A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I apologise for the long time it took to post this chapter, moving house and other things messed us my system of writing (cue star wars fanfare as the title 'The Real-life strikes back' scrolls up the screen xP) anyway! The chapter is a little shorter than I'd like but oh well! I hadn't updated the story in a while and wanted to get back into the swing of things. Without bashing around the bush much further I bring you chapter 7!
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-Chapter 7-
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-Audio Log 107, private archives, Dr. Wade Load, day [not specified] at Global Justice-
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~Uh, Ahem. So uh hi. I've made some advancement in the fields of cerebral reconfiguring. I'm not sure how Global Justice does it, but damn they have a lot of money to sink into this project. They're still not telling us what we're all building up to, not even allowing us to talk amongst ourselves at the workstations about our work, bit weird you know? In normal situations you could just circumvent this by having a chat with your co-workers outside of the labs, but GJ doesn't even seem to want to let us have that liberty. One of the guys in Lab 37, Pete Jefferson I think it was, he was talking about how he was working on mimicking powers that in-humans – or Mutants as they are more popularly called – possess via a robotic system of sorts. Its kind of amazing what we can do now-a-days with science and engineering if money and a government are subtracted from the equation! Jefferson's a real genius, pretty much the same age as me and if what I overheard right about twice as smart too! I'll have to ask him about his work a bit more when I see him again. Kind of reminds me of Jenkins' blab about project SENTINEL… hope its not the case, Pete's an awesome guy, would have loved to get to know him better.
On a different note, the people up high want me to start testing my 'Cerebral code', as its been dubbed. They thoughtfully have supplied me with some samples, these samples being fully intact brains. As of late however im not getting any feedback from them when trying to 'rewrite' or alter any chemical makeups in them, they're just TOO dead, too old. I told them that last time they asked for an update. They said that they'd fix the 'too dead' problem… not sure what that means but if it means I can keep heading towards the final goal then by all means. Still wondering where Pete is, not like him to just up and leave on a project, especially with how excited he sounded. Later guys/girls/other.~
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-Global Justice deep sea base, heart of SENTINEL construction, designated new HQ post subject escape event-
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Dr. Betty Director was, shockingly enough, in something that could resemble a good mood. Moments ago she had been contacted by one of her field operatives in regards to two of the four escaped mutants"Agent Wright." Dr. Betty Director spoke curtly into her comm device.
"Yes Ma'am?" The agent in question replied in record speed, entering the office of the director of Global Justice.
'He's a good breed of agent. Perhaps deserving of a promotion.' Dr. Director thought to herself before continuing. "You may come in. Agent Wright, I want you to enlist Field operative Mankey into the Agent program."
"FO Mankey, Ma'am?" Agent Wright asked, confusion evident in his voice. "If it's not above my level to ask, but why enlist him into the Agent program?"
"We've had a tip off of the location of the two subjects, mutants, that escaped in the wake of the chaos Nemesis and Possible caused." Dr. Director began. "Apparently they were seen stealing supplies in a small remote town. I want you to enlist Mankey, because he has been romantically involved with one of the mutants identified in that village which we could use to our advantage in tying off some loose ends."
"Understood, what of the residents in the town?"
"They will be terminated, fairly soon in fact. I have a kill squad on its way. It's a minuscule town in the middle of nowhere, it'll take a while for them to be missed, if ever."
"Of course, it will be done at once Ma'am." Said the agent before pausing to think. "Will we be sending FO Mankey to rendezvous with the kill squad?"
"No, he will be dropped off along one of their most likely escape routes. From there he'll be required to take them out of action, lethal or otherwise. There's too much, too many years of work at stake to allow them to roam freely about the world."
Noting that the director of GJ had finished what she wanted to talk to him about, Agent Wright turned on the spot and left for the door he had come in moments ago.
"Oh and Wright. When you're done, come back here. I have an hour and a half to kill before meeting with Supreme Director, and bring contraceptives. The last agent didn't, and you know what happens to agents who disappoint me, don't you?" Dr. Director called out to her most well behaved agent in a matter-of-factly kind of tone.
"Of course Ma'am." Was all that he replied before the doors shut behind him, his thoughts going back to his wife and children at home, begging silently for forgiveness. There was no way for him to get out of this.
Watching her new 'favourite' agent leave the office, Betty Director turned away from the door to focus on a large monitor mounted to the wall to her right. Waving with her hand she activated the screen and spoke her password, giving her free access to all of the base's comm channels. She was keen to find out how her latest WMDs, Weapons of Mutant Destruction, were coming along. Dr. Director had hoped to have a fleet of SENTINELS by now, but she had always known this to be wishful thinking.
'Maybe terminating a few of the slacker worker's contracts will speed them up, encourage them to work faster.' Betty mused to herself. If there was one thing she knew above all else, it was how to instil fear into the hearts of those she sought to dominate.
"Computer." The Director of GJ spoke out. "Secure connection to the manufacturing wing."
After a moment of nothingness the image of a mechanic in grey overalls, covered in scars and grease popped up on her screen, catching the Director a little off guard.
"Mechanic Niles? Where is Agent Blake? Why are you at his post?"
"Begging your pardon Ma'am," Niles began, "But the agent walked off his post, to have some shut eye I think."
"I see," Betty said, trying her hardest not to grind her teeth. "I want an update on my SENTINELS Mechanic Niles."
"Of course, Ma'am." The mechanic brought up a tablet that had been attached somewhere inside his overalls. "As of one hour ago we have produced two additional drones and have completed the AI upload of three of the previously constructed SENTINELS. We have, however kept them shut off for safety until we can be sure that they are unconditionally loyal and will follow our every command."
"Excellent work Mechanic Niles, inform your men to continue their work. I will be having an inspection of your workplace within the week. Oh and do tell Agent Blake to come to my office, immediately. He and I have to discuss the termination of his contract due to his inability to perform his duties." Dr. Director was, at this point, feeling something close to excited at the prospect of … terminating Agent Blake's contract, a small part of her job that Betty sadistically seemed to look forward to.
Meanwhile as the Director ended the connection Niles, the mechanic, sighed audibly and slumped against the wall that the view screen had been mounted on. He knew what an 'inspection' was, he was going to lose his 'slowest' (a.k.a. whomever Betty Director felt was giving her a funny look or looked stressed) workers and would have to find new workers to fill their places, by legal means or otherwise.
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- Near small town, Middle of nowhere, nearing dinner time-
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Bonnie's stomach grumbled, loudly, catching the attention of the wolf-like mutant she was walking silently beside. He looked at her, her stomach then back at her. 'Creep' she thought to herself as she quickened her pace to catch up with Tara and the elderly mutant in the weird grey costume.
"Where are we going, uh, Magneto?" Bonnie asked as she caught up with the helmeted and caped man walking ahead with Tara.
"We are going to a safe distance away from the town." Magneto replied looking over to the fiery brunette. "Global Justice was much closer than we had believed. The near vicinity of the town was no longer safe enough for us."
"Wouldn't your operative among them be able to stop or slow them down?"
"Only at the cost of her life, yes. But she's far too valuable to throw away like that." Magneto replied, sounding almost amused. "Mark my words miss Rockwaller, the Global Justice squad coming for you are here to kill, both human, and us alike. By the morning the town you have been so lovingly leeching off will be dead."
"Wait what?!" Bonnie spoke out in disbelief. "Granted I don't like them for being so hostile and whatnot towards us but why would they be killed because we were there?" 'Not that we didn't give them reasons to hate and be hostile towards us' she added to herself in her thoughts.
"Well they kind of deserve it I'd say." a voice close to the brunette that seemed very familiar spoke out. Bonnie turned her head to discover it came from the one and only Tara.
"How can you say that T? They're just the same as you and me, if we had done it because people were stealing things I know I wouldn't want to be killed or 'deserve' it."
"But Bonnie, they're not like us, we're Mutants, they're humans." Tara King replied in defence of her view. "I've been having a few talks with Magneto about the world of mutants because, well he's been around longer than us, and from his experience apparently if given the chance humans will always turn on the lesser numbered Mutants and try to dominate them."
"Ok well I'm only hearing half the story here" 'A half which kind of sounds like a big leap of faith in a old guy in a dorky helmet and a cape' "Maybe I'll have to Magneto about it myself."
"I can arrange for that to happen, my dear." Came the soft yet firm spoken voice of Magneto from Bonnie's left.
"OH! Hi, sorry. Forgot you were there. Heh." Bonnie, in a state of nervousness proceeded to scratch the back of her neck, letting out a small awkward laugh. 'Damn, where the hell did I pick that habit up from?'
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-Small town, Middle of nowhere, same time-
John Trayvaultar wasn't really a sight to behold. Even though he was a healthy age of 27, muscular and possessed a sharp mind, he was the owner of a fair few scars across his face and neck. Most notably of those scars was the one from that time his drunken father had poured hot oil on him for 'scratching his truck' (I was going to write 'Ute' but I realised that they seem more likely to be called trucks than Utes outside of AUS), something John had been innocent of.
Today was no different to any other for John. Granted he had heard word from some of the others in town that there were two fugitives about, two Mutants at that too. Though unlike some in this town he didn't feel the same bloodlust as them. He didn't want to hunt them down just because they were different, he wouldn't want it to happen to himself because of his scars and badly healed broken nose, so why should it happen to anyone else?
He was brought out of his musings when he saw a trail of dust coming along the road, following what looked like a small convoy of shiny black vans.
"HEY! BESSY!" John called out to the little girl that was tending to the irrigation system with him.
"What now?" was all that he got in reply, no one cared for formality or mountains of kindness out here.
"Go back to town, tell them we have people coming. Government by the looks of their shiny black 'inconspicuous' vans." He said in a tone that translated as 'and don't fool about while you're at it', before adding the unnecessary "And be quick about it! You're on foot and they aren't!"
John began to walk towards the main road, to see if he could stop the vans and find out what their intentions were. 'Did someone call them about the Mutants?' John thought to himself, trying to connect the invisible dots together to form the picture that should be there.
He reached the road just as the vans were threatening to pass by him. A wave from his arm made sure that wouldn't happen however, catching their attention and causing the convoy to slow to a standstill, one of the vans pulling up next to the local.
The window opened with the elegance that came with a high price tag, not a sound being made, and the driver inside looked out at the man that had waved them down.
"Excuse me, uh Sirs, but what brings you to our town?" John asked, his voice laced with suspicion and a little bit of fear.
"Pest control. Mutants were sighted here damaging and stealing property. This can't be allowed to spread further." The driver of the van replied, his face emotionless, his eyes hidden behind tinted glasses.
"I agree that stealing and damaging of property has to stop, but is that really necessary?" The local asked, motioning towards the handgun resting on the man's lap.
"Yes son, it is." Was all he replied before picking up said gun and aiming it out the window directly at John.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" John was confused, afraid, in disbelief. 'What the hell is going on?'
"Containing the situation."
A single shot rung out into the countryside and the convoy continued on its way towards the town. It wouldn't be the last shot to be fired on this day.
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-Small town, Middle of nowhere, two hours later-
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Private Jack Simmons walked down the dead quiet street at a quick pace, unarmed. This close to night time, and as per orders from the big boss who so 'bravely' gunned down the first local, Simmons should have been in his quarters (one of the now vacated houses) and at the least armed when walking about. A fact that hadn't gone unnoticed by two of the sentries patrolling the main street.
Looking forward the verbal and physical beating of a private amongst their peers the two sentries stopped their patrol and began to follow Simmons as he continued to walk down the street. Without much of an indication said private ducked into a side street out of sight of the two sentries now running to catch up to him.
Rounding the corner they saw the silhouette of the private standing in the shadows, seemingly surrendering to his fate.
"Private Simmons." One of the sentries, Biff was his name, called out, his tone voiced with malice. "You know the rules, you heard the boss' orders. You should be in bed like a good little girl, but you're not. You're in the street, unarmed."
"But Biff, isn't that against orders?" The second sentry asked in mock shock.
"Right you are Martha." Came Biff's reply as the two began to close the distance between them and Simmons. "Maybe we should make sure you remember to follow orders, what say you to that Private?"
"I'd say you were dead the moment you followed me off the street." Came the calm collected reply.
Biff and Martha were quite thoroughly confused and taken aback, not because of what Simmons had said, no it was because of his voice, it didn't sound normal. It sounded more like that of a woman's voice reverberating and almost a little synthetic.
Seeing the two sentries stop in their tracks, 'Simmons' walked out of the shadows, casting off the illusion that had been kept for a good three weeks now. In its place was a blue woman, covered in nothing bar her textured skin. She looked beautiful, yet at the same time incredibly menacing, her yellow eyes piercing through the darkness.
"Homo sapiens." Mystique said to herself as she walked towards the two in an almost bored manner. "You never cease to astound me with you amazing stupidity."
With that the blue Mutant pounced on her prey, jumping through the gap between the two humans, clotheslining the pair with her legs, sending their bodies crashing to the floor. Not losing a moment Mystique rolled out of the dive and rounded on the two on the ground. With a deliberate and calm manner she sat herself on the male's lap as he sat up and laced her legs around his head a suggestive look on her face.
"Now Biff, I'm sorry, is your head sore from that?" She asked in mock concern, before grasping said head with her feet and twisting it beyond where it should go, a sickening crack signifying the tear in the nerves in his spine and an end to his pathetic life.
Martha, the female didn't get the same 'special' treatment. Mystique didn't swing that way, not for humans anyway, human females made her skin crawl. As Martha stirred on the floor, slowly coming out of unconsciousness the blue Mutant walked towards her and stepped hard and unceremoniously on her exposed neck, another sickening crack signalling the end of one more pathetic human life.
"As much as I sometimes like to hope, you humans always prove me wrong." Mystique said as she began to walk off in the direction of the parked vans. "Given enough power you become the most destructive creatures. Now if you excuse me, I have someone I so desperately want to catch up to, not that being with you guys wasn't fun, its just lately our conversations have… died off a little."
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-End Chapter 7-