Of Sin and Cyborgs ( IC Thread )

[Beta]

Mid July, Early Afternoon. Detroit, USA.


Detroit. One of the largest cities in the country. Total population at last census put forth a number of 12.1 million for the city and surrounding suburbs. Home to the Black Phoenix Consortium, formerly the "big three" of the automotive industry, along with the numerous other companies that they absorbed. This was the city where the former Corporate Assassin known as Beta chose to remain despite the danger. Hell, this city was his home before he was taken and transformed into what he now was. Despite the fact he didn't remember too much from back then, he had found new purpose in assisting his new family and friends.


Sometimes he would help with simple things such as yard work, sometimes more difficult matters such as putting on a new roof for a neighbor. They were always amazed at how tireless the young man was despite the hot summer days. Sure, he would ask for water or a snack on occasion. That was pretty normal for any person. But he never once said things along the lines of "This is too hard" or "Can someone help me with this" or even an "I'll finish this later". He would keep working from the time he started until well into the night. Starting again as soon as he woke in the morning.


However... such feats, while amazing to most folks, also drew the attentions of people from up on high. Some of the lower-level executives from the Consortium had heard reports of a "fine specimen" that they could likely use to replace the Corporate Cyborg they had recently lost. They were unaware that this specimen was the cyborg they were looking for, of course. But without knowing that, they each signed a document allowing a force of operatives to apprehend the person in question.


It was only a matter of time before they made their move. But they would wait for cover of darkness.

 

[Wiseman]

It was raining in his part of city again. That seemed to happen often, he remembered it happening often, or did he? Each dull gray drop fell from the smudged sky, dirtying whatever they fell upon, and leaving murky steaks on lenses of his face mask. He could hear them splashing and clinking against the metal of the armor he wore, and it reminded him of small arms fire. Such sensations usually let him forget, let him drift in peace for a few moments at a time.


~It's cold, I'm sitting, I cant move. My arms are strapped down, so are my legs, Im naked, the cold air conditioning pressing against my bare skin. I open my eyes. White! So bright! I squint, try to look around, try to prove I haven't been blinded. Its a small room, clean, white, sterile. There are shelves and racks of equipment, prongs, needles, stethoscopes, medical stuff. Its so cold!


I notice movement above me, a figure, a man in white. I feel fear, I know this man, the man in white. I try to say something, but my throat is dry and I only manage to rasp something indecipherable. And then, as if in response to my efforts, pain. Horrible, crippling, moving up my spine, into my brain. I thrash, I scream, I pray. Unanswered. Then finally, the pain stops.


"That was a good one, wasn't it Mr.Richards?" Says a cold voice, a delighted voice. The man in white. Richards, is that my name? I don't care. I choke out a cough and then sob, its all I can do, all I can think to do. "Now now, cant have any of that now can we? Now count with me Mr.Richards. One, two,-" Pain, so much pain.~


He snapped back to himself, gasping, choking. He felt his GP Generators heat up instinctively, but he caught himself before they could activate. He was in a long alley, leaned up against one dirty wall, his armor still strapped to his body, his weapons still strapped to his armor. It had been days, maybe weeks since he had escaped from...Well, he didnt know from where. His home, or what used to be his home. The people who had been his masters, what had they done to him?


He didn't know, he just didn't know anything. His thoughts were even more clouded than the rain, and there was only one thing he knew for sure. He didn't know who he was, he didn't know why he had his memories, but Delta, if he could still call himself Delta, knew that he had to find Jason Richards, and he had to find the people who had done this too him. Once he found Jason or the people, he didnt know what he would do, maybe kill them. But all things in their time.


He moved out of the alleyway, startling a few hobos as he did, and began to make his way down the street, a street that seemed so familiar, despite the fact that he was sure he had never been here before. There were faces in his memory, if he saw any, he would begin there. Otherwise he intended to wander until something in his mind stopped him, or until he found the man he was looking for.

 

[DopeSoup]

Crispin peered out of his obscured greying bathroom window whilst scratching at the already peeling wallpaper anxiously, searching desperately for an indication of the policeman chasing him not 10 minutes ago. In his shaking left hand he held a bag of $20 and $50 notes after robbing a relatively busy 'Electronics' floor in the district's hypermarket. After sprinting up 8 flights of stairs he wasn't sure whether his panting was from this or the fear of being caught again. He could feel the beads of hot sweat rolling down the side of his face rubbing off the artificial dyes he had used for the disguise.


He turned around and walked back into the bedroom / kitchen / living area of his apartment and dropped his canvas rucksack to the ground (possibly amounting to about $700 in small bills). The room was sectioned off sufficiently enough, he thought. The permanently unfolded sofa bed lay in one corner and the kitchen - consisting of a cream/beige counter, sink and cupboard, and a microwave placed on the patio (dining) table fit with matching patio furniture for two - was positioned in the other. Although messy and minimalist, the apartment was a safe-house for him and he was sure not to get harassed by the landlady who was in charge of almost 200 residents in an 11 storey building.


It was a slum he couldn't kid himself but it was better than any alternatives he had been offered. He was well aware he was living in the most neglected area of the alleged greatest city in America. After fleeing one of the more esteemed and intellectually driven districts, he was in a constant state of panic with the thought of another Black Phoenix Consortium operative addressing him by his cyborg model name 'Kappa'.


He shuddered as thousands of flashes of horrific images and memories raced through his head. Crispin clutched tightly to the chain wrapped round his knuckles, almost to the point he felt his fingers and his thumbs could burst.

 

[Chaotic]

The girl stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror of her small apartment room in the basement of Montiquet Industries; a small technologically based corporation that functioned as barely a blip on the radar of the larger companies. Sighing distractedly, she pulled her platinum blonde waves of hair back so as to pose in front of the mirror in a rather risqué fashion. The floor and bed and walls of the room were littered pictures of her in various day to day tasks. Of course, had the woman portrayed known that she was being photographed she probably would have posed more seductively, but sadly she had been captured on film in secrecy for the past two weeks.


As the girl in front of the mirror glanced over her shoulder at the images, a rather bored look passed over her pretty features before being suddenly being replaced by a grin as the knock at her door drew her attention. Skipping over to the sliding metal panel that acted as her door, she entered a key code to open it before immediately throwing herself into the arms of the person on the other side. She had, after all, been expecting company for a while now. “You came!” she grinned broadly as the now beet red man tried desperately to disengage himself from her embrace. The girl, as he couldn’t help but notice, had decided to not put on anything but her underclothing while she waited for her mission uniform to arrive. This was not in his job description and was making him highly nervous and excitable.


This didn’t slip past Pi as her grin took on an even more mischievous feel before she finally released him to pose with a rather cute pout in the doorway. “No wonder this dumb bitch always acted like such a little slut,” she continued on as she stepped back and waved him into the room in a mostly bored fashion. “I mean if I had curves like this . . .” Pi paused for a moment before giggling at the thought. Had she really started to be jealous of someone else’s body dimensions? The thought seemed rather ludicrous as her modifications allowed her to shapeshift at will, but every once in a while she found that she would fall back to such petty thoughts. Just an echo lingering from the days before Montiquet Industries had given her the ability to look however she wanted.


“Would you stop playing around and get dressed,” muttered the man bashfully as he shoved the package of clothes at her chest. Like any dignified company employee he had dutifully turned away from her, she noted. What caught her attention and made her giggle harder, however, was the fact that he was still checking out their latest target using the many mirrors in the room. His utter failure at discretion would quite possibly prove to be the highlight of this morning for her.


While toying with him just a bit more, she did eventually manage to get dressed and stack her mountain of breakfast dishes in the sink. Then, with an excited yet dimwitted grin characteristic of the now dead woman she was replacing, she let him escort her out of the room and up to the street where the dead woman’s car awaited her. Skipping lightly over to it with all of the practiced idiocy of the blonde she was imitating, Pi threw a kiss back over her shoulder at the employee she had been playing with before starting it up and peeling out of the parking spot. For the remainder of today and for however long it was required of her, she was the brain-dead bombshell by the name of Miss Raquel James – an intern who had recently applied for a position at the Black Phoenix Consortium.

 

[Ineffectivd]

The nightmares weren't stopping. Or were they memories of some past she did not want to remember? Gray wasn't sure. Flashes of pain and suffering dotted her dreams, grinning faces of warped men and women circling her slowly as she lay on her bed, unable to open her eyes. The last night was no different.


Gray blinked tiredly and downed another cup of coffee, as Fairfield engaged in a shouting match with his superior over whether Unit Epsilon should be deployed for the current contract. Fairfield's stand was that Epsilon was mentally over-taxed and would be unable to perform at the expected level of performance. President Kazuma rebutted that her mental state is irrelevant and that the mission was just a retrieval of a single human in the Detroit area. Just a simple take-and-go job. Gray didn't speak throughout the whole ordeal and, instead, chose to prop her head up with one hand, yawning as the two men continued their heated debate Gray caught a flash of irritation running through Fairfield's face, before he raised his hands in exasperation.


"Okay! Okay. We'll take the damn job." He spun on his heels and snapped his fingers. "Epsilon, prepare for deployment. We're heading for Detroit. We'll convene at the helipad in 30 minutes. Don't be late." Gray made a face, which was soon hidden as she stuffed on her helmet. Unit Epsilon stood up from her seat and picked up the tanto leaning upon the table. "Understood."

 

[Dino]

Zeta deflected his punch yet again. Sending the man of balance, Zeta watched as he collapsed into his desk. He stood over the man and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "The files, Where the **** are the files." Zeta demanded. "I...told you....I don't know." The man whimpered. "Thats it." Zeta thought to himself before pulling his pistol out and placing it against the mans forehead. He the man managed to lift his arm up to point to a place in the wall. "Slide...it open.. The keypad insides code is ...3527" He chucked the man to the ground and walked over to the area he was pointed to. He slid it too the left and it folded back revealing a safe and keypad. He punched in the code and the door slid itself open. Grabbing everything inside and sliding it into his inside pocket seeing as it was a document just small enough to fit. His ear piece buzzed and his mission instructors voice spoke through "Zeta, leave this low life alive, we still have use for him. Plus we have more important things for you to attend to in Detroit right now. You will be briefed more on the situation when we know you have arrived there " Zeta walked over to the man and spat on him. "You're lucky the higher ups want you alive, if it were down to me you'd be dead." Zeta stepped over to the window and flung himself out of the window landing with a roll on the roof of the lower building down bellow.


He started to sprint from the roof of the building jumping over to each roof or ledge to climb up back to the roof. He wasn't that far from Detroit so it wouldn't take long for someone like him to get there. When he ran out of building he slid down a pipe onto the ground and began running down the street barging past any one in his way. People growled at him but he continued running down the street. A man turned around and threw a punch at Zeta. Zeta grabbed his wrist and twisted it till the man yelped like a dog. He continued running, it wouldn't be much longer unless he got attacked by a more capable foe but that more than likely wouldn't happen. Every now and then he would turn to see a homeless person asking for spare change. Some peering out of dumpsters to see if there was any dropped food around their "home". He did not pity these people for the reason they were there in the first place was because they were, weak, useless and not needed by society. He continued on running, he wanted to know what was so important about this next target of his...maybe this one might actually be a challenge and a little more fun than the weaklings he'd been dealing with lately. Not long now, just a few more short cuts and it wouldn't be long before he was right outside Detroit.

 

[Wiseman]

Delta shoved his way down the street, walking against the masses of people coming home from their jobs as the day began to die. The light in the sky was just starting to rot to orange and fade away, and the dirty rain had stopped falling. He now walked through the crowds, which, in response to his shoving, split before his heavily armored and heavily armed body. The people stared at him with varied eyes and faces. Some stared through thick glasses, others with running noses, and other still with gawking mouths. Some stared with incredulity, while other watched in open awe or disbelief, and even more seemed merely annoyed.


Delta didnt know why, but his eyes automatically tracked the various security cameras he paused as he walked, many following his movements from store fronts and public stations, staring with their single eyes. He walked for a time, in this way, looking for something, anything familiar, but the more he walked, the more alien everything seemed to become.


Suddenly a van stopped next to him as he walked down the street. It was black with sirens and lights, and a white insignia bearing the Ziea Inc. Logo. Something about that logo made Delta's mind ache and he stopped and stared. The doors to the van suddenly burst open and six armed men stormed out and surrounded Delta, five holding strange looking rifles. Delta's mind could normally figure out what gun was being used against him, but he didn't recognize these weapons.


Delta didn't move, didn't reach for his weapons, despite the fact that a part of his mind was screaming, throbbing against his will with the desire to kill these men. Instead he watched them carefully as the crowd around him panicked and dispersed away in every direction, leaving him standing mostly alone, though many remained just behind the armed men, taking out phones and cameras to record what was happening. One of the soldier's came forward, he was holding some sort of slim tablet device in his hands instead of a gun. Delta could feel a kind of pulse coming from it, but didn't really pay any attention to it


"Delta." He said sternly, and the cyborg turned to look at the man directly, called by his name. "Delta stand down and allow us to recover you. We will make everything better, just relax, and come with us."


Delta considered his words. Could they make it all better? Would they? Why did he suddenly feel so helpless? Something about the man made Delta feel submissive, weak. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that he should just give in, that this man knew what was best for him. Slowly Delta nodded, and the soldier's closed in to seize him.


~It's cold, my body hurts, metal in my bones, wires in my eyes. It burns, oh god...why? Cant move, cant see. They control it now, my eyes, with their wires. Suddenly sight. I's bright, it's always bright. Then there he is, the man in white. He asks his questions, I answer correctly. Such good feelings...such good...~


Delta snaps upright, thrusting his arms up and knocking two of the soldiers away, slamming one into the wall of the building with a crack, and the other into the van, where the metal dents to accommodate him. The other soldier's have a grasp on him however. They are trying to get something into the back of his neck. Delta feels his GPG's heat up all over his body, but something stops him.


~The people! You cant kill them~


He doesn't understand why, but he forgoes his GPG defense, and instead rolls violently, falling to the ground and bringing many of them down with him. They wrestle for control, three against one, but Delta's enhanced strength allows him to easily throw them off, and soon he is on his feet again, and running. The soldiers recover, at least those that can, while the man with the device follows after Delta with his eyes.


"What are we supposed to do to stop that, sir?" One of the survivors asks, picking up his gun and checking it for damage. The man with the device shakes his head.


"No, you idiot. We don't have to stop him, we just have to hold him until back arrives. Once back up gets here, we pull out, and its not our problem."


"How many men are they sending? They gonna shut down a part of the city for this? I hear Cyborg recovery is...messy." Another one of the men, this one with a deep voice, said through his helmet.


"Nope, They are just sending one, but trust me boys, its all they need to send. Now get back on Delta, we need to at least keep tabs on him until back up gets here." The men saluted and hurried after the android, while the van took off again down the road.

 

[Dino]

Zeta heard more chatter into his ear piece a different voice this time. "Hurry up Zeta, The target is already causing harm to Ziea soldiers, get a move on!" The man yelled. Zeta picked up his pace and sprinted even harder pushing himself to his limits. How could one target be taking out more than a couple of soldiers armed with the very best equipment, he'd find out soon enough he guessed. It wasn't long before Zeta read a sign saying welcome to Detroit. Not long before he could get into another fight, how he lusted for a challenge. His ear piece then had the voice from earlier talk into it. "As you may or may not know, your target is a rouge cyborg named Delta, it is your job to retrieve him ALIVE and mostly intact. " Delta...Zeta could remember Delta easily. They'd trained together back when he was just a small time assassin. Now he was after him... This couldn't be good for either of them could it, but orders are orders and he had to follow them. Maybe Delta would be brought back into Ziea this time and not go rouge. Maybe it might be okay, but all he knew was this fight would be a challenge and that made him smile.


He found a van driving down the road, he noticed the symbols instantly. He followed the Ziea van till he found the armored man running down the road. Zeta began to sprint after him only guessing that it could be Delta. He pushed past people walking down the street, Delta was his target and he had to apprehend him. "Delta you going to keep running forever!" Zeta shouted. Hoping it would get Delta to stop and either hand himself in aka the boring way or fight him aka the fun way. He kept on running his eyes set on Delta he wanted a fight and sure knew Delta was more than likely going to put up one. He didn't bother charging up his stun glove, it wouldn't do as it was intended to on a normal human in this fight that is if there was going to be a fight and he swore to god if one of those glory hunting Ziea soldiers stepped in to get a medal or some crap he'd snap their neck. But right now it didn't look like Delta had any indication of stopping his run. He couldn't remember that much about what Delta was like, he could only remember that he was Delta and that he was going to put up a fight, that was if he stopped running of course.

 

[Chaotic]

“It would appear that I’m going to be quite late, Sir,” whispered Raquel, the discrete motion of her lips nearly undetectable. “It would seem there is some sort of standoff ahead …” The girl stuck her head out of the car window and tried to partially stand so as to see what was holding up traffic. She couldn’t see much from this point except for some law vehicle with an odd, colorless light and blaring sirens stopped somewhere down the road. “Seems to be rather small fry, though … one vehicle, maybe robbery gone wrong?”


After a long moment of silence the other end of the line went dead, drawing a confused pout from the busty blonde behind the wheel of her hideous pink convertible. “As always, it was a pleasure talking to you too, lovey …” she snapped as she hit the steering wheel rather moodily before sticking her head out again curiously. Seconds later a blur sped past her almost quicker than her eyes could be bothered to trace. Only her eidetic memory allowed her to recognize the distinct features of the armored man speeding down the road at a pace faster than any mere human could manage.


“Delta, you going to keep running forever!?” she heard a moment later which only confirmed her previous assumption. Hitting the emergency button that Gracey had installed under the steering unit of the car, she dialed the company again quickly as she pulled herself back into the leather interior and put on an expression of confused terror. Really, she didn’t much worry about other models. They were created to fight and kill each other so that the people running the companies could survive without incident. They had little to do with her and her intelligence recovery jobs.


“What is it, Pi?” snapped the cold voice of Ryan’s secretary in her ear a moment later as she answered the emergency page.


“Rogue cyborg on the road is what has been causing the holdup thus far. Orders, ma’am?” whispered Raquel with the same subtleness that she had used when reporting in to Ryan moments earlier. “Would appear the other companies are having difficulty … perhaps I should snoop around to find out which ones are involved?”


“No, no, you half-witted hunk of hardware,” snapped the always moody and derogative woman on the other end of the line. “Your job is to get the information we need to outpace the competition and/or blackmail them into submission … wasting our valuable resources just to check in on your lot … HA.” The woman’s cold snickering ended as the line went dead and agent Pi was left alone in the situation. Truth be told, she was quite curious now. She wanted to follow and get more information. Unfortunately, her lot in life was to be a loyal dog of the company.


Sighing in resignation, she kept up her frightened act as she desperately shifted through the AM radio stations in an attempt to find a channel reporting on the incident. This sort of trouble was, of course, reported on. Generally, however, so as to mask the dangers posed by the escaped units, it was reported as druggies and violent crime rampages. As she finally settled on a station, she listened as this particular run in was twisted to appear as a dangerous drug lord attacked a special unit vehicle which had tried apprehending him on charges of trafficking and was now attempting his futile escape. The man, according to the radio broadcaster, was to be considered armed and extremely dangerous and thus not to be approached under any circumstances.

 

[Wiseman]

Delta ran and ran, and the men chased after him. He tried to lose them, but his mind was not working right, and he didn't duck into any alleys or subway stations as he ran, staying next to the road.


~Do you want to be caught?!~ A voice screamed inside him. A voice who knew pain, a voice that tasted freedom. But Delta didn't know, couldn't remember whether he should be running or surrendering, so he did something in between. He ran, but in a way that allowed them to follow him. He continued this for several minutes as the sun slowly dimmed in the sky, already obscured by the skyscrapers which reached directly up and out of the city like trees seeking the sun.


"Delta you going to keep running forever!"


The sudden call was not only unexpected, but it also had the same effect as a brick smashing into Delta's face. The voice was so nostalgic, so familiar, and his mind struggled to remember who the voice belonged to. And before he knew it, memories were taking him by force, blasting him from the present. His foot slipped.


~Glowing blue eyes, white uniform. It was him again, not the man in white, but another. The test began, the running commenced. Had I always been this fast? The guards see us, or at least see one of us. Thats why they call him Smoke, and thats why they call me Fire. One tactic, burst and burn through all resistance to execute the target in the most direct route possible. The other tactic involved circumventing major resistance and surgically cutting out the target. I was the Fire, he was Smoke. We were both killers.~


Stumbling, falling, loosing control. Delta careened into group of bystanders, knocking them over as he did.


~The guards died, I snapped their necks. His guards ganged up to shoot at me, but they dropped before they could squeeze out a second shot. He didn't have to kill them, but it was a kinship of sorts, a bond shared between those who had suffered greatly, and gained much for it. They couldn't allow one to be slain, unless it was done by the other. An unspoken code.~


Delta began to pick himself up, his breathing sounding loud in his ear. The people he had knocked over were getting up and running away to the best of their ability, but he was taking particularly long to get up. He looked up, and he saw him.


~Zeta~


The name found its way to his lips and he spoke it as he rose. He breathed heavily, though he didn't know why, his enhanced endurance more than making up for his efforts done running. He drew his magnums, hands shaking, aiming them at Zeta. He didn't understand what he was doing, why he was pointing guns at the only faced he had recognized so far, but something desperate inside him warned him, begged him not to go with his former comrade, and he was compelled to obey. Still, he didn't open fire, and didn't speak, waiting for Zeta to say something or make the first move.

 

[Ineffectivd]

Unit Epsilon was silent throughout the whole travelling time, and Fairfield did not expect anything less from her. However, as disciplined as she might seem, Allison Gray was having a hard time trying to keep awake. Her entire body ached, even at parts where it wasn't supposed to ache. She needed more coffee, more than ever before. She needed a whole lot of it. To be honest, Hell's gnashing teeth can have that diluted crap. She'd just take the coffee powder alone. That'd work. But that alone wasn't enough. It had been a month since her last deployment. A successful one, to note. After that, Shinju-kai went into a hiatus in all operations to focus its powers on constructions of different establishments elsewhere- they could not afford the expenses that came with deploying a cyborg that required maintenance. It would be around the same time that Unit Epsilon began waking up feeling as if her entire body was but a bucket of nuts and bolts, and started being quite restless. There was something Epsilon needed, like how Allison Gray needed coffee. Something that she missed. Unit Epsilon blinked. Or so she thought she did. She might have fallen asleep, since the when she opened her eyes, Fairfield was shaking her rather violently in an effort to rouse her. When she affirmed her status as awake, Fairfield retreated to his seat, emanating an aura of glee comparable to a madman. He jabbed his finger on the window of the helicopter's doors. Epsilon looked out. The heli had landed. A distance away, two men, one in a white shroud, the other unadorned with any interesting feature. Both were armed. "Do you see what I see?"


"Two men comparing gun sizes." Gray remarked blearily, still shaking the effects of sleep. She broke out of the character of Epsilon a moment, yawning and stretching her arms. "What's new?"


Fairfield shook his head. "Delta," he pointed at the uninteresting one with the high calibre gun. "Zeta," he shifted the finger to the white one. Fairfield knew where this would head for Epsilon. This was just what she needed.


"Oh." Gray thought for a moment, before her features shifted to a interested smile under her helmet. Delta, one of the escaped models. Zeta, a colleague of his. Epsilon gripped her tanto. "Such a painful reunion," she said softly, her voice almost breaking into childish giggling. "Requesting permission to deviate from reprioritize objectives."


"Permission granted. This would be a nice bonus to your current job. Remember, your primary objective now is to capture. Failing that, elimination is an okay."


"Sorry to disappoint, then."


Epsilon was wide awake when she threw open the heli doors, her achings all gone. She stepped out into the open, her loyal Kiwite-001, still sheathed in one hand. The helicopter started off, rising to the sky as Epsilon started towards the two figures in the distance. The distance between her and them decreased; her ecstasy mounted.


"Project Delta." She addressed the cyborg, struggling to keep an even voice as she neared hearing proximity.

 

[Wiseman]

Delta faced down Zeta, and seconds ticked by, Delta's hands still shaking slightly as he aimed his magnums at Zeta. But there was something else as well, a sound, getting louder. It sounded like a helicopter, Delta realized belatedly, and he turned and looked up just as a massive military helicopter turned around a skyscraper and revealed itself.


The door was thrown open and an armored figure came out onto the side of the heli holding what looked to be a sword in gauntleted hands. The armor on this new figure was different, sleeker than Delta's, less bulky, but it likely wasnt as vital. Delta felt panic well up inside him as the voice that had been tell him to run began to grow louder and louder.


~Run, Run you fool, Run for your life, Run for your freedom, RUN DELTA!~


Delta snapped his arms up and aimed at the newcomer, looking around desperately for an escape route.


"Project Delta." Said a female voice from the chopper. Delta could barely hear it over the sound of the spinning chopper blades, but at the sound of her voice he felt a spike of fire enter him, and more than ever he wanted to activate his GPGs, but again he restrained himself. Instead he turned, ran for the building behind him, a business Sky Scraper, and dove through the front window, smashing through it and rolling into the building.


Once inside he spared a brief look around, he was in the ground level store, and he quickly shoved through stacks of make up and product as he made his way for the stairs. He didn't know what he was thinking, but he needed to escape Zeta and the armored newcomer, before they caught him and brought him back. He wouldn't go back!

 

[Dino]

Zeta stood his ground. Not saying anything and waited to see if Delta would be first to react. He was silent as a winters night. When Delta looked up Zeta followed his Gaze. He saw a helicopter coming in to land onto the ground, how he had not heard it he didn't understand but that wasn't important the fact he had no idea why this helicopter was landing was bothering him. The door opened and a figure walked on out of it and began walking towards Delta and Zeta. The new comer said "Project Delta" which meant that she was obviously after him as well, fantastic... more time wasted with idiots like this one. Delta had pointed his gun at them and not long later had he bolted off. "I know who you are and if you try ruin this operation you're as good as dead." Zeta warned. He looked at where Delta had ran off to and began his pursuit. It would be nice if he would actually fight Zeta this time instead of this continuous running.. "In pursuit of target, possible interference from another company using the Epslion project."


"Acknowledged reinforcements will be sent to deal with this new problem whilst you pursue the target."


Great, he was running after Delta...again. Where'd he go... He was bound to be in one of the buildings nearby and was hiding from him. Why wouldn't he just fight Zeta so he could be taken back to Ziea Inc, but no he did always have to make everything complicated. "Come on out of your hiding hole Delta, you know I'll find you eventually. You can't avoid this fight, Ziea want you back and im going to ensure they get you back, I am not one to fail and you know that." He wondered if his taunts would work on him, see if it would get him out of his rabbit hole. If not he'd just have to search for him. He just wanted this fight, he wanted this challenge everything else up until now had been too easy and dull for his liking.

 

[Wiseman]

Delta ran through offices spaces, knocking desks over and causing general chaos as he rampaged his way to the stairs, climbing higher and higher. He didn't know of Zeta was still chasing him, if he had seen him crashing through the glass of sky scraper, or if the woman who had arrived was hot on his trail. Instead he just ran and ran, pumping his legs, moving faster than most people could keep track of.


He couldn't go back, he wouldnt go back. This much he was convinced of, at least for the moment, but he also didn't want to fight Zeta, not if he could avoid it. If Zeta wanted him, he would have to catch him first! As for the woman, Delta didn't know who she was, but he had no qualms about killing her if he needed to, and still had his magnums in his hands as he ran. He turned a corner, ran to the stairs, and then stopped, pointing down the hallway with his guns, waiting to see if he was being pursued or not, his fingers steady on the triggers, ready to blow apart the first person who crossed into his field of vision. He would wait there for three minutes, then continue climbing up.

 

[DopeSoup]

Kappa left his apartment and flung the hood of his dark sweatshirt over his head to divert attention from him. He looked down at his smartphone and tried to skim read all of the constantly updating news headlines and stories in the Detroit area, until one in particular caught his attention.

Counter Government Organisations Against Megacorporations Release "Paranoid" Article

​

On Bio-Weapons And Cyborg Terrorism Theories

​

​

He looked up at the futuristic favella-esque landscape and noticed the ultramodern, beautiful districts in the far distance. Although all of this landscape fell under the category 'Detroit', Kappa couldn't help but feel the area he resided was being sucked of all it's worth economically and aesthetically. He could see the hundreds of people busily running around the streets and side streets doing their outsourced work for the rich, secure business men and women to relax and 'concentrate on the kids' etc. Many of these were blissfully unaware of what they were working to build, playing the game only to receive a buck or two.


Kappa walked down the street as if he was going in a particular direction for something when in reality he was only out to demonstrate (to himself) he could be past the anxiety from the people who hadchanged him; like a form of liberation, he thought. I am still myself.


He pulled his hood down and almost immediately a rusty, old transporter van skidded to a stop not 2 metres from his shoes. Startled, the driver appeared from the opaque, dark windows and shot a dart at him from an equally black handgun. The needle sent him back against a wall and he could feel his superhuman powers draining and a strong sedative kicking in. Two masked men in a matching army green sweat suit appeared and subdued him then threw him in the back of the van, hands and feet tied and mouth covered with duct tape.


~~~~~~~~~


It must have been hours before he woke up still in the van (he could feel the awful suspension against the potholes in the road) lying against the big cold doors. He still felt sleepy and weak and attempted to cut the rope with the shards of metal on his chain whip tied to his arm without attracting attention of his captors in the van.


"You guys could have been less rough with him," a female voice, "Who's going to want to work alongside people who have kicked them in the dick."


A hoarse laugh. "We are the only real option he has. I heard he killed one of BPC's operatives, their bound to be looking for him."


Perhaps I'm not as discrete as I thought.


"Either way I'm sure he will want to fight against thoses. With a cyborgs on our side we sure will have more of an input in the war!" the other man said. He sounded much younger than the first man.


Kappa tried his hardest to cut through the rope but in a drug-addled state his foot slipped and kicked the metal door alerting the three people.


"Well good afternoon Mr Brown, it won't be long before you are introduced to the leader of our organisation." The unusually cheery tone in his voice surprised Kappa. Or was it sarcasm? He couldn't tell. He peered up to see three people in identical green track suits staring at him like it was an exhibition. On the left side of the van the girl sat, her hair tied in a loose bun with her hand resting on a sprayed black sub-machine gun; the right side the older man sat, looking very rugged and bulky with a shaved head and stubbly face; the younger man sat opposite Kappa in the middle of the two and he looked like a scrawnier version of the other man.


Kappa sat up trying not to draw attention to the (badly) frayed rope tied to his wrists, smiling awkwardly and non-confrontingly at the team.

 

[Ineffectivd]

Epsilon watched as Delta leapt through the glass behind him. Almost lazily, she raised her arm as if to shield herself from the shattering glass. She turned to offer a quip of some sort to Zeta, but the chance gave itself up before she could make one smartass comment. Zeta offered a single threat which shot right past her head. The rule of thumb for Epsilon was to not negotiate with terrorists, whereby the definition of 'terrorists' was, as far as Oxford was concerned, 'one who employs terror as a weapon'. Threatening did seem like terrorising.


"Possible interference from another company using project Epsilon." Zeta uttered through his comms device, just loud enough for Epsilon to catch it.


"Wait, what? Hey! Now that's just-" Gray started to protest on the unfairness of it all, but her words had the same effect on Zeta as his threat had on her. The other cyborg dived straight into the building after Delta just as the words exited her mouth, so swiftly that she highly doubted her argument had reached his ears. Gray stomped her feet in annoyance and twirled her tanto rapidly in one hand, to the point it was almost a blur, before stepping through the threshold that both men had entered through without a sense of preservation, observing the scene. A store. Signs of wreckage led her in a rather obvious trail where her secondary quarry had run off to. A clear cut path to tail after. There didn't seem to be any rush. Both of them might end up clashing again anyway. Lots of time to spare. Still twirling her sword, she gingerly stepped over the fallen displays and scattered make-up products and slowly made her way to the stairs. According to the metal plate beside the stairs, it would seem that this set of stairs would lead to the offices.


The telltale chatter of helicopter blades made Epsilon turn slightly, but did not halt her progress to the stairs. Her twirling stopped, her hand expertly catching the sheathe as it passed her palm. That did not sound like the lighter Bartre-6 that brought her here. An armed escort, perhaps? Maybe a military chopper. Was it Zeta's reinforcements? No matter. They would have to wait. Epsilon's dance card was fully booked as for now. Without a second glance behind her back, she made her way up the stairs, trailing slowly behind Delta, and, most likely, Zeta as well.

 

[Beta]

Beta didn't have any major chores or duties to finish today, and so chose to call it an early night. But that would be a mistake. As darkness fell over the quiet neighborhood in Detroit's South End, a group of trained men descended on the house where the cyborg chose to reside. The men broke into the house quietly enough not to wake Beta, as they simply opened the door. It wasn't locked. Next, the group chose to sneak up the stairs. Again, Beta failed to wake up. But then the men made a mistake... they chose to execute Beta's new family with silenced firearms. Not long after moving in, Beta had given each of his new family members a gift ( without their knowledge ). He had went and bought a set of vital-tracking chips, and synced them with his basic sensor suite. Upon the cessation of their heartbeats, Beta received a signal in his processors.


He obviously knew what was going on at this point. He felt bad about using his family like that, as it wasn't his intent when he gave them the vital-trackers. But regardless, they had at least let him know what was going on. The cyborg chose to remain motionless for the time being. He still had the element of surprise. They would likely assume he was still sleeping. He was right. "There he is." said one man. "Doesn't look like much. You sure we didn't just kill the wrong family?" said another. A third chimed in with "This is the place, Lars. Intel was spot on. Bag him and let's get him to the Consortium for processing and conversion."


Conversion?! They weren't here to take him back... they thought he was just a normal person! And they were here to take him back to the Black Phoenix Consortium so they could make him into what he already was! That was not going to fly. Beta remained still up until one of the men tried to put a bag over his head. That was when Beta grabbed the man's arm and slammed his palm into the elbow, hyper-extending it, then outright breaking it. The scream of pain bought the cyborg a few valuable seconds, and he grabbed the soldier's good arm, twisted it behind his back, and stood behind him while facing the rest of the squad. The man was still crying out in agony as he was held by the physically superior cyborg.


"Whoa, kid. Let Lars go or we'll be forced to shoot. We're just here to take you to the Black Phoenix Consortium. They just want to make you even better than you already are. They've heard how much you do to help people and they want to help YOU." said the man who seemed to be in charge. Beta responded by raising one hand in a "one second" sort of way. "You blow at lying, man. I know what they do to people. If you or the low-level executives did your homework, you'd know how I know..." Beta stretched his fingers apart, his arm still level with the man's chest. A small ball of light emerged from Beta's palm as the soldiers all reached for their radios. "We got a Cyb..." the ball of light expanded rapidly and rushed outward to envelop the strike team in a maelstrom of superheated energy, ending their lives.


That left the injured Lars, whom Beta had been using as a shield. He was whimpering in pain and fear, and the crotch of his uniform was warm and wet. "Lars, was it? Do me a favor. Go get your arm fixed, go back to the Consortium, tell them to leave me the fuck alone. I haven't bothered them, I don't want them to bother me. If they come for me again, I will rain down shit so hard on their heads that they'll wish they'd never become one of the megacorps in the first place. Understand?" The man whimpered more and nodded slowly. "That's a good lapdog. Now run along." said Beta as he released the man.


The man ran away as fast as he could, leaving Beta in his room and staring at a two yard wide area of blasted-out house. No doubt the police would be here shortly. Taking this to mind, Beta reluctantly took the wallet of his adopted father and rummaged through the purse of his adopted mother. He retrieved a few credit cards, a pair of debit cards, and 325 CCs. CCs, or "Corporate Credits", were the new world currency accepted nearly anywhere. Dollars were still around, but had dropped considerably in value. In any case, what he was taking from his family would help him at least stay off the radar for a short time.


And so it was that Beta ran out into the night and once again would try to start over.

 

[DopeSoup]

"Where are you taking me?" Kappa yawned. "Who are you people?"


"We are part of the resistance! We are Against Corporative Terrorism Schemes, or ACTS!" the young man declared enthusiastically. "It's so great to actually meet a real cyborg, you don't seem as violent as I would have imagined. I'm Dom Offland *cough*, I mean my name is Divisi, it sure is a pleasure to meet you Mr Brown, or do you prefer Kap-"


"Mr Brown is fine," he cut him off.


"Right, right. That's Bananski and Bullock," he said gesturing the woman and man respectively. The two kept their eyes locked on him, Bananski showing strong anticipation and Bullock glaring at him reprehensibly.


"I think you guys have the wrong idea, I have no intention of the getting in the way of the Consortium, or any corporation for that matter."


"Well you should have said sooner! We're here now!" Bullock announced boldly and sarcastically as the vehicle stopped to a halt.


"Get out of the damn van," growled the driver. The three briskly dragged Kappa out of the back with his rope leash. The sky was dark and the air was crisp. He must have been unconscious for more than four hours. They had ended up at a decrepit service station in a very remote area. Rushing outside from the convenience store was a grizzly looking old man wearing a trucker hat and the same uniform. He approached them slowly and awkwardly, trying to conceal the handgun behind his back.


The driver, whose hair was dark and parted neatly, lead the four of them. Bullock walked behind as Bananski and Divisi hauled Kappa into the empty store and through to the backroom. He started to shake and fidget and struggled out of their surprisingly rigid grip. He swung to his left and, while missing Bananski, smashed Bullock in the jar, leaving his chin bloody from the spikes wrapped to Kappa's knuckles and he fell onto one of the shelves numb.


He threw Divisi at the driver and the old man, knocking them of their balance, and sprinted for the entrance of the shop. The driver swore and shot at Kappa with a stun gun, piercing his hip. Unaffected, Kappa grabbed the wire and unleashed a surge of super hot energy which ran down to the gun and exploded in the driver's face.


He turned at ran away from the group of people cursing, as he heard Bananski shout desperately, "But what about the cause!"


He jumped at the van, smashing the window with ease and unlocked the door so he could get in. Frustratedly trying to hot wire the vehicle hastily, the engine croaked then let out a puff of sooty smoke and Kappa let out a disappointed groan. "Where were you going to go, son?" the old man said. "Detroit's more than a day's walk from here."


"Well I guess I'm stranded with you people then, huh."

 

[Dino]

Zeta continued to follow Delta into the building had ran into. It wasn't long before he heard Epslion behind him about it not being fair or something like that. He continued till he got to the building stairs and heard chopper blades behind him. "The chopper ours?" He asked through his comms. " Yes, that is our chopper. If you have any more interference just say so and the chopper will deal with it." He continued up the stairs now pulling out his gun from his shoulder holster. He turned a corner and there was Delta pointing a gun right at him. Zeta's own gun was now aiming at Delta's head if he chose to fire upon Zeta.


"Delta put down the gun and come back quietly, We don't need to make a big fuss and there is no need for me to shoot you and drag you back with my hands. You know you don't have the guts to shoot me and even if you did, my bullet would still hit you before I die." He continued aiming his gun at Delta waiting for his response, if he ran this time Zeta would have to shoot him in the or try to that way he could just drag him back to the van waiting to transport him back to headquarters. He would do the same thing if he fired upon him. Zeta doubted he would give himself up, but he was suggesting he did just to see whether or not he would.

 

[Wiseman]

Zeta turned the corner, saw Delta, and got as far saying, "Delta put-" before Delta opened fire with both of his weapons at once, shooting four shots, two from each gun. The shots were well aimed, Delta was crouching down on one knee and had been anticipating the attack fro nearly two minutes before Zeta turned the corner. The shots he fired were high impact shots, which meant a regular human being hit by one would likely be thrown off their feet. Delta didn't know if they would be enough to knock over Zeta if the cyborg didn't dodge, but he knew they had a lot of stopping power.


Delta's head suddenly cocked back a little as Zeta shot him right between the eyes, the 9mm round colliding with his helmet and doing virtually nothing. The silenced pistol was normally good for putting enemies down silently, but it was not an assault weapon, which is what one would need if they were going to try to stop Delta, after all, out of the two of them, Delta was the one who was built for direct confrontation.


Delta would follow up his shots by hoping to his feet and charging straight at Zeta. If Zeta had managed to somehow dodge the shots by jumping back around the corner, Delta would bulldoze straight through the corner with his prodigious strength and tackle the other cyborg through the wall. If the shots had managed to hit, Delta would simply tackle him straight into the wall from where he was.


"I wont go back!" Delta cried as he attacked.

 

[ninbinz]

Iota stood upon a raised pedestal, its features identical to pillars found in the ancient ruins of Rome. Opposite him on an identical pedestal stood Matrim Causs the man before the cyborg, diagonal to them both stood yet another person identical in every way and yet different. To Iota the man looked like he had a purpose, the surety in his eyes, the tight set of his jaw and his obvious confidence in having an objective made it all so obvious. Iota wanted a purpose, this useless idling he was forced into was not right. Matrim on the other hand saw happiness, despite the cuts and bruises that marred his face the doppelganger was happy and. Since his change Mat hadn't felt happy for such a long time, all he had felt since Iota took over was a cold anger and a deep sadness that seemed to swallow him whole.


Mat woke to a deep rapid thumping, it sounded like the air was being thumped continuously. Realisation dawned slowly on him and panic ripped through his mind. Immediately he rolled from his bed and reached for his weapons, the black galvanised Katana and then for his coil pistol sitting on the drawer at the far end of the small room. Panicked he opened a hatch in the back wall of his home and crawled through, it was small and he was hampered by his weapons pack but he moved fast enough to avoid being blinded by a flash bomb thrown into the room behind him followed by a column of men in combat armor.


Out in the sun Iota stood up and headed to wards the nearest gate, despite his alter ego's fears Iota did not want to get caught, he found that his former life as a corporate lapdog was beneath him and tediously boring to boot not that hiding away was any less boring but it was preferable to servitude. The cyborg wove between heaps of scrap metal avoiding the small groups of soldiers searching the area for him. Despite his best efforts to escape quietly however his progress was waylaid by the appearance of a white lab coat wearing bespectacled man stopped him in his tracks.


Matt bent over and fell to the ground as his head pounded at the sight of this man, his vision swam and visions flashed into his mind.....


.....Bodies lay bleeding up and down the street, their crimson blood raced from their wounds to congeal on the asphalt. His hands were clammy and sweat dripped from his forehead to land in his eyes. Horrified he looked at the blade in his hand and noticed the dripping red liquid......


A deep calming voice pulled him from his dark reverie "Iota.....please..... would you like to end the dreams?" His eyes snapped open and he stared pointedly at the white clad man "And you could do that? Stop the dreams i mean and the pain?" Iota tried to rise but was unable, the black restraints tied him firmly to a stretcher, the heavy thumping of the helicopter blades came into focus and he noticed his weapons being held by a soldier who eyed them greedily. He squinted suspiciously at the man wearing the coat. All his instincts screamed at him and he knew that escape was the only option he could consider.

 

[Kagura]

“Secure your partner.”


The order was simple, but Gamma remembered their reluctance to let her go on this job. As if they were questioning where her true loyalties lied…she had run enough backhanded deals with them they should instead question the person next to them. Then again, it was any wonder that the company hadn’t already collapsed on itself, too paranoid to function. That was the reason she was with the company though, her and Epsilon and formerly Iota…


The remembrance of her partner in question made her jaw set, observing her surroundings at the back of the pack. Many soldiers careened in front, searching for the model that escaped Shinju-Kai and for the cyborg she now called a traitor. For so many years they had served besides each other, under the company, except he turned his back on them.


Kira’s memories flash to the surface, of their hands intertwined, of their affectionate behavior before Gamma’s psyche is quick to take over. The image of the last person she killed is brought to the surface and finally her eyes find Iota in the distance. A scientist stands in front of him while a helicopter is landing to secure him, but she makes her way over anyway.


Originally, they had planned to send Epsilon; a decision she found to be offensive…they didn’t trust her with the temptation. Temptation meant nothing to her when she was already dedicated under Shinju-Kai… but she had to prove it to them. Lucky that Epsilon was in high demand; the members of the board were forced to consider her offering. Now here she was, Iota all but secure in less than fifteen minutes…like Epsilon could really do any better.


As she got closer, her hands glowed with a semi-translucent lavender energy, forming a bundle in her hand. The bundle then split, the large point of a simple katana forming before the energy seemed to stop moving. It wouldn’t stay that way for long; as Kira’s thoughts once again surface in Gamma’s mind, and the energy starts going erratic.


This time it’s a clear image of her and Iota, curled up around each other on a couch and sleeping rather cozily next to each other.


As Gamma forces this image down, the energy sword stiffens and she pauses for a moment, waving the helicopter to land. She wasn’t sure where that image had come from, as she couldn’t remember her and her partner ever getting within touching distance. Let alone…a frown marred her features as she ruffled her hair a bit, eying the man crouching once again. The girl doesn’t really trust her voice, but she speaks anyways, “Iota” she doesn’t say anything more.


All that’s on her mind is the fact that he can so easily turn away from these people, why he would leave them. No reason came to mind as to why not, but…it just made her sick that he could be so…fickle. Gamma was never one to go back on her word, and when she agreed to her order, she gave them her word.

 

[Legendless]

Nu sat atop the main building of the company that owned them. They had just been on a mission and where to suppose to be on "rest and recovery". Nu spent most of that time improving themselves. They weren't the best cyborg around. Those who hadn't defunct and left, Nu wasn't sure where they stood. Not that they paid too much attention. Most of the words from the humans were white noise. Unless they were orders, Nu did not care too much about unnecessary information.


Nu looked down from where they sat. If they fell, they would not make it. Nu wondered if it was possible to be upgrades to include something to prevent that. Not that they had encountered many situations that required floating, hovering or flying. But it might make Nu a better weapon.


A weapon.


Yes that was how Nu viewed themselves now. Stripped of everything human, some of it their own doing as well. Nu could feel the small trickle in the back of their mind. They could see the smile of a young girl with long black hair running towards what had to be their maternal figure. The woman smiled down at her, but there was something sad about her as well. Like she had done something she was regretting. But she welcomed the smaller girl into her arms.


Nu had pushed and blocked the memories of Tara Lincoln. Whoever this girl was, Nu was no longer her. Nu was a weapon and a tool now. And they had accepted that fate.


<<Nu. This is Tai. If you aren't busy I want to have a look at you.>>


Nu closed their eyes at the voice. Tai was their "mechanic/doctor" as he put it. He made sure that he was Nu was always in working condition and on top of their game. Nu was a valuable asset after all. Nu replied back, affirming that they would be on their way. They stood and started walking back towards the door to descend the building.

 

[Wiseman]

Dino


As Zeta turned the corner 4 bullets were fired at him, He fired back, noticing his shot did nothing he didn't have time to dodge the one bullet on target, It flew into his right arm and knocked him slight off balance. It wasn't long before Delta charged at him full speed. He yelled at the top of his lungs that he wouldn't go back before barging into Zeta. He was barely moved at the mans touch, slight pushed backwards but there was no falling Zeta had recovered his position and put away his gun raising his fists. He contemplated charging his glove or not, but decided not to and taunted Delta with his hand. "You're out of places to hide Delta, Even if you do beat me there's a helicopter outside that can rip you to shreds if you run and don't comply" Zeta now ran back at Delta and threw a kick towards Delta's chest and if that struck home he would throw a punch at his side. Finally he was getting the challenge he needed.


Wise

Delta met the kick with a combination of super strength and endurance, standing tall and thrusting his chest out just as Zeta Kicked, matching their respective strengths against each other. In all likelihood, Zeta would be staggered as he kicked the unyielding bullet proof plates of Delta's armor, and Delta would charge in, throwing five wild, super speed punches at Zeta.



"Don't make me kill you! I wont go back, I cant!" Delta roared as he attacked, the force of his blows easily enough to throw a regular human several yards backwards, and the armor around his fist made the blows akin to sledge hammers. If, despite his speed, he could not strike Zeta, he would instead smash the ground with both fists, shattering the floor.







Ineffect

Gray hurried up the stairs after the fleeting figure of Zeta. At least, she thought it was Zeta anyway. Her mind wasn't quite stable as of late, and with the addition of the nightmares, she didn't know what was to be trusted. Why the sudden need of a rush anyway? She had all the time in the world, why bother?

In any case, the mercenary took the stairs two steps at a time, and it was before long that she, too, rounded the corner that Zeta had just done so a moment ago, unbeknownst to her. As she did so, however, she was greeted by the crack of gunfire, and further welcomed by three bullets hammering into her chest, knocking the wind out of her lungs from the blow. Her lips twisting into a sneer under the helmet, she recovered from the impact and sprang forwards into the fray that was Zeta and Delta, one hand already on the hilt of her sword, ready for the draw.



"

I won't go back! I can't!"

Delta exclaimed.



"Then I guess I would have to make you comply." Gray growled as she neared her target, who unleashed a storm of punches at Zeta. Ignoring the latter completely, she deftly stepped to one side of Delta and unsheathed her blade in one slashing movement at Delta.







Dino

Delta was hardly affected by Zeta's punches and he began to send his own flurry towards him, it wasn't long before Epslion came up and ran past Zeta at Delta. It seemed Epslion wanted Delta for herself, Zeta wouldn't let that happen. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her round, He then began to throw a few punches towards her and if that failed he would attempt to use his hidden blade to stab through her stomach or atleast try it and if that failed he'd have to try think something else up before any real damage came upon him. (Sorry not that great at making fight posts long

:S )







Wise

Delta felt his frustration and desperation mounting as his iron clad blows whistled through the empty air. Zeta had always been the most mobile of the two of them, and while Delta's artificial super strength and endurance combined with his bullet proof armor made him mostly immune to Zeta's blows, he failed to land any.



Then suddenly, someone else arrived, the woman from before. Delta began to turn towards her as Zeta backed away, but was not fast enough to anticipate her blade, which came sliding out of its sheath in a horizontal cut. The blow partially landed, and the blade began to bite into the metal plates of Delta's armor, eliciting sparks and a loud screech from the metal and electronics beneath.



But the blow only partially landed. In ignoring Zeta and going straight for Delta, Epsilon had left herself open to interference from the other cyborg, and was either seized and spun around, or moved and evaded Zeta's hand. Either way, the blow failed to penetrate, and as Zeta began to throw his punches at the new come, Delta clasped both his hands together, raised his arms high, jacked his super strength to 100% and smashed the floor.



The shock wave alone would be impressive, and the floor would begin to collapse down into the floor beneath. Delta's body ached from the sudden strain of a 100%, but he had exerted himself harshly before. If the other cyborgs were caught in the shock wave and blown away or somehow managed to jump away and dodge, then they would not fall through the hole he had created, and thus he would be able to escape to one floor below theirs and leave them too their fighting.



There was still the chance that they would follow, or even fall through the floor with him, they were certainly close enough now, but in that event Delta planned to only get more and more...desperate, until he shook them off. His GPGs begged to be used, but he restrained himself still, knowing that people could still be near by. But soon they would surely be evacuated wouldn't they? And after they were, then he would feel no guilt in activating his unique, destructive power.







Ineffect

For all the ability that Epsilon had, she did not see that coming. The generated shockwave knocked Epsilon flying backwards into a cubicle, sending her crashing through the entire thing with a single cry of anguish. Bruised, but still functioning, Epsilon smashed her fist against a broken table beside her, breaking it further. She sprang to her feet and was about to give chase, until her eapiece came alive with Fairfield's voice.



"Epsilon, withdraw immediately. Our target has been identified. Turns out it's Project Beta."



"Beta..." Epsilon muttered under her breath. This conflict would need to wait. "Where's your position now?"



"Deployment area."



"Right. What the hell am I going to do with those guys Zeta called for?" Gray looked out of the window to see Bartre-6 hovering just out of firing range outside as Zeia reinforcements stormed the front.



"Cut through them. What do you think we pay you for?"



"Alright," Gray sighed in affirmation. "Withdrawing now." Epsilon took one last glance towards the hole, and made a mental note to kick Delta in the rump one day, before leaving the site.



-WITHDRAWAL-







Wise

Delta slowly picked himself up, groaning as he lifted up a large chunk of the floor off his chest. It took him time to get free of all the rubble, but when he did, he saw that no one else was around, and his ploy had seemingly worked. Suddenly, the sound of a spinning barrel filled his ears, and he turned towards the windows in time to see one of the attack choppers preparing to open fire.



Delta looked around, saw no one, and ran for the stairs just as the chopper opened fire, he ran and dodged with super human ability and skill, dodging the stream of bullets. He reached the stairs and began to run down them, trying to escape the building before the chopper could slice him in half with its heavy caliber fire.



-Withdrawal-









Dino

Zeta fell through the floor as Delta smashed the ground with his fists. He fell hard on his back. His back ached a little and he only just managed to get to his feet, but by the time he had there was no sign of Delta. But he could hear Chopper fire, He'd leave it to them now he knew he'd failed his part of the mission.

"This Is Zeta, I've lost project Delta..."

He radioed in



-Withdrawal-

 

[ninbinz]

The trip itself was uneventful, Iota couldn't get anywhere even if he did escape he didn't know how to operate the blasted machine anyway, something he'd have to rectify at a later date. If Mat were in control he'd be panicked and crying right now but for the moment he was blissfully ignorant of what was happening. The trip was relatively silent, Iota knew where he was going and dreaded that fate more and more every mile they passed. Suddenly a quick burst of unheard chatter between his captors signaled their imminent arrival.


Now was not yet the time, he couldn't run yet, if he broke out right then and there he'd be a sitting duck and if they suspected he could escape all of his chances would go down the whole so he did what he thought was best relinquished momentary control to Matt who would be too panicked for them to take seriously.


Matt opened his eyes groggily and moaned, his throat was parched and the last memory he had was of a man in a white lab coat. Suddenly it dawned on him, they were here for him, again. He began to panic slightly when his environment came into focus. "Where are you taking me?" He asked his voice beginning to quaver with fear, "What are you going to do to me !?!?!?" He demanded of his captors but they paid him little mind. Matt was not getting any calmer and he began to struggle outright "Let me go!!! Let-ME-GO!!" He yelled, his throat was sore with the effort but he continued to yell until finally the helicopter came to rest with a sudden and final jolt.


Carefully they moved him from the helicopter, Matt of course did everything in his power to hamper their progress. One of the men stepped forward and landed a punch against Matt's face. The man yelled in furious pain, his hand was red and limp, the other soldiers could not help but laugh at their comrade's stupidity. "He's a Cyborg! You dope, get yourself to the infirmary now!!" Their commanding officer ordered the apparently inexperienced soldier, his face barely restraining the laughter in his eyes.


In the distance Matt caught sight of a slender figure, pain lanced his head for a moment and a name was seared into his mind. "Kira...." He whispered to himself and tears poured down his face as he realised they had caught her too. He shook his head sadly "You monsters!!" He accused the men catching them off guard. "I was supposed to propose to that woman but now you've changed her!!" Full of despair he wept and the nearest soldiers edged away, Mat's senses picked up on a particularly hushed conversation:


"Did you hear him Trent? He called 'us' monsters, as if he were human."


"Shut up Cory! You don't know what you're talking about, he's a Cyborg not an Android!!"


"What's the difference?"


"Look! Androids are Robots who look human, Cyborgs are human's with Cyborg parts!"


"So you mean the rumors are true? That the company actually stole people right outta their homes?"


"Shut up!! If 'he' hears you, we'll both be dead by tomorrow!!"


Mat shook his head, Iota was proof enough of what they said but he couldn't believe they got Kira too. The thought of her sent his mind reeling and memories flooded through his head:


They lay on the checkered blanket, he held her close with an outstretched hand wrapped around her waist, she giggled while he failed to feed her while lying down. Eventually he gave up after a near miss with a falling glass of wine, instead he pulled her closer to him and they slept under the cool shadow of a tree while a warm spring breeze brought the smell of honeysuckles on the air.


It felt like a lifetime ago and for all intents and purposes it was Mat was silent now as they rolled him closer and closer to her. This time he saw her with Iota's cold and calculating eyes, he looked her up and down and smiled, she was just the same as when they were partners.


Alaska was like hell had frozen over and the freedom fighters didn't make his job any easier and he still had a couple feet of metal left weld and bolt down. He shook his head and laughed coldly, for her this would be like a walk in the park but she didn't have to climb this horribly built structure and then try to build up enough internal heat to use a high temperature welder on his wrist. He looked down to monitor her for a moment. Gamma stood behind a snow drift, her hands lit up by her ability, it looked as though she were using him for bait while she had her fun and took them down one by one.


Finally they drew up to her and no matter how much he looked, Matt couldn't find anything of Kira left in that cold face except for perhaps the way she stood but couldn't be sure of anything.


"Kira, don't let them take me back, please."


"Kira....."