They'd been rumbled. a routine, well seemingly routine water expedition had gone wrong. Somehow the sphere had found out, and had sent skyland's equivalent of bounty hunters along.
Now they were all running for their lives. Well, all four of them. Cortes, Dahlia, Wayan and Mahad, who'd badgered Cortes into bringing him.
"Dead end!" Mahad squeaked as they rounded a corner. Desperate, Cortes looked around, and spotted a vent. "Up there!" he ordered. Since it was a fair height from the floor, he assisted in giving everyone else a boost.
Just as he was giving Mahad a hands up, he heard footsteps approaching. He knew then he had no choice. If then even caught a glimpse of them entering the vent, they'd be scuppered for sure. He literally shoved Mahad into the vent, ordering him to close it behind him, then took off. He ran past the intersection, spotting the hunters there.
"Hey lardasses, catch this!" he made a very rude gesture then took off. He heard them running after him, and he put on a burst of speed, rounding a corner and- coming face to face with Oslo.
"Fuck.." he muttered, turned to go back, only to have the hunters close in behind him. They all aimed their heavy-duty plasma rifles at him, and he felt a sinking feeling. He was gonna die..
"Well well..." Oslo smirked, advancing on Cortes, who backed up away from him. "You look familiar..ah yes...i remember, you're the one who Molotov cocktailed that shipment of materials..."
Cortes smirked faintly at the memory. All it had taken was a single cocktail, and the more volatile materials had gone up in flames, which led to everything burning to ashes.
"That little stunt cost us dearly, now its time to repay the debt.."
"Go to hell.." Cortes responded "id rather shoot myself then help you.." hearing the rifles loading behind him he let off a volley of rude words. --forgot about those..--
"That can be arranged..." Oslo sneered, looking him over in a way that made Cortes feel vaguely sick,"but thatd be letting you off far too damn easy..i have other plans for you...grab him!"
Cortes turned in time and managed to duck under the hunters arm and run off again. But he'd forgotten about Oslo. The shot struck him in the back, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him crashing to the floor. He tried to pull himself up, but on turning round, seen the butt of a rifle heading for him..
One hit and he was out like a light. Oslo walked up, smirking down at the unconscious pirate. "I have my uses for you, death would letting you off far too easy....you're mine now."
One of the hunters picked Cortes up, and followed Oslo with the others.
Di-wan tapped her foot against the ground. She was bored waiting. Oslo had told her to wait outside in case those rebels came that way, but they damn well hadn't. She only hoped the hunters had caught at least the girl...
She seen Oslo walking towards her and she stood to attention, acknowledging her superior as he approached.
"Anything commander Oslo?" she asked.
Oslo smirked "the girl got away this time...but i found a suitable test subject for the research tests.."
"Who..?" she asked, squinting in the bright light as the hunters exited the building.
"That little bastard that blew up the shipment last time...i was going to kill him...but that's too easy.."
Di-wan smirked as she seen the body one of the hunters had in his arms. "Ah yes, him...hes a slippery one, escaped us several times...so he let the rest get away? how...disgustingly sweet..."
"His mistake will cost him dearly...ill make sure he exists in a world of pain.." Oslo laughed as he walked onto the ship.
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Cortes drifted awake...his head ached. He was lying somewhere. His first thought was he'd fallen asleep in his cabin again. Then he realised the he was looking at a ship ceiling he didn't recognise, and secondly, he was bound by chains. He moved a hand to his neck, a metal collar was there, and the chain connected to it was...
Someone was holding onto the other end, someone familiar The hunter that'd chased him. Well one of them. He tried to sit himself up, only to discover his wrists had manacles on them too, preventing him from moving his arms. He began to panic silently. What was happening?
"Hmph you're awake, good timing..on yer feet!" a rough voice commanded, and the handler of the chain tugged on it, pulling him rather jerkily to weakened legs. At least they weren't chained together...
Disorientated and dizzy he stumbled along as he was towed by the hunter. His attempts to ask what the hell was going on only resulted in another whack to the head with the rifle..
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"We cant leave! we have to go back!" cheng cried desperately.
Wayan sighed sadly "we cant cheng..those guys were bounty hunters..if they caught Cortes chances are they took him to Oslo..and we don't know where...it could be the monolith or somewhere else...."
The mood on the ship was grim. Mahad felt the worst..Cortes had made every effort to get HIM outta danger, then he'd run blindly into trouble.
"He did it so we could get to the ship..he was trying to save all of us.." he said at last.
"We have to get him back!" Lena stressed. "we owe him to at least try!"
Wayan sighed "i know..but we gotta be well prepared. Well go back to puerto angel and come up with a plan.."
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He was shoved roughly into a cell, the door slammed behind him. He winced, curling onto his side then somehow sitting himself up. It was pitch black in there. He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. He hoped the rest of his crew had gotten away, if they had, this would all be worthwhile...
He let himself drift into sleep, anything to escape the nightmare...
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But what seemed like moments later, though was actually a few hours, he was woken up and dragged out of the cell. He was guided along a long winding hall, people in lab coats stopped to gawp at the chained prisoner, the whispers growing louder when they seen his uniform.
"Did commander Oslo allow human testing?"
"That mans a pirate..far as Oslo cares, they're little more then cockroaches to him.."
"Still...using him in the "Sunlight Gene Project", isn't that a little harsh?"
"It is a bit early on in the testing...Oslo must have a particular bone to pick with this guy.."
Cortes heard all this and felt sick. He was a guinea pig?
He was shunted into a dimly room. The hander tightened his grip on the chain and called to someone standing at the main console.
"Commander Oslo's orders.." here he shoved Cortes forward, so the manacled human landed on the floor with a thump. "the test round is to be done on him. Disregard the simulation tests, his orders are to use live subjects.." then the hunter turned and left, the lab door locking behind him.
There was a sigh, then "well, i never thought he'd go this far..." The lab head knelt down, getting a closer look at Cortes. "I hate to put you through this. i don't think using live subjects is right this early on. But i don't have a choice, i cant disobey Oslo's orders.." Seeing the pained look in the captives eyes he turned away, motioning his aides to fetch a sedative.
"Why do you follow him?" the prisoner blurted suddenly, "if you disagree with what he's doing, stop doing it!"
The doctor sighed and looked at him "you've obviously been trying long enough...denying Oslo's orders is deadly...as his enemy you should know.."
"How many people will he give you? as many as you want...what're you going to do if one of your subjects dies? just brush it under the carpet?! WHO ARE YOU TO SAY WHAT PEOPLES LIVES ARE WORTH. I'm not just talking about me, I'm talking about the rest he's probably already procuring you..You can stop this genocide.." Cortes voice held an impassioned, desperate edge.
Someone tugged the back of his collar, and he felt a needle tip press against his neck.
"I'm sorry for what you're going to go through, but i haven't a choice..I'll try to make it as easy as i can.." the doctor muttered silently as he watched the aide inject the sedative. The prisoner cast him one last pleading look, then he passed out.
"Does Oslo seriously want us to use this guy?" the aide asked "the full therapy treatment..? seems a little extreme.."
"he does I'm afraid..." the head doc sighed, looking at Cortes. "pirate or no....he doesn't deserve this..but we cant halt the testing.."
"How right you are doctor...Master Oslo would be very angry if you did that.." a cold voice announced.
The head doc jumped, whipping round to look at the figure that had just entered.
"Ah..uh, of course..." he stammered. This guy creeped him out.
He was about the same height as the prisoner, short blonde hair and cold blue eyes. Metal wings folded close to his back. He was a highly advanced AI, a robot, yet so close to a human it was almost indistinguishable.
"Is this the subject?" the robot asked, walking over to where the aide had placed Cortes on a gurney.
"Y-yes it is..mr. Sirus sir.." the doctor added.
The blonde stared down at the human, his head tilted to the side. "Oslo has captured many before, what makes this one special..?"
"I don't know sir..he just gave us orders to use him...and make sure he stays alive..."
Sirus shrugged. His master had captured other pirates before, but they'd been used as slaves aboard the monolith, or as target practise by Oslo and di-wan. It was a harsh end for these people..but he wasn't there to disagree with his master. Although something about this whole idea was setting off internal alarms, and he felt slightly uneasy.
--I wonder what your name is...no doubt Oslo just had you down as another statistic...--
The doc blinked, noticing the angel had fallen silent, looking at the test subject, he seemed to be debating something.
"Sir?" he asked. The angel blinked, then snapped out of it.
"Begin your work now, my orders are to oversee the operation, make sure you follow orders..." he said, stepping away from the gurney and walking over to the main console.
The doctor sighed, and motioned to the aide "ready the operating table...we'll start phase one now..."
The study was to see if it was possible to isolate the saijin gene. After years of tests, they'd finally isolated most the said genes, and had been working on ways to fuse them with ordinary people. So far the simulations had shown a high success rate. But never before had a test subject been used. Oslo wanted to create people that could be used as guardians.
The doctor had pressed even if the genes took, the subject would need training to use them..
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Partway through the op Cortes woke up. He found himself strapped to a table. the chains had been removed, but he was bound to the table by tough leather straps. Needles were stuck in his arms, they were linked up to a variety of chemical drips by the looks of them. His whole body hurt, he wanted it to stop.
He twisted in the straps grip. There was a clatter as the aide dropped the tray he was holding in shock.
"let me go, please!" he heard himself calling desperately, then pain hit again in waves. he twisted his head round, catching a glimpse of someone watching from a viewing room above the op room. Brown eyes met cold blue ones.
--Please..whoever you are...stop this..-- he begged silently. But the strange man just watched him, his expression unchanged.
Someone was attempting to restrain him, pinning his shoulders down on the op table. He fought valiantly, when a jab in his arm alerted him to another sedative drug. He felt himself weakening..and as the aide let go of him, he drifted back into sleep.
"How are the levels?"
"Heart rate and blood pressure resuming normal levels doctor."
"Good..now lets get this part over with...so he can at least rest peacefully for the night.."
The aide looked at the again unconscious Cortes and nodded. "right, sir"
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As he seen the doctor finishing phase one, sirus turned away from the window and pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He pressed a speed dial number ad waited.
"Report, how did it go?" Oslo answered immediately.
"Phase one appears to have been successful."
"Any complications?"
"Subject woke up partway through the operation, but was successfully re-sedated without complication to the surgery"
"Good. make sure you get regular updates. If this is successful...ill be able to control him! Pit him against his own kind.."
"As you wish master Oslo." with that said, sirus closed the conversation.
Sighing he thought back to when the human had seen him, their eyes had met for a few seconds. The pain and fear in the guy eyes, that desperate look of hope, as if he thought he, Oslo's aide, was going to help him...
But that look, something about this guy unnerved him, yet fascinated him. --I'll have to talk to him once he's conscious, i have a few questions for him..--
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When next he woke, it was to immense pain in his head. Someone was standing over him, talking to someone out of sight.
"All levels appear normal, no response as of yet, but its still only in the first phase..."
"Well move him to the sleeping area in the solar room once the therapy is complete..the gene must be encouraged to grow.."
"Of course commander Oslo.."
There were footsteps, then the door slammed. Just the doc remained. he leaned over the patient noticing he was conscious.
"How are you feeling? Any residual sickness?" the doc asked, scribbling on a notepad.
Cortes looked silently at him for a moment, then turned his head away, keeping his mouth shut.
The doctor sighed. He couldn't begin to imagine how the test subject must feel. He wondered as to the mans name, age but decided knowing such details would only make it harder to continue the op.
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"Any luck yet commander?" di-wan asked as she seen Oslo emerge from the medical lab area.
"Some. The first phase was successful, although he yet to regain consciousness. That doctor said it wont show until the last phase, if its taken."
"When is the next phase?" di-wan asked.
"It is to begin tomorrow morning." a smooth voice answered. She looked oer as sirus strode over. She partly resented the angel-bots presence as Oslo's aide. The guy was just a little too smarmy. Too confident.
"Why the delay?" di-wan asked him sharply.
Sirus looked over at her and smiled faintly "The doctor is concerned too much in one go will cause severe mental trauma and inhibit the best result.."
"Pathetic" di-wan snorted "the fool just feels sorry for that useless pirate..."
"That as it may be..we cant risk him having a mental breakdown, it will cause problems. I don't want this to fail..that pirate will be mine to control..It wont take long to break that spirit."
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"So what can we do?" Mahad asked. Wayan sighed "i don't know Mahad....we need to find out more about these hunters. Where they work, where Cortes is likely to be..."
"Then lets put out a notice...reward for any decent info on these guys!" Lena suggested.
The vector nodded "ill call in a few favours, see what i can do..."
--Hang in there Cortes..-- Mahad thought --were gonna find you!--