As she walked into the dilapidated warehouse where Albert lived and worked, Jacinta pondered on the nature of Freaks.
A Freak is a lunatic. They are totally amoral, thoroughly reprehensible, and flout authority with glee. They dare to do anything, even crazy things that are doomed to fail. They pioneer new weapons and Monsters, and send them into battle against the other races - but not for any kindness, or kinship with other humans. To the Freaks, war is a marvellous game, and they play it with gusto.
Freaks have different specialties, like scientists have areas of expertise. There are Rag And Bone Men - these Freaks haunt old and new battlefields, gathering scraps of weapons and broken bodies as materials for their craft. You can imagine what their Monsters look like.
There are Necrophiles - they hunt through graveyards and pillage Vampire Haunts. More than one of them is obsessed with Dracula and Nosferatu, and most of the Monsters they make echo these themes. The others make zombies, skeletons and Lichs - they hold contests on whose Monsters look more 'dead'.
Zombies are carefully designed carriers of specially developed biochemical weapons. In other words - they are walking corpses full of diseases made to target non-human species. Zombies are cheap, efficient, and easy to make. Corpses are the only material that never runs out on the battlefield.
Beast Masters and Breeders are two different types of Freaks, but their Monsters are often extremely similar. One captures powerful creatures and combines them into Monster Chimeras, while the other uses genetic technology to directly grow powerful Chimeras, which are then turned into Monsters. The rivalry between these Freaks is extremely dangerous. If a Master and Breeder are left alone in the same building, you can expect that in less than an hour there won't be anything left but rubble.
Next are the Doll-makers. They specialise in making stealth Monsters, designed to blend in with different species groups. Creatures such as Wolf-alikes are their usual works. They also make s*x Dolls on the side, and run extremely rough brothels. After all, Monsters don't break easily, and it's quite cheap to fix them.
Next are the Legacies. These Freaks take over the Monsters of dead Freaks, and try to keep them in working order. Humans do not possess long lives like Monsters, and many talented Freaks have been assassinated by other species. Naturally, the powerful and unique Monsters they made cannot be abandoned.
Then are the Cyber Punks. Where most Freaks use magic to make Monsters, they use science and chemistry to create cyborgs. Pure mechanical creatures are simply unable to provide the continuous offensive output required by the battles against other species. Cyborgs are usually powered by internal nuclear reactors, meaning they are walking radiation bombs just waiting to be damaged enough to explode. However, resources like metal and uranium are very scarce and precious, so Cyber Punks are extremely competitive with each other, and their Monsters are few.
Finally, there are the Mavericks. These Freaks don't stick to a certain theme, but try everything they can think of. They are the leading innovators of Monster technology. They continuously experiment with different methods and materials - resulting in many failed Monsters of various types.
Jacinta stumbled, catching her foot on the uneven ground and nearly falling over. Clearly, she had been too deep in thought for her own good.
Slowly, she stepped into one of the shipping containers strewn around randomly. It was dark, but Jacinta's silver eyes could see everything clearly. She was a Doll, with poor combat ability, but she was still far from a human.
In the container was a flat tray bed, a few boxes of clothes, some shoes, and a few knives. 17 small pictures were stuck on the wall - each showed a young teenage human. They were all so different - boys and girls, fat, thin, muscular, skinny, long hair, short hair, beards and clean shaven. Their eyes were a rainbow of different colours, while their skin colours didn't repeat once.
Jacinta quietly took the last photo off the wall, and sat on the hard bed. It was a girl. She looked very similar to Jacinta.
Her hair was black, long enough to fall past her shoulders, the actual length was unclear. Her skin was gorgeous, softly tanned by the sun, a rich unmistakable Italian hue. Her eyes were light brown, glowing with mirth. Her lips were vivid red, naturally. She was smiling out of the photo, like she had just seen her most favourite person in the world.
Jacinta turned the photo over, and traced the name on the back with shaking fingers.
Susana Estravados.
Jacinta stared at the picture, hugged it close, and lay still on the metal tray. Silver eyes open, but empty of life - she was nothing more than a broken Doll, buried in the past.