch.1
"Hey Meta, settle a bet for us…does that thing look like a big cat to you?"
'End him!'
'There's no need for him anymore.'
'You don't have to hurt him.'
'But they will always present a problem'
'It doesn't matter, end him!'
My fist clasped over the red one's neck once more, fist shaking in rage and excitement, pure euphoria that came before the kill. It could have been so easy, just one squeeze, none of these men had the ability to fight me. So far the thought had been proven right. Even Washington couldn't stop me now; did he actually have any hope of doing so in the first place? So what is in the harm of looking at what the man wanted me to? Was there some sick joke planned as a last resort? Like it would matter, they had nothing, and I…I was everything. I would become the Meta again, even without the A.I. It would all be mine.
'They have tricked you before.'
'Like they could pull something off in this situation.'
'Memory is key, remember your past failures.'
Shut up, all of you just shut up! You're not real!
Falling into the red one's telling I turned my head slightly towards the direction he nodded. Only to growl in horror of what I saw. The maroon and gold simulation troopers were pushing a Warthog off a cliff, its cable attached to my chest where I once thought the red one only patted me. Before I could even try to end one of their lives a sudden force upon the cable launched me away from the red one and towards the cliff.
As the hulking mass of metal was pushed off the side of the cliff, it carried me along with it. Gravity proving to be much stronger than I could ever hope to stop. How could it be like this, taken, destroyed, by these people! I was the prodigal son of Freelancer, I deserved power! No, it cannot be like this!
As the rope dragged me across the ground, cliff in sight, I saw an opportunity arise. If I was going to die, take one of the ones who had a hand in my death with me. Reaching a hand out, I grabbed the gold one's leg, pulling him with me as I fell closer towards death. Screams and cries for help came behind me as the gold one tried in vain to hold onto something. Losing my grasp, I turned mid-flight to see the gold one falling with me. But something he now grasped in his hand shined in the sunlight, my weapon! That bastard!
Impaling the blade into the side of the cliff, he hung limply across the side of the landmass, now free of my grasp and waiting for his allies. Every curse I could name was spoken against him, his friends, and his family. What did this make me, defeated by nothing, my wings burnt by the sun I reached so highly for?
Every voice housed within my mind cried out in agony, rage, and fear. So many voices, all calculating, thinking, trying to figure out any way out of this as I was dragged towards my doom, did any of them actually have a solution? They never helped, they never could! Just shut up! What good are any of you!
The voices stopped, leaving me within the limbo that lead towards death. Was that it? Defeated by a bunch of simulation troopers? Was this the end to my story? I felt wind, wind brushing through bullet wounds in my lungs as I fell towards certain doom. Life-signs flashed across the bio readings in my helmet, it was of no use now, I wasn't getting out of this.
'Distance to impact, twenty meters.'
At least that was real; the one voice I knew for certain wasn't in my head. This wasn't my destiny; my fate wasn't to die like this. I was meant for so much more. I felt pure power and I let it escape me, I had the universe under my boot in fear. Nothing could stop me, how could he have lied to me like this! I deserved power, I needed it!
'Distance to impact, ten meters.'
This couldn't be how I died! Was this all just a sick simulation! Is the Director laughing at his misguided son? The one he put so much effort into only to fall. I wasn't going to die like this! There was no way I was going to let him live anymore! His sick and twisted ideals will only be ended by my own hand, then the rest of Freelancer, and the Sim troopers, they will all give to Meta! I will not die like this! I swear by everything that is, I will not die today!
'Distance to impact, five meters. Time Distortion unit active.'
What!
'Time Distortion unit activating.'
How did this even…Sigma, is this your doing? Gamma? Some last effort to keep me alive? But how, after the E.M.P. shouldn't they have died? It isn't like I have any other choice; any other options have left by now. This thing has been busted to hell after the E.M.P., I'm lucky it's even working. But wherever I go, they will feel my wrath eventually; no matter how long it takes.
'Time Distortion unit active, transporting now.'
The last feeling rushing through my head was the sound of my body hitting a cold and hard surface. Darkness taking me.
Voices rushed through the dark, unable to be understood. Dark and light shifted around me, I felt cold sinking into my skin. I felt warmth embracing my throat, then again near my head. Beings moving around the void, shifting, talking, laughing, maybe towards me or towards each other. If I am in hell, this is a weak start.
'Wake up.'
'Wake up Maine.'
'Meta.'
A hand of flame reached out towards me, a twisted smile that burned into my memory. 'There is still so much to do.'
My eyes opened.
A/N: Ok, so some of you…most of you might notice that the first chapter is very similar to the first chapter of the original, and that's because it is. Even after all of this time I feel like the first chapter still works and I've decided to use it again. From now on however, things will be different, this just helps because I don't have to think too much of how to start this thing. Ok, onwards!
