Okay, okay. I took a long time to update. To tell the truth, I was concentrating on my other story for a while and I sorta got stuck with my exams and all (Fortunately after next week, there's no more till next year!)

I'll try to update faster, but I can't make promises (I don't like to make promises I can't guarantee I'll keep)

Chapter 4: Test Model: Anubis

Everything swirled around Daniel in a haze of colour. At first, he thought he was flying. He felt a breeze on his naked limbs that made him shiver. Then he opened his eyes. Above him, a young man with spiked blonde hair and dark shades was carrying him. His gaze was fixed determinedly ahead. He tried to speak, but only a soft groan escaped.

Yamaki glanced down.

"Don't try to talk, Daniel. Just rest. I'll get you out of here. Just hang on a while longer. I won't let those bastards get you. I promise."

Daniel closed his eyes again. He felt… weird. His whole body felt fuzzy. His head felt like something was rushing around inside it. A strange warmth was spreading from the centre of his chest outwards, permeating his body and pushing outwards into his limbs. What was going on? Why was this man carrying him wrapped in a furry coat? He noticed the ceiling was stone grey. The walls had emergency red lights flashing along them. Strobe lighting which flashed in one direction, highlighting a route.

Yamaki stopped to rest a moment. He gently lay Daniel down and picked out his cell phone. He quick-dialed the control room.

"Marie? Marie, get out of there. I have Daniel. Vritramon's safe. Get all the survivors out of the facility, now!"

"Sir? We're cut off from sublevels one to three. The second unit can't withdraw. What do we do? Leave them?"

"Tell them to use the access elevator at block C. They should be able to take it straight down to maintenance. Clear route to escape train. What about the drives?"

"Everything that couldn't be copied to disk is wiped. Michelle isn't answering calls. Have you seen her?"

"How could I? I'm in lab five." He chewed his lip. Michelle was an important staff member. She had one of the cards capable of unsealing the lab five elevator blast doors. He knew he couldn't do anything about that.

"If you can't reach her then we'll have to leave without her. I can't risk more people going after her when she could be anywhere. Evacuate now!"

Marie gave the affirmative and hung up. Yamaki put away his phone and scooped up Daniel again.

"What's goin' on?" he asked groggily.

"Easy kid. I can't explain everything here, but rest assured I will get you out."

In the level three control room, Marie and the remaining interns were rapidly packing all the disks containing many terabytes of data into three cases. Once the cases were filled up, Marie assigned the codes to each one to Ichiro and Claire. She kept the final code to herself.

"All the data here is worthless without all three cases. Ichiro, Claire. Do not share these codes with anyone. Do you understand? No one." Her voice was stern and Claire and Ichiro nodded, exchanging frightened glances.

"Everyone! We are pulling out!" The room had been filled with the surviving staff who had not escaped. A pathetically small number compared to the facilities' complement. The injured were helped out through the second door by the guards and staff. Finally, only Marie and Claire remained.

"Ma'am? Come on, let's go!"

Marie stared at the monitor, watching the troops slowly overrun the remaining levels.

"Claire? Why do you think they're after us? What do you think they want?"

"I don't know ma'am. Really I don't. But I'd rather not hang around to find out. Please!"

Marie took one last glance at the monitor and ran out using the emergency exit with Claire.

Michelle was kneeling beside a comrade's SUV car. It's tall profile allowed her to easily see underneath. Three guards had captured an intern. She trembled with terror as two of them held their guns to her face. The third called on his radio:

"Sir, we have a prisoner. What do we do with her?"

"I've already told you. Terminate any personnel you find. No witnesses." The voice hissed back over.

"That's all I wanted to hear." He said, replacing his radio on his shoulder. "Hold her." The two soldiers on either side grabbed an arm and held her still, keeping their weapons pointed at her.

"Wha… What are you going to do?" she stammered in a trembling voice. He ran a gloved hand over her cheek. Her eyes widened and she stared back like a trapped deer.

"Such a waste." He said wistfully. He abruptly tore her tunic off, drawing a terrified scream. He proceeded to unbutton her shirt from the bottom up. The two other soldiers laughed and held her still, keeping their weapons lodged against her chin.

"Help!" she cried desperately, "Help me!" The soldier undressing her slapped her savagely.

"Shut up."

Michelle was unaware of her tears pouring from her eyes blurring her vision. All she could think about was the blood pounding in her ears and the rage and indignation. She swung round from the SUV and pointed her weapon. The intern saw her and suddenly stopped weeping.

"Get down!" She shouted. Her shout startled the men and they spun round to see her. No longer being held, the intern dived down and covered her head. The next thing she knew there was the sound of gunfire whizzing above her head and the terrified girl started screaming. The sound abruptly ceased.

"You can get up now," Came Michelle's' voice. The girl looked up to see the three men lying dead around her.

Michelle knelt down and comforted the trembling woman. She removed her white lab coat and wrapped it around her. She looked down at the leader of the thugs and picked up his weapon. She handed it to the girl.

"Take this." She said soothingly, "You'll be fine." The girl tried to hold it, but her hands trembled so badly the gun rattled.

"I…I can't… I…" Tears formed in her eyes again.

"Why? Didn't those men just…?"

"I can't fire this thing!" she cried, "I...just can't…"

"You've had basic training…" Michelle tried.

"But I shot at targets! Not at living human beings!" Michelle nodded grimly. She realised she wouldn't get this girl to fight. She looked around to see if any more soldiers were near.

"Listen," she spoke gently, "I've got to open the bay doors. Then we can take my car and…" She was cut off when a sudden blinding stream of light bathed them both. An armored vehicle came rolling down the tunnel, its headlights glaring at them. She gasped and aimed her weapon. It was useless, though. There was no way her bullets could work. The intern shrieked and curled up again, clutching her head. Michelle waited for the mounted gun to start firing. It didn't.

"Michelle!? Is that you?" The voice came from the mounted speaker. Michelle lowered her weapon slightly.

"Who's that?" she called. The hatch opened on the top and a guard appeared.

"It's me. Jason. Geez, we've been looking for a way out, and we bump into you! It's great you're okay."

"I'm fine." She knelt down and laid a hand on the girl's back. "But she isn't. Come down here and look after her. I've got to open the tunnel to let us out."

The guard jumped down and jogged over, an automatic weapon in his arms. He knelt down and spoke softly to her. Michelle ran over to the guard box and examined the controls. She saw the lever for the parking bay entrance and pulled it down into the 'open' position. The huge bay door at the end of the parking lot began opening.

Jason the guard helped the intern to her feet and guided her toward the back of the APC. The door whined open and he helped her in. As Michelle got it she was pleasantly surprised to find five other staff who had survived waiting in the troop compartment. The staff all looked up and smiled with relief as they saw two more survivors get in.

"We're out of here!"

Outside, Garret and his aide, Thomas Reiley were standing inside a black van with satellite dishes attached to the roof. They were watching the strike forces' progress with the help of a GPS.

"Sir, Black Unit and Red Unit have entered the Lab 5 elevator shaft. The blast doors are sealed. What do we do?"

Garret cursed and banged his fist on the table. He had counted on Yamaki being clumsy and leaving them open. Apparently he was wrong.

"Sir, we have satchels and Semtex, but it could take at least a month to blast our way through all the doors. We simply don't have the firepower to break through them."

He cursed again. Reiley spoke up:

"Sir, why not bring a specialist team in? I believe they use industrial-strength lasers for his kind of thing."

"That would take even longer. Even now, they could be shipping the subjects out of the lab. I want them. DARRC wants them." He fell silent. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Sir?" Reiley was used to seeing his boss make his 'thinking' motion. "What alternative is there?" Garret ignored him and pulled a cellphone from his pocket. He quick-dialed a number and pressed it to his ear. He waited for a moment.

"Garret here. Put me through to Turcottes' department." There was silence again. "Turcotte? It's Garret. I need to ask a favour."

Garret walked outside, still immersed in his phone. Curious, Reiley followed.

"I need you to assign an Avatar to me." Garret said. Reiley raised an eyebrow.

"The Avatars, sir? Isn't that a little over the top?" Garret placed a hand over the mouthpiece.

"Why not? They were designed to be used, not sit in stasis forever." He spoke back into the phone.

"Yes, send the Anubis model. That's right. Have it airdropped at the DGDR facility in the Mojave. I trust you can make arrangements?" He nodded to himself, as if confirming what he was hearing on the other end. "I'll deal with HQ when I get back. Just bypass the red tape and assign me Anubis. This is urgent." He listened again.

"Four hours? Can't you make it shorter?" He looked visibly deflated. "Fine. Just make it as fast as possible." He hung up.

"Anubis? Isn't that the new model? Wouldn't the Sehkmet or Seth models be better for this? They do have superior firepower." Garret turned round with a small smile.

"Reiley, you need to learn to play with the toys at your disposal. Anubis is the new test model and requires a field test before being sanctioned. Plus he also happens to be the most advanced model, genetically speaking. Why not give him a chance to prove himself?"

"Why not indeed, sir." Reiley agreed, although still looking uncomfortable.

Yamaki ran through the emergency tunnel toward the train when Marie and the survivors rounded the corner.

"Hey! It's Yamaki!" Everyone crowded him, congratulating him and slapping his back. Only Marie hung back, cautiously looking behind him, as if searching for someone.

"Alright everyone. Get to the train, I'll catch up in a minute." He handed Daniel to Claire.

"Keep him safe. Make sure he gets on the train." Claire nodded, handed the case she was carrying to a guard and moved off along with the others in the direction of the train. Finally only him and Marie remained.

"So you did it, huh? Wasn't there any other way?" Marie folded her arms.

"His condition was barely above tolerance levels. I couldn't have him move on his own. He would only slow us down. Besides, he's a loose cannon. I couldn't be sure he wouldn't go berserk when he found out he hadn't been treated completely." Marie nodded, but still looked apprehensive.

"What if he wakes up inside Daniel? How do you think it will affect them both?" Yamaki shook his head.

"We don't have time for this. I had to make a decision on the spot. There's nothing we can do now except hope they live." Marie glanced at Yamaki's shoulder.

"You're bleeding." She moved over and examined the wound.

"How many survivors?" Yamaki asked, ignoring the wound. She took off her lab coat and a pair of small scissors in the chest pocket.

"Not many. A dozen give or take," she began slicing a strip from her coat, "They wiped out everyone they could find. Butchered everyone, armed or not. I doubt many more than this made it." Yamaki thought about Michelle. He hoped she was okay.

Marie wrapped the strip around his shoulder, drawing it tight. He winced and gritted his teeth at the pain, but the bleeding slowed down.

"Thanks, Marie." And they moved toward the train and their escape.

"Hey! Who's that?" A soldier on guard duty outside pointed at an APC rolling out from the parking garage.

"It's one of ours," said another. The APC was driving very fast, its powerful engine roaring. It was powering its way toward the chain-link fence around the facility, spewing up a cloud of dust behind it.

"That's not ours! Someone stop it!" The soldiers all started firing at the vehicle, rolling at the fence like an enraged rhino. The bullets glanced off the armour, but it didn't slow it down.

"You! Get that LAW! Stop the bastards!" One of the men had a large tube attached to his back. He knelt down and swung it down, resting it on his shoulder. He lined the APC up with the pathfinder attached to the side. He pressed the firing button. With a soft whoosh the projectile shot from the barrel and hurtled toward the APC. It impacted, spewing a cloud of dust and dirt. The soldiers cheered and pumped their fists in the air.

The ruined APC skidded forward, tearing through the fence and ripping a huge section of it down. The burning wreck skidded in a circle, spinning helplessly before tipping over and coming to a rest, upside down, a few feet outside the fence.

"That'll teach the bastards!" one soldier whooped.

As if from nowhere, a group of three cars suddenly screeched from the garage. They screamed along the dirt road toward the ruined fence. Before any soldiers could react, they were past the fence, around the burning APC wreckage and out into the desert.

Four hours later:

The UH60 Blackhawk had a team of scientists in the seating compartment. The helicopter had had the troop seats stripped out and replaced with swivel seats secured to the floor. Advanced monitoring equipment was attached to the walls and the scientists were busily typing away on the computers. The pilot spoke into his radio.

"This is Foxtrot two-zero-niner. The cargo is on ice and ready for delivery."

The helicopter had a large cylindrical metal object attached to its underside. The cylinder was absurdly huge and it was a wonder the Blackhawk could fly with the giant thing attached.

"Sir, it's here." Garret walked out to the helipad, his eyes turned upwards to the helicopter, his sunglasses shielding his eyes from the sand being blasted everywhere.

The helicopter suddenly released the cylinder. It sailed neatly to the ground and landed with a huge thump, shaking the ground.

"Sergeant," Garret motioned to the soldier next to him.

"Sir." The man barked and stepped forward.

"Have some men use whatever they need to use to move this… Device…inside." The Sergeant nodded.

"Yes sir. Alright, ladies, you heard the man. Armstrong, get on it!" Garret stood with his hands clasped behind his back, watching them move the large canister inside the facility.

"This could be interesting."

Inside the parking lot, Garret dismissed the soldiers. Only he and Reiley remained, staring up at the massive container.

"Here goes." Said Reiley. He reached out to a keypad on the side of the huge container. He tapped in a code. There was a loud beep and a red light flicked on near the keypad. There was a loud hiss as jets of steam erupted from the underside. A split suddenly appeared down the centre and Reiley leapt back.

The canister split into two halves and the metal covering fell apart. Inside was a clear Perspex canister. It was exuding a thin mist that obscured the contents. The Perspex was covered in a sheet of icy slush. Garret stepped up to the container and brushed some of the slush away leaving an arc of clear plastic to peer through. He leaned close to see the contents, but there was a sky-blue liquid within, which was too thick to see through.

"Careful sir. Prelim reports say it's a little twitchy."

Garret pressed a button on the base of the canister that revealed another keypad. He typed in a new code. This time there was a loud klaxon sound. Garret stepped back.

"Keep clear." He warned Reiley. The liquid within the canister began gurgling out from the base, spewing out over the tarmac. As the liquid poured over the tarmac, the ground froze. It was liquid nitrogen. It touched the tyres of cars nearby which suddenly burst and the cars jumped slightly as their tyres suddenly released the air within.

Once the container was drained, Reiley gazed with shock at the frozen ground inches in front of them.

"Isn't that dangerous!?" he cried, shocked at thinking what would have happened if Garret had not already known what the liquid was.

"It was not designed for manual activation. It was designed to be remotely activated, then dropped from the air. The Avatar would then deploy. The containers have a manual option as well, for emergencies or unexpected situations." A sheet of ice surrounded the drained canister. The Perspex began to slide apart, splitting into two and moving apart. It then moved downwards and swung at an angle, pointing the two sides upwards and away from the contents.

The thing inside was roughly humanoid in shape. It stood on two legs and was covered in silvery scales. Its head was reptilian, with slit-like eyes. The head had a series of spikes growing from the back of its head, like miniature horns. Its body was very powerful indeed, with muscles rippling beneath the surface of the silver skin. Its chest, from chin down to its crotch was a light brown. It had a long tail that was curled around its body. It also had a series of strange cybernetic implants. It was curled up, frozen by the nitrogen. Garrets' eyes widened. He had no idea it was modeled after a dragon. Turcotte was certainly an artist.

Anubis was quite magnificent, he decided. He wondered how to awaken it from its icy prison. Then, it awakened itself. The ice began shuddering. Garret and Reiley retreated behind a car just as the ice exploded in a hail of razor sharp shards. Reiley and Garret cautiously peered over the riddled car.

Anubis straightened up, flexing his powerful body. Now he was free of ice, it was possible to see the various cybernetic implants in his body. Attached to his left and right arms were thick gauntlet-like devices. From these devices, cables curved outwards and were rooted into the Avatars' arm, flowing into the skin like veins. Attached to the side of his face was a strange, indiscernible device that emitted a soft red light.

It fixed its fierce gaze upon them and turned to face them. Its tail flowed dangerously behind it.

"Is… that Anubis?" Garret was pleased by the awe in Reileys' voice.

"Indeed. Isn't it magnificent? Genetically superior in every way. Capable of reaching level three in eighteen seconds. It outstrips every other model in terms of capacity."

"Except him, of course." Reiley said. Garret nodded.

"Of course." Garret approached the Avatar but Reiley held back slightly.

"Anubis," Garret commanded, "I am your Garret, your Controller. Comply." He said in a loud, firm voice.

Coding accepted. Mission parameters requested.

A very deep monotone voice synthesizer spoke out. The Avatars' mouth never moved. Garret couldn't suppress a gleeful smile. Like a child playing with a new toy. He felt the impulse to test his new plaything.

"Come closer." With a heavy step, Anubis stomped closer. Each step his massive dinosaur-like feet took, the ice cracked and shattered beneath. As he passed beneath one of the strip lights in the ceiling, what looked like ribbon-like lines seemed to appear over his skin. They were a slightly darker shade than the skin around them, making it look like oddly artistic scars. Anubis stood inches from Garret, glaring down upon him. Garret stood staring up, a wide grin on his face.

"Sir, remember. This one has a limited capacity. Only as long as the drugs last. We should hurry." Reiley reminded him. Garret glanced up at the Avatars' face. A thick tube ran from the facial implant into his neck. A clear liquid was being pumped into his neck.

"Very well," he said in an almost petulant tone. "Anubis."

Controller Garret. State mission.

"Your mission is to penetrate this facility and reach the level five lab. There are a series of blast doors extremely resistant to damage blocking the way. Destroy them, then report back to this location."

Orders received.

Anubis turned round and stomped slowly toward the tunnel entrance which led further into the facility. Garret watched, with awed fascination as the Avatar simply walked straight through the security barrier without pausing.

"Remind me to commend Turcotte for his outstanding efforts."

On the emergency train, Yamaki and the surviving members were huddled onto the uncomfortable seats. It was brightly lit and relatively warm, but the survivors were badly shaken as the events of the past few hours sunk in.

Daniel had been given some clothes that had been lying in a crate. An emergency supply of clothes, food and water and other supplies had been included inside the train's cargo car. Although the clothes were meant for an adult, and were slightly too big, he didn't complain. He was awake now, and shivering. His senses were numb. He couldn't quite make sense of everything that was happening. But Yamaki assured him over and over that he was fine, he was safe and was going home. Home. That one word filled Daniel's heart with hope. He still believed he was in some sort of weird dream, but that didn't take away the appeal of getting home.

A woman was sitting beside him, one arm around his shoulders, hugging him tightly. He wasn't sure, but it seemed as though she was crying. A Japanese man was sitting on his opposite side, his arm around the woman. He seemed to be comforting her as she comforted Daniel.

All in all, Daniel was very confused. But despite the absurdity of his position, he began to feel drowsy. Soon he fell asleep.

Most of the soldiers within the facility were evacuated. Reiley had insisted to Garret that they ensure witnesses were kept to a minimum. The Avatars were secret, after all.

Anubis arrived in the Level five Lab elevator shaft. He scrutinized the huge doors sealing the shaft. His eyes began to glow a dull red. He crossed his arms across his chest and tensed his body.

Limiter Release activated. Level four Latency approved.

The 'scar' lines around Anubis' body began to glow. A neon blue light filtered through the lines as though it were a liquid coursing through them. A bright haze appeared around him, like a heat distortion. The lines on his body glowed brighter and brighter. He growled and trembled, his muscles rigid. The large containers around the room started shuddering, sliding away from him like magnetic poles repelling each other. Pieces of debris from the blasted roof rose from the ground and hovered a few feet in the air.

Then the haze began to fade, but the lines around his body continued to glow. He walked to the edge of the shaft, where the two sides of the shutter met. He aimed his gauntlets at the door, a new haze appearing in his outstretched hands.

Commencing operation.

Before him, the haze extended and covered the shutters. The doors creaked and groaned at some unseen strain. Very slowly, the square teeth began to creak outwards, as though being forced upwards from beneath. Anubis grunted and strained, forcing the shutter to peel upwards. With one almighty wrench, he forced the doors apart and they peeled backwards on themselves, like paper curling in a fire. Anubis stood, breathing hard. Then he stepped to the edge and aimed at the next door, some hundred or so meters below.

Outside the facility, Garret and Reiley waited for the Avatar to complete his task. Garret sat in a seat, chewing his nail. He hoped beyond hope that Yamaki had not managed to evacuate the subjects. He needed them as much as the facility and the apparatus itself.

Reiley stood among the scientist crew that had arrived with the cargo. One of them pointed to her monitor.

"Sir, Anubis is sending the confirmation signal." Reiley leaned over and inspected the screen.

"Sir, the doors are open. We can move in." Garret stood so quickly the chair beneath him was propelled backwards.

"Lets go."

Back beneath the facility, Anubis was nowhere to be seen. Garret had the scientists perform recovery of the Avatar while he and Reiley went below with a detachment of soldiers.

When the men arrived at the forced shutters, a chorus of awed gasps and surprised whistles went up among the soldiers. They couldn't believe anything was capable of this kind of feat.

Garret addressed the soldiers.

"Everyone, listen up," he called over the tumult, "This is strictly classified. Anything you see here is considered security level red. Anyone discovered breaking the secrecy rule will die. Make no mistake about that." All the soldiers were instantly silent.

"Sergeant, if you please." Under the Sergeants' instruction, the soldiers began rappelling down the shaft. It took them almost half an hour to reach the bottom and Garret was becoming impatient. Finally, the radio crackled to life.

"Sir, we have reached the Lab. The door is already open, sir." Garret clutched the radio tightly.

"And the subjects?" He dreaded the response.

"Gone, sir. Both tubes are empty." Garret cursed. He rounded on Reiley, who took a step back in fright.

"Get division four on the line! I want those two hunted down and brought back! Alive! Do it now!" he snarled. Reiley didn't hang about. Garret, his eyes blazing behind his shades, stared with barely contained frustration down the shaft.

"Damn you to Hell, Yamaki!"

Note: if you want an accurate picture of the Anubis Avatar, just think of Bahamut from Final Fantasy 7. Bahamuts' appearance inspired Anubis' appearance. Just imagine him smaller, no wings more humanoid in stature and with silver scales and you've got him.