Been about... well, ages since I updated. I've been quite busy and all. I'm going into my thirteenth grade of high school, that's where the people who don't want to go to college quickly go. I started an internship where they make me work from the leisurely hours of 8 am to 6 pm, 6 days a week. I also had to come in on my only weekend day to finish up. Such is the life of the intern. Anyways, I now give you, the fifth installment of the Invisible War parody! Try not to scoff too much.

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"This is captain Alex D's starlog 00015-12. I've been trapped in this hellish nightmare of a laboratory for the past seven hours. I feel sickened simply looking at this hall of horrors. Who knows what insidious, heinous crimes against humanity the people who run this laboratory carry out. And so, I have remained, stationary, for the past seven hours, not daring to venture forth into this abyss of insanity, this repository of the works of madmen made manifest… I know not how long I may survive…".

Alex sat hunched up against the door he had so 'recently' come through, or rather, the door he had last come through. He had one arm wrapped partially around his legs, with the other in front of his head, it's hand curled up into a balled up fist as Alex spoke into it.

"I can only dream of when someone can come to claim me from this terrible place… if only… hey, is this thing working?", Alex muttered an expletive to himself, and began to physically determine whether his recorder was working. From the perspective of a neutral observer, this process seemed very familiar to hitting one's head with one's fist, but of course, Alex was smarter than that.

At that very moment, Alex heard a chime, or rather, he felt it. In his head. He tentatively activated his infolink.

"Al… eeee… um…." Came the static filled voice from the other end.

"It's pronounced aluminum, jerkwad!", Alex retorted, visibly irritated.

"…at? An… eeer…eeee?", replied the the voice, which, Alex could faintly tell, seemed to belong to a woman.

"What? You're NEAR ME? OH GOD!", And at that, Alex D jumped to his feet, falling into a melee response form, and began to survey the cold, sterile environment of the lab, shaking with fear, and yet with determination as well to ward off this predator.

"et…fix…. Okay. Alex D, this is Leila Nassif. Can you hear me?", spoke Dr. Nassif over her infolink.

"Oh! Hi ma'am! It's good to hear from you! I've been really busy since you left! Leo down in the gym needed help benching, and Klara was signing me up for aid work, and even Billie asked me to help her decorate her-"

"Yes, of course. Look, I know you've been stuck here for the past seven hours. THERE IS NOTHING OF DANGER IN THE LAB. At least you let me catch up on my sleep. I live in the Emerald Suites you know. Great place."

"Nothing scary?", Alex sighed with relief, resuming a posture of normalcy, "wellguess I can get on leaving here." Alex immediately took a step forward confidently, and thusly ignorant of the steps in front of him, tripped on them and fell onto the cold, white floor of the main laboratory area.

"Goddamn it… This always happens. In some form." Alex spat a wad of blood out, soiling the undisturbed pristine floor of the laboratory. Trembling, he placed his palms on the floor and lifted himself slowly.

"You didn't need to go and spit on the floor and all. I mean, sure, no one's ever going to see this lab again, but…" Dr. Nassif immediately caught herself, "Er, okay. Well, you've taken the first steps… no pun intended… Go up to that cabinet. No, not THAT cabinet," She said annoyingly, after seeing Alex approach a locked cabinet with various empty laboratory containers.

"Alex looked up, imagining the disembodied voice to be there, shrugged, and went, "What? It's the only one I see."

Back in her apartment, Leila Nassif hit her head. hard.

"Whoever started this project made some very poor design decisions on D3…", she mumbled to herself, ignorant of the fact that Alex could hear her.

"Sorry, what was that, doctor?", asked Alex.

"Um, nothing. Now, look to your left. About 14 degrees to your left. There should be a cabinet there. And may I remind you that you can NOT open the drawers on the tables in here." This statement elicited an 'Aw, shucks' from Alex D, who shuffled dejectedly in the direction Dr. Nassif indicated, or, more accurately, in a completely different direction.

"Alex? Where are you going?" asked a confused Dr. Nassif.

"I was never… really good at that geometry thing..." mumbled Alex sheepishly.

"Oh God. Just go to that raised area near your left. The one with the cabinet with the shiny blue canisters in it."

"Can…?", began Alex, to be immediately shut up by Dr. Nassif. "The bottles. THE SHINY BLUE BOTTLES."

"That makes sense, I guess… Thanks Dr. Nassif!", and Alex trotted along, all dejectedness forgotten, traversing the distance between him and the cabinet, stopping momentarily at the steps leading up to the cabinet to scowl briefly at them. He finally reached the cabinet.

Dr. Nassif's image appeared on a holoprojecter to Alex's left.

"Alright Alex, time to get your biomods installed. These ARE the standard piezochem biomods, but your systems are far more efficient in all matters related to nanite energy stores. It's as simple as taking the canister, uncapping it, and sticking the syringe into whatever part of your body you want the nanites to go into. The transmitting mechanism that is installed on each nanite module will link directly to your infolink to provide you with a list of modifications that the nanites can be configured to assemble themselves into… You're not listening, are you?"

"uh… It's not that you're boring, doctor, it's just that…", Alex's brain immediately began to race for something to say. "It's just that you're boring." Alex congratulated himself on the face saver.

"Right, thank you. That cabinet there, contains the canisters. Behind you, there is a table. It has datapads that you can read, if you can read. They can give you a basic idea behind what kind of modifications you can have assembled, where they can be assembled, and which ones are not recommended. Granted, as I said, your systems are far more efficient, so don't be shy putting strange needles into your body when you find them."

"I'll be sure to do that, doc!", Alex replied, with a salute. Dr. Nassif scowled.

"I'll talk to you after you've installed your mods."

Alex, upon the disappearance of Dr. Nassif's form from the holovid projector, approached the desk behind him, looking inquisitively at the datapads. Picking the first one on the right up, he read up on the biomods that specific locations of the body could accommodate. He looked over the other two datapads to determine what he would like to install. At some point during his orientation exercise with the biomods, the cabinet doors unlocked themselves and swung open, hitting him in the back, which caused him to curse mildly, yet again.

Finally, Alex decided on which biomods he would install. He walked around the cabinet door to get a better look at the canisters before installing. He figured it would be useful to him.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. Alex cradled the modification in the crook of his arm, examining it with the hand of the other, trying to find where the open switch was. He finally managed to find it, and activated it, thus unhooking the capsule above on top of the canister, revealing the nanite syringe.

Here goes nothing, thought Alex, as he swung the canister upwards, straight for the bridge of his nose. The canister inserted itself into his forehead, and Alex simply stood there, waiting from the transmitter module to link to his infolink while a large, metallic capsule was jammed into his head.

Alex went over the infolink interface to choose the biomod. He had, in a rare moment of genius, decided upon the Regeneration modification, as he figured me may come into scrapes quite frequently in future, like falling over more steps. He felt a strange feeling behind his eyes and within, as if a viscous, vibrant liquid began to focus at a single point there and then spread out rapidly, almost explosively. His vision blackened for a second, and he fell to the floor, clutching the canister and breathing rapidly. And, just as soon the feeling came, it left, and Alex was on the floor, holding an empty canister to his head. He removed the canister and breathed deeply.

Alex was curious to try out his regeneration module. He retrieved his pistol from his bodysuit, and tentatively raised it to his mouth. Aiming it upwards, he was about to pull the trigger, until…

"NO! ALEX, DON'T! You can't USE the biomod if your brain can't activate the regeneration module!" Dr. Nassif was practically screaming.

"Huh? Awe, shucks. What's the point of a REGENERATION module if I can't use it when I die? Useless science, what's it ever done for me?", Alex removed the gun from his mouth, and scowling, he replaced it in his holster, but forget to turn the safety back on, and thus, he shot himself in his left rib cage.

"Ahhhh! Crap! Doc, what do I do! What do I do!", Alex screamed, grabbing his side as blood poured from the hole in his bodysuit.

"Relax! There should be an icon in your vision, to the right! Focus on it for a few seconds."

Alex listened to Dr. Nassif, and immediately, he felt a cooling sensation at the location of the gunshot wound. The nanites began the super-accelerated repair process, and activity proceeded on a furious scale in the wound. Nanites began to assemble around the bullet, which had reached deeply into Alex, and they slowly began to 'carry' the bullet outwards in the direction it entered. As this bullet passed each organ wound, each ruptured membrane, more nanites flowed from around the damaged areas to repair this damage. Quite soon, the bullet was forced out of the entry wound, which expanded slightly, albeit painfully, to provide easy passage for the bullet. The nanites immediately dissipated once the bullet had completely left the body, a bluish purple haze that disappeared. They quickly joined the repair process for the skin, facilitating the approach of platelets to the wound, acting as miniscule spiders to create a web of fibrin around the area, forming the crusty scab upon the wound, which quickly disappeared. The process was much like watching healing in fast forward.

The nanites went a step further, recreating the material of Alex's body suit to make it whole again.

"Wow, doc! That's pretty neat?" exclaimed Alex delightedly.

"'pretty neat'? Are you twelve? But, anyways. Yes, the nanites can also repair the clothing of the wearer. One of the programmers was quite the fan of sowing."

"Well, I'll get to the other mods then."

"Fine." Dr. Nassif's image disappeared from the holoprojecter.

Alex took one of the canisters from the cabinet and slowly inserted it into the right side of his chest, keeping it supported. The interface popped up again, and Alex selected the Aggressive Defensive biomod. The cool, liquid, vibrant feeling appeared again in his chest, focusing at the centre of his chest, and then spreading out.

"Ahhh, the aggressive defensive mod. An interesting modification, to be sure. It causes a default frequency to be emitted from your body at all times, a frequency that is recognized as a detonation signal by practically every kind of explosive. The range is suitable to let you get away unscathed."

"Thanks, doctor. I mean, that was exactly everything I had read in the interface menu, but thank you for giving it that personal touch that's so lacking in today's world. Much appreciated."

Dr. Nassif scowled at the sarcasm, but resumed her ordinary dignified posture quickly.

"Your third and last, Alex."

"Are you just going to stand there, doctor?", asked Alex.

"What.. What do you mean?", said Leila.

"Well, my third biomod… it's a pretty private thing. I'm not really big on that whole biomod fetish thing some of you people have…"

"Oh god, whatever. I'll turn around, will you like that?", replied an annoyed Dr. Nassif.

"Fine, that would be better." Dr. Nassif's figure turned around in the projection, and crossed it's arms. Alex took the third mod, activated the switch, and inserted it into his left leg. Alex chose the Silent Movement modification from the list, and felt that same feeling move in opposite directions, one down his leg, the other through his pelvis and into his right foot. He giggled as it passed his pelvis, to the derision of Dr. Nassif.

"Are you done, Alex?", asked Dr. Nassif.

"Completely, doctor. Now, I want to ask something." Dr. Nassif bit her lip. She was afraid Alex was going to ask. How long could she maintain this cover?

"What's the big deal with Klara? Does she like me, or does she 'like me' like me?", asked Alex, a frown appearing on his face.

"What?", replied a stunned Dr. Nassif.

"Eh.. well, I was just wondering whether she'd ever be inter-", asked Alex sheepishly, scratching his head.

"Okay, look, Alex, if you won't ask, I'll tell you, if just for the sake of appearances. The Tarsus facility? It was attacked. By terrorists, RELIGIOUS terrorists, so you know they must mean business."

"Um, what?", replied Alex, confused.

"Your confusion is natural. Let me just say that the multidenominational faith, The Order, is in conflict with several powerful entities. By which I mean multinational corporations, and their respective security divisions."

"Multi… what?"

Dr. Nassif sighed. "It's a mix of religions. Look, I don't know all the details. The Order is an intolerant cult… but I don't see why they would do it. But for the moment, I suggest you try and leave Tarsus. More when you're out."

"Right away, doc!"

"Idiot," muttered Dr. Nassif.

Alex walked around aimlessly, enjoying the lack of silence emanating from the new mods in his feet. Finally, he looked around quizzically. He didn't know where to go.

"Um…. Doc? Where… where do I go?"

"THROUGH THAT DOOR. The new one. My God, are you always this stupid?", asked a thoroughly irritated Dr. Nassif.

"Thanks doc!", said Alex, oblivious to her comment. He ran there, and came to a stop, wondering why the door wouldn't open. A look of familiarity came on his face, and he walked ahead – straight into the door.

"Damn," he muttered, rubbing his nose. Second time that happened. He looked around the frame of the door for a switch, and luckily found one of the fluorescent blue switches he had been seeing around quite recently. He found them alluring, for some reason.. He tabbed it, and the door opened. He proceeded into the next room, his legs bent so as to reduce his profile, warily looking around and shifting his firearm from hand to hand.

"Wait!", cried a voice from the left.

Alex yelped, and fired three rounds in the direction of the voice, only one of which found it's mark, though it elicita loud squeal of pain. He cursed himself for using his off hand for shooting, and switched, aiming towards the newly found scientist, a steely glint in his eyes.

"Why did you shoot me, you jackass? I'm on your side!",exclaimed the female scientist in a somewhat Arabesque voice. Her lower face was covered and her head was shaven. She was wearing, as is the case with most scientists, laboratory dress.

"Well, you're either with me... or against me.", responded Alex, cold determination tracing through his eyes.

"What? What did I just say?", said the flabbergasted scientist.

"I don't know, I was too busy looking at your bald spot. YOUR HEAD, I mean. It... it has a nice shiny... oh, crap."

At that statement, the scientist picked up a random object to her side that appeared out of nowhere, and threw it at Alex. Alex dodged this object by rolling to the side, hitting his head hard against the wall. He got up, rubbed his head, and picked up the offending item, and threw it back at the scientist. Immediately, she shouted an expletive, to Alex's consternation.

"Okay, that room you see over there beyond the door? It has a turret and separate camera that make up the security system-"

"Hi-tech!", exclaimed Alex.

"Yes, of course. Why they don't put cameras in turrets is beyond me. Also, there is a large stack of conveniently placed crates that can cover your passage through the room."

"What if the turret spots me?"

"The camera-"

"Whatever."

"Just throw an EMP grenade in it's direction. Turrets are usually immune to small arms fire, so don't even think of firing at it."

"What about you?"

"I can't take that risk. I'm a scientist - that should be enough explanation."

"Good point," said Alex solemnly, "The shiny surface of your hairless head would be a brilliant target for the turret."

"The scientist was about to begin a tirade, until Alex removed his boltcaster from his bodysuit and fired a round at the scientist's neck. The scientist began to run around agonizingly, swatting at the immense dart to remove it with all the precision of a rhino in heat, but finally succumbed to the intoxicating effect of the nerve agents. Alex, quite fascinated with this demonstration, put the device up to his own neck and fired point blank.

The dart, having no other recourse, hit the target - Alex D's neck. Alex immediately dropped his boltcaster and began to run/hop around maniacally, screaming at the top of his lungs and hitting the dart with all the strength he could muster. Suffice to say that the dart failed to be extricated. Alex was now running in the direction of a low, rectangular window on the side, and finally fell to the effect of the dart, collapsing onto the sill. However, his head hit the sill itself, causing him to be suddenly regain full awareness of his surroundings, including the dull pain resonating through his head.

"Goddamn... drugs... ooooh, is that a trophy?", Alex exclaimed, looking through the wire mesh window into a familiar looking room...

Alex's infolink buzzed. He linked it through. Dr. Nassif on the line.

"Look, Alex, Tarsus has a strict policy against voyeuristic behavior. You were only observed to make sure you didn't exhibit any irregularities from your flight from Chicago."

"Ma'am?", Alex asked, quizically.

"Er... You don't know that this is your room, right?" Dr. Nassif asked tentatively.

"Who's on the room what now?", said Alex, confused.

"Okay, right. Just.. go through that door and get shot. It'll make my life that much easier. Oh, by the way, thanks for waiting seven hours in there. I made breakfast, just buttered up some pastry I picked up on my way home, A croissant, and I might possibly indulge in an eclair in the afternoon. Thanks Alex!"

"I'm hungry now.."

"Bye!", said Leila cheerfully.

At the moment Alex's link was disconnected, his stomach growled. It had been some time since the feast of bread.

Now, thought Alex, it's my time to shine.

Slowly, Alex edged towards the closed door, moving steadily, on all fours. Upon reaching the door, he retrieved an EMP grenade from his jumpsuit and examined the device. Alex looked the device over to see if there was an activation switch, or a pin, or something to indicate that the device was about to detonate, and finally found a big red sign on the bottom of the device labelled, 'activation button'. Alex briefly whistled to himself, and tabbed the door switch, thus revealing the security set up in the room beyond.

Alex edged towards his right, allowing himself to fully enter the doorway, and raised his arm in a motion to throw the grenade. At that moment, the camera panned over towards his general direction and spotted him. That was when Alex tossed the EMP grenade.

His arm raced through the air in a circular motion, hurtling the grenade, which... bounced back? Oh, fu-

Alex had little time to complete the self admonishment as the EMP grenade, thrown by his left arm which was hidden from the doorway, detonated right in front of him, causing Alex to spasm involuntarily and shiver violently. All the while, the camera looked on, as an innocent, confused child would.

Alex soon recovered from the shock of detonating an EMP grenade next to himself, and acted upon impulse - picking himself up, he dashed right through the security room, all the while, the camera watching him run swiftly, and, by some miracle, not alerting the security grid to an intruder's presence.

Alex finally reached the cover of a wall on the upper floor, away from the glass windows. Below him, he heard the same scientist exclaim loudly, 'He got through? That's incredible! Student, I'm coming through!'.

Alex peeked around the wall, observing the progress of the scientist. She walked into the field of view of the camera, upright and confident, and the camera immediately caught sight of her - this time, registering an intruder on the security grid. The alarms went off.

"Oh, shit." said Alex.

"Oh, shit." said two voices from around the corner.

"Oh, shi-", the scientist was about to say, until she was riddled with approximately 6 tonnes of hot lead from the security grid machine gun in the room, which continued to fire away at her inanimate, unrecognizable form. Alex closed his eyes, disgusted, at the terrible sight. He returned to his position of cowering behind the wall, and decided to move on.