Birth of a curse
It had been nearly 2 years since Dante's highly publicized kidnapping. Bystanders had noticed the Gaia corporate symbol on the bio-suit's back, a simple blue and green planet and had flocked to the police, and FBI.
"We now have uncovered a shocking, horrible truth behind the mega corporation behind Gaia Medicinal!" a woman's voice said shrilly on the television. "Gaia M., known worldwide for bettering the lives of millions of people, have been secretly and illegally developing biological weapons, diseases and monsters! The multi-trillion company has been, for years, creating such things that would make God himself weep and now we go to Captain Chris Topher for more detail!"
The sharply dressed woman in the red business suit ran over to a heavily armed US Army soldier, who glared into the camera as if it had insulted him somehow. He was a huge man, probably over 6 feet and layered with muscle. He had the standard Special Forces issue 'Second Skin' armor, which molded to the soldier's body and provided ample armor piercing protection alone with chameleon capabilities. He was currently armed to the teeth with an XM-30 pulse ion rifle, a new invention. It used an internal fuel reservoir filled with inactive ion particles. The ion generator in the rifle would split the particles into their highly volatile ions and shoot them out the rails, making for an extremely deadly and effective armor piercing weapon. It's only drawback was that it was slightly larger than a full size assault rifle, making wielding it sometimes ungainly.
"Captain! Do you have any words before we go down into the secret testing facility?" the reporter asked excitedly. Against the Army's judgement, the new president William Shirken demanded a live camera crew to go in with the SF. "Any words about the inhumane experiements on live human subjects that have been going on for the last 10 years?"
The captain looked disgusted. "Tell me lady, you get off on this shit?" he asked, levelling his super-glare on her now. "I've seen half the shit Gaia has created, and when you see it too you'll be puking your Caesar salad out in no time."
The reporter said no more as she and her cameraman silently followed the squad into the Gaia research facility. It was the last one in the country that was being invaded, and most of its employees had already been arrested. They had recieved word from a defecting scientist that the top heads had bunkered themselves in the underground levels, and then their transmission was cut. Fearing the worst, the president sent his best SF team in, Topher's team, appropriately named "Bad Company".
-----
Walking down the deadly silent corridor, Topher and his men, Jack Jackson (his father was incredibly dull), Samuel Fischer (one of the most amusing of the group, he used to be a small-time comedian) and the newbie, a fresh-out-of-training midget - er, woman - named Conner.
No one really knows how Conner got onto one of the best Special Forces squads in America. She had been a forensics student in college before totally flipping around and joining the army at age 20. Rumor had it she was one of the witnesses to the "Gaia conspiracy" kidnapping 2 years back, but she spoke nothing of it, and the men in her squad were pretty much scared of her whenever some idiot brought it up. It brought back bad memories, even Chris could see that.
Despite her shortcomings, she was an exceptional soldier despite her tiny frame (she was only 5' 4") and as strong as any of the men. She wielded a smaller XM-22 Sub Ion Gun, which was meant for backup support than assault. If it were the old world, the men would be carrying G36 rifles while she had an MP5K. She was also the team's field medic, since she had had forensic and medical education during her 2 years at college before joining the ranks. Her white medic vest had the customary red cross in circle on the back.
"So, what creatures have you 'seen' Captain?" the reporter, Allison Lorento asked. She was the most popular news reporter in Miami (no doubt due to the fact that she had breasts, and a pretty face) and she fought tooth and nail to be where she was now. In the media industry and the creepy corridor.
Chris gave her an annoyed look before raising his rifle. "Oh I dunno, stuff like that," he commented casually, opening fire as his squad followed suit.
Allison ducked, along with her cameraman, who aimed his camera at the monstrosity on the ceiling up ahead.
It was hideous. It looked like the skin from its face had been torn off, exposing muscle and bone. The eyes had been hollowed out, leaving nothing but a dark gaping hole for each eye socket. How it could see, no one knew and they certainly weren't going to ask it. Its jaws had been elongated slightly, and the lower jaw had been split in half, each mandible stretching out to each side as it hissed angrily at the intruders. A long, thick tongue snaked out of its jaws, lined with barbs that looked to be sharp and poisonous. Its torso was heavily muscled, with patches of skin missing and mutated muscle enhancing the arms. The arms themselves had massive biceps, and the forearms were covered with four bony claws, going from the elbow out about 4 feet. Each claw looked razor sharp, and the monster had no problems punching holes into the ceiling and walls as it raced around, dodging ion fire. Its legs also had mutated muscle, in tones of red tendons and green veins, and it had five short claws on its feet, each about 4-6 inches long. It had no tail, and its general figure looked to at least once have been human.
"Ya see," Chris yelled, firing his rifle, long blue bolts of energy running down the rails, "We call these motherfuckers 'Imps'. They're damn fast and fucking hard to hit, but once they're hit, they're down for the fucking count."
He continued firing long bursts at the Imp, his squad mates shooting as well. The best part about ion weapons is that since it uses a railgun design, which means no recoil at all. Chris could stand there all day, firing the gun one-handed from his shoulder and never get tired. Of course, continuous fire wasn't recommended, since the ion particles would overheat, causing an explosion. Chris did not favor a blue cloud seperating his bodyparts.
Finally, a wall-aimed shot from Jackson, the team's marksmen, killed the Imp with a bolt to the head, leaving a smoking 2 inch hole. Let it be noted that an ion bolt is about 0.5cm in diameter. The Imp fell with an inhuman screech to the ground, thrashing around as it died from massive brain trauma.
Allison Lorento stared speechlessly at the corpse. The cameraman zoomed in on the smoking husk, not daring to go near it. Suddenly, the camera was jerked upwards and Chris' face smiled down on it somewhat nastily.
"That's one of the things I've 'seen'," he said sarcastically. "There's prob'ly even worse as we get deeper. Cameraman! You and the propriator of those great tits make sure you stay near my squad at all times, got it?"
Though the citizens watching the broadcast couldn't see it, the cameraman nodded silently. Allision nodded as well.
"What did you say about my tits?" she yelled.
-----
It took another hour before they reached the main complex underground. The team had run into a few more Imps, but luckily nothing else. The main door to the complex was a massive 16 foot disc that rolled into the wall once unlocked with the password and DNA test from an employee.
Topher's team didn't have that luxury.
One blast from their disposable particle beam canon (courtesy of Fischer) and they had a nice 7 foot hole through the 4 foot thick titanium door. They went in one at a time, carefully as they scoped the area.
"This doesn't look right," Chris muttered as Conner let the reporter and the cameraman in. There were bodies lying around everywhere. That was to be expected, their contact inside had told them about an outbreak, but normally, the monsters wouldn't be lying on the ground next to their creators...
"Oh Jesus!" Allison gasped, looking at all the deformed (whether willingly or not in the humans' cases) bodies on the floor. The place was a veritable bloodbath, none of the white walls were white anymore, instead they were painted red with blood. Every human in the lobby had been torn to shreds, or if they were lucky, half-eaten.
Lying with the dead scientists were also Imps, and other crimes against nature. Allison and the cameraman zoomed in on what looked like a half-human, half scorpion creature, with a human head and torso, but a scorpion's eight legs and tail. The arms had mutated into scorpion pincers, and the face was a huge mess of teeth. It looked as if it had been blasted with a particle canon of some sort.
Another monster that got some camera time was a worm/snake thing, which had a head at each side, each split into four jaws lined with rows upon rows of teeth. It was a disgusting brown color, like feces and it had been slashed horribly all over its 20 foot length. Allison vomited at the sight of a human leg sticking out of one of the jaws. It had been partially gnawed away at.
More creatures, which looked like human-animal hybrids littered the lobby, and the cameraman didn't have the stomach to film the rest.
"This is not right," Chris said. Seeing Allison's glare, he quickly added, "Even more so right now. Monsters don't generally drop dead next to their inventors... Something else killed the monsters here after they killed the scientists..."
Allison accepted a small water bottle from Conner to clean her mouth. "Y-yeah, that makes sense," the woman stuttered. "What could be worse than... all that?"
No one could answer her fearful question. Chris ordered his squad to increase the power level of their rifles by 20 percent, just in case. They left the lobby, going deeper in what looked to be Hell. They didn't bother to search for survivors.
There was no way anyone could survive this slaughter.
-----
Every hallway, every room was filled with blood. The soldiers' boots were stained red, and Allison the news reporter was swearing to burn her heels afterwards. They searched for any survivors, any clue on what had happened here, but all they found was death and destruction. No machine worked, no computer was functional and it was a mystery as to how the lights were still on.
"Sir, check this out," Jackson called. Chris backed up and watched as the man tapped his wrist. A small holograph swirled into view as it showed a map of the complex. "Looks like the power in this one room is fully functional."
Chris checked it out. The map was 2D, so it wasn't very descriptive. All he knew was that the room was huge, and had security stations in a 360 degree perimeter around it. What would require so much damn protection? He shuddered involuntarily, hoping it wasn't whatever killed all the killer monsters out there.
"We'll check it out," he ordered, though feeling queasy about it. "We walk slow, and scope everything out before our next step, got it?"
"Yes sir!" his team barked.
"Move out! You with the titties, make sure you keep up!"
Allison followed with a scowl on her face, mumbling something about a lawsuit once this was over. Conner smirked. She hadn't had to put up with the Captain's ... obsession with breasts when she had joined the team. Thankfully, she had been blessed (or cursed if you thought of it the other way) with small breasts, giving her body the look of a pubescant teenager, which many mistook her for being 15 or 16 at the most. Still, she was thankful for her 'miniscule' as the Captain called them, B cups. She had long learned to put up with his fascination for breasts. Thank god he wasn't an ass man however, Conner's ass was something to be proud of.
-----
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Ah shit, I stepped in some fuckin' brains!"
"Fischer!"
"Oh, clear sir!"
The squad stepped into the main security room in front of whatever held all the power. It was a simple room, not much larger than 50X50 feet, and housed some holoscreens and computers that were fully functional. There were discarded weapons scattered about the ground, some of them last generation. They all used bullets, and there were a few shells lying on the ground as well.
Chris felt uneasy. There was no blood in this room, or bodies other than the brains that Fischer had stepped on outside, but that was the problem.
It was too clean.
"Jackson, fire up that computer and see if you can get any security footage!" he said briskly. "I want to know what the hell went on in here!"
Jackson stepped up to the holopad, holding his arms up. "On it sir!"
A holographic field surrounded his body, and invisible lasers pinpointed his hands and arms. A 360 degree menu surrounded him, and he used his arms and hands to select buttons and drag windows.
"Hmm," he murmured, pulling some files up. "Looks like this room in front of us was the 'big show' section, so to speak. This is where this facility held its biggest experiment."
The others nervously gripped their weapons tighter.
"Any idea on what it was?" Chris asked, his brown eyes scanning the area, making sure the blast doors were shut tightly.
Jack tapped a window to his left and dragged it in front of him. "Welllllllll, only that the name 'Death Angel' comes up," he said with a frown. "Gee, that don't sound reassuring."
"Anything else?" Chris asked tightly.
"Hey, I can open the blast shutters on the window!" Jack said, pulling up a menu. "Says the windows are strong enough to resist ion fire, but the shutters are just in case something more powerful tries to get through. I'll open the shutters... now!"
Everyone jumped as the titanium wall in front of them slid away in sections, revealing 3 foot thick ion glass behind it. As the shutters completed folded away, they saw an expansive cavern, with what looked like a massive piece of machinery in the middle. It looked like a giant crucifix, but with modern technology accents, if one morbidly thought. There were thick clamps for where someone's wrists, feet and waist would be and a bed of needles behind it. There were also tubes that dangled above the 'seat', which were dripping a creepily red substance.
What was even more creepy was the surrounding area. It looked like a damn war zone! There were destroyed weapon turrents lying in pieces around the entire area, and a maimed human body lying in front of the 'seat'. The gorund had been blown to shreds in some areas, and there was shrapnel and wreckage all over the place.
"My god, what happened here?" Conner's soft voice asked in horror.
"I'm getting on it!" Jack called from the holopad. "Pulling up the security feeds... now!"
A large holographic screen shimmered in front of them, and they all watched what happened.
-----
5 hours ago...
"Shit! Red Alert! Red Alert!" a security guard screamed into a PA system. "Everybody evacuate, power has been lost to the caged areas, the creatures are loose! Red Alert! Red - AAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHH!"
The security guard was skewered by a long claw as an Imp dropped from the ceiling. With and almost lazy gesture, it gripped the man's head with its other clawed hand and ripped the man in half, feasting on his innards. Men and women, scientists and guards ran around screaming as their own creations ended their lives.
In the Maximum Security office, Dr. Edwardo Leone sneered at the chaos that surrounded him outside. He was safe in this room, with his private guard and fellow doctors.
"Edwardo, what do we do now?" a man named Leonard Creedy whimpered. "My wife is out there!"
"Then your wife is dead," Edwardo sneered, waving the man off. "Guards, make sure all 12 security rooms are locked down, especially the blast doors to the Incubator room and the Suit room!"
"Yes sir!" one of the soldiers said, his voice robotic through his helmet. It was one of the same soldiers that had attacked the mall 2 years ago.
"Before you do, I'd like to visit our mutual... guest," Edwardo smiled cruelly. "Make sure nothing... or no one gets in."
He exited the room and entered the cavern in front of the main office. He walked across a 50 foot steel catwalk, passing by dual minigun turrets, ion canon turrents and missile launcher tubes as he headed to the crucifix seat, where his currently project hung from.
He looked lovingly at the figure hanging in front of him, tubes and nozzles feeding unknown liquids into its body.
"Ah... my son," he whispered softly. "Why, I barely recognize you anymore! The Genome virus has done wonders to your frail body!"
-----
The squad and extras watched as the man known as Dr. Edwardo Leone approached a figure on the crucifix. They couldn't hear what was said, but they could see the figure clearly. It was a young man, whose naked torso was rippling with tight, barely constrained muscle, even as he was relaxed. His chest was broad and well-rounded, leading into the curving 8-pack that was his stomach. He wore what looked to be skintight wetsuit material of some sort, maybe Second Skin for pants, although you could clearly see the muscle on his legs as well.
The man's lean, thick arms were stretched out on each side of his body, and his shoulders bristled with corded muscle. They could see him breathing slowly, evenly, as if he were asleep. They couldn't see his face however, since it was hidden behind a curtain of glossy white hair, that reached down to his shoulders.
Leone spoke some unheard words to the man on the crucifix, then seemingly laughed at the figure. That's when it all went sideways for the crazed doctor.
The man rose his head.
Whatever happened next, was too fast for the human eye to see. One second, both men were staring at eachother, then the next second, the man's restraints were shattered, and Leone became a pulp of flesh on the ground.
"Activate defenses!" one of the soldiers screamed.
Every turrent and missile tube in the cavern came to life and aimed at the figure in the seat on the crucifix. A missile tube fired one of its munitions, and the long cylinder flew towards the man. The man himself freed himself of his remaining clamps and started to fall, nearly 40 feet to the ground. The missile changed its course to intercept his fall.
Just as the missle was going to hit, the man became a blur, Chris' eyes nearly missing it but he saw the blur warp slightly to the right before it dissapeared. The missile continued on its course, too slow to change direction and blew up a portion of the wall behind the crucifix.
The team could only watch in silent fascination as the turrents (which appeared to be auto-guided) fire in every direction possible, trying to destroy a target that appeared to be moving faster than the human eye could see. Suddenly, one of the minigun turrents exploded, a large chunk having been ripped from the top and causing the weapon to jam its bullets into the barrels at the wrong time, causing premature explosions. Chris could barely see the figure that had landed on top of the turret, then dissapear instantly as it exploded.
They watched as every single turrent and tube launcher was ripped to shreds by a seemingly invisible assailant. Suddenly, it became silent again as nothing was firing anymore. The soldiers in the main security office were gripping their last-generation rifles in panic, hoping that whatever that man was wouldn't break through to them. One of the soldiers checked the holoscreen and nearly shit himself.
"SIR! HE'S HEADING FOR THE SUIT ROOM!"
"FUCK!" the leader screamed. "Everyone move out! Make sure he doesn't get that God damned suit on!"
They soldiers nearly threw themselves out the door and the video ended.
-----
"Well that was... interesting," Chris said, at a loss of words. "I'm sure you're all thinking what I'm thinking: What the fuck, is going on here?"
"I'm one step ahead of you Cap," Jack replied, his arms moving around wildly as he drew up more windows. "I've got their fucking research videos on here as well. Leone ordered them by date. You wanna watch them?"
"Start at the first one!" Chris ordered. The holograph lit up again.
-----
Project Death Angel video memo
April 17th, 2015
9:52PM
"Our new subject has arrived," Leone's voice said as a video of a young man with a bag on his head was dragged into an operating room. "He looks sturdier than our last subject, who only lasted 2 months."
The young man, who couldn't have been older than his early 20's was strapped to the operating table. Four scientists pretty much jumped on him.
"He showed natural anomalies in his blood at birth, showing enhanced intelligence, and later on in his life, unpredicatable spurts of strength. He nearly killed one of my men with a garbage can earlier today before his capture. He is... intriguing."
The scientists began to stab the man with needles, causing him to scream in pain.
-----
Project Death Angel video memo
May 1st, 2015
3:45AM
"The subject has bonded with the Genome virus well. His genetic makeup was nearly symbiotic with the strain. Instead of the virus adapting the body to its needs, resulting in unparalled horrific mutation, this subject's body adapted the virus itself. Amazing!
It showed the young man again, this time without the bag on his head. Strangely, Conner gave a choked sob at the sight of brown hair and green eyes.
"So far very little has changed physically. I expect it to occur within the next few months."
-----
Project Death Angel video memo
August 23rd, 2015
12:43AM
"The subject has begun to have physical changes and manifestations. His facial bone structure has shifted, which may lead to facial reconstruction. Also, his muscles seem to be growing with the slightest movement. Well all know repetitive excercise of a muscle with heavy lifting will increase muscle mass, it's almost as if the mere movement of any muscle on his body increases mass! Incredible!"
It showed a shot of the man's arms, which had thin, but clearly visible wiry muscle on them.
"The muscles are growing at a rate of 1mm per hour. No idea on how large they will become, or how long it will take. We will observe the subject some more."
-----
Project Death Angel video memo
December 25th, 2015
6:30AM
"It looks to be a very happy Christmas for me! The subject's musclature has finally finished, leaving not what we thought. Originally, I had percieved the subject to be a hulking mass of muscle, much like a body builder. Instead, he looks more like a tightly coiled tiger, with taut arms and legs, built for speed over strength."
The man was now very muscled, but still thinner than a musclebound man. He was hanging off of his new home, the crucifix. His hair was a greyish color, with specks of brown. His face had changed from a long shape to a much rounder, heart shape.
"As you can see, the subject's hair has begun to lighten, no doubt due to the stress on his body. We suspect it will lose all pigment and turn white. His facial structure has changed to the point of being unrecognizable, he almost looks like a fantasy character from those video games he used to love. I've ordered him to be relocated to The Crucifix, where he'll be fed a steady diet of the Genome virus and nutrients via IV an spinal injection."
-----
Project Death Angel video memo
February 14th, 2016
12:12PM
"It appears that our subject has become quite popular with the younger female staff. His newly reconstructured face has become quite strikingly attractive, and draws much attention from the women in their 20s, 30s and even 40s! Perhaps this is human evolution, the ability to become physically flawless? Nonetheless, we have begun the process of mental reconditioning. I want my bio-soldier obeying my every whim!"
-----
Project Death Angel video memo
June 29th, 2016
9:25PM
"We have begun a new side project, one that involves a living suit of armor. Initial design and construction has begun, and it will be keyed to the subject's neural patterns. We hope that this suit, when combined with our little Death Angel, will become the ultimate weapon of mass destruction this feeble world will ever see!"
-----
Project Death Angel video memo
April 19th, 2017
1:00AM
"It is quite early that I dictate this memo, and it has been a while since our last one. Everything has been a success. The subject is more powerful than we could have ever imagined! The suit has been completed, using futuristic technology that the idiot military would kill their families for! When wearing it, the subject is nearly invincible! The suit's armor is made out of a new version of Second Skin, which is much more resiliant to bullets, and even ion blasts up to the 7th degree! The armor plating also helps against weapons, and also house the shield generator, something the military would no doubt love to have in their hands.
The shield creates a perfect sphere of negative ion energy that will not only deflect projectile weapons, but ion blasts up to the 11th degree easily! Of course, continuious fire will cause the shield to collapse, but by then most canons would overheat and explode. The suit is equipped with six iode-magnetic thrust boosters. There are two large ones on the back, a medium on each leg and one small one on each shoulder armor. These will allow our soldier to fly! Of course, he can't fly higher than 500 feet or he will run out of iodes to power the boosters, but he can zip around quite rapidly with them nonetheless. As if he needed a suit to move faster than a man can see, but this will allow him to fight in three dimensions now!
The suit is also equipped with six strakes, three on each shoulder. These act as stabilizers, and I guess like wings as well, which help guide him where he wants to go. The best part is that these can also be positioned forward and used as six heavy ion canons! Oh, the genius of my scientists!
Perhaps the most vital part of the suit is the combat helmet. I swear to god my men watch too much Japanese anime, for it looks like something from one of those giant robots! A helmet that looks that robotic yet intimidating is sure to frighten our enemies! The 'eyes' are simply a band of red LED sensors that wrap around like thin, rectangular goggles. Each LED relays light transmissions to the inner eyes, which can only be seen when the LED band splits in half, each part sliding to the side. It will reveal four lenses, two on each side. The two main lenses are the main optic sensors, which provide our toy with a digital view of the battlefield, and offer him battle tactics and estimations on enemy movements. The extra lenses slightly outwards of the main ones provide extra visions, like night vision, infrared and x-ray. The lenses are protected by a wrap-around ion-lense glass. It rather looks like projector headlights on expensive cars to me!
If our soldier toy wants to get some fresh air, a mental thought can do it for him. His neural connection to the suit will allow him to do everything by just thinking of it. The helmet will therefore slide the red LEDs to the side, then the entire eye lense/forehead/scalp section will slide upwards, with the mouth/cheek section folding out and back to the sides, revealing his face.
The suit's armor plating can be ejected easily, but the Second Skin must be removed like normal wetsuits.
We begin field testing tomorrow, the target being the White House. I can't wait! What was that? Those idiots, must be another damn drill..."
-----
Everyone was dead silent at the end of the last memo. There was nothing that they could say at the moment. Who knew that Gaia could go this far?!
"So I take it that that was Leone's kid they experimented on?" Chris asked shakily. "What kind of sick motherfucker injects his son with some crazy virus?!"
"Oh my god," Conner breathed in horror. "Dante!"