Act I: New Isa

"I have your results right here Mr. Weldon, I'm sorry to say that the tests say positive."

The nurse wore a white coat, with a pained look on her face, as if she was Mr. Weldon's family, come to see him off. Weldon had butterflies in his stomach as he awaited for the big news. He tried readying himself mentally, but it didn't matter if it were now or in twenty years, he would still feel dead on the inside when she spoke those words.

For a man in his late twenties, this was surprising. Life expectancy had risen significantly since the visitors had come down from the skies, setting up clinics to help the sick, just like the one he resided in now.

Fossil fuels were being pushed aside, it was his last day to work in a factory, and look where that got him.

"I see…" is all he could force out of his mouth. Though his voice was deep, and filled with calm, his mind was ripping itself apart. Perhaps it would be better if he never knew of this, he felt like he was going crazy with worry.

The nurse flicked her hair back, she was quite young, and had the face and body of a model, but he knew he had no chance, she knew his weakness, and he didn't want that, besides, she was out of his league.

"You're in a spot of luck sir." She replies with a high tone, and in a prideful way.

"Luck? No, no luck for me." His voice sounded as if in a bottomless ocean.

"Don't be so quick to judge, I'm sure you'll be jumping around in a few seconds."

She claps her hands and giggles, Weldon didn't even bother showing off the awkwardness he felt. She reached below her desk and pushed towards him a small folder. Reluctantly, he opened it and spotted several ads inside. Each depicted a chip, with jagged teeth coming out of a small square base, it looked quite crude.

He glazed over the words while scratching his crew cut with one hand. Some words jumped out at him, like 'Gene Therapy' and 'Bio-chip, the cure for all diseases!'.

"ADVENT assures you that the Therapy is the key to a better tomorrow, I even had this done to myself, just look at me! No flues, no diseases, and I fell like half my age!" the nurse said happily.

That would probably make her ten years old.

"So this thing…" he motions to the Biochip, its teeth now looking like a pair of jaws. "Where's it go?"

"In the back of your head, your put to sleep while our fine doctors help you out. It helps monitor your health, so we can keep you in the optimal range of healthiness." She gives him some photos of people who looked like scientists, standing next to people on beds, smiling contently, it reminded him of a bad television ad.

"I…I will thing about it." he says as he hands the folder and photos back to her.

She gives a childish frown. "I'm sure you'll come around, it's for your own good you know, you should take it, it beats what you have."

"How long do I have?" he asked, ignoring her.

Now she lost her enthusiasm. "About five years, that is if you take it easy, no running and gunning, know what I mean?"

Weldon stands up. "Can't promise you anything. I need to go get some rest."

"OK, come back before unification day, that's the longest you can wait, enjoy your night!"

But he had already been halfway out of the office by the time she finished. He strode passed rows of beds and equipment, all of it linked together through countless wires. He was only half a minutes' walk from the lobby, about twenty people were lined up, booking or taking appointments, a lone guard in dark armour kept a constant watch over them, but paid no mind to the man walking away from it all.

The streets of New Isa were lit up with countless neon lights, the reds and blues reflected off the wet pavements and roads, it had been raining, giving the look of cleanliness to every surface. Giant buildings reached up into the sky, hundreds of stories high. One long main road cut through the city like a knife, it held the clinic in the centre, splitting off the two major districts.

Townside, the southern district, this was where he was going.

He was alone on this still night, he passed by café's and bustling restraints, but none of that mattered, he just wanted to go home. The clinic behind him was like a beacon, a symbol of hope to the people, it lit up the night sky with a great aura, but put what its light couldn't reach, into darkness.

Weldon kept up his pace, his feet moving swiftly over the path on the sidewalk.

He knew he wasn't alone, two sets of feet were behind him, they trailed him ever since he left the clinic. Only now, that he had passed into a quiet street, did they decide to announce themselves.

"Wait up man!" A tough voice called out from one of them.

In front of him was one more guy, wearing a white and black suit, he stopped and looked back to the two behind him. They wore similar attire, only they all bore dark hoods to conceal themselves.

Weldon brought his hands out of his jacket, showing he was unarmed.

"How was your therapy?" The same voice asked, they were completely covered, no skin could be seen.

"Not for me."

"Huh…well, perhaps you'd like to give us some doll', so we can go get some."

"I don't have any…"

"Cut the crap, that shit costs so much, we saw you go in there. You're a fucking alien sympathiser, you want them in our brains, don't you? There in yours right now! Now hand it over, we don't have to get ugly

These guys wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, so he played along.

"But you already are, can't help you."

The one who talked had punched him in the stomach a second later, Weldon doubled over and coughed hard. The guy behind him had kicked his hip, and pushed him forwards.

Using his new found momentum, Weldon brought up his fist, and collided it with the one in charge. They tumbled to the ground, but he didn't stop there, he continued to pound the suited man's face until the other two stopped him. Now they begun kicking him relentlessly, but he managed another sentence through gutting wheezes.

"Robbing…a sick…man, aren't you…tough?"

The one in charge was bleeding, still on the ground. This brought a small smile to Weldon's face.

-XXX-

A2 was assigned as a new peacekeeper in New Isa, Australia. Her leaders dubbed her to incompetent, or simply not needed for real combat duty. There wasn't much fighting on earth since her and her masters had came and brought peace to this war torn world. But she still felt like she could be at least some help in the line of duty.

But in this place, this city surrounded by scorching deserts, there was no use for anyone here, apart from living simple lives. But New Isa was different, filled with back washed humans, treating her and the other races with disrespect, though this wasn't new for her kind, they were the lowest race of them all, now the humans were below them, but they didn't act like it.

The patrolled main street for most nights, her and a trooper. The trooper wore dark armour from head to toe, only the crooked lips could be seen. She was disgusted about how it looked, even with the armour on, the Elders had not nearly treated a body like this before.

A2 couldn't think about this now, she heard the sounds of a brawl not too far ahead, she had superior hearing and eyesight than humans do, so she didn't think twice before rushing down to where the fight was.

A minute of running into darker streets, she spied a group of men, two of them lying down, the others were kicking one of the downed men. Her trooper yelled something in the horrible trooper dialect, and rushed in, using his gun like a bat. It bashed one of the kicking mans heads in before the other had pulled out a gun and fired it twice, right into the troopers chest.

Now the ground was paved a thick red.

A2 didn't hesitate as she charged her green beam rifle, and fired once at the gunner, it drops and the light fades from his eyes.

One of the men laying on the ground had begun walking away, clutching at his face. She got her tongue ready, and lashed it out to him, reeling him in like the prey he was. It was forced to turn to her, its dark face was full of fear.

"No! Please!"

But its voice became sounds of suffocation, her tail had come up and squeezed his windpipe shut, he didn't last a minute before falling faint in her death grip. She released him and turned to the remaining human.

"You alright?" She asked in human English. It groans as it staggers to its feet and looks at her. He was slightly shorter than she was, her six foot stature was a rather intimidating trait of her kind, that, and poisonous fangs.

He coughs blood before speaking to her.

"Fine, t-thanks." His green eyes are filled with gratefulness.

She nods, and signals for him to wait, she calls in the incident on her radio. Then places her hand and gun by her side. She could smell the fear coming off him like a dog smells food, so she turns back to him.

"Well done, fighting them off for so long."

A small chuckle escapes him. "Yeah, I'm no warrior though."

They stayed silent for awhile, eventually the howling sirens of two ADVENT sedans pulled up on the street nearby, several troopers where lead by one of her own kind, she issued orders to secure the bodies and the area. A2 is handed a datapad from one of the troopers, she motions the man to follow her to one of the cars.

She gave him a bottle of water from within the car, he accepted it gratefully as she pulled open a new page for a report.

"Name?" she asks.

"Luc, Luc Weldon." He raises his arm with an outstretched hand, she curiously watches him as he lowers it a moment later. She writes this down, along with what she had seen him doing.

"What's yours?"

She raises her cold orange eyes in surprise. "What?"

"What's your name?"

"Oh, its…A2." She said in slight embarrassment, her 'name' was not what she thought it was.

Luc almost scoffs at her before replying. "That's not much of a name but, still, thanks A2, I appreciate it."

She continued her questioning, discovering that he lived not three doors down from where they stood. He knew not why he was attacked, and he was just out to go to the clinic for a check up.

"Never attacked like this?" Was one of her last questions.

"I see them around sometimes, never attacked anyone before now." He looks to the body of the one in charge, it was still breathing slightly. Luc asked if he could see him, and she nodded.

Luc pulled off its disguise, it was a young chiselled man with short blonde hair.

"No…what?" Luc whispers in the smallest of voices, but A heard him well, but didn't ask him about it.

"Go home Luc." she said. "Get some rest."

Luc nodded and got up from the ground. "Thank you again, Miss A2."

She gives him a confused side glare, he needed no further indication, he moved on to the house he lived in. A2 trailing his back with eyes filled with slight amusement.

-XXX-

Luc climbed the front stairs at his front door, the boards underneath creaked with old age, he protrudes his keys from his jacket and opened the door, not hesitating to lock it behind him. He found himself soon in his bed, the house sighed as its only occupant closed his eyes for the long night.

But today was only the beginning of what the world had in store for him.

A/N: -XXX- is a POV swap/time jump, or just a switch to general 3rd POV for one or more characters. It isn't always just one, sometimes it's all three.