by Tom Cain
“Well, you are welcome. Glad I could be of service.” said John reflecting on his impact.
"Anyway, I found this little place down here, with the help of a few, grew it from the ground up, we have almost one hundred and ninety people down here now. I am very proud of that, very proud. And that's what got me thinking after I heard the good doctor's announcement; I don't want to lose this place and these people now we have made a home for ourselves. But in order to keep it, we have to keep those parts away from Ahiro and the people of the Zones safe. How can we do that?".
John looked confused.
"Are you asking me?".
"No no John that was rhetorical, but I do need you to help if that's ok?". Said Ron contemplating further.
John nods with his stern face.
"I knew you would help John. Now listen, the good doctor's announcement was sincere, although I’m not sure he has the men to take a town a day in the state without Ivan Swiss. He surely has enough forces to do some serious damage here or in Glendale, Sarten, Ridgeway or Fairfield. We know he does want to recreate the DMER switch but cannot do so without those parts. The thing he doesn't know is where or who now has them. We know where two of the parts are, one is with number Three of the Eight in Zone five where he has already taken hostages, we haven’t confirmed who they are yet or if the hostages are even civilians. The other part we know of is under Swiss Towers, but they have serious protection. Ivan will probably give that piece to Ahiro once the chaos throughout the zones is a little clearer so we need to take the tower out." Ron explained taking a sip from his whiskey glass.
“Why did the doctor separate the parts after he threw the switch, why didn’t he just destroy it?” asked John.
“We don’t know for sure, the old man commented on this a whiles back, something about the doctor being unable to destroy them, and didn’t want them within temptations range. Anyway, back to the tower” Ron replied.
"The Swiss Tower is basically a fortress Ron, no one just walks into it." John said.
"I agree, but we have the blueprints for it now, thanks to the old man. So we can get into it through one of the delivery bays in the back, the problem is getting back out. As soon as they notice the delivery door open or broken they will be onto us." Ron took another sip of whiskey. "We can't just break in, it would have to be subtle. We could hijack a delivery truck off the main road and drive into the towers I guess, but even the trucks are guarded by some serious artillery and that isn’t particularly subtle. But recently, I can tell you that the BCC are thinning out, Swiss might be on the move" Ron continued.
"What about the hostages in Zone five? I started this because I wanted the bounty for the heads of The Eight." John tapped the table impatiently.
"The hostages could be civilians of Zone Five, Three and maybe another has taken them and is not demanding any payment or ransom but using them as a human barricade against any threat Ahiro could cause. He doesn't want to give up the part he has as he knows Ahiro will have to kill him to get it" said Ron getting up from his seat and going back over to the cabinet to top up his now empty glass.
"What do you mean, have to kill him?" asked John.
"The part Ahiro needs is literally inside Threes body, placed there after the green. So in order to get it out Three will have to die." Ron told him.
“So surely all we need to do it get a hold of one of the parts and lose it somewhere and then he can’t rebuild it?” John asked.
“I’m not sure John”
"How do you know this? And what do you mean ‘placed’?" John looked concerned and confused. "The Bright Scr…"
Suddenly and before Ron could finish his response to John a massive blast of green light appeared in the middle of the room emanating from what started as a pin prick size light and pulsed outwards knocking John off his seat and Ron flying backwards into another chair. A massive buzzing noise and a piercing light followed and a human shape appeared in the blinding flash.
Hovering in mid-air above the table a cloaked man appeared shrouded in green mist and light. The figure had human shape but not human skin, only green energy clouds pulsing under a male form. The form revealed its face, releasing long pale hair which reached its lower back. The cloak itself pulsed as if a part of the being, John looked up after getting to his knee in awe of the floating creature. John's right arm burst into green flame suddenly as the being looked in John's direction, John felt no pain but he stared in shock.
"Please John, this is the…" Ron got to his feet on shaky legs.
"Enough Ronald Shaw" the entity said in a stern manner, his voice seemed to be more like four or five people talking simultaneously in different tones.
The being turned back to face John.
"Do you know why your arm burns with green flame Number Eight John Test?".
John got to his feet trying to pat out the flames unsuccessfully.
"No I don't, who are you?". asked John concerned with the flames.
"The people of this particular zone have decided to call us the Bright Scribe." The Scribe lowered itself onto the floor.
"Do you want to know why your arm burns with green flame Number Eight John Test?".
"Yes I would. I know it isn't human. My arm I mean. And why do you keep calling me number eight?" John asked.
"You John are the eighth experimental clone created by F.A.D.E laboratories headed up by Doctor Katsu Ahiro."
John looked unmoved by this; the Bright Scribe continued.
"You had been made by a Doctor Mary Willis-Scott. In fact nine clones had been made by her under Katsu Ahiros command." The Scribe stopped and looked over at a wall as if to ponder something.
"Where are the other eight of me?" John asked.
"Two of the hostages in Zone Five just died by fire, and your arm is burning because of my presence at this time. The other clones are not of your looks John Test, the DNA taken for each of the clones was from nine separate samples, all of them with the AB negative blood type, the man who gave your sample is in the North but I cannot see him, he is shrouded in darkness. A further two have just died by gunshot." The scribe spoke softly, the voices culminating into a single male sound briefly.
"Wait a second, I was created? But I have memories of my family? my daughter? my wife?" John asked confused.
"You did have a family John, you were placed in society as a test several years before the M.E.T to see if, as a clone you would integrate properly within the local environment. You did." The Bright Scribe said this time in a more dominant female voice.
"Then what about the others?" John asked moving closer to the Scribe.
"The other clones were integrated with society but most failed, at the time of the green flash you and Seven had been the only two which integrated perfectly." The Scribe vanished in a boom of light leaving only trails of green mist around its position.
"No wait, I have more questions, I need to know." John shouted into nothing.
The Scribe instantly appeared behind John with the same force it left.
"I didn't mean to leave your presence completely, I had to change something." The Scribe now using another voice.
"What are you?" John asked.
"I was a man before the green flash, a scientist at FADE laboratories. I was one of the bio-engineers in Mary Willis-Scotts department located next to the dome in which the dark matter energy reactor was thrown. That day seems but seconds ago to me now and is of no consequence other than my explanation to you. My human form was taken by the flash in an instant and I became fused with the pulse, my blood cells became dark matter energy, my bones and flesh gone but I felt whole. Now I wander. Keep an eye on the end, it will come sooner than you think. I have seen it. Although, that changes with every passing choice, it’s unfolding constantly". The Scribe replied.
John picks his seat up and stares at the face of the Scribe as its features grow and shift.
"Are you going to stop Ahiro from wiping out the planet?" asked John.
"A se
cond flash is of no consequence Number Eight John Test. I will not get involved in the toils of men any longer, I have spent endless days in the past pondering the needs of humankind. I shall not meddle in your species conflicts, it’s endless cruelty. Much like any other animals, it's a great circle and the natural order of things. But a part of me, a part of me doesn’t want another flash." The Scribe said with a darker tone.
"But you used to be a man, one of us. How can you not stop an event like this? It's going to wipe out humanity!" John protested.
The Bright Scribe stopped to ponder for a moment while staring at John.
"I will not meddle in the conflicts of man. It makes no difference to my existence or the existence of the other life to save humankind; you are only one of millions of species I have witnessed when shifting through time. You must save yourselves. Not all at once though, you must save yourself first".
John shook his head with disappointment.
"And how are we supposed to do that?". Asked John.
"You have the last part inside your arm number eight John Test. They removed your arm at your creation because of clotting during the birthing. They replaced it with a biomechanical arm, but as you were the most stable of the clones created, Katsu Ahiro decided to place a copy of one of four parts of the second dark matter energy reactor inside your arm, the first was destroyed in the initial blast. Make sure you use it, before the end you will have to face yourself." In a huge blast of light the Bright Scribe disappeared forcing Ron and John to cover their eyes and take a step back. John's arm set ablaze with green fire.
"You got your work cut out for you John it seems" Ron said wiping the dust from his blue and grey checkered shirt. "Also your arm is on fire".
"Where the shit did he come from?" asked John picking up the table and chair and casually patting down his arm in surprise.
"I don't really know, he wanders from place to place just like that, sometimes talks and sometimes doesn't. He usually talks in puzzles. don’t think he is attached to this world now though." Said Ron picking his own chair up and sitting back down with a deep breath out. "Right, so we really need a plan to get this part from the Swiss Tower and from Three" Ron continued.
"I would suggest that you get your guys together and go for Three. Me, Marko and Burke take out the tower" said John staring at his arm still smoldering the remnants of his jacket.
Marko and Mia are standing by the bar in the Yellow district.
"So, that's why it's taken you so long to get back to me then?" Mia asked leaning on the cold metal counter.
"Mia, I wanted to find you again, but shit got crazy real quick after all that trouble, you look like you have done well anyway" said Marko smiling at her.
Mia fluttered her eyelashes at him almost blushing.
“Do you not want another drink?".
"Actually I wouldn't mind, I guess we got a while to wait while John's chatting with Ron and Burkes getting fixed up" Marko said turning to look at the bar man who is packing some bottles into some shelves.
"Hey barkeep, can we get two more of whatever those are you got there?" Mia said pointing at a clear bottle with silver bits floating in a thick blue liquid.
“Sure thing, give me two secs" the barman replied grabbing two glasses, wiping the top of them, pouring a respectable amount of the thick drink and sliding the glasses down the bar to be caught by Mia.
"There you go pretty boy" Mia said licking the rim of the glass slowly and passing it to Marko.
Marko smiles.
"Why thank you"
He puts the glass to his lips and drinks half the liquid. Coughs, looks confused and wipes his mouth.
"Smooth. So what else is there to see around here then?" Marko asks putting the glass down on the side and grabbing Mia by the hip.
"Well, there's only a few really. I haven't shown you my quarters yet big boy" Mia said smiling.
"Oh it's like that is it? Sounds good to me." Marko got off his stool.
Mia leads Marko by a belt tie on his vest and they head down a long corridor to her quarters. Marko stops outside the door and rests his hand above Mia’s head leaning in, after staring at him for several moments she leans in and kisses him fully on the lips, pulls away and smiles. She pulls a key card from her cleavage and swipes it through the door sensor. The door opens with a creek and Marko with one arm grabs her from behind to pick her up and charges into the room and slams her on the bed. She lets out an excited laugh.
“Mmm calm down honey, we will get there, let's not rush things shall we?". Mia says equally as excited.
Mia grips the back of Markos head with her hands as she tightens the hold of her legs around his waist, he deepens his hold on her too. They both let out a satisfied sigh. Mia releases her kiss and slowly, softly turns him over, she sits upright and stares at him with only one thing on her mind. She slowly grinds herself on top on him, gradually getting deeper and harder, his breathing gets faster.
"Oh someone's excited" she says unsurprised by his excitement.
"What did you think was going to happen under there with you doing that magic on me?" Marko replied.
Mia smiles, biting her lip and continues to rub and ride.
"let's get these off shall we?". She undoes the buttons on his green army trousers, while Marko is just staring, lost in the moment.
"Hey Mia, let me ask you something" Marko said gently and with a smile.
"Do you wanna do this afterwards Marko?, can't you see I'm busy?".
"Let's keep it together this time, yeah" he said.
Mia stopped and looked confused for a second, and then she smiles.
"Let's keep it together this time" Mia replies. Mia continues to take off his trousers as Marko sits up and removes her black tank top.
Ron and John leave the meeting via a metal door at the rear of the room and head down a dimly lit corridor. The hallway is covered in gas and water pipes leaking and dispersing steam at random intervals. John follows Ron closely as they make their out into a wider area. They already start to hear a ruckus.
"What's all the noise? Something we should be worried about Shaw?" John asks while walking.
"No no, but that might be the sound of a new recruit if you’re lucky" Ron replies.
"What do you mean?" John asks .
"You will see". Said Ron raising a confident smile.
They head down a small set of grated metal steps and onto a larger spiral staircase, the stairs lead down to a wide metal grated area with vats of liquid below.
They see a circle of people cheering and two people in the middle area the focus. As they move closer they see the two people are actually combatants, the circle widens as John and Ron move in closer to see what is going on. Standing there is a very large, metal armour clad man with a bottle of wine, posturing in front of a strangely silent and unmoved women dressed in purple and white clothes.
"What's going on here Ron? Some kind of fight club?"
"No no it's nothing like that, the big guy must have pissed her off that's all, saying that I don't know that guy, he must be new but I know her, that's Valeria" Ron answered.
"You might want to give Valeria a hand there Ron" John stared at Ron’s somewhat entertained face.
"Just watch" he said.
The large man, shouted obscenities before winding back and swinging for Valeria's face, the punch landed squarely on her face making a cut appear just below her left eye and making her stumble backwards, the blood trickled down her cheek and was received by her tongue waiting for it. She smiled after tasting her own blood, brushed her long black hair away from her face and signalled the big guy to try again. He obliged and charged in for another right cross, this time he missed as she moved her head very quickly to the left and slapped the man in the face. The man backed off in surprise, he looked confused.
"You slapped me" he dribbled.
"She doesn't speak, dumbass" Ron shouted over the crowd.
"You don't speak huh, that's even better, when I
make you my pet I won’t have to deal with the yapping, ha ha ha" the man proclaimed.
Valeria tilted her head slightly and with a dead face stared at the brutes eyes, he stared back, Valeria's eyes suddenly turned from dark brown to a violent shade of glowing purple, she flickers a smile.
John turned his head to the large man to notice his eyes had now also turned the same colour. The man let out a confused moan, as his nose started to bleed and his eyes rolled back in his head. Suddenly Valeria drove forward and forced a straight hand, fingertips first into the man's side, he let out a big whine and fell to his knees. She removed her hand from his rib cage with a vacant expression on her face. The crowd half shocked and stunned the other not surprised walked away back to their shelters some muttering darkly and others laughing.
Ron and John make their way through the retreating crowd towards the victorious Valeria who is standing over the body with an estranged look in her eyes.
"Val" Ron shouted
"This is John Test, he is the one who has been causing all the crazy things that have been happening around here and out on the waste. He is recruiting for a dangerous job, they are all going to Zone Five".
Valeria's eyebrows raised.
"We could use your help, if you want to take a break from breaking things in here" John said.
Valeria looks at Ron and then at John, scanning him up and down and tilts her head again to the side. John frowns back at her and his finger twitches. After a second of intense staring Ron breaks the silence.
“so what to ya say Val? Are you up for it?".
Valeria straightens her head, winks then smirks at Ron,
“she's in John. That's the first recruit now onto the next I think". Ron says then looks at Valeria.
