The Rapture were quite quick, and for an unenhanced commander, keeping up with them was impossible. However, one of the motorbikes from an escort Nikke had been tossed over near him in the attack. Lifting it from it's side, Mike was relieved to see that it only had minor structural damage. Hopping aboard and driving after the advancing Nikkes, not caring in the slightest about the other commanders that had chosen to retreat, he and his small squad burst after the retreating Raptures.
This was it! This was his big chance.
VRMMM, The motorbike engine growled as he caught up with his Nikkes who were running at an impressive inhuman speed. Raising his right hand, he signaled to follow and then shot past them.
So caught up in his fantasy, that he didn't realize that he would be out of sight by the time the Nikkes could even think of catching up.
VROOOOOOM, The engine roared as the buildings blurred by him, his navy blue commander's outfit tight against his chest as the wind plastered it against him. The broken and smoking remains of Raptures were scattered across the ground and embedded into buildings all around. Even the sounds had changed as he heard the cracking of gunfire along with the sizzling shots of lasers.
THOOOOM! the sound of a massive collision like a bomb going off blasted from a street a good fifty or so meters ahead to his left and a shower of metal and debris shot across the road he was approaching.
The sound of gunfire had silenced, and he could hear naught but his engine and the wind. However, that was interrupted by a loud cracking sound and his target mid jump flying forward with the body of the corrupted Nikke curving around his tiny foot that was embedded into her stomach like a spear. Mike got a better view of the mysterious Nikke as the visor covering it's face was gone, and it's cracked metal face was mangled horribly.
Screeching to a halt with his motorbike, Mike Jumped off and broke into a run.
Thudding and rag dolling across the ground with a trail of artificial organs and metal, the Nikke crashed into the brick wall of a building, her artificial life cut short in a moment.
The baby that had done this, which was an absurd thing to see, had pushed off of her and landed sprawled out on the ground. Getting a better sight of it, it was incredibly thin and almost emaciated and covered in bruises.
Such a sight was absurd to the ninth degree, and Mike had very little he could say to convince himself that this was all real. How it could do what it could do was all a mystery to him, but he ignored that for the time being in favor of how he could subdue it.
Obviously, force was out of the question. It was probably too young to know how to speak, and that removed the option of verbal communication. However, his problems were solved by something he held in his belt pouch. His Ration Bars.
The baby had rolled over to face him and began quickly jumping towards him.
Landing on the ground a mere foot in front of him, the baby looked up to his belt and reached it's tiny hand up as if to say "Give it to me". Whether it was some form of manners which he doubted, or that the baby thought it would break him by grabbing him, Mike was relieved, and realized quickly what the baby wanted.
Reaching into his pouch after unzipping it, he pulled out a ration bar and opened the seal.
The smell of meat and spices wafted through the air and the baby smiled, weakly calling out with an unintelligible gurgle. Slowly and quite nervously Mike knelt down and handed the bar to the boy who quickly grabbed it and chowed down on it, wrapper and all.
"No, Don't eat the Wrapper" Mike tried to say, but the baby had already devoured the whole thing. Then, the baby cried out quite loudly, almost bursting Mike's eardrums. It reached up again, somehow knowing he had another bar in his belt pouch.
Reluctantly, Mike took out his second bar and unpeeled it completely before handing it to the boy who devoured it and then laid down unmoving except for his tiny chest going up and down slowly.
The boy had fallen asleep. It must have felt safe around him.
Mike was almost touched by this, but decided that now wasn't the time to feel fanciful. Gently shaking the baby lightly, it did not respond. Clearly it was exhausted and hurt. Taking off his jacket and tying it like a makeshift hammock around his neck, he placed the baby in it gently and returned to his motorbike.
Mission Accomplished.
Taking out his radio from his belt, he tuned it to the right channel and spoke.
"N402A Come in, this is your commander. Give me your location" He said, trying not to be too loud as to accidentally wake the baby.
"This is N402A, I read you loud and clear. I'm sending you our coordinates right now" The lead Nikke responded, and Mike's mini computer dinged.
"Very good. Stay at your location. I will meet you there soon with the package" Mike finished before taking out the mini computer and opening it.
"Roger that. N402A Over and out" The Nikke responded, and the connection cut, leaving only the static of the radio.
Comparing the coordinates with his, he was happy to see that the Nikkes had made decent progress in following him. Placing the mini computer back in it's case, Mike made his way back to his bike and gently revved the engine this time. Thankfully, it seemed that the baby had taken out the entire horde of Raptures, leaving him an open and relatively safe road.
The engine let out a subdued growl as Mike drove down the road, passing veritable mountains of shattered Raptures.
If it wasn't for the baby, there was no way that even with his entire squad he could make it through. Now though, it was like he was calmly riding through a rapture graveyard.
Pulling to a stop next to the squad of his Nikkes moments later, Mike got off the bike.
Greeted by the six remaining Nikkes, Mike addressed the lead Nikke.
"Report. Why are there only six of you left?" He asked, though the answer was clear judging by the smoking remains of a tiny Rapture ambush nearby.
N402A, the designated lead Nikke responded to his demand.
"Three were lost in an ambush, and one was rendered non functional, Commander" She replied simply.
"Understood. I will be contacting command for extraction. The mission is complete. Be ready to extract" He replied, not paying any mind to the dead Nikkes. They existed as weapons, and that was how he treated them.
"Yes Commander" The Nikke responded, trying to hide her enthusiasm at finally making it back to safety, but she was poor at it.
Miike made his way over to a small concrete road barrier and placed the mini computer on top of it. Connecting to HQ over a protected connection, he was greeted by the face of his superior officer, Blake Masterson.
"Report, Commander McMillan" Blake, a thin man in his late forties with short gray hair, shaved on both sides with pale skin and dark gray eyes spoke from the small screen.
"Yes Captain. I have retrieved the package. We were ambushed and our convoy was taken out. Requesting Extraction" Mike replied, explaining the situation.
"Understood Commander. Congratulations on completing your mission. The Ark Will reward you handsomely. Any Casualties?" The Captain asked, referring to the other commanders.
"Unknown, Captain. I lost contact with the other Commanders in the ambush" Mike replied.
"Very well, Send your coordinates to HQ and we will send an extraction team to pick you up. Sit tight Commander, You have done great work" Blake said before cutting off the connection.
Mike, upon hearing the praise of his superior and the thought of the rewards smiled brightly as he sent the coordinates to HQ.
Twenty minutes later, the chopping of Helicopter blades from rang through the air. Sure enough, the Extraction team had arrived, and it came in earnest. Four state of the art choppers came and landed in the wide road they were stationed at.
Out came a large team of soldiers, Nikkes, Doctors, and even his Captain Blake.
Seeing him, they ran over.
Captain Blake slowed down and walked over to him, two doctors in tow.
Mike in preparation had gently removed the makeshift hammock and gently held the baby, rocking it softly.
Blake looked at the baby in his hands and spoke.
"So, this is the baby everyone has been going crazy over? Good Job Commander McMillan, We're going to make sure you get the recognition you deserve" Blake said before reaching out.
"It's my honor Captain Masterson" Mike said, handing the baby over gently.
"Give your full report back at HQ, Commander. For now, take a well deserved break" Blake said, giving the commander a knowing smile.
"Yes Captain" Mike replied, a shit eating grin plastering his face.
The Central Government labs in the Ark were state of the art with highly specialized technology run by a super Ai and large teams of technicians. Yet what lay atop the table at the moment had stumped the doctors that were examining it.
It was a baby, presumably nearing the age of two. It was famished and incredibly thirsty despite eating a considerably large amount for a baby. It was as if the food was instantly digested at maximum efficiency. Of course that was one thing of many odd things about the kid.
In fact, due to X-Ray testing, the baby had multiple organs that a human had no right having. In a turn of fortune for the baby, any attempt at cutting his skin or injecting him was stopped by what the researchers had found out was a bioelectric field that the baby passively generated around himself. No matter what they tried they could not cut through it.
Thankfully for them, the baby responded well to pills and liquid stimulants and sedatives.
Also, in it's sleep, it had destroyed multiple solid steel restraints, to the extent that it was almost impossible to contain successfully. Any doctor testing it was a Nikke to prevent loss of human life after the baby had splattered the head of a doctor that had gotten too close at the wrong time.
Due to intense deliberation between the Central Government and the companies who had gained the information through espionage and other sources, a deal was formed. The Central Government would share crucial information in exchange for deals, blueprints, and information on Nikke products.
And so, with nothing else to deliberate, the tests began in earnest.
The first was a durability test. It was disgusting to a normal civilian who had morals and kindness, but to the Central Government and the companies, this was an alien that could be used as a weapon. And every weapon they could use against the Raptures, they would. Morality had no seat at the table.
The experiment went extremely well.
Even high powered rifles with armor piercing rounds left only small bruises. A high powered water jet that cut cut through steel left only minor scratches. Blunt force trauma did next to nothing.
Next was the extent of his strength.
Placed under a hydraulic press, which slowly increased the pressure, the baby was able to push back two tons of weight before falling asleep from exhaustion.
Next came the test of his reactions to diseases and toxins.
This resulted in extremely favorable results.
Even at such a young age, his body was superhuman. His immune system fought off diseases and poisons incredibly well. It was frightening how this baby seemed to adapt to everything thrown at him.
It was theorized that the extra organs in his body had something to do with his absurd powers. Yet the results were inconclusive.
And so, as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks months, the boy grew. With that growth came not only physical growth, but an expansion of his strength, speed, resilience, and intelligence.
The months became years, and by age four, he was capable of speaking English quite fluently.
This left one question.
If the baby was like this, what were his parents like, and where were they?
All in all, he was one absurd child.
Guest: Yes, A lot of stories shy away from that, but that's because he hadn't had to fight for his life from day one and had a soft upbringing. Unfortunately for him, he had to fight for his life for months and will have to more under Ark.
For anyone else wondering what I mean, Think about Doomsday. He was a Kryptonian raised in the harshest of environments for centuries worth of time. Of course Kal-El isn't going to turn into Doomsday, I was just giving an example of why he's a lot stronger than he would be if he was stuck in his ship for the next ten years.
