On August 25th, 2022, construction finished for a firing range built outside the Capital's outskirts. And wielding a Kar98k rifle, Ace practiced his shots with blue-eyed Katie watching.
"I don't think using that method was the most effective way of painting."
Ace squeezed the trigger for a bullet to stab out the barrel and shoot a target right in its paper head. Standing some inches away from him was Katie, Blade's white sheath resting in her right arm, behind settled on wooden crates.
"I admit I was very upset when we got there the next day and the rain washed it all off... before it even got the chance to dry," Katie's words were accompanied by a sigh.
"Luckily, your dad and Jeff are handling that now. I should've told Dad to do that in the beginning, but I guess he just liked challenging us," Ace fired off another shot, ripping the paper further as he completed another headshot.
"Ya know, you've been pretty closed off lately. Why is that?"
"I guess since Dad and I share my body, I'm unable to have time for friends and being a teenager. Kima, you, June; it's not like I'm saying that's a bad thing, though. Having Dad's spirit wandering around my body is a surefire way to get stronger and just to spend time with him."
"Yeah, but... isn't that kinda unfair? He's June's dad, too, ya know. Maybe there's some way to implant his soul into another vessel," Katie suggested.
"I doubt it. If it's possible, we'd need to clone me, and I feel like that'd be painful..." Ace fired another shot after his reply.
"Yeah, I guess that's true," Katie trailed off after she answered.
The possibility of cloning an identical genome varied infinitely with miniature quirks scattered throughout the human body. Normally, it would've been impossible, but to her, the sky's dusk coloration settling on that twilight for eternity seemed the more improbability. Peace, freedom, quiet. Chirping robins settled through confined greenery, rushing water unique to running streams; how long would this last? How long before chaos's curtain would fall, marking the world's destructive descent?
Just one month ago, when she exited the Storm.
The first moment her toes stepped onto that bloody ground, dirtied with hollow vessels barely resembling a human identity, only then, would her descent begin to the edge of the Island. Just then, that vivid sight replayed in her mind. Her mentor's brown strands cut at the center, his head dislocated from that locked position embedded between his shoulders. His body wasn't there.
'Maybe I was hallucinating,' Kate considered, 'But, none of the other bodies at that center were disintegrated. We found Alex in a cryogenic pod, perpetually in temporary stasis. Theoretically, if the cloned twin is weaker than the original vessel, their weak cells would be frozen until the time came for them to bathe in sunlight. Maybe it is impossible to truly clone someone identically, but, it could be possible to imbue a soulless vessel with a new host.'
Kate's eyes spotted Ace's toned back. With potent muscles peeking through his black long sleeve, another shot flew out his rifle's barrel.
"I don't think Alex's dead," Wilder's theory sent Katie to widened eyes and parted lips, "I've thought so for a while. Alex was docile. He was programmed to speak specific phrases designed to immobilize Master Saiai. Beyond that, he didn't cohesively form sentences."
"You had your dad lead you through his memories?" Katie asked.
"August observed Grandpa's experimentation on self-cloning. After multiple failures, Gramps arrived at the same conclusion as his doppelganger. Downloading an individual's psyche into artificial intelligence, however? Katie, it might very well be possible. But... we need time," Ace mentioned, eyes locked onto her feminine features.
"Yeah," She sighed, "Just need more time."
"And to buy that time, we must ensure the peace we're building doesn't succumb to the raging flames of imminent chaos."
Bang!
September 16th, 2022. Weeks following their decision to wait until their reconstruction finished, Ace and Katie were assigned to a new unit. Well, more like Ace in spirit, for August was to one to enlighten his plentiful Evolutionary subjects. Standing at the street bordering the Remnant World and Evolutionary City, a tumbleweed conveniently swept past their eyes to the bodies' fronts.
A hand raised from the indistinguishable crowd. Apathetically, the Reaper's finger pointed to the person, the crowd spread apart to reveal the Crow's daughter.
"Oh, it's Katie, eh? Alright then, teacher's pet, what's your question?" Impudently asked August, digging through his ear with his tan-skinned pinky.
"What the hell're we standing out here for? It's almost 100 degrees and we're fucking blazing. Can you tell us what we're doing or let us go home?" Kate matched Rivera's energy, and like magic, what she predicted came to pass.
Extinguishing the uninterested expression painting the Reaper's face was the usual smugness he kept about him. The most arrogant giggle croaked from between his closed mouth, those pearly whites revealing to then present the widest grin.
"I'm glad ONE OF YOU had the BALLS to say something! To make a fairly-sized shorter than usual, I'll cut right to the chase. We're forming an Extermination Unit and we've selected you bunch here today to participate. However, this is not mandatory and if you believe you can aid the Reconstruction some other way, go do it. That being said, dismissed, my fine cadets!"
August copied a soldier's salute, afterward, laughing heartily. The precisely-rowed crowd split apart at the seams, for Katie, Kima, and June to head toward the Reaper.
"Ah, if it isn't my daughter, Whitney's daughter, and Azazel's daughter. Staring at you three gives me the worst headache ever yet none of you have even spoken," August jokingly demeaned, leading Kim and Katie to roll her eyes; June, on the other hand, looked up at her dad with puppy dog eyes.
"Not me, right, papa?" Wilder tearfully pleaded with a quivering lip.
"Of course not, you're amazing, baby. You do such good work, you make me so proud!" August proudly appraised his darling daughter, who mischievously giggled while a blush stained her cheeks.
"Well, what's it you three want?"
"We--" Katie was interrupted.
"Wait, wait, wait, it's Ace, right? You thought you four were all gonna register together?" August's guess was right, earning the collective nods and confirming hums from all three girls.
"Isn't that how it usually works? Unless you like torturing us by assigning us outsiders as our partners, that is," Katie impudently challenged the dominating savior with defiant eyes.
"As fun as it'd be to see you cry and beg for me to change your partner to Kimmy or June, you're right. You four usually are paired together, but for this assignment, you'll be split apart. Kimmy and June, if you apply, you're being assigned to the Extermination Unit under Jeff's command. Ace and Katie, however, will be fitted with a different task I've been contemplating for a while now. Normally, I wouldn't include telling the other two but this is a special case so... Katie and Ace will be traveling to Riverton Island, infiltrating the basement of the Founder and raiding any remaining stolen government technologies from there.
If you allocate the right equipment, then, with the proper tools, we'd be finally suited to begin my rebirth."
To Be Continued.