Aboard the Battleship 'Tangra' - Within the Omega 55 system,
If Aidan was being honest with himself, coming here had made him so nervous that if he was so much as given a shove in the wrong direction he might spill his lunch. Not that he'd been able to eat, but he still felt as if he was walking into what could very well be something he'd never come out of. Regardless of his own nerves, he had a set of instructions he knew he needed to follow and that was something he wouldn't deviate from.
He'd already been told the procedure and the arrangements had been tediously put in place for him, the few Doctors that were called here were brought purely to assist him should something go wrong, it wasn't as if he was entirely alone in this, so at least he had that to console himself with.
Everyone here was incredibly professional, every Doctor knew their duties, every item had been arranged and nothing was out of place. The room of the operation theater was immaculate, pristinely tiled and of the utmost sterility. Aidan almost felt dirty given how clean everything around him had been. "Knight Reeves. We're ready for you, please take a seat until the donor arrives." All he could make out of the Doctor was honestly their white coat and the fact that they were glaringly female in figure and in voice, not of the current mindset to look up at their face or observe anything else about them.
He could only continue to repeat the line over and over in his head, trying to bring himself comfort in the moment as the scanners in the form of rings upon this very bed began to examine him even before the procedure could begin, the donor hadn't entered the room but soon enough one of the nurses re-entered holding a syringe in their hand, what they did with it, he couldn't see. But he knew they'd start at any moment now. This rings fixed themselves in two locations to give his Doctors a clear view of what would happen internally, so if something did go wrong it wouldn't go by without their notice.
Turning his head to the left just as he began to hear the equipment prepared and nearing the start of the procedure, he noticed an imposing long pane of black observation glass, no doubt hiding figures of importance behind it whom he could only wonder about what they they found interesting in his particular case. That sharp sting shook him from his thoughtful state, the pain now was minor compared to what would come, but when the room was set alight and he felt the tremendous pain, he knew it had begun and it would only continue to grow worse before it got any better, practically blacking out before he could even so much as scream.
He could feel himself changing inside just as the light died out, his request granted as one set of nanites killed him atomically and this new activated set restored what had been killed off, albeit differently. This would be a process he'd have to get used to, but for the sake of efficiency, it was better he went through it now. It was better he toughed out the process of the change and never looked back, to never be under someone's boot again or scarred by abuse. At least nothing his body simply couldn't repair and improve now.
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Jessica Scarlet snuck into the room and leaned against the black glass, but not before looking straight into and smiling.
Soon after, she slowly approached Reeves and initiated stage two of the procedure. He got injected again, only this time the dosage was tripled.
"Hmm, not bad. In fact, you're quieter than I would've guessed. I screamed like a little girl on my first...procedure.
Awfully impressive, Reeves. Awfully impressive...
Ah, but let's not forget!"
She pulled a small, ancient looking object out of her pocket. The artifact, had both unusual shape and texture.
Scarlet lifted it up towards the light and stared into it, as if it was just another medical instrument.
"Looks good to me...right, let's see..."
Another triple dose of nanites was administered and the woman looked at the black glass again, this time giving a thumbs up to the person or people behind it.
"Splendid Reeves, we only have to keep this going for a few more hours..."She grinned:" I do hope the integration goes smoothly...much less paperwork that way. Aaaand, Gabby here, on the other side of the glass, would be much happier if you don't go rampaging throughout her ship.
Let's not get carried away, though. Hold tight!"
Jessica gently placed the artifact into the man's hand and whispered in his ear:
"In no time you'll be a new man....literally."
The woman gestured the scientist to administer another dose and then went to check Aidan's vitals.
After a few nods full of pride and happiness, she leaned back against the wall, lit a cigarette and after a few angry looks from the medical staff, the nicotine infused stick bounced a few time from the ground right before it got stomped.
With the active artifact in place, two mechanical arms that were idle and hidden on the other side of this bed began moving, The samples of nomadic tissue were ample enough that they were seemingly stitched and accordingly formed into the shape of a new organ, almost heart-like in shape but off-kilter in a few ways, not to mention purple and not pleasant to look at. The organ was inspected once before a full dosage of nanites were introduced within it, the arms then held it firmly as a third pulled the artifact just above it, pointed crystal down-wards. Aidan would only see a circle of lights dancing above him as that purple object began to glow, the nanites within seemed to look like a million stars somehow, though that might have been the shock getting to his senses.
The Doctor heading the procedure put him under with an ample dose of anesthesia, cutting him open would be too risky otherwise. One of the arms abandoned their previous 'fingers' and adopted a scalpel, moving down to the right side of Aidan's chest and cutting through, the three arms had to act quickly because if they weren't the surgical opening may heal itself shut. the second arm would cut through a section of his ribs and pull it out all-together before the third locked the organ in place within him. All the necessary inlets and outlets strung up just like his heart was. With that the arms simply pulled back, not even stitching the wound shut. The new organ began to secrete the nanites detecting severe injury, his rib-cage in entirety seemed to replace itself just before his chest closed and concealed the clear internal view of things. Uncharacteristically, these nanites left no operational scars and in fact seemed to heal some of the many scars that dotted his torso.
His body began to twitch and slightly shiver as the process only seemed to speed up, the small light in the right side of his chest faded and his movements slowly calmed, miraculously his body hadn't rejected the new addition despite being entirely foreign, purely because the tissue contained traces of nanites that had already been administered to his blood-stream, acting as trojan horses to the immune system and prompting it to ignore the implant.
With Aidan still knocked out for the moment, the Doctors quickly went about the simpler procedure of implants, one within each eye for increased sight and visual based reflexes. The Doctors had promptly named the variant of this augmentation 'ARES-i' the simple addition meant the implant was internal and not external. Surgically molded into the subject's eye and not mounted equipment. Mimicking the functions of the actual body while being of artificial nature, true evolution.
A large section of the bed beneath him pulled apart, leaving his spine bare as the arms quickly went to work again, rapidly implanting the spinal regulators that would further augment his reflexes and overall speed. The ATLAS and DIONYSUS were classed as redundant to utilize in this scenario, his transformation via the use of the new organ made them obsolete in his case, for the functions would be performed similarly and even more so once the entirety of his anatomy, with the obvious exception of his brain had finished undergoing the full replacement. The end was close and his vitals looked stable, alarmingly so, the procedure was known to take lives or even cause fatal after-effects.
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Scarlet was still closely observing the procedure, biting a nail everytime Aidan's vitals would flick.
She was unusually worried, maybe she realized it was too dangerous, maybe she felt threatened by how well he was taking it.
Maybe there was something else she forgot to warn him about.
As the final implants were introduced, she had almost completed her manicure. The procedure wasn't long, but she seemed rather uneasy and kept checking the clock more frequently than usual.
Another quick look at the vitals and she looked rather surprised.
"Well I'll be, he might actually make it..."
Suddenly, another woman rushed into the room. Much younger than Scarlet and with a much more serious look on her face.
Scarlet, what is this? I thought I made myself clear, no more of your insane procedures on my ship!
The last ten patients either died or went insane! One of them slaughtered the whole medical team while you stood and watch!
The annoyed woman was the Guildmaster's daughter, Gabrielle Daniels. Scarlet didn't really paid much attention to her yelling and just pointed at the monitor.The vitals were solid and the wounds were rapidly healing.
"Chill, Gabs. It's all under control. This boy here, he's solid. That's the guy you sent to extract me, remember? The very same guy you armed with a stun gun.
Shame on you Gabs, shame on you. I thought we were frie..."
Scarlet couldn't even finish her sentence before she was interrupted.
Enough! Effectively immediately, you're to write down a full report about your activity in the past 24 months. You'll do so in the brig. With armed security guarding you!
That'll teach you not to disobey my direct orders.
Scarlet tilted her head and smiled slyly, leaned towards the younger girl and whispered something in her ear.
Moments later, Gabrielle turned around and stormed out of the room, only uttering a single " Fine " before the door slammed shut.
Scarlet, with an even wider smile on her face, pulled a chair and sat right next to the operating table. She stared coldly at Reeves and awaited his awakening
An agonizing two hours later his eyes began to crack open, the anesthetic had worn off. He didn't seem to move much initially and was scared to even do so, not sure whether his procedure had even been successful or crippled him while he wasn't conscious. It was a sickening thought to have, but the moment his arms and legs twitched upon the command of his muscles, he was immensely relieved. The Doctors from before had mostly cleared out by now, only two nearby monitoring his vitals, passing in and out of the room within the darkened glass through an obscured hallway that was tucked away in a corner.
The Doctors seemed to share his relief when he pulled himself into an upright position, looking about the room, a little dazed by the enhanced clarity of his sight and then immediately disorientated by it, he swayed a little as his mind grew used to it. His reflexes oddly enough felt heightened and his whole body seemed to feel different in a way, like it wasn't really his own anymore.
He was slightly upset when he looked down and found his scars missing, his torso perfectly healed from all the trauma, he knew his significant other would also in-time complain about the disappearance of his scars once she noticed, and for that he'd already put together a lie to explain, not wanting to worry anyone with the details of his current treatments, which he knew must be classified in nature at least one way or another.
Aidan turned towards the glass, examining his reflection. Physically, he looked identical, just minus the obvious scars he had before, nothing about him had changed and even the clothing they'd left on him in the form of his drab uniform trousers remained unaffected.
"Can I have my shirt back?". Was his first choice of words, he had a vague feeling Scarlet would be on the other side of the glass and wondered if his colleague Gabrielle was as well. Either-way, he stood up and waited to see if anyone would enter the room upon him waking up and seeming normal post-operation.
While waiting, he considered exactly how much change this would bring to his bodily functions. He wondered how strong he was now, how sharp his reflexes had become and what else the procedure Scarlet described would let him do or even be. He felt a strange sensation beneath the skin of his arms for a moment, almost like a ripple, but visibly nothing happened and the feeling soon faded. Something he'd learn in time would be another one of his new tricks to use in combat.
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Scarlet walked into the room and looked at Aidan, barely hiding the surprise on her face. She wasn't really expecting him to wake so soon.
The woman smirked and looked at the metal briefcase she was carrying, it was slightly bigger than an usual one and it featured platinum and golden trim.
It had the initials "Jack C. Daniels" written in silver on the side.
"Hey, you're ali...I mean awake. Nice going. The procedure went pretty well and all readings are optimal. Congratulations, you're now less human than 99% of the population in sirius. Literally.
By the way, I've brought you some threads. I hope you like them... I had to borrow them from Mr. Daniels' tailor. On a side note, guy's probably in trouble because the boss won't get his brand new getup delivered on time, but oh well...what can you do.
But I digress... it is time to test your brand new reflexes and skills."
Despite trying to keep it cool, she was very amused with the fact all his Scars healed, mostly because hers never did.
An unforeseen perk was present and she was already worried. Perhaps, the Nanites adjust differently to different people, or perhaps they bonded on a much higher level with Reeves.
Whatever the cause, she would need to research, but all that later.
Jessica realized she was staring emptily into the abyss, so she waved her hand, as if dismissing all the speculations. The time to fully assess the upgrades has come and there was only one way to start it.
One smirk later, Scarlet spun around her heel and threw the briefcase at Aidan.
His perception the moment the briefcase entered the air seemed to be slowed, knowing it was coming right for him it was almost as if he'd had an extra second to react. Snapping an arm up to deftly grab the suitcase mid-air, he was honestly curious what was inside it. It didn't even seem heavy to him so he assumed it was nothing important, probably just her testing his reflexes.
He glanced at her before quietly setting the suitcase down on the bed he'd been confined to and then opening it to look inside. Finding a very well-tailored suit set designed for the discerning gentleman of the future. He was neither gentleman or a chance at the future, so he felt as if a luxury like this was wasted on him.
He took the set out piece by piece and laid them out, looking over them and admiring how certain portions of the suit's jacket were glowing, such as the buttons, even the tie-pin had a rather exotic glowing orange surface to it, the gloves had the first two fingers traced with the same glow. "Well it is awful nice. Only problem is I have no idea to tie a tie.". He looked at her hoping she had some form of a solution, he had to rely on his other half for things like this, almost felt odd without her here in a situation like this.
He had to toss aside his pants, thankful nothing involving his legs needed to be augmented or put through a procedure so he still had his boxers to hide himself from prying eyes. Having to kick his shoes off and then replace his old trousers with the new darker and more sleek pair, leaving the pant loose so that he could tuck his shirt in before applying a belt firmly around his waist. After properly adjusting the shirt, he realized the vest and coat would need to wait at least until Scarlet could somehow help with the tie situation.
"Mind tying that for me? If I could I wouldn't ask, I honestly like doing things on my own.". He had already flipped his collar up to make the process easier, eyes set on her for the moment expecting a response of some sort. He felt lighter on his feet, as if he had become quicker than he was before, even his grip felt like it could reach an extent that was far greater than the previous he expected in regards to performance from his body.
The only thing that would occasionally make him feel slightly uncomfortable would be the sensation in the right side of his chest, having spent his life with nothing there, to suddenly have some foreign organ shoved into the once dormant space did indeed feel very odd, almost as if there were occasional beats, like he had a second but more strange heart.
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"I don't do ties, sorry. I never needed that particular skill in my life...although...you can easily access the neural net and use your newly acquired upgrades to learn any complex motor functions. You've also became very proficient in bypassing all security measures and firewalls. Only the top military protocols are designed to fend off hardware like ours. Then again, they're designed to do much more than that, so don't worry. Also, the boss wants me to assess the potential of your upgrades, so we're going to do just that.
There's been an incursion in one of our R&D facilities on Nauru, but more about that later. "
She carefully examined Aidan from head to toe and back. She seemed rather surprised.
"You know, I'll be frank. I wasn't very sure you'd come out of this at 100% but so far, I've no reason to believe the contrary.
You'll be familiarizing yourself with all the capabilities of your new self for quite a lot of time. The limits end with your imagination.
Rapid healing, EVA without an EVA suit, super-human strength and speed, increased reaction time, real-time data analyzing with feedback through your eye implants.
The nanites, mine and by extent yours, are fully adapted to Core technology, but they can also "learn on the move". That means they can easily help you get by if you happen to stumble on a ship which has it's control in a different language.
But there's a price, everytime you push the limits, nanites "burn out". If you do it too much you will eventually fall ill and most likely die.
Just like normal exhaustion, only this will come after a lot more abuse, so you've nothing to fear.
Also, about that EVA thing, it's possible in theory, I never tried it though, so uh, don't go dancing in space just yet."
She smiled and realized she's dumping information on him as if she's talking about a toy spaceship and it's features.
"But, I digress. Your ship has been fueled and I've arranged for the Tangra to drop us off near the jump hole. Your mission is simple.
Infiltrate the R&D bunker "Ceres" on Nauru. It's an underground installation, so using explosives is not advised. When we lost contact, the security system registered ten armed assailants, but there could be more. Identify, engage and neutralize all enemy personal. All Core personal on location is expendable, but don't kill the eggheads, okay?
Oh, when you're done, download all data then wipe the servers. I've been reassigned to the "Athena" so I'll be in high orbit above the planet. As soon as you're done, you head there and report your findings to Gabs... You know, Gabrielle Daniels. Oh, I almost forgot. Your very own set of badass shades.
Make me proud, Mr. Reeves. It's both of our asses on the line, please, try not to die, kay kay? "
Scarlet pulled the pair of shades off of her head and gently tossed them towards the man. She than winked, turned around towards the tinted glass and mockingly saluted the person or people behind it.
Making careful note of his impending assignment, he cleared the hall in an appropriate pace, handing the shades back to Scarlett before he reached his ship, having to change once more into his combat gear, looking over the small but amply equipped weapon-rack of his ship during the flight, selecting a revolver that was sentimental to him and a compact rifle mostly built for long-range engagements. Now and then that strange tingling sensation in his arms would return but it went largely ignored, mostly because he had more important things to concern himself with.
The geographical coordinates of Ceres had been typed into his navigation console and once through the turgid atmosphere and having been pelted by a minor sandstorm, Aidan had reached the vicinity of his objective, landing quite a distance away from the installation to avoid detection, if there were ten of them keeping the element of surprise would always be wise, at least until he was sure they could just be cut down like frightened mice. Against instruction he would not be considering Core personnel of any sort expendable, but rather doing his best to evacuate them and slaughter the assailants holding the facility.
"Never liked vents.." Muttering under his breath as he broke out into a sprint in the direction of an above-ground ventilation unit, he was much faster than he anticipated and nearly collided with the metal tubes, having cleared the distance in such a small window of time he didn't really think he was capable of whatsoever. But perhaps he had a few lunatics with Doctorates to thank for that. Quickly yanking off the external hatch of one of the tubes and then slipping in feet-first, pressing his legs and arms against the walls and carefully lowering his way down, the drop was quite a large one and if he were to fall and somehow survive, surprise or any element of it may as well be thrown out the window.
He found his arms and legs much stronger than they used to be, supporting his weight and then some, so he decided to test a few limits and loosened the force his arms and legs were pressed against the walls, sliding down the rest of the way and stopping himself two feet away from the cramped compartment of the main ventilation chamber or rather its floor, from here collected air from the surface was evenly blown into every single branch of this facility, meaning he had the ability to roam its layout freely, crouching down to pull his revolver from its holster silently he started creeping along the cramped vents, stopping at certain points to ensure he hadn't stumbled upon a group of people yet. But when he did, he was quick about it.
There were two, holding a large majority of the wounded security staff as well as technicians hostage in one of the equipment storage rooms, they were just below him and thankfully he was near a filtration unit in the system which he could slowly pry open and squeeze through, snapping the filter off and leaping out straight onto one of the two assailants, tightening the grip of his arms around their neck and surprisingly snapping it when all he meant to do was incapacitate them. When the other noticed the struggle and turned around only to be met by a right hook to the face, Aidan was even more surprised when he saw that their face had practically caved in from the blow. Apparently he wasn't very human anymore at all. But maybe that wasn't so bad, being human was over-rated as it stood. With the room secured he instructed the staff to remain quiet, stripping them all of their restraints so they could treat the wounded and soon begin evacuating.
There was one assailant along the corridors, except they wore an exoskeleton and were quick to deflect his attempt to knock them out, turning around to stab him and jabbing their blade deep into his chest, to their dismay, Aidan didn't care, he tore the blade out of his chest and rammed it into their neck, tearing their jugular open and leaving them to bleed. He looked down to his chest and saw the wound quickly patch itself shut, along with the shallow cut of his suit.
The main control room was the site of a lot of inconvenience, six assailants within holding every single 'egg-head' captive and demanding they surrender both themselves and the research they'd stored here. This would be quite the strain on him, but if he was smart he would come out of here alive along with everyone else, except for the other armed men who'd most likely die painful deaths. One of them were near the door he was lurking behind, the first to fall prey to a horribly mangled neck. Six left, all in various locations of the room and three together at the center with the researchers.
He yanked what looked like a flash-bang from the belt of the downed assailant near his feet and tossed it to the middle of the room, every single researcher ducked and cowered upon seeing it, deafened but not completely blinded by the subsequent pop. Using the opportunity he had to go loud, placing clean and lethal revolver shots on three of the currently stunned assailants in either corner, but he wasn't quick enough to ambush the others all at the center of the floor, whom all raised their assault rifles at him and opened fire all at once.
So close yet so far, he lifted one of his hands up in the few seconds his increased perception gave him, hoping to stop a few bullets. He would surprise himself a third time as well as scare himself slightly. The nanites in his body built out of his arm, forming a crude but very rigid metal and partially organic shield that protected him from the incoming fire, bewildered by what they were seeing, the assailants tried their best but were rammed into by a very bold and adrenaline fueled Aidan. He executed two of the three by means of his revolver but the third had his head smashed in by one of the 'egg-heads' who was rather offended they had called his wife something derogatory.
"Hostile personnel registries eliminated. Researchers and facility secure, staff evacuating. Several wounded." He reported the conclusion status and began to calm himself, seeing his assignment at its end and without a need for any help was fulfilling, though the new 'abilities' his body had developed worried him.
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A few minutes after the engagement was over, the panel of the door located in the far side of the room suddenly lit up from red to green.
The blast door opened swiftly with the usual rumble and behind it, stood Scarlet, an unknown man and the Guildmaster himself.
Scarlet was wearing the usual casual outfit, only this time, she had a few holsters with various side arms. What really drew attention were the twin Katanas on her back.
The blades were completely identical, expect for their inscription. The left one had "Canis Lupus" engraved in the blade, while the right one was sporting just one word: "Vindex".
Besides her, Henry Price was leaning against the law. Heavily armored and armed, shotgun in his hands and a whole lot of grenades on his belt.
And finally, Daniels, the guildmaster. Unlike everyone else, he was wearing a black suit and no visible weapons were present.
He lit a cigarette and began inspecting the dead bodies, while his personal guard split to secure both exits.
Jack nodded a few times, clearly impressed by the Reeves' performance. He resumed his tour while avoiding eye contact.
Finally, after more than ten minutes and three cigarettes later, he faced Aidan.
The Guildmaster's eyes were unusual, borderline inhuman. They had a strange, albeit pallid, blue glow to them. Anyone with the adequate augmentations would notice that the Guildmaster was on a whole new level when it came down to upgrades.
For a brief moment he smiled, but his face swiftly went back to the usual serious expression.
Mr. Reeves...can I call you Aidan? Yeah, I'll just do that.
That was a rather impressive display there. We knew you would overperform the initial predictions, but we had no idea you could use your nanites to physically change your body.
Impressive, very, very impressive. And despite you were told the eggheads are expendable, you opted out from sacrificing them.
Naturally, that proves you have kept your sanity and human nature and seals the deal on your evaluation.
That being said, there's only one more thing to do, after that, you'll be free to take a few days off or alternatively, remain in this facility and assist the Core personal with their efforts to get it back up and running. But I digress.
Aidan, you have served the Core, and by extent me, very well for the past few months. You've successfully adapted to your upgrades and transcended past the limitations of the human body. I am hereby granting you the rank "Paladin of the Core". Wear your colors well. It's up to you if you achieve the goal and transcend the limitations of the human mind as well.
If you have any questions, now would be the best time to ask.