In the early 20th century, a strange virus swept through the world, transforming various vertebrate species into the Moreau. From then to the modern day, mankind lived in relative harmony with these strange new beast men, the descendants of those infected by the so-called "Moreau Virus". However, in modern times, in the city of Etterton, a mysterious organization has been supplying local criminals with strange items known as "Gene Keys", transforming them into monstrous creatures known as Twisters. Mercifully, with the aid of Deox Inc, a group of soldiers have been created to defend the city from these monsters: the DN-Geneers. And now, with the arrival of two new recruits, the battle against the Twisters and the mysterious benefactor is about to take a wild turn. This is the story of DN-Gen Helix.
Of Moreaus and Men
Ollie Wilco looked out of the Taxi he was riding in, awed by everything he saw. He had come from a small town, and this was the first time he had really been in the big city. The most fascinating thing to the young man was the Moreaus, those animals who had been uplifted to humanity's level by the Moreau Virus. To Ollie, who had never seen a Moreau in his life, it was amazing.
There were Moreau's everywhere, even his taxi driver was a Moreau. He was a Walrus Moreau named Bosco Molar, and he spoke in a gruff voice. Bosco asked young Ollie, "First time in the city huh?" Ollie, whose voice was higher than one would expect for a young man, replied, "Is it that obvious?" Bosco laughed good naturedly.
Bosco then said, "You see, we Moreaus are like you humans. There are good Moreau's, bad Moreau's, and crazy Moreau's." He chuckled darkly and said, "I used to run an inconvenience store in New York, and these two crazy Moreaus made me rich, then made me crazy, and I lost everything. Moved here to Etterton and became a cab driver." Ollie had one question, "Don't you mean convenience store?" Bosco laughed and said, "Nope, I ran an Inconvenience store. You asked for it, I could guarantee we didn't have it, and to buy some cheese you needed five different proofs of identity." He slumped down and muttered, "Those two wacko's were my only customers."
A Jackal Moreau was flagging down the taxi, and Bosco sighed and said, "And here's a great example of a bad Moreau. Just stay quiet and let me do all the talking." He pulled over and rolled down the window before addressing the Moreau, "Hey Arlo, I know the drill. I'll get your cut of today's take."
The Moreau, apparently named Arlo, sneered, and said, "I've told you before. I'm The Shank." He then sniffed deeply and started to leer perversely, "You in the backseat, I smell the truth of you." Ollie was confused until Arlo said, "Your trans." Ollie glared at Arlo and said, "So what?" Arlo reached out, obviously intending to grope Ollie while saying, "I'm gonna remind you what you're missing out on toots."
The only thing that saved Arlo from getting severely injured by Ollie was that someone beat him to it, albeit unintentionally. A mouse Moreau was rushing towards the taxi yelling things like, "Wait!" Then the Moreau tripped over his own feet and the momentum caused him to accidentally headbutt Arlo very, very hard in the mouth. Two teeth flew out of Arlo's mouth as the jackal cried out in pain.
Ollie grabbed the Mouse Moreau, pulling him into the taxi and then yelled, "Drive!" Bosco obliged, speeding away from the injured criminal. The jackal Moreau glared at the retreating cab, wordlessly swearing vengeance against those who knocked his teeth out. It was then that a deep and meaning baritone said, "If you are thinking of getting revenge, I can help you."
From the nearby alley came an intimidating figure, clad in full body armor resembling a futuristic super soldier, but with elements similar to what the average person thought of when the word dinosaur was brought up, specifically the predatory kind. On his faceplate was the head of a dinosaur that looked a lot like a velociraptor but was definitely not. The boots had ornaments resembling the claws of a two legged dinosaur, while the gloves were distinctly clawed.
The strange figure tossed Arlo two things, the first was a strange key like thing that glowed a silver color and had the word "Metal" written on its bow. The second was a slip of paper with an address on it, and the figure said, "Go to the address and use the key, and vengeance shall be within your grasp." As the figure walked away Arlo called after him, "Who are you? And what do you get from helping me?"
The figure stopped and looked back, "You can call me Lazarus. And it's my job to do this. I get paid to do this."
As the taxi drove away, Ollie spoke to the person he had pulled in. Deciding to introduce himself Ollie extended his hand and said, "My name is Ollie, what's yours?" The Mouse Moreau muttered to himself, "Oh, right introductions." He extended his hand, grabbing Ollies and saying, "My full name is Genetic Overdrive Test Subject IV, but everyone just calls me Gos Ivy, because my full name is quite a mouthful." The two shook hands and then Gos turned to Bosco and said, "could you please take me to the Deox Inc building, I got lost while exploring and they might be worried about me."
Ollie spoke up, "Hey, that's where I'm heading, I'll take you there." Bosco spoke up, "Normally I would charge you for the trip, but since you helped me out I'll wave the fee this once. Just don't tell anyone." Gos asked, "Why not?" Bosco rolled his eyes and said, "Because it might convince people they can get free rides. And it's against taxi driver code to give free rides. I could get black balled." Gos nodded and said, "I have no clue what you mean, but I won't tell anyone about it." Bosco nodded and said, "Good."
The Deox Inc headquarters were abuzz with activity. After all, it was one of the biggest events that the company was putting on. It was open try outs for the chance to become a DN-Geneer, a real life superhero like a power ranger. Humans and Moreaus from across the world had flocked to the Deox Inc world headquarters for the chance of a lifetime. After all, two DN-Gen systems were being offered, and one of them did not have a Moreau already attached to it. A part of the systems design was made to help bring humans and Moreau's closer together, requiring a human and Moreau working together in harmony with one another to properly function.
The brainchild of Professor Isaac Kennedy, the DN-Gen system was designed to provide emergency aid, give law enforcement a boost, and handle natural disasters. The system still did these things, but the cold hard necessities of economics meant that Deox Inc got exclusive control of the system in exchange for funding it. The preciousness of the systems also provided a darker motive for some of the hopefuls, at least in the eyes of Deox Inc.
For the company saw the potential of corporate spies or criminal lowlifes who would seek to steal the secrets of the system or sabotage the presentation in some way. So extra security was needed and was hired. Enter the freelance police, detectives Samuel Murphy and Maximilian Lucien; better known as Sam and Max. Despite technically being private eyes, they were given some measure of legal power due to handling cases too big, too small, or too weird for the real law enforcement to handle.
Sam was an Irish Settler Moreau, and he wore the stereotypical detective outfit, complete with trench coat and fedora, albeit without shoes. Max meanwhile was a pure white furred Moreau who wore nothing else, for he had a less advanced version of the Moreau Virus. This meant he was much closer to his base animal kin, resulting in his short stature, more animalistic look, and the ability to be naked in public without violating any laws. What animal Max arose from originally is still unknown to any, but it was narrowed down to some form of lagomorph, as exemplified by his rabbit ears.
Both of them were watching out for any suspicious activity, for despite the fact that they were both certifiably insane, they took their job seriously. Indeed, the fact that they got results was the main reason there antics hadn't gotten them in serious trouble. That and the fact that for all their blood lust (mostly Max's) there hearts were in the right place.
So when a taxi pulled up they decided to investigate. Gos saw then and waved, "Hi Sam. Hi Max." Suddenly Bosco froze while Ollie and Gos got out. He was sweating nervously, and he was muttering, "Sam and Max?" over and over. Sam looked over and saw Bosco and smiled widely before yelling to Max, "Hey Max, look who it is !" Max walked over and saw Bosco and happily said, "Remember us Bosco?"
Bosco screamed hysterically at the top of his lungs, "Not you guys! Not again!" He drove away as fast as he could, and the only thing that kept him from reaching light speed or even ludicrous speed was the limitations of his taxi engine. He still broke many traffic laws as he sped off into the distance, screaming as though the devil himself were after him. Gos and Ollie were stunned by Bosco's reaction, but Sam and Max were nonplused, with Sam commenting, "He remembers us."
The various hopefuls all gathered in front of grand podium where the head honcho's of Deox Inc sat, ready for the trials and the judging. Front and center was Beau Ornstein, the CEO of Deox Inc and the face of the company. He projected a real man of the people vibe and dressed in business casual like most of his employees. Of course, this was just a projection, and many a news piece on his true greedy nature had come out, though overall public opinion of him was rather good. Next to him was Swank Sawbuck, a baboon Moreau who was the CFO of Deox Inc, and who tended to flaunt his position. Swank's name was almost never out of the tabloids for something or other. For him, the public mostly had scorn, as it was only his immense wealth thar kept the lawsuits from going through.
The third person on the podium was the one who the public could all agree was a good man. The inventor of the DN-Gen system, Professor Isaac Kennedy. No one could really fault him for the actions of the company, as his system was always meant to help. Unlike Beau and Swank, who dressed in professional suits, Kennedy was dressed in casual clothing, with a long brown coat, snappy shirt and pants, and black loafers.
Ollie had found a place to sit and had hit it off with two new friends. These were the human Leslie Hackett, who sought to escape her family's dry cleaning business in the most exciting way possible, and the sparrow Moreau Beagle Quill, who had signed up on a lark. Despite the two having met only on this day, they were as thick as thieves, and Ollie was having fun talking to them.
Soon the hubbub died down as Beau came to the stand and prepared to speak, "I'm not one for speeches. So I shall let Kennedy, the creator of the DN-Gen system do the speech. But know this, only two humans and one Moreau will gain this valuable position. May the best ones win." With that grim proclamation Beau walked off, with Kennedy glaring at him as he took the podium.
Kennedy cleared his throat and with a clear English accent he spoke, "Yes, thanks for that intro boss." With the snark out of the way, the real speech began, "I just wanted to say that I am very glad about this large turnout. When I started work on the DN-Gen system in college, all I had was a few friends and a dream. A dream to not only provide rescue workers and law enforcement officials a much needed boost, but to remove the gap between Man and Moreau. And while the friends have drifted away, I am pleased to see that the dream is stronger than ever!" A cheer came from the entire crowd.
Only two figures did not join in the cheer, aside from those on the podium. The first was Lazarus, who while hidden from view had heard the whole thing and was shaking his head in disgust, muttering to himself, "Sellout." The second was Arlo, who had just arrived and was uncaring as to the hopeful ideals. Instead he was focused on his revenge, and upon seeing Ollie he decided to take it.
Arlo inserted the Gene Key into his chest and turned it, the corrupted power flowing through his veins, his very being twisting into a new monstrous form. The creature Arlo had become resembled a reptilian form at first, a tall and broad lizard Moreau. But when one got a closer look, it was clear the being was not natural. For one, it had fur, fur that seemed to be made out of metal, and along its back were knife like ridges. A tail ending in what could only be a machete had manifested, both its feet and hands had knife like claws, and its head was that of a savage dog, also made of metal. Arlo was now a Twister, the Machete Chupacabra.
The newly formed twister cackled maniacally as the crowd began to scatter in fear, due to not having been mentally prepared or not willing to risk fighting a real monster. Machete Chupacabra proudly shouted, "Looks like my front teeth are back! But that doesn't mean I won't be taking my revenge!" Many of the fleeing hopefuls were slashed by the blades, all the while the Twister laughed evilly. Soon, only those who had mot fled were left, those being the Freelance Police, Kennedy, Leslie, Beagle, and of course Ollie himself.
The three hopefuls and the Freelance Police readied themselves for combat, two pistols cocking as the two humans and the sparrow Moreau all assumed fighting positions. While Isaac Kennedy was not a fighter, he refused to be cowed, especially by a criminal using a perversion of his work.
Lazarus watched the unfolding scene and said, "Welp, time to earn the other half of my pay." Upon saying that he summoned a strange gun, one that looked more like a disk launcher. A flurry of strange CDs suddenly emitted from the strange gun, each looking like they were made out of crab shells. Upon seeing them fly he nodded and retreated, super jumping away.
As the discs hit the ground, there true purpose was revealed. Each disc became a group of five strange crab monsters, which were immediately unnatural to the eye, even if one had not seen them manifest from the discs. The first thing that tipped people off that these things were monsters and not Moreau's was that the Moreau Virus was never active inside of invertebrate creatures, of which Crabs were a part. The second thing that marked them was the distinctly skeletal appearance, as if someone had attempted to make a crab out of bones. They were the Kankers, arising from the Kanker Discs, and they were the mooks of the Twisters.
The Kankers charged forward into battle, with the Machete Chupacabra trailing behind them. Some were armed with pistols or swords, but even the unarmed ones were able to inflict serious damage with there pincers. The DN-Geneer hopefuls who remained made sure to stay out of the way of these weapons while fighting.
Sam and Max fired off many bullets, each one killing a Kanker in spite of the apparent lack of aiming. Sam asked Isaac, "Old buddy, we maybe be able to handle these mooks, but we'll need some super hero power to deal with that Twister. You got a DN-Geneer on stand-bye?" Isaac finished texting someone and replied, "Don't worry, I just alerted Gos to what's going on. He's coming with the real DN-Gen Helix system. He said he has someone in mind for the human partner."
Max was confused and asked, "Aren't those the systems?" He pointed to the DN-Gen systems on display and Isaac replied, "No, those are just promotional models. They are fake, like the sushi in restaurant windows." Sam clutched his stomach and said, "Oh, I learned that the hard way." Isaac shook his head at his friends misadventures, while Gos came running.
He waved at Ollie and yelled, "Ollie, catch!" He threw the belt like item at Ollie, and somehow vanished. Ollie caught the belt and noticed in the buckle was a key like item, pure white in color. A light on the belt flashed and the voice of Gos emitted from the key, "Put on the belt and twist me! It's the only way!" Ollie was confused and slightly uncomfortable at the choice of words Gos used but did as he was told.
Suddenly a flash of light blinded all present, and in Ollie's place was quite an impressive sight. It was Ollie still, but now he was clad in form fitting green and white armor resembling something a martial artist would wear, with a helmet that had a distinctly mouse like appearance. Despite his confusion, Ollie followed his instincts and struck a pose before he and Gos bellowed out a role call, Ollie doing the first word and Gos the second, both switching it up before Ollie brought it home and they yelled in unison, "Ignition, on! Human! Mouse! The Molecular Powerhouse, DN-Gen Helix!"
The Machete Chupacabra considered this for moment but the yelled at the Kankers, "Get him! Don't focus on the scrubs!" The Kankers followed their orders, but to there own detriment as DN-Gen Helix was more than capable of destroying them easily. In addition, the others redoubled there assault, partially motivated by the Twisters insult. A few of the freelance police's bullets found there mark on the Machete Chupacabra, only to ineffectively ping off the twisters metal body.
Soon Ollie found the base power of his new form, as a group of Kankers attempted to dogpile him he shrunk down and avoided them, before growing to around 9 feet in height and returning the favor with a flying body slam. Soon enough, the Kankers were all gone, vanishing in a flash of energy, leaving only the Machete Chupacabra.
The enraged Twister charged at Helix, claws extended with an intent to slice the hero to pieces. But upon contacting the armor they were useless, with the only react the Machete Chupacabra had at first was a small, "Huh?" Enraged by this, the Twister began a flurry of claw attacks, all of which were about as useful as a kitten scratching a metal bar. Although it did minimal damage, Helix was focused on defending against the attacks, dodging whenever possible and blocking when he couldn't.
Enraged beyond reason by Helix's refusal to be hurt, the Machete Chupacabra reared his tail back like a scorpion to strike the hero down. This proved to be a great mistake as Helix grabbed the tail safely. The Twister was then surprised by Helix growing to 12 feet in height and using his increased strength to spin him around multiple times before hurling the criminal into a building face first.
Groaning, Machete Chupacabra got up and spat out the exact same two teeth that Gos had accidentally knocked out of his mouth in his non Twister form. He growled out in rage and turned to get back into the fray, but immediately saw that Helix was charging at him with intent to destroy. Helix's fist was glowing with energy, and both Ollie and Gos yelled out the name of the finisher, "Overdrive Punch!" The energy empowered fist delivered an uppercut that sent the Twister into the sky, where it exploded.
Arlo came falling down, landing with a bit of pain, and completely spent, while the now inactive Gene Key he was given falling on his head and bouncing to a stop in front of Isaac, who picked it up and gave it a look of disgust. Arlo was quickly hauled to his feet and put in cuffs by the Freelance Police, with Sam saying, "Arlo 'The Shank' Teeks, your wanted for petty crime. That would have gotten you three to five years, but you just became a Twister and assaulted a large number of people. What do you think will happen to him Max?" Max's ever present smile became even more shark like as he said, "twenty five to life, with a high possibility of the death penalty if anyone he injured does not pull through. Pretty open and shut case." They flung Arlo into the back of the Desoto and sped off to imprison him properly.
Helix demorphed and Ollie was left in his place, with Gos manifesting next to him. Leslie and Beagle came up to them with excitement in there eyes. Leslie hugged Ollie and said, "Oh that so cool!" Ollie awkwardly disengaged from the hug while Beagle asked Gos, "How'd you turn into that key?" Gos shrugged and said, "It's the surgery that all Moreaus go through to be a part of a DN-Geneer. I've had it my whole life."
A firm voice responded, "Indeed, Gos has had it ever since we found him." The voice was that of Isaac Kennedy, holding the Gene Key Arlo had used in his hand. Kennedy continued to speak, "This should not have been possible, because I'm the only one who knows how the surgery can be done." He pointed the Gene Key out and said, "But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Some nefarious element of society is perverting my work, creating cheap and shoddy Gene Key knock offs like this one." He looked at it with pure distain, "These things make Moreaus into monsters, and would probably make any human who used them into a bubbling puddle of primordial ooze."
Suddenly his phone rang, and Kennedy held up a finger as he answered it, "Uh huh, ok, hang on, I'll put you on speaker." He pushed the speaker button and Beau's voice came out, "Ollie, I am officially hiring you as the human partner in the Helix project. Not only did you expertly handle that Twister while me and Swank fled by helicopter, but you're also a trans man so the woke crowd will get off my back about my hiring policies."
Swank interrupted, "Hire those two dynamite gals as well. They worked well together and were easy on the eyes." Beau sighed and said, "Yeah, you guys are hired, bye." He rudely hung up and Kennedy cleared his throat, "Ok, so I'll get you guys all caught up as soon as we all rest from this harrowing experience." Ollie raised his hand and said, "I don't have anywhere to stay." Kennedy handed him a key and said, "Not a problem, we have company housing. You and Gos will be living right next door to Sam and Max." Kennedy leaned in and said, "We got the surrounding properties dirt cheap because of there antics." Kennedy straightened up and said, "I look forward to working with you."
And so concluded Ollies first day as a DN-Geneer, the first of many to come.
Author notes
Thanks to Krockman18 for letting me use his stuff and for beta reading. Check him out
The setting of DN-Gen Helix is an alternative universe from the one where the Power Ranger series. For ease of reference, the multiverse in which the Toku stuff originating from Krockman18's work is called the Krockverse, the universe that the ranger series take place in is called the Primeverse, and the universe that this story takes place in is called the Moreauverse.
The most obvious divergences for the Moreauverse is obviously the Moreau's, but there are minor differences as well. For instance, instead of just being an Ever After native of the 19th century areas, Dr. Moreau was a real person who discovered the Moreau Virus, the Island of Dr. Moreau being a fictional story based on the doctor.
Another important divergence is that transitioning is quick and easy, and compared to ours is perfect. This is because of those Moreau's who arise from animals that naturally change sexes. As such, the only real indication that Ollie was born a female that most would know is that his voice is a higher pitch, like borderline falsetto. But that's not a real indicator of gender.
Moreaus generally have the males be beast men, while women are a little bit beastly. But it's not 100%. A good reference for how Moreaus look is the look of the animal characters in Seton Academy Join The Pack. They function like how it does in that show, but some male Moreaus look more human, and some females look more animal. But in general think Seton Academy
Not all animals have been uplifted, and no invertebrate or extinct animal Moreaus exist.
An adaptation of Zyuohger occurred in the Moreauverse in the form of the Beast Box rangers.
And there will be a lot more swearing in DN-Gen Helix because Kamen Rider series get away with a lot more. Den-O had nude scenes, enough said.
With that important info out of the way, here's my random and disconnected observations
Gene keys look like Gaia Memories from Kamen Rider Double, but with a key theme instead of usb drive
The bow is the part of the key you hold onto, and on Gene Keys it's the Gaia Memory themed part.
Lazarus has the voice of Locus from Red Vs Blue, and his armor is similar to that character's, but added with a Troodon theme
I had to look up what a Troodon was too, so to give you the gist of it, think a bigger velociraptor. Troodons are also the smartest dinosaur known in modern science and could have evolved to humanities place if it weren't for the meteor wiping out dinosaurs.
As for why Lazarus considers Kennedy a sell out, you will have to stick around until the end of this series. Or check out Krockman18
Arlo has the voice of chip whistler from big city greens. Same with machete chupacabra
Sam and Max are of course included because I love their franchise.
They have the voices from the tv series
Bosco Molar has the voice of Bosco from the telltale games
Kennedy is played by David Tennent and has the voice of the 10th doctor.
Beagle looks like Margret from Regular Show (except a sparrow) and has the same voice actress.
Arlo/the Machete Chupacabra has the voice of chip whistler from big city greens