Blasts of the past (Bettsyboy and Void)

[bettsyboy]

It started long before I was born, in fact long before my grandfather and his grandfather before him was a sperm! It was in a time of turmoil in human history, Back in the 24th century.


The NSU, New Soviet Union at the time had begun it's new war against the West, they decided to invade Europe and Alaska first, but with their forces on opposite sides of the globe, China turned on Russia and struck them in their own homeland, It was about here that I stopped paying attention in class and started playing games on my holo-pad, but what I wasn't paying attention to was that it wasn't nukes, or hydrogen bombs, or even nanite detonators the Chinese used to level Moscow, it was their new breed of human... super soldiers.


They were the perfect war machines, able to follow any complex task perfectly, precision aim on reflex alone, mastering over a dozen forms of martial arts by the age of 5, enhanced speed, strength, sight, smell, the whole shebang! of course it wasn't long till after that the other nations of the world followed suit, making their own.... it didn't end well. War broke out between the normal humans and the "neo-humans" as they were called, their programs became internationally a crime and their existance gave them the penalty of death.


At at the time it was a period of limited space travel, the few neo-human survivors of the "Species war" fled, and established their own home on another far distant world... they hoped that Humanity wouldn't notice them, and they could slip into human colonies undetected, live, breed, and let their enhanced genes fade from memory in their descendant's blood... alas it was not meant to be.


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The Neo-Humans grew too numerous... too big, they began to diverge, some wanted to take revenge on the creaters of their ancestor's, to build themselves a new, more powerful fleet, take earth and bring the human colonies under subjugation, in truth that would have worked, they could have invaded and bought humanity to their knees... that is, if they stopped bickering long enough to actually build the invasion fleet.


Their internal conflict reached distant ears and on the earth date of 4th of June, 2879 the 8th, 5th and 17th of the Sol fleets (Sol being the home system, Earth) descended like a meteor shower on the Neo-Humans, and in the space of 9 hours, bathed their planet with the glow of a thousand suns, Human troops landed after the bombardment, but the scattered, burned fragments of what was once left were no match for Earth's Elite, and the last of the Neo-Humans were obliterated, with the loss of only 17 drop-ships, 2 frigates and 1 cruiser to orbital defenses, and less than 5,000 ground forces, all in all culminating in 2,400,000 neo-humans wiped out and 60,000 Earth forces killed in the invasion.... But well, this story wouldn't be here if that was the end, would it?


Across Human controlled space, some Neo-Humans still persist, thousands scouting various colonies, undercover on Earth, and in cryo-sleep in remote space stations and ships, to be re-awakened in another 1,000 years, our story though centers around the life of one of these survivors, one on the distant colony known as Arcturus - III.


_____________________________________________________________________

"She went this way!" calls a city guardsman, his pure black shiny armor and large laser cannon in hand, a glowing blue slit at his eye-level. A full squad runs through the alleys on the outer edges of the city, hounds barking loudly, growing ever closer to their target... a Neo-Human female.


The squad splits up,hoping to corner her on the bridge going over the small lake nearby. shots are fired, they all get close but none make their mark, she's quick, moving like a blur "come on!" yells the captain of the squad, pumping his legs as fast as he can after her, overhead in the city, a "terrorist sighting" warning is sounded, and police gunships and dropships are being launched from the great central spire, a huge tower of sleek metal shooting up into the sky over a mile high, their searchlights lighting up the city, all hunting her...


Meanwhile, a young wall engineer, on his way home with his tool bag and his paychip in his hands strolls along, he's not much to look at, a simple wall engineer, making sure the barrier protecting the colony from the plants and creatures of this planet is electrified and the turrets all work but in reality, his name is Frank Jorik (pronounced Yorik), the third son to commander Reiker Jorik, commander of the city watch, the true power on this planet and it's 33 million inhabitants.


Frank as it happens, owns an apartment right on the street the fugitive is headed to, as he stands outside the door, swiping his card to come in, his sudden and drastic change in his lifestyle comes crashing into him...

 

[Void]

A young figure strides down an alley, her rugged, dark clothing concealing two small handguns and a military issue taser. She would’ve arrived with more, but the whole point of the operation was to gain firepower. Despite her imposing strength, weighing herself down now would defeat the purpose, and make little sense in the situation. Lately, the police had been jumpy, setting up checkpoints in what they thought was random configuration. She’d predicted it with surprising ease, though she almost got held up four blocks back. A careless mistake.


Reappearing on the other side of the alley, she merged with the work crowd, matching the tired, dejected expression that was a popular choice among the underpaid and overworked. Half of the crown focused on their personal holograms, messaging friends and taking care of business. The air stank with the scent of burning metal mingled with the sickly sweet aroma of street food, the various venders peddling their product with novelty droids painted every hue of ugly.


Finally, she spotted what she was looking for. A girl donning a school uniform waited at a crosswalk, the dark hair tied in a loose bun matched her own, and their heights passable as the same. Pulling out her own hologram as the light changed, she pretended to be engrossed with a simple arcade game, huffing with exaggerated frustration. Once she was beside her target, she pretended to stumble into the schoolgirl, immediately offering a string of apologies. “I’m sorry, it’s- well, I almost beat my score, see?” She breathed, and as expected, the other girl didn’t look impressed. She’d be even more upset later, when she discovers her tram card is missing. The pass read “Tatiana Aislin”, and it was Avaline’s ticket into the inner city, because the trams were rarely regulated as well as they should. No more slipping around checkpoints, and the 7C tram would leave her a few blocks from the military storage unit.


Her real name was Avaline Ester, but she rarely had a use for her real name considering aliases were her bias. Avaline never regretted being a Nio-Human, and sure, regular humans had it easy, but she’d rather live a difficult life than a blind one. She was raised on the streets of the city, every day having to look up at that dreadful, beautiful tower that reminded her of the selfish vanity of humans. That they believed they had the right to destroy her people because they couldn’t handle what they’d created with their own hands. They had something coming, and they knew it.

---

​

The operation was a success. If you could call being hunted by the entire city’s police force a success. Avaline’s legs pumped furiously, leaving behind all caution and forcing her body to move faster. Dashing across a crowded street, she left a considerable wake of traffic jams and confusion, and she hoped it would help throw them off her trail. Her breath tore through her throat, her heart pounding into overdrive as her superhuman genetics made themselves useful. Intercoms screeched behind her, ordering her to stop, to surrender, as if she were stupid enough to believe she wouldn’t be killed on sight.


A dozen high-grade scoped rifles and various military weapons were strapped to her back, the type of gear that could change the game for the closed network of rebels she was associated with. Making it to the bridge, she doubled her efforts, working through the pain of the bullet that had been lodged in her shoulder a few minutes before. Finally, she reached a residential zone, now dropping behind cover and sticking to the shadows. It wouldn’t be long before they caught up with her, so it was of upmost importance that she find a place to hide for a few hours. Easier said than done.


Just when she thought her luck had finally run out, she spotted a civilian stood outside his residence, in the middle of unlocking his door. From the looks of it, he worked for the city, and she muttered a silent thanks to however was to blame for this miracle. Diving from her cover, she shoved the boy inside his apartment, slamming the door behind her and grabbing him into a headlock. “You make one move,” she ordered, jerking him roughly, “and I end you before you can even think to call for help.”

 

[bettsyboy]

Frank was taken completely taken by surprise, without much resistance. Once they were inside the door slammed shut and a charming female robotic voice chimed "Welcome home Mr Jorvik, some warm fritters are waiting for you" and with that, his personalized playlist began playing, even though it was a kind of techno-metal it was played quietly since it had scanned that he was in there with someone. His back arched as she held him in her grip "Gak! O-Okay, okay! look, trust me here, I'm not the kinda guy to call for help, you know what they do when someone calls for help? hmm? they search the caller's place, and believe me, that's NOT something I want happening, so why don't you *GACK* let me go, huh?" once she released her grip he fell to his hands and knees, coughing and panting "*cough chough* what the hell you crazy b*tch!?" he got to his feet wobbily "*hack* guess you're the one they're looking for huh?" he got to the sink, a glass popped out of the wall with a "ding" and he filled it up with cold water, drinking it down in barely a second.


He turned to the intruder, a look of exhaustion on his face, after a long day at work being tackled by a random criminal really took it out of him "I've already lined the walls with holographic shielding, they scan this place all they'll pick up is some guy whackin it on the couch 24/7" he filled up the glass again, holding it out "water?" he figured he might as well get on her good side, but so far all he was trying to do was work her out.


Dark skin, striking blue eyes, fit to the point of being buff, a look of focus on her face... "you know if you're trying to get outa this region you've come to the wrong place, I just store the stuff ok? Javier's the one with the tunnel access" he was of course referring to the myriad of illegal drugs he had stored under his floor, being a wall technician pays like ass afterall, he might as well be working at a fast food place.


with that done, his eyes went to the guns she had "one shot exits one of those things, and this apartment lights up to their scanners like a distress beacon" he said as a warning, grabbing a beer now.

 

[Void]

Avaline tensed, unsure whether this man had a weapon on him or not. But from his reaction, and the fact that she hadn’t been stabbed yet, he didn’t, so she loosened her grip and stepped away. She gave him a sidelong glance, crossing her arms and trying to judge whether he was bluffing or not. “I hope for your benefit that you’re telling the truth,” she stated, glaring at him across the room. “I don’t have much patience for lying, sarcastic assholes, and you’ve already got two of those down.” Avaline smiled in a way that was in no way cordial. Just because he didn’t turn her in first thing didn’t mean she was going to trust him. Besides, with the hints he was dropping, this man wasn’t exactly a star citizen anyhow. Sticking around a known criminal would be asking for trouble, if the police had him under surveillance.


Fortunately, he put those concerns to rest with the explanation of his defenses, and she was starting to get a feel for his style. She wasn’t sure if she liked it yet, but he did have guts, which counted for something. “I’m good, keep your water,” Avaline declared with a nod in his direction. She meandered towards one of Frank’s personalized robots, feigning interest as she swept the residence with her eyes, trying to scout escape routes for incase it became necessary.


“So what?” She contemplated her options quietly. “Am I going to stay here for a few hours, or do I blow whatever operation you’ve been working at?” Avaline strode over until she stood beside the sofa, giving one of her new rifles a look of admiration. Of course, she wasn’t naïve as to believe she had a chance out there, but she wasn’t about to admit that aloud. “You don’t screw me over, and I won’t screw you over, game?” Avaline forced something of a smile, nerves on edge.

 

[bettsyboy]

"oh I'm a sarcastic asshole? well excuuuuuse me miss "attack an unarmed guy on the street, hold him in a headlock and trespass into his house" what the hell kind of right do you have to say shit about me?" he cracked open the beer can and took a gulp "you know the fact I offered you water after what you just pulled makes me the most gracious host in the history of gracious hosts, don't.... you... &%#! touch that" he warned, referring to his personalized robots "my sensors will detect an energy discharge, but not a circular saw cutting your skull open, or a good old fashioned gunpowder weapon" and with that, he raised his gun.

(that's right, the blade runner gun, or the "That gun" from Fallout New Vegas)


He held it high, the laser sights made her forehead light up with a red glow "no energy discharge from this baby, and the robot's saws don't give off more energy than a regular printer (3d printer) now... you have 10 seconds to talk before I splatter your brains all over my nice lounge room... speak" the robots activated, their custom software identifying their master pointing a gun at an intruder, they began firing up their own weapons, ranging from tazers and various saws to a jet-flame launcher and a sharpened spear-like piston already moving in and out.


"Your answer better be good, you attack me, break into my house, and you're crapping on about trust? are you f***ing insane? honestly you should be counting your lucky goddamn stars that my 'bots aren't already on cleanup duty, now I ask again... Who are you, where did you get those fancy toys, and why is the whole goddamn city after your ass!?"

 

[Void]

Avaline eyed the gun, once again finding herself in a position of trying to call it as a bluff or a justified threat. The gun was legitimate, as far as she could tell, and the robots reeked of high class programming. While there was a chance she could get away from this unscathed, she didn't see much point in trying to run or fight. After all, she could explain the operation and give away nothing the police didn't already know. She put her hands up slowly, to show she wasn't in any rush, and cocked her head dismissively.


"I just borrowed something from the police," she explained with a smirk. "Nothing they'll be missing, since they're practically bathing in more firepower than they have any need. Well, at least not yet." She added, shrugging. "Anyhow, I'm Tatiana Aislin," Avaline lied, remembering the name on the stolen tram pass incase he asked for proof. "I go to school around here, y'know, just earning my education, like any pleasant, law-abiding citizen of this truly lovely city." She realized that she'd probably blown it with the sarcasm, but found it difficult to regret in the slightest. "But the truth is, I'm just another product of human greed, and then them not knowing what to do with themselves when they finally get what they want. When they can't control everything. When they panic. You'd know a thing or two about greed and panic, wouldn't you, Mr. Criminal?" She asked with a straight face, her hands released to her sides.


"I've had enough fighting for one day, but if you're really keen on the idea, at least call off your fancy toys so we can settle it fairly," Avaline ventured, staring him directly in the eyes. "Either that, or we can tolerate each other for long enough for the police to fish the sticks out of their asses and settle down for a while. Plus, think about it Mr. Criminal, if I can get out of a warehouse with all these, do you wonder what else I'm capable of? You just might be putting a bullet in the head of someone who could be useful. Give that a thought." She crossed her arms, relaxing her stance slightly.

 

[bettsyboy]

Frank frowned "First, you remember I have a gun to your goddamn head right? you SERIOUSLY went with sarcasm there? and no, I don't think you'll be useful to me... but you were right about one thing though... I won't shoot your brains out" and the instant he said that, he fired the gun, the hollow point round impacting into her chest at high velocity, high enough to send her body tumbling over his couch.... good thing all the homes in this city are entirely sound-proof.


With that taken care of he nodded to his bots "clean up, huck her body in the incinerator" he commanded, walking over to her body "AFTER I search it" he came to the side of her body, crouching down he began to pat her down, taking her wallet and her communicator, it was then he noticed something... that bullet wound should be a lot bigger than it is now. After taking a closer inspection he saw what was happening, it was healing, insanely fast! jumping up he pointed to her "Restrain!" the bots obeyed, their arms reaching over and grabbing Avaline by the arms and the other bot secured her legs, Frank took a step back, raising his gun again, this time putting it right to her head, as soon as she healed enough to wake up she would find him standing there, his gun to her face "this time, no bullshit, I want the truth, and I also wanna know WHAT you are on top of who" he pressed the gun to her forehead, this time certain she was now well aware of the gravity of her situation.

 

[Void]

Avaline shuddered as the bullet pierced her chest, squeezing the air from her lungs as pain flooded her body. Luckily, the maniac hadn't gone for her head, that would've been a far tougher time for her, but that didn't keep her from shaking with rage as her strength returned. Bottling it as she felt her ribs begin to meld, Avaline breathed shallowly, aiming to lengthen the time she had before he came at her again. When Frank commanded his robots on her, she had yet to recover enough to retaliate, so she let them grasp her for now.


The cold metal of the gun pressed against her skull, and she stood silently, the pounding of her own blood breaking the silence. "You know true well that I'm not human, not after you just tried to kill me." She seethed, keeping still. "Have you, by any chance, heard of the term Neo-Human?" Avaline fixed her cold blue eyes on Frank. "Because that's what I am. Just by that default, I'd be hunted by you humans." She stole a moment to calm herself, not wanting to add insult to injury. "I've served many organizations, but I'm working alone. For now. I find it hard to believe you're one to support the governments goals, with whatever operation you're running that requires such heavy security, am I wrong? Putting a bullet in my head would be frankly stupid," she spat. "I'm not your enemy, but if you're bent on changing that, take your shot." If she was going to be killed, she'd go down fighting, not cowering beneath his gun. She stole a glance at the robots restraining her, estimating what it what take to break them.

 

[bettsyboy]

Frank's hand began to shake as she said what she was.... Neo Human, he had slept through most of his lessons in school but he remembered them... super soldiers, advanced healing, strength, speed and senses, deadly reflexes, barely needed any training to be the perfect killing machines, and the word that some survived "n... NO! that's not possible, Neo Humans were sterile, the females had no eggs to fertilize and the men didn't produce sperm, and they aged just like regular humans, even if some survived the purge on earth and escaped, they'd have all died out from age by now!" of course he was never told of the "adjustments" made by the scientists who created them and later helped them escape.


He held the gun for a few more seconds, before finally he pulled the gun away from her, turning his back on her he clasped his head before snapping back to her and raising the gun again, he was breathing heavily, his nostrils flaring with every breath, his hands still shaking, normally if he heard someone say they were a Neo-Human he would have laughed but he saw her healing abilities. He looked over her body, she was buff definitely, but Neo-Humans were stronger than they appeared, and they looked pretty damn strong, he watched as his bots struggled to hold her down even when she made mild movements, if she wanted to break free, they wouldn't have been able to stop her. Letting out a loud "AAAAH! DAMN IT!" he lowered his gun, he grabbed a light from one of his drawers, it was a scanning light, the kind of thing used to see if someone has a tracking chip or something like that under someone's skin, and it made Neo-Humans light up like a christmas tree. Wiping it over her, her veins glowed brightly through her skin, a shining blue light... it was then he knew that she was legit, an actual Neo-Human. "let her go, not like we could stop her if she wanted to kill me anyway" he sighed to his robots, who instantly let her go.


He glanced at her stolen weapons "you DID take the tracking chip out of those things when you took 'em, right? this place's shielding can't block out all their combined signals indefinitely, and you might as well give me a straight answer why you took 'em" he hadn't put the gun down though or holstered it, it was in his hand by his waist, he knew it wouldn't be enough to kill her but it made him feel a bit safer. He walked over to the guns, kneeling down as he examined them closely, these were some seriously high grade hardware, enough to take down a police VTOL if you charged up a shot for a few seconds, no wonder the whole city

 

[Void]

Avaline watched Frank as he struggled with the realization, and watching his cocky exterior melt under the legitimacy was strangely satisfying. Surprise. She thought with a wry smile as the light illuminated her body. "That's what you've been told," Avaline explained, shouldering off the last of his robots. "And we all know the government has pushed more than just one issue under the rug. Why not their own failure? They tried to wipe us out, but as you can see," she nodded towards her closing wound, "they might've missed a spot." As far as she could tell, he wasn't going to put her bullet in her head, and let herself relax minimally now that she was away from direct danger.


"No. Not yet," she muttered briskly, crossing the room to stand over her prizes. "Hardly had the chance, was too busy avoiding my highly sought after death. I can multitask, but I'm not that good." She pulled her brows together in concern, questioning his security against the chips based off his worry about them. "So I'm guessing your security doesn't cover high grade tracking chips? Might want to jump on that before a few hundred cops are swarming your place. Might be bad for you. And probably me as well at this point." If luck was on their side, the chips would be external, and if not, it would take longer than they had to disassemble the weapons and remove the chips. "Are your toys over there equipped to remove them?" She asked, picking up one of the rifles and eyeing it over.

 

[bettsyboy]

"Are the equipped to remove tracking chips from high tech latest model rifles, for crying out loud what do I look like to you? an amateur?" grabbing a tool handed to him by one of the bots, he cracked open the butt of one of the bots, and with a single yank he tore out the tracking chip. It was large, about the size of a thumb nail "huh, look at this, an old Series VD-87 tracking chip... for god sake they ALWAYS cheap out on at least one element in whatever they make... pisses me off" he threw aside the one he just took the chip out of, with the butt still wide open, the circuits inside all glowing and humming, he set about the next one, and the next "you know, for a neo-human, you really suck, I mean it you really REALLY suck, you steal these rifles, the ones you no doubt KNEW would get the whole damn city on your ass and didn't even think to check for tracking chips, what are you, in safe mode? honestly..." one after another he pulled the chips out and the bot that was holding her legs sawed them in half before picking up the remains and putting them down the garbage disposal.


Once that was all done he stood back up "I thought you guys got training in everything related to guns, HOW exactly did you not try and remove the tracking chips before?... and why did you go for the fanciest ones they had? there are plenty of regular rifles you could have taken and they would have just put a task force on you, not the entire force! you know, standard issue ones?" he picked up one and put the cover back on the butt "I'm keeping this one, you're in my house, I removed the tracking chips, I keep one" he put the gun into his closet, which was already hiding plenty of contraband.


(Sorry for the sucky post, my brain feels like pudding at the moment and not in the best state of mind to post xD )