Act VIII: Nine Years Later, Chapter III: Phenocide

December 19th, 2038 - The Whirlwind Base, Middle East

A firm tower of metal and cement, occupied by a single soldier with a sniper rifle raised by both arms, stood lonesome in the center of a base that filled just about two hundred plus people, most of them being forces of the USMC, and the rest of them being pheno volunteers, aiding their fellow countrymen in the lengthy war they continued to wage there in the sandbox. The soldiers, clad in the standard Marine uniforms, and the pheno volunteers in casual clothing save for a purple armband on either their left or right arms, keeping the base in tip-top shape at all times, and the enemy at arm's length.

Among the row of barracks on the southern end of the base, Lyle Jefferson thoroughly cleaned the wall, scrubbing away the grime and dust that had collected, and would rinse away on the bucket of solution. The smell would be unbearable for his nose if he hadn't covered up with a plain white face mask, which put him back to feel the nostalgia from the COVID era.

He had gone from a scrawny teenager to a muscular young man that you'd never guess would have been him nine years later. A built body with the tank top underneath now fit to wear, when, they'd be loose enough to be blown upon by the wind; the end of his long hair of sandy-blond color, reformed as a buzzcut as standard protocol for even the volunteers; his persona had always been calm and collective, but a new change was his own thoughts that had become unspoken, and only when there were such thoughts to keep out from the world. For a simple reason, he sought a neutral mutuality in an aura, maintained only by simplification of himself, no opinions, no facts, no ideals to speak out so that he would avoid hostility and the collective upsetting of whoever could be offended. That was the way the ball rolled, good ol' Lyle putting others before him. Which was how he could lose his life.

Only, there was one person to ever exist, and still existed, who made themselves the exception, and the last person Lyle would ever help in this world. That person was the man-eating Gloom, the wandering soul in a black Victorian-like dress. What she did, there was no forgiveness for, but Lyle could agree that it may just be worth forgetting, even as painful and tragic that incident was. He made that mistake himself, bringing her closer to him. Close enough to-

"Hey, fleabag," an intruding voice had paused his cleaning. "Unit's running point, they want us both for this."

Lyle dumped the scrub in the bucket and approached the voice- Meli Ramos- and removed his mask. "Escort run? I'm onboard, beats having to swab here."

"Heh, you know that builds character," Meli teased.

"Yeah, for the younglings, which I'm not." Lyle took the bucket out and set it on the corner of the barrack, forgetting how hot the sun cast upon the base, facing nothing but scathing heat. "Good Lord, I've only been in there ten minutes and it feels just as bad yet!"

"You'll cool down later with a refreshing shower," Meli promised, "have you eaten?"

"I'm fine for now, but maybe a water bottle will due."

Meli moved her head to the front gate on the west side, seeing one of the convoy trucks moving to it. "We're packed, they've got some spare canteens-"

"HEY!" The armed sniper manned on the lookout tower suddenly emitted a thunderous roar, the soundwave of it passing through to everyone's ears, and for Lyle, it had been dialed up extra. They took aim at a lone figure walking up to the base from the north side. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR YOU WILL BE SHOT AT!"

The machine gun turret at both sides of the front gate were moved again, aligned to the sea of sizzling sand. As practiced, all soldiers hurriedly sprinted to the armory and came out armed to the teeth, cocking the rifles back and tactically forming two separate groups of squads behind the personnel truck, and the driver themselves had gotten out with their weapon, keeping the truck door open and gradually set down the barrel in between the shape opening, aiming at the unidentified stranger.

Lyle and Meli only foolishly stared at the progressing scene, but other pheno volunteers, forcefully herded away by the acting leader, hastened to the mess hall to keep them from any potential harm; they were not just a valuable asset, but the last resort should things go horribly south. The pair followed the train of volunteers, joining the crowd. "I guess this puts a damper on things!"

"Tell me about it!"

Unlike the training drills they had for this exact scenario, and on the plus side of learning to expect the unexpected, no soul, not even those of the sharpest, alert minds, could ever anticipate the mess hall's locked doors being blown out of its hinges- the steel rectangles fell upon the crowd, hitting them and assigned pheno leader, crushing two to their deaths and injuring another three. "Hang on!" Meli utilized her powers to move them off of the trapped phenos.

What the hell did that? Lyle took to sniffing the air, detecting no chemical odor- but there was an interesting smell that caught his attention. Is that perfume? ...A girl?

The phenos all kept back from the mess hall, steadied in their place but lost, giving each other looks, seeking to get a response from whoever could qualify to step up to temporary leader. Meli thought ahead and protected herself and the others with the doors. "Everyone, be on your guard! We have possible hostiles within the-"

A great rumble shook the ground, but the source of it was not naturally made. A second explosion, this one proving to be more powerful, had blasted right through the roof of the mess hall. Lyle and Meli followed the flying debris with their eyes, and then Meli moved their cover over their heads, blocking most of the falling debris. And from where the roof had been, a truly strange sight formed as if there had been an expert magician showing off the greatest of illusions, and Lyle himself had to close and reopen his eyes before he comprehended what they laid witness to. It was a large hand that illuminated greatly, perhaps it was made up of light, and such a power seemed to be likely the ability of a pheno. Lyle concluded a female pheno was in play, just beginning her attacks. "Watch yourselves!"

The gigantic hand pushed forward, further destroying the mess hall until it had come close, breaking free and floating just above the clutter of phenos. Only a few had raced away from harm, but the rest, Lyle and Meli included, let the fear take over enough for their bodies to become strickened from the illness. The illuminating hand formed itself into a tight fist, engaging the phenos by dropping right on top of them, effectively killing half of them. Lyle set his obligation to Meli and pulled her back, now focused on getting away from the pheno behind the attack. "HEY! FOCUS FIRE HERE, WE'VE GOT A CONFIRMED HOSTILE-"

The soldiers at last opened fire at the unidentified stranger at the front gate, starting off with the sniper and the machine gunners, creating a symphony of ear-shattering noises. The personnel truck then exploded in view, presumably blown up by none other than the invader. The truck tipped to its left, burning away with the charred corpse of the driver.

Why are they only concentrated on the other one?! Lyle, Meli and the remaining phenos had reached the two shooting squads just in time for a heavy shower of debris come pouring down where the armed forces were. Lyle faced back only to have a chunk of concrete strike his face, leaving a scrape across his face. Down he went, blacking out.

Later

The heat had dried up the blood around his face but otherwise still kept itself in its pain state for Lyle to feel again, only longer. And that he did, groaning out as he came to, wishing momentarily for an ice pack. He rolled onto his stomach and saw an unbearable carnage left in the wake of the attack. Mangled corpses, or whatever was left of them, lying close to each other or far apart in a random assortment. As for the base, it had been destroyed, as if a tornado had hit the place. "M-Meli!"

He remembered his hand had been holding onto hers, so he patted around and felt her hand. And pulled. "Mel-"

It felt lighter. "Meli?"

He flipped over and saw the gruesome sight of Meli's arm split from her body, the rest of her crushed under a car-size chunk of concrete, bringing Meli's young life to a close. Her and everyone else in the base, except for him. Only him, who somehow survived. Him, gone unchecked by the assailants who dared to attack, for reasons he could not know or think about just yet. Just like that other time before, it happened again and under his watch, when he was supposed to be on his best guard so that the outcome could be changed to his favor, for the better. And what had he to show for it? Nothing but a single hand broken away from its own body, dangling a single foot off the ground and doing nothing but drenching the sand below of its blood drop by drop. B-but you were just here...

Lyle set Meli's hand back upon the sand, prioritizing for any survivors. He walked around the wrecked base, avoiding the tiny fires, ignoring the devastation in his way, focusing his hearing on any heartbeats and any breathing there could be. There should have been, but the only thing that echoed upon his eardrums was the hollow wind sweeping the sands and the cackling fires about. He hadn't been sure, but with each step and no response to say otherwise, Lyle accepted that he truly was the lone survivor of the base. They were all just here... How did-?

Everything, right up to the communications building, had been downgraded into a mess of metal and concrete, leaving him stranded until the next base would be suspicious and investigate when the Whirlwind did not check in at the next interval. Yes, they'd have to come down here after a drone survey, where they'd find out someone turned the post into a war zone.

Lyle could only put himself in the shade of the debris, staying there to keep cool. He knew hunger and thirst again, stomach roughly growling for just about anything. He never had gotten a bite to eat prior to washing his own barrack, intending to build up the hunger to savor a good meal after his job well done.

December 22nd, 2038 - Washington, D.C.

At an international embassy, a private, secret meeting had finalized, and all members who've sat, domestic and foreign diplomats of high rankings, were in agreement to propose and establish new terms in pheno international travel. These gentlemen, the majority of them being over, at the very least, in their forties, had their share of laughs, drank a bit, and reminisced when times were easier when the 1% had a greater significance in a long time streak and the average tangent of political talk of most other general topics, ranging from judicial extradition laws, then going to the economic trade, and finally, the secretive system not known to many; the property monopoly, which was the intended operation of bringing property values down by crime, poverty and hostile environmental settings.

The way they figured, as long as phenos continued to spread throughout the states, opportunities that would benefit the capitalists grew, adding to the stockpile of ways they could leech dollar and coin from any and all parties, as long as said parties were subjected to fear of even one simple rogue pheno. A scared resident would take up arms, business done by gun manufacturers. Or perhaps they'd invest in high-level security, business done by a name-brander that specialized in security; they'd have to have surveillance cameras, electric gate unit installations, keypads and an app that connected the cameras to the home owner's home. Perhaps the extra mile of even remote control over all entrances. If neither of those things were good enough, there was the last resort where they could move, make a quick sell of their property at low. A house flipper would then buy it at low and remodel it and sell higher. And it would happen again in another part of the city. Money flying out of the wallets of the hard-working citizens out of fear, and they who got the last laugh sat comfortably in the high floors of a building, or perhaps in their own million-dollar estates, with their own families, at peace that they remained as they were; untouched by phenos, and a select few relieved Dylan Blood never even looked their way, after that massacre of entrepreneurs that went down in the theatre.

When the members had been done, they parted ways and excused themselves from the table silently, and would not be due for another few months upon the floor again.

Just outside the embassy, a daring motorist driving in a red ATV veered off the same street and pulled into a parking lot, performing donuts clockwise and counter-clockwise, transitioning every few rounds until the motorist grew weary and pulled out of the parking lot. Right before it got back on the road, the tail end of the ATV activated a feature that was not of stock ATV variety, or a feature that could be easily built in a custom fashion. A metallic rectangle stretched down, and from it, a tiny drill poked onto the surface of the tarmac and fulfilled its sacred duty, drilling all the way down until the rectangular handle had covered the drill and the hole. The motorist detached the drill layer and sprung the rectangle back up, leaving the device earthed in the hole and revved the ATV out of there. "Eyes planted, Freedom Mud," the female motorist notified her companion through the Lobelink on her right ear. "Use the Element well."

"Wasn't my first performance for you the grand razzle-dazzle?" Liberty Loud, occupying a two-seat round table just outside a coffee shop half a mile away, took control over the drill with a laptop. "Activating camera, standby."

"Moving past you, eyes frontward."

"Yes, ma'am-" Liberty never took her eyes off the screen, only perfectly focused on the receiving camera, sourced from the tip of the drill that had risen just one inch, but enough, past the flat tarmac. "No sight of our overseas pals."

"I want everything clean and effectively fast. Team Beta, roll out."

Another half mile away, a van registered to a plumbing company had finally moved since being parked on the street overnight. It drove toward the embassy in light speed, going as slow as traffic to ensure the convoy would not be missed. The driver, Bethany Chang, had put on the company's uniform, fitting the role of a female plumber- and it came with that funky smell that proved to make Lissandra's nose burn- near well. "We're on the move, Commander. Lizy, bring out your beast."

In the back, Lissandra kicked at the orange-red tool box, its bottom forming an uneasy scraping sound. She had been taken the last few hours sleeping in until a hard half hour ago, the time she moved about and around the cramped space, snacking on Pringles and a Sprite. To transform into her animalistic form right now would slow the van down, it might not have been necessary to overload the back. "I'm ready to slaughter!"

"Kill all foreign nationals, as messy it must!"

"Commander, I still have to object on account of liable witnesses. The Prime Supreme did not want us to leave any such evidence of ourselves-" Bethany's concern over leaving any trace of their special time-travel missions had grown from its pebble-size worry since she had gone over the details of this next one where they'd be operating in an open field full of random bystanders, an immeasurable risk for themselves. But while Bethany gave this some thought, that particular issue had been solved in the mind of her superior.

"Then we kill all nearby, won't we, Freedom Mud?"

Liberty took a pensive pause, stunned by the gritty implication. "Wait, you want me to-?" The drill-camera caught sight of the three-vehicle convoy of tinted Sedans. "I have eyes now... And there's too many civilians around-"

"We have problem, clone?"

"It's..." Liberty found herself agreeing with Bethany on the matter, nervous as the clock ticked the seconds away. "These aren't enemy soldiers-"

Bethany kept the van at a steady twenty, coming up to the convoy. "This isn't... I don't think-"

Lissandra took a glance out the front windshield. "No sweat, I'll handle the collateral here."

"Mercer, recognition and promotion in your future, comrade. Chang, clone, make right choice."

"I don't do innocent people, Commander..." Bethany decided. "I'm not prepared to do this-"

Liberty guided the drill-camera back down on level and deactivated it, then shut her laptop and hastened out of her seat, strutting off away from the street. "You said this operation was to be a false flagger meant to put the unregistered phenos in hot water. Lizy's appearance would ensure-"

"Nothing, they are too high tech and just may compromise future!"

"Then..." Bethany kept her face forward, already passing by the convoy. "Lizy... The nationals take priority, no one else-"

"Let Liberty and her watch stand back, Commander. I've got this in the bag... I've been meaning to let off some steam after I let that red zoomer get away from me." Lizy burst out through the back, transforming midair and landing as the last Sedan had passed by. She moved rapidly and made a high leap over the Sedan, striking her claws against the roof, turning it into shreds. "You've taught us no mercy!"

"Provide assistance, Chang!"

Bethany made a hard left, arranging the van in between the lanes as a blockade. She set the van in park and scampered out, stripping herself of the uniform, revealing her black gi and the pair of sais tucked comfortably underneath. I knew we'd be doing it with this much noise, but-

Lissandra forced herself through the hole she made, rocking the Sedan about as she caused the necessary carnage. The first and middle vehicle sped away, leaving both Primers in the dust. Liberty entered through a narrow alleyway in the center of the block, and laid down the laptop gently before destroying it with two hard stomps. She jogged away, going further down the alley as if nothing was happening. "I'm done here."

"You not be, but this does not set us back... Time travel is interesting, yes? Look to the skies, comrades! Plan B set in motion!"

"P-Plan B?" Bethany cocked her head back, gazing at the blue sea of a sky with curious confusion, when neither of them had been informed of a Plan B. Plan B itself was the foolproof plan of greater strategic value that should have been integrated into the first one, but there was only one good reason it wasn't the case. The beautiful plan, in the Commander's eyes, was the deployment of captured phenos of their own time, and only those of the second or third generation, the very ones that could not be digitally traced due to their nonexistence in this time. Ghost attackers needed, left on standby to put to use by the future Prime Federation. They came via a series of portals, raining down in parachutes, completely washed of their civility due to the Medi-Sin that drove them all to primitive madness, creatures perhaps barbaric than the earliest cavemen. "C-Commander-"

They're just kids... Bethany felt an ugly churning in her stomach, the sign of an immoral sight that touched more than just a few nerves. "Lizy-"

"Everyone, retreat back to base, I'll take care of the rest."

Bethany put her sais back into her gi, bobbing her head back and forth between the fleeing Sedans and the incoming phenos. Tsk... She'll have my head on a platter...

She blinked-

Prime Federation, Far From Now

-and squinted her eyes when Laika Letenko was all up in her face, berating harshly to the point of spitting. It was her and Liberty alike, side by side, receiving the ravenous yelling emitting from the lips of the elder Russian. She'd take it all, the intensity of the vocal power, for it would not ever be worse than what could have been. The very idea of herself, in the name of the new governing entity she served under, going around and ensuring zero witnesses would live to tell a specific tale by taking their lives. No, Bethany Kira Chang was no murderer of the average citizen, and as it turned out, neither was Liberty Loud- and if the clone of Alejandra Libertad Santiago was like her original counterpart, then Alex was of the same morality. Both of them, and perhaps Rose as well.

"That is insubordination from both of you!" Laika bellowed, "and there will be strict punishment for you! I have no need of bleeding hearts and no second thoughts that risk us in any way!"

Bethany kept quiet, but Liberty had a breaking point that had been so easily reached. "Ma'am, I was not about to use the Silver Element to kill non-combatants."

In turn, Liberty received a response in the form of a backhand slap, leaving a red hand print on her face. "We do what we must to preserve the anonymity of the true Prime Federation! Compromising secrecy is punishable by public torture, I have good mind to sentence you to fifteen whips- For the both of you! Prime Supreme not be happy for this! Lucky I kept a loose end from breaking... That is saying, no?"

Bethany expected a tiny portion of Laika's unrestrained rage upon her, but this time, the Commander had not laid a heavy hand. Did not mean the disappointment wasn't there, nor did it mean she got off easy. Whatever punishment would be in store for them, they'd find out soon enough.

Later

That evening's lunchtime proved to be a rather unorthodox one, full of awkwardness between the pair of sweethearts in the Primers unit among the cafeteria full of soldiers in uniform. Lissandra had been at it faster, but it was when Bethany seemed down and not eating her own food that Lissandra was forced to slow to allow the latter to catch up. The looks she gave, gone unnoticed, or perhaps ignored by her with intent, derived from anger and some added layer of hurt that came from knowing Lissandra cared for no collateral damage; she lived up to her name in all angles, such a cold soul that had not ever appeared to Bethany before. What other surprises did the Superbeast-Prime come with?

"I thought you'd understand my stance, Bed." Lissandra persisted to get her girlfriend to respond, all effort so far not cutting through. "We have to protect ourselves, t-to leave no traces of us in the past-"

"Okay..." Bethany, with exhaust, had let a defeated sigh escape. "We've done this enough times by now, we've gone to Grimmtown, we've walked through neighborhoods of cities with no worry about being seen by the public! Lizy, for God's sakes, the Grimmtown girls were wiser than we've anticipated, why didn't we wipe them all out?!"

"W-well..." Lissandra tried to come up with a logical answer, but had none to give. She wasn't a deep thinker when it came down to it. "Sorry."

"No, there's nothing to be sorry about..." Bethany moved her hand to push Lissandra's tray away. "I didn't peg you as some psycho killer. What the Commander proposed was nothing short of a war crime and you know it. They weren't phenos, they weren't enemy Domicile members, they were just people-"

"At the wrong place and time," Lissandra argued strongly. "In between then and now, tons of people who didn't ask to die have died, Bethany. Maybe these people who were there had fates tied to us, or maybe the Decimation, or... Who could say? Killed down the line, but me, pushing their clocks forward... I'd have done them a favor, but one out of three would not have been enough. And you know what?"

Liberty and Alex had come in, walking from behind them with full trays in their hands. Lissandra's next comment was meant to strike at Liberty for the critical damage. "Commander Letenko should strip Liberty of the Silver Element and let me wield it."

Liberty reacted by dumping her food all over Lissandra, in turn making the blonde teenager crack up, and off she went, storming off in a fuming state without so much as a peep.

"Clearly, she ain't worthy."

"And you are?" Alex sat herself on the opposite side, facing Lissandra with daggers flying from her eyes. "Gimme a break, darling. Worthy people wouldn't claw a defenseless person or two to death."

"I wouldn't be caught holding back if-"

"What about kids, lizard breath?" Alex challenged. "A school bus full of kids saw us operating, would you cut them up into pieces?"

"We'd never have to do such a thing, so I'm not worried."

"Doesn't answer my initial question," Alex armed, shaking her head. "Yes or no, in the name of our wonderful order."

"I... Yeah, if they're a danger to us. Phenos or Domicile-"

"You know that's not what I'm asking you." Alex repeated herself, "Would you murder a bunch of innocent kids born as normal, actual non-phenos?"

"Ergh..."

Alex opened the soda can from her tray. "How about you shut the fuck up before you declare yourself worthy?" And finishing what Liberty had started, she spilled the soda onto Lizy's face and left with her tray, presumably to her and Liberty's quarters.

Lissandra licked around her lips. "So maybe I deserved that..."

"You think so?" Bethany scoffed with sarcasm. "I never thought we'd come across this line, Lizy. We're soldiers, not terrorists. Lizy, if you felt I would be okay with this, while knowing that I've experienced the Decimation and its horrifying aftermath, then I'm sorry to say you never knew me all that well... And... Just maybe-"

"Hold the break-up scenario for later," a gentle voice as sweet as honey interrupted. The Primer known as Rose Santiago joined her sisters-in-arms with a goofy smile instead of low hostility below radar, her tray loosely falling upon the table. "Beddy-boo, did you and my sister's copy really get cold feet? Like, reeeeeeally?"

Rose Santiago, in history, was the child born to Roberto "Bobby" Santiago and Lori Loud, taking her looks from her paternal side, and most of her characteristics and traits from dear mother. And just as there was pheno genes in here, there was heart, and where there was heart, there was a weapon to harness. And harnessed, it had been. Harnessed, and hate directed at the surviving Louds thanks to Dylan Blood. Unlike Alex, she had dark brown hair running down, slightly messy. Her eyes were a shade of green-hazel that sparkled so elegantly with the light that they almost appeared as a delicacy of a treat. With a low-cut black shirt and baggy gray sweatpants, she joined her affiliates in the middle of some drama. "Hey, do you think our Prime Supreme will replace you, Beddy-boo? I mean, I'd be worried after I made myself look bad twice in front of him or Commander Letenko-" Rose had the gull to make a stupid grin of amusement to show the pair she wasn't taking it seriously. Truthfully, Rose was the least fond of them after Alex, still remained in that spot after the Grimmtown mission that didn't include her.

"I'm hearing this from a nobody who hasn't done time out there..." Bethany threw back to spite Rose. "You've spent more time in the sparring room with your sister even. Trying to go the extra mile to be the ultimate fighter?"

Rose stuck her tongue out childishly. "You know the saying, an amateur practices until he can get it right, and a professional practices until he can't get it wrong."

"Sorry-" Bethany wiggled her pointing finger sideways. "Which one do you think you are?"

"Totally not the one making out with one of my own teammates," Rose joked. "F-Y-I, we can hear you guys' pleasuring each other. Lizy here isn't as quiet as she thinks."

"Next time, you put on earmuffs, mmmkay?"

"If it's okay by you, I'd rather not talk about what happened," Bethany admittedly answered. "Not to either of you, I mean."

"HA!" Rose squealed.

"Wow, okay," Lizy twitched. "I won't push you then."

"Thank you."

"And a thank you for botching this up, Beddy-boo-" Rose formed a heart with her fingers, putting Bethany in the center of it through her sight. "Totally love you!"

"Will you please get out of here?"

"I'm here to eat, you're the one who doesn't look like she's eating-"

The intercom blared out some sizzling static, then leveling for the voice that occupied the entire system; "Will Bethany Chang and Liberty Santiago please come up to the Prime Supreme's office? Long live the Federation."

"Uh-oh, that's not a good sign, is it?" Rose broke her attention away from the pair, mouth salivating for the food in front of her. She ventured on to consume, so easily forgetting about them, for she had already gotten some kicks out of teasing Bethany. While she agreed to herself that this Primer was due a layer of punishment, Liberty was more of a child at heart Rose could relate to. A child with a growing heart- albeit artificial- not meant to be exposed through the horrors that were found just outside. But then, they were also little girls just the same, forced to grow up and follow the way of the adult, to know the weight of true burdens and to wash and repeat. Girls not seen as they should have been, nor reminded that they were simplified as such by the real adults such as Laika Letenko. But when was the best time for them to come to realize it before it was too late?

"I'm going with you," Lizy proposed.

"No," objected Bethany, standing up, inhaling deeply to prepare for the grand verdict and sentencing to be laid upon her by the great Prime Supreme. "I'll head back to our room once he's done. In the meantime, go train some more for the operation. We have long ways to go before we balance the shift of this war."

"Whatever it is, I hope he goes easy on you..." Lizy prayed. "Knowing him-"

"...Yeah," was all the mustered effort she huffed out. She entered the elevator, pushing the button of the top floor. On the ride up, she only thought about the teleporting phenos, all of them rabid with Medi-Sin, dispatched as the trump card and as a bonus distraction for the active Primers to flee from the time era. All those phenos were captives taken from enemy Domicile camps the Federation raided under the cover of darkness, but the majority of them were kids and teens- the undeniably next generation of pheno- inexperienced fighters, if they were that, set loose mindlessly to slaughter civilians in an otherwise normally peaceful environment. When Bethany had come across them at the prison facility, or as the Prime Supreme used in technical terms, the re-education center, they wore the faces of scared children, hateful children, full of fear of their captors, and anger and hatred for them. The Prime Federation, making these kids understand that their parents' tales of them, the boogeymen, were not to be taken lightly. The reprogramming and desertion of those phenos, for them to kill and likely be killed by whatever anti-pheno group existed in that time, was a war crime she had labeled, and objected to morally.

Before it reached the top floor, the elevator had a detour stop. Bethany paid it no mind, already used to it by now, knowing full well the facility kept itself busy at all times. Either a rotation of guards on the watch, or labcoats trying to hurry with their science mumbo-jumbo projects/advancements in progress. Bethany moved to the back, placing herself in the center to make room for them. They who entered turned out to be just one person- a face she had not yet been adjusted to seeing. "Oh! No one notified me of your arrival! Are you-?"

"Hold that thought," the person said, waving their hand lowly. "While it's good to see you again, I'm just here for a quick second. Still needed where the Prime Supreme deployed me." They entered the elevator with their hands tucked in their pockets of the sweater they currently wore.

"It's been years..." Bethany was not a girl void of emotion and it showed when she reacted, going sentimental before the stranger- not a stranger, but an old friend and affiliate of the Prime Federation, but older. She laughed and looked down on herself, feeling silly that she had barely recognized them. "It's good to see you again! Where... Uh, where are you going?"

"To him," the old friend pointed up.

Once the elevator let them out, Bethany was blown past by the guest, slowing her walking down.

In the office, where Liberty had been already waiting, patiently sitting across Dylan Blood's desk and facing no other direction but him and the items on the desktop. The very second the doorknob rattled, both her and the current ruler of the entire eastern seaboard took their cue to redirect their attention from the blankness and onto the entrance. "Ah, Bethany, why don't-?"

"Surprised to see me prematurely, sir?" The mystery guest barged in with an arrogant attitude carried on their shoulders, slapping their hands clean down on the table, ignoring Liberty's presence. "You've said never to come back to the Federation unless my cover became compromised. So, after so much time wasting away with our enemies for an assignment that never made sense-"

"Where have you come from?" The emperor excused himself from his seat, signaling Liberty to briefly wait outside with a pat on her shoulder and fiercely strict stare as he motioned her out with a hand gesture. "This won't be a moment, Liberty."

"Alright..." Liberty met Bethany in the hall, forming a quick smile with her pearl-white teeth in show. "So, who is that inside?"

"Not important, but did he talk to you already?"

Liberty shook her head and straightened her hair when it blew out of proportion. "No, he was waiting for the both of us. I felt the hostility in the tension and I know he won't spare us."

"Listen, uh..." Bethany sucked her teeth. "We've been told we would have to do things that benefit us in our favor, things that aren't completely sound or of conscience, but it was always a bridge that we hadn't ever crossed yet. I thought it was a streak of luck that they didn't assign us to some horrible mission where we had to do the unthinkable, but I've been a fool to think that day would never come. The day of the raining blood, the day of-"

Geez, don't start giving a monologue like you're the main character of some sci-fi movie from the 70s... Liberty thought.

"-is not what I wanted for me or for Lizy, so... I don't know what to really do or say, but I feel strongly about this, Liberty. Spiking those kids we've captured and amping them all up... While the Prime Supreme wants to downplay our own horrors for the Domicile to see, but it won't happen if we sent the wrong message, which we are! Ugh..."

"Feeling's mutual," Liberty agreed, "and I'd rather be benched than to go at it again. Who knows what'll happen to us, maybe he'll keep us off the dirtier work. For one thing, we know Commander Letenko and Lissandra are the two players of pure cold-blooded hearts, meaning they can participate the ones we won't touch."

"Could I ask-?"

"If Alex had the same idea?" Liberty had guessed Bethany had given it some thought. "She's against it, I know cause I had to vent over and she consoled me rather than insult me for doing the right thing."

"I'll see if we could make an arrangement with him, I don't think he'll replace us, but the least he could do is put us under disciplinary action. Since this is your first fling, he'll go easier on you, no telling where he'll go with me, so consider yourself lucky."

"I don't feel so lucky, actually," Liberty admitted.

"Why's that?"

Liberty lowered her voice quietly, "We're still stuck here."

"Stuck here..." With a simple nod, she understood Liberty's words, "but we're still fine, this is the best place to be in right now."

"Hey-" Liberty jerked her head to the office. "Who's that in there? Never seen her before, have you?"

"She's one of us, but she was relocated elsewhere before the Primers were formed. Barely anything about her or her assignment on files, and that's because Blood wanted this entirely off the books. I'm not privy to all of it but..." Bethany zigzagged her eyes about. "Something about her I can't put my finger on..."

"Uh, so what's her name?"

"Oh, right!" Bethany tapped herself upside the head. "Estelle, but I never knew her last name. Maybe Lizy knew it, she and Estelle were here longer than me."

"You mean, you, them, the Commander and the Primer you replaced?"

Bethany frowned, but wasn't in total shock to know Liberty had uncovered an uncommon fact. "It's something I'll never understand. The face of my savior deciding I was fit to fight, and possibly die for him..." There came that bad feeling inside of her again. "He groomed me for it, but why...?"

"Beth?"

Am I... Am I just cattle deemed expendable? Just a simple soldier with no value? What if I'm the next Katie Raymond? What if I'm the next Primer to die in such a horrible fashion?

"Ngh..." Bethany clenched her hands at their side, repeating a squeezing maneuver. "Stuck here... I get it now."

"S-sorry-" Liberty meant it for all it was worth, shamefully pouting. "I'll stop asking questions."

"All of that's on file, you know. Letenko, Lizy, and whatever you wanted to know about the fallen Primer. Although I wouldn't mention that name around Lizy if you value your life."

"Thanks for the tip-"

The secret Primer named Estelle had wrapped up her business with the grand emperor, moving rapidly through the hall as she vacated the office. "Good day and good luck to you," she told the pair, not bothering to even look at them.

"Oh, joy," Liberty moaned.

"I'll do the talking."

Below

Alex performed a leg sweep to quicken the match, but had overdone it excessively, sending her sister (she had known Rose to be her cousin, but the bond between both girls was as deep as sisterhood) falling on her back. Thankfully the room had blue cushion mats all around to break falls. Nothing else other than Rose's sense of ego and confidence was injured, but it was more than enough incentive for her to perfect her combat skills. "Cut it back a little, will ya?"

"Gotta train like it's real, Rose," Alex pressured. "None of the Doms are going to have the kid gloves on, so don't count on them holding back. Hey, I've gone the extra mile and trained with the standards. That's good practice, we're women and they're taller opponents, which makes you wonder why the big man chose shrimp-sized girls as the elite squad."

"Ever asked him that?" Rose held her hand out for Alex and was brought back to her feet by a strong grip of a pull. "Say, the man has no wife, or even a partner. I think even Hitler had one, didn't he?"

"Who?"

"What, don't you read the history?"

"R-Rose, the old world is gone, I think the history predating the years leading up to the Decimation doesn't matter anymore. And I'm not a historian-" Alex grabbed Rose's arm, turned and bent the arm over her shoulder, in turn flipping Rose right over like nothing. "I'm a Primer."

"Well, someone thought it was a good idea to keep the old archives of the original virtual web. Apparently there were animalistic creatures called the Tira-"

"Uh-huh..." Alex pulled Rose upright and locked her in a tactical chokehold. "Stop talking and tap out."

Rose gave in, tapping twice on the mat to ring herself out. "Okay but there's so much to learn about, as a pastime."

Alex released the bind and helped only herself back up. "The conflicts before our time and our previous generation's time holds no value to me," she ultimately decided, "but far be it from me to take that away from you. Now if you could please take this seriously."

"All Prime Federation soldiers are to report to the entrance of the re-education center for a special gathering. I repeat, all Prime Federation soldiers are to report to the entrance of the re-education center."

"That means us, is that a mandatory thing?" Rose inquired foolishly.

"Don't be a dunce, of course we have to go. I hope Liberty and Bethany are already done with the head honcho up there." Alex had not prepared her mind for the briefing of the convo- or what Liberty may fare down the line. "If anything, it should be me to take her punishment, I'm the soft one here."

Rose wiped the mild sweat that ran down her face. "That's true, but don't you think she needs to learn that lesson too? Perhaps the both of you... Excluding Liberty means sparing her and that'll make you even more like a pansy, and ever so clearly to them."

"She's-"

"Not a child, but here you are, treating her like one, and you've done your part to keep her out of this, but the clone wants to be a big girl Primer, what more could you do here?" Rose stepped from the mat area, leaving Alex behind to think about. "Why is she the child, but not you? See you down there, sis."

Idiot... Why is it hard to make you understand? Alex let the self-loathing floods break through the gates of her heart, the process of her soul further poisoning with a putrid essence, probably a virus of a sort, transferred from those who grew and spread it, the deviant scum. I've allowed this to happen, I didn't have more fight in me to protest it. Liberty- Your choices are in your hand now, I hope you know action and consequence.

Alex parted from the room, heading down in no particular rush. She expected a prep talk from Commander Letenko to all the soldiers that related to the matters of this current operation. It seemed likely, for her to step up and remind the battalion of how they were trained and remolded from human to killing machines with hands covered in dirt and the blood of their enemies. It was the common speech that had gone spoken openly and secretly through the ranks; it was a discussion of dedication and loyalty to the machine, and a question of their own soul-destroying level of morality; it was the thunderstorm that came through the night, sending in its earth-shattering sounds and quick flashes from the strikes upon the earth, as if it were an animate entity coming again to lay its own sense of judgment upon the earth, finalizing with the rain for the rest so that it could try to wash the sin free from all of man and woman and child.

The detention center was constructed just behind the main facility, length spanning almost to the size of a football field, but its width narrower. The center was not replicated from a prison system, but was instead an entire closure split by electric fence with a concrete barrier concealed beneath the very dirt the captured Domicile resistance members were used to walking on. They had a series of tents that kept them from the cold, and were constantly thrown packed provisions, like bottled water and packaged foods. However they managed to do their business, the captors didn't remotely care. Plenty of dirt, be creative.

Right that moment, most of the forces were hard-eyeing the Doms, and the Doms were fighting it back with the colder, deader looks, the very look from a defeated, lost individual who knew not what to do or say; done and gone a soul, these war prisoners were. The PFs had crowded around the entrance by the time Alex had gotten there, and naturally, she had to push through due to unable to see over anyone's heads. "Let a Primer through, tallboys. What's the word on the street?"

She distinctly heard Letenko's rough voice past the layer of men, but alongside another's voice, that one yelling away, almost screaming. What's going on?

"I want everyone remembering!" The terrifying Laika Letenko displayed her true dark nature out in front of her army, ordering the release of some of the younger Doms- juveniles at most, of both sexes- out and lined up, backs facing the center. In front of Letenko, a creature of black clothing moved erratically on the ground, a lump swaying around randomly. It took a few long seconds to make Alex realize it was Bethany on the floor, sprawled to a praying position. Pleading. The poor thing was pleading, but the Commander reacted by pushing Bethany back with a kick. "Up! You, up and do as instructed of me!"

Bethany recovered, panting from her weary cries, trying yet to appeal to her superior's good nature, but in those pair of soulless eyes were nothing good, nothing to reach out to. "I d-don't want to!"

"You hear that, my fellow men?" Letenko addressed the spectators. "The Primer here does not want to execute the Dom kids right before her! A funny joke, da?"

Her mockery warranted a medium wave of laughter from the soldiers. She laughed too, looking down on Bethany with so little worth. The next step of hers was a Dylan Blood signature move; loaded with all six bullets, the Magnum revolver strapped to her holster had been disturbed of its resting chamber. The very infamous revolver, the main sidearm brandished through the prime years by the one above her. She gave it the utmost respect by simply laying it down at her feet, backing away and pointing at it. "You pick up and kill you six Doms there!"

Rose paired up with Alex, whispering, "Liberty is right there, too." She motioned to the far left where Alex had not been looking, showing her Liberty and the two PF soldiers holding onto her on both sides. She was practically lifeless as suggested by the expression on her face, as opposed to her regularly colorful nature. "Don't intervene," Rose fairly warned in consideration of Alex. "She'll be forced to watch this at the very least."

"This is crazy," Alex squeaked back. "She doesn't-"

"Take gun, Bethany!" The Russian woman scraped dirt with her boot and brushed it all onto her fellow Primer, narrowly avoiding the gun. "Nothing but a filth, a disgrace! Pick up... Or I make thing interesting!"

"P-please-" Bethany dragged out.

"Please nothing!" Letenko signaled to the pair holding Liberty. "Bring her."

Alex's heart performed a somersault. Nothing good could come from this.

"Get her on her knees," Letenko ordered the men. They humbly carried out her order and had Liberty forced down. "This be your first warning, I, how you say, cut the slacks one time. You both must learn that these-" Letenko pointed to the Dom children without breaking eye contact with Liberty. "-are insurgents in body and mind and they kill us. They kill you! They kill me! Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, they be the end of the Federation if you do nothing to kill them first! The roots of Domicile exist in past and present time period, we weed out key insurgent points, turn enemies into allies, make the past world be anti-pheno for that be in our favor!"

"Forgive me, Commander Letenko," Liberty weakly exhaled, "I will not question the mission again."

"See, I have thought-" Letenko scanned the crowd to find Alex. "If you have this idea, then maybe so do Alex-"

Alex panicked, attempting to hide back into the cluster only for her to be pushed into the center by a soldier, and tripped by another, humiliating on her part. "Oof!"

Rose budged out of her spot, coming to Alex's rescue and helped her up. "C-Commander, I object-"

"SILENCE!" Letenko shrieked deeply. "NEXT PERSON TO SPEAK WITHOUT BEING ADDRESSED WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT! THIS OBSCENE AMOUNT OF INSUBORDINATION AND LACK OF DISCIPLINE HAS INFECTED MY HARD-HEARTED PRIMERS!" As the seconds kept counting away, Letenko found herself losing the last of her patience. Any second now, she'd take back the gun and shoot all four weak-hearted girls. "Now, Bethany... If you don't take gun in the next ten seconds, your life to forfeit."

"...What?"

Laika picked the revolver back from the ground and went over to Bethany, circling her twice. "Ten. Nine. Eight..." With her, the gun moved, at closer range to Bethany's presence. "Seven."

But Laika never completed the countdown; "Zero. Your time up."

Bethany sharply exhaled, Alex and Rose still keeping their horror-filled gazes at her. Letenko had given up and moved to the line-up of Domicile juveniles. "Win your freedom back by taking the life of one of these four sobakas. It be only one, who will fight for the title of survivor? Unless you wish stay here...?"

While the Dom youngsters gave each other all kinds of glances, Letenko went ahead and emptied five bullets out of the six in the chamber, spun the chamber, and then waved it around in front of them. "What, think I lie? One bullet, one firing to free you from here! Is a good deal... Who's it gonna be?"

Bethany saw an opening to crawl towards Liberty, but made sound with her steps. "L-Lizy-"

"Cowardice from lot of ya! Little children, no real warriors!" Letenko rebrandished the gun firm in her grip and aimed at both the Domicile kids and her own squad members. "It be me to kill all of you on word of Saint Peter! Someone, step the fuck forward! You men, let Liberty go."

The pair pinning Liberty down relieved themselves of her, falling back into the circular crowd. "Bethany, I hoped you would take initiative and kill you a Domicile subhuman, apparent not..." Letenko offered Liberty the revolver next. "Clone, put hole in Bethany, wherever you want!"

Liberty forcibly accepted the gun, opening her fingers as Letenko rammed the butt against her knuckles hard. Now the gun was in her hand, and Letenko immediately moved behind her, helping her by guiding her way around the gun. Letenko slithered her hand over Liberty's, finger inserting near the trigger. "This is wrong..." Liberty shared hopelessly.

"Squeeze to her way," Letenko beckoned maliciously. "Do that all by yourself!"

"Beth," Liberty connected her finger to the metal. "I hope you can forgive me." She then squeezed the trigger and fired at Bethany, making the Asian girl shut her eyes quickly, but the weapon had only made a click; the hammer had snapped forward, hitting nothing but air.

"DAS IT!" Letenko broke into a fiendish cackle and took back the revolver. "Forget it was Russian roulette, yes?"

Bethany looked back up at Liberty with freshly red eyes, and then opened her mouth and gagged. Ultimately, she vomited out her lunch, head going lightheaded, body still trembling from the moment Letenko had grabbed and dragged her down. "STOP THESE GAMES! JUST KILL ME IN COLD BLOOD!"

"ALEX!" Letenko went and delivered punishment to Alex, swinging the Magnum against her face. Rose's mouth went agape, but did not react to protect her sister. "LIBERTY IS YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY! FAIL HER YOU IS!"

The impact made a heavy thud that made Rose wince, but had not peeled back just yet. She kept quiet, afraid to cut in after the promised threat.

Liberty looked to herself in terrible guilt for her actions in seeing that Alex had taken a blow in her place. Letenko never let Alex fall, working to keep her up on her feet manually. The gun returned to its holster, but rattled about when the Russian commander struck Alex with her right knee, shin connecting to her lower abdomen, repeating the process until Alex was in visible pain. "Worthy not for suit you wear," Letenko grunted, grabbing and shaking Alex's face by the chin, nails digging into the cheeks until blood seeped out. From there, Alex was thrown face forward into the ground, where she could then move, curling up like a child, sobbing. "Not yet satisfied, Bethany has not paid penance."

Bethany hacked up spit and expelled it from her mouth, but the odor of her vomit had not faded away. "K-kill me-"

"Wish obliged." Again, Letenko handled the revolver and reloaded it with all bullets in the chamber, then dropped it in front of the shaking girl. "End your life. We find new Primer."

Young Bethany allowed her savior to take her away, but she had been wary of him, questionably distrusting of him, and who could blame her? He had come out of nowhere, and the undeniable fact that he was not Chinese or Japanese had made her wonder what this foreigner was doing here. Surely he was not with the others she had seen engaging the tall, silver beings down there, but it seemed he had no funny business whatsoever. It was his gentle touch and open concern for her that reeled her in- and the way he had carried her away was just like the way her father would, but she had no smile, she had no reason to laugh and be joyously content like those past times. She wished for a lifetime of protection and conformity from this man, at the very least, this perfect stranger who had provided a sense of safety and security while no one else was around to do that, and the other woman in the black gi, whom she'd later find out to have died, had gone away to fight off the destructive invaders.

If not for that, if perhaps that woman had stayed, the course of Bethany's future would have drastically changed. It might have, who could really say? And who could really tell her what was and what should never be?

Further and further, the mountaintop had sank away, forever losing the presence of her, but not to be forgotten or lost in time. A place better left alone, reserved only for the deserving.

Bethany put the barrel of the gun in her mouth, aligning it diagonally for a headshot, and just hopefully the pain would be too fast for her to feel. A fast suicide to take her out of this hell and right into the gates of an endless, peaceful heaven. The only place where she felt her family had gone to, waiting for the day the last living Chang to come home. Didn't matter now that Bethany never had a child to be survived by, for any next generation could only suffer at whatever place they may end up in this cruel wartime. Closing her eyes, she pulled the trigger, choosing her life to take rather than accept phenocide.