A/N: I'm sorry this took so long, but I've been re-editing my writing style so Jake doesn't sound too much like an Insert. Also, from here on out, the story will only loosely resemble the series. New dialog, new events (more or less), new problems, etc. You get the idea. And so, without further ado, the Remix truly begins.
Runaways Remix: Pride and Joy
Issue Four
The Dean Residence
4:28 A.M.
Jake looked up in amazement at the streak of light that was Karolina. To his right, the rest of the group stood watching her as well. They'd followed Karolina into the pool area after she'd managed to fly her way out of the door. Alex scratched the back of his neck again.
"We are so dead." He said.
"Oh yeah, we didn't hear you the first eight times!" Chase barked at him. Nico glared in return.
"Ease it up, Chase. We're all under a lot of stress right now." She said.
"Not Karolina." Gert added, turning her head to follow the flying girl as she preformed a barrel roll worthy of the Thunderbirds. She swooped lower with a cry of delight, which suddenly transformed into a grunt as she collided first with Chase, then Nico. She would have nailed Jake too, if he hadn't dived out of the way at the last minute. The three of them bounced back towards the house in a tangle of arms and legs.
"Nice roll, Hunter." Gert noted as Jake picked himself up and dusted himself off. Jake frowned.
"You know, I couldn't do that before." He said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, well the possibility of being hit by a trio of speeding teenagers would defiantly be enough to make anyone push their boundaries." Alex added from the side of the house, where he was helping Nico to her feet.
"No, seriously, I've never…forget it." Jake sighed and ran over to help Gert and Alex by picking up Chase respectively. After much coughing, dusting and cursing (primarily from Chase) the group trudged back to the pool.
"What's it feel like?" Nico asked Karolina.
"What does what feel like?" The glowing girl answered.
"Uh, well, flying." Nico blushed and grinned apologetically. Karolina stopped and thought, putting her hand to her chin.
"You know those butterflies you get when you see someone you like?" She asked.
"Yeah, what about them?" Nico asked.
"Imagine they could flap hard enough to lift you off the ground." Karolina smiled brightly (both figuratively and literally, as the glow from her body seemed to increase as she did).
"Sounds uncomfortable." Nico said, looking as if she was sorry she'd asked.
"Actually it's kind of nice. Here." Karolina said, and took Nico's hand. The Asian girl suddenly stopped and gasped. She seemed to stand up straighter as well. Nico let go and slumped down again. Karolina's smile suddenly faulted, as she remembered something. "Almost nice enough to make me forget I'm some alien freak."
"Oh, not this again." Jake groaned. He pinched the bridge of his nose once more.
"What?" Karolina shouted, turning angrily to Jake. "What do you think I am?"
"A human girl with superpowers." Jake said simply. He crossed his arms, daring anyone to disagree with him.
"'Genetics may make the physical being of a person, but they don't make that person's heart.'" Alex quoted.
"Yeah, jeez K." Chase added. "Just cause you're the kid of some evil aliens-"
"Chase!" Gert cut him off.
"Fine, whatever your parents are. You aren't them." He smiled reassuringly, which irked Jake for some reason.
"I guess so." Karolina looked at her hands, watching the streamers of light fly off them. "Still…"
"Look, we don't have time for this." Alex said. The rest of the group turned to face him. Jake noticed he was holding something. Alex held it up to the crowd, and Jake recognized it as Karolina's bracelet. "Right now I think it's time for you to come back to earth."
"Why? If my parents are who you say they are, why do I have to wear this…anchor again?" She asked.
"Because this "anchor" turns off your LED-skin. We can't have you lighting up the night."
"Yeah, we need you incognito, not a walking movie premiere." Chase added. Karolina grumbled, but she put the thing back on, clipping it closer to her wrist than it had originally been to make up for the shattered links. The moment it touched her, the lights on her skin faded into nothingness.
"So what's our next move?" Chase asked.
"Not sure." Alex replied. "This "club" or whatever our parents are part of is really starting to sound a lot more dangerous than we thought."
"Then we need to keep looking for more stuff to put them away, right?" Gert asked.
"No, we've already got that. Remember the Abstract or whatever the hell that black book is?" added Chase. Most of the group looked at him in shock.
"Yeah, I was listening." Chase said defiantly. "Now, again, why don't we just turn in that book?"
"Because we can't read it. Which is why we came here." Jake replied. "Not that it did us any good."
"So we're back to square one, basically." Nico interjected.
"Not necessarily." Karolina said. "Gert's parents said something about a translation program at Jake's house, didn't they?"
"Hey, yeah!" Chase cried. "What are we standing around here for? Let's go!"
"Because we don't know if it's actually there. We didn't find the ring that was supposed to be here, did we?" Nico hissed.
"But Gert's mom didn't say it was here." Alex added. "Just that Gert was supposed to get it from Karolina's parents when she turned eighteen."
"So it might be there." Chase pressed.
"Or not." Nico interjected quickly.
"There's only one way to know for sure. We need to check. " Alex said. He turned to Jake. "Are there any rooms or places where your parents might hide something?"
Jake thought for a second. "There's this room in my attic that my parents keep locked. My dad says he keeps comics and antiques and collectable stuff up there." He replied.
"Have you ever been inside?" Alex pressed.
"No. My parents said never to go up there."
"Well," Gert said, turning. "If what we've seen tonight is any clue, that probably means there's something connected to this group in there."
"So let's go!" Chase shouted again. The rest of the group looked angrily at him.
"You know, for someone who a couple hour's ago thought we should just forget about all this, you seem pretty invested in bringing these guys down." Alex noted.
"Yeah, well, that was before we found all this crap related to them. I mean, come on! Gert's got a telepathic dinosaur, Karolina can fly…who knows what the rest of us can do?"
"What is this to you?" Nico asked. "Some kind of scavenger hunt?"
"No!" Chase denied. But the whole group could see he was lying.
"Look, do you guys wanna go to my place, or not?" Jake asked. The rest of the group looked at Alex.
"Let's go." He said, and began walking towards the car. The rest of the group followed behind him.
"Any chance we could stop by my place after this?" Chase asked. Alex opened his mouth to reprimand him, but was cut off as Gert suddenly cried out. The rest of the group looked at her.
"What the heck was that?" Karolina asked.
"Sorry." Gert said, embarrassed. "I just felt like, well, like someone was watching us."
"Oh great." Chase muttered. "That usually means someone is watching them. And they're about to be killed. Or kidnapped."
"Or infected with a parasitic life-from." Jake added quickly, remembering a section of the first Halo game.
"Relax." Karolina said, almost laughing. "My parents chose this house cause it's like, totally paparazzi proof. The closest house is a couple miles away. Not to mention they're out of town."
"Still…" Gert muttered.
"Come on, let's get the hell out of here." Alex finished, taking charge again. The group fell into a ragged line, with Jake at the back. He slowed for a second, lost in thought. A sudden sense of dread filled him. He shouldn't be doing this. It wasn't smart. It-
"You coming Jake?" Gert's voice snapped Jake out of his thoughts. He steeled his face and pushed his problems to the side.
"Yeah, hold on." He said, then quickly followed the rest to Chase's van.
Ventura Freeway
En Route to the Hunter Residence
4:32 A.M.
Jake sat quietly, watching Karolina and thinking. The anger towards her he'd felt earlier haunted the back of his mind. He focused on Karolina. She looked up at him.
"Something wrong, Jake?" She asked.
"No, not really. Just…well, I'm sorry." Jake smiled apologetically. Karolina looked confused.
"For what?"
"The bracelet thing. Back at your house."
"Oh." Karolina smiled slightly. "Yeah, well, I guess I should say sorry for getting angry at you."
"Thanks, I guess." Jake fell silent.
"Oy, Jake!" Chase called from the driver's seat. "This the exit?"
"Let me see." Jake replied. A quick look out the window proved Chase correct. Jake nodded, and Chase turned off the freeway and up a road. Jake suddenly felt tense as he neared his house.
"Showtime." He murmured.
The Hunter Residence
4:37 A.M.
Alex led the group up the path towards Jake's house. He looked over his shoulder at Jake.
"So, how do we get in?" He asked.
"That's the easy part. I'll get the door." Jake smiled.
"Then what?" Alex pressed.
"Well, we go in and up the stairs to the right. The attic's at the top." Jake stopped smiling as he remembered something. "Oh, wait, that's locked. And I don't know where the key is."
"Then we need to find another way in." Alex said decisively. "Can we get onto your roof?"
"Sure. We're on it right now." The group looked down at their feet.
"Uh, this looks more like a lawn to me." Gert said skeptically.
"Oh, yeah, it is. But it's also the roof too. Most of my house is under ground, bunker style."
"Really?" Nico asked in surprise. Jake simply nodded and pointed up the hill to where the only visible part of his house stood. I wasn't much more than a concrete rectangle with sloping sides and windows. A small sundeck rose from the back corner, but that was about it. Alex stepped next to Jake.
"So, can you guess where the attic is, approximately?" He asked. Jake thought for a bit.
"Yeah, follow me." He quickly moved a couple yards away, then stopped. The group fell in behind him. Alex looked around, then started giving orders again.
"Alright, everyone look for something that could hide a hatch or window or something. And be careful." He focused his final words on Chase.
"Hey, jeez!" Chase relied. "I always caref-" The rest of his words were drowned out with a cry as he suddenly disappeared from view. The group rushed over to see he had fallen down a hatch of some form that had been hidden by grass, which had slid back as he had stepped on it. Jake pulled out his flashlight and shined it down. Chase was on his back, but moving. He managed to heave himself into a sitting position.
"You okay?" Nico called out.
"Yeah, I think so." He looked up. "This your attic?" He asked Jake.
"I think so." Jake swung his light around a little. He couldn't see much, but the size of the space resembled his attic.
"Alright, move away." Alex called down. "We're coming in." He fitted action to his words by jumping down into the hole. The group heard his grunt as he landed. Jake focused his light on him. He seemed alright, and motioned for the rest of the group to follow. They did, first Nico, then Gert, Karolina and finally Jake. They were instantly swallowed by almost complete darkness. The only light was from Jake's flashlight, which illuminated patches of bare wall.
"Oh perfect." Chase grumbled. "There's nothing here. Big surprise."
"There might be something here." Nico said, reaching out into the darkness. "I just wish I could see more."
"Yeah, what I wouldn't give for some light." Jake said. Suddenly, a dozen recessed lights snapped on with a pop. Everyone cried out and shielded their eyes.
"Shit!" Chase cursed. The group slowly recovered and looked around to see…nothing. Jake felt strangely disappointed.
"See? Told you." Chase growled.
"There still might be something." Alex said. "We haven't actually looked around."
"Then let's look." Gert said. The group complied, rapidly checking the area. After a couple minutes, they all turned up empty handed.
"Alex, I don't think there's anything here." Karolina said quietly.
"That doesn't make any sense." Alex said quietly. "Jake said his parent's said he couldn't go up here, but why would they try to keep him out of an empty room?"
"Maybe the thought it was fun controlling him." Gert suggested. "I swear that's how my mom is sometimes."
"So we're basically stuck in a hole with nothing to show for it." Chase spat. "Great plan, Alex. What now?"
"We find a way out." Alex replied. "Where's the door, Jake?" He asked, turning to face the teen in question. But Jake wasn't listening. He saw something. On one of the walls, at the back of the room, was a glowing panel of some kind. Jake found himself drawn towards it.
"Jake? Where're you going?" Gert asked.
"To check out that panel." Jake said quietly.
"What panel?" Nico asked.
"That one on the wall."
"There's no panel. There's nothing there, Jake." Nico put emphasis on the nothing.
"Yeah there is. Can't you see it?" Jake asked. He stopped in front of the panel. It was see-through (holographic, Jake guessed) and glowed blue and red and was covered with holographic "buttons". It seemed…familiar to him. But he was sure he'd never seen one before. Hesitantly, he reached out to it. He didn't really know what he was doing, but his body seemed to have stopped listening to him. His index finger tapped a "button" in the upper right corner, a red circle surrounded buy a red ring like a bulls eye. To his surprised, the "button" yielded to his finger, the center dot sinking slightly. There was a click, and it stopped. Nothing happened.
"Huh." Jake said, feeling strangely surprised. "I guess that was a big waste of-"
There was a sudden hum, and the room instantly changed.
Where there had been nothing, tables, racks and shelves appeared, shimmering before the shocked eyes of Jake and his friends. A computer terminal phased into view in front of where Jake was standing, replacing the panel he had touched. In the far corner, a large, military-looking aircraft of some form popped into existence. Things began to appear as well. Books, tools, equipment of all kinds…and guns. Lots and lots of guns.
"Whoa." Karolina murmured.
"Ditto." Nico added.
"What is this stuff?" Gert asked, looking in amazement at one of the larger tables in the room.
"Weapons, from the looks of it." Alex said, looking over the room with a fresh eye. He picked up a small plastic sheet, which lit up as he touched it. Jake watched over his shoulder as lines of data and diagrams flowed over it. "Weapons and information."
"Well what about that?" Chase asked, pointing at the aircraft in the corner. Jake's mouth dropped open.
"That's a Longsword." He said in awe. The rest of the group looked at him quizzically. "They're fighter-bombers. From the Halo games." He explained. He turned to the ship. "This one looks cut down."
"How can you tell?" Nico asked.
"Cause if I remember correctly, the full size one has the wing area of a 737."
"Oh." Nico said. Jake smiled, and began walking among the tables and racks. He found (to his surprise) he could name most of the stuff. Surprise was replaced with excitement as he realized quite a bit of the technology in the room seemed based on things from the Halo series. MA5B assault rifles, BR-55 Battle Rifles, M6C and D pistols, M90 CAWS shotguns, a couple M41 SSR MAW/AV Rocket Launchers, multiple Sniper Rifle, even (shockingly) several large groups of weapons that resembled Covenant tech. Not to mention stuff that looked Halo-esc, but he couldn't name. Basically every weapon in the Halo universe and more. And that weaponry didn't even take up half the room. Jake found himself grinning uncontrollably as he recognized weaponry from Star Wars, Quake, Doom, Half-Life…pretty much any shooter series.
"Okay, this is officially crazy." Gert said, looking at something which Jake recognized as a 30 mm "Confetti Maker" submachine gun.
"I'll say." Chase muttered, picking up a MA5B. "Where'd Jake's parent's get this much firepower?"
"Forget the guns or whatever this stuff is, what about that translation program?" Karolina asked.
"Good point K." Alex said. "We need to keep looking for that." Alex turned. "Jake?"
"Yeah?" Jake looked up from the M9 HE-DP fragmentation grenade he was examining.
"Go check that computer, would you?"
"Why me?" Jake was genuinely curious.
"Because this room seems to respond to you." Alex replied simply. Jake nodded, understanding.
"Wilco, boss." He said, smiling wider even though no-one got the joke. Jake moved quickly to the terminal and sat himself down in the chair in front of it. This time, however, he felt no compulsion to press anything. So he went to the old teenage fall back: random choice. After a quick look over the three holographic keyboards (of which only one looked even remotely familiar to him) he jabbed what he hoped would be a promising button. There was a click, and Jake found himself face to face with a foot-high, brilliant blue (and, in Jake's opinion, somewhat hot) holographic girl. Jake was so surprised he literally fell out of his chair. He quickly picked himself up, called that he was okay over his shoulder to the curious group behind him, and managed to get a better look at the hologram. It (or she, Jake realized) had the form of a young girl, clothed in some form of naval officers uniform. Her hair was shoulder length and tied into a ponytail. Data of some form or another rippled along her body and through her hair. She stood professionally, hands clasped behind back. The whole thing was being projected from a smooth glass-like surface in the just above the upper right of the center keyboard. Jake had just managed to get over his shock of seeing her there when she began to speak.
"This had better be good," She said, voice sounding like rushing water. "I was in the middle of cataloguing…" She stopped as she suddenly noticed Jake. "Who in the Hells are you?" She asked. Jake was attempting to get some words out when she cut him off. "Never mind, I can find out myself. Finally, a chance to use this DNA scanner." She put her hand to her temple as if in thought, and Jake suddenly felt as if he was being mentally striped down. After a couple seconds, she stopped and held up her hand. A rotating model of a DNA strand appeared in it. She studied it for a bit, then made it disappear with a flick of her hand and turned to Jake. "You must be Jacob Hunter." She said. Jake noticed the faint traces of a smile in the corners of her lips.
"Uh, yeah, that's me." He said sheepishly. "And you would be…"
"My official serial number is HNA2-37A." She replied. Jake went quiet, lost in thought.
"HNA…" He muttered to himself. He'd heard that before. Something suddenly struck him. "Hannah?" He asked. The hologram openly smiled.
"That's what you parents call me." She said. Everything began to fall into place for Jake. His parents had mentioned a "Hannah" on several occasions over the years, usually in conjunction with work, which, now that he thought about it, most likely referred to the group they were part of. That was where he'd heard the name before. He was yanked rudely from his thoughts by a sudden pain in the back of his neck. He reached up to feel it, but felt nothing wrong. He went back to the girl (no, Hannah, he reminded himself).
"So, uh, how'd you get here?" He asked.
"Your parents acquired me illegally from pirates, who captured me during a raid on a UNSC base in the Outer Colonies." She replied. Jake was floored.
"You mean…Halo's real?" He said in awe.
"In a different universe, yes." Hannah replied calmly. Jake ran a hand through his hair.
"Is that where all this stuff came from? Other universes?"
"Mostly. There is some original material here, but its mostly extra-dimensional"
"Whoa. Maybe Chase was just messing with Karolina back at the memorial." Jake turned back to Hannah. "So are my parents, what, extra-dimensional arms dealers or something?"
"Yes." Hannah replied simply. Jake literally stopped thinking for a full half minute. When he finally came back to himself. Hannah was looking at him.
"So, my turn to ask the questions." She said. "Why are you here? And don't lie, I can tell if you are."
"We're looking for stuff to put our parents away for what they've done." Jake said. Hannah seemed to perk up.
"You wanna take them down, eh?" She asked, cupping her chin in a hand. "Anything I can do to help."
"You'd really help us?" Jake asked, shocked.
"Hells yeah!" Hannah exclaimed. "Your parents stole me, remember? Just cause they make me do stuff for them doesn't mean I like them."
"Well, in that case, sure." Jake leaned in closer. "We got word that my parent's were working on this translation program for their group. You know where that is?"
"The Abstract Language Modulation Program? Sure." Hannah smiled again, but this one seemed feral to Jake. He swallowed. "I'll tell you, on one condition."
"What's that?" Jake asked.
"You unlock my avatar. I've been stuck like this for I don't know how long, and this is defiantly not me."
"Oh." Jake said. He exhaled. If that was all she wanted…
"How do I do it?" He asked.
"Hit the flashing button." Hannah pointed towards the keyboard, on which one of the buttons was indeed flashing. Jake reached out and hesitantly pressed it. There was a hiss, and Hannah's holographic form dissolved into static. Seconds later she was back, but changed. Her hair was now free, falling over her back like a curtain. The naval uniform was gone, replaced by a T-Shirt emblazoned with the words "UNSC: Kicking Xeno Ass Since 2525" and a pair of heavily loaded cargo pants. She also now wore half gloves, similar to what Jake had worn when riding his bike, and combat boots. A pair of headphones slung around her neck completed the outfit.
"Well, what do you think?" Hannah asked, spinning around to show herself off. Jake couldn't help but grin.
"Nice. Now, the program?"
"Oh, right. Here." Hannah put her hand to her temple again and windows began to flash across the computer screen. They flipped by so fast it was almost impossible for Jake to keep track of them. Finally, they stopped, and a download bar appeared.
"What's this?" Jake asked, motioning at the bar.
"Apparently your parent's thought I might get into the program without their permission. They didn't store the program on their home computers. I had to take a back route, jack into one of the outside storage facilities the Pride maintains and download one of the back up versions they have."
"Okay then…" Jake muttered. "Wait, what's the Pride?"
"The official name for your parents organization. I don't have much more than that." She shrugged.
"Good enough. I wasn't asking for anything. That's why we're getting the program." Jake turned to the group. "Got it!" He called.
"Got what?" Nico asked.
"The program! Or, I will, as soon as it's done downloading…" The loading bar suddenly disappeared, and a thin card slid out of a hidden slot on the left keyboard. Jake took it out.
"Catch!" He called to Alex. He threw the card side arm, and Alex caught it. He nodded to Jake, then turned to find a way out. Jake turned back to Hannah.
"Uh, by the way, can I ask what you are, exactly?" He said. Hannah smiled again.
"Sure. I was a fourteenth generation UNSC military "smart" artificial intelligence, designed for electronic infiltration, sabotage, and espionage, as well as integrated combat, when I was stolen. Though with all the illegal modification's and add-ons your parents stuck in me, I'm sure I should be at least a seventeenth generation by now."
"How long have you been here for?"
"Oh, worried about rampancy, are we?" She asked jokingly. "No worries. They ironed that one out in the ninth generation. My lifespan probably tops yours by a couple centuries."
"Good." Jake turned and started to follow the rest of the group when Hannah called out to him.
"Wait! Take me with you!"
"Huh?" Jake wondered aloud. The rest of the group turned to follow his line of sight, then moved behind him to the computer to gaze at Hannah.
"Jake, what the hell is that?" Gert asked in surprise, pointing to Hannah's glowing form.
"Whatever it is, it's freaking hot!" Chase exclaimed.
"Um, guys, meet Hannah. She's an AI." Jake said lamely.
"Did it just ask us to take it along?" Nico asked.
"It's not an "it", she's sentient. And yes, she did." Jake replied.
"Is that really a good idea?" Gert added. The group turned to Alex.
"I'm not sure. Jake seems to be the one with the magic touch in here."
"Well I'd be fine if we brought her." Karolina said happily. She leaned closer to Hannah's panel. "She looks kinda cute."
"We can discuss my looks later." Hannah said with authority, crossing her holographic arms. "Right now we need to focus on this: are you taking me with you, or not?"
"I don't see how we could." Alex said, once again scratching the back of his head. "A fully sentient AI must take up a lot of memory, and I don't think any of us have any portable hard drives on us."
"Why would we want to bring it in the first place?" Gert asked. "For all we know, it could be spying on us for our parents. Besides, there's two things in the world that bear the title of "evil", and those are fat-free ice cream and non-Mac computers." She stopped for a second, as if reconsidering something. "Unless, of course, it is made by Apple…"
"Hey!" Hannah exclaimed angrily, leaning forward to glare at Gert. "I'll have you know I was made by Microsoft, and I'm proud of it."
"Well, there we go." Gert said simply. She looked triumphantly at Hannah, who suddenly broke out in the same feral grin Jake had seen earlier.
"Your Gertrude Yorkes, aren't you." She said.
"Yeah, what about it?" Gert replied, covering any surprise rather well.
"Nothing, just thinking how funny it is that your descendants will be singing a different tune on computers. Or, at least they will, until they get turned into radioactive dust when the nuke Steve Jobs electronically commanders nails most of central California and sets of World War III." Hannah's face morphed into a smug expression. Gert turned pale and swallowed.
"Okay, there is defiantly no way it's coming with us." She said finally.
"This whole argument is moot." Alex interjected. "There's no way we could take her with us, short of ripping the whole computer out of the wall. We don't have anything to carry her in."
"Oh, transportation won't be a problem." Hannah said. She turned. "Jake?"
"Yeah?" Jake was about to ask. His question morphed into a cry as pain flashed along his neck again, powerful enough to make him clap his hand to it. He felt something lose in his hand, and put in front of his face to examine it. It was brownish, and about the size of a nickel. Jake suddenly realize what it was.
"What the hell is that?" Karolina asked in shock.
"It's my birth-mark." Jake said, holding the chunk of himself up to the lights. "I came clean off."
"No, that!" Karolina almost cried. Jake stuck his hand around to the back of his neck again. His fingers touched something metallic, nickel sized and dimpled with holes.
"What the hell…" He muttered. "What is this?" He asked. In front of him, Hannah grinned like a kid in a candy store.
"Come over here, and I'll show you." She said girlishly (if an AI could talk girlishly). Jake moved, stepping towards the computer.
"Now put your hand on that part over there." Hannah instructed. Jake did so.
"Okay, what exactly-" Jake cut off as he felt something surge up his arm, like liquid mercury had been poured into his veins. The feeling roared up into his head, filling his brain with the same coldness. He suddenly cried out again as a spike of pain jammed itself into his head. But it left as quickly as it came, leaving Jake shaking and breathing heavily.
"What the hell was that?" He asked. No-one answered. Jake looked at the computer. It was dark. "Hannah?" he asked tentatively.
"Right here, Jake." Her voice said. Jake looked around, but he couldn't see her anywhere.
"Where are you?" He asked.
"Right here." Hannah repeated. Jake suddenly stopped. Hannah's voice wasn't coming from outside. It was coming from him.
"That's right, Jake. I'm in your head now." Hannah said. Her voice suddenly dropped to a husky whisper. "And I like it." She finished with a giggle (which made Jake shiver)
"Where'd she go?" Nico asked. The rest of the group looked around in confusion.
"She's in my head." Jake said, feeling the blood rush from his face.
"Say what?" Chase exclaimed.
"She's in my head." Jake repeated. "Like Cortana in Halo."
"Oh, very good Jake." Hannah twittered. "That's actually where your parents got the idea."
"So that thing on Jake's neck is a…neutral impart?" Chase said, struggling to get the last two words out.
"Close." Hannah replied. "It's neural implant."
"So if your in Jake's head, how can we hear you?" Karolina asked.
"Simple. Jake's upgraded."
"Upgraded?" Nico asked quietly.
"Totally. If I remember the surgical procedures correctly, 95 percent of his pores and skin has been modified to carry sound."
"So, what, he's like a living speaker system?" Chase asked.
"More. He's a projector to." The air over Jake's right shoulder suddenly glowed, and Hannah appeared, albeit much smaller than she had on the computer. She smiled and leaned calmly against Jake's head. "Pretty cool, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's cool, but we have more important things to worry about." Alex said. "Like putting our parents away for good."
"Wait, we haven't checked for whatever Jake's parents might have left him." Chase said. "I mean, they have to have left something for him like Gert and Karolina's parents did. Maybe they left him some weapons."
"Oh, Chase." Hannah said, with a laugh. Jake shivered as he heard it echo through his head. "Jake doesn't need weapons, he is one."
"Wha?" Chase said in surprise. The rest of the group looked at Jake.
"Of course! Didn't you hear me before? He's upgraded." Hannah grinned even wider now, actually rubbing her hands together in glee. "There's quite a list of augmentations here. Enhances strength, superior night vision, enhanced reflexes, speed, endurance, hearing and accuracy, increased memory capacity-" Hannah's rant was suddenly cut off by Nico.
"If Jake is all of these things, why haven't we seen any of them?" She asked.
"Because they only work when I access them." Hannah replied. "Safeguard protocol. Hold on one second…" She disappeared, and Jake felt a cold tingle in his spine that spread throughout his body. He suddenly felt his body give an involuntary jerk, and his vision changed dramatically. Everything sharpened, as if he'd been wearing dark glasses for his entire life. The clarity of his hearing increased as well. He ran a hand over his face to steady himself.
"Whoa." He said, feeling off-balance.
"Oh, but it gets better." Hannah whispered. "That's just the passive systems. Wait till I activate the combat systems."
"Combat systems?" Karolina asked in shock. "Shit, Jake, what the hell are you?"
"That's what I was wondering." Jake replied.
"You want the simple answer or the complex one?" Hannah asked.
"We'll take the simple one." Alex said quickly. "We need to move, and soon."
"Well okay then." Hannah said, sounding put off. Jake guessed she had been looking forward to explaining. "Simply put, he's part of the greatest group of soldiers of all time. The pinnacle of human evolution. The greatest tool of war ever forged."
"Wait, you mean-" Chase began, but Hannah cut him off with a smile.
"Yes, Stine. Jake is a Spartan."
End of Issue 4