[NC17-M] Human Genesis | Andvarietta & Alanoth

[Andvarietta]

Rated NC17-M for swearing, possible excessive violence, sexual themes

"Curse this grate!" Kessia grabbed onto the metal grates that blocked her exit. She was hidden in the ventilation system, sneaking past most of the guards and was near the vent that lead to the outside world when she encountered a slight problem.

"I knew I should've brought some screwdrivers...not like they'll lend me any." Kessia grumbled as she let out a sigh. She's been planning this escape for months, there was no way she was going to let a single metal grate deny her of her freedom. She looked at her left hand and saw the glowing blue orb that was resting on her glove.
"If I use the chi blaster, the alarms will go off and that's not what I-"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Before she could finish her sentence, alarms started blaring loudly followed by the sound of running footsteps.
A voice on the PA system announced, "Ex-563 has escaped. I repeat, Ex-563 has escaped! All personnel are to look for her and capture her unharmed. If she resists, stunning her and knocking her unconscious is permitted."

"Fuck..." Kessia slapped a hand on her forehead. She then aimed her left hand, her chi blaster glowing slightly brighter, at the metal grate. "No point continuing with the stealthy escape plan. Time to blast my way out of here."

---

Outside the research facility, guards equipped with stun guns ran around in groups. They weren't taking any chances, the last time an experiment escaped they lost a lot of their men trying to recapture him but he still managed to escape.
"Circle the south perimeter!" a guard shouted, "Find her!"
The guard was standing next to the ventilation shaft that Kessia was in and the last thing remembered after barking orders was a loud bang and a sharp pang of pain coursing through his body, followed by darkness.

"Excuse me." Kessia walked out of the smoldering hole she made and tiptoed past the unconscious guard. She looked around and saw some guards in the distance, running towards her. She gritted her teeth and started to run in the opposite direction.
"I guess I have to improvise!"

Fortunately the research facility was located at the edge of the Utopia sector. A huge wall separating the northern sector and the western sector towered before her, even though she knew the wall was at least a few more miles away. At least at where she's running to there won't be much civilians and that could help keep the casualties to a minimum, at least she hopes.

Kessia dodged into an alley in between some buildings and continued running as fast as she could. She didn't remember what outside was like. She was in the research facility for quite a long time, nearly all her life and the last remaining memories of the outside world she had had faded into darkness. The sound of dogs barking caught Kessia off guard. The sound was coming from ahead of her and she knew there were guards right behind her. She swore under her breath and ran into another alley, a choice she soon regretted.

After running into the alley for a good minute, she found herself staring at a dead end. She looked around and saw that there was no way up or out. Quickly she turned around but was greeted with guards aiming their guns at her and guard dogs growling, ready to bring her down. Kessia took a step back. This was a bad situation indeed. She could probably try to fight her way out but eventually she would need to go into Meta Excel to really escape. But the price of using that ability...

Kessia took a deep breath and lifted her left hand, aiming it at the guards before her. She won't use that ability. An ability given to her by her sworn enemies. Her chances of escaping became slimmer as the seconds ticked by but she'd rather fight her way out as a "human" or die trying.
She smirked as the chi blaster started to glow gradually brighter, "I guess there's no room for negotiation?"

[Alanoth]

Alanoth sat high on the perimeter wall separating the Wastelands sector and the Utopia sector, and looked at the gleaming tall buildings in disgust. This...Utopia crap was all a lie, just a cover up for Gehenna's true evils. Their near madness in the way they treated other humans being, as tools and subjects. Just more cattle for their animal testing to create a better society by filling their pockets with money.

He spat as alarms went off in the distance, and casually turned his head to find their source. The Gehenna Labs...that accursed building was setting off alarms that were even louder than when he had escaped. Oh that had been glorious, the death and destruction he had caused...he shook his head in disgust. You bastard, why would you enjoy doing the things those beasts had made you for?

Drawing him from his thoughts were two patrols of Gehenna guards down below, one of which had a set of dogs on leash. They were discussing the alarms, and Alanoth could have sworn he heard them say 'her'. That having caught his attention, he silently dropped down onto a short building and waited while the larger patrol left. Then, he sprung into action, front-flipping down to the ground and landing squarely on the patrol leader's head.

With the first having collapsed, the other three wheeled around to face him, shock batons buzzing. Well, two of them were ready, the third--a fairly young looking lad-- was quaking and stepped back. Perfect for information, all 'Jacknife' had to do was eliminate the others. Leaping at the one on his left, Alanoth did a quick flying leg kicks to knock him to the ground. Alanoth then dodged the second guard's swipe with a baton, then disarmed the guard. Now in possession of a weapon, the rebel used it to knock both attacking guards unconscious. The young guard dropped his weapon and tried to run, but Alanoth caught him quickly.

"What are the alarms for? Tell me and I won't hurt you." He threatened while holding the guard in the air by his throat. He quickly answered in a panic. "An experimental weapon, a young girl, just escaped and we're trying to find her before she leaves the sector. Please, don't hurt me!" Alanoth grinned wickedly before putting the guard's face close to his. "Thank you, goodnight." "He swiftly chopped the guard's windpipe, and he was out in an instant. Dogs were baying in the distance, with shouts accompanying them, and Alanoth knew right where to go.

He found the alley quickly, running along the building tops. He saw the young woman they were chasing, and the guards which were now half way to her. She wielded a chi blaster similar to one they had tried to use on him, which meant he might not have to save her without help. He dropped down, landing at the midpoint between the two groups. The guards halted, staring at the hooded figure before them who's face they couldn't see. He stared them down, then suddenly became a cloud of black mist that flew at them suddenly. He appeared behind them, then his tattoos began moving beneath his jacket and two knives appeared in his hand. He slashed his way through all of them in a blinding series of swipes, flips, and other moves. They soon all fell, some bloodied while the others were lucky enough to just be slumped against a wall. The dogs ran off with tails in between their legs.

Alanoth disipated the knives then looked at the girl, approaching her casually. "You should be more careful, Gehenna doesn't play nice, especially with their own toys. Ready to get out of here and see the rest of the city? I'm sure that you're sick of this place, I know I was."

[Andvarietta]

Kessia was ready to shoot her chi blaster and charge into battle when a tall and dark figure suddenly dropped in between her and the guards. Surprised, she lowered her chi blaster, which stopped glowing as her arm returned to her side.

Who...?

Before she could say anything, the figure disappeared in a black mist. But when she saw the black mist flying towards her chasers, she knew that the figure didn't disappeared, it transformed into the black mist! Kessia stood there in awe as she watched the black mist swirl and dance around the guards, the sound of the guards screaming and crying out in pain filled the air as blood splattered onto the ground and walls. She noticed the guard dogs trembling in the corner before whimpering off, running with their tails between their legs. After all the guards had been dealt with, Kessia realized that the mist had turned human again and was slowly walking towards her in a manner that made him seem more friend than foe.

"You should be more careful, Gehenna doesn't play nice, especially with their own toys. Ready to get out of here and see the rest of the city? I'm sure that you're sick of this place, I know I was."

Kessia blinked as he heard him speak. Wait...he knows about Gehenna? He knows about her trying to escape? And what did he mean when he said he was sick of this place?
Feeling anxious and confused, Kessia brought her left hand before her, aiming her chi blaster at him.
"I don't know who you are..." her voice was trembling slightly, she knew that this person was quite a formidable opponent but so far she'd never encountered another person who didn't want to capture or 'play' with her.
"But how did you know about Gehenna and...and..." Kessia was stammering now, her mind raced, could this person be trying to trick her into going back by first acting nice or was he really a genuine help?
Finally the only thing she could say was, "Who are you?"

[Alanoth]

Even with having saved her life, having acted friendly once the guards were eliminated, she still had the nerve to raise her chi blaster at him?! The kid wasn't even listening, and it was getting on Alanoth's nerves. Deeply. Wait, he thought to himself while keeping calm, just remain at yourself, and don't lose control. Not now...when you're so close. He released his accidentally clenched fist, and smiled again, raising his hands in a show of harmlessness.

"Listen, uh..." he thought hard to remember her name. He had heard it in the labs once...oh yes! "Kessia, you can trust me. Just put down the chi blaster and we can talk...experiment to experiment."

It was risky, letting her know exactly what he was. What if she didn't believe him? Or if she reacted badly to this new revelation? There was so much at stake, if anything were to happen now-

Suddenly, a new set of dogs began barking in the distance. Those sounds were soon followed by the sound of shouting guards. Evidently, leaving the original dogs alive hadn't been a smart move. There was no time for chat now, Alanoth needed to get Kessia out of here and fast. "I'm sorry to do this, but there's no time to argue." With that, he ran forward, wrapped her in something like a hug, then dissipated the both of them into a cloud of black shadow matter. This cloud then flew high over the buildings, and even the legendary wall, landing in the Wastelands district.

Once they were safely away from where the Gehenna guards were willing to pursue them, Alanoth reatomized the pair of them and let go of Kessia. "Kind of a rush, huh?" He smirked, knowing that she might be a bit winded.

[Andvarietta]

Kessia watched the man before her. He knew her name and he event called the both of them 'experiments'. Could he be a victim of Gehenna just like her? Kessia lowered her chi blaster and was about to thank the guy when the sound of dogs barking and guards shouting made her realize she wasn't safe yet. Kessia was hoping to ask the man who had just saved her life if he knew of a way to get them out of there and quickly but before she could say anything the man rushed forward, picked her up and everything just went pitch black.

W...what's going on?! Kessia's mind screamed as he body felt an odd rush. She felt very light as if her body had turned to air and she could feel that she was speeding through something. Another dimension? She couldn't gather her thoughts quick enough, one moment everything was pitch black and she left like air flying somewhere and the next moment she appeared at a totally different place, feeling quite dizzy and nauseous.

When the man let her go she immediately ran a few steps away from him, fell on all four and started vomiting. This probably didn't give the guy a good image of Kessia but she felt as if her stomach got turned inside out.
"Ugh..." Kessia coughed, still turned away from the man.
"R-rush?" Kessia replied in a startled manner, "W-what the heck was...ulp..."
Kessia puked again. Her whole body shivered for a moment before she finally gotten a grip of herself. Her mind stopped racing, her heart stopped pumping erratically. She stood up slowly and dusted her knees.
Turning to face her savior, she bowed apologetically, "Sorry you had to see that. And I'm sorry for pointing my chi blaster at you."

She looked around her and realized she was no longer in a familiar place. This place didn't look like the sector she came from, was it another one? A sector behind the huge walls?
She turned back to face the man and managed a small smile, "Um...thanks for saving me."
She paused for a moment, recalling the fact that the guy mentioned her name earlier.
Raising an eyebrow quizzically she asked, "So...who are you? How'd you know my name?"

[Alanoth]

Watching Kessia puke and retch, he felt bad, but chuckled anyway. That was just how he had reacted when Gehenna scientists first taught him how to use that power. Every time afterwards, he had been fine, but there was no way to tell for others. This was only the second time he had ever shifted with passenger--the first time he had dragged three guards along with him so as to kill them more easily. Perhaps she would get over it, maybe she wouldn't, that wasn't important, what was important was answering her questions.

It was only fair, he had failed to give her any information or details up until now, and now they were safe. No excuses available, no way out of it. But it wasn't like he minded, putting his hands in his jacket pockets, he was planning on telling her anyway.

"There's no need to apologize, it's me who needs to say he's sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't have time to explain further, but those guards were kind of rushing me."

He smiled a bit when she thanked him, shrugging, "I didn't exactly do it out of charity, I kind of need your help."

He let the smile fade away, taking on a serious but not mean expression. "I'm a bio-weapon, just like you. My name's...Jacknife, according to Gehenna scientists. I know who you are because I overheard your name just before I broke out a couple months ago, which is why Gehenna's guards are so well armed. Simply put, I killed more than half of their staff and guards on my way out, doing exactly what they created me for--endless death and chaos."

[Andvarietta]

"Bio-weapon..." Kessia softly muttered the word as she listened to the man before her. The man who the Gehenna scientists called 'Jacknife'. She heard the name mentioned before but only about once or twice. The scientists always had this grim look on their faces when that name was mentioned. Kessia then realized that the scientists at Gehenna Corps never really gave her a 'name' or maybe the name is was using now was never her real name and just the codename given to her as an experiment?

After listening to Jacknife a bit more she realized why the scientists would always mention the name with a grimace. Killed more than half of their staff and guards during his escape...she never really thought about killing those who obstructed her way, just stunning them but when push come to shove...

"Wait..." Kessia spoke up slowly, trying to make sense of what he said earlier, "You need my help?"
She pressed a finger on her lips, her eyes looked away as she tried to recall something.
"If my memory serves me right...'Jacknife'...I remembered your name being mentioned once or twice. And it usually comes in a sentence with the words 'perfect weapon'."
She looked at him, her face showed a neutral expression but her eyes glint of curiosity, "Why would you need my help? I mean, I don't think I could be much help to a person they consider a 'perfect weapon'. I remembered this one time a scientist asked one of the researchers, comparing me to this 'Jacknife' and the researcher replied that I was nowhere near his league...yet..."

[Alanoth]

Kessia was grimacing at the mention of Bio-weapon, which meant she was either still coping with what they had done to her, or she wasn't very familiar with the term. Alanoth wasn't sure why he had only told her his codename, it was simply an instinct which he had acted upon. Hopefully he hadn't breached a trust barrier, he really needed her to trust him and believe his story.

Her next few questions, didn't help him in the slightest. He sighed, then carefully thought out his response before answering. Even one wrong choice of phrase or word or even tone could ruin this, and he needed her help to destroy Gehenna.

"Well, being a perfect weapon, I had my flaws. Just as you did, which was one of the two reasons I made my escape." Perhaps the truth was best, as well as he could remember it. "They wanted to make both of us killing machines, even intending to have us duke it out to see which recipe for genetic manipulation worked best. I wasn't going to play their little game, after they had spent years pumping me full of drugs, messing with my brain, and using a training regime that could kill me to make me invincible. No, I decided that I wanted to leave, and maybe they would leave you alone." He turned away, not wanting to scare her with the way his eyes changed when he thought about those angry memories. "You were going to eventually be manipulated to mimic me, so its good that you found a way to escape. I'm nothing except a killing machine, just what they wanted. You can balance that out...and you can survive if I go into Shadow Master mode. If you're wondering...its just like your Meta Excel, only I'm a monster when I go there." He was quiet for several minutes, just letting her sort that out and establish any more questions she just may have.

[Andvarietta]

Kessia's eye went wide when Jacknife mentioned 'Meta Excel'.
He knows that I have an alternative form...then he must really be... Kessia couldn't help but have mixed feelings with what she was hearing. Balance? Kessia wasn't really made with balance in mind, each time she goes into Meta Excel mode she goes ballistic and loses control. And to think her going wild and uncontrollable was bad, here's someone who seems to be a lot worse when he goes into his alternative mode.

Kessia hugged herself for a moment as she looked away. Jacknife was probably trying his best not to scare her or anything but she could feel his anger, his rage. She shivered at the thought of having to go head to head in a one on one battle to the death against him. She probably wouldn't stand a chance...would she?

Turning back to face Jacknife, Kessia said, "Well for a killing machine you sure have a little compassion left in you to ave another fellow 'killing machine'." Kessia shivered at her own remark, she didn't like the term 'bio-weapon' and hated the term 'killing machine' even more. If she could undergo a process to turn her human again she probably would. Kessia then nodded at Jacknife, her face bearing a determined expression, "Ok, I'll hear you out...if..." she paused for a moment and looked at her surroundings before turning back to him, "...you show me around. I don't wanna spend my new found freedom in just one place, you know."

---

The office was quiet, save for the soft hum of the computer. A researcher sat attentively before his computer monitor, his eyes skimming through all the numbers and data for his latest project.
"So much tests to do...so little time," the researcher smirked.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door, breaking the silence of the office. Ugh, he hated distractions, whatever this was about it'd better be important.
"What?!" he growled, unmoving from his seat, his eyes still glued to the monitor.
A guard opened the door and walked in. He hesitated for a moment before he spoke.
"Sir, Ex-563 has escaped."
"What?" the researcher cocked an eyebrow, finally turning his attention to the guard instead of his computer monitor.
"Where is she now?" he growled.
"W-we don't know sir!" the guard straightened up, "The security team managed to back her into a dead end but..."
The guard trailed off, he wondered if it was a good idea to mention that name.

"But?" the researcher looked at the guard with malicious curiosity, whatever the guard was about to say next, better be something good.
"S-she was saved by experiment 'Jacknife', sir." The guard gulped, anticipating the researcher's ballistic reaction.
The researcher's face was solemn. He turned back to his computer monitor and started typing something on the keyboard. The numbers and data sheets on the monitor minimized and a new window, showing a male figure appeared.
The researcher chuckled, "So you've finally come out of hiding."
He stood up from his seat and commanded, "Find her. If she resists you can beat her up to near death state. As for Jacknife...ideally it would be nice if you could bring him back alive, but if he's too much trouble, bring him back dead."
"Yes sir!" the guard saluted the researcher before running off to carry out his new duty.

The researcher walked to the window and looked out. He was in the main building of Gehenna Corps, a tall sprawling sky scrapper with a lot of floors, he was on the 66th floor and it provided a good view of the city below.
"My naughty little toy has escaped...but not for long." he grinned a malicious smile, "Rest assured when you come back, you will be thoroughly punished."

[Alanoth]

Out of the corner of his eye, Alanoth couldn't help noticing Kessia's fear. She was afraid because he was right, and knew about Meta-Excel. It wasn't hard, the researchers working on him had constantly bragged about the outcome of the inevitable fight between himself and Kessia, so he knew everything she could do. Up to that point of course. After that, she may have been upgraded, so perhaps she would stand a chance should the time ever arise. But it won't. Ever.

He sighed at her comments, then nodded to her request. It made sense, all she could remember was the inside of those labs, despite her former life...they had stolen it from her, and he swore right then and there, he would give it back to her. Somehow...He shook away these thoughts and turned to face her again, his expression having calmed somewhat. "Alright, piece of cake, I can show you everything if you want. There are two sectors of the city besides the Gehenna Labs sector, thought I live here in what is often called the Wastelands. Its supposedly inhospitable, not completely true, but a little correct. I like it...keeps me safe from Gehenna patrols because they never go here except under orders. Come on, I'll lead you to my place." He motioned for her to follow, then turned on his heel and slowly started off.

A step later, he stopped, and didn't look at her, but spoke quietly. "You aren't a killing machine...not even close. You're still human..." He didn't finish, and just headed off, hoping she wouldn't bring the subject back up again.

[Andvarietta]

Kessia smiled when Jacknife agreed to show her around. She was going to start her life anew. Even when most of her earlier years were nothing but faded memories, what was important now was to make new ones. She won't be able to change what Gehenna did to her but maybe, with Jacknife's help, she could use her abilities for something else? For the greater good?
She shook her head at the thought, the only way she could think of doing things of the greater good was to get rid of Gehenna Corps, but what are the chances of that?

Kessia followed Jacknife quietly, but was puzzled when he suddenly stopped and said something about her still being human. She wanted to ask what he meant but from how he said it and the fact that he started to walk away after saying it, gave Kessia the idea that he doesn't want to talk about it.

Obediently following Jacknife, Kessia looked around as they passed barren fields and swerve in and out of abandoned alleyways and buildings. This place was nothing like the Utopia sector, she may have been in the labs nearly all her life but she remembered a little garden she used to play in as a child and a bungalow house. There was no garden here, not even a smudge of greenery, everything was a dull brown and grey and the plants and grass were all rotting. A wasteland indeed. She looked at the great wall that separated the sectors, no matter where you are, the walls can always be seen. Which made her think, how did Jacknife managed to scale such a wall? Was it because of that shadow form of his? She remembered the feeling it left on her stomach and she sighed. Hope she doesn't have to travel that way again.

It seemed like they had been walking for a while. Kessia closed the distance between her and Jacknife, which were only a few steps apart and asked, "So where do you live? Does anyone else live here in this sector?"

[Alanoth]

He could tell that Kessia was a bit confused by the environment, she had always known the Utopia Sector. Made sense, she wasn't just a vagrant picked off the street who no one cared about--not like him. They passed by a small burned out building with a child played inside. The little kid was wearing a face mask, and what was guessed to be the kid's family was laying all around him. Most weren't moving, and one was coughing blood while leaning against a wall. Alanoth also saw Kessia look at the great walls, the ones that separated the sectors. Big, looming, and gray, they were just one more thing that separated Gehenna from the rest of the city.

He looked back at her questions as she closed the distance, and sighed. He should have expected such questions to have to answer, they were only natural. "Technically, I don't live anywhere. With a subtle outstanding warrant for my arrest out there, I can't just waltz through the Utopia Sector like one of those rich desk jockies. No, I just live in various safehouses here in the Wastelands, mostly given to me by friends and friendly people. The few people who live here, live here because to Gehenna, they're just worms, to be crushed underfoot. It makes it easy to hide, most patrols never set foot in here without a lot of extra overtime pay. Just don't go wandering off after dark...people aren't the only desperate and sick-minded individuals lurking about. This way."

Alanoth pointed them into a fenced off area, with a hooded man guarding the entrance. At first glance the guard seemed harmless, but underneath the rags around his arm, a very rusty blade could just be seen. He nodded Alanoth in, and they proceeded into what turned out to be a sea of tents and shacks, all clustered together. The superhuman led his fellow experiment to a faded blue shack, the roof long gone, and the four walls barely standing. "This will do for tonight at least, I've got better hideouts we can eventually make our way to later on."

[Andvarietta]

The sea of tents and shacks surprised Kessia. The tents were clustered close together, there was barely any space but there were still some children running around the area as if it was home. They were wearing masks of course, the air in this sector was so polluted that those who could afford it wear masks. Those who couldn't well...
Kessia turned to look at one of the tents, she managed to catch a glimpse of an old man wheezing for air in one of them and a wheezing mother covering her baby's face with a mask, in another.

This was sad. Really sad. And it somehow made Kessia feel angry. Angry at Gehenna for letting such people live in such conditions. How could they treat they're own people like this? But then again, her thoughts focus back on herself and Jacknife, the both of them were experimented on and they were people too. If they could do this to them what's stopping Gehenna from turning all the people in the unwanted sectors into experiments too?

Kessia followed Jacknife into the faded blue shack. The makeshift home looked like it would collapse any moment but at least it wasn't like the dreary white walls of the lab cells.
"I'd rather stay here than be inside a lab cell." Kessia said as she looked for a corner to sit in. She sat down and looked at Jacknife, "How long have you been staying here? The guard up front seems to know who you are."

[Alanoth]

While waiting for Kessia to enter, Alanoth unrolled a scavenged and dirty sleeping bag that was set near the door. It was the only one here, so he'd give it to her, as per chivalry. Seeing the pains that 'progress' had thus far accomplished would definitely be a huge change for Kessia, and he only hoped that it wouldn't effect her too much in the wrong direction. People needed to look past the low and high end living of their sectors and see the Wastelands, see exactly what Gehenna had caused. If he was sure she trusted him enough, he'd ask her to help, and from there, once everyone saw the truth, bring down the beast itself.

Alanoth grimaced at Kessia's rather blunt statement, but it was probably true. After all, she had felt that way enough to escape the labs and end up in that alley. He tossed the sleeping bag over to her, then sat on a makeshift low chair on the floor before answering her question. "Yeah, the guard knows me alright, most everyone in this sector does by now. To them, I'm not Jacknife, I'm whatever they want to call me. Having escaped the monstrosities of Gehenna, to willingly come here, and immediately start helping folks isn't something easily forgotten. To a lot of these sick, poor, and forgotten people, I must seem like some kind of hero...but they have no idea just how much of a monster I really am. I've been wandering the Wastelands since I escaped from Gehenna almost a year ago, and I've seen everything that Gehenna's destroyed with the wastes from their factory and their greed...The outer wall that separates the city from the world," he paused a moment, his fist clenching hard enough to make his nails pierce the skin, "it rotted away years ago, and now beasts-mutated by the toxic air-roam the wastelands and kill anyone unlucky enough to not have someplace to hide. That's why if you need water at night, or a bathroom break, live without it."

[Andvarietta]

The sleeping bag that Jacknife threw towards Kessia fell with a soft thud on the floor as she missed it by a foot. She felt slightly embarrassed, she was never good at catching and the researchers at the lab were always prepared to punish her if she missed catching a few things. Kessia shook her head and patted out the sleeping bag. No, she was free now. She doesn't have to worry about Gehenna anymore...right?

Kessia prepared the sleeping bag while she listened to Jacknife speak. From how his gestures, it seems that Kessia will have the benefit of sleeping in the sleeping bag. A little dirty but it's still softer than the metal beds in the lab cell.
"Mutated beasts?" Kessia murmured, there are such things as that outside of the lab? Kessia would ask Jacknife more questions but it's been a long day and she doubt he would want to continue answering her questions. She didn't want to sound like some hopelessly curious child but then again, she was one. She's been inside the lab for so long she has forgotten what the outside world looked like. Then again, she doesn't remember how long she had been in the lab.
Getting ready to turn in, Kessia looked at Jacknife one more time, "Thanks again for today Jacknife. Goodnight."
With that she turned away from him and snuggled herself inside the sleeping bag, closing her eyes to sleep.

---

The Gehenna barracks were busy with normal lab guards and soldiers running around, prepping themselves for their hunt. They have received their orders, head into the Wastelands, find the escaped experiment and kill anything that gets in their way. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, a solemnly silent soldier sat on a chair, his blaster rifle was in one hand, held like a staff. His face was emotionless but his eyes said otherwise. He knew this day would happen, the day that Ex-563 would escape. The soldier sighed softly and stood up, he doesn't want to be part of this hunt...at least not yet. No one else could order him to do so, since he outranked everyone in the barracks, unless another commander walks in.

"Not joining in the fun?" a female voice cooed from behind the solemn soldier. He turned to face the source of that hateful and annoying voice.
"I've got better things to do." he replied.
"Really?" the female commander mocked him, "Is it because it's her?"
"Why don't you go back to being his whore?" the solemn commander retorted, a smirk playing on his face, "I bet he'd want you to keep him busy while the others go look for his precious."
The female commander gritted her teeth and watched the other commander disappear from the barracks. One day she'll have her revenge, on him and that bitch Kessia.

The barrack doors opened, unleashing two platoons of soldiers, each with about 50 to 100 soldiers. They'll scout the area with a smaller platoon first, assess the situation and see who else is with the target.
"Remember! The researchers want her alive, but if she doesn't cooperate, she can be beaten to near death." the leading soldier cried out as they approached the gate that led to the wasteland sector.
"Yes sir!" the others responded.
"Kill everything else that gets in the way, even the civilians. They're nothing but scum living in the wastelands anyway."

The platoon arrived before the gate to the western sector. They waited for a few minutes as the gate's mechanism started to function and open slowly. A loud and long creak echoed in the air as the gates open, followed by the thundering sound of footsteps as about 200 soldiers marched into the western sector and started the hunt for their prey.

[Alanoth]

Alanoth simply watched Kessia for a moment, and smiled when she thanked him and wished him goodnight. Such a sweet soul, whatever Gehenna did to her, it should never have occurred. What they had imagined for her future, was not something that could ever be forgiven. Watching that pretty young woman sleep there in the corner, Alanoth vowed two things. Gehenna will never take her back, I will die defending her if I have to. One day soon...I'll tell her my real name. It was late, and having already made up his mind on what to do, he leaned back in his chair as best he could, then slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

In what seemed like only a few seconds, Alanoth awoke to the guard shaking him. In a gruff voice, then man spoke in a hurried whisper. "A small Gehenna platoon is searching the Wastelands for a girl, and I'm assuming its her. They'll be here in about an hour to ask questions, and so I've arranged for a vehicle to take the two of you to the Dunes. Don't worry about us, just make sure they don't catch either of you. Good luck, the vehicle's at the west gate." The ragged guard left quickly, and Alanoth made silent movements to carefully pick up Kessia without waking her, then used his shadow matter displacement to quickly take them to the gate once outside. He carefully set her in the back seat of the rebuilt car, and sat next to her. The vehicle hummed to life--surprisingly quietly--and they rode west towards the setting sun. There's no way we'll reach the Dunes before dark, I just hope that we get lucky somehow...

[Andvarietta]

"No! I don't wanna!" A 12-year-old Kessia screamed as she struggled to break free from the researcher's grasp.
"Now, now. It's only a few injections." The faceless researcher said softly, "It'll be alright."
"No! No!" No matter how much Kessia struggled, she was too weak against the strength of the researcher. Even if by some minute chance that she could over power them, they would always call the guards. They would strap her onto the cold metal table, strap he in so tight that the straps would leave marks on her skin. And the blinding light that shone brilliantly on the ceiling, that was the only bright thing she got to see while strapped onto the table. Kessia would cry and cry as she felt the needles pierce through her skin.

Suddenly the door to the lab busted open and another tall figure would walk in, shouting angrily at the researchers.
"What are you doing?! This wasn't part of the plan!" the faceless man said angrily, "She's just a child!"
He pushed the researchers away and unstrapped the girl from the cold metal table, carrying her in his warm arms. No one seemed to be able to defy this man, the researchers and guards just stood back quietly. But before this man could leave with Kessia, another man in a white lab coat appeared at the door.
"Well, well. This is a surprise." the faceless man in a lab coat cooed, "Where are you taking her?"
"None of your goddamn business! I have custody over her today!"

Kessia's memory started to fade in an out. The faceless people around her suddenly appeared to have faces, but before Kessia could remember who these people were, she felt a weird, unsettling feeling in her stomach.

Kessia shot her eyes open and realized she was inside a vehicle. She felt like she wanted to puke but she held it in, covering her mouth tightly as she looked around. She was inside a vehicle with Jacknife and they seemed to be driving away. Did something happened?
"Jacknife?" Kessia muttered.

---

The search platoon had split into four groups, each with 50 members. They scoured the areas closer to the sector gates first, taking note that the sun will be setting soon.
"Sir! We found an encampment over to the east. It seems like there are people there."
"Good. that's where we'll start!"
The search platoon went off to the area where Jacknife and Kessia had been several minutes ago.
"Contact the other search teams and tell them to return, we'll go back to Utopia after we question these people." the commanding officer barked at one of the guards.
"Yes sir!" the guard immediately started off, he needed to get better reception to contact the others.
The soldiers marched towards the encampment, the commanding officer leading the way. He saw a cloaked and hooded figure in what looked like the entrance to the encampment.
"You there!" he shouted after he arrived several meters from the figure, he didn't want to stand too close, that person could be diseased for all he knows, "Have you seen anybody suspicious coming through here?"

[Alanoth]

Looking up with an exaggeratedly shaky motion, the guard slowly gazed upon the Gehenna patrolman, and shook his head. "Y-you must g-go *cough, cough*, it is not safe, this is a colony of the diseased. You risk infection being this close." The guard could have easily dispatched the entire squad, but he knew that the Gehenna soldiers were extremely paranoid about the Wastelands, and could easily be scared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alanoth felt Kessia moving around, but didn't react at first. He kept his eyes on the area around their vehicle, trying to see through the darkness. They weren't quite out of range of the headlights being seen by Gehenna, but not turning on one's headlights at night in the Wastelands was a huge risk. Countless mutants could see through the dark easily, and even more easily tear apart both steel and flesh. Soon, they passed over a hill and out of sight, then the driver turned on all of his high-beam lights, emitting a gargled shriek somewhere off in the darkness. Alanoth held his weapon close, and Kessia closer, it was fortunate that the nightvision beasts were also sensitive to bright lights.

He finally noticed Kessia as she began to mutter his codename, and he set a hand on her hair reassuringly. "Don't worry, everything's fine. Something came up and we had to move during the night, we're driving there now. If you want, go ahead and go back to sleep. It will be several hours until we get there...if we get there safely at all."

[Andvarietta]

The commanding officer of the scouting platoon eyed the shaky robed figure before him. The man was coughing and it wouldn't be surprising if they really were diseased. He turned away and looked at the sky, the last rays of sunlight was disappearing fast. This was a good time to return to Utopia. He signaled his men to return to base. He gave one last look at the robed figure, a small smirk played on his lips as he said, "I hope you and your colony gets better soon."
After they were nearing the gates back to Utopia, one of the soldiers asked the commanding officer if it was alright to leave the colony standing.
"We'll let them live for tonight," the officer replied, "Come morning, we'll send the eradicators to do their job."

---

Kessia felt the warmth from Jacknife's body. His voice sounded soothing and she did contemplate to go back to sleep, but something was tugging at her memory. This feeling, this feeling of another person's body warmth, another person holding her close and reassuring her...it felt so familiar...
She closed her eyes for a moment, a blurred image of a man, smiling at her appeared. But soon the smile the man wore turned into a smirk and the gentle arms he wrapped around her pinned her onto the ground. With his whole weight this man had rendered Kessia hopeless, no matter how much she struggled he wouldn't let her go. The man uttered some words but she couldn't hear, all she heard was the sound of his laugh followed by his hands ravaging her body.

Kessia's eyes snapped open and she pushed herself away from Jacknife. Her eyes wide with fear and her body trembling, a few seconds later she had realized that she had pushed away Jacknife, not the blurred man in her vision.
"I...I'm s-sorry..." Kessia's voice trembled as her body remembered what the man had done to her, "I..."
Before she could finish a loud shriek echoed in the distance.
"W-what was that?" Kessia had never heard of such a sound before.

It was silent for a moment, save for the light humming of the vehicle's engine. But the silence was soon broken with another loud shriek, followed by the sound of something ramming into the vehicle from the side. Kessia screamed as she tumbled inside the vehicle, whatever it was that hit them, it was strong enough to send the vehicle flying, turning it over a few times before landing a final time on its tires. The vehicle's engine stopped, the driver, unconscious. Kessia shook her head, feeling slightly groggy at the rough tumble. She looked outside and saw a creature which was at least 8 feet tall with a human like head but with jaws that looked like a shark's. The creature's body was about 10 feet long, it had long scrawny 'arms' which were its forelegs and it had a pair of strong 'legs', which made it look like it had the hind legs of a frog. It's long spiky tail lashed behind it as it shrieked, sticking out its tongue as if sensing the air.

The creature didn't look like it had eyes but it seemed to sense the world around it with its tongue, similar to a snake. The creature's long black tongue slithered out of its mouth and waved in the air, as if it was another tail. The creature turned in the direction of the vehicle. The vehicle's lights were still on but it was flickering. As the creature got closer, Kessia could see that the beast had sharp claws at the end of its 'arms' and 'legs'. Kessia felt dread and horror as she looked at the creature. Will the beast ram into them again or will it open the vehicle like a can and gobble up the contents within it?

[Alanoth]

The way she almost immediately pulled away from him was surprising, and Alanoth wondered if he had done something wrong. Then he realized it must have been a trigger for some kind of memory, something else that Gehenna had done to the poor girl. I swear, I will find out what they did to her, then I'll find the head of the company, and show his face and heart just how well his bio-weapon works. With that in mind, he tried to reassure her again, but the shriek that split the night air just before ramming into the vehicle made his blood run cold.

When he opened his eyes, he did his best not to groan, then immediately tried to find the driver and Kessia. The driver was completely unconscious, but the thicker plating on the driver's section would give him some protection for now. Kessia was still right side up, having fallen onto the roof of the overturned vehicle. She was mostly unharmed, just banged up, and looking very scared as the best came closer to the vehicle, testing the air around it. A Shrieking Charger, this was not going to be good, especially since Alanoth was somehow still in his seat, and therefore hanging upside down. He soon noticed that the bottom of the vehicle wasn't very thick, and since it was the middle of the night, finding shadows wouldn't be a problem.

He quickly activated his powers, the tattoos along his arm shifting and moving, forming a Wakizashi short sword, which he immediately used to cut a hole in the bottom of the vehicle, then cut his own seat belt. "Stay here!" He said to Kessia, then immediately climbed out, summoning another short sword and turning to face the monstrosity. It soon caught his scent, and detecting that he was no longer within the vehicle, shrieked loudly in an attempt to stun him. He winced, but stayed focused, waiting for it to charge. It did so, and when it came within ten feet of the vehicle, he jumped, somersaulting in the air and slashing at the creature's back neck, its most vulnerable area. With a much feebler cry of pain, it smashed into the vehicle and fell dead.

Alanoth panted a moment more, then rushed to check on Kessia. Just as he knelt down to look in the window, something jumped onto the overturned car, and he looked up just as the Charger pounced him and began slashing at him amidst a deadly grapple. He cried out in pain, using high-speed evasion to get out of its grasp just as it attempted to bite him. His tattoos shifted again, much more rapidly and glowing a slightly different color than their black normalcy, showing through his clothes. He reaches behind himself, and pulls out a katana, giving a shout as he swings at the creature, hacking off its arms and then piercing its heart. As it shrieked its death shriek, more responded in the distance...in every direction. The weapon disipated, and he reached into the vehicle, pulling Kessia out as quickly as possible. "Come on, we have to get out of here as quickly as possible. Don't worry about the driver, he has weapons and will be fine until we can send help."

[Andvarietta]

All Kessia could do was stare at the creature. But she snapped out of her daze when she heard Jacknife telling her to stay put. She watched in awe as Jacknife flew through the air attacking the beast with such precision and grace. When the beast clawed him, Kessia gasped. She wanted to help him, but what can she do? At her current state she'd only be a hindrance than aide. After Jacknife defeated the beasts, more seemed to be shrieking in the distance. Were they going to be surrounded?

Kessia could feel Jacknife's strong grip on her hands and she felt him pull her out of the vehicle. She turned to look at the unconscious driver and was about to say something when Jacknife reassured her that the driver would be alright. Kessia then noticed that the creatures didn't seem to notice the unconscious driver, maybe it was because he was unconscious?
"What are those things?" Kessia said as she followed Jacknife. The both of them were running through the dunes now. It was barren and dark, but the sound of those creatures following them echoed in the near silent night. There was a long shriek, followed by another one and then another. Were those things communicating with each other?

Kessia then turned to look at Jacknife as they ran. She eyed him, wondering if he was hurt anywhere. He did cry out in pain and it did seem like the monster managed to land a hit on him.
"Jacknife, are you alright? Are you hurt?" Kessia asked, her face twisted with worry. It was probably a stupid question to ask and there was probably no time to stop and examine him, since the place they were in was totally unsafe. Suddenly something shot out from the shadows behind them and wrapped itself around Kessia's leg, causing her to fall flat on her face. The same thing shot out and wrapped itself around Jacknife's leg, trying to pull him down.

Kessia immediately turned to look at her leg, it was a strange worm like creature with part of its body buried in the sand. It was oozing with a green slime that seemed to sting her skin. Not wanting to trouble Jacknife, Kessia aimed her chi blaster at the thing and shot at it. The creature squealed and unwrapped itself from Kessia's leg. The ground beneath her started to shake and more of the worm creatures popped out.
"Uh oh." Kessia took a step back and started shooting the creatures with her chi blaster. In the distance she could see one of the earlier monsters catching up to them.
"Any ideas Jacknife?" Kessia cried out as she continued to shoot the worm creatures that kept on popping out of the sand.

[Alanoth]

Alanoth quickly replied to her as the ran. "They're called Shrieking Chargers, first they stun you with their shrieks, then they charge you and eat your face." He heard them begin their hunting chorus, a long stream of shrieks that helped communicate to other Shriekers in the area that potential food was around. He had only once ever been caught up in one of these hunts...and he only came away alive because thirteen other people died for him. He heard her concern, and shook his head, though he did have a slight gash across his torso that one couldn't see in the dark. It would heal soon anyway, so to him it didn't matter. What happened next, definitely did.

One instant she was running beside him, the next she had fallen face first. Then he felt something wrap around his leg. An Acid Grub, he quickly summoned a small pistol of sorts, and killed it with a shot before it could do any damage. Kessia was surrounded by a small torrent of the annoying bugs, and he too soon had to fire at more than one at a time to keep his leg free. More Shriekers Chargers were coming, and Kessia was crying out to him for ideas. "I've got one," he looked around, and soon located a dead tree not far off that could support the weight of a human being, but just one. "Sorry about this," he said, summoning a cloud of shadow matter and making it take her straight to the tree. With Kessia now hopefully safe, he turned to face the Shriekers and Grubs, eyes and tattoos suddenly growing bright red.

The darkness around him began to shift and take shapes, actual physical shapes, of strange and grotesque beasts that were either realistic or mythical knock off made completely of shadows. Most of the beasts immediately attacked the Grubs, pulling out of the ground and ripping them to pieces. The rest followed him as the redness of his tattoos actually burned bright formations through his shirt, then he let out a savage cry and charged the Chargers. Being stupid animals, they were confused that a prey would actually charge THEM, and that distracted them just long enough. He summoned a gigantic scythe in one hand, a curved sword in the other, then began slashing and hacking around the Shriekers like some kind of deranged acrobat, his pets devouring and pulling apart the beasts with ease right behind him. The carnage didn't last long, but it was so bloddy that he knew that his clothes would be almost as red as his tattoos in the morning. Everything seemed to be dead, so he disipated all of his summonings, still glowing bright and angry red, then changed into shadow matter, grabbing Kessia on his way to the small encampment to the north. They reached it about an hour and a half later, and he held Kessia in his arms as they reatomized and went straight to is prearranged residence- a cozy looking shack made of sandstone.

- - - Updated - - -

Alanoth quickly replied to her as the ran. "They're called Shrieking Chargers, first they stun you with their shrieks, then they charge you and eat your face." He heard them begin their hunting chorus, a long stream of shrieks that helped communicate to other Shriekers in the area that potential food was around. He had only once ever been caught up in one of these hunts...and he only came away alive because thirteen other people died for him. He heard her concern, and shook his head, though he did have a slight gash across his torso that one couldn't see in the dark. It would heal soon anyway, so to him it didn't matter. What happened next, definitely did.

One instant she was running beside him, the next she had fallen face first. Then he felt something wrap around his leg. An Acid Grub, he quickly summoned a small pistol of sorts, and killed it with a shot before it could do any damage. Kessia was surrounded by a small torrent of the annoying bugs, and he too soon had to fire at more than one at a time to keep his leg free. More Shriekers Chargers were coming, and Kessia was crying out to him for ideas. "I've got one," he looked around, and soon located a dead tree not far off that could support the weight of a human being, but just one. "Sorry about this," he said, summoning a cloud of shadow matter and making it take her straight to the tree. With Kessia now hopefully safe, he turned to face the Shriekers and Grubs, eyes and tattoos suddenly growing bright red.

The darkness around him began to shift and take shapes, actual physical shapes, of strange and grotesque beasts that were either realistic or mythical knock off made completely of shadows. Most of the beasts immediately attacked the Grubs, pulling out of the ground and ripping them to pieces. The rest followed him as the redness of his tattoos actually burned bright formations through his shirt, then he let out a savage cry and charged the Chargers. Being stupid animals, they were confused that a prey would actually charge THEM, and that distracted them just long enough. He summoned a gigantic scythe in one hand, a curved sword in the other, then began slashing and hacking around the Shriekers like some kind of deranged acrobat, his pets devouring and pulling apart the beasts with ease right behind him. The carnage didn't last long, but it was so bloddy that he knew that his clothes would be almost as red as his tattoos in the morning. Everything seemed to be dead, so he disipated all of his summonings, still glowing bright and angry red, then changed into shadow matter, grabbing Kessia on his way to the small encampment to the north. They reached it about an hour and a half later, and he held Kessia in his arms as they reatomized and went straight to is prearranged residence- a cozy looking shack made of sandstone.

[Andvarietta]

When Kessia heard Jacknife apologizing, she wondered what it was for. A few seconds later, she got to find out the reason as she was whisked away by a black cloud. It swept her off her feet and carried her off to a dead tree in the distance, safely perching her on top, away from the Shrieking Chargers and away from those worm like things. She looked at Jacknife in the distance, he was glowing red, a seemingly dark aura encompassed him and materialized into creatures from one's nightmares. Kessia just sat there, wide eyed, her hands gripping tightly on the branches that held her safe from the worm infested ground below. She felt fear as the battle scene unfolded before her. She didn't know if she was afraid for the shriekers, afraid for Jacknife's safety or afraid of Jacknife himself.

He killed everything with ease and the shadow beasts that materialized behind him killed everything else just as easy. So this...this was the perfect killing machine that Gehenna had turned Jacknife into. She felt afraid of him, but at the same time she also felt pity and sadness for him. It must have hurt, all those experiments done to him, to turn him into that...that glowing blood red figure with black shadows destroying everything in its wake. No, this wasn't a time to be afraid of him, he had afterall saved her and as a fellow experiment, she should know that he never wanted to be that way. Aiming her chi blaster at the ground, she shot as much of those worm things as she can, especially those that were moving towards Jacknife and his shadow minions. He may not need the help but she wasn't going to just sit there and wait.

Before long Jacknife had dispatched the creatures until none were left. Before Kessia could call out to him, she felt herself get whisked away and the feeling of nausea returned. He grabbed her and turned into that mist form again, perhaps to ensure a quick escape. Kessia closed her eyes and held onto Jacknife tightly, trying to not to feel sick as they sped through the dunes in the cold and dark night.

After a while the feeling of nausea had gone. She didn't know if they were still travelling or if they had stopped but when Kessia felt something warm and wet on her skin, she immediately opened her eyes. Kessia blinked, it seemed like they were safe for now as she looked at her surroundings. They were standing outside a shack made of sandstone. Kessia wanted to just stare at the shack but she remembered that warm and wet feeling on her skin and that smell...the smell of blood. Kessia looked at Jacknife's torso and saw his blood seeping through his clothes.
"Jacknife you're hurt!" Kessia said as she let herself down from his arms, "We have to treat you quickly!"
Kessia was sensitive to the smell of blood, several blurry images flashed before her mind's eye but she ignored them. She didn't know just how deep the wound was, but she wasn't going to leave anything to chance.
"Do you have a first aid kit in there?" Kessia asked as she pointed to the shack. Without waiting for Jacknife to respond she ran into the shack and started looking for a first aid kit or anything that could help sterilize the wound and stop the bleeding.

---

The control room was quiet, save for a few soldiers who were working the night shift. The computers and monitors beeped and blinked with various redundant noises and numbers. A sleepy looking guard looked at his screen, it was a radar screen and he happened to have the radar scanning device (RSD) pointed in the direction of the Wastelands. There was nothing at first but several minutes later there was a loud ping.
"Huh? Wazzis?" the guard sat up on his chair, his sleepiness now replaced with curiosity, "Hey, look at this!"
Two guards who were seated next to him stood up and looked at the RSD screen.
"That's an odd ping." one of the guards said, "Could it be the experiment we're looking for?"
"Do we have any of our sector cameras in that area?" the other guard asked.
"I think the closest one is the one at the gate. It'll take it at least till morning before it'll reach the spot marked by the RSD." the guard who discovered the ping said as he started typing in some commands into the computer, "Should we send a scout in that direction?"
"Might as well." one of the guards replied, "Them scientists are bitching about us not finding their escaped toy. If you ask me, they should've had better security in their labs. Just send a single scout, those devices are expensive and we need more of them to be around this sector."
"Alright, scout sent then."

At the gates separating Utopia and the Wastelands a small metal box about the size of a shoe box, opened itself and a small bird-like device, made to look similar to a sparrow leaped out. It was a gleaming silver at first but after its eyes changed color from red to green, the device camouflaged itself like a real sparrow. It then flapped its wings and flew off into the direction of the dunes where the RSD caught the anomaly.

[Alanoth]

After they had arrived, he stood panting, feeling exhausted after his long term use of his powers. He hadn't gone to Shadow Master mode for quite a while, and he was surprised that it still was stable. His heart rate and increased exponentially before it was over, if anything had happened to himself or Kessia...No, he shook the thought from his mind, that will never happen. He swore that he would never be that monster again, no matter the cost.

He looked down at the cut Kessia was so worried about, and found himself a bit surprised. The regeneration would begin in a short while, but it was still surprising that the Shrieker's claw had managed to cut that deep with such an off-handed swipe. He would have told her that he didn't have a first aid kit-making a mental note to get one soon-but she had already run inside. Right as she entered the doorway, the adrenaline of the regeneration kicked in, and he sucked in air sharply while his cut began to heal itself quickly. He shuffled inside, and about two minutes later the cut itself was gone, no infections of any kind were present. His tattoos were still a bit red, but at least they weren't glowing any more.

He soon found Kessia and put a hand to her shoulder, glad that his eyes had stopped glowing by now. No need to scare the poor girl while he's trying to reassure her. "Its fine, Gehenna gave me a regenerative ability that kicks in about 15 minutes after I receive an injury. The cut's gone and I'm fine, though I will need a new shirt at some point." He tried to smile at her, showing that she needn't worry any further.

[Andvarietta]

Kessia was busy rummaging through a basket on a table when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She stopped and turned to look at Jacknife, her expression was that of bewilderment as Jacknife spoke of his regenerative ability. As if in disbelief she looked down to his torso and touched the area where a wound was once present. He was right, it was gone. The wound had completely healed and there was no sign of infection nor a scar. Kessia took a step back and leaned on the table behind her. She let out a sigh of relief and managed a smile at Jacknife.
"Thank goodness." she sighed, "I'm not too fond of blood. It triggers bad memories."

Kessia then took a good look at Jacknife. She took in the glowing tattoos that decorated his body. She looked at the tattoos on his arms and remembered how it shifted and materialized weapons out of thin air. She then looked at Jacknife's face. She never really had a good look at his face and realized now that despite his fearsome looks, he was a dashing young man. She studied the tattoos that marked his face and without realizing she had her right hand touching the glowing tattoo on his cheek. When Kessia realized what she was doing, she pulled her hand back and shifted hesitantly.

"Oops, sorry." she looked away, a slight blush on her face as she fidgeted her fingers, "Didn't mean to stare."
Out of embarrassment Kessia walked away from Jacknife in a rush and looked around the shack they were in. It seemed cozy and was more spacious than the tent they had stayed in the previous encampment.
"Wow, this place is pretty." Kessia said aloud without turning to look at Jacknife, she was still feeling a little embarrassed and awkward. Hopefully he wouldn't notice and she did her best to change the subject.
"Did you build this place?" she skipped to the window to look outside and saw several tents.
"Are there people living in those tents?"
She turned to face Jacknife, her face brimming with curiosity now, "Is this another encampment like the previous one? Are there more places like this?"

[Alanoth]

Alanoth just listened as she spoke semi-quickly, for most of it made sense. Well, the part about her not liking blood made sense, but not what she accidentally did. He had suspected that she may study him closely after the fight, possibly scared by his tattoos. He hadn't gotten around to explaining them after all. But for her to subconsciously touch his face...that caught him completely off guard. Why had she done that? The expression on her face was one that he couldn't possibly read, as he was inexperienced with dealing with the emotions of other people beyond their pain, grief, fear, anger, and/or gratitude.

She immediately apologized, but he himself had only just awoken himself from his own haze, so he forgave her quickly and silently. As she commented on the house, he noticed that she was trying to hide her face, and that he had seen her face go a little red after she had stopped touching his face. The feeling of that touch hadn't been a bad one necessarily, it was just unusual. She also quickly spouted questions about the place they were in, and smiled at the expected curiosity.

"No, I didn't build this shack." He began casually, trying to help her out by forgetting about what had happened. "The people living in those tents did, mostly, I helped out when I found out they were building it for me. Apparently, I had saved their community leader's only daughter from some Acid Grubs a week or so before, and in their gratitude, were preparing a place for me should I ever come by. I couldn't let someone just do that for m, I didn't feel that I had earned it and I still don't, so I came as quickly as I had heard about it and helped them finish it." He walked to the window where she stood, looking out at the encampment and beyond. "The last encampment we were at, was for those who could not safely leave the shadow of the Wall. They are all very sick from the fumes and waste that leaves the other districts, and that's why most of them were either coughing or dying. This place, is a roaming band of desert dwellers, who have made a long-term stay in this area because of the house they built for my purposes. They've lived out here longer than most, the Wastelands and its many monstrosities are just things they handle like you and I handle controlling our powers. Its what they do. There are probably other places like this, but this is the only one I've ever seen that was like a clan or tribal family of sorts."

Absently, he noticed a sparrow a ways off, and thought it curious. Most such small birds avoided being this far away from the Utopia sector. He ignored it, and turned to Kessia as she responded.

[Andvarietta]

"They deal with those things earlier everyday?" Kessia was surprised. Normal people can fight such monstrosities without having special abilities?
"Do they have special kinds of weapons to defend themselves against Acid Grubs and Shriekers?" Kessia asked as she looked outside the window again. There was a faint light coming from the eastern skies, dawn was approaching. Kessia could feel a sense of relief, a lot had happened in a day and now the night is dissipating and a new day is approaching. She didn't think she would successfully get to see a new day from outside of the labs that she was locked in.
She then turned to look at Jacknife, wanting to address something he mentioned earlier.
"You like helping people, don't you?" she asked, "You helped those people in the previous encampment and you helped the people here."
"Even though you have such fearsome powers..." Kessia trailed for a moment, noticing a small bird flying in the far distance. She paused. There was something different about that bird. She turned to face the window and stared at the bird for a while. When Kessia was locked in the lab, her only access to the sky was through a small window and she used to see small birds like sparrows and swallows flying everyday. She recognized their movement, their grace as they glided in the wind. This bird that was seemingly flying around in the distance had an odd pattern. It fluttered its wings more than usual and didn't seem to glide...

"Ah!" Kessia suddenly remembered seeing something similar in a lab once. The researchers had made a scouting device look exactly like a bird with holographic technology. The original device was shaped like a little bird but it was made full of metal and when it took flight it switched on a hologram and changed its appearance to look like a normal bird. But the technology wasn't perfected yet, the 'bird' wouldn't stop flapping its 'wings' and did have the same gliding grace as a natural bird would. Kessia suddenly felt a sense of protectiveness. She didn't want Gehenna to come and bother these people, they were already suffering by having to live with monsters that could kill them any night.
"Excuse me." Kessia said to Jacknife as she ran out the door and in the direction where the 'bird' was flying around.

---

"This is interesting." A guard in front of a RSD monitor said as he watched the live video feed from the sparrow scouting device, "There's a vehicle a few miles back and now there's a trail of acid grub corpses and some shriekers. Seems like a battle."
The control room door whizzed open and the solemn commander from the barracks a day earlier walked in. He had a cigarette in his mouth, his face rough and unshaven, his dark hair a mess.
"Found anything?" he asked, his voice deep and his tone uncaring. He hated his shift at the control room. It was boring and nothing much usually happens. But it was a good time for him to try to relax and get his thoughts together.
"Yes sir," the guard by the monitor replied, clicking away at the keyboard, "It seems like the sparrow scouting device found several things in the area where there was an odd ping hours ago."
"What is it, let me see." The solemn commander approached the guard and gestured for him to leave his seat. The guard moved away and let the commander look at the live video feed from the scouting device.
"There's nothing but sand, sand and more sand." the commander grumbled.
"Well yes, but earlier the sparrow found a vehicle wreck along with several acid grub corpses and even some shrieker corpses. Now I'm just sending it to scout further," the guard replied.
"Call it back," the commander ordered, "We don't have the resources to spare for such trivial matters."
"Yes sir." the guard got back on his seat and started typing on the keyboard but as he typed the commands to call back the sparrow, there was a bright flash of light on the video followed by static.

"Uh...sir..." the guard said in a hesitant tone, "The sparrow scouting device is...gone."
"What?" the solemn commander turned to look at the monitor, his face twisted in irritation, "How'd that happen?"
"I think it was attacked." the guard replied.
"By what? Can you show the last video footage before it got wiped?" the commander asked.
The guard started clicking away at the keyboard. Several windows popped up side by side on the monitor, each showing different time intervals of the video feed that the scouting device had recorded. He zoomed in on the one where it was the last five minutes before the sparrow's disappearance.
"Wait. Pause it at frame 4.45." the commander ordered, he saw something familiar but he just wanted to make sure. His eyes widened. On the paused video, there was a black figure in the distance, it didn't seem to move and there was a ball of light in front of the figure.
"Zoom in." the commander gritted his teeth, he knew what the zoomed in version was going to show. It was blurry but there was no mistaking it, it was a person. Also the ball of light which was in front of the person looked similar to the chi blaster that was given to Ex-563.
"Give me the coordinates where the sparrow was last seen," the commander turned and started walking towards the door, "I'm going for a little drive."

---

Kessia stood before the broken remains of the sparrow scouting device. Her hunch was right, it was a scouting device, which meant Gehenna was still looking for her and now perhaps a whole platoon would be mobilizing soon to capture her. She gritted her teeth at the thought. There was a chance that she might be endangering the people at the encampment if Gehenna soldiers came looking for her. She stood there in silence for a moment, thinking what she should do.

---

"Are the eradicators ready?" a commanding officer asked as he looked at the rows of robotic soldiers standing just outside the barracks.
"A few more tweaks and they'll be ready," a technician quipped as he fiddled with the control settings of the leading eradicator bot. Eradicator robots or eradicator bots, a mass produced robotic army equipped with machine guns and some low ammo shotguns, used to kill anything that needs to be destroyed. If the bots failed to shoot the target dead, it could always detonate itself and kill whatever that was in a radius of two to three meters.
"We'll send these in to eradicate all those in that diseased encampment." the commanding officer said.
"So set them to take no prisoners?" the technician asked.
The commanding officer grinned menacingly as he watched the sun rise from the eastern horizon, "Yes."

[Alanoth]

Alanoth just nodded patiently, trying to answer her questions as best as he could. "These people basically practice fighting those monsters every day, its one of the only ways to survive. They don't have specialized weapons, in a sense, they essentially just use spears and slingshots because that's all they have. That's why they were so amazed and grateful when I brought their leader's daughter back. She was only three at the time, and had no way of defending herself." Then Kessia asked her about why he helped people, about how he had helped the encampment as well as these people.

Then she trailed off, and he watched her eyes, as they fell upon a very odd sparrow. If you hadn't been paying attention, like he hadn't earlier, you would have thought...it was real. Kessia reacted faster than he, eliminating the scout drone with her chi blaster. Alanoth hurried out after the explosion, standing next to her as she gazed at its remains. This possibly meant that Gehenna knew where they were, and Kessia seemed to know this by the way that she gritted her teeth. He would have turned to begin yelling for everyone to get out, but then he realized that it was dawn now...they should have all been awake by this time.

He dashed over to the nearest tent, opening it, and found no one. Perplexed, he strode to another, and there was nothing inside. In a confused panic, he hurried from tent to tent, searching diligently, and found the same thing each time: nothing. Eventually he had made his way to the largest tent of all--the leader's tent--and when he threw open the door, he quickly turned his head around as he practically bellowed vomit into the sand. The entire tribe, every man woman and child, was dead, in various stages of being ripped apart, and piled up in the center. He eventually made himself look back, and saw that every one of them had holes in their bodies, and not the kind you get from spears or claws. Gehenna had been here...with the eradicators...His eyes began to glow again, and he stood trembling, the tattoos on his body going into overdrive movement as they seemed to expand, slowly covering his body.

The people at the disease encampment were in danger now, and Alanoth swore that he would not let it happen again. He noticed Kessia close by, but didn't even try to hide his monstrous rage as he spoke. "I'm going back to the encampment, you can choose to come or not. But know this, there will be a lot of broken machines when I'm done, and hopefully the encampment will still be there. Those monsters at Gehenna did this, and they won't do it again."

[Andvarietta]

The grotesque sight of mangled corpses was too much for her to bear and yet Kessia couldn't look away. Was this the doing of Gehenna? What had these people done to deserve such a fate? Kessia just stood there frozen, the smell of blood thick in the air, it made her want to gag but she couldn't. She saw that there were children among the dead, some had their heads pulled off. All of the corpses had one thing in common, they were shot, heavily and a number of times. To kill these people this way and then to desecrate the corpses by pulling them apart...Gehenna...just how cruel can this organization be?!

Kessia noticed the dark and menacing aura emitting from Jacknife. He was angry, very, very angry. So was she, but her anger doesn't even seem to be in the same level as Jacknife's. No, his anger was different, it was seething with rage, anguish and a strong sense of hatred towards Gehenna corps. When he told her that he was going back to the other encampment, Kessia could feel her heart sink. Are the people in that encampment in danger too? Would they too send the eradicators to eliminate them?
"I'm coming with you." Kessia's face was twisted with anger as well, "I...I can't let such a thing happen to people who have nothing to do with Gehenna!"

---

The eradicators, fully armed and loaded, marched into the Wastelands. Their destination was the diseased encampment near the edge of the dunes. Soulless machines that at one time were human, the eradicators were something of a hybrid technology, incorporating technological advancement with the heretical skills of 'necromancy'. Not wanting to waste any of their test subjects, Gehenna would recycle them, either by part or as a whole. Those who didn't survive the same experimentations that Ex-563 and Jacknife were 'recycled' to be eradicators. And with each new data collected from their enemies the eradicators get stronger, but fortunately for Gehenna, they were more machines than anything, therefore as long as the coder inputs the right commands into them, they would be a force to be reckoned with.

There were about 100 eradicators closing in on the diseased encampment. And when the encampment was in view, the eradicators started their boosters and dashed forward with guns a blazing.

[Alanoth]

Alanoth nodded, eyes blaring a bright red, and the tattoos enveloping him, hiding all of him except for their red outlines and his red eyes. "Hold on." He said in a voice that was definitely inhuman, and he ran at Kessia, grabbing her just as the shadow matter deatomized them both, speeding them off towards the diseased encampment faster than sound. They soon arrived about a mile from the encampment, the eradicators already in sight. Alanoth knew what they were, but he didn't care, there was no sympathy for servants of Gehenna. They reatomized, Alanoth still running forward, only now giving a mighty bellow as his arms became vicious weapons, long blades of shadow matter that were each about eight feet long. Several beasts came into life from the shadows around him as ran, bellowing themselves and sprinting alongside him.

Just before Alanoth reached the accursed machines, he stretched forward his right hand, eyes and tattoos glowing like beams. Suddenly, a quarter of the machines began to shudder, shaking and rattling without control. Then, he crushed his hands together, and they all exploded, having been crushed via their shadows. He leapt into the lead eradicators, screaming wildly and slashing like a maniacal animal. He hacked at the accursed robots, he slashed them, he diced them, there was little left as he slew several at once. The beasts also attacked, ripping the robots limb from blasted limb, only leaving bits that even Gehenna wouldn't be able to recycle.

The eradicators soon recognized the threat, just as Alanoth's blades became long scythes, and he began to rake them all away in madness. One eradicator was fortunate enough to only lose its head, but the visual transmitter was still active for a few more second, pointed straight at him. Then, a beast crushed it on accident, and it wasn't the only one.

[Andvarietta]

There was a lot of screaming and crying at the diseased encampment as the eradicators opened fire at the helpless civilians. Some were killed immediately by the shots while others were left to bleed to death or were crushed by the stampeding machines. Just when all hope seems lost, shadows appeared and the familiar war cry of the shadow warrior, a title given to Jacknife by some of the residents of the Wastelands, echoed in the air.

Kessia ran towards the encampment after she and Jacknife had reatomized into the physical realm, she felt a little quesy but she could tell that her body was adapting to Jacknife's method of fast transportation. She watched Jacknife unleash hell on the eradicators, giving them no quarter and sparing none. Kessia then turned her attention to the survivors of the encampment, those who were frantically trying to run away. She ran to them, shooting at any eradicators that came near them with her chi blaster and gave the people a chance to escape.
"Run!" she shouted as she dealt with a few eradicators herself. She didn't get to destroy them in a hit or two, unlike Jacknife and his shadow minions, but she was able to take down a few with several repeated blasts. Kessia continued to help the survivors, occasionally glancing at Jacknife to see how he was doing. He was glowing bright red and the shadows around him ran amok. Was he going to be alright after the battle? Or will he lose himself and continue on his killing spree?

---

The pleasurable moan of a woman echoed in the researcher's room. The female commander was naked and tired before the table, while the researcher just smirked as he looked at the female commander. He took his clothes from the chair and started to put them on, he was already satisfied, but in a different manner. This 'toy' wasn't as fulfilling as the one that escaped.

Static noises came from the intercom at the researcher's desk. The researcher pressed a button on the intercom and answered, "What?"
"Krelian."
The researcher froze. The voice at the other end of the intercom was distorted and the original person's voice could not be pinpointed. Only one person in the whole of Gehenna would use such a manner to contact others anonymously.

"Deus, what can I do for you my liege?" Krelian asked, trying to stay as calm as he possibly could. No one knew what the President of Gehenna looked like. No one knew if it was a he or she because the president only spoke through intercoms or other radio devices to speak with his staff. He never spoke to them face to face and his voice was always distorted. Although everyone in Gehenna preferred to refer to him as a 'he' because it was so much easier than interchanging between he, she and it. Also the president of the corporation wouldn't just contact anyone without proper reason and when he does contact someone, the tasks he gives must be done or else the person contacted would risk sudden 'disappearance'.

"I am watching an interesting video feed from the eradicators." the distorted voice of Deus spoke, "It's quite entertaining. Your recycled toys are being destroyed by the bio-weapon that escaped over a year ago."
Krelian's face grimaced. Project Jacknife, how could he forget? That was one of his crowning achievements, a perfect killing machine but by some luck he managed to escape the lab facilities and go into hiding. But it was interesting that Jacknife appeared now, after disappearing without a trace and was it because of Ex-563 that also escaped recently?

"I will see to it that both experiments will be brought back to the lab," Krelian said as he ran a hand through his long dirty blonde hair.
There was static interference going through the intercom before a reply came.
"Do what you must." the distorted voice faded in and out, "You will be held responsible."
With that the call ended with a loud screeching noise followed by more static. Krelian winced as the noise temporarily caused his ears to ring.

Krelian could feel two hands moving around him and the female commander leaned herself behind his back.
"Was that Deus?" she asked, her voice a little shaky and her tone tired.
"Yes." Krelian replied as he turned to face the woman, "Vivian I have a favor to ask of you. Could you go out to the Wastelands and hunt for more specimens?"
"Ugh, why me?" Commander Vivian whined as she gazed into Krelian's blue eyes with her black eyes.
"Because you always bring back the best specimens to turn into disposable experiments." Krelian smirked.
"Fine, I will." Vivian pulled herself away from Krelian slowly and started to pick up her clothes which were on the floor.
"What if I run into Ex-563, do I have permission to capture?" she asked as she dressed herself.
"No." Krelian smirked at her question. He knew that even if he told her not to, she will find a way to get into battle with Kessia and perhaps even kill her. Her jealousy was a fierce motivating factor to get Kessia killed, but no, Krelian wanted Kessia alive.
"I have work to do." Krelian sat on his chair and started typing away on the keyboard. The monitor before him came to life and several windows popped up.
"Very well." Vivian tossed her golden locks back and made her way out of the office.

[Alanoth]

By the time Alanoth was finally done, there was no such thing as Eradicators in the Wastelands anymore. Every machine had been destroyed, mutilated, sliced, diced, etc. The beasts had no concept of taking prisoners, and very few things could injure of kll them. Actually, even Alanoth didn't know what could harm them. He only knew how to control them and summon them, he never had any intention to harm them, no matter how grotesque they were. As he gazed around, his anger began to slowly drain away, so he unsummoned the creatures, there were almost no shadows left anyway. He was still covered in shadows, with tattoos glowing a blood red, as he walked towards the encampment to see how everyone was doing. He soon reached the gate, and stopped, some of his anger reaching back into his mind. All of those people who had been shot...defenselesss, and innocent. Just one more reason that Gehenna would be brought down one day soon...for their many murders.

A sick child coughed nearby, and Alanoth's anger washed away instantly, his shadows and red eyes fading off as he knelt next to the young girl. She recognized him instantly, having been told of by her parents or other family, and smiled, despite her coughing. An Eradicator bullet had just grazed her mouth, knocking off her mouth mask, but she was just one of the lucky ones. Alanoth smiled back at her, his eyes normal now, but his tattoos would remain a bright red for a few more hours. He held her hand, and spoke to her softly. "Everything will be alright little one, the machines are gone. Where are your mother and father?" Her smile faded, and he knew what had happened even before she began crying, so he hugged her close, and she hugged back while sobbing. He carried her to the displaced orphans' tent, in a corner of the encampment, and he knew she would be taken care of.

Alanoth then wandered off, helping misplaced children, or helping adults repair their homes or even rescuing people from pieces of the encampment that pinned them down. By the time he felt satisfied, Alanoth had already asked around as to where he might find the girl he had arrived with, and been eagerly pointed in the right direction. He thanked his helpers, then went to find Kessia. He soon found her and smiled. "Hey, how are you doing?"

[Andvarietta]

Kessia was in a tent treating the wounded and the sick. She also made sure to calm the children down and gave them the protective masks that have fallen off while they were running. She approached a crying child who had scrapped his knee. The boy was holding onto his injured knee and sobbing.
"It's okay," Kessia spoke softly as she crouched beside him and patted the boy's head, "I'll make it hurt less."

She reached out her right hand and hovered it a few inches above the boy's wounded knee. She then closed her eyes and concentrated. Her right hand started to glow a soft blue and green color. The boy who was sobbing earlier paused and watched the dancing of lights from Kessia's hand to his wound. He turned silent as he watched, fascinated by the lights. And when the lights faded, his wound was gone, so was the pain. The boy looked up to Kessia, who had just opened her eyes and smiled.
"Thanks lady!" the boy grinned, his face still a little swollen from the crying.
"No problem!" Kessia smiled warmly. She then went around the tent to treat the others.

The sound of battle from outside seemed to have died down. We're they safe for now? And what about Jacknife? Was he alright? Suddenly Kessia felt light-headed. She Would've fainted if it weren't for the children nearby, who rushed to her side and helped keep her upright.
"Ladi u oka?" one of the smaller children asked.
Kessia placed a hand on the boy's head and smiled, "Yes I'm fine. Just a little dizzy is all."
Kessia straightened herself and continued to help the other wounded people.

The children watched her for a moment before running to her side to help her. Jacknife walked in then. He seemed battle-worn but his smile somehow made Kessia's heart skipped a beat. When he spoke to her, she nodded and replied with a smile.
"I'm alright." she then turned to look at the others before turning back to look at him, "Since you got the fighting under control I thought I'd help them escape and treat any wounds they had."
Her face then grimaced as she asked, "So...how many didn't have a chance to escape?"

[Alanoth]

Alanoth had watched from a distance as she was helped by the children, looks like he wasn't the only superhuman who's name would be held in high regard around here. It was a good thing, if Kessia too was seen and thought of as a helper of the people here, he wouldn't have to ever explain that she was with him in other hideouts. His smile fell when she asked her grim question, it was to be expected. He sighed, turning to look at just some of the destruction they had failed to prevent...what could be seen from here.

"I don't know," he said finally, turning to look back at her with sad eyes, "I saw a lot of bodies among the rubble for starters, but I don't think it is a tremendous amount. There's already a displaced and orphaned children's station near the western gate...and there was a lot of kids there when I dropped one little boy off." He sighed, wondering if he could have stopped this sooner. With all of his strength, all of his monstrous ferocity and animalistic rage, people had still died because he wasn't good enough. Not ever again if he could help it.

He tried to shake those thought, and turned back to Kessia again. "I think they'll need to move the encampment, not far of course, just outside of their original coordinates. Did you want to stick around and help with that?"

[Andvarietta]

Kessia looked away and sighed when Jacknife answered her question about the casualties.
"I see..." her face grimaced for a moment as she looked at the children, some were huddled together while others were helping the other survivors. Her face brightened slightly when Jacknife mentioned about a station for the displaced and orphaned children.
"Yes," she nodded and managed a small smile, "I'd like to help them."
She took a few steps forward, calling on some of the younger children to follow her.She paused for a moment before turning to face Jacknife.
"If it's possible..." she started, not sure if she should ask, "Could we go back to the encampment in the dunes? I'd like...I'd like to bury them..." A grotesque image of mangled body parts piled up on top of one another flashed in her mind, making her feel a slight pang of grief and anger. She clenched her fists quietly, how could they just kill people just like that? And even here, these people were not safe, they'd have to keep moving around, no real place to call home.
She looked back at Jacknife with determination in her eyes, "I'd like to bury those who were killed at the dunes, after we're done here."

---

"Open the gate." Commander Vivian growled at the guard that was posted at the west gate leading to the Wastelands.
"I'm afraid I can't do that yet, ma'am." the guard reply as he saluted her, "We sent in eradicators about an hour ago and usual protocol states that no one is to enter an area where eradicators are released in for at least another 3 to 5 hours."
"I know the protocol you dimwit." Vivian snorted, "Just open the gate! There's a reason why I'm ranked 'Commander', even if the eradicators go maverick they still won't be able to harm me."
"But ma'am..."
"I will not ask a third time, soldier." Vivian glared at the guard.
"Y-yes ma'am!" the guard gulped and opened the gate.

The engines that powered the gate mechanism roared into life and a loud creak echoed as the gate slowly opened.
"Good." Vivian snorted as she watched the door open, "Now I can go back to work."

[Alanoth]

Alanoth listened to everything Kessia had to say, and he definitely preferred when her face lit up as a result of the orphan news. She truly was a sight, her happiness made him feel happy for some reason, or a least, not so much like the monster he was. It panged him with his own sense of grief when she mentioned the dunes. He would never let Gehenna be forgiven for all they've done, not even when there is no Gehenna left. That determination in her eyes when she said she wanted to bury those people respectfully, he just couldn't say no.

So he didn't, and instead nodded. "We'll head back to the dunes as soon as the people here are situated well. I'm going to find their leaders, and see if we can't coordinate a better place for them to move to. I think they'l be fine to move on without us, so as soon as they've got it planned out we'll head to the dunes. Go ahead and help these kids out, there are a lot of them and I have a feeling they'll need someone like you." With that, he bowed slightly then turned on his heels and went to find the encampment leaders.

He found them easily, and even managed to speak with them. They were all too eager to listen to their savior once more, and finding a suitable location was no problem at all. According to a rough map of the Wastelands, there was a large, unoccupied valley in the Rustic Canyon out west that would do perfectly. So grateful were they, that they begged him to come visit them after they were settled, and even provided him with a vehicle-their last surviving one-for his trip to the dunes. He thanked their generosity, then left to collect the vehicle and find Kessia.

[Andvarietta]

Kessia helped lead the children to the temporary shelter set up by the surviving members of the diseased encampment. The children followed her obediently and the older children helped lead and support the other children that were younger and those that were injured. At the temporary shelter for the orphans and displaced children, Kessia told the children to support each other and help the adults if they could. She was happy around the children, at least for a moment. She could hear the distant sound of something creaking. It was faint but whatever that sound was, it didn't make her feel good.

"Stay here children and help the others okay?" Kessia told the children that surrounded her and patted one of them on the head gently, "I'm going to go look around and see if I'm needed elsewhere."
Well that was her excuse. In truth Kessia felt as if she should investigate what that distant creaking noise was. It sounded familiar, like the sound her heavy metal cell doors made when someone wanted to visit her in her cell. She shivered at the thought. She dreaded that sound. If she was lucky, it was the solemn commander, who treated her nice despite her being an experiment. She couldn't recall his name for now, but she still remembered his warm smile and his gentle eyes. But most of the time, when she heard the sound of her cell door open, it would almost, always, be him...

...That perverted and psychotic scientist. She didn't want to recall his name and her body shivered when her memories touched on some of the things that he...

Kessia stopped. She was contemplating so hard that she didn't realize she was moving on auto-pilot. Before she new it, she was lost amidst the ruins of the Wasteland, the surrounding area looked different from where she was moments ago. She was in an alley between two dilapidated buildings. She continued to walk towards the end of the alley and found herself at a clearing. It was a ruined playground, with rusted and broken pieces of playground equipment around. An image flashed before her eyes and she could see children playing at the playground for a few seconds before they vanished like ghostly apparitions.

Kessia rubbed her temples and shook her head, "What was that? A memory?"
Before Kessia could continue to ponder on the vision she saw she heard the sound of a twig snapping, followed by the feeling of something thin yet strong wrapping itself around her neck.
It was a whip! And she knew this whip very well...

"Well, well, well..." a female voice cooed from behind her, "Look who I found. If it isn't Ex-563."
Kessia's hands were trying to tug away at the whip that was slowly tightening around her neck, she knew the voice. She recognized it.
"Vivian..." Kessia growled as she turned to look at her assailant. The female commander just smirked and gave her whip a sharp tug, which pulled Kessia to the ground. Vivian loosened the whip around Kessia's neck but before the girl could react, she pulled out another whip and sent the other whip to choke Kessia's neck.

"What a pleasant surprise. He was asking me to look for new samples and look who I found?" Vivian smirked, using the other whip to slash at Kessia's body. Kessia cried out in pain but she couldn't do much, her hands were busy trying to keep the whip around her neck from completely choking her, so she couldn't defend herself from the other whip attacks. Vivian whipped Kessia some more, harder this time, enough to tear through her body suit and draw blood.
"A...are you...here to...take me back?!" Kessia choked.
"Sort of." Vivian's face grimaced, "He wants you alive but he didn't say anything about bringing you back in a bloody pulp." A malicious grin appeared on Vivian's face. She whipped Kessia a few more times before sending the other free whip to wrap around Kessia's hands and tugging it away so that the girl couldn't stop the other whip from choking her neck.

Kessia's eyes widened as she started to feel the squeeze from the whip around her neck and her wrists.
"But then again I think he could probably salvage whatever's left from you and transfer it to another body anyway." Vivian smirked. She pressed a button on the hilt of her whip and both whips became charged with electricity. Kessia screamed as electricity coursed through her body, it burned through some parts of her body suit and it made her bleed even more. Vivian laughed maniacally as she continued her slow torture on Kessia.
"I'm going to make your death a slow and excruciatingly painful one, dear." Vivian tugged on the whips and brought Kessia down face first onto the ground. The whips still charged with electricity.

The electricity surging through Kessia's body was making her numb and the whip squeezing on her neck made her unable to breathe. If she passed out now it would probably be the end of her. Her consciousness was already fading in and out. She tried to struggle but her hands were tied and Vivian wasn't just a 'commander' in name. She earned that title by being a bitch in the battlefield too. Kessia could feel her consciousness fading and the last thing she remembered was calling out in her mind, "Jacknife!"

[Alanoth]

Alanoth waited at the main gate for more than a half hour, then became worried and started looking for Kessia in earnest. He asked many people if they had seen her, but no one seemed to know where she was. Now he was really worried, and began searching the encampment like a frenzied man, practically turning rubble over just to try and find her. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that something must have happened, and so went to the orphans gathering area to see if they might know where she was.

Some of the orphans remembered her fondly, and one little girl had even seen her leave. "Can you tell me where she went?" The young child nodded, and pointed off into the Wastelands. Alanoth thanked the young girl, giving her an energy bar, then he hurried out in the indicated direction.

After a while, Alanoth had almost lost hope of finding Kessia, then he heard her screaming. The kind of screaming you gave off when in mortal peril, at the hands of someone with no conscience. "Kessia!" He screamed in both concern and anger, and he looked around frantically to find her. Jacknife! He stumbled backwards, then he somehow instantly knew where she was. They were connected...but the scientists said...nevermind those guys, he had to help her! So Alanoth used his shadow matter to isntantly arrive in the alley, in Shadow Fury just as the commander was shocking Kessia. "You bitch! I'm going to rip you to pieces!!" HE became a screaming mass of shadow, then launched imself at the commander, cutting her up in a flurry of shadow weapons and blood. He was an animal,unable to stop. He was a monster, enjoying every second of it.

[Andvarietta]

Vivian was enjoying torturing Kessia. It didn't even matter to her if the experiment got killed. That way, she would be the researcher's favorite...
"Hmm?" Vivian's eyes shifted to the side. In one swift motion, she pulled her whips back, releasing Kessia from the shocking hold and turned to face head on the dark shadowy mass that was about to envelop her.
She could feel it. Raw power, raw rage. It sent shivers down her spine and made her whole body tingle. As she was swallowed by the shadowy mass, she could hear and feel several things whizzing and zipping in the darkness. She dodged them, occasionally parrying whatever it was that was attacking her in the darkness with her whip. But the assault was getting more and more intense, it was getting difficult for her to dodge so she did her best to parry.
She felt several stinging sensations around her body and realized that there were blades grazing her and some even managed to cut into her skin. She cursed under her breath and leaped back several times until she was out of the darkness.

Vivian looked at herself after she was out of the shadows. Her clothes were torn and tattered here and there and she let out a disgruntled sigh.
"And this was my favorite outfit."
In the corner of her eye she saw that Kessia was lying unconscious on the ground. Whether she was dead or alive, she couldn't tell but she preferred the former than the latter. She then focused her gaze on the shadow matter that was forming several feet before her. She could catch glimpses of a face and blood red eyes that pierced straight into her soul, filled with malicious intent and the promise of death.
Vivian shivered in excitement. Who was this man? There never was another man who managed to make her tingle so, just with his gaze.
"I'll let you rip my clothes to pieces," Vivian cooed as she stood in an offensive stance, "but I won't let you rip ME to pieces. I don't think I know you that well yet."
She licked her lips playfully, a grin appearing on her face, "You must be the one that helped that experiment over there escape. Why don't you play with me for a while?"

[Alanoth]

When she escaped his grasp, Alanoth was infuriated, but like a silent predator, knew better than to just attack. Her whips would be useless against him, he knew this, and he questioned at first why he was prolonging the death she so rightly deserved. Then he thought about it, No, this wretched excuse for a human deserves worse than death...I'll make her beg me to kill her...then make her watch as I eat her heart...

The woman was actually complaining more about her clothing than her life, which showed great vanity. Oh yeah, no one would miss her nor would anyone cry at the funeral..if he left anything to bury. She claimed that it was her choice whether or not he ripped her apart, and he would have laughed at her, but the animal inside jsut watched her and growled darkly. Then his shining blood red eyes spotted something at the woman's feet, and he smiled a wide, sharp-toothed grin that made him seem like the demon Gehenna had created him to be. He took a stalking-like step forward, then stood up, allowing the storm of shadows to desist a bit so she could see his whole form. His tattoos were not only glowing through his clothing, they were dancing around wildly and vividly.

"Oh, so you think I want to play?" he said in an echous dark voice, that sounded neither human nor like anything that existed. "Okay then, let's play my favorite game...choke the Gehenna bitch's shadow..." Then he slowly raised a hand, his actual shadow connecting with her shadow's neck, and his fist closed. The tension would be wrapping around her neck, he was pleased to actually see true imprints of his fist on her neck.

[Andvarietta]

Vivian felt chills down her spine as she saw the shadows dissipate and finally showed the man within the shadows.
"Well now..." she cooed, "Aren't you good looking?"
She admired the marks that were dancing around his body. She heard about these marks that were transplanted onto an experiment, over and over. The mark of a killer, the mark of a murderous soulless machine.
Suddenly she felt something wrap around her neck. Whatever it was it was tightening around her neck as the seconds ticked by. She gritted her teeth, how could she be so careless. The experiment she was going against was a shadow-bearer. Of course he could attack her directly by attacking her shadow.
Vivian felt a surge of ecstasy course through her body. She was getting turned on by his choking hold on her, she was after all a sadistic-masochist. She grinned as the shadow choke hold tightened around her real neck.

Don't underestimate me... Vivian giggled in her mind. Suddenly her golden hair shot upwards several feet above her head, getting longer and longer and once it was long enough it shot towards Kessia, wrapping around the unconscious girl's neck. Vivian's hair was alive, several strands of her hair flailed around her as the hair that was wrapped around Kessia's neck raised the girl off the ground, letting her hang several feet. She grinned maniacally and her hair tightened even more around Kessia's neck, so much so it was starting to leave imprints of her hair.
Vivian raised Kessia's unconscious body higher and tightened her grasp around the girl's neck.
"Yes~" Vivian moaned in pleasure, "Strangle me more! The more you strangle me, the more I strangle her too!"

Kessia could feel herself fading in and out of consciousness. After the electric shocks had stopped she could only remember falling onto the ground but somewhere in the back of her mind, she was still trying to stay conscious. Just when she thought she was to fall into the darkness of unconsciousness, a sharp pain around her neck pulled her back into consciousness. Kessia's eyes snapped open. She was choking but she was too weak to move her hands to pull away whatever it was that was choking her. She could feel the pressure on her neck get stronger and tighter. Her eyes darted around in a panicked state. She was high above the ground, golden strands of what seemed to be hair was wrapped around her neck. She knew this attack, this was one of Vivian's signature moves. She looked a bit further down and saw Jacknife, his shadow seemingly having a grip on Vivian's shadow.
"N-no..." Kessia muttered audibly only to herself, "...t-that won't work..."

[Alanoth]

His choke hold was having the desired effect of harming the woman, but then it backfired unexpectedly and without warning. Based on her smile, she was actually getting a kick out of this! What's wrong with this woman?! Alanoth had to think to himself, and he considered simply crushing her neck at once, but then she pulled a very low, very effective stunt.

As he listened to her threat, Alanoth stopped tightening his grip. She was actually moaning in sexual pleasure?! Something was screwed up in her head for sure, and that only made Alanoth hate her even more. She had Kessia up in that damn hair, and if he continued on like this, she would die. He hadn't lost control yet, so he had to make a plan before the rage consumed him completely. How could he switch the odds on her? He knew little about her, only what she was armed with, and her strange fetishes. That's it! he thought to himself, his grin widening again.

"Ah...so you like pain, do you?" he said with a chuckle, releasing his grip somewhat and taking a step forward. "I've got an idea, one that I just know you'll love. If I execute this right, you'll never be willing to experience anything else ever again in the form of pleasure." He walked right up to her face, and now she could see that the shadows were actually morphing his face, slowly tearing away at his humanity and making him seem more and more like the monster her employers had created him to be. "I'll give you the greatest pain you can possibly feel, and here's the best part:" he leaned up close to her ear, speaking in an unrecognizable tone, "it's impossible to share it with anyone, so you get all the feeling for yourself. Why should she get half the fun, when you can have all of it?"

[Andvarietta]

Vivian shivered when Jacknife whispered the threat into her ear. As much as she would love to achieve such pleasure from his so called 'greatest pain', she knew that it was possibly just a ploy to make her let go of Kessia. She smirked and caressed Jacknife's face coyly.
"Tempting offer," she muttered softly, before her face twisted into the expression of a madwoman, "But I'm afraid I'll have to refuse."
Vivian leaped back and strengthened her hold around Kessia's neck.
"I'm not going to let this bitch live!" she laughed as felt Kessia struggling within her grasp. She turned to look at Kessia and blowed her a kiss, "Farewell dear, my life will be so much better without you~"

Vivian was about to put all her strength into choking the helpless Kessia but stopped short when she suddenly felt a familiar presence. She cursed underneath her breath when she saw something flying towards her. She leaped back just in time to see a halberd bury itself in the spot where she once stood. That weapon, she knew who's weapon it was! Before she could think further, her head felt light and she saw strands of her golden locks falling onto the ground. She turned and saw the solemn commander a few steps away with Kessia in his arms.
"V...var...gas..." Kessia murmured as she looked at the solemn commander with eyes that reflected relief and sadness at the same time.
"Vargas!" Vivian screamed, "You stay out of this!"
Vargas shook his head, "Can't. You've gone beyond your jurisdiction. You know that."
"I don't have time for you to play the justicar right now!" Vivian growled, "Let me kill her or I'll-"
Vivian screamed then. She placed both her hands on her ears as if covering them from an ear shattering noise.
"V-vargas...damn you!" Vivian gritted her teeth, eyes glaring at the solemn commander who was staring back at her, with his lips moving quietly as if chanting something.

"I received a call from Krelian." Vargas said as he placed Kessia gently on the ground, the young girl was still shaken but grateful that Vargas was there.
"I was planning to go elsewhere but he told me to keep an eye on you. And to make sure you don't harm her."
Vargas was about to walk away from Kessia when she held onto the tail of his coat. Vargas looked back and saw Kessia shaking her head quietly, her eyes sad and she looked like she was about to burst in tears.
Vargas paused for a moment and looked at her. He then shook his head and managed a small smile, which was only seen by Kessia, as his back was facing Jacknife and Vivian.
"I'm sorry." he said as he pulled his coat away from Kessia's grasp and walked towards his halberd.

He picked up the weapon and slung before him, pointing the sharp edge of the halberd towards Jacknife.
"I will let you both go..." he turned away to face Vivian and slung the weapon over his shoulder to return it to its back strap, "...for now."
Vivian was still covering her ears, cursing. She hated Vargas with a passion and she and the other commanders don't understand why he was given such a high position among them and why he was given the ability to control all the other commanders. He was the solemn justicar commander and oddly a goody-two-shoes in Vivian's opinion. Vargas grabbed Vivian by the back collar of her clothes and dragged her away, in the direction of the gate leading back to the northern sector.

Kessia wobbled towards Jacknife, hoping that the shadow master wouldn't chase after them. She was a few metres before him when she fell on the ground, coughing and rubbing her pained neck.
"J-j-jacknife..." she uttered breathlessly, "I...I'm okay now...Is everyone else safe?"

[Alanoth]

Alanoth had become irate as that commander woman leaped back, still holding onto Kessia with that damn hair. He himself had wanted to pull a shadow blade and cut that woman in two, but then that strange halberd flew through the air and released Kessia. The woman yelled at another commander, dressed somewhat differently, then suddenly screamed while clutching her ears. Much in the way Alanoth himself proceeded to summon his various shadow creations, the man was chanting silently as the female commander screamed in pain, clutching her ears. Vargas? That didn't sound familiar, then again, Alanoth had not had much time with the Geneva commanders. The only time he could remember encountering them during his time as a test subject, it had been a fairly new commander, in a "training session", which was really just a chance for Alanoth to show of his killing machine capabilities.

Alanoth watched with both suspicion and intrigue as the "justicar" Vargas set Kessia gently down and seemed to speak with her quietly. At first, he contemplated listening in, but decided to respect the man just some privacy, he had just saved Kessia after all. Kessia seemed to be crying, but Alanoth couldn't tell why, as the commander's back was turned to Alanoth. Then the man stood, pointed that halberd at Alanoth, and the bio-weapon was instantly on guard. He lowered it slightly as the man generously let the two of them live, but was further irritated when the female was taken from him. What right did this man have to take away his kill? She needed to be punished, and he was going to-

He stopped as Kessia struggled towards him, the anger draining away and replacing with concern as he knelt beside her and began to help her up. Some of the shadows circling him dissipated, but his eyes and tattoos still glowed ominously and he hoped she wouldn't be too frightened of him. She was barely able to utter out cohesive sentences, so Alanoth decided to pick her up in both of his arms and carry her, which was easy enough for him. "Everyone's fine now Kessia, don't worry about them. You aren't well enough for a trip to the Dunes, we'l go bury them another time. Right now, I'm going to take you to one of my private hideaways, where I think I still have some medicine. Close your eyes, remember to breathe, and hang on." Not wanting to waste time, Alanoth instantly shadow mattered the tw of them, heading south rather than in their original direction.

About two hours later, Alanoth effortlessly transitioned from shadow matter to normal walking as they approached what just looked like a hole in a large rock. He carries Kessia inside, purposely tripping a wire, and lights came on, revealing a well stocked underground shelter. He set her down on the makeshift bed he had there, dusting it off, and then grabbed some pain medicine before preparing it for her

[Andvarietta]

Kessia was fading in and out of consciousness but she could feel Jacknife's strong arms holding onto her. The feeling was familiar, she felt something similar when Vargas carried her safely away from Vivian. The feeling of safety and warmth. Kessia listened to Jacknife as he spoke, he was right, she was weak from being Vivian's hostage and going back to the dunes would just make her a liability more than anything. She nodded and closed her eyes, steadying her breathing as she prepared for Jacknife to turn them both into shadow matter. She held onto him tightly and leaned her face closer to his chest, he started to move and she could feel herself slowly dissipating into thin air.

---

Vargas dropped Vivian in front of Krelian.
"I knew it was a good idea to ask for your help." Krelian smirked as he watched Vivian struggle to get up.
"I did what was necessary." Vargas replied solemnly before turning away to leave the two of them alone.
Once Vargas was gone Vivian stood up and hissed at the door.
"Accursed Justicar! Why is he even in Gehenna?" she turned to look at Krelian, anger in her eyes as she continued, "Why did you ask him to stop me? You could've easily fix that bitch back together even if she was torn to pieces!"
Krelian shook his head and chuckled, he found her anger amusing, "Actually no. Kessia is the last experiment of her kind and she's the perfect model. If she's broken we'll have to start from scratch again and I don't want all those years of hard work go down the drain."
"So you value her more than me?" Vivian argued.
"Of course." Krelian nodded, "But I do have a preposition for you my dear. Kessia's mind set is not proper. She was designed to be a killing machine and yet she has...a 'conscious'."
Vivian raised an eyebrow in interest, "Go on." she said.
"What if we transfer your skills, ability, your brain into Kessia's body? Kessia will cease to exist and you will be the one and only perfect model."
Vivian giggled at the idea, "Sounds intriguing but will Deus allow it?"
"He won't..." Krelian shook his head, a smirk playing on his lips, "That's why he doesn't need to know anything."
"And what about that other experiment? Jacknife?"
"I can turn him into your very own boy toy." Krelian suggested.
Vivian grinned maliciously, "That...sounds exhilarating..."

---

When Kessia awoke she found herself on a makeshift bed and in a new place. She sat up and looked around, it seemed like an underground shelter, a well stocked one at that. Her body was slowly recovering, she could hear the sound of distant cluttering from the other room, perhaps it was Jacknife? But what if it wasn't? She shook her head. No, it had to be Jacknife, she felt herself dissipate into thin air along with him, it couldn't have been anyone else. She was silent for a moment. To think that she'd meet Vargas again...
She looked up and softly called out, "Jacknife? Are you there?"

[Alanoth]

Alanoth heard Kessia call out his nickname and immediately hurried over to the side of the bed. He had the medicine in his hands, but he didn't do anything with it, just watching her steadily. He inspected her to see if anything was visibly wrong, nothing so far, though she was clearly shaken. Whoever that justicar was, she seemed to have known him well, but he would wait to ask her about it.

"Hey, how do you feel?" he asked in concern, not thinking as he put a hand to her shoulder gently. "I was afraid that woman was going to hurt you...or that that strange man would do something as well." His demeanor changed someone, and he spoke to himself without realizing it. "Damn that woman...that freak...who the heck was she anyway?" He shook this off, focusing on Kessi again and holding up some medicine. "I got you some pills that should help the pain, do you want water with them?

[Andvarietta]

Kessia felt a chill run down her spine when Jacknife placed a hand on her shoulder. Usually by impulse she would pull away but somehow her body didn't register Jacknife's touch as a threat. His hand was warm and she felt...safe somewhat.
She nodded, "I'm fine. Thank you."
She was silent for a moment, listening to what Jacknife had to say. When he made a comment about Vivian, she replied, "Her name is Vivian, one of the commanders of Gehenna." Kessia then looked away from Jacknife, "So was that man. His name is Vargas."
When Jacknife offered her the painkillers she shook her head, "No thank you. I think I'll be fine after some rest. Painkillers don't really work very well on me. But I would like a glass of water though."

Kessia then huddled herself into a ball, drawing in her knees and resting her head on them.
"I know those two. They're like us...but different..." Kessia spoke in a distant manner, as if she didn't care if anyone was listening to her or not.
"They were quite skilled as normal commanders but after your escape, they and a few others were experimented on. I've seen some of the things they did to them, but they were somehow willing to be experimented on. To gain abilities and powers that normal people didn't have. And the experiments that were a success on them, they tried it out on me."
Kessia shivered and closed her eyes, an image of Vargas running into the testing chamber where they held her flashed into her mind. He looked angry then, when he saw Kessia chained up and in pain. He was shouting and arguing with one of the researchers but their conversation eluded Kessia. She snapped open her eyes and looked up.
"Sorry, I'm just mumbling to myself." she said with a wry smile.

[Alanoth]

Alanoth listened as she responded to what he had had to say, curious and angered somewhat that she kenw those commanders. Vivian...Vargas...those names didn't ring a bell with him, though he could remember having fought several Gehenna commanders for practice, and accidentally killing one. He was very surprised when she stated that painkillers would not work, but knew he could provide some water. ot in a glass, but water all the same. He quickly grabbed her a bottle of water, comign back just in time to hear her begin speaking again.

Her distant tone concerned Alanoth, but he just remained quiet as she spoke. He growled inwardly at what they had done to Kessia as well, chalking those up as extra slashes that he would give to the CEO of Gehenna if he ever got the chance. Vargas seemed to be the lesser of two evils when it came to Vivian and Vargas, so he wondered if Vargas could someday be a potential ally. He smiled, shaking his head as she apologized. "It's fine, you weren't saying anything that I wasn't interested in." He handed her the fresh bottle of water, one of only a hundred in all of the Wastelands. That being the one hundred here in his shelter. "This isn't quite cold, but its wet so it should help all the same."