Warnings: Mentions of violence, death, severe child abuse etc. this isn't a fluff story if you didn't already know.
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade nor any of its characters, Also I am not making any money out of this fanfiction nor do I intend to. I write this solely for my own amusement.
Author note: This is Boris' (Bryan) chapter. I was a little unsure of how to portray him from his own point of view. Would he be the kind of madman that knows he's insane and doesn't care? The type that thinks he's perfectly sane? He was actually much, much more difficult to write than my psychopath version of Kai – which was why this chapter took so long to get done. I've rewritten this five times.
And I never really sleep anymore
And I always get those dangerous dreams
And I never get a minute of peace
And I gotta wonder what it means
– It Just Won't Quit, Meatloaf
Kai S-2841
Yuriy S-2521
Boris S-2151
Sergei NE-1951
Ivan S-2922
Chapter Three: S-2151S-2151 stared blankly across the stadium, that black-haired member of Team BBA was supposed to be a great beyblader. He was said to be tough, stubborn and skilled but still not arrogant or too aggressive. He was probably the kind of person that always fought honourably and didn't hold hard feelings if he lost, S-2151 thought with a derisive sneer. He most likely grew up in a small, close-knit community in some remote area where politeness was very important but still not all-consuming. And he practised some form of martial arts that S-2151 didn't know the name of. It was screamed out to the world simply in his stance and the tilt of his head.
There was an alien aura surrounding the boy, something that was a part of him but as the same time separate. Grace, strength and something more…an intangible smell of deep forests and clear rivers and the echoing roar of a creature that was born to hunt… there was a sense of relaxed readiness… It had to be his bit-beast. It was a hunter, a killer just like S-2151 in a way. But the only question he cared about was whether it was strong or not. Whatever the answer he would still have to steal it just like Biovolt wanted him to but it had been a while since he last had a fight because of this tournament and he was getting impatient. Anyone weak wouldn't last long against him, of course the term 'weak' was relative but as long as the black-haired boy could keep his attention for the duration of the match there was no problem. If he was too weak S-251 might kill him without even meaning to.
It never crossed his mind that his opponent could actually win the fight. He was skilled, for a civilian, but he was still too weak to be a real threat. The weakness S-2151 saw in him was not what most people associated with the word weak or even what Biovolt considered weakness. It was a kind of weakness that didn't exist quite but could only too easily be brought into the world. It was a bit like seeing the cracks in the glass before it shattered. The enemy's downfall would be in his strength of character, his ethics and sense of self-worth. With the right approach he would crumble more easily than a house of cards in a gust of wind. Sometimes the strong were the most fragile of all, they tended to have a harder time adapting than others because they truly believed in their convictions with all their heart and soul. Someone who was inherently weak was also easy to form, like clay. They would survive where the strong would break in tiny, tiny little pieces. Even if they could pull themselves back together it would only form some twisted form of mosaic.
S-2151 knew this all to well. There were times when he felt like maybe, a long time ago, he had been strong, too. Perhaps that was why he could see the weaknesses of others so easily. As far as he knew very few of the lab rats were as good at reading people as he was and never to the same extent. Just by watching a person's body language he could paint a clear and often accurate picture of their personality, background, their strengths and weaknesses in an instant. Of course the accuracy of his predictions depended on how much time he had to observe his target but for a fight he could easily pick out the most important weaknesses he needed to know in very short time. Most people weren't aware of it but they might as well be shouting their problems at the top of their lungs just by their posture. What they tried to hide, what they didn't even attempt to keep secret and sometimes what they didn't even know… it was easy to see for him.
There was no reason for S-2151 to worry about the outcome of the match. Even had he not had his talent at reading people they were not equals. Out of all the lab rats the Abbey had spewed out over the years S-2151 was the one best suited for killing. It was what he had been made for. S-2521 was a great strategist and genius with most technology. S-2922 was the weaponry and explosives expert of their unit, with a talent at mixing up poisons and drugs. S-2841, cold, hateful S-2841 was the one most like S-2151. If one were to equate him to a profession it would most likely be a spy, or secret police. S-2151 was only a killer. It was the only thing Biovolt would ever use him as and the Abbey had spent a lot of time turning him into an efficient a killer as they could.
He felt no particular dissatisfaction with the role that he had been assigned to, somehow it felt like it was a part of him and not just something he had been created for. He fought and he maimed and he murdered without much consideration, he didn't hold grudges or hate his opponents because to him they were ultimately inconsequential. It was the fighting itself that attracted him and time to time he could feel glimmers of an unfamiliar feeling rushing through his chest. What the feeling was, S-2151 didn't know but he thought, maybe it was happiness. Despite that he loathed always being told who he would fight, who he would kill, by those who claimed to be his superiors like he was a child. But this time it was different, this time he for once had no resentment over being ordered around like was retarded.
Logically, he couldn't say why but the determination in the black-haired boy's eerie yellow eyes made him angry. Here was someone fighting a battle he couldn't really understand a battle he in all likelihood didn't know much about against an enemy he couldn't beat and there was no hesitation at all in his eyes. The seething rage that was building up inside S-2151 almost made him disregard his orders and just snap his opponent's neck with a simple flowing movement. It only angered him more when he realised that the Chinese boy truly believed he had a high chance of walking away from this match both unscathed and victorious. Someone who didn't even know what was really at stake was underestimating S-2151.
He had been ordered to make an example of this boy by Biovolt, which was their way of telling him that he could kill his opponent or just maim him – just as long as he made it gruesome, painful and excruciatingly long. They would, no doubt, be very displeased with him if he decided to play by the rules even if he won –as people said 'fair and square'– which he was capable of. Had the Chinese boy not angered him, S-2151 would have chosen to play by the rules just so he could piss Biovolt off but now he had decided his fate. S-2151 would not kill the person in front of him, the only one in many, many years that had looked him straight in the eye without a single trace of fear, only defiant pride and determination. It was not an act of mercy, as some would have believed, but one of dark, deep malice.
There were fates worse than death and this ignorant young man would regret dismissing him as easily as he obviously had. If there was something S-2151 could say he hated more than Biovolt it was being underestimated by someone so obviously beneath him, as if everything that he had done and everything that had been done to him meant absolutely nothing. He had few memories not filled with either pain or fighting but he did not mind the pain and torture as much as the insinuation that it had been utterly useless. There was no way the opponent could have known what had been done to him but S-2151 didn't care. That he had been forced into this game, which was all too apparently designed for children, was humiliating enough. Being made to wear this thin veneer, this insipid little mask of civility and humanity was even worse. To also be so severely underestimated only served to heighten his aggression.
One would think that a great corporation bent on world-domination and ultimate power would have better things for their artificially created killers to do than send them in to play a childish game of spinning tops. That they were even expected to act human after years and years of training to wear down what little humanity they had had to begin with was ridiculous. Not even Biovolt, with its myriad of complicated technology and heaps upon heaps of brilliant, prodigious scientists could unmake what they had done and make the soldiers of the Abbey human. Even for them there was a limit that could not be crossed.
But was it truly to be human? What the Abbey personnel meant when they told him to 'act human' did not match up with his experience of the human race or their history. Truth be told, from what he found out about humans was that they did no t act the way he had been told to behave. If what he had come to understand was true the lab rats of the Abbey were the most human of all creatures. He would let his act slip in this match, he would show his opponent his true face. Biovolt had wanted a gruesome and painful spectacle and he would give them that. He would show them the extent of his humanity by destroying everything that held his enemy together. S-2151 would not allow him the comfort of death but force him to suffer the agony that was life. The Chinese boy was confident, brave and chivalrous for the moment but he would pay for it dearly. When this was over he would be left only with the demons inside his head to fill him with shame and guilt and ultimately fear.
It was strange in a way that Balkov had chosen him for this deciding match, he had always been the most unreliable and the least obedient. They were showing an uncommon trust that he would do as he was told and win this for them. Two wins were necessary after all and it did not matter how well 'Yuriy' did if this match was lost. Letting S-2521 handle the last one had very little meaning. There was no way he would lose to the cocky little brat that had been preaching to them about the 'true meaning of beyblading'. What 'true meaning' was there to be seen in beyblading? It was too childish, too easy-going to have any meaning. How could you ever find anything of worth when there was no risk? When you could walk away without having lost anything other than your pride? Sacrifice was necessary to create a meaning that was even worth mentioning. Of course, if things went S-2151's way this game would have a meaning to be proud of. He would twist this game until they could see how far their ideals would last, until they couldn't hold on to their empty words anymore.
Glancing to his sides he could see many of Biovolt's executives in front-row seats, eager to see their plans come into fruition. The personnel in the abbey and Biovolt's various offices were most likely watching the live broadcast. They had all underestimated him at one point in their life, just like his current opponent, seeing him as a lesser life form barely worth a second glance. He had heard enough dismissive whispers and had cold eyes filled with contempt on him for far too long now. They saw only insanity and violence in his actions, to them he was a poor, dumb animal that they could order about as they saw fit. But he would teach them, them with all their book learning and smarts, to never forget that even a rabid dog could bite.
At the moment they were cosy in their illusion of safety. The Abbey and various Biovolt facilities in the world had the very best security that money could buy that was regularly updated every day and completely replaced twice a year. It let them have their little illusion. What they didn't know was that their precious security measures couldn't keep up with the Soldier S series' rapid, never-ending evolution The traps on the premises were not fast or dangerous enough to catch them. The electrical wiring in the fences and doors could barely even stun them anymore. And the list could continue endlessly. The guards employed by the Abbey, mostly earlier models than the S-series, the ones that had been born like regular humans were utterly useless against them. Neither strong nor skilled enough even though they were the best Biovolt had that they could trust to look after their prized experiments.
To top it of, S-2151 was developing an immunity against the drugs they were giving him. He would never be able to attack them directly for the simple reason that had designed him so that was impossible. However, having not only one but two S-series soldiers running around creating all sort of havoc would be a severe drawback – especially with someone of his destructive capabilities. Not all Biovolt's employees had been granted immunity after all and there were times when he had almost broken through the mental block that had been made a part of his genetic make-up before he was even born. If such a word as born could be could be used for him.
That was why he was given a much larger dose of drugs than any other product of the Abbey. Most of the time it was drugs used were meant to take away his focus and co-ordination as well as dulling his 'killer instinct' – as he had heard it called. But those were not the only drugs he was forced to endure, because of his body's exceptional resistance to foreign chemicals he had become the Abbey's primary guinea pig. Most pills and injections were tested on him as well as the ordinary test subjects as they liked to compare what effect the various substances had on him to what they had on ordinary people. Sometimes they even tested poisons on him – even if they were always careful to have an antidote at hand should it prove to be dangerous to him as well. It was a gamble for them but so far they had never been compelled to use the antidotes, however painful the procedures were.
It was his strange body type that made him so suited for his designated role as killer. He was not only the fastest of the lab rats, faster even than S-2841, and the capable of taking more damage than S-2521. The Abbey's scientists and doctors were fascinated with him and readily pushed the limits of what was acceptable to see exactly how much his body could take before he passed out or was in a critical state. It was usually an agonisingly slow process since they had to be extremely careful during these near-death testings so that they didn't actually kill him. They had not had permission to go as far as they did in their tests but because of his remarkable healing ability it was easy to hide the extremes they went to. Should he die, however, Biovolt would know what they had done and S-2151 was very, very valuable.
The artificial humans created by Biovolt were treated like their namesakes, the lab rats, but if even just one of them died it was a huge loss for the company. It was incredibly expensive and time-consuming work to design even a single soldier of the paltry NE series, who were born as a normal humans – often kidnapped by Biovolt and twisted and experimented on until they were barely recognisable anymore. But they didn't cost even a fraction of what the R, X and S-series cost, which was only natural since unlike the N-series they were all created completely from 'scratch'. There was no mother or father, only teams of scientists and various links of DNA, most of which wasn't human, that were put together in a strange blend and kept in incubator tanks.
Out of all the different series in the Abbey, the S-series was the rarest and most expensive. There were only three of them now that S-2841 had defected. The S-series were the very first completely artificial soldiers to have been created successfully by the Abbey. The R-series and X-series had been poor attempts to copy their design – quite unsuccessfully even though they would had been seen as miracles had not the S-series existed. Had S-2151 died because of a scientist's miscalculation… to say that heads would roll was an understatement. Any one of the S-series was for all purposes irreplaceable. With this in mind not even to crazed Abbey workers could experiment on them without the fear of death, or worse, hanging over them.
But they were only human and in their eagerness they many times forgot or were sloppy in their research. They learned hanging him was useless since his neck would not break nor would his windpipe be crushed, he couldn't even be suffocated that way. They had left him hanging for three days without anything happening. It was strange the way they had seemed almost desperate at times to find something that could affect him as it did humans. They slit his throat and it healed. They gutted him, they broke his spine, crushed his chest completely… and it healed. Some wounds were more difficult than others and took longer to heal but he had never been incapacitated for more than a month. They could hold his head underneath the water for over an hour before he started showing signs of needing air. He was pushed from the top of a ten-story building and landed perfectly without as much as a scratch other than on his clothes.
It was only when they had punctured his eyes that Balkov had found out and put an end to their research. Testing the limits was one thing but to do something that might permanently affect him was apparently not allowed. There had been much concern over his eyes and worry that even he would not be able to regenerate them. They even took him off all the drugs they had him on to let his body work it out. His vision had not returned to full capacity until half a year's worth of time had passed. It was the longest time it had ever taken to recover from an injury – even when they crushed his chest it had not taken more than a three and a half weeks. Even though his eyes returned to normal the scientists who had approved of the eye-puncturing ordeal were executed to many other scientists' pleasure, particularly of those who had helped create S-2151's eyes when he was still being made in his incubator tank. It was not out of concern for him, though, but they had put many, many year's worth of research on his eyes and many months on the actual development of them – that the eyes had almost been ruined had made them livid with rage.
There was no reason for them to be concerned over him, truly. To them he was just a thing, an object – valuable, of course, but still nothing more than Biovolt's property. He didn't have enough human DNA to even be called human and there were too many kinds of animal DNA for him to feel like he belonged to any specific species. Sometimes he wondered what he could be called, what he was, artificial humanoid didn't quite measure up. Was he really anything at all? How could he be anything at all? He didn't have a soul and from what he understood that was an important criteria to be something. The Biovolt scientist were skilled beyond belief but there were some things not even they could create. He was just a piece of flesh that could move in the end. Emotions were a product of various chemicals produced by the body but what was a soul? What was it about a soul that made a difference? Was there even really such a thing as a soul or was it something humans used to make themselves feel important since they didn't seem to know what it was either?
Perhaps that was part of the reason he disliked normal humans. It didn't matter how weak, cowardly or vile they were – they always knew exactly what they were. They had a sense of self he could never have, not when there wasn't even a proper word for his kind. But sometimes he would remember things, strange things that he shouldn't be able to remember at all since he had never learned them in the first place. He could never tell where these memories came from, or even if they were really memories and not some drug-induced hallucination. The memories rarely made any sense but he still felt as if they were really a part of him while staying separate – always gliding just out of reach whenever he tried to reach out for them, taunting him with their elusive presence.
The images would come most vividly at the times when he managed something resembling sleep. It was not in his nature to sleep as much as the scientists seemed to. A couple of hours once or twice a week was enough and even then he was easily awoken. Sleep would bring with it the howling voice of the wind, whispers of battles long past and oddly enough a face he could barely see that always seemed to be surrounded by the fresh smell of the sea and hint of dried blood. At times these memories, these images almost made him feel as if he was a person, someone who could be given some absurd value regardless of what abilities he possessed or did not possess.
At the same time that something inside of him wanted it to be true his rational mind would not allow him to believe it. He was only Biovolt's property; the Abbey's pet experiment, and their favourite killing machine. It was all he was capable of being – the Abbey had made sure of that. He had heard somewhere that people could change but such a concept was alien to him. He was exactly the same as the day he had been woken up in his incubator, the only thing that had changed was his size. He could remember it as clearly as he could remember what happened an hour ago. S-2841 was another perfect example. He had been away from the Abbey and Biovolt's influence for many years, he had even lost his memory of all the training and experiments that he had been put through. Despite that he was exactly the same as when he had left. He carried himself the same way, talked the same way, responded the same way… there was only any difference when he was putting up an act and even then he went about it like he would have back then.
Even S-2151, for all his talents at reading body language and intentions would never have known that S-2841 had ever been away from the Abbey for an extended period of time. Biovolt could call S-2841 a traitor as much as they liked but the truth was that he was acting the exact way he had been trained to act. What S-2841 had done was merely trick his himself into thinking of the enemy as a part of Biovolt with absolute authority exceeding that of Voltaire Hiwatari. It was clever but S-2841 was also the only one who could have pulled it of, he was the most independent of them and the best liar. Even so he didn't appear to have any hopes of them winning this little skirmish. What was he up to?
S-2521 might have been able to understand but S-2151 didn't even bother trying to figure it out. He would find out eventually when S-2841 was returned to them and there was no doubt in his mind that he would return. The Chinese boy would lose to S-2151 and S-2521 would win his match without much trouble and as Biovolt expanded their power S-2841 would eventually be returned either by choice or force. Biovolt would never execute S-2841 unless it was absolutely necessary, he had simply been too expensive to create for them to throw away like a piece of garbage. S-2841 would not betray his fellow S-series soldiers, S-2151 was certain of that even if he was the only one who never doubted S-2841's loyalties. Even S-2521 was uncertain, which was maybe why he seemed to hate to hate the brat in Team BBA so much. He never said anything and rarely acted like it but loyalty to the group was something S-2521 valued very highly. The thought of being betrayed for the weaklings of Team BBA must have been what was setting him on edge. S-2151 didn't have any worries about that. S-2841 was using them, he always did, for his own gain somehow. Just what he wanted to gain was a mystery but not really relevant in S-2151's opinion, he was not a strategist and he rarely bothered to come up with anything more complex than was necessary.
All he knew was that they just needed to wait a little while, be patient. They had nothing to truly live for but Biovolt wouldn't let them die so waiting was all they could really do. Everything withered and died with time, Biovolt would be no different and neither did they but they had the upper hand – they were not a fragile as an ordinary human would be. They could afford to be patient, like a hunter lurking in the shadows, stalking its prey. Biovolt didn't have that luxury and they knew it.
They would learn the dangers of letting loose the dogs of war.
The thought almost made S-2151 smile as he prepared to show the world how much of Biovolt's humanity that he had inherited.
To be continued…