HAHAHAHA! I LIVE!
Massive thanks goes to Ban3 for arriving ahead of schedule by a week. You are an awesome person! Here, have this pedestal to stand on, you deserved it.
Judging from the reactions of the last chapter, the doing of my purpose as an author goes very well. Thanks for the hard reading and let's push on together to the future! Or the next restroom. Which ever is closer.
If there was a law against serious character and OC abuse, I would be a offender to the highest
Oh yea, i released a poll that should be working. Simply vote who you want to...go read the poll itself. And forgive the very childish wording. Please?
Vault
Dutch knew he had lost something very important.
It came as a feeling of great loss, that reaction one would get when someone important has left, a lump in the throat, a sinking feeling in the stomach and a tightness gnawing into both shoulders and arms. All of these sensations chose this moment to barrage him as a unified front.
Fearing the worst, he had checked the vault. Calling out her name, he looked for her. He found her gone. The rooms untouched, as if she had never existed. He knew what had happened.
He had driven her away.
Alone, he sat on the chair at the interface, poring over the memories of their short time together. Wondering when it had all gone so wrong.
"That was mean. What you said to them."
"Well, it's the job of the assistance entity to protect the soul of the vault. I did what I had to do."
"No! It should be special!"
He wept, heavy drops tracing the contours of his face before plopping onto the crystalline surface below.
He mourned her. The spark of life in her eyes, the feeling of peace she gave him. All gone. He mourned that she had left, he mourned that she had fell in love with him. He mourned as he remembered all the short and delightful moments that they spent together.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He whispered.
He realized he could have reciprocated her feelings, but he had felt too uncomfortable to make the attempt. He mourned that too.
"I'm so sorry. I should have..." He choked out.
"There is still time." Vault intoned at his shoulder.
Dutch looked up at the orb, his words caught in his throat. He stared at the orb, hope flooding into his eyes.
"She hides but I can find her. It is within my power, but you will have to get her yourself, I cannot do that. You must find her as fast as possible. The vault is designed to prevent errant entities from running amok inside it. Right now, it is sending out hunter-killer units to find her. You must hurry, if you want to bring her back." It said.
"What happens if I don't?" Dutch asked, fearing the answer.
"Erasure. The vault will delete the errant entity and reset a new one. She will be a blank slate and seeing how the child we have now is the accumulation of many owners, it would be spectacularly disastrous." Vault answered.
"Find her." Dutch pleaded, a hint of desperation in his voice once he learned her fate to come.
"Done. Oh dear..." Vault answered a few second later.
"What is it? Is she fine?" Dutch asked Vault. His heart sank as he wait for the orb's answer.
"She is okay at the current moment. But it appears that she has decided to take refuge in the tapestry of memories." Vault informed him.
"Send me in." Dutch said, a fire in his eyes. He wiped away the remaining tears on his face as he drew himself up.
"...Are you sure youngling? From what I can gather, your memories are not exactly a normal story. You will be reliving your most influential moments. And there is the sea of souls you have to go through first." Vault cautioned, its voice seeming doubtful.
"If you are not careful, you could lose your sense of self. Are you willing to go that far just for her?" Its questions had now taken on a hint of worry.
Dutch turned to the orb. To the outside eye, he was a man with a purpose and he was not going to throw in the towel just yet.
"It's not about me." He answered levelly, his fist clenched at his side.
"Very well. Find her quickly." Vault commanded him before streams of energy reached for Dutch from the energy orb in the centre of the room and absorbed him.
The orb now hung alone in the interface.
"Such determination. Youngling, you know not what you have set in motion. I hope you do not lose yourself, although I am certain it will happen. Goodbye, you have been a good owner." Its words echoed in its wake.
Vault
Sea of souls
Dutch appeared in nothing. Or it initially seemed to be.
Then the colors appeared. It started as a rainbow of lights, each of them both sharp and blurred at the same time. When he tried to focus on one particular color, it would disappear, as if it was only the afterimage of a bright light shone right into his eyes. It seemed the more he focused on one particular color, the sharper the other colors seemed. When he changed his focus to a different color however, the color that disappeared would reappear once again, just beyond his area of focus and the target of his eyes would take its place, fading into disappearance.
They slowly moved closer and closer to him. Dutch simply hung there, knowing, somehow instinctively that he had to let the colors come to him.
Then the colors washed over him. And he could not think to regret it.
Instead he gasped. Suddenly his mind was overwhelmed by the voices of so many other different people, each of them speaking in their own language. Arabic, Mongolian, Latin, Old Chinese, Egyptian, Greek and many other languages, lost in in the sands of history but all recorded inside the vault, all inside his head, all speaking.
Dutch found himself in mid-verse, speaking in Arabic. He could not remember when he had started, only that he was speaking it. Then it changed to Latin, the speech itself fired with emotion as he roared and attested what ever he was saying. Then it changed to Ancient Egyptian, a dull intonation that dripped with power, and then it transformed into a growling rumble, the meaning conveyed more through emotions that sound.
His mind slowly losing itself among the multitude of voices speaking to him and through him, Dutch fought back hard to restore his Self. He marshaled together the components of his mind, pulling them together in a last ditch attempt to secure his identity.
He forced himself to speak to himself, struggling through the quagmire of voices in his head. Dutch pushed though the cacophony in his head, finding the words he knew in the languages that he was familar with and thinking them into existance. As he heard himself through the myriad of voices in his head, he grabbed onto the sound of his voice in his head and held it tight, a secure handhold to latch onto in the storm of voices in his head.
"I am Dutch Kotozaki, 19. I am a living weapon and the only living user of the nanobot biological augmentation system. I am the shadow that destroys society and the beholder to the keys to its destruction." Dutch said to himself, a wall against the voices crowding in his head.
"I am Dutch Kotozaki, 19. I am a living weapon and the only living user of the nanobot biological augmentation system. I am the shadow that destroys society and the beholder to the keys to its destruction." He repeated again, shoring up the already crumbling wall against the voices that threatened to overwhelm his sense of self.
"I am Dutch Kotozaki. I am..." Dutch continually repeated, the mantra allowing him to cope with the insanity in his head.
Finally after an eternity of voices, of words he could never understand, he emerged from the maelstrom. The voices were still in his head but his wall had stayed strong, had kept his Self secure in the barrage of languages. He could think properly now, could form coherent thoughts inside his oasis of sanity.
He was alone, with no one to help him and no direction to proceed. All he knew was that Vale was in trouble but even then, he did not know where she was. He did not even know where he was.
His only choice was to push on.
But what he just experienced was only the beginning. Because accompanying the voices were the emotions that drove them. And they were beyond anything he had ever faced.
His wall stood no chance. It was pushed aside as if it never existed. He was already losing himself.
"Someone, please..." He cried out with the last of his mind.
Overwhelmed, his final thought was a flash of blue and burgundy eyes before his Self was washed away by the souls of the vault.
Vault watched the body drift, it's mind shattered by the experience.
"Such promise." It said to itself sadly.
It disappeared, leaving to make the appropriate arrangements. With the owner gone, there was no sense leaving the vault connected to an empty physical shell.
Vault
Sea of souls
Tapestry of memories
Constructors' weave
Vale drifted.
She flew down what humans called memory lane, except it wasn't hers. It was Dutch's. A recording of all that had happened to him in his life, condensed into solid magical form, ready to be formed into a string of infinite strength and spun into a thread. It was still in creation for it was still recording.
She turned and looked out. Stretched over her was a canvas, full but empty at the same time with weaves. She focused on a random thread, inspecting it for any possible mistakes. There never was.
A weave of memories, infinitely long and short, capable of going on until the end of time but always stopping. For humans always died. Their lifes were so short, so infinitesimal in the passage of time.
Vale comforted herself with the knowledge that Dutch would eventually die. His weave would be completed, his soul recorded down and be placed on the sea of souls and the canvas would have one more weave to decorate it with. She would have another owner and hopefully it would be a jerk that she would treat like every past jerk that controlled the vault.
She broke down. She knew she could never stand such cold thoughts and it stabbed her heart that she could think in such a way. She cried and cried, pouring out her pain. It was a bottomless well and it kept rising.
Finally, when she could cry not more, when her tears were all gone, she picked herself up. She remembered her purpose in coming here. While at present Dutch was gone for her, at least she could watch the past.
She selected the most influential memories, discarding the ones that did not make much of an impact in the psyche on her father figure. The images she saw made her shiver but she held fast, determined to see what made Dutch the person she had fallen in love with.
With a nervous gulp, she delved right in.
Facility track
The first she saw was a young boy, maybe seven or eight, running along a dirt track. The boy was panting, the brown state of his shoes making clear just how much time the shoes had spent on the track.
The boy just kept running, his eyes staring forward, just pushing on. Vale could see the look in his eyes. He was aimless, unknowing of where he was going but continuing on. He looked back and when he once again faced forward, Vale saw a triumphant look in his eyes, as if he knew what he had conquered so far and was drawing strength from it.
The boy kept running, he kept on going but he was human. So he started lagging, slowing down. As he faltered though, a helicopter suddenly appeared overhead. The downdraft buffeted the young boy, the winds actually managing to push his small stature around.
"You don't stop until you puke boy! Keep moving!" The helicopter announced.
The boy picked up his speed again, running hard, his feet pounding the ground. The helicopter kept itself in front of him, creating a downdraft that pushed him back. But the boy carried on, working against the wind to move forward.
Then it happened. Strong winds thrown up by the downdraft dislodged some of the rocks along the path. He stepped in the rocks, loosened by the wind and gravity took over.
He fell forward, face first on the rocky ground. The helicopter stopped, watching to see what the boy would do. Vale held her breath. Already the treatment of the boy was making her fear for his life, and yet she knew that this had already happened. Somehow, the boy would get up.
And he did. Bleeding profusely from his knee, he pushed himself up. His legs trembling from the effort, he forced himself forward, slowly limping along. Then he walked and then he slowly picked up speed again until he was running again, the wound bleeding but ignored.
It took Vale's breath away. The determination, at such a young age, was beyond words.
But the boy could carry on no longer. He stopped, collapsed in all fours and vomited his stomach out. The helicopter hovered overhead, impassive.
"Disappointing." The voice spat in contempt.
A silver tipped dart pegged into the boy's hand. He collapsed in his own vomit, the fast acting drug easily overpowering his young body.
The memory faded.
Vale pulled out of the weave. To know Dutch had this sort of childhood sickened her. All the more, it made her guilty to know that it was her that had hurt this person.
Taking a deep breath, she went back in. The best she could do was at least watch his past.
4 years later
The boy was brooding alone among a group of other children the same age as him. They were all in a field, a medium sized rectangle capable of holding all of the children together with 3 meter circles of open field around each of them.
Vale looked curiously at the boy. He had changed from when she had last seen him. His fringe was longer and his body had shot up, leaving the small stature of his younger self behind, for the developing body of a teenager. Already Vale could see shadows of the man the boy was to become.
Suddenly an air-horn blared loudly. The group of children immediately broke up. They all ran to different random places, spreading out across the field, each choosing their own particular location. Vale followed the boy as he moved quickly to one of the far corners of the field, where he stood ready.
Then from nowhere, a voice spoke. "The objective of this exercise is to survive. Be standing after 5 minutes."
Vale's heart turned cold when she heard the announcement. Did they expect the children to die? Again her eyes shifted to the boy at the corner. He was watching the nearest children.
The air-horn bellowed again.
And the children attacked each other.
Vale whimpered as she saw boys and girls, close to her age in looks, launch themselves at each other with raw savagery. Fists and feet were the primary weapons of the day, but she could see sticks being swung and stones being thrown.
In the chaos of the battlefield, Vale could only watch. It was hard to follow one particular child. When one seemed to overpower the others, they would band together and overwhelm the that person. Then one of the winners would strike the strongest in the group and the temporary alliance would immediately fall apart.
In this war of children, how anyone could not lose himself was a wonder.
Her attention turned to the boy at the far corner. She wondered if she would find him bloodied on the ground, defeated.
Instead, she found him standing strong. Watching him overcome an opponent by throwing him on to the ground, she could not help but marvel at his strategy. By positioning himself at a corner, he had dramatically reduced the area he had to watch for targets. His back safe, the boy could now concentrate his efforts to the front.
Three minutes in and the fight was mutating. What was once an open brawl had changed form. Temporary alliances either broke down or held true, making the field a battleground with partially clear lines of who was siding with who.
Vale noted with pride that the boy was one of the few who still stood alone. But it was going to change because there was a fight that was coming to him.
Retreating from a group that out numbered them two to one was a blond boy and a brunette girl. They slowly moved back, retreating and fighting at the same time to keep the other group from overrunning them. The problem was that they was heading towards the corner... Dutch's corner.
The boy at the corner looking at the oncoming fight. Making his decision, the boy moved out of the corner, heading away from the fight moving in.
Vale cried out with shock. What was he doing, leaving the corner? He would be an easy target out there!
But the boy had other plans. Looping around, he moved until he was at the rear of the larger group. Then, while they were still concentrated on the smaller group, he struck.
He attacked the one to the rearmost of the group, his fist connecting with the back of the head of the child. His opponent collapsed, knocked out by the hit. Then whilst the others were still unaware of their comrade's defeat, he engaged.
Caught between the impromptu hammer and anvil style attack, the larger group broke. They all ran away, self-preservation outlasting the will to fight.
The boy faced the group of two.
"This spot yours?" The blond boy asked.
Nod.
"Mind if we share?" He continued.
Quick thinking. Nod again.
And then another group was upon them. The boy quickly positioned himself to the left of the blond boy, making himself a frontal shield. Together, the two boys held off the attack, the brunette girl moving in to attack opponents that were targeting the front guard.
Fighting this way, the trio weathered the assault until finally the air-horn blew again.
The fighting slowly died down. A gate at the side of the field opened and the children filed towards it.
The trio joined the thinned out group heading for the gate.
"Hey, you aren't half bad, what's your name? Mine's Aden." The blond boy said to the boy.
"Nora." The brunette said as she hopped over an unconscious body.
The boy stared back at them blankly as if trying to understand what they were saying before realization dawned on his face.
"Dutch."
The memory ended.
1 year later
The trio stood in front of the door. They all looked a year older.
"Anyone know why we got to see the big man?" Aden asked.
His two other less vocal companions shrugged.
"Can the two of you please open your mouths?" He sighed.
Dutch rolled his eyes and complied. "Maybe it's to tell us that you are an idiot and they were sorry that you were ever in this program."
Aden was about to launch into a counter-argument of his own when the door opened. The trio cautiously entered the room, slightly afraid of what would happen to them inside.
Inside, a hooded man sat at the table, his large imposing figure seemingly towering over the table.
"Sit." The man said. The trio complied, all three sitting down and giving the man their full attention.
"It has come to our attention that the three of you have been quite a team. While each of your results have not been of remarkable quality, as a group, you have one of the better results compared to the other impromptu groups that formed during the exercise last year. Not the best, but definitely not mediocre either." The man remarked as he slowly flipped through a dossier.
"Therefore we have seen fit to have the three of you pulled out of the mass training program and be placed in specific training. This has already been employed with several of the other groups and individuals, as I am sure you have already noticed by your decrease in program mates." The man continued idly.
"However... there is an extra... bonus to this. The training that you are set to undergo has allowed room for several , ah, modifications to be added. They have, so to speak, decided to make you better." The man finished.
"Sir, what do you mean?" Nora asked, acting as a voice for the group.
The trio felt a prick on their skin. The room wobbled.
"You will know first-hand." The man drawled before the memory faded.
1 month later
Dutch and Aden watched as Nora lay in bed, sickened. Her entire face flushed red and her breathing ragged. She was drenched in sweat and her body trembled.
"What happened to her?" Dutch asked as they watched their partner suffer.
"Complications from the enhancements. Her body is rejecting the special mix. Don't worry, sooner or later the body will develop an immunity to it. It's just a matter of time." The doctor said.
"Until then, all she can do is ride out the storm. Command has decided to halt your training for now, seeing as an integral part of your team is down. They believe that your results have earned you some rest time." With this he turned and left, leaving the two boys to watch their companion suffering.
Aden stared at her. "I got no idea what to do with the rest time. You?"
Dutch shook his head.
Just then, Nora curled up in pain. Her hands balled up into fists, devoid of someone to hold to. Her eyes ran with tears as she was wracked with pain.
Dutch had had enough. He left his position and walked up to Nora. Taking a seat, he sat by her bed and grabbed her hand. Locking fingers, he held her hand tight.
Nora gripped back, her other hand reaching out and holding onto his hand. She lay on the bed, both hands clasped around Dutch's, a grasp onto a reminder that her friends were there for her.
"Don't leave." She breathed out.
"We won't." Aden answered.
Nora smiled, even though they could see she was in great pain.
Memory completed
6 months later
Bam!
The paper target fluttered as a bullet hole appeared in it's center.
"Very good. Leave the station." The radio blared.
Dutch set the pistol down and left the shooting range. He joined his partners by the door, watching.
"Not bad." Aden said. The blond boy had changed since Vale saw him last. There was more muscle on his arms than would seem normal for his age and his eyes had an artificial tint to them. in fact, Vale realized Dutch too had undergone the same change. Nora on the other hand seemed to be the only one with nominal if exponential body growth. Already at her age, she had the look of an unforgettable, supple beauty.
"If I had a carbine or an assault rifle, I would probably do better." Dutch answered.
Aden scoffed. "Oh please, why compromise when you can have the weapons on both ends of the spectrum?"
Nora sighed. "Must it always be whose weapon is the better one?" The brunette asked her two companions.
The two beasts both turned to the beauty and answered. "Yes!"
Nora sighed again and gave the two boys a smack each on the back of the head. "Why don't the two of you prove it during our next battle instead?"
Both of the boys sheepishly rubbed the back of their head, making clear just who controlled the reins in the group. "Yes mother."
The trio left the shooting range and headed to an elevator, where inside Nora selected the floors.
"First however, we are dropping by the lab." She said.
"I hate needles." Dutch grumbled, making clear his his position on entering the lab.
Nora smiled. She too echoed Dutch's sentiment about the lab but for different reasons.
The door opened and the trio strode straight to the man standing in the middle of the room, ignoring the multitude of equipment that lay around the room.
"Your bodies are performing at an excellent rate. The overtime additives have been accepted by your blood and I must say, the three of you are my most beautifully functioning specimens." Said the doctor as he looked at the read outs on a screen.
He looked up through the transparent screen and focused on Nora. "Although it must be noted, your beauty is completely natural. How I would love to analyze it and make it better."
Nora ignored the words. With her two partners standing behind her, she was safe enough from the clutches of the doctor and his fantasies.
"Here's the next batch. Again it will take effect overtime and enhance the development of your body. Although I believe you don't require that at all my dear." The doctor said as he handed out three large syringes.
Without a word, the trio injected themselves, Dutch doing his with a wince. Handing the medical equipment back to the doctor, they turned and re-entered the elevator again.
"I say one day we shove a camera up the doctor's ass and let him analyze himself." Aden muttered. Dutch echoed his sentiment with a grunt.
Nora's mouth pulled into a small smile. "Thanks guys." She said as she made physical her words by giving both of their hands a heartfelt squeeze.
The next time the door opened, the trio were greeted by a heavy-set man who silently guided them to an armored door. Inside, a massive array of weapons greeted the team. Every single firearm ever created and then some, lined the walls. The armored door closed behind them as they entered the room.
Aden headed straight for the sniper rifles as Dutch made his way to his rifles. Nora on the other hand stayed behind, checking a PDA that the silent man had passed to her.
"Large battlefield, approximately 2 mile radius. Varied terrain but with a large number of open spaces for us to play around. Expect wheeled vehicles but nothing that a well placed bullet can't stop." She said to her companions.
"What's the scenario?" Dutch asked as he chose his weapon. An M4 with a shortened barrel, coupled with a reflex sight on top and a suppressor to seal the deal. A check on the ammunition gave him the information that they were given rubber bullets. Along the way, he picked up a pair of compact binoculars just in case.
"You would like this one. Two big teams, both making up one half of those from the mass training programs are duking it out for control of a hill. Meanwhile, every squad from the specialized programs will be running amok inside the zone. Each having their own objective and some having the same. And it so happens so do we. The rule of engagement is at your own discretion." Nora said as she changed for the fight. While Dutch and Aden had no qualms about going into battle with any kind of clothing, she was much more particular.
Both Dutch and Aden choked on air as she stripped down and changed into clothing that was more suitable for the occasion. Her developing body was getting some very good curves and with her face, she was a man's dream in metamorphosis.
She smiled to herself as her partners tried hard to avert away their eyes. The walls of the armory were well placed to reflect light around and she knew that her male companions would control themselves the best they could. But they were males after all and she spied peeking eyes. Still, it was fun to use her female body to make them stumble over themselves.
Having learnt what needed to be known, she chose her weapons with a bit more finesse. A Steyr Aug Para submachine gun for its better than normal accuracy. Three Mk23 pistols, two of which she handed over to her companions. They were allowed to bring any kind of weaponry but Nora insisted on at least standardization of their secondary weapons. The two males at the time tried to put up a pretense of a fight, but they could hardly think while she used her capabilities and gave in.
A girl gets what a girl wants. Especially when she asks for it and especially while half naked.
Her load out decided, Nora joined her companions at another armored door at the other end of the room. Dutch simply came with his rifle and pistol. Aden on the other hand had a timber-wolf C14 sniper rifle slung over his back and a hawk type 97 pump shotgun in his hands. Or as he loved to call it, both ends of the spectrum.
"Ready?"
Both of her companions nodded.
The door opened.
Memory end
Vale halted the transition to the next memory.
Having just seen a tiny bit of Dutch's memory, she could at least understand a bit of her father now. The determination that he had and the lack of complaint was both from his experiences during his childhood.
She was actually envious of his female partner Nora. Nora had him well under her finger and that made her envy her. She also envied Nora's tendency to drive issues her way with some distraction.
Oh, that and Nora's figure instantly made her very jealous. For a girl the equivalent of her age, she was outclassed in terms of looks and appeal.
Somehow, Vale knew this was only the appetizer. There was more to come and it would only get more intense.
Without a second thought, she delved back in.
Mass combat scenario
6 hours in
The last shots died down as accurate fire rained down upon their location. The chatter of assault rifles was over powered by the biting cracks of a sniper rifle, the ripping of a submachine gun and the less noticeable barks of a suppressed carbine.
Dutch slowly appeared out of the bush by the side of the road. Moving to the road, he made sure to keep himself as low as possible. He looked back, where somewhere in the hill and forest behind him, Aden and Nora watched over him with the help of optics.
Still, it felt lonely out in the open and Dutch sought to get it over with as fast as possible.
Sprinting to the halted jeep, it engine still rumbling, he rooted through the groaning bodies of the ambushed patrol. While the rubber bullets ensured that they did not die from the experience, the pain was more that enough that they could not get back up again. It would not last long however and so Dutch quickly did what he had to do.
Before long, he managed to pull a thumb drive. Hiding it in his pocket, he took off on a dead run off the road.
"Excellent! Get back up the hill over the crest." Nora informed him.
Dutch followed the instruction, careful to watch the road to see if any of the ambushed troops were getting back up. Once he was over the top, he almost stepped on Nora. Or to be more specific, the hideaway that Nora had built for herself that he did not see, but rather fell into instead.
As it was, he fell over onto her.
"Ow~" Nora moaned, sounding more like her age than the cool and organized leader of their small triad. Dutch grinned sheepishly and got up, helping her get to her feet along the way.
"Why did you do that?" Nora whined, pouting.
Over the radio, laughter crackled. "Damn, you actually sound your age. Why can't you act more like this when we are not on mission?"
Nora gave the radio a gentle pat. "That's because I have a reputation to keep at base, remember? And Dutch, you still haven't explained why you did that?"
Dutch grinned. "Maybe I was blinded by your beauty?"
Nora smiled. "I know. I saw you peeking at the armory." That immediately shut him up.
The radio crackled again. "Caught in the act!"
"I saw you too." Nora said to the radio.
The radio sputtered. Victorious, Nora motioned for Dutch to follow her. Traveling away from the road, they headed for the edge of a forest rising higher behind the hill.
"You know, even though they don't tell us much about the outside world, I still think I'm lucky that I got you two. Both of you have always made sure that I was protected." She interjected suddenly, her weapon slung over her front and her hands clasped behind her back.
"Well, you are one of us." Dutch answered, his rifle held casually by his side. If anything happened, Aden would spot and tell them.
Nora favoured him with a small smile and shook her head. "No that's not it. Both of you can easily force me out. But instead you always make sure that I don't take the brunt of everything. I feel blessed."
"Have we? I can't remember any such thing." Dutch answered truthfully.
Nora's smile turned wider. "The battle last year? Or the time when both of you waited by my side while I was sick from the enhancements? Or how about just now, when both of you volunteered to go get the package instead of me even though I had the shorter ranged weapon?"
"Hey, you are the thinking one in our group. And your weapon is not suppressed. The moment you fire, everyone is going to see you." Dutch answered.
Nora gave him a light punch on the arm. "And what does that make you guys, mindless robots? Aim and shoot." She mimicked, her voice taking on a poor impression of a robot.
"Well you know what they say about brains and brawn." Aden quipped over the radio.
Nora giggled. "I guess that makes me the queen?"
"And us the worker bees." Dutch completed.
"This queen is blessed." She said before giving Dutch a kiss on the cheek. The brown haired boy blushed.
"Not fair! I want one." The radio complained.
Nora stuck out her tongue at the tree line. "Later." She said as she spun around happily from Dutch.
Crack!
Nora collapsed onto the ground. Dutch watched her fall slowly as time seemed to slow down.
And then it returned to normal as he snapped out of the trance. Running to his female partner, he gripped his own radio.
"Aden! What the hell are you doing?" He yelled.
"It wasn't me! There must be someone else here!" Aden answered frantically.
Crack!
The round bounced off the ground close to Dutch. He instinctively ducked and kept moving.
"Gotcha! Hiding just slightly behind the crest of the hill! You're going down, you sneaky asshole!" the radio triumphantly spoke.
Crack!
The rubber bullet just missed Dutch's head. He reached Nora, draping himself over her to protect her from anymore shots.
"Take the shot!" He yelled into the radio.
Crack!
A cry of pain answered the shot.
"Yes! Yes! You are not walking away from that one for a while, you...uh oh."
"What now?" Dutch answered as he flipped Nora on to her back. The brunette was alive thanks to the rubber bullet but she was gasping for air. Dutch knew that the impact of the bullet and the pain made it temporary difficult for Nora to catch her breath.
"We got a response force coming our way. One jeep and a troop truck just crossed the road." Aden answered as he saw everything going on through the scope of his sniper rifle.
Nora started to tremble and her breathing was becoming ragged. Dutch realized that this meant that Nora's memory of her sickened time was being triggered by the massive amount of pain she was receiving. It had happened once before during a training exercise. He grabbed her hand and gripped it hard.
"I'm right here Nora. I'm right here." He whispered comfortingly to her. Nora returned his grip thankfully.
"You need to get out fast! Engaging targets!" Aden ordered.
Crack!
"Lea...me..." Nora forced out through ragged breaths even as her eyes clouded over with the memory.
Dutch ignored her words. "I'll going to get you out of here okay. Just don't let go." He said before lifting her up in a bridal style carry and running for the tree line.
Crack!
"Officer down." Aden spoke.
Dutch kept running. The events unfolding around him all discarded. All he knew was that he had to get Nora out of the open ground into the relative safety of the tree line.
The chatter of assault rifles and the zing of bullets around him sought to stop him but he ignored them. All that mattered was the trembling girl in his arms holding his hand lost in distant memory.
Crack!
He ran and ran until the darkness of the trees enveloped him. And he kept going. Aden would cover him and pin down the enemy for as long as possible and retreat back after. That, Dutch could trust him to do. He had more important things to worry about.
He kept running until he came upon a pile of moss in the ground. But this pile was special. Setting Nora down, Dutch ripped the camouflage off the small bag of supplies and searched around for the right item.
Finding it, he returned to Nora where she trembled, her eyes far away. She made no reaction to his touch. He pulled off the cap off the syringe and checked her neck for the artery. Finding it, he carefully inserted the needle into the neck and with out a second thought, mashed down on the syringe. Immediately, he pulled out the needle, not wanting to accidentally kill her using the needle.
Nora rose. Her back arched as she sucked in a big gasp of air. Then she immediately dropped back onto the forest floor.
"Nora?" Dutch asked as he hesitantly bent forward.
Nora launched herself forward and pushed herself over Dutch. The boy's eyes widened as he fell back onto the forest floor, Nora on top. The brunette kissed Dutch full on the mouth, her tongue entering him.
Dutch just lay there stunned as she licked every inch of his mouth with her tongue. Then she retracted her head, eyes twinkling.
"Wow." Dutch simply answered.
"It was you wasn't it? You held my hand that time. I remembered." Nora said, getting off her friend.
"Partially. Aden traded with me when I got tired. We made sure there was a hand by your side always." Dutch answered as he got up.
Nora pursed her lips. "Damn. Now I have to even the score."
Then she grinned as she leaned forward again. "By the way, when a girl kisses you, never fight her and kiss back."
"Very well, milady." Dutch retorted, bowing like a butler. Both laughed, for a second lost in the mutual humor.
But reality has a bad habit of reminding you of its presence again.
The radio crackled. "Epsilon team, we are twenty minutes away from the pick-up. You better be there."
"Damn." Nora said as she pouted. She looked around for her submachine gun. Noticing it gone, she turned to him and gave him a accusing look.
Dutch gave her a shrug as he rose back up. "It must have fallen off along the way, I guess."
Nora walked to him. "Well then, I guess you will just have to provide for me." She said to his face before taking his pistol.
"Don't you have your own secondary weapon? It's right there." Dutch pointed out.
"Let the lady decide." Aden said as he appeared from the trees, holding his sniper rifle and his shotgun slung along his back.
"Your gun is currently being played around with by our esteemed chasers by the way. The same chasers who have given up because I gave all their leaders a timeout." He continued.
Nora looked at Aden and back at Dutch. Reaching a conclusion, she passed Dutch's pistol back to him before walking up to Aden.
"What is it you ne-Mmmph!" Aden sounded out as Nora kissed him while she pushed him against a tree. Caught holding his sniper rifle, he could only stand in shock as Nora did to him the same thing she did to Dutch.
When she pulled back, she grinned at Aden's stunned face. "That was for holding my hand." She said before walking away, her newly liberated Type 97 shotgun cradled in her hands, the jingle of loose stolen shotgun shells issuing from her pocket.
Aden turned his head to Dutch, a stunned look emblazoned across it. "What the hell happened while I was gone?"
Dutch shrugged, grinning. "Reward, I guess."
"For what?" Aden asked. Dutch's cryptic answer did nothing to answer his question.
"Boys?" Nora called.
Aden gave up on the subject and trudged after Nora, grumbling about their female member in their group and violations of personal privacy. Dutch simply chuckled as he picked up the small supply bag and followed after them.
Vale pouted.
Okay , she was jealous as hell.
The interactions between him and Nora made her burn with jealousy and envy. Oh how she wished she had that level of intimacy with Dutch.
Although now she knew why Dutch kissed back. The memory made it very clear who taught him to react that way.
Which again made her feel guilty again. Already the tears were rising.
Stifling a sob, she flung herself back into the memory.
Blackhawk
Over battle zone
End of mass battle scenario for epsilon team
The helicopter flew over the battle zone, the sound of heavy fighting filling the air.
Dutch peeked over the edge as the helicopter flew over a line of jeeps, it's occupants either firing into an outcrop of rocks or lying on the ground moaning.
He congratulated himself that he would never experience the pain of a rubber bullet, at least not today.
The zing of a bullet made him pull his head back in. How ironic that after all that, he would be hit by a stray bullet on the extract helicopter.
Aden simply scanned the entire expanse of the battle zone with his optics, watching groups clash against each other.
"You did well. Normally we would send you back out with another mission but things have changed." Their extraction officer said to them over the sound of the helicopter.
"What do you mean sir?" Nora returned.
"Events are accelerating. While the others continue on schedule with their training, your team will have to come into play earlier than expected. Your skill sets will be crucial when we need to use them." The officer drawled over the roar of the chopper.
"Use what for what sir?" Nora asked.
The officer shook his head, indicating that the information was not for them.
"All we can tell you is that you are becoming what has been hoped of you." He said.
The memory started to flash, images changing like some sort of bad picture program on fast forward.
"You will become the sword."
The images started to change faster as black crowded over the edge of the memory.
"Or to be more specific, the tip of the sword."
The last image was a massive black room, monitors flashing everywhere.
Memory end
Vale frowned.
Such images were not normal. It could only happen if the memory was somehow tampered with.
She checked the memory weave. It showed signs of tampering for quite a considerable expanse in the short weave. Too much to be a simple matter.
She pursed her lips. It was troublesome for her when there was tampering on the memory. She would have to physically go in and fix the issue. If it was a blanket tampering, that meant that she would have to watch through every second of it. And if it spanned years, she would have to live through all those years.
Still, she had no choice, it was her duty as vault entity. Not to mention, it was Dutch's memory.
With a sigh, she entered, selecting the ones that showed tampering.
Biotic Lab
The next day
"You bastard!" Dutch yelled as he struggled against his restraints.
The doctor gave him a quizzical look. "Such crude language. Why, I am only taking a direct hand in Nora's next step on her enhancements. Why are you so agitated?"
Dutch gave him a snarl. "I know what you plan to do along the way, you nutcase! Touch her and there will be hell to play!" He growled.
The doctor laughed. "One man's nutcase is another man's genius. Don't be making threats now, I would hate to terminate you on account of uncontrollable violence."
He typed on to his computer. "Oh and the leaders at the top have something special planned for you. You are selected to be a carrier for their latest project. Which is why you are here and your partners are else where receiving their own enhancements. A pity you aren't quiet."
He tapped a button and a syringe pierced Dutch's skin, depositing its contents. Dutch lost all of his fire as his body complied with the chemicals.
"But I do have to agree, you do show such promise. The results of this experiment will be interesting to watch, I believe." The doctor finished. He rolled the stretcher to a connected room, leaving him inside with nothing but the hum of an air conditioner to accompany him.
"Ah, yes, before we begin, this is a completely untested creation. You are literally the first to have it. So what happens to you after this, I have no idea." The doctor said before injected him with a grey liquid.
"Now, let's go practice medicine." He left the room.
'I hope you slip and fall, you white coated nutcase.' Dutch thought.
And then he twitched.
Dutch looked at himself, a flash of horror on his face as his body suddenly started to jerk around in it's restraints.
Vale winced. The movements looked painful.
It was. Dutch screamed in agony as grey started to cloud his pupils.
Memory end
A guardian awoke.
Vale covered her mouth in horror.
The memory had stopped on the picture of his eyes clouding over with grey.
"Damn. That looks bad." A sympathetic voice said.
Vale spun around to see Nora standing behind her, wearing combat fatigues, staring at the image.
"W-wha..." Vale stuttered. How was she here? It was not possible.
Nora grinned, her 18 year old image grinning like a girl that had just learnt a secret. "Surprised? Don't worry. I'm feeling just the same as you. Who are you and what the hell are you doing in Dutch's head?"
"Ah, well, I...I..." Vale continued to stutter, unable to believe how a person could be inside the vault.
Nora sighed before giving Vale a flick to her head.
"Ow!"
The brunette gave a smile. "Let's start with me then, since a cat apparently got your tongue. I am Nora. Or at least a fragment of her inside Dutch's head. My job was to monitor him to make sure that he did not break his programming and unleash the memories in his head. If I am here, that means something is horribly wrong and seeing how you are the only other person here, I am obligated to ask you."
Vale worked her mouth. "Ah...well..."
Nora gave her a appraising look. "Although one thing I can be sure about you, Dutch believes that you matter to him. Otherwise he would have shut you out from his head. So, who are you?"
Those words broke the dam. Hoping that this person could help her, Vale told her everything.
Shikieiki Yamaxanadu read the report.
It appeared that the human had finally claimed a life. One not in self-defense.
She would add that to his ledger. Opening it, a blank page greeted her. Picking up a pen, she wrote down the sin.
She had seen his Outside ledger, the one she could do nothing about. The past one dripped with blood. A pity that she had no say about the matter. The Outside World was out of her jurisdiction.
She sent back an answer to the reporter, detailing the orders that Komachi would have to perform. The human does not know what his fate most likely has given him. She doubted any of them ever did.
The vault had a dark history. Whoever had it always slid down a dark slope of death, either by using it or defending it. It was a device of ambiguous power, capable of anything. And with humans as the user, it was nothing more than a matter of time before they started killing with it.
Shikieiki wondered why she was so eager to monitor this one. Perhaps she was curious about how far he would go before he was killed for it. She wondered if any of the owners had an idea of the power of the vault. What it had inside. Grinning grimly, she wondered if anyone would ever meet Her.
Probably not this one. She finished recording the kill. She would wait, she would record. And one day, she would show him what he had done.
HAHAHA! I just realized that this feels like ass-ass-in creed. The memory thingy. I totally didn't expect that. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU MIND?