CHAPTER 02.

Author's notes part 01 – chapter 02

First I thought I'd post this without any warnings, buuuut, then I changed my mind.

Ok, so, there will be some mature themes here and some really fucked up stuff that I just have to include in the story if I want to write about the Union. Nothing too explicit, tough. This is a warning for the whole fic, not just this chapter, you might find some stuff here triggering… or you might not.

Concerning this particular chapter, the beginning of it is a bit confusing… which is a point, so please bear with it, everything will make sense later on.

There was a sound. Beeping. It was getting… not necessarily closer, but clearer. After some time… time? What time was it anyway - it beeped louder. For some reason that made him mentally flinch. Time… was that a clock? It didn't sound like a clock. The intervals between two ticks became shorter. What was that? Where was it coming from? He listened carefully and realised it was unusually hard for him to focus. His thoughts were too loud in his head. They were all rushing at him at the same time, his inner voices talking all together at once. Soon he was unable to understand what they were saying. His thoughts would scatter and leave him without permission. When that happened… wait… how many times had that happened…? Had that happened before? When his thoughts settled somewhere he couldn't find them, it would become eerily quiet in his mind… and he'd forget what all the fuss had been about in the first place.

First… second. Beeping. What was that sound? Was that a clock? No, wait… Just listen, listen! What was that? He ordered himself, not so calmly, even though the other voice in his head was relentlessly repeating not to panic. Was he panicking? It was just a beep… a machine of some sort… yeah, one of the games he played on his computer was warning him that time for finishing the level is almost up. Time… What time was - it was beeping annoyingly quickly now. What was that, he screamed because all the other voices were getting ridiculously loud. A timer, whispered one, a bomb shouted the other, a ... said the third becoming an echo to other explanations bursting from the dark pit beneath - wait what? I didn't catch that. The voices started to repeat themselves concealing the weak echo in the heap of incomprehensible hubbub. Soon enough, he couldn't recognise the far away noise… or any of the words popping up somewhere deep in the bottomless pit. Suddenly, there was nothing to recognise. That whole dark space was empty and silent. He thanked the Lord for this moment of peace. He was very tired… but didn't know why he wanted to rest. It was strange not to wonder, he, however, didn't care. It was so nice that here was quiet.

There was that sound again. Beeping.

Again… Again? Had I heard this before? Or… thought this before? What was it? Where was it coming from? He looked into the dark and couldn't see anything. There was no clock on the wall, no machine… There was no wall, someone whispered into his ear. Someone else said it was a bomb. Yeah… he had to disarm the bomb on this level and the timer was… Why was there no wall? So it wasn't a pit gaping at him… it was… flat. A floor? A wall… a room? We deduced there was no wall, because there was no clock, the voice urged him to pay attention. Why is it so dark then? Wasn't he in his room trying to set the new record in the game?

It scared him.

The beeping in the dark.

Where am I? Why is it so dark? He thought he should turn on the light, but nothing happened. He wasn't sure if it was because he'd tried and failed or because he hadn't done anything. Had he even moved? His mind was reassuring him that he had. His gut was telling him otherwise. He tried to move again, and again. And again… was he moving? Being exhausted must have meant that he was. For a long time. What a vast room… was it his? He wanted to continue walking, but it was dark and there was no way of knowing where he was headed. So he stopped… thinking… and forgot what he was doing. He just knew he had to do something. Do something about what?

The beeping. It seemed familiar. That sound… was it a bell? Was it ringing? Between the beeping ticks he heard someone telling him to open… something. Open. What, the door? Someone was ringing the bell. Was there a door here? There wasn't even a wall. Why was there no wall? The strong scream in his ear jerked him so suddenly he couldn't even protest.

Open your eyes!

The whiteness was so bright he thought he'd pass out. In the back of his mind, some of the voices concluded losing consciousness wouldn't be so bad. He was already lying down, so there was no threat of further injuries. Some of the others agreed. They were tired and all that white was getting in the way of needed rest. He wanted to ask them why were they so keen on sleeping. The pain in his eyes answered in their stead. He gave his best trying to focus his weary gaze on something. There was just… too much white and nothing else. He was about to give up, when he heard the beeping. Where was it coming from? He felt relieved when the beeping slowed down. It was now easier to concentrate. It was as if the sound wanted to be found.

After some time… time, oh right, what was the time? After some time, he realised he was looking at the machine. It was showing numbers. He was so sure it was a digital clock at first. The numbers didn't change like they were supposed to, tough. He believed that was his fault somehow. He had this nauseating feeling there was something wrong with him. He feared his thought process wasn't working correctly which was absolutely horrible news considering he always deemed himself to be clever and logical and easy to adapt to an unknown environment. Now, however, he was having trouble connecting the things he was seeing in his brain. So it wasn't shocking to figure out that the machine was showing something beside the numbers. Those lines were always there he just hadn't noticed them before.

Finally, his mind relaxed for a bit. It was a heart monitor. The puzzle was solved. He reckoned he deserved some sleep now. He couldn't even remember the last time he had closed his eyes. The last couple of days had been so hectic for him. He had never had to deal with such a fine firewall. Those jerks, he wandered off not realising there was a person in front of him. Even though the person's hair was such a vivid red… how it strongly contrasted all the white… Even though the person turned to him, he still didn't think that was a good enough reason to stay awake.

Wake up, Tao!

He winced. That was a direct order. To Tao, to him. He was Tao, right, he remembered. And he was not feeling very well. That could explain the heart monitor.

That explained nothing at all.

There was more than one person in front of him now. Doctors? They looked the part. Was he in the hospital? He couldn't recall going to one. He could recall very little, actually. People in the white lab coats were talking about something. They were checking charts and machines. Were they aware that he was awake? The redhead seemed to be staring at him. She wasn't saying anything, tough. He heard himself saying, you might be on an operating table. That was a good enough guess for him. I'm about to be operated on. I shouldn't be awake. Oh, well… he closed his eyes again.

No. Wait. What? Hospital? Operation? I'm not sick. Don't be ridiculous. I'm not supposed to be here. Why am I here? Did something happen to me and I just can't remember? Is it that serious? Was I in an accident of some sort? Where are my parents? Did they allow this? What are all these doctors going to do? What's the procedure? What's my diagnosis? What happened to me?

The beeping was so quick and clear to him now it was almost as if it was a part of him. He was feeling hot and sick. He wanted to throw up. The redhead blurred in front of him and he screamed, no. He had to stay awake. He had to know what's going on. He was at home. He was about to go outside. Yeah, he found a new lead that night and had to check it out. He opened the door and there was an unfamiliar man there. A strange one, a foreigner. He… what had he done?

"Ha… the drug is wearing off. No wonder your heart is jumping up and down like crazy."

That was the readhead speaking. Probably. He wasn't sure because of the masks they wore on their faces. What she said was not in Chinese. It was English. He understood English, he couldn't put those words into any context, tough. He wanted to ask her to repeat them, he wanted to ask her a lot of things.

"Don't waste time, little one. You won't be able to speak anyway." She said in a cute voice.

What does that mean?

"Dr Aris, whenever you're ready."

"Oh, we'll start soon. I just want to see the effects of the new drug. This is the first time we used it on a regular human." She was looking at some stats. "This is meant to be used on agents during interrogation. It scrambles their minds and acts like a truth serum in reaction to their enhanced brain tissue, it's easy to manipulate and reprogram them while intoxicated. Hm… looks like the drug is most useful… but… It seems it has almost a devastating effect on an ordinary human. Ah… is it because there are no modified cells in the organism on which the drug would stick itself? Interesting…"

She was rambling. There were too many unknown… complicated words for Tao to understand her. On the other hand her eyes were easy to interpret. With no effort at all her guileless face closed up. All of a sudden her eyes had a gleam of childish excitement - which set off every single alarm in Tao's mind. The way the following words flew from her lips like a whip slashing through thin air scared the shit out of him. "Curse those elder pigs for fucking with the brain of my baby. I told those pigs he was on my souvenir list. On my special souvenir list, first on it too. If they turned his precious little brain into pudding I'll flip."

She turned to a man in the back of the room. Tao couldn't see him well from the table. His attempt to lift his head was futile. He couldn't even feel his neck, let alone move it. Then he realised he couldn't feel his body either.

"You make sure you tell them, Yuri. Make sure you pass my every word on to them. Those fucking pigs." She finished, almost spitting.

"But of course, doctor." That man smiled. "They've already apologised."

"Apologised my ass." If Tao could flinch he would have. That woman patted him gently on the head out of the blue. "Just look at his condition. I'm all for experimenting, but do it on a low class material. This is all just to slow down my work. Of course they mess with my babies. God forbid they try something similar on the subjects of that bastard Crombel. He has, like, hundreds of them, but no, they're not gonna mess with him. That pig."

"It wasn't their intention to spite you, doctor. These were exigent circumstances." He was pretty convincing even with that fake smile on his flat face. "The kid hacked into our system. You can understand their worry."

"You mean to say they were scared shitless." She smiled to Tao. He saw hunger in those yellow eyes of hers. She was starving and he was her meal. He could almost see her sharp little teeth, behind her mask, distorted into a smug grin. She tugged on his black hair. "My baby is so competent. Sixteen years old and already so smart and pretty."

She turned to Yuri again, this time with a frown. It was astounding how quickly her emotions changed. And even more so, that she openly wore them on her face. "They drugged him and still couldn't get anything."

"Well… he's completely useless in this state."

"Well, of course he is. They should have asked me for help. I would have made him talk in two seconds."

"It wasn't really about the info he got from the Union database. It was all low level information." Yuri said calmly. "It had more to do with the fact that some kid found our network database and managed to get inside. Elders wanted to know how he did it. Just one brat is nothing to be concerned about. Imagine, however, if a rival organisation or someone of similar intentions hacked us, or worse destroyed our centuries of worth experimenting data."

The woman contemplated this for a minute. She left the charts on the table and picked up a syringe. The machine beeped. Numbers started to dance.

"Easy." It sounded almost kind when she said it. She caressed Tao's cold, wet cheek and the boy noticed for the first time there was a bulky breathing device inserted deep into his mouth. No wonder he couldn't make a sound. "This here will help you relax. You're tired, aren't you? Krantz and Yuri scared you quite a bit."

The woman waved steadily with a syringe as if she knew Tao wouldn't be able to register it if she didn't do it slowly enough. "I knew you were smart, but that was a bold move. Didn't think you had it in you. What were you doing in our database, Tao?"

He was absolutely terrified of this woman. The way she said his name… A cute, sweet poison. The worst of it all was – he had no clue what was going on. Where the hell was he? What were they talking about? Where were his parents? They had been at the flat with him when he opened the door. There had been a man at the door. Blond hair, and it wasn't dyed. A foreigner. He'd given his greetings in English and then… it was so hard to remember. It hurt his head. He wanted to scream. That tube in his mouth didn't let him.

"He was looking for data about the last shipment of meat we acquired in Beijing." That was Yuri talking again. With most of his features hidden in the shadows from large orbs shining on the ceiling, the man looked inscrutable. For some reason, however, his manner of slow speech… the way he bore himself… it was all so very deja vu to Tao. The boy's head started to spin when he tried to connect the two dots he'd managed to find in the depths of the thick fog that was his memory. The lights from the dots flickered and then slipped right through his fingers, getting lost in the pit. He mentally sighed in desperation feeling rather upset now. And very… very frightened. Things were getting out of hand.

"After all this mess, I checked the list of collected meat and files that had been breached. It seems one of the subjects in that shipment was a girl from his class." Yuri continued as if he didn't notice Tao's inner squirming.

"Are those the ones they've been taking for the new project elders have been talking about?" She was still looking at Tao with those voracious eyes.

"Yes, doctor. The shipment was sent two weeks ago. Somehow, this kid sniffed us out."

"Aw… young love is it? Did you plan to hit that, Tao? Don't expect to see her again. It's been two weeks, I'd be surprised if there was anything left of her. That project's gonna fail. Even that bastard Crombel agrees with me on that." She checked the needle. "You should have found another chick to bang. Well, I don't really mind. I was planning to get Yuri to pick you up in two years, anyway. I guess I can only be happy we met earlier on." She was still talking. It was starting to really hurt his head. All that racket. Machines, voices, those two talking in a foreign language. He was starting to lose focus. "What's annoying is that you're still growing. Working on teens is so tiresome. So much work just to make them stable. I'll have to be extra careful."

Despite not being able to feel his body, he was certain he was shaking violently when she thrust in the needle. Since he couldn't see what she was doing, he hoped he'll at least feel it. He was beginning to worry the reason he didn't feel his body was because he didn't have it anymore.

It sounded weird to say that unfortunately nothing hurt, when pain is a bad thing and nobody should wish for it. Tao honestly wanted to feel the stab of a sharp tip on his skin. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. He couldn't breathe. He might have choked if that thing in his mouth wasn't breathing for him. They were talking about drugs. Ok. So he was drugged. What the hell? What kind of a drug was this? He was basically dead. Was it a sedative? That makes sense if he was on an operating table.

And then his stomach did a backflip.

He was on an operating table.

He can't speak, he can't move, he can barely think and that woman has just injected something into his body. Are they gonna operate on him? Why? Was there something wrong with him? You operate when there's something wrong, right? That woman caught his hair in a fist. She made him move his head. It felt so good to be released from the numbness even if it was for a mere second. He wanted to cry.

"I'll have to change my plans now, all because you couldn't keep it in your pants." It was as if she wanted to burn him just by glaring at him. "Using your precious little hands and brain for someone else, I won't stand for that. You're mine."

And just like that her mood changed again.

"You may proceed. He'll be out in a minute." She said delightedly.

What the hell did she say? She moved from his view. There were six people in the white now. Talking, touching him, and taking out scalpels and other equipment Tao didn't recognise. What… what are they doing? Stop! Stop it right now! Don't touch me, you crazy bastards! One of the surgeons put down the scalpel. There were drops of blood dripping of it. What? When did that happen? Did he cut me? Is that mine? Is that my blood? He was tossing and resisting. Only in his mind, tough. The body was out of commission.

He had no idea how long he was screaming until he realised there was something dark in the corner of his eye. The feeling of it was fuzzy, but familiar. It brought peace and quiet. Perfect for the rest he longed for. The dark was closer now, it wrapped itself around him. Ah… that warm feeling of deep slumber. Steady breaths in the black told him everything would be alright. Tao believed without a second thought. Something that felt this good couldn't be wrong.

It was silent for so long Tao thought he had imagined a strange yelp. He saw every possible shade of grey. The waves of grey were interrupted by movement. Something was going back and forward. Holding something limp. There was a sound that jarred on his ears. Like a knife. No. A saw. Something hissed. He felt a tremor. And cracking. So loud in his mind, something was cracking. It broke. He heard a whimper. A man put something on a red dish right next to a thing that looked... is that how it's supposed to look? As if he saw that somewhere before. Not quite the same. What was that? That whimper, too? What was it, where's it coming from? It wasn't stopping and that was upsetting Tao.

A person with red on his face picked up one of the things from the dish. He was inspecting it with great care.

"Hm… clean cut." Dr Aris uttered satisfied. "Freeze this, I might have to use the tissue later." She moved faster causing Tao's vision to blur. "Those pigs. Their drug is affecting the sedative. I'll kill them all."

"Now, now, Dr Aris…"

"Yes, yes, I know."

The person was talking gibberish. That wasn't Chinese. What the hell was it?

What the hell was in the dish?

He was seeing grey again. The redhead moved closer to him causing the whimper to grow louder. At that exact moment he knew something was terribly wrong with the red haired woman. His mind twitched.

"Aw… don't worry, little baby, everything's under control. Dr Aris will make you brand new better ones..."

Those whimpers were coming from him. It was so obvious he wondered why he hadn't caught on sooner. He was crying, he knew it, even though he didn't feel tears on his cheeks. He was crying… just like a little baby.

Tao was staring at the dish. Fresh blood was dripping on the floor. Two pieces of meat lay there limp, dead like he was. Two identical pieces. His arms.

They'd taken his arms.

Author's notes part 02 – chapter 02

First, let's talk about Tao being Chinese. Tao is a Chinese name and there was a moment in the comic when Takeo (I think) stated that he and Tao are of different nationalities. Since Takeo is a Japanese name, and since in almost every fic I read people see Takeo as a Japanese, I decided Tao was Chinese.

And now the main "event".

"That kind of modification wasn't made so that humans would gain power instead humans were used to create a machine." said Frankenstein while fighting Dr Aris' guards with one year life span. They were huge, obedient and they obviously had their human features tempered with. They were most certainly ugly by Dr Aris' standards so it's not surprising she didn't really care about them. Those two were "robots" that could use tentacles/wires that were implanted in their bodies as weapons. Now, who else can use wires as a weapon? Tao. As Frankenstein mentions it was Tao who gave him some information about such creatures and Dr Aris' research. It was also Tao that explained to children in the aftermath of the fight with the DA5 "… you can call me a modified human. Possibly a robot that was created to serve a purpose? Hahaha…" Dr Aris and Dr Crombel use different methods. With Crombel there is physical transformation. Depending on the looks of the source Dr Aris decides whether to keep the physical appearances of her test subjects or not. She enhances their innate abilities and maybe create new ones if there is potential. Dr Aris relies heavily on modern weapons and technology (She has a nano suit (that also has electric wires coming out of it – I whisper with a grin), Hammer uses bombs, Takeo uses guns, Shark uses knifes – all pretty normal and straightforward – Krantz… we don't really know and then there's Tao. The questions are: Where do those wires come from? How can he absorb and use electricity from different sources? (He even destroyed his and Takeo's mobile phones with electricity coming out of his fingertips while running away from Yuri)) Well, there's my two cents concerning those questions.

See you next time!