Chapter 2: Systems Activated
James opened his eyes again, wondering when the operation was going to take place. He then jumped out of his skin to find two bars, one blue and one red, were near the top of his vision on either side. There was also an empty bar towards the bottom right of his vision, and to the right of his vision was six boxes, a symbol in each box. James sat up and got out of bed, looking around. He found a mirror and looked in to it, checking his eyes. To his confusion the bars were not on his eyes.
"Weird...."
"Yes, it will be a little weird at first." James jumped out of his skin again as Dr. Hunt spoke. He turned around to find her standing at the door.
"Dr. Hunt! I didn't hear you enter." Dr. Hunt smiles.
"I have quiet footsteps. Anyway, I'm here to tell you what you can now do," She walked over to James slowly "First off, your bars. There should be 3 of them and six boxes." James nods.
"Yeah, one of the bars is empty though."
"That's your ammo counter, you don't have any ammo so it's bound to be empty." James went quiet and Dr. Hunt waved a hand in front of his face. "James?"
"I'm just wondering if it counts all types of ammo" Dr. Hunt shook her head.
"No...only THE type of ammo." James blinked.
"THE type of ammo?" Dr. Hunt nodded, folding her arms.
"Some time ago someone invented a new type of ammo which could be used in every weapon. This universal ammo is used nowadays and all other ammo was scrapped."
"I see.....so you pull out a pistol and fire it, then you pull out a shotgun and fire it, and it uses the same ammo?"
"Yes, every weapon out there so far uses the universal ammo. Except different weapons use up varying amounts of ammo." James tilted his head.
"What do you mean?" Dr. Hunt tried to think of an example.
"Well....say you fire a basic pistol, that is going to use up not a lot of ammo each shot. Then you fire a rocket launcher, or a flamethrower. Those are going to use up way more ammo than the pistol would. Understand?" James nodded.
"Yeah....man, the world has changed a lot..." Dr. Hunt nodded.
"Yes...anyway, the other two bars should be Red and Blue respectively. The red bar monitors your damage and the blue one monitors your Bioenergy." James examined the damage bar.
"So does that mean I have loads of damage on me?" Dr. Hunt chuckled.
"It doesn't work like that. The more damage you take, the more the red bar decreases. When it gets to zero, you've taken too much damage and you will die." James gulped.
"Well I gotta watch that often then....what's the boxes for?"
"Ah, that's what your biomods are. Those boxes tells you what biomods you have installed on you. We installed them ourselves so it should be, from top to bottom, Light; Regeneration; Cloak; Thermal Masking; Enhanced Strength; and Move Silent." After hearing Move Silent, James laughed.
"Is that why I didn't hear you enter?" Dr. Hunt smirked.
"No, I just have light footsteps." James raised an eyebrow.
"Suuuure you do." Dr. Hunt unfolded her arms, putting her hands on her hips.
"Can I continue now? Anyway, Light turns on a light that is in your eye, allowing you to see in dark places. Regeneration heals you and can bring your damage bar back up to full. Cloak makes you invisible to people and animals and so does Thermal Masking except it only works on robots and cameras. Enhanced strength is self-explanatory and so is move silent. The previous five biomods can be changed for different biomods, but light cannot be changed. Also each biomod, excluding light, can be upgraded up to a maximum level of three." James whistles.
"So that means they are enhanced with each level?" Dr. Hunt nods.
"Yes. Regeneration heals you more with each level and uses up less bioenergy, bioenergy cost is decreased for Cloak with each level, same with Thermal Masking, Enhanced Strength makes you even more stronger with each upgrade and Move Silent allows you to move silently with each level upgraded and decreases fall damage." James looks at his hands
"I see....and each biomod uses up bioenergy?" The doctor shook her head.
"Not all of them. Regeneration, Cloak and Thermal Masking do, but Light, Enhanced Strength and Move Silent don't. This is because Enhanced Strength and Move Silent are always active." James nodded, and then looked confused.
"But what about light?" Dr. Hunt shrugged.
"We have no idea about that." James smirked
"Well that's no good...ok, now what?" Dr. Hunt smiled.
"Try out your biomods...start with Cloak." James nodded and then stood still and silent.
"....Am I invisible yet?" Dr. Hunt shakes her head
"No, it might take some time till you find out how to turn on and off your biomods, but I'll help you. You see the boxes?" James's face seemed to turn into a no nonsense kind of face.
"Well of course, it hasn't disappeared yet." Dr. Hunt folded her arms again.
"Don't get cheeky...well anyway, you need to do something in your brain that will bring up a light around the top box." James blinked.
"Well what do I need to do in my brain?" Dr. Hunt thought about this.
"Try thinking hard about the boxes" James nodded and closed his eyes. Suddenly, for him, the info had disappeared. He opened his eyes again and they reappeared.
"....Handy."
"Sorry, should have said about that. Try without closing your eyes." James nodded again and stood still. After about 5 minutes he looked at Dr. Hunt.
"Finally got it...let me guess, it gets easier as I do it?" Dr. Hunt nodded.
"Yes...now think about moving that light to the cloak symbol" James stood still again and after another 5 minutes he nodded.
"Done."
"Ok, now think about activating that biomod" James sighed and stood still. After yet another 5 minutes, he suddenly disappeared. James looked around.
"Have I done it?" Dr. Hunt nodded. James looked at himself and saw an outline of himself. "Well this isn't good, there's an outline of me!"
"That only you can see, it's so you can see what weapon you're holding...keep an eye on your bioenergy." James blinked and then saw that his bioenergy was almost depleted. He quickly went to turn it off, but was too late. He looked at his hands as he quickly came into view.
"Heheheh....oops....is there any way to regain my bioenergy?" As soon as he said this a repair bot came into the room. James looked at the bot and blinked "Is that a repair bot?" Dr. Hunt nodded.
"Yes James. There are two ways to regain your bioenergy. The first way is by using power cells, which we will be giving you five of ours before you leave. The second way is to walk up to a repair bot. Try it." James looked hesitant, but then nodded. He walked up to the repair bot, which then bleeped.
"Damage detected. Repairing." the bot said as it brought it's arm out towards James. James closed his eyes, thinking it would hurt. Suddenly the bot spoke again.
"Repairs complete." James opened his eyes and saw his bioenergy bar was maxed out. He looked at himself.
"Well...that didn't hurt..." He looked at Dr. Hunt. "When do I leave?" Dr. Hunt smirked
"As soon as you get your clothes on." James looked at himself again, noticing for the first time he still had the hospital pyjamas on.
"Oh, yeah. That might help. Where are-"
"Bedside cabinet, bottom drawer, as good as new." He opened the drawer and looked at his clothes. He could hardly tell if these were repaired or were brought at a shop.
"You can change in the bathroom." Dr. Hunt pointed towards a door as James took out the clothes. He walked towards the bathroom and entered, locking the door behind him. He began to get dressed, no longer wondering if these were repaired or not. He could tell that they were his, they felt broken in. Lastly putting on his leather jacket, he looked in the mirror. He noticed his eyes looked different from Dr. Hunt's. He walked out and was about to ask her about it when she handed him a pair of stylish sunglasses.
"People can tell if you're biomodified or not by looking at your eyes. Put these on when out in public." James put the sunglasses on and looked at Dr. Hunt.
"Why do I need to wear them in public?" Dr. Hunt put a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not the only biomodified human. And there are people out there who hate biomodified humans...in fact some people will even try to kill you if they found out. Especially the Knights Templar. Steer clear of them. Oh! Before I forget..." Dr. Hunt pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to James.
"We managed to find the address of 2 of your friends, they wanted us to send you over when you came to...which was 20 years ago, but this is their current address. You remember Karl and Laura right?" James nodded and pocketed the card.
"Ok, thanks Dr. Hunt." James walked out of the room and walked down the corridors, following the signs to the exit. Meanwhile, in James' hospital room, Dr. Hunt was still there, thinking. She hmmed and walked out of the room and headed for her office. Closing and locking the door behind her, she picked up the receiver for her phone and dialled a number.
".....Hi, it's me.....no I wasn't able to sabotage the operation, too many doctors.....well I wasn't properly equipped to take him on, he has got enhanced strength you know.....yes, he has got weaknesses......he can't turn on or off his biomods quite that well yet......yes, I know where he is heading. I'll send an email with the address......you might want to perform recon first, it should help in the long run.....very well sir, glory to the Knights Templar! Lt. Hunt out."
