"I better not be disappointed again Dr." Lancel was blunt, as always, but Xeno could see the tension in his shoulders, and in the way he kept his fists clenched. He had a lot riding on these experiments. Xeno didn't know all the details, of course, but having now worked with 2 Supers, he knew how utterly focused they were on forcing human evolution. It was an obsession, but one that suited Xeno just fine.
"Yes, quite. As you know, I isolated the ancient nanites fairly quickly. Their properties aren't altogether clear because they resist most testing and scanning methods. They also don't replicate on their own," he changed the display of his holo projector, showing a group of about 20 soldiers.
"I introduced the nanites to a whole squad of highly augmented soldiers. The results were disastrous," Xeno said, as the video changed to show a room of men, the same ones, strapped into beds and writhing. "Half of them died within hours. The other half were also highly distressed, but survived the nanites. However, they had no effect at all and the nanites were no longer in their systems." Xeno paused, changing his holo display information, showing a new group of men and women.
"I'm aware of these failures Dr. Xeno. I'm interested in why you called me here," Lancel said, violet eyes swirling. Xeno was used to Lancel's imperious nature. He was harder to deal with than Gertand, but also more predictable.
"I had to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate why the experiment didn't work. Without any experimental data, I was stuck. Then I remembered that this technology is ancient, from a time when nano technology was just emerging and seemed more like magic." He fiddled with the display, and now, under each participant on the video their HPA score and A scores were displayed. They all had low to middling HPA scores, 2-5's. Half of them had similar A scores, and the other half had a 0 A score.
Lancel leaned in, looking at the data closely. "Most of these appear to be students and new recruits, How will giving them the nanites help us?"
"First we have to get them to work, right? As I was saying, this is ancient technology. From a time before humans even knew about our hidden genetic potential. We have a limited supply of these nanites, so I had to use fewer subjects and introduce a little more variety in their parameters. Not exactly the best protocol, but I was trying to produce results." With his fingers, he expanded the display and started running mini videos for each test subject.
Lancel watched closely, his eyes scanning across the different videos. They were running a compressed time frame, and a number of them were quickly covered in red Xs, which meant failure, if not death. Lancel didn't change expression though, as he re-focused on the experiment subject videos that continued. A few more were covered in Xs as they continued, but they didn't seem to have died.
"Timing turned out to be the key to this technology. Or, at least one of the keys. The one definitive result was, anyone with an Augmentation score above 0 failed," Dr. Xeno said. He was watching Lancel, not the videos. He could see the laser focus as all the subject videos were crossed with an X, except 2. "Let me introduce you to our first successful Nanite hosts, Heather and Stacey."
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She stared straight ahead at the monster. It was on all fours and covered in shaggy brown hair, matted and dirty. The eyes that glinted in the flickering glow of the firelight looked malveolent and cunning. It strained against the chain that staked it to the forest floor, surging towards her every few seconds.
"The real world is not as simple as they tell us in school Mimi. Just a few minutes from the Academy walls, and you can find these bastards," Debbie said. She walked forward and then gave a brutal kick to the beast. It was knocked back, but just snarled and surged towards Debbie. "Stupid animal," she said, then turned to Mimi.
"I want you to join us. The Hellfire Club is about opening up your mind, your body and your powers. I see greatness in you Mimi, but you have to prove it." As if her words were a cue, Debbie and the others vanished, leaving Mimi alone in the clear space beneath the trees. Alone, except for the monster. 'Clack,' was the only warning sound she had before the monster sprung towards her.
Long, yellowed claws appeared from the hairy mess, swiping towards her throat. Without thinking, Mimi kicked straight ahead, a front push kick that connected with its head.
"Argh," Mimi said, as the beast bowled into her, the kick not stopping it all. She raised her arm to protect her face and neck, and the Monster's claws started tearing at her chest and torso. With effort, trying not to panic, she raised her knee into its midsection. This gave her enough room to bring up her other leg, and then she pushed with both in sharp motion.
The monster fell back only a little, but that was all Mimi needed to scramble back to her feet and draw her sword.
The firelight glinted from the sharp blade, creating new flickers of light amongst the trees. The beast seemed wary of the sword, it didn't rush in immediately. 'So it does have some intelligence, at least enough to recognize danger. I hope it is smart enough to run away,' she thought. Mimi took the time to see if she was injured after the beast's rush, but didn't find any wounds. The claws tore her athletic gear to shreds, but didn't penetrate her light armour beneath at all.
"Ok big boy. This is my sword. You should run away." Mimi pointed to the body armour now visible through the holes in her clothes, "You can't hurt me."
She couldn't tell if it understood, but the hairy mound started backing away. "Yes, get out of here." 3 metres, 5 metres, 6 metres, it had backed up to the edge of the firelight, and Mimi started to feel like it was over. Then it raised itself up on its hind legs, threw its head back and howled. Standing tall, the beast must have reached 6 ft. In this stance, it exposed a hairy body with swaths of milky pale skin. Then it sprinted forward on two legs.
From 2 metres away, it dove for her, heedless of her sword. 'Is this a ...' but the thought didn't finish before it hit her again, this time swiping the claws to her throat.
Mimi felt the sickening give of her sword pushing through something, even as she felt the sharp hot pain across her throat. The beast cried out loudly, and then pulled back, the flesh of its midsection pulling on the sword as it slid out. It staggered, bright red spilling between the hands it held to the wound. It sat down hard and lay on its side, panting in pain.
Mimi stared in shock, unwilling to believe what her eyes were seeing. Unwilling to believe she had done this. 'That is a man, that is a man,' kept running through her mind, even as her hand clamped tight around her own throat, afraid to see the blood an damage from his claws.
A cloak flourished to the side of the beast, or man, bleeding on the ground. Debbie stepped forward and looked down. "Not bad Mimi, George here was strong." Casually, Debbie bent down and pulled a blade across his throat, the pool of red beneath him growing immediately. She flicked blood off her knife and then wiped it with her cloak before tucking it away somewhere in the folds. She turned back to Mimi, "Oh, did he get you?" she asked, looking at Mimi's hand to her neck. There was no blood though.
"I, I, I stabbed him. That is a man. You killed him," Mimi yelled. The shock of the murder making her forget to maintain pressure on her throat. Her hand lifted from her neck to point at Debbie, "You killed a man. What the fuck is happening here?"
Debbie gazed forward, taking in Mimi's perfectly smooth neck, and smiled. 'She has talent, and she doesn't even know,' She thought. "Mimi, I didn't kill this man. You did. And worse, you did it so cruelly that I had to put him out of his misery. You're more of a badass than I thought," Debbie said, he lips curled into a half smile, hands on her hips in a cocky pose.
Mimi just stared in horror at her school mate, then looked at the blood on her sword. She could feel the heaving in her stomach just a moment before her dinner shot out, her retching was loud and painful.
"Don't feel bad for George dear. I have a lot to teach you, but the first thing is, that wasn't a person. I know he looks like one, but it is just the shell of what was left over after the Super-Apocalypse. The Academy hasn't told you everything about the real world." The other cloaked members appeared beside her, staring towards Mimi.
"Don't worry, we will share the truth with you, now that you've passed the entrance exam." She smiled wide then, "Welcome to the Hellfire Club Mimi."