Chapter 2

(In case you're all wondering why the crossover is in a different category, it's because there's, as of yet, no gen:Lock category in right now. I'll put it there when it gets there. Also: Please tell me if I'm doing any gen:Lock character justice.)

The lights from the overheads looked down on the infirmary. Outside the windows, the darkness of the night enshrouded the area out, reflecting the situation across the world. The light held like a bulwark. But, how long would the light of the Polity last against the growing Union darkness?

Doctor Rufus Weller looked at the writhing pubescent teenager in agony with a look of compassion and sympathy. The boy screamed soundlessly as his heart-rate on his EKG monitor rapidly increased. It was like everything inside of him hurt. There was no doubt in his mind that this boy was indeed human, but what was happening to him wasn't. Caliban plucked a hair from the boy's hair as others tried to hold him down as the boy writhed in agony.

It had been just another Tuesday night. Nothing much happening: Julian and Yazmina training together in their Holons, himself keeping Chase company when he could, working more on the gen:Lock project, trying to design more mechs when he could, looking at every Weller test he could look at, (yes, he named it after himself, but he had a good reason, in his defense), and what else he could. Unfortunately, he had little staff that could help him... save the medical staff that were here at times. Not everyone was a genius like himself, sadly. However, he wasn't without his humanity. At least, he was pretty sure about that.

Then, sensors detected a very strange anomaly just outside the facility that served as the home of the Experimental Science Unit for the Polity. He saw the camera footage of a ball of a sickening green light that formed outside the front door of the facility. The ball of light was gone in about two seconds, depositing its cargo.

He went outside himself to see as did the security personnel. What they saw was an odd mixture: pieces of a counter, pieces of a tiled floor, a cardboard package addressed to one 'John Diego Daniels' of 1350 Welker Lane, Martin, Virginia. He frowned. The American state of Virginia was now Union territory. There were rumors of resistance movements stemming from rural Virginians proud of their old Confederate heritage... though some joined the Union for its stances. There were rumors of what went on behind enemy lines from the refugees that dared to escape. None of it was pleasant.

"Jesus, what's wrong with him?" Julian Chase's 'ghost' asked besides him with worry. His translucent image looked down at the boy with his fists curled. His blue eyes looked at him with sorrow and pity. His black hair was short in the image projected with a blue line on the side. He wore his old Vanguard flight suit that he wore when piloting a fighter.

His face showed visible signs of his recalling his own experience in agony when he crashed during the Battle of New York when the Union invaded, spreading its deadly nano-tech mist to destroy whatever was in its path at the onset of their invasion of North America.

"The whole 'thoughts and prayers' things does help emotionally, but physically it's another matter." Weller said. A screen popped up in front of him as Kaliban went off with the boy's hair strand. He felt so utterly helpless. He wanted to just wish the pain away with his mind with a well-written program, turn him back into a full-fledged human. But, he was just one man... and there were limits to what he could do. Yazmina Madrani looked at the boy with worry, crossing her arms.

"This doesn't seem like Union nano-tech working on him," She commented in her Iranian accent, having been a former Union soldier herself. She looked at the Native American with sadness as he wordlessly screamed. Her face beheld both remembrance and regret for what she had done in the past. Her skin-tight suit/body armor was covered by a tan jacket that she wore above the waist.

"For starters, the Union's tech glows with red lights." Yazmina Madrani explained.

"The tech we're seeing is more like blue and gray," She said, looking at Chase's image. Chase scoffed as his image was in his whitish-gray armored flight suit.

"Like I'd be honored to have this kind of suffering in my name," he said, looking at the kid.

Weller's screen popped up in front of him, showing a live image of the boy's internal organs. "Mother of God, what does this to someone?" He asked aloud. Yazmina looked at it as did Julian's hologram.

He shook his head as his mouth hung open.

"He's turning into a robot," Chase announced in shock.

His heart beat rapidly, still in the same shape, but now it was of a sort of-hard grayish-metallic material that was pulsing with power. His lungs were also of the same substance. Every single internal organ was now completely changed in appearance and most likely, function. They still acted organic, but they now looked more like something out of a horror movie decades ago. His muscles and bones were now in the process of changing, a change that was very visible as moving bumps were seen under his skin. Whatever happened to him, it was changing him on the inside. If this was nano-tech, this was some terrible stuff. He couldn't tell if the nano-tech everyone knew from the Union was worse or not.

"The reason why we're not hearing him scream is because he has no vocal chords," Weller announced as well. Chase looked at him in shock.

"What?" He said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Why didn't his parents' genetically edit him? They could've made sure he was born with them." Chase suggested, confused.

"Must've been one of those sort of conservative parents that was against the whole idea," Weller answered, sighing. Some people were too damned ignorant. If there was indeed a God, wouldn't that God want at the very least to make sure that all children came out perfect and healthy?

"Not everyone likes the idea of editing your child's genes to make them perfect," He explained, gesturing. He looked at the boy as he writhed in agony.

"For God's sake! Why hasn't anyone given him some bloody sedatives?!" He asked, angrily. A nurse looked at him in shock and some fear at his tone and volume. Even Madrani shrunk.

"We did!" And then told him how much cc's they gave the boy. He blinked and calmed down.

"Holy shit," He breathed in response.

"Damn," Julian commented, dumb-founded. That much and the kid was still in pain? Whoever did this to him was going to burn in the worst pit of hell, if it was the last thing he could do for that boy. That, and getting Chase out of the bloody tank! He felt guilty about two things now, probably more.

He looked at the boy with sadness. The implications of all this were staggering. This kid, if he was doing the math in his head right, which he would have to calculate somewhere, was turning into a literal cyborg within hours. Everything inside of him was turning into some kind of metallic substance. The question was: why? Why do this to a thirteen-year-old kid? Someone was going to die for this. Then, his attention was averted as he saw the boy's entire skeletal structure, skull, spine, legs, et. al. all harden into somewhat the same material as that of his organs, only a lot more dense it looked like.

Just then, his display shifted, as did Julian's projected holo-image.

"What the-?!" Julian's ghost asked, looking at himself. The screen started getting fuzzy and staticy. The terms: 'Network Intrusion Detected' appeared across it. He stepped back in shock and then had a thought as he looked at the live image of the scan of the boy's brain. It looked largely the same only now more cybernetic. The live scan showed that his brain was glowing as if it was a computer... well, it technically was turning into a sort of computer.

"Kaliban," He said to the drone through a com-channel.

"Make sure every single system that's networked is firewalled. I want nothing to penetrate it! Especially anything that has to do with information." Weller ordered. He heard an affirming beep. The screen continued to become staticy and then stopped as Julian's image solidified... kind of. It stopped looking like he was being torn apart digitally at least. That was a plus. Julian looked around confused.

"What just happened?" Julian asked, looking at the Professor with a look of confusion. He probably had that look back in the tank that kept him alive.

"His entire body is turning into one giant techno-organic organism. His brain just tried to connect with our systems, though I don't think he knew it." Weller said, looking at the boy.

"He can connect wirelessly now?" Yazmina asked for clarification. Weller nodded. A lot of people these days had implants to do their jobs be it administration or for military/security purposes. A lot of people were implanted, though others were not. Usually, one way it was known to be implanted was through the eyes.

The heart-rate all of a sudden started to decline, beating to a steady pulse. Weller looked at the live image. The growth of what was changing him, a process he wanted to call 'Techno-Organic Cybernetic Transmogrification'( or TOCT) was now slowing down. It was still there, but it had pretty much stabilized. It looked like he was going to make it, though now he was forever changed whether he liked it or not.

The boy, once writhing in agony, was now lay still, breathing slowly. His eyes were closed as he dreamt. At least his vitals were stable. But his mind most definitely wasn't.

"Put him in a life support tank. I want him in there ASAP, but do it as gently as you can. Don't just dump him in there like garbage, that's someone's son!" Weller ordered a medical technician Julian looked at him. "Poor kid," He said as they carried the kid away on a gurney. The faint visible outlines of what appeared to be seams appeared on his skin. His veins were now energetic blue and glowing. If he ever so much as set foot out in the frontlines, he'd be nothing more than a painted target for Union snipers. He shuddered to think of what those Union bastards would do to someone so young in that kid's condition.

"Wonder how his Ma and Pop are going to feel when they find out?" Julian wondered aloud. His own mother was behind Union lines as was his sister. It wasn't known what happened to them during the Battle of New York, but he felt that they weren't dead.

"I'll see if I can find them," Weller told him, gesturing behind him.

"I'm sure they'd be very pleased to know that their son's alive, but in critical condition. I'll work on how to explain it to them." He said, thinking about how to explain to someone that their son was now some kind of freakish cyborg. He looked back up at Chase as he gave the ex-pilot his prescription.

"In the meantime, I want you to relax for a bit. You've had a bit of a frightening experience." Weller told them. He knew that the boy's pain must've been similar to what happened to the ex-fighter pilot. The pilot's image looked at the boy, staring at him.

"Mind if I keep watch, Doc?" He asked, turning back.

"Are you sure? You had a bit of a day today: training for combat missions, that sort of thing." The Englishman told Chase. The first Gen:Lock pilot smiled.

"If anything, I'd like to keep him company. I'll be the first face he sees when he wakes up." Chase told him.

"Just don't make him think you're a ghost," Weller warned. Julian nodded.

"A'right," Julian said and then looked as if he had a thought. "Can I call myself the 'Ghost of Christmas Past'?" Julian asked, raising a finger as he smiled.

"Last I checked: you're not a small child-like entity and it's a long way until Christmas." Weller said, shaking his head as he smiled.

"Okay: the 'Black Ghost of Christmas Past'?" Julian asked, grinning as he emphasized 'black'. He folded his hands as he said it. Weller snorted as he laughed a little.

"Oh, just keep an eye on him for a bit and then get to sleep. You'll need it." Weller told him. Julian nodded and faded away. Weller sighed. The man had at the very least regained his sense of humor after suffering such a traumatic experience.

He then started walking to his office.

"I've heard rumors about what Union scientists were doing back when I was with them," Yazmina said as they walked.

"But, I never heard anything like that." She said, referring to what just happened. They walked through the whitish-gray hallways of the facility that served as ESU's base of operations. However, the Union armies were advancing steadily west, after a bit of a delay. The entire eastern seaboard of the United States was gone along with Canada's Eastern Seaboard. Things were looking grim in Mexico. The reports elsewhere weren't good either.

"I don't think it was Union, honestly." Madrani said before adding from experience.

"Union nanotech is nasty stuff but it usually leaves people dead or brainwashed, this is something else entirely." Weller said as they approached the door to his office.

"Yazmin, I want you to go to bed and get some rest: doctor's orders." Weller told her. Madrani looked at him in response and then thought about it.

"Alright," She said, nodding as she uncrossed her arms.

"Tomorrow morning, I want you to help me with our new guest." He told her. She nodded.

"Maybe there'll be another participant?" She said, referring to the program.

"I doubt it," Weller said, waving dismissively. That boy suffered enough. He would take no part in it.

"We'd have to do the Weller test on him, and I quite frankly disapprove of using it on thirteen-year-olds. Though, Cameron MacCloud is, I think, an exception as she is of the age of consent." Weller said, referring to another candidate. They were still in the rounds of testing now. There were only about three other candidates: a tanker-turned-cook, a Eastern European Recon specialist, and of course, a Vanguard Ranger. The team would have a variety of specialties. Unfortunately, Colonel Marin of the Vanguard's Anvil base wanted a full platoon of Holon mechs at her disposal to turn the tide and with time: even more. Perhaps an entire battalion or a regiment. Such a thought kind of terrified him.

The tragedy of invention was that it was first weaponized, when it's hope was for peace... just like the gen:Lock program. It was supposed to have been for communications, harmony, understanding between cultures for crying out loud! Of course, the Polity wanted it weaponized as they saw the potential of having mechas be controlled by decanted human minds as opposed to human bodies. That, and of the greater mobility of mechas that moved like said human bodies. It offered a good tactical advantage. He sighed as he looked forward to the day when there was peace on this planet. A harmonious peace for generations to come. One in which scientific progress would go unhindered and perhaps, humankind could colonize the stars.

He watched as Madrani left him and sighed. Unlike others whom saw an enemy, he saw someone who truly regretted her former life and now using such experiences to help fight the enemy. If anything, she saw him as her redemption. And for that, he was happy to help her see the light. He had always been the more optimistic of human beings, though a bit eccentric. However, and to his regret, he had his flaws.

The Englishman entered his office with his private computer already on-line with just a thought. A window on his holoscreen showed the orb that had been found near the kid. The football-looking object with strange designs on it had a lot of seams that he had found hard to crack. He had used laser scalpels and diamond cutters to open it up along with scanning it. Nothing could get through its dense and unidentifiable material. Scans showed that it had traces of some kind of radiation like it had activated. So, therefore, he had to conclude that it was obviously of both unknown origin and that it may have had something to do with the Native American teenager coming onto his literal front-door step.

He typed in the name 'John Diego Daniels' and files came up, detailing a cold Missing Persons case from 2019, a dossier and several old Facebook social media pages with the hashtag 'FindMute'. He frowned. What did this have to do with that year? He looked at the iPhone. Now, whom was Mute? Of course, he had to guess that it had to be the boy. He took out what he had found in the boy's pockets, remembering to return them later. The teenager had been found with a bookbag as well when he arrived. The book-bag contained outdated American history, English, and Chemistry textbooks along with binders and folders containing dreaded homework. The bookbag was in safe-keeping along with his coat and pants. However, his black shirt had to be cut and so was destroyed.

He also took out an antique iPhone 9, like it had been manufactured only yesterday. Of course, it was outdated by today's standards. Now, why would a modern teenager have something like that? Unless, his parents were so impoverished that they got their child something good and stuck with it. Decrypting it was easy as it was early 21st century security and it didn't amount to much. And that said much about technology from 2072.

He saw several apps including photos and music. He looked at the music app and noticed that the Native American John Doe had a certain taste for music going back to the 1950s but strangely stopped when it came to 2019. It was like everything after 2020 sucked, not that there was no talent these days. Of course, Julian had said his sister tended to be a social media star that used auto-tune for her voice.

He looked for anything that would identify the boy, something like say an ID card. Of course, all he found were fifty American dollars, several cards for now-defunct stores like 'Gamestop' and Barnes and Noble... well, bugger. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Well, hopefully the DNA test would bring back something good. He then looked at the cold case from fifty-odd years ago.

Weller's eyes widened as he saw the photograph of the person missing. There was no mistaking the same Native American John Doe that had arrived just a little under an hour ago.. only in the photo, he wasn't transforming.

He read the report feverishly. This had to be some kind of cosmic joke, some kind of prank! There's no way that a mere teenager could just go jump forward in time about fifty-three years and far west of his home-town! He sure as hell wasn't the American version of the Doctor, blasphemous as that was.

And yet...

In the report, John Diego Daniels (Also Known as 'Mute' on the account of not having vocal chords since birth) disappeared on February 19, 2019. His biological parents were unknown, but his adopted family consisted of his father (then-Colonel Javier Daniels of the US Air Force, a drone pilot/squadron commander), his mother (Yura Daniels, a businesswoman), and his two older siblings: Sergeant Jordan Daniels (KIA at the time of the report. His patrol had been killed by an IED in Afghanistan's notorious Helmand province. He had died three years before it all happened), and finally his older sister (Janice Anne Daniels, a high school student. Killed by a drunk driver the year before). He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose at all this. He had found strange scars on the boy's arms, hands, and even wrists. He had suspected suicide attempts but never knew why. Now, he knew the reason for them: he had lost his brother and sister. The pain he must've felt was probably terrible and he must've surely been depressed.

The last time anyone saw him was when he entered his residence: 1350 Welker Lane. A minute later, police officers were dispatched to do a welfare check as his adopted father had called, thinking his son was going to commit suicide. As they were about to arrive, they noted a green flash from the house and then nothing. Upon arrival, the officers said that an area nearly two meters in diameter looked like it got scooped up and disappeared: taking a counter top and a good chunk of floor with it as well.

He looked at the images of the debris that had also arrived with their 'guest': a large piece of counter-top, a chunk of tiled floor and floor joists. It was definitely him. He sighed as he leaned back.

Well, the boy had apparently taken a package inside said residence that had no sending address into his house and it contained something that may have brought him here, namely, the strange sphere that both brought him here and maybe infected him with some kind of virus that-thank God- wasn't airborne as the first thing they had done was scan him. The answer as to why he would do such a stupid thing hit him like a bolt as soon as he looked at the dogtags that he took out from his pocket, the same dog-tags he took from the kid's neck. One tag read 'Daniels, Jordan A. 01930193083 AB+ Catholic'. The other read 'Daniels, Janice A. A- Catholic.'

He looked Jordan Daniels and to his surprise, Julian Chase's face appeared before him, only with electric blue eyes. His jaw dropped. Unlike his future doppelganger (or perhaps future incarnation), Jordan Daniels had been a US Army Infantryman with a secondary MOS as a machine gunner. His service record listed two service tours in Afghanistan with his second being his last along with a few impressive commendations and medals: a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He saw another image, dated from his first tour of duty in 2014, dressed in full Kevlar body armor with his M-4 lowered to the ground as he was on patrol, his eyes alert for enemy movements. He sighed. Such a terrible conflict and it cost a man his life and his brother's sanity. Perhaps, having Julian watch 'Mute' was a bad idea. On a side note, why in the hell, did Mute want to be known by his medical condition as opposed to 'John'. Nothing wrong with ' John'. There were plenty of heroes named 'John'! Y'know what? He was going to refer to 'Mute' as 'John' from now on. Absolutely ridiculous that a child should choose a name that defines his condition as opposed to his personality.

He looked up Janice Anne Daniels and swore. She looked just like Cameron MacCloud from Scotland!. But, unlike her future incarnation, she was originally from Poland and had a twin brother, whom was separated from her at birth. It was unknown as to what became of her biological parents/ twin sibling right now, but she ended up being adopted alongside Jordan and John Daniels after being moved to America. Her personality on-line revealed a talented young woman who was full of life and was a typical early 21st century anime-lover as well as a high school student. She also did some song covers on-line which received a whopping few million hits in the years afterwards, particularly after she died.

The Gen:Lock Program director looked up her cause of death and tears welled in his eyes as he read it. Such a young and pretty thing didn't deserve that kind of fate. And her younger brother saw it all.

He looked down at the dogtags and the photos on the boy's phone. The Native American's family looked so happy. There weren't any more pictures after a photograph that was the same date Jordan Daniels' unit was deployed to Afghanistan for his second tour. It showed Jordan smiling as he held his family one last time. They all smiled.

The greatest mind in the entire Polity, representing the free peoples of Earth, looked at the last text messages a chronologically displaced teenager received from his older brother and sister.

'I love you, bro. See you when I get back home!

John's response to this was 'I love you too! Hooah!' . About eight months later, it was 'I miss you'. Followed by 'I'm sorry'.

He looked at the last text message from John's sister, dated the night she died.

'Mute: where in the fuck are you?! Mom and Dad are worried sick!'. John's response to this, about twelve days later, was 'I'm sorry. Forgive me.'

Weller sighed as tears ran down his cheeks. So much guilt had clawed at that kid's hear that he took that package, thinking it was some kind of bomb, he knew that now. He thought it was a bomb and instead, it was worse.

He looked up what happened afterwards. His parents went on TV and the Internet to get support in finding their son. Various conspiracy theories popped up about him... that and about other disappearances that bore striking similarities to John's own , his focus was on John Daniels. He had to see if his adopted parents or extended family were alive.

His hopes were dashed. He found the parents' obituaries. His father had died of throat cancer in 2048, the year Julian Chase was born. His mother was killed about twenty years earlier in a robbery gone wrong. Various cousins and uncles and aunts were all dead as well from either gang violence, to starvation or disease, war, and what have you. John's last remaining family had all been in New York the day the Invasion started four years ago. They were confirmed dead. He literally had no family left in the entire damned planet. Un-fucking-believable.

Weller called up Julian.

"Yeah, Doc?" Julian asked as he appeared, his translucence showing the wall behind him.

"I would withhold meeting our new guest for awhile. I think there would be a case of mistaken identity." Weller told him before explaining the situation. Julian blinked and shifted his hologram's standing pose as he crossed his arms. His head was tilted sideways.

"In essence: we have a missing (now-found) suicidal teenager from 2019 that is now turning into a kind of cyborg the likes of which I've never seen before. And if he so much as sees you, he'll think you're his long-lost older brother that was killed three years before he went missing." Weller told him.

"Any questions?" He asked. Chase thought for a moment.

"Can he play Siege?" He asked, hopefully.

"No, I don't think he'd understand. He's from the years before MR overlays and when Virtual Reality was still in its raw nascent form." Weller told him.

"He would be more of an Xbox kind of person, I think." Weller told him. Chase frowned.

"Well, crap." Chase swore, his arms hanging.

"But, we should do everything we can to make him feel comfortable. He's under our care now, I believe." Weller said.

"What about what brought him here?" Chase asked.

"I've scanned it, but I can't open the damn thing. It's made up of something no one's seen before, I would dare say." The director admitted.

"But, it's probably out of juice now. Can't hurt anyone now, I think." Weller said, thinking. Unless, it was just tired and slowly regaining power through self-regeneration. Now, that was a thought. Perhaps, with enough time, it could possibly send John back home... that... or it was out of juice forever. And he was stuck in this nightmarish hell of a future that no one could imagine.

"Does he have family? Mom or Dad?" Julian asked, concerned.

"His whole family is dead, Chase." The doctor told him.

" He was found in Denver with his adopted brother and his DNA test back then revealed no relatives known through any database that we know of. In essence: he was probably abandoned by parents that weren't on those databases to begin with." Weller told him.

"And his entire adopted family died of various causes. The last of the family died during the same incident you were involved in at New York." He told Chase. Chase closed his eyes in sorrow.

"Shit," He muttered.

"Indeed. And I have no idea whom else would be better off taking care of him than us." Weller stated firmly.

"You're serious?" Chase asked for reassurance. The gray-haired doctor nodded.

"I am,"

"What about the Vanguard? What will they think?"

"I have some leeway with Colonel Marin," He told Chase. "I think she'll understand," Weller added.

"And the other recruits?"

"I'm not sure what they'll think, but we'll try to make sure our cyborg is quite comfortable as I try to, at the very least, juggle it all. That, and we're going to have to study his condition a bit closely. See if he can be remote-controlled by anyone or if someone decided to turn him into a weapon or something."

"And how long is his condition going to last before completely turns?" Julian asked, concerned. Weller sighed and said the scariest phrase he could mutter.

"I don't know,"

"And what will happen when he turns?"

"I don't know that either,"