Post by Doctor Kouda on Mar 26, 2015 6:05:43 GMT
Kouda Zeddar had been staring out the window for significant amount of time now, his peers had noticed. With his hands resting behind his back, he quietly contemplated in front of the window that revealed the unfathomable expanse of space.
"Pray that you are not dawdling when I turn around," Kouda hissed, noticing that the other Ee's scientists were watching him. After registering his words, they immediately returned to intensive handling of the research monitors.
An orange Litt quickly walked over to the stiffened Kouda and gently placed a claw on his shoulder.
"Kouda, what is it? You're usually more patient with them," the orange Litt quietly spoke into his ear.
Kouda's jaw tightened and turned his head away.
"I know it's not the batch output," the orange litt quickly glanced over at the other reptilian scientists pounding away at their consoles, "production has exponentially increased-"
"Another distributor was caught today, Gream" Kouda snapped, "soon distribution of our transformation serum will completely cease!" The final words were punctuated with his fist slamming against the window.
The room fell quiet. "This can't happen again. Should they trace it back to our lab..."
Gream swiftly placed his hands around Kouda's face, "It's going to be alright"
"Even now the serum..." Kouda raised his claw and clenched it into a fist, "it's result are varying. Reports are showing that half of the subjects are failing to successfully transform. We could run more tests, perhaps add a gradual dosage..."
"I have your solution" Gream smiled, holding up his palm. Ki began resonating from the claw and a large purple data chip with an orange circle at the center materialized from the Ki.
"Your data chip" Kouda murmured, starting intently at the floating chip. "what of it?"
Gream poked the center circle of the chip which sent out a small hologram schematic of a humanoid android.
"Bah!" Kouta exclaimed disgruntled, crossing his arms, "you and your androids...how is this going to help us?"
Without saying a word, Gream poked out the hologram schematic, bringing out another hologram. This time it was a hologram of multiple DNA strands.
Kouda's eyes widened as he examined it further. "An enhanced Litt genome...mapped and harvested in this android shell...this could-"
"Yes, it could solve our problem. With it, we can map the serum to become compatible to every possible Ee's and Litt"
Kouda wrapped his arms around Gream and pulled him tightly. He placed his forehead to Gream's and smiled. "Gream...this is hope, right here. You don't know what you've done for our race...for me..."
Gream placed their hands together and ki began glowing between their palms. Kouda could feel that the data chip was being transferred to his aura.
"But it can be so much more, Kouda. Think beyond the serums. This android could do so much more. People will look to see a hero in it. A hero we need. The potential in it is unlimited-"
"But first we need the others to see the potential in ourselves, in our numbers. The will of one-"
"-should never be underestimated", Gream interrupted, "you proved that to me"
Kouda stared intensely back at Gream's adamant expression. "We'll discuss this later. Right now we have work to do"
As Kouda was walking back towards his console, an alert notification sprung up on his panel.
MULTIPLE PERSONS PASSING THROUGH HALL B
"A guard patrol? Now?" Kouda's mind frantically raced.
"Code red, everyone. Upload your work immediately to the hard-"
The doors of the laboratory exploded, causing clouds of smoke to billow into the room along with multiple guards armed with wrist blasters.
Kouda turned to look at Gream who had an expression of agony on his face as he spoke the only words that cut through the deafening chaos in the room. "Kouda, remember. Remember the schematic."
From the group of armed guards, their captain emerged. An arcosian named Crigid that Kouda was quite familiar with. She was in charge with maintaining the security of the facility, which also meant overseeing that the Ee's and Litt scientists weren't stepping out of line.
"Crigid! What is the meaning of this!" Kouda barked furiously.
"Oh don't act naive, Kouda, I have better things to do than watch a lizard lie to my face", Crigid sneered, "let me guess, you're gonna try and persuade me that you and your sorry friends were working on the new healing tank design like we asked you to? Tsk, tsk. And to think we gave you so much privilege, so much mercy. Don't bother lying, you old fool, one of your colleagues confessed to us everything. This is where all that damn serum is coming from."
Kouda took a step back and clenched his fists. His body shook with fury as he stared at the floor. He would not want to see who would answer his next question.
"Who?" Kouda hissed through his teeth, "who was it?"
Gream stepped forward. "Kouda, after the last trade route, they had narrowed a couple of suspects. It would only be a matter of time until they found us and I told them what they wanted. THEY SWORE THEY WOULDN'T KILL YOU IF I CONFESSED. I CONFESSED THAT THE SERUM WAS MY IDEA! NOT YOURS! THEY WON'T KILL ME. YOU AND THE OTHERS WILL BE SENTENCED TO THE CELLS FOR YEARS BUT THEY WON'T KILL YOU. I DID THIS FOR YOU. PLEASE. LISTEN. I LOVE YOU-"
"LIAR!!!" Kouda shouted across the room as the guards began arrested those nearest to the door including Gream.
"OVERRIDE THE AUTO SENTRIES!!" Kouda commanded at the Litts on his side of the room.
"KOUDA, DON'T!" Gream cried. The litts hesitated, desperately wondering what they should do.
"DO IT DAMMIT" Kouda repeated. This time the litts punched the buttons causing turrets to descend from the ceiling. Their lasers pointing at the guards. Gream’s cries where drowned out by the volley of gunfire that tore through Kouda.
"KILL THEM ALL" Crigid screamed enraged, commanding her guards to shoot at Kouda and the scientists that had followed his order. Violent waves of gunfire traded across the room from both sides as screams of pain and the scent of burning flesh filled the room.
"TAKE THE PRISONERS TO THE REHAB CENTER" Crigid ordered to her guards as they began carrying away the detained scientists including Gream.
Kouda knew that the rehab center would ensure a fate far worse than death. A torturous process that no living being should ever experience. He would not allow this.
Gream peered down at his chest to see that a black ki blast tore through his back and out in front of him. Kouda watched as Gream slumped lifelessly from the ki shot that Kouda had fired from his own mouth. “GREAM!” Kouda shrieked as he watched the guards drop Gream’s corpse to the floor.
The other scientists began tossing several vials of various poisonous solutions to the floor, erupting a murky, hazardous fog from the floor. As Kouda’s senses returned to him, he knew then what had to be done. Gunfire continued to exchange as Kouda ran for his control panel at the end of the room. Bullets riddled through his crimson lab coat as he pounded away at the keyboard.
EMERGENCY TELEPORTATION READY IN 10 SECONDS, read across Kouda's monitor.
Kouda began pulling whichever injured Litt was left alive in the room. Amidst the explosions and bloodshed, Kouda cauterized their wounds and severed limbs with a controlled Ki surge. "NONE OF YOU DIE ON ME!" He turned to a blue litt who was a missing his left arm. "I NEED YOU" Kouda stammered as he scorched the sopping flesh.
TELEPORTING
Kouda and the rest of his bleeding comrades materialized into the eerie silence of his personal space shuttle, the Golden Fox. He crawled to the cockpit, with his hand pressed against a wound on the side of his neck. He couldn't tell how much blood he had loss in the past minutes but he couldn't afford to check his injuries knowing that Crigid and his guards would rush into the space station's hangar at any moment.
"AUTO PILOT, SET DESTINATION TO EARTH. ACTIVATE STEALTH PROCEDURE" Kouda commanded the ship's AI.
"ALERT. EMERGENCY PROTOCOL HAS LOCKED HANGAR 018B's BLAST DOORS"
Kouda growled furiously, his teeth beginning to shatter against one another. Red electricity began arcing around him. He had come so far. He had lost so much. Nothing could stand in his way now.
"KI ECLIPSE!" Kouda screamed causing the hangar door to implode into a black and red orb that had appeared on it.
Without delay, the Golden Fox engines fired at full capacity and the shuttle shot out of the hangar at a blinding speed until the ship was but a faraway streak.
Kouda stared out the window of his cockpit, watching the cosmos pass him until they became streaks in expanding darkness.
-------------------------------
Where am I?
"I NEED YOU!"
"GREAM!"
"KILL THEM ALL"
"LIAR!"
"This is hope"
"Not another one of your androids"
"We can map the serum"
"It's going to be alright"
"Kouda, what is it?"
"Kouda"
"Kouda"
"Kouda"
-----------------------------------------------------
The Litt scientists panicked as the ratings on their monitors escalated rapidly. The healing tank that encapsulated the unconscious Kouda began to tremble as black electricity danced around his body.
"Shut down all power sources now!" a blue litt with a metal arm yelled at his peers.
"No, it's too late! Everybody evacuate!" a fellow red litt shouted back as they began to pour out of the makeshift laboratory.
A green claw shot through the glass of the healing tank. The ferocity of the strike ceased as the sole claw calmly unfurled its fingers to feel the air pass through.
The shattering crash of glass upon the hideout's floor caused the scientists to return to the room to investigate. Kneeling on one knee with a fist planted to the sand was a panting Kouda. At first, it appeared as if he had trouble breathing. But it appeared as if he was gathering lungs in his chest. A deep, monstrous noise escaped his mouth. It rose as if it were bubbling like lava, sparks of laughter sporadically leaped from his mouth like embers until he erupted into a maniacal bolero of howling. He fell on his back all the while cackling.
When Kouda awoke the next day, he found himself atop a poorly made bed. A blue litt with a robotic arm had been sitting in front of him to make contact with his eyes.
"Kouda, I need you to listen to me. Take it slow. Breathe easy"
Kouda sat up and felt an excruciating pain stabbing all of his body. He twisted in pain while the blue litt rushed to him.
"What's wrong with me!?" Kouda yelled, clutching his face. A horror had begun to dawn on him.
Before the blue litt named Zanfero could speak, Kouda tugged the litt closer to him.
"You sustained several injuries all over your body, including your head. It will take time to heal. Even now are supplies are dwindling. The rest of the crew were critically injured when we landed. Some of us died during the trip. Others died when we crashed."
Kouda seemed unphased by Zanfero's words.
"Gream..."
"Gream is dead."
Kouda stared at the sheets as he felt himself sinking downwards into an endless abyss.
"Gream is dead" Zanfero repeated once more.
"The crew needs you now. More than ever."
Kouda snarled in anger at his words. He attempted to spring forth to strangle Zanfero but the pain incapacitated back on to the bed. bed.
Hours later, he emerged from the tent limping. The scientists walking by the tent were startled and rushed over to him to either give him support or return him to his tent. He raised his hand to stop them.
"How are you recovering, Jepper? Brack?" Kouda inquired as he took in the scenery around him in awe.
When the two litts finally found their tongues they informed him that they were recovering well. Kouda nodded and continued his slow gait through the camp. The peaks of colossal sand dunes towered around their camp. At the center of their ring of shanty huts and tattered tents, was the Golden Fox. His trusty ship seemed to have made it the whole way...well at least half of it made it. It appeared as if the thrusters had completely melted away half of the ship. The front half was all that was left. Like a tired heart, thick power cables ran to and from the ship to the surrounding shelters, no doubt to power the electronics they contained.
As he pushed against the tough gusts of desert gales, the rest of the camp watched him. They stopped what they were doing to see Kouda walking again. On all fours now, he began climbing up a steep dune which led to a cliff. The cliff looked over a large rift where sand cascaded down into its depths. He could toss himself off here, he thought. Staring outward at the sky above him, he remembered that his people continued to suffer. That his enemies continued to dominate. That out there he was whole and down where he was, a broken shell was what remained. He felt ki begin to course through his hand. As he felt the ki form, he tightened his claw.
"Gream, if you can hear me...wait for me."
"I still have work to do."
When Kouda finally made his way back down the dune and into his broken ship, he placed a claw on a wall for a support. He couldn't stop now. He made his way to his private lab, that was hidden under the life support chamber. His fingers danced across a keypad and the door booped as it granted him access. Once inside, the backup lights' activation were delayed so Kouda was following his warm breath through the darkness of his cold lab. As the lights came on, one by one, behind him, rows of empty specimen tanks revealed themselves from the shadows. Kouda placed his hand on the center console as data was being transferred. Monitors began booting up, displaying multiple genetic files. Kouda lurched to his chair and went to work.
It had been weeks since Kouda entered his torn ship. Zanfero and the other Litts and Ee's would beckon him to allow them to help in his laboratory but he continuously refused. They left him food rations at his door but he rarely ate them. Until one day, when a Litt approached his door to leave another bag of rations for him, the door slid open with Kouda standing at its threshold like a ghost.
"Come. Bring the others."
The other survivors poured into the laboratory careful to not touch Kouda's delicate materials around the lab such as various test tubes, scattered notes, and bloody surgical tools. They murmured to one another in awe as they examined the human clones that floated in each tank.
Zanfero approached one of the tanks staring up at the naked, submerged body of an unconscious human.
"Why a human?"
Kouda stepped beside him and looked upon what he had created.
"When our people lived here on Earth ages ago, the humans served us. They fought off barbarians and beasts in a primordial world and brought us the minerals the fueled our marooned ships. They did this in gratitude for we had taught them simple yet necessary foundations for society such as agriculture and mathematics..."
"I believe these humans can serve us one more time. Now in our most desperate time."
The Litts and Ee's pondered at what he had said before coming to an agreement.
"Kouda, we will help you in any way we can. We lend you our knowledge and loyalty. But we don't have any knowledge of combat. Sure, we can build the armor you need using the Golden Fox's hull and perhaps create some potential designs for armaments...however...we don't have the standard combat software to install into them even if they were compatible."
"That's why I will train them. I'm the only one here with the proper experience. I can teach them the techniques I would use to eliminate targets from when I served as a royal assassin for the Arcosian Empire."
Before his associates could object, Kouda added, "I have taken precautions to program the security systems to immediately incapacitate the specimens in the case that my life becomes endangered, should it come to that."
That was a lie. But a necessary one.
After the litts had all been reassured, they went away to work around the camp, tearing off salvage and warping it into armor and weapons.
Days went by and the specimens grew stronger. Activity simulation trained their muscles beyond their natural capacities. Kouda was careful to supply their bodies with nutritional supplements that would help the body sustain all of his alterations although he was careful not to create an extreme dependency in them.
When the armor and weapons were ready, he had them delivered to his lab and he sealed the door. It would be the first time, he unleashed them.
He made his way towards a locker and entered a password to open it. A blood red cloak was adorned on the wall, along with his old combat equipment. All memories from a simpler, morbid time in his past. He had made alterations to his cloak in order for it to function as a lab coat as well by adding layers resistant to most solutions he worked with and by creating more convenient pouches within the cloak to hold multiple items. He shrugged the familiar fabric over his body and made his way to the master control panel.
All 27 specimen tanks opened simultaneously. Machine arms gently lowering the waking bio-androids to the floor.
Slowly, they began to rise from the floor.
"Kneel."
They did so.
Pleased, Kouda walked around the room carefully adorning his creations in the red armor the other Litts had made for them along with putting various weapons in each of their hands. When his fellow scientists had asked why he had chosen the design of a sword for their plasma weapon when Kouda requested them to make the armaments, he had simply responded by saying that a sword had brought an end to a powerful arcosian dynasty. He intended his blades to the same.
"I have given you life. All that I desire, all that I command, you will fall in line. I am your master."
"I command you to attack me."
Their eyes simultaneously opened as they rose from the ground, weapons in hand.
"Good. Very good."
The bio androids, all resembling one another. Medium sized humans clad in scarlet armor that appeared just as sharp as their plasma weapons. Their long, glowing hair fell from out their helmets like the headdresses of ancient human warriors that had served his kind many ages ago. Surrounded on all sides, Kouda was curious to see what they would do.
They all immediately vanished. This he did not expect.
A shoulder then immediately rammed into his back, pushing him to the floor on to his knees. He looked up to see another bio-android. #13. 13 kicked his jaw causing him to be lifted into the air while another bioandroid (#21) descended from the ceiling and brought down a powered gauntlet on to his abdomen.
Kouda slammed on to the lab floor, causing the tiles to shatter. More eyes from the darkness began getting closer. Kouda spun whipped his long tail at their feet, sweeping them off. Once he saw a gap large enough, he charged through, quickly slashing at the passing foes with his sharpened claws. It was then that he finally admitted internally that he missed the rush of battle. Constantly on the move, he hopped from tanks to computers to tables, narrowly evading his opponents' assaults. He was caught off guard when a bio android had waited behind a tank and launched a rising uppercut against his chin, propelling him into the air.
Intriguing. They've adapted so fast, he thought. He indulged in his victory as the bio androids activated their weapons.
They leaped at him, flailing their weapons in blurring slashes. Using his rediscovered reflexes, Kouda dodged the incoming onslaught. The bioandroids were learning and their slashes drew more precise with each dodge Kouda made. Knowing he would be doomed shortly by the surrounding peril, Kouda changed his strategy and began forming a ki orb around his body that slowed all nearby enemies.
"KI CONDUCTION!"
He then smacked the knee of the bioandroid (#9) attacking from his side. The bioandroid keeled over and fell into the bio androids' blades. Confused, the bioandroids hesitated giving Kouda enough time to break free.
"I command you to stop!"
Enough damage had been done to the lab and his bioandroids.
"Return to your tanks. You did well. We will have more lessons soon. You all deserve rest"
They all obediently entered their specimen tanks as their respiratory masks were placed on their faces by automated robotic arms. There was still one, however, who had trouble climbing into his cell. His arm was hanging a thread of skin and his sides were bleeding profusely. He had received multiple wounds.
#9. One of the weakest in the group, Kouda thought. Kouda walked over to #9 and held him in his arms. The human specimen looked up at him with a blank expression, attempting to understand it all.
Kouda stared into his eyes. His eyes were like lifeless mirrors. Kouda saw only the reflection of his own reptilian eyes on #9's pupils. Kouda slung the bioandroid over his shoulder and carefully dropped him into the tank where the tank's liquid immediately stopped the bleeding. Kouda placed the mask over #9's face and placed his claw on the side of the android's face, feeling his soft human skin.
Kouda looked at the severed arm barely attached to #9. Ki began to emanate from Kouda and without thought, he found himself holding the purple chip that Gream had given him. He placed the chip into a slot in the tank which prompted several automated syringes minutes later to stab various places around #9's body.
Kouda watched on the monitor as the data from the chip was formulating a component that would be injected into #9. Once the process had completed, Kouda checked the vitals on the other 26 bio androids. After ensuring they were on the appropriate healing procedures, Kouda turned to look back #9's tank. #9's old arm had completely detached and was floating on the surface of the water while the automated robot arms had problems removing as they were identifying it as excretion. However, that was not Kouda's focus. Hanging from #9's unconscious body was a fresh, strong arm. His body had completely regenerated a lost limb. The trait that only few species possessed but certainly not humans. The vector had successfully transformed #9's DNA.
Incredible, he thought.
As he went to reach for his log pad, he began to feel the injuries his creations had bestowed upon him. He decided it would be best that he acquired rest as well. He retired from the lab for the day, without speaking a word to the others what had happened.
He awoke when Zanfero ran into his tent and alerted him that smoke was coming out of his lab. Kouda sprinted to the lab and hurriedly punched his password in. A fire had sprouted in a corner of his lab. That was nowhere close to the amount of destruction he discovered. Nearly everything in the lab was torn over and damaged. And to his greatest dismay, he observed that the specimens were all gone. All except one. Android #9 stared at him from across the room. There was a shadow cast over him. His eyes shone just like Kouda's. His pupils had narrow slits like his reptilian creator and ki was burning within eyes.
"Leave" Kouda commanded the onlookers who had followed him.
Kouda stepped forward. He stood now face to face with #9.
"Why? I command you to tell me-"
"I was a prototype. #10-#27 were my superior versions. I required to become stronger in order to defeat them. I absorbed #1-8. Once I added their power to my own, I was able to defeat and absorb #10-#27 who no longer were my superiors."
"How do you expect me to serve you, Master, when you would destroy me when I became obsolete? I was just a trial to you!"
"Just keep me alive!"
Kouda did not expect this sort of response from his bioandroid.
Was this a side effect of the vector?
Kouda thought carefully of his next words but perhaps honesty was his best option.
"I did not anticipate this scenario. But I should tell you. I need you to do more than just keep me and my associates alive. We built you and the others to create a warrior strong enough to restore ourselves to free us from our oppressors and restore our sovereignty in the universe"
"You're not a robot without emotions. You're not what you see."
"I live to help you and fix your problems. So that you can be free."
"I'm not a hero. I'm not a savior. Forget what you know. I'm just a man whose circumstances went beyond my control. We all need control."
Doctor Kouda extended his claw to the bio-android.
The bio-android extended his own human hand and held Kouda's claw and shook it. He dropped Gream's purple chip and memento into Kouda's claw. The bio-android had recovered the chip intact from the destruction of the lab. Kouda looked up astonished and the bio android simply nodded.
The pair walked out of the lab, leaving the fire to consume the remnants of the lab.
"Thank you very much. Thank you, Pah'Mahzan, for helping me."
"Pah'Mahzan" the newly named bio-android repeated, acknowledging his acquired name.
"Come, I have much to show you. We have work to do."
((((((I prefer bonus zeni please and thanks.)))))
-------------------------------
Where am I?
"I NEED YOU!"
"GREAM!"
"KILL THEM ALL"
"LIAR!"
"This is hope"
"Not another one of your androids"
"We can map the serum"
"It's going to be alright"
"Kouda, what is it?"
"Kouda"
"Kouda"
"Kouda"
-----------------------------------------------------
The Litt scientists panicked as the ratings on their monitors escalated rapidly. The healing tank that encapsulated the unconscious Kouda began to tremble as black electricity danced around his body.
"Shut down all power sources now!" a blue litt with a metal arm yelled at his peers.
"No, it's too late! Everybody evacuate!" a fellow red litt shouted back as they began to pour out of the makeshift laboratory.
A green claw shot through the glass of the healing tank. The ferocity of the strike ceased as the sole claw calmly unfurled its fingers to feel the air pass through.
The shattering crash of glass upon the hideout's floor caused the scientists to return to the room to investigate. Kneeling on one knee with a fist planted to the sand was a panting Kouda. At first, it appeared as if he had trouble breathing. But it appeared as if he was gathering lungs in his chest. A deep, monstrous noise escaped his mouth. It rose as if it were bubbling like lava, sparks of laughter sporadically leaped from his mouth like embers until he erupted into a maniacal bolero of howling. He fell on his back all the while cackling.
When Kouda awoke the next day, he found himself atop a poorly made bed. A blue litt with a robotic arm had been sitting in front of him to make contact with his eyes.
"Kouda, I need you to listen to me. Take it slow. Breathe easy"
Kouda sat up and felt an excruciating pain stabbing all of his body. He twisted in pain while the blue litt rushed to him.
"What's wrong with me!?" Kouda yelled, clutching his face. A horror had begun to dawn on him.
Before the blue litt named Zanfero could speak, Kouda tugged the litt closer to him.
"You sustained several injuries all over your body, including your head. It will take time to heal. Even now are supplies are dwindling. The rest of the crew were critically injured when we landed. Some of us died during the trip. Others died when we crashed."
Kouda seemed unphased by Zanfero's words.
"Gream..."
"Gream is dead."
Kouda stared at the sheets as he felt himself sinking downwards into an endless abyss.
"Gream is dead" Zanfero repeated once more.
"The crew needs you now. More than ever."
Kouda snarled in anger at his words. He attempted to spring forth to strangle Zanfero but the pain incapacitated back on to the bed. bed.
Hours later, he emerged from the tent limping. The scientists walking by the tent were startled and rushed over to him to either give him support or return him to his tent. He raised his hand to stop them.
"How are you recovering, Jepper? Brack?" Kouda inquired as he took in the scenery around him in awe.
When the two litts finally found their tongues they informed him that they were recovering well. Kouda nodded and continued his slow gait through the camp. The peaks of colossal sand dunes towered around their camp. At the center of their ring of shanty huts and tattered tents, was the Golden Fox. His trusty ship seemed to have made it the whole way...well at least half of it made it. It appeared as if the thrusters had completely melted away half of the ship. The front half was all that was left. Like a tired heart, thick power cables ran to and from the ship to the surrounding shelters, no doubt to power the electronics they contained.
As he pushed against the tough gusts of desert gales, the rest of the camp watched him. They stopped what they were doing to see Kouda walking again. On all fours now, he began climbing up a steep dune which led to a cliff. The cliff looked over a large rift where sand cascaded down into its depths. He could toss himself off here, he thought. Staring outward at the sky above him, he remembered that his people continued to suffer. That his enemies continued to dominate. That out there he was whole and down where he was, a broken shell was what remained. He felt ki begin to course through his hand. As he felt the ki form, he tightened his claw.
"Gream, if you can hear me...wait for me."
"I still have work to do."
When Kouda finally made his way back down the dune and into his broken ship, he placed a claw on a wall for a support. He couldn't stop now. He made his way to his private lab, that was hidden under the life support chamber. His fingers danced across a keypad and the door booped as it granted him access. Once inside, the backup lights' activation were delayed so Kouda was following his warm breath through the darkness of his cold lab. As the lights came on, one by one, behind him, rows of empty specimen tanks revealed themselves from the shadows. Kouda placed his hand on the center console as data was being transferred. Monitors began booting up, displaying multiple genetic files. Kouda lurched to his chair and went to work.
It had been weeks since Kouda entered his torn ship. Zanfero and the other Litts and Ee's would beckon him to allow them to help in his laboratory but he continuously refused. They left him food rations at his door but he rarely ate them. Until one day, when a Litt approached his door to leave another bag of rations for him, the door slid open with Kouda standing at its threshold like a ghost.
"Come. Bring the others."
The other survivors poured into the laboratory careful to not touch Kouda's delicate materials around the lab such as various test tubes, scattered notes, and bloody surgical tools. They murmured to one another in awe as they examined the human clones that floated in each tank.
Zanfero approached one of the tanks staring up at the naked, submerged body of an unconscious human.
"Why a human?"
Kouda stepped beside him and looked upon what he had created.
"When our people lived here on Earth ages ago, the humans served us. They fought off barbarians and beasts in a primordial world and brought us the minerals the fueled our marooned ships. They did this in gratitude for we had taught them simple yet necessary foundations for society such as agriculture and mathematics..."
"I believe these humans can serve us one more time. Now in our most desperate time."
The Litts and Ee's pondered at what he had said before coming to an agreement.
"Kouda, we will help you in any way we can. We lend you our knowledge and loyalty. But we don't have any knowledge of combat. Sure, we can build the armor you need using the Golden Fox's hull and perhaps create some potential designs for armaments...however...we don't have the standard combat software to install into them even if they were compatible."
"That's why I will train them. I'm the only one here with the proper experience. I can teach them the techniques I would use to eliminate targets from when I served as a royal assassin for the Arcosian Empire."
Before his associates could object, Kouda added, "I have taken precautions to program the security systems to immediately incapacitate the specimens in the case that my life becomes endangered, should it come to that."
That was a lie. But a necessary one.
After the litts had all been reassured, they went away to work around the camp, tearing off salvage and warping it into armor and weapons.
Days went by and the specimens grew stronger. Activity simulation trained their muscles beyond their natural capacities. Kouda was careful to supply their bodies with nutritional supplements that would help the body sustain all of his alterations although he was careful not to create an extreme dependency in them.
When the armor and weapons were ready, he had them delivered to his lab and he sealed the door. It would be the first time, he unleashed them.
He made his way towards a locker and entered a password to open it. A blood red cloak was adorned on the wall, along with his old combat equipment. All memories from a simpler, morbid time in his past. He had made alterations to his cloak in order for it to function as a lab coat as well by adding layers resistant to most solutions he worked with and by creating more convenient pouches within the cloak to hold multiple items. He shrugged the familiar fabric over his body and made his way to the master control panel.
All 27 specimen tanks opened simultaneously. Machine arms gently lowering the waking bio-androids to the floor.
Slowly, they began to rise from the floor.
"Kneel."
They did so.
Pleased, Kouda walked around the room carefully adorning his creations in the red armor the other Litts had made for them along with putting various weapons in each of their hands. When his fellow scientists had asked why he had chosen the design of a sword for their plasma weapon when Kouda requested them to make the armaments, he had simply responded by saying that a sword had brought an end to a powerful arcosian dynasty. He intended his blades to the same.
"I have given you life. All that I desire, all that I command, you will fall in line. I am your master."
"I command you to attack me."
Their eyes simultaneously opened as they rose from the ground, weapons in hand.
"Good. Very good."
The bio androids, all resembling one another. Medium sized humans clad in scarlet armor that appeared just as sharp as their plasma weapons. Their long, glowing hair fell from out their helmets like the headdresses of ancient human warriors that had served his kind many ages ago. Surrounded on all sides, Kouda was curious to see what they would do.
They all immediately vanished. This he did not expect.
A shoulder then immediately rammed into his back, pushing him to the floor on to his knees. He looked up to see another bio-android. #13. 13 kicked his jaw causing him to be lifted into the air while another bioandroid (#21) descended from the ceiling and brought down a powered gauntlet on to his abdomen.
Kouda slammed on to the lab floor, causing the tiles to shatter. More eyes from the darkness began getting closer. Kouda spun whipped his long tail at their feet, sweeping them off. Once he saw a gap large enough, he charged through, quickly slashing at the passing foes with his sharpened claws. It was then that he finally admitted internally that he missed the rush of battle. Constantly on the move, he hopped from tanks to computers to tables, narrowly evading his opponents' assaults. He was caught off guard when a bio android had waited behind a tank and launched a rising uppercut against his chin, propelling him into the air.
Intriguing. They've adapted so fast, he thought. He indulged in his victory as the bio androids activated their weapons.
They leaped at him, flailing their weapons in blurring slashes. Using his rediscovered reflexes, Kouda dodged the incoming onslaught. The bioandroids were learning and their slashes drew more precise with each dodge Kouda made. Knowing he would be doomed shortly by the surrounding peril, Kouda changed his strategy and began forming a ki orb around his body that slowed all nearby enemies.
"KI CONDUCTION!"
He then smacked the knee of the bioandroid (#9) attacking from his side. The bioandroid keeled over and fell into the bio androids' blades. Confused, the bioandroids hesitated giving Kouda enough time to break free.
"I command you to stop!"
Enough damage had been done to the lab and his bioandroids.
"Return to your tanks. You did well. We will have more lessons soon. You all deserve rest"
They all obediently entered their specimen tanks as their respiratory masks were placed on their faces by automated robotic arms. There was still one, however, who had trouble climbing into his cell. His arm was hanging a thread of skin and his sides were bleeding profusely. He had received multiple wounds.
#9. One of the weakest in the group, Kouda thought. Kouda walked over to #9 and held him in his arms. The human specimen looked up at him with a blank expression, attempting to understand it all.
Kouda stared into his eyes. His eyes were like lifeless mirrors. Kouda saw only the reflection of his own reptilian eyes on #9's pupils. Kouda slung the bioandroid over his shoulder and carefully dropped him into the tank where the tank's liquid immediately stopped the bleeding. Kouda placed the mask over #9's face and placed his claw on the side of the android's face, feeling his soft human skin.
Kouda looked at the severed arm barely attached to #9. Ki began to emanate from Kouda and without thought, he found himself holding the purple chip that Gream had given him. He placed the chip into a slot in the tank which prompted several automated syringes minutes later to stab various places around #9's body.
Kouda watched on the monitor as the data from the chip was formulating a component that would be injected into #9. Once the process had completed, Kouda checked the vitals on the other 26 bio androids. After ensuring they were on the appropriate healing procedures, Kouda turned to look back #9's tank. #9's old arm had completely detached and was floating on the surface of the water while the automated robot arms had problems removing as they were identifying it as excretion. However, that was not Kouda's focus. Hanging from #9's unconscious body was a fresh, strong arm. His body had completely regenerated a lost limb. The trait that only few species possessed but certainly not humans. The vector had successfully transformed #9's DNA.
Incredible, he thought.
As he went to reach for his log pad, he began to feel the injuries his creations had bestowed upon him. He decided it would be best that he acquired rest as well. He retired from the lab for the day, without speaking a word to the others what had happened.
He awoke when Zanfero ran into his tent and alerted him that smoke was coming out of his lab. Kouda sprinted to the lab and hurriedly punched his password in. A fire had sprouted in a corner of his lab. That was nowhere close to the amount of destruction he discovered. Nearly everything in the lab was torn over and damaged. And to his greatest dismay, he observed that the specimens were all gone. All except one. Android #9 stared at him from across the room. There was a shadow cast over him. His eyes shone just like Kouda's. His pupils had narrow slits like his reptilian creator and ki was burning within eyes.
"Leave" Kouda commanded the onlookers who had followed him.
Kouda stepped forward. He stood now face to face with #9.
"Why? I command you to tell me-"
"I was a prototype. #10-#27 were my superior versions. I required to become stronger in order to defeat them. I absorbed #1-8. Once I added their power to my own, I was able to defeat and absorb #10-#27 who no longer were my superiors."
"How do you expect me to serve you, Master, when you would destroy me when I became obsolete? I was just a trial to you!"
"Just keep me alive!"
Kouda did not expect this sort of response from his bioandroid.
Was this a side effect of the vector?
Kouda thought carefully of his next words but perhaps honesty was his best option.
"I did not anticipate this scenario. But I should tell you. I need you to do more than just keep me and my associates alive. We built you and the others to create a warrior strong enough to restore ourselves to free us from our oppressors and restore our sovereignty in the universe"
"You're not a robot without emotions. You're not what you see."
"I live to help you and fix your problems. So that you can be free."
"I'm not a hero. I'm not a savior. Forget what you know. I'm just a man whose circumstances went beyond my control. We all need control."
Doctor Kouda extended his claw to the bio-android.
The bio-android extended his own human hand and held Kouda's claw and shook it. He dropped Gream's purple chip and memento into Kouda's claw. The bio-android had recovered the chip intact from the destruction of the lab. Kouda looked up astonished and the bio android simply nodded.
The pair walked out of the lab, leaving the fire to consume the remnants of the lab.
"Thank you very much. Thank you, Pah'Mahzan, for helping me."
"Pah'Mahzan" the newly named bio-android repeated, acknowledging his acquired name.
"Come, I have much to show you. We have work to do."
((((((I prefer bonus zeni please and thanks.)))))
