Digital Kreations: Succession

[Sara Lynx]

At zero six hundred hours they rise and enter sub-zero. The face-freezing rain and sleet become churned amongst the thick mud that ran the perimeter of the area. Packs of them break out into the snow at a jog, their rifles slung martially over their shoulders, eyes locked on a non-existent target in the distance. Drill after drill of running, scouting, keeping a check out for any potential threats.

It was as though command didn’t believe the compound to already be strong enough.

The heavily fortified nucleations of barracks were arranged in a manner so that a fortress around the subterranean labs was created. The vice grip around the more important of the area’s rooms was held strong by the patrols around the high mesh fences, as well as the gun turrets that were dotted at 10 meter intervals around the outer walls – set on an automatic fire to any and all who were not identified as having clearance.

If it wasn’t enough that all these fortifications were put up, computerized security locks were placed onto every door. Access levels were distributed amongst the staff sparingly, giving only the most trusted of employees access to the lower levels of the development quadroons.

This was primarily, in public opinion, due to the work that went on behind those locked doors. Many speculated that the soldiers that walked the boundaries of the compound were no ordinary soldiers, and that infact a sub-organization of Lynx’s business was producing these troops somehow – engineering their DNA through cloning and splicing.

Many were right.

Antony Lynx’s chief of research and development, Durk Rassal, had been for a long 20 years pressing funding into the ‘Digital Kreations’ project, and thanks to this today it thrived. Though some of the tests and experiments had predictably had some unnatural effects, keeping the results under raps was easy. Lynx, though displeased by these findings, thought on the unfortunate creations as minor set-backs, and kept the major objective of creating a test army for auction as top priority.

Top priority. Top secret.

[Sara Lynx]

Not all saw the project as Durk saw it.

Some five years after it's beginning a group who had caught wind of the research set up a protest team against it. The self proclaimed 'Guardians of Eden' held annual meetings to discuss what action would next be taken against Lynx and company, however none of their plans ever came to pass. It was made sure that resources were withheld, or informants mysteriously dissapeared.

Digital Kreations hand genetically engineered hands in lots of pies.

The government knew, in part, that something was going on at the compound. Exactly what, they did not know. Details had always been sketchy. Tip offs would arrive now and then, but nothing ever came of it, as Lynx made sure his trails were covered well.

There was a small elitist circle, however, that knew all. The board of Digital Kreations, plus one. Plus one lethal mistake.

<center>***</center>

Ambiance: Heart - Baracuda

Eyes turned away from their work as she passed by. A tight black rubber dress left little to be desired, cutting short just safely her hips. The soft clanking of the calf-high leather boots with their 3 inch heels rung through the silence as she walked.

She tossed her blonde hair back over her shoulders with one hand, and shot a sharp glance around the room, sending all the workers into a momentary trance before they began typing once more.

A sly smile covered her lips as she picked up her pace, her hands clenching into loose balls, the black leather gloves she wore pulling tight against her skin. Her lips pursed once more, creating a smile now that would send a shudder up even the most composed persons spine.

The lift door slid open and she stepped into purposefully and spun so that she was facing the generic room of drones inputting data. One man looked up at her in a fleeting glance and she grinned, nodding towards the guard who stood at the other end of the room. Within seconds, the idle worker was removed. Just a gungy stain on the carpet.

The durasteel door slid closed and the security check activated.

Supply security clearance code...
"Clearance code Aurora."
Code accepted. Good morning Miss Lynx. Floor, please...
"Penthouse. I need to pay my father a little...visit."

[Sara Lynx]

Antony Lynx lay motionless. Beads of cold sweat covered his brow, sticking quills of silverly hair down to his wrinkled forehead. His cobalt eyes, half closed, shifted to the slowly opening door of his room. The figure stood in the opening, face obscured by the bright light from the back window. A feminine figure it was, though. Sleek, contured.

The contures of his daughter.

"Sara," he wheezed and sat up, propping himself against his bed with his elbows. The linen robe he wore tightened around his thin, wiltering frame as he strained towards her.

"Come to me."

Sara paced towards him slowly and sat herself down, perched on the edge of his bed. She did not make eye contact with him, but instead stared up into the open window to her left. The old man reached out a bony hand to his offspring and placed it down on her thigh, squeezing it softly.

"The Doctors tell me I have... I have not long to live."

Sara remained silent. Antony sighed.

"So, my child, I would like to ask something of you..."

Her attentioned peaked for the first time in the conversation, and she allowed her head to turn, only slightly, towards her father.

"... Please, terminate the Digital Kreations project for me."

Bye bye attention.

"Can you do that for me, Sara?"

A slight shake of the head from the light-haired woman.

"No."

Now, a quick turn in movement. The girls before unseen hands latched around the skin at her fathers throat and grasped tightly, nails digging inwards. Her body shifted around to make the task more simple, knee driving down into his frail ribcage.

He let out a heart-felt strain and flung his arms at her in protest, unable to shout for help with the pressures she placed him under.

"Don't try to resist, daddy. It will only make it worse."

The look of horror on the mans face worsened, then slipped away in a soul-stealing second - with his life. Miss Lynx stood up slowly and approached the comm. link at the bedside, clicking it on.

"Send a team up to the penthouse, Antony Lynx is dead..." she let the link click off, "... and his will needs to be sorted out."

[Jaaheessaa Leeouurruu]

Ambiance: Ocean Colour Scene - The Riverboat Song

A clawed hand drummed slowly. The thin talons on the edge of each finger clattered one by one against the polished wood desk. The other hand, free, flexed. Upturned, it lay against the arm of a cheap looking wood chair. The back to the chair, scarred with a few stray suspicious looking indents, rocked slowly back and forth in motion with the tapping of the claws.

Two feet, one after another, lifted onto the desk; the right settling down first with the left ankle resting comfortably over the right. The tapping paused as the chair half spun around.

"Who'sss therrre?"

Silence. She resumed strumming the table top slowly and sighed.

"Miss Leeouurruu?"

Jaaheessaa sat up more stiffly and swung her legs down from the table, spinning around in her chair to face the man standing in the doorway. One hand flicked up to cast some violet hair from her eyes.

"jYesss? Can jI help jyou wjith sssomethjing?"

She grinned as the hyuu-man male shifted about from foot to foot whilst holding out a sheet of paper towards the Cizerack Bounty Huntress.

"And thjisss jisss?"

He cleared his throat, "A letter. Arrived just a few minutes ago. I haven't read it, Miss, so I can't tell you what it addresses."

"Go awajy then," Jaah shooed him away with one hand and turned back to her desk, laying the printout flat down, beginning to read.

"Dearrr Mjisss Leeouurrrrrruu, jI wrrrjite to jyou todajy wjith a busssjinessssss offerrr. jI am jin need of jyourrr assssssjissstance grrreatljy. jIf jyou feel jyou would ljike to earrrn sssome larrrge sssumsss of cassh, come to the Djigjital Krrreatjionsss headquarrrterrrsss asss sssoon asss possssssjible. Brrrjing jyourrr bjiggessst gunsss."

Jaah looked at the scribbled signature and logo printed on the page and smirked slightly.

"Sssjigned Sssarrra Ljynx, Head of Djigjital Krrreatjionsss."

She snapped up out of her chair quickly,

"Wherrre wasss thjisss sssent frrrom?!"

No sign of the hyuu-man. She cursed under her breath and stomp back towards her desk, yanking up the comm. into one hand. It was time to find out what this Digital Kreations was.

[Ian Rockwell]

Ambiance: Professional Murder Music - Painkiller Introduction

/// Beginning waking process . . .

Lime green oozed slowly around the frame of the suspended human. In the dark of the lab, the light given off by the transparent tube was edging on being eerie. Not that it wasn't already spooky enough. The mass of tangled wires and electronical equipment all hooked up to the submurged being, feeding it. With what? Food for the mind and food for the stomach.

/// Engaging . . .

Air bubbles streamed upwards slowly through the tube from the mask strapped over the mans face. Yes, it was a man. That much was obvious. A fairly large one at that. His arms tensed up for a short second. Muffled coughs came from inside.

/// Subject woken. Opening chamber . . .

The front sheet of glass on the case slid downwards, sending the liquid inside spilling out onto the durasteel floor, through the grating into the level below. The body landed down on its feet and wripped it's mask away from it's face.

/// Process succ-

SMASH - the man spun and drove one fist into the deck of controls, shattering the computer. Electricity sparks leaped back and forth as he turned away from the sleep station, a dark grin on his face.

<center>***</center>

The penthouse door flung open and the team of medics and lawyers in the room shrank away from the corpse of Antony Lynx to look up at the one who had just stepped in.

"Started the party without me?"

He held a blaster in one hand. The barrel was cocked slightly to the side, yet firmly aimed on the general area of those present - mainly Sara.

"Not very nice of you to go and do that."

He pulled the trigger and one medic collapsed at the bedside. Ian gestured the gun to the side, signalling for the people to move away from the bed. Sara got up and began to walk away.

"Ah ah ah ... No, no. You can stay."

"Subject 00146 ... what are you trying to pull here?"

The gun was holstered quickly. The man approached Lynx slowly and folded his arms over his chest.

"Sorry about the nerd. Had to make sure they weren't going to put up any fight. I can buy you a new one."

Ian laughed, yet Sara did not seem at all impressed.

"You've overstepped the line, 00146," Sara snapped, "The line which I had forced upon you many times before, but which you still fail to take notice of. You're detailed to the level 3 test labs, yet still you manage to wind up here and shoot one of the best damned doctors on the staff!"

She threw her arms up into the air, and in doing so stood up, seething.

"There's always more DK researchers. It's not like there's a limited supply of them. Anyhow, I'm here to help you."

"You are not here to help. You are here to be tested upon, 00146. Know your place," she paused and took up the comm. link once more, "Security, penthouse-"

Ian gripped her shoulder firmly, "I can help you find Aurora."

There was a short silence in which the static-filtered voices of the floor security team could be heard frantically through the comm.

"Cancel that. False alarm," Sara placed down the small cylinder and shrugged about the specimens hand from her shoulder. She cleared her throat and turned to face the man, looking up at him. Though she knew she had complete control over him and the rest of the transgenics, she still feared them at times. They were, of course, heightened in abilities and 00146 could probably break her back before she even noticed he had moved.

"And how exactly do you think you can find Aurora?"

[Eve Siren]

***

Eve was running her fingers on the metallic cords of her electric guitar. The bar she was at with filled with drunk men, yelling out her name for more. She grinned as she almost finished her song, practically yelling in the microphone set in front of her as she continued playing.

"I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the juke box baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take some time and dance with me
Ow !

He smiled so I got up and asked for his name
But that don't matter he said, cuz its all the same.
He said can I take you home
Where we can play alone ...."

The song finished with a light bass rythm. The crowd was wild. Eve smiled and waved at them all as she walked to the back.

"So, nice show you put out there ..." The bar manager said, bringing two small glasses of alcohol.

"Thanks." Eve said dryly, refusing the drink.

"So what does a Sith Knight from the famous Sith Empire do here ? To rock ?"

" ... To rock."

Eve packed her stuff and left without leaving time for the bar owner to say anything. She opened the back door, sighing deeply. She had to go back to the Empire. Phantom was nowhere to be found. I wish I didn't lose another brother to DK ... She thought to herself.

DK.
****

"What is your name, soldier ?" A man briefly said.

"X5, 452, Sir !"

"And what is your mission, 452 ?"

"To serve and obey DK, Sir !"

"Very well, 452 ..." He left, leaving the girl there. She was left in the wild artificial jungle the laboratory made to train in. The signal was out. It was another survival test.

The girl ran and ran as fast as she could. A man was released. He was thin, and looked nerdy. She ran towards him.

"Your mission is to kill him bare-handed, 452 !"

The girl panicked. The man cried. They ran together to the fence. She helped him escape, but stayed behind. The man ran and ran for his life. She was trapped back.

"452 !"

She turned around, a bunch of guards with electric shockers were already there. They jumped on her, shocked her unconscious. She was dragged by two men, helplessly. They strapped her down tightly as she began to wake up.

"... What ?"

"I said, I'm very disappointed in you, 452." The same man said.

"Sir, I ..."

"Silence ! You are a nuisance and a bad example to your brothers and sisters !"

He pressed a button, and pulled up a lever. Two red lasers penetrated through the girl's eyes. She screamed, but nobody cared. After a while that seemed like an eternity of torture, her face was emotionless. Her vision, blurry, she got dragged out by the two same men who brought her in. They locked her in the dungeon, where all the bad experiments lived.

****

Eve walked towards her motorcycle, and set her electric guitar on the back. She pulled out her Skull helmet and put it on her head, tieing it slowly underneath her chin.

[Jaaheessaa Leeouurruu]

Exactly 47 minutes after Jaah left her office...

The tall headquarters of Digital Kreations stood proud, omnious above her. Jaah's tail flicked back and forth in ticks as she stared at it. A quick glance at the printout she had of how the complex was supposed to look and she knew this was the right place. Well guarded, by the looks of it.

She approached the main gate and turned her attention to the four armed guards who were jogging towards her. Each wore a suit of thick black, rubber-like armour and held a blaster rifle under their arms. They wore utility belts with detonators on them, and had opaque visors over their eyes.

"This is a restricted area!" shouted one.

"jYesss, I can sssee that," Jaah folded her hands over her chest.

It hadn't taken long to find the HQ, and she didn't think it would take long to bypass the security drones either

"jI am herrre to ssseee Sssarrra Ljynx. Ssshe sssent forrr me," she held up the printout of the letter she had received to the men.

One snatched it up quickly and turned away, gesturing for the remaining three to keep a tight guard on the feline. He spoke into a comm built into his helmet.

"There's a ... cat here at the front gate saying Miss Lynx wants to see her."

Meanwhile, in the penthouse ...

"There's a ... cat here at the front gate saying Miss Lynx wants to see her."

Sara smirked slightly. Ian didn't seem so confused, yet still smiled out of curiousity.

"It appears my help has arrived," Ian said, pacing over to the window. He looked down out of the lavish penthouse suit towards the gate. From his height he could pick out the four black figures, and one which seemed to be a mixture of grey and purple. He sneered.

"I hope you don't mind me ordering in a little insurance policy for the mission."

"What mission?" Sara followed him over to the window and streched to try and see what he was looking at.

"To find Aurora."

Back at the gate ...

There was some muffled talking, brief spurts of static and crackling. The man spoke again, but Jaah could not hear what he said. After a minute or so, he turned around and wave the guards away.

"You're clear to go in. Keep to the marked path. Head for the tall grey building marked with the lion," he grumbled, stepping aside.

Jaah grinned a toothy grin and swaggered past the men under the huge gates. She was in, but what was in store for her?

[Eve Siren]

Eve made the engine of her motorcycle roar and she pulled it back on the handles, making Cloud stand up on its back wheel. She turned the right handle again, making it roar even more loudly and charged off.

The crowd cleared the way as she dashed by, some surprised, some scared, some amazed. She slowed down as she reached a red light. She sighed and groaned, sitting up straight on the leather seat of Cloud.

***

"What is your name ?"

"Au ... Aurora, Sir !"

The girl hesitated, but still answered firmly. When she was condemned to the Dungeon, she lived among other kids with the same "curse". Guided by one man who had named her Aurora. But the Main Council didn't like it.

"What is your name, X5 ? I suggest you answer wisely ..."

"I said, Aurora !"

The girl got slapped by one of the directors. Her lips bleeded but she didn't care.

"You never used to be like this, 452. You used to be loyal, smart, quick and strong ... Now, you're just useless."

One of the female directors talked to the scientist discreetly but Aurora could still hear.

"How long can they go on without food and water ?"

"About a week, ma'am."

The woman grinned and looked back at Aurora as she gave sign to the guards. The big guards came and pushed the girl slowly in a metal "box/prison" that was getting smaller in a matter of minutes.

"You should think about it now, 452. I don't think you want to end up squished ... So ... What is your name ?"

"Aurora ! Aurora ! Aurora !"
***

The green light finally flashed and Eve started roaring her engine again. She crossed the crowded streets silently. Aurora, Aurora, Aurora ...