There was a race called the Cybers. And they ruined everything.

Von Reichter was once a young Schutzstaffel medical officer. He was exposed to an overwhelming variety of inferior peoples—the degenerates, the lesser races, and the feeble-minded—and all of them did not meet the standards of the Third Reich. So he thought, what if he could design a superior race that did?

Over time, he rose up the ranks and was stationed in Auschwitz, leading experiments on the lesser races. He became busy, and headed many of the special projects that came from none other but the Führer himself, taking special interest in fertility experiments and muscle transplant operations. Even though he had little time to himself, he never forgot about his dream of a superior race.

But opportunity came after the fall of the Third Reich. Like his peers, he had to flee Germany and take on a new name. He took notes on this superior race while he sought refuge in distant lands: on the Great Steppes, in the Amazon, and south towards the end of the world.

Von Reichter finally decided to settle down in Patagonia. He considered a remote location in the tundra. It was private, guarded by the claw-like glaciers that towered over the landscape. He could live off-grid since it had a waterfall that could be harnessed for hydroelectricity. When thunder streaked across the the violet skies, he took it as a sign that it was meant to be.

He hired cheap labourers to erect a stone fortress six stories high. It was a multi-story laboratory complete with holding cells and observation rooms, and a maze-like in design to prevent escape. The construction of his own personal quarters were almost an afterthought.

When the Fortress was completed, the labourers became his first subjects.

Over time, his collection of specimens grew: insects, mammals, aquatic creatures, and humans of multiple races. His techniques in genetic engineering became more sophisticated, and he tested how his own genes combined with others. His experiments resulted in numerous unviable half-breeds, and some viable but disfigured and of meagre intelligence. He could build them bone-like structures but not bone marrow. So despite his creations taking many forms, they were all dependent on him for their sustenance liquid as nothing else ran in their veins. That was the only limitation of his science, but it was also the perfect form of control.

His superior race eluded him until a tiny fetus in a tank grew to an infant child that was human in appearance. Before he could conduct a physical examination, it opened its dark eyes and met his gaze steadily.

It was the first Cyber. He made another 4999.

The Cyber children took after his dark hair, dark eyes, and intelligence. They also possessed super strength and agility from their non-human genetic donors. At the age of four, they leap off balconies and ran up walls like little acrobats. At seven, they could lift boulders with ease. Unlike Von Reichter's other creations, they could pass as human, which meant that they had uses in the outside world. They could even replace the humans altogether. Their potential was limitless so long as he could produce enough sustenance to feed them all.

But things changed when the Cybers reached puberty. They began to ask questions. They asked about the world that lay beyond The Fortress. They asked why they were made to endure physical tests and sleep in cold chambers. They asked about what made them different from the other creatures and humans, and set some captives free from the dungeons.

When Von Reichter punished them and took away their privileges, they became angrier and more unruly. The flicker of rebellion grew into an inferno—and the creator and his creations were at war. The final straw was when they tried to kill him in his sleep.

With great regret, he exterminated them. The surroundings of the Fortress would've been strewn with bodies if they died like humans, but instead they disintegrated and left behind ashes.

But one Cyber escaped. And her death was long overdue.

"What do you mean by you're unsure?" Jose stared the techno down, despite the latter still being taller than him.

A bead of sweat snaked down Miguel's undercut. "She is probably dead: her clothes were burnt and found onsite, the panther was captured while wandering alone, and she hasn't visited that blond human of hers. But we cannot confirm that the Cyber is deceased until staff have analyzed samples from the explosion site."

Jose's jaw clenched. "If she is still alive, we're giving her a head start. Tell them to hurry the fuck up!"

"Yes boss." Miguel lowered his head and shuffled out of the study.

Jose pulled his hair in frustration, and turned to face the window that overlooked the barren alpine tundra that spread before the Fortress. He thought it would've been liberating to think that all of it, all of what was Von Reichter's was his now. But his victory still hadn't quite sunk in.

Von Reichter's death left a power vacuum. Jose preferred temperate Meridiana to the chilly Fortress, but everything was a mess and only Jose could fix it. The sustenance storage facilities in Meridiana were destroyed, so all their survivors had to relocate back to The Fortress except for a small crew tasked with making sure Cybersix was dead.

He hated being uncertain of her death, it was as if a guillotine's blade hung over his head. Jose jumped at shadows, thinking that he just saw her cape. He had recurring nightmares of her entering his bedroom and slitting his throat while he slumbered. He woke up choking each morning, filled with dread and anger, and knew that he wouldn't feel peace until the bitch was finally dead.

He walked barefoot from the carpeted study towards the master bathroom. He had grown six inches in less than a week, so none of his shoes fit. He was still stuck out here so shopping had to wait.

Jose wrinkled his nose once he was in the bathroom. The foul smell emanated from the growth hormone solution in the bathtub. The scent invited comparisons to sulfur crossed with fermenting yeast. He had ordered the staff to light the room with scented candles but no amount of artificial lavender could smother the overwhelming stench.

He removed his clothes and took a deep breath as he lowered himself into the bathtub, the tepid bath water offering only a small comfort against the cold. Jose had been doing the growth treatments daily ever since he arrived in The Fortress, and it took him the second day to finally suppress his gag reflex. He had to remain in the tub fully submerged and breathe out of a straw for three hours a day in order to undo the curse Father placed on him.

It was cruel. All of other Father's creations aged normally, but he made Jose's body stuck at a nine-year old's when he was chronologically closer to nineteen. Von Reichter slowed down aging on himself when he was an adult, so that didn't count. No, Jose was the only one who was forced to be a child forever, because of Father's fear of puberty with what happened with the Cybers. The goddamn Cybers ruined his life from day one.

Jose laid down in the tub, his thoughts racing. There were too many things to do. He needed to make sure that The Fortress's processes were running smoothly before he could think of returning to Meridiana, but he now had other ways of ensuring his influence in the city.

Von Reichter was an ambitious scientist, but he did not possess the drive to run an empire. For all of his talk of taking over the world and carrying on the work of the late Führer, he remained in his laboratories, leaving the dirty work of acquiring a shitload of money to run the show to Jose. Back then, they only had control over the Fortress and of the some small towns nearby. When Jose established their presence in a big coastal city like Meridiana, that was when Father started taking the idea of expansion seriously, but rejected Jose's suggestion of making it their base of operations.

He and Father had their disagreements. Von Reichter liked the isolation of the tundra, while Jose thought it made no logistical sense to start from the end of the world. Father pushed for a physical takeover of new territory, while Jose grew to prefer more covert means of influence. Like, designing a mind-control monster wasn't necessary to handle the port authorities if you could pay them off with cash instead. Also, it helped to provide them with free superhuman body guards—who'd turn on them if they were to renege on the agreement.

Jose didn't want humans to turn into mind-wiped brutes that he'd have to micro-manage—he wanted humans to be dependent on him and use their ingenuity for his own ends. Now, Meridiana's port authorities could campaign for higher office all thanks to him, and they found all sorts of creative ways to cover up the biohazard goods that flowed into Meridiana.

It was easier for Jose to push his new project for world domination without Von Reichter's interference, and he'd no longer need to conduct his own experiments in secret. It worked out pretty well considering that he did kinda kill Father.

Just before Jose escaped Meridiana, he had redirected the explodey monster to explode back at their Merdiana headquarters instead of the city center, taking Von Reichter with it. Which meant that he did save Meridiana. He had spent all this time cultivating their operations in Meridiana, and he wasn't going to let Father just blow it all up.

Jose sighed through his breathing straw. He had spent his life chasing after Father's approval, and turned out it was Father who was holding him back. His hand unconsciously moved to the silver vial that hung on his neck, which now housed Von Reichter's ashes. His chest felt heavy with the loss, but at the same time, he was finally free.

A knock came from the door, and Miguel walked right in.

Jose choked on the growth hormone in surprise. "Idiot! Can't you see I'm busy here!?"

"Boss, it's about the Cyber," Miguel said.

"She's dead?" Jose sat up.

"We're not sure. But Meridiana staff say that the blond human was seen driving out of the city."

Jose felt a pit in his stomach, and the old dread crept back.

"The bitch is still alive," he snarled. "Follow him and kill them both."

Author's Note 2017/07/01

Sorry for the late update-life is pretty good with its small emergencies. In terms of what canon I'm working with, I guess it's a combination of the comic, TV show, and adding whatever seems cool. I really appreciate the comments, there's no motivation like knowing that other people are actually reading this. I don't really know any Cybersix fans IRL so I feel like I'm kind of just writing my feels into the void. Plz talk fandom with me. I'll try to update at least once a month from now on :)