"What's going on... where are we..." Kiries slowly gets up, dazing and with a headache
"Oh you woke up, that shot blew your head all over the place, I gotta collect the pieces back together." Clare wipes her hands. "I'm positive you don't have any memories lost, yeah?"
"Yes..." she looked around the pickup ship, "You!" she yelled, her claws extended out from her spine.
V stopped the metal spike aimed at her head, and slammed it down, "EY, calm down, we're talking!"
"What..." Kiries looks aside, at the opposite V, seeing James, looking at her, "What the f##k you guys doing, this b##ch is one of them!"
"Kiries calm down," James said. "We are on a truce currently while you passed out."
"Relax, kid, I'm not here to capture him anymore." She opened the stomach armor and a knife. Fixing her broken organs, "Dang, that kick destroyed my filter."
"Well, it's your fault first."
Kiries looked at them casually talking, making her lag a bit. She turned around and looked at Clare.
"What? Oh, right, I should explain what is going on."
Clare dragged Kiries to sit down with her. Back with the other two. James listened to what V had to say.
"So, homeboy, my administrator, we called him the Big boss or boss for short."
"Okay? Why does he need to separate my core parts?"
"We don't know. But they're good power sources, creating material and providing clean energy. The rest? I do not know"
"Well, that's helpful. I will ask that guy when we meet face-to-face. Gotta ask, were they designed to capture me?"
"Not, homeboy, we were made to prep for a more significant operation, bigger scenarios, like the end of the world."
"Like what just happened with that sector?'
"yuh. Something occurred, we deployed, search and destroy anything that caused them. You could fit with this, got the abilities."
"Yeah, yeah... how long til we get to that place? I need my core parts back, they contain my memories."
"Your memories? That's odd, they never told me anything about that. I mean sure, Cores like us do contain memories in the main heart core, but we don't have any memories before we were made."
"They said I used to be a human. Well, I trusted my friends."
V chuckled in amusement. "I like that. Well, better rest a bit, the flight's gonna be kinda long." Patched up the wound, V went into sleep mode.
James looked at Clare and Kiries.
"She still okay?"
"Her brain is still functional, this black liquid is magical."
"You don't want to contact with it for a long time if you want your flesh to melt off...."
"I got it." The jet flying through the shattering skies, skipping the bright day til night came, non-stop. It flew through continents, the ocean floor seemed cold tonight.
"This is boring. While I'm sitting, wanting to do something, these guys are sleeping together." Clare looked at James and Kiries sleeping, hugging, mostly Kiries, who were wrapping him. And the core, V, sitting there like a lifeless ragdoll. She sighed and continued eating her burrito.
"This is BORING. Auughhh." Looking around, then outside, she saw red bleeding eyes, staring inside the jet, it bled and stuck on the windshield. The sudden realization made her yell in fear, The burrito landed on James's face.
"What's going on?!" he blasted up, armed and ready. "Clar, what's going on?"
"They're outside!!!"
The jet shook, and multiple hostiles were trying to break through the transport. V and Kiries also woke up.
"Hey, someone get in the pilot seat and manual drive!" V said.
"On it..." kiries snatched the steering control, she maneuvered the pickup ship, trying to get those things off. "Can someone go outside and shoot them off?..."
James quickly phased through the jet, he grabbed the hull outside, his absolute solver stabilizing his body to walk freely. Above the jet, he saw 3 humanoid figures with skeleton-like shapes, they had pointy claws, digging into the jet. Kinda zombies, but fused with metal spikes around their bodies. The enemies spotted him, they easily ran to him despite the wind resistance.
"Oh crap!" his right arm transformed, gun barrel firing electrified bullets at the zombies, he managed to kill one, but the other two tagged him, and pushed him onto the hull with a thump.
Their strength is no joke, each slash even damaged James's reinforced skeleton structure.
"GET OFF ME" His chest reassembled into a reactor, it fired a burning beam, cutting off a zombie in half. Kicked the other back away, and his Giant claws punched the final one off the jet.
"Hey! How's it going?" -V
"What are those things?"
"I don't know, but it might be related to what happened in sector 1!"
"James, duck!" -Kiries
a sharp metal sign-like cut off James's head, in surprise, V had to get out and catch his body.
From the side, a burning plane in pursuit of the jet. The top of it was shredded off, inside was filled with dark pulsing flesh, and moving zombies were inside the flame.
"The f##k is that!" James shook his head.
V started shooting her sniper rifle at those things. And they started throwing sharp objects at them, each throw was the speed of 80+ heavy cannons, and one hit the ship, causing it to lose balance. Kiries managed to get it steady again, but the second time will destroy the engine.
James created a kinetic field that covered the ship. V blasted one another, shooting the enemies' firepower.
Some of them even jumped toward them, but James, with his Claws and the ability to materialize weapons from thin air, held back the raid.
"The Boss sometimes mentions an incoming war, which raises the question of why the world is at peace, and why they want it to happen again. But now this made me think, what if we are fighting a force that isn't from Earth or any planets we colonized?"
"If that is the case, then why haven't global armies done anything?"
"Unless they failed already."
"Bullsh#t the technology has gone to a point where aliens in movies look like toys to us, and if they are more advanced than us, then why are they still using the old tech like that?"
"Watch it!" V shoots a spike, splitter it in half, and the bullet hits the plane engine. Causing it to blow up the whole thing. The flame and smoke scorched the night. Some of the humanoid creatures landed on the jet. And James and V quickly disposed of them.
"I can't even find a thing inside their head."
"You can read people's mind by poking your finger into their skull?"
Yeahh, it's fatal."The two head back inside.
"Boss, you copy? We've just been attacked by unknown forces."
[HQ: "This is HQ, the boss is currently unavailable, Unit V1-, X bring the package back to base, the mission will be debriefed soon when you arrive".]
"Who are you calling?"
"Boss, but he's on something important."
"Guy, check the news," Clare opened a live video around the world
The news recording the unusual loss of gravity around the world, areas affected have been torn out into the sky, the global armies have been eradicated by unknown enemies that rose from the ground, scientists and the defense army are all trying to figure out what these things are and why the earth is slowly being destroyed.
"This is bigger than I thought... I wonder why they are after us?"
James looks at V suspiciously. "After us..?"
"I'm not sure, probably delusional."
Moments later, the jet finally reached the hidden place on Earth. The terrain surrounding it consisted only of mountains, filled with turrets on fake mountains. The whole rocky system was all made by human and Core hands. During special scenarios, the 2000+ meter tall mountains could be sunken into the ground, turning the place into a flat land filled with traps and defense systems.
"This place is even more advanced than the Global armies..." -Kiries
"Land there, right at the Green lift with light"
The jet finally landed after many hours of flying over continents. The lift slowly brings them down to the base of the mountain.
When the door was open is the moment when guns were aimed at them. Armeddroid and core with heavy weaponry pointed at James.
"Woah! Woah... lower your guns down, boys."
"Commander, V," the core raised its arm signal, telling the rest to put the weapons away.
James, Clare, and Kiries followed V. He felt a chill of eyes staring at him. V led them past the futuristic hallway with reinforced metal. Many scientists took pictures of him and the rest. Some even approached James and scanned his eyes.
"Your employees seem generous."
"Don't mind, them homeAnyway, go to the debriefing area and wait there, I need to fix this injury first" [sent]
"Got it" [data received]
V goes to the workshop, and robot arms and devices begin to operate. James and the rest begin their little tour around the place.
"You know, I do not completely trust these people...."
"What can we do now? Besides, I'm pretty sure they kept the rest of my core in here."
Clare took out the tablet, raising it in front of her, "Hey, you right, it's there, they are moving...?"
The three are looking at the tablet, moving up and down, getting closer to them. When the sliding door opens, there is a figure of someone James has beaten before.
"What the-"
"Heeeyy- Trix?"
"It's Vix you m#r#n. Also, why are they here?!" he yelled at the officer next to him
"Nice armor you got there, got a bit of juiced-up micro fusion titanium power armor?" James joked.
"I really want to punch you in the face right now..."
["Hey, you should calm down, alright? boss orders"]
Vix let out a frustrated growl. "What a joke." he walked away, each step made a thump on the metal floor.
"Hey, you got something that belongs to me!" They followed him to the debrief.
Clare, James, and Kiries all sat down next to each other, eating like kids while Vix and a few other specialized Core looked at them.
"So... did the boss really..." #1 Core
"Mhm, bad idea, but luckily he hasn't slaughtered everyone with that infected one there" #2 Core
"Shut it you two." -Vix "We still got work to do."
"Say, why did they decide to install my core parts into you?" -James
"Your memories are not inside these two, I know, cuz they are currently connected to my own core."
"WHAT!" Kiries jumped off her chair. Clare has to hold her back.
"Like she said, how?" -Clare
"What do you mean how? We simply can't find any data with his image from the past."
"This is impossible..." -Kiries "I know what you people did to create him, and how you guys murder us for some experiments"
"Those we do are preparing for this day! The boss knows, but he didn't tell us how; only he can know."
"So where do we find him?" -Clare
"He's coming, just wait."
After he said that, V showed up with a new body-kit, "Sup ya'll what's hanging?"
"Sit down."
10 people in the room waited, and around 30 minutes later, he came. The door opens with bodyguards showing up, and the man in a suit with a mask covering his face steps in. Combat units all stand up, they pose to greet the man who created them, except James and two girls.
"Please sit down," his voice is calm and full of knowledge. "Today is the day, gentlemen and ladies, especially you, my boy". His finger pointed at James.
"Me? Oh, right, so Mr. boss man. I wanna get my memories back, also the parts you separated."
"I will give you your core parts back when all of this is over, but the other thing, I cannot."
"What?"
He brought out a chip and placed it on the glass table. The hologram displays the situation around the world, something that the authorities hid away.
"D-blood...." -kiries
"Those cybernetic monsters you saw before were infected people, and core, for some reason, core can be infected by this substance, similar to what is inside you all in this room."
"But why can't our blood infect?" -V
"Your system contains a safe lock, it will create a safe barrier that prevents it from assimilating everything. That's why Clare, here, can't be infected. But the threat we are facing doesn't, it will convert civilians, turning them into controlled machines. They will be controlled by a hive mind. The hive mind is located at this coordinate. Save it, you will all be deployed here, away from the location about 10km, you also DC-404"
"Okay..?" -James
"Wait a second, if this is all over, you won't do this kind of stuff right? No more sacrificing innocent people?" -Clare
"I don't believe these guys... why is this important, this is just a normal operation..." -Kiries "And why can't my man get his memories back?!"
"Hey! It's lost, we cannot figure out how" -Vix. "Our resources can't even recover it."
James let out a disappointed sigh, "All this bloodshed, and spilled red, you guys wasted on me, just can't even get to any point."
"James, can we just get out of this place..." -Kiries
"I don't know, like I said before, all we can do now is trust these guys. Also, I want those parts back."
"Sure" -Vix, "you gotta let me borrow them for a bit."
"You and Clare can stay here, while I help them with this thing," he turned to the boss, "But if I see they bleed, even just a bit of injury, I will tear this planet apart just like those monsters who were already doing it."
"You have my words boy..."
The meeting ended quickly, everyone went to their places, James Clare and Kiries all stayed in an apartment, all being silent, staring at the void, thinking.
"When this all ends, I promise, I will get what you lost..."
"I wonder how I would be like during the time we were together, what's my back story, and why am I the only successful version?"
"I think I was God's idea."
"Magic is fake, Clare."
"I don't know. What if all of these were just a plan of something bigger that was trying to be entertaining?"
"If that's the case, then I might be the god killer. I don't want the fact that my density is being controlled by a thing I can't kill. I would do anything."