AN: Welcome to Mad Season! This story is the sequel to Franz the Killer. If you haven’t read it first I recommend you do before starting this one. The story will make much more sense if you do. Trust me on that. This story is rated M for violence, harsh language, mentions of rape, and sexual situations. Also homosexuality and other sexualities will be included. So if anything in the last two sentences bothers you in any way I suggest you turn around and walk away.

Chapter 1: The Wake Up

    A flash of yellow light behind darkness. The flash grew and grew until the darkness was all but gone. All that was left was blinding white light. Blurry images slowly crept into sight. Gradually the images became clear and soon the surroundings were apparent. It was a brightly lit sterile white laboratory. In the room there were large cylindrical glass tubes filled with clear liquid aligned in rows. All of them were empty. Except for one. The one I'm in.

    I could start to feel the sensation of needles pricking at my fingers. I could feel my body moving and reacting. My muscles reacting by contracting and extending. All of this feels so new. Yet I feel like I've felt this before. I don't understand what's going on. I feel afraid. Where am I? Why am I in this? Who am I? The questions rung in my head until a bright red light perturbed my gaze. A loud echoing sound rang soon after. When the sound pierced my ears for the first time I instantly I felt afraid. I didn't understand it and it scares me. What's going to happen to me?

    Another new sound popped into my head soon after. I couldn't quite tell what it was. It sounded like beeping mixed with a distinct clicking noise. I soon felt a shift in my container. The liquid surrounding my body started to lower. When the liquid started to drain at my head I felt the cold sting of the air for the first time. My body chilled as the liquid cascaded down me. I soon felt weak and my body collapsed out from beneath me.

    A loud thud echoed in the now empty container. The remnants of the strange liquid shifted around the drain at the bottom next to my feet. My vision was still blurry and I could barely make out myself in the glass. It looked like I had pale skin and silver hair that clung to my face. My eyes shone a bright blue with green around the edges. My body seems fairly slender as well. No wonder I couldn't stand.

    As I gazed upon my blurry image a flash a purple flew across the glass from the other side. My delayed reaction caused me to be unable to see quickly enough as the image flew beyond my line of sight. I opened my mouth and attempted to communicate, but all that came out was a slight screech and groan. After a few moments a voice communicated back to me. "I'm sorry but this is all I can do for now. I've got to run sweetheart." Not long after the voice another flash of purple flew across the glass out of sight going the opposite direction.

    Who or what was that? At the moment I couldn't really articulate what had happened. There was a beeping sound followed by a clicking before the glass slid open. The cold air bombarded my wet naked body when the door came open. I sat there for a moment holding my shivering body wondering if I should leave. So I reluctantly began pulling myself out. It didn’t take long to figure out my legs didn't work. I used the sides of the container to my advantage to slowly slide out.

    When I got to the edge and tried to stand my weak body gave out from the exertion and I collapsed to the floor. That didn't really go according to plan. So I pushed myself up enough to survey my environment. There were machines with flashing lights in abundance everywhere. The purple thing didn't seem to be around anywhere though. As I looked around the room I spotted a white lab coat hanging up on the wall. I was able to crawl far enough to one of the desks and pull myself up.

    I leaned onto the desk and I tried to stand on my own two feet. After several excruciating minutes I was able to balance myself correctly and sufficiently stand upright. For the most part anyway. I wobbled my way over to the coat and yanked it off the hanger. The cloth felt rough between my fingers. It was such an interesting new feeling. I draped the coat around me and wrapped it around close. The dry fabric clung to my still wet body.

    A blue screen next to me caught my attention as it flashed repeatedly. On the screen was a picture of a flashing red open container. It read 'Subject Omega's container has been released'. What was that supposed to mean? Am I subject Omega? I didn't know what to think at this point. Everything seemed so strange to me. I carefully walked into the next open room, holding onto whatever I could to keep myself upright. The room was pitch black until lights automatically came on blinding me momentarily.

    In the center of the room there was a table with something lying on top. When I got close enough I noticed that it was a suit. It was a bluish black one piece body suit. It looked like muscle tightly woven together. When my fingers came into contact with the suit it twitched and blue lines across it lit up unexpectedly. It was so strange looking. It almost looked alive. When I picked it up a holographic note fell from its hand.

    It read: 'I left this for you sweetheart. I'm sorry that I couldn't be of more help to you. I need you to get out of here alive. People are going to try and stop you and you need to run away. To help you escape I left you this. Put this on and it'll help you fight back. Hurry and meet me at the Fiery Minxx. With love, LL'. Maybe what left this was that purple thing I saw earlier. Whoever they were they were obviously looking out for me. After several minutes of fumbling around and falling down I was finally able to put the suit on.

    It unexpectedly fit perfectly like a glove. A strange full body glove. It felt like it was a part of me. It reacted and moved with me any which way. It was actually pretty fun. Once I was done playing with my new toy I decided to wander around and investigate the lab. Thankfully suit was helping me stand and walk around unlike before. It didn’t take me long to find another hallway leading out of the container room. My curiosity drove me forward through the self-lighting hallway.

    As I traversed the empty hallway I felt the presence of something behind me. When I turned around there was nothing there. Only the dimly lit corridor and lab behind me. When I turned back around there was figure directly in front of me. I felt my pulse jump significantly from the surprise. The dark hooded figure loomed in front of me. Its presence was daunting.

    I tried speaking but nothing came out. I guess I don't know how to speak. What I heard next was its voice. It was soft and feminine. "Hello Omega. It's so nice to finally meet you. My master wishes to meet you as well. Come with me and fulfill your destiny." The figure reached out its hand in a welcoming matter. However, something was different about it. Even though I hadn't met another living thing since I awoke, I felt I couldn’t trust this one.

    When its hand reached out closer to me in the light I noticed what it looked like. The fingers were metal and skeletal looking. It looked like tendon and bone intertwined together. The metal however, stopped at its knuckles. "Come my child. We will free this world from the sinful flesh that binds us. You are the key to that freedom." I avoided the hand and took several steps back.

    I had no idea what this person was talking about. What did they want with me? The figure began to laugh softly to itself as its hand slowly reeled back. It then took several steps towards the light. Once it was in the light I noticed it was a woman it a dark blue hooded cloak. Her hair was bright red and it hung down to her chin. There were black tattoos etched across the length of her pale face. She still spoke to me in a soft and calming manner.

    "Do not be afraid. I am here to save you. These people only want to hurt you." As she spoke the sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway from behind. Several lights flashed from around the corner, and shouting voices echoed in the hallway. The red haired woman without hesitation opened a window and threw herself outside. When I looked out I noticed we were incredibly high up. So why did that woman jump out the window? There's no way she'd survive.

    When the footsteps got closer the lights of whoever was running towards me were pointed directly at me. The lights blinded me and I couldn't tell who they were. "Put your hands where we can see them! Do it!" I instinctively raised my hands into the air to show I meant no harm. Another one of the people spoke up this time. "Specimen acquired sir. We're moving in now."

    When the two people got closer to me I saw that the lights were attached to large guns they carried. They wore full body white armor suits with a large blue T in the middle of their helmets. I felt afraid of them. Like I'd seen them before. Though I don't know how. I only just woke up today and I'd never seen them before in my life. One of the men then grabbed hold of my wrist aggressively and tried pulling it behind my back.

    At that moment I felt something in the back of my mind. Something primal clawing its way to get out. My body felt something it hadn't before. It reacted and before I knew it I had wrenched my arm away. My body acted on its own and I spun around behind the man. I grabbed a hold of his head and quickly snapped his neck in one quick movement. The other man immediately opened fire on me. So I used the other man’s body as a shield to protect myself.

    I pushed the body as hard as I could towards my assailant and let it slam into him. Both he and the body crashed to the ground. It was enough to make the man drop his gun and let it slide out of reach. He seemed stunned and lied on the ground trying to regain himself. In my mind I only saw red. There were no morals, ethics, or even humanity. All I felt at that moment was violence in my heart. So I grabbed the gun off the ground and pointed it towards the man.

    He held up his hand and pleaded for me to spare him. “P-Please don’t kill me! We weren’t going to hurt you! We were only going to take you back to Mr. Von Blut.” His cries fell upon deaf ears. So I didn’t the only thing that made sense. I opened fire with the gun pointed point blank at his head. The bullets tore through his head easily. Blood and chunks of skull blasted out from his broken helmet in all directs.

    Eventually the gun made only a clicking sound once the magazine was completely empty. I kept pulling the trigger without even thinking. After several minutes of standing there over their dead bodies I finally regain my senses. Once I did I immediately felt my heart sing in my chest. It took me a moment to fully articulate what had just happened. I had just killed two men. I don't know how or why. My body just reacted. It was as if I couldn't control it.

    For the first time in my life I felt the heat of tears streaming down my face. They converged on my chin and fell silently to the floor. I began to tremble and soon my legs gave out beneath me. I began to cry for the first time. I cried so hard for people I didn't even know. People I had killed just to save myself. I cried and cried for what felt like an eternity.

    In the midst of my overwhelming sadness I saw something on the edge of my vision. It was a slender white gloved hand hanging out of the corner of the hallway. It waved me forward. Before I realized it I was already up and walking towards it. Once I got closer I noticed the hand was gone. So too was whoever the hand was attached to. Instead there was another holographic note.

    All it read was 'Run'. So I took the note's advice and ran. I ran down the seemingly endless hallway. My drying tears still clung to my face as my body moved forward. When I got to the end of the hallway it was a dead end. Only a large glass window looking out to the world below.

    Not long after I reached the end did I hear more armed men heading my direction. When they reached the curve in the hallway they quickly noticed me on the other end. I knew this was the end for me. There was no escape now. Nowhere to run or hide. I backed up flat against the window. It didn’t take me long to feel the vibrations coming from the wall. Soon felt the entire building began to tremble.

    Before I knew it there were explosions that consumed the corridor, killing all of the armed men. Their bodies were engulfed in the intense flames and shrapnel from the shattered walls. After the initial explosions I came back to my senses. The blasts were systematically exploding towards me from the walls. So I did the only thing I knew how to do, I fled.

    I could feel the heat of the flames lick my back as I jumped through the shattering window. I held my eyes closed the entire time, jumping blindly to the outside world. Soon I felt something solid hit me straight in the abdomen. I had landed on the building next to the one I was in. What I had landed on was the edge of the roof. When I realized the situation I tried to grab at anything I could get a hold of.

    Everything slipped away from my hands as I slid from the roof. I fell for only a few seconds but it felt like a lifetime. Everything I felt at that moment was magnified. The wind whistling through my hair. The ringing sound in my ears. My heart beating a thousand miles per hour. All became silence and darkness once I had hit the ground.

2: Chapter 2: Strike a Pose!

Chapter 2: Strike a Pose!

    “Hello darling! You look absolutely fabulous today!" A slender flamboyant man cat walked through the five star lobby. His skin was a perfect porcelain white with no visible imperfections. His hair was styled back into two points on the back of his head. The points were then sculpted down into the shape of a V going down to his neck. The hair itself was pure white with two blue stripes coloring the V shape.

    His face had sharp angles that sculpted his head like a fine piece of art. His eyebrows where thin and perfectly tailored to shape his fine brow. The color of his baby blue and green eyes popped with the decadent colors of make-up around them. His lips were a beautiful shade of violent that were pursed with a sense of superiority. He wore an astonishing white feather robe that dragged the floor behind him. Draped around his neck was a dead swan with its elegant feathers flowing behind his head. Underneath his robe was a hand tailored violet suit. His whole appearance was highly decadent and expensive.

    The blonde woman at the front desk he passed ogled him with star struck eyes as always. "Make sure to have my coffee prepared just how I like it. And make sure the buffet doesn't have any of those nasty squishy things again." The woman didn't answer but stared on in infatuation. She was soon knocked out of her lucid state by a smack to the back of her head. Her muddled mind was jolted back to her head and she yelped in response.

    Her assailant was the other man's body guard. He was a rather tall man in a long worn leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. His brunette hair was shoulder length with part of it hanging in front of his right eye. His irises were an unusual white color. He had red tattooed lines going from his bottom lip down to his bare chest. The rest of his chest had many other red tribal looking tattoo symbols covering the majority of his skin. What was most interesting though were his arms.

    They were mechanical but in a way that made them look semi-organic. The metal flowed together to create a truly biomechanical look. The ends of his fingers were more like claws than actual fingers. One of which was pointed directly at the woman. "You. Woman. Do as you're told." He bore down on her with eyes like daggers. The woman at the desk quickly nodded out of fear. "Y-Yes sir! Right away sir!" The other man gave a small chuckle and whirled around to both of them.

    "Oh, leave the poor woman alone. She's not hurting anyone darling." The long haired man looked at him, then back at her, then finally back at him. He gave a huff and grumbled to himself. He shot the woman one last glare before moving on. The woman still sat there petrified in her chair. The pair walked over to the golden elevator and got on. The elevator made a ping as it closed its golden doors.

    "Must you torture everyone who comes in contact with me? I mean really, you act like a jealous spouse." The body guard didn't say a word and turned his face away. The white haired man put his hands on his hips and spoke up much louder. "Hello? I'm talking to you! I order you to speak!" This time his body guard looked at him directly in the eye and shot him a glare. "You hired me to protect your body not your interests. I don't have to speak if I don't want to." They glared at each other until the elevator opened again.

    The white haired man immediately changed his demeanor and his personality became vibrant again. He smiled at all the people getting on the elevator and waved at them. Both the men and woman smiled and waved back. His body guard; however, was still a gloomy storm cloud in the elevator. As soon as the last person got off the elevator they both glared at each other again. "Must you always act that way? You're like a pissy child Jack." The name at the end was spoken with much more venom than the rest of the words.  Jack then snorted at the white haired man and turned away.

    "Whatever. You're a bucket full of painfully bright sunshine every day. I should get paid extra not to barf everywhere Victor." The name was also spoken much more vehemently than the other words. Victor scrunched his face and turned away. They both stared at the walls in silence the rest of the way up. When they got to their respective floor the door opened up to a lavish paradise.

    Inside was a massive room filled with everything relaxing you could think of. There was a massive pool with several water slides going every which direction. There was a bar with every type of alcoholic beverage you could imagine. The bar tender was a skinny blonde woman in a bikini top and short shorts. She waved at them before getting back to work cleaning glasses.

    The room had an artificial beach with real palm trees transplanted everywhere. Colorful exotic birds flew around the canopy of the trees. The whole place was an artificial paradise made solely for Victor. He sighed in joy as he clasped his hands together. "I love going here. It was such a good idea to build my own personal sanctuary." Jack rolled his eyes at his employer. This place was a little excessive for just one man.

    "How about we go to the beach again? I do love playing in the sand darling." Jack shrugged at his boss and grunted. "I don't like the water. How about you go and I watch." Victor smacked him in the shoulder and made a pouty face. "You promised! You're such a stick in the mud." He then turned his nose up at him and walked off to his own personal changing room. As soon as he was out of sight Jack quickly made his way over to the bar. He sat down in a huff onto the bar stool. He leaned on his elbows and sighed as he looked up at the flat screen television.

    The female reporter was interviewing a member of the police about the recent capture of the Last Kiss Killer. He was in custody as they spoke. Jack's eyes grew wide at the news he'd just heard. He never thought Franz would ever get captured. As he stared off into space the bartender tried to get his attention.

    He snapped out of his train of thought when she touched him. "Hey are you okay? You seem a little off today hon." Jack gave her a slight smile before turning away. "It's nothing. Just a little bored is all." The bartender giggled and poured him an orange mixed drink. She shoved it towards him only to have him push it back. She narrowed her eyes and forced it back at him until he finally accepted. "I call this one 'I Can't Wait to Eat a Cactus'. Go ahead try it!"

    He gave her a weird look before hesitantly taking a drink. He nodded to himself before giving her an approving smile. "Not bad, not bad. Though I don't quite get the name." The bartender giggled at him again and took the drink away. "Neither do I! That's half the fun!" They laughed together for a moment until Victor loudly announced he was ready for the beach. Victor strutted out of his changing lounge like he owned the place. Coincidentally he actually did.

    His pale ivory skin was extraordinarily bright in the artificial light. He wore a lavender colored swimming trunks with a diamond encrusted floral design. "How do I look? Do I look gorgeous or do I look gorgeous?" Victor gave them poses to flaunt himself off. Jack just shook his head and the bartender giggled at him and clapped. "Would you be a dear and escort me please?" Victor held out his hand and waited for his body guard. Jack groaned and reluctantly took his delicate hand into his own.

    He walked him down to the shore line and let him go when he sat down. "Where are you going? Won't you please sit at the beach with me? You won't have to get in." He tugged at Jack's jacket like a child. He rolled his eyes and yet again reluctantly complied. Victor squealed with joy and squeezed Jack's arm. "I'm so happy you finally went with me to the beach. Isn't it beautiful?" Jack shrugged with his eyes fixated on the water. "Whatever. It's not even a real beach."

    Victor huffed at his response and scrunched his face. "This is the best artificial beach money could buy. You know all the real beaches around here are contaminated." Jack just shrugged and turned his attention away from his employer. This place wasn't all that bad. It was actually pretty quiet. That sort of peace and quiet was something only money could buy these days. As he was musing in his mind his employer shook him to direct his attention elsewhere.

    When he turned around he noticed two nicely dressed men setting up a table. It was immaculate with its shiny silverware and fancy food. It was a massive brunch just for Victor. "Oh how wonderful! Now we can have brunch on the beach. Isn't that lovely?" Jack pinched the skin between his eyes and groaned in frustration. What was with all this we stuff? I'm starting to become less of a body guard and more of a hired friend. The two servants finally set two chairs at the table for them. One was at the head and the other one was adjacent to the first one.

    Victor skipped merrily over to his chair. Jack dragged his feet the whole way. When they finally sat down to eat Victor delicately took small pieces from the decadent food surrounding him. Jack just shook his head and refused to eat. All of this food for just one man. This food could have fed many people for days or even weeks. Yet Victor ate the tiniest pieces just so he could "watch his figure".

    The rich were all just a bunch of assholes. Victor was the biggest asshole of them all. He was the richest man in New Way City. In fact was the richest man in the whole world. And all he did was spend it all on things just for himself. He was a spoiled brat with too much time and money on his hands. "Hey Jack you look a bit upset. What's wrong darling?" Jack grumbled and immediately got up from his seat and left for the elevator.

    Victor yelled out to him but he didn't respond. He just got on the elevator and left without a word. Victor sighed deeply and held his head in his hands. The bartender came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. When he looked up at her she noticed tears forming in his eyes. "Why doesn't he like the things I do for him? He said he liked going to the beach as a kid so I built him one. He told me he would love to eat brunch on the beach I made him one. You were his favorite bartender so I hired you. I do all this for him and he still hates me."

    This time Victor couldn't help but let the tears flow. He cried his eyes out. His makeup bled and dripped down his face. The one person he wanted to impress still hated him after all these years. All because of that one night. The bartender tried to cheer him up but he seemed inconsolable. After several minutes he finally stopped crying and wiped his face. "You know its fine. If he hates me that's fine. He's just my body guard and nothing more." He quickly got up and composed himself. He got dressed up again and left for his personal suite.

    When he arrived he noticed Jack looking at a hologram at his desk. His office had an abstract art style to it. Many of the mundane items in the office were shaped in odd ways. His desk, for example, looked like a giant melted art easel. "What are you doing? I need a word with you." Jack kept his back turned to him and beckoned him forward. Projecting from the table was the hologram of a woman with her hair in a bun. She looked completely tidy and organized.

    "Mr. Titan I must inform you about a recent occurrence from one of your laboratories." Victor looked at her quizzically and moved the hologram across the table towards himself. "No need for such formalities. Just call me Victor. Mr. Titan was my grandfather darling." The woman nodded in agreement and continued with her information. "I'm sorry to inform you but there has been an explosion in one of your research facilities in Lowtown. Several of the security personnel died in the explosion as well. We're investigating the circumstances of this incident as we speak."

    Victor looked visibly shocked by the news. For one, he had no idea he had a research facility in Lowtown. Second, he had no idea why it would even explode. "Wait, wait, wait! So you're telling me that some place that I had that I didn't even know I had just mysteriously exploded?" The woman looked like she didn't expect that sort of response. She took a moment to formulate an answer before she responded.

    "Um... I suppose so sir. The real worry though is the missing technology. It may have been destroyed in the explosion or it may have been stolen. The bombs planted inside suggest that it may have been a terrorist attack. If this is the case then the technology was indeed the target." Victor tapped his fingers together and thought to himself. Why would a terrorist group attack Titan Corp. and steal its technology? And why didn't he know about this facility? Something wasn't adding up.

    "So what should I say to the media darling? We're obviously not going to tell them a terrorist group blew up our building and ran off with something." The woman smiled and shook her head at him. "Don't worry about it sir we have that covered. We're saying it's an old facility set for demolition that went wrong. If anyone asks tell them just that." He smiled and nodded at her in response. "As long as this doesn't affect my party tonight then I'm fine with it. See you later darling."

    They both bid each other farewell and the hologram went off with a beep. Jack turned to Victor looking irritated as always. Victor didn't seem to notice and looked in his handheld mirror to see if his makeup was still in shape. "That's it? You're not going to question that? She's obviously lying about something." Victor snapped his mirror shut and looked out the window to the rest of the city. The city was vast and high as the eye could see. Hundreds of people bustled along bright walkways.

    Victor then turned to Jack and took a deep breath and finally responded. "I know. That's why I want you to look into it. Normally I could care less about the affairs of this company. However, this really raises an eyebrow. That's why I want you to figure out everything that went down. And tell no one." Jacks gave him a sly smile and quickly ran off. He'd figure it out like he always did.

    Victor yelled out one last thing before he left to play detective. "Make sure this doesn't ruin my party tonight! I can't have this ruining my reputation! Also, have fun!" Jack gave his boss a salute before rushing off. Victor leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. He inwardly smiled as he thought to himself. Jack was always so ready to rush off and fix his problems. If it weren't for him Victor's world would have crumbled apart long ago. And for that he was truly grateful this man was in his life.

3: Chapter 3: In the Eyes of Oblivion

Chapter 3: In the Eyes of Oblivion

    "Hey! Hey wake up! Please wake up!" Bright light blasted my eyes as I slowly regained conscience. A blurry figure loomed above me mouthing words I didn't understand. Soon everything started coming into focus. I was lying down in a small dark room. It was much more different than where I was earlier. The walls had paper pinned to it that had people holding some strange objects. There were copious amounts of clothes and papers on the floor scattered everywhere.

    After several moments I realized that figure was still trying to talk to me. It seemed to be young male. He wore an open button up plaid shirt with a black shirt underneath. The pants he wore seemed to be worn out jeans. The hair on his head was short, curly, and brown. His eyes were green and were hiding behind black-framed glasses. His expression seemed to be a worried one. Or maybe it was something else. I'm not quite sure what emotions look like on others yet.

    Slowly my hearing came back and I could hear his voice yet again. "Are you okay? Who are you? What's your name?" The barrage of questions seemed to go through one ear and out the other. I still couldn't fully grasp the situation. When I tried getting up pain surged through my body. I was in so much pain I couldn't even move. It felt like my entire body had been shattered. I felt his hand press against my chest and gently push me back down.

    "You probably shouldn't move. You fell pretty far. I think I need to take a look at your injuries. If it's okay that is." I felt my head start to clear and my awareness come back. As I turned my head I started to see where I was at. It looked like a bedroom. A dirty one at that. It also looked like a laboratory exploded in here as well. There were pieces of metal and wires splayed out everywhere.

    Was this room this man's room? How did he get me here? Questions whirled through my mind but none of the answers were clear. I soon felt a hand on my chest again. Except this time his hand was on the zipper of my suit. He began to pull it down when I, without thinking, smacked his hand away. He veered away at my involuntary aggressive act. "I-I'm sorry! I thought it was okay. I didn't hurt you right?"

    I tried responding back but I still wasn't able to form words. All that came out was a mumble. The man still looked worried and inched closer. "My name is Kurt. What's yours?" He pointed to himself when he said his name. I also pointed to myself and tried to speak my name. Only a soft mumble left my mouth, but this time I was finally able to form the word 'Omega'. Kurt stared on in silence and got up.

    He scoured through the mess on his desk looking for something. Papers and gadgets fell to the floor as he rummaged around. He soon found what he was looking for: a palm sized blue cube. "Okay, okay. We'll call my mom and she'll know what to do. She always knows." Kurt's voice was fairly shaky as he spoke to me. As he was pressing buttons on the device the sound of a door slamming shut sounded throughout the empty home.

    "Hey Kurt I'm home! I brought food!" Kurt instantly tensed up and dropped the glowing cube. "J-Just a minute mom!" I felt a smile slowly creep up on my face. He had a family. I wonder what that is like. I've never met a family before. "L-Look stay here. I gotta go talk to my mom about this." He quickly ran over to the door and peeked outside. He turned back to me and put a finger to his lips before he quietly slipped out. I had no idea what he meant. So I sat there in the dimly lit room wondering where I was and who I was with.

    The last thing I could remember was the explosion. I thought I was going to die when I fell from that building. How could I have survived? I soon grew tired of pondering the what ifs and decided to give sitting up a try again. When I lurched forward I felt my chest tighten and pinch. It hurt but I got through the pain enough to sit up straight. There was a window directly next to the bed so I decided to see what was outside. When I peered through the blinds what I saw shocked and amazed me.

    Outside were buildings larger than life. Most of them seemed to be in disrepair though. What sailed around them seemed to be flying screens with people on them. Down below were dirty looking people in shops that sold products I'd never seen before. The streets were crowded with countless people that seemed to all want to be somewhere in a hurry. Outside there was so much going on. I could hardly take in all the information that was going in.

    So many interesting new things and all I wanted to do was see them all. I was so engrossed in the world I was seeing that I didn't even hear the door open and close. As I stared at the giant screen showcasing a dancing woman I felt a hand on my shoulder. I quickly jolted backwards and the pain surged through my body like needles. I yelped in pain as my broken body lied upon the bed. Kurt was the one who had touched me and, by the look of it, was just as startled as I was.

    He put his hand over my mouth and put a finger to his. He loudly whispered to me with his finger still firmly pressed against his lips. "Please be quiet! My mom will hear you!" At that moment his mother's voice rang up as if on cue. "Hey are you alright? What was that noise?" Kurt panicked and ran his fingers through his hair. "U-Uh... I um... I stubbed my toe! Yeah, it hurts real bad!" There was silence for a moment before his mother's voice rang up again.

    "Oh alright! Try and be more careful!" Kurt rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to me. "Are you feeling a little better? You seem to somehow have healed incredibly fast. Do you by any chance know why?" I felt incredibly confused about what he just told me. I didn't really understand what he was asking. So in response I simply shook my head. He still looked worried though. I could tell by the way his brow was furrowed.

    "It's just... There was an explosion. And I found you just...lying there. I thought you were dead. I thought you were a...synthetic. I thought I could fix you. But you self-healed. No synthetic I know could do that. So you must be a person right?" Everything he said made no sense to me. What was a synthetic? And for that matter what's a person? I have no true definition for any of these meanings. So I decided to finally try and speak to get some answers.

    The first few letters I tried to form came out as more of a quiet screech. After several failed attempts I was finally able to finally communicate. "I-I...d-d-don't...u-understand...w-wha-at...y-y-you...m-mean." It took Kurt a moment to assemble my jumbled up words to full articulate what I had said. When he was about to speak his mother's voice rang up again.

    "Honey! Your food is getting cold!" Kurt groaned at his mother and reluctantly got up shuffled over to the door. "I'm sorry but I have to eat. Please stay here and wait. I'll answer your questions when I get back. Try and get some rest." He closed the door gently and I was left alone yet again. So I stared at the ceiling while I waited. I stared for what felt like forever and the wall did nothing. It just sat there blank and unmoving. So soon I started feeling what I believe is boredom.

    It was strange how I knew words and what they meant, but I couldn't speak them and had never felt them before. That notion made my head hurt. There was something I knew but could not remember. Like there was a secret door in my mind and I forgot where I put the key. In my bought of frustration I jumped off the bed. It took me a moment to realize I just completely stood up without any pain. My body no longer hurt. In fact, I felt better than I had before.

    I couldn't help but smile. My own body was fixing itself so quickly. If what he said was true then I must be something special. Just then I felt something itching in the back of my mind. I remembered I had to meet the mysterious LL at the Fiery Minxx. Then it hit me: how long was I out? Worry washed over my body like ice water. What if I missed our engagement? What am I supposed to do if I did? What if those people in white come after me again? What should I do?

    So many questions racked my mind I felt overwhelmed. There was so much anxiety I rolled into a ball on the floor. I didn't know how to deal with all of this emotion. In the midst of my mental anguish I felt a soft touch against my shoulder. When I looked up I saw it was Kurt again. This time his eyes looked much gentler. "I told you not to rush yourself. Are you hurting again?" I nodded at him weakly in response. "Where does it hurt? Maybe I should take you to the hospital." I pointed at my chest to indicate I hurt on the inside.

    "I hurt...inside." My word formation was already getting better as well. Maybe I'm healing in other ways too. He furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin in thought. "Well I don't really know what you mean. Though I think I need to know if you're a synthetic or not before I can help you." I got up and sat on my backside to lean against the bed frame. "What...is a synthetic?" At this he looked at me incredulously. As if I had just grown a second head.

    "You don't know what a synthetic is? What world do you live in?" I thought to myself and wondered what world I was in. "What world do we live in? I'm not sure of many things. I'm really confused by your words." Kurt didn't seem to know what to say. He sat there silently trying to come up with a good way to put his words.

    "Um...well. Let's start with this. This place is called New Way City. It was built on the remains of New York City after the war. Um...a synthetic is an artificial person. They're all made by the Titan Corporation. Does any of that make sense?" I needed my silver hair between my fingers as I put the pieces of the puzzle together. However, there seemed to be missing pieces still. "So...what's a person?" Kurt also seemed to be initially stumped like before but soon came up with an answer.

    "Well I'm a person. We're not made like synthetics. They're made to look and act like us. They're not alive like people are." I could feel my mind working and putting things together. "So am I a synthetic? I think I just woke up recently. I was in a tube. Then this purple thing let me out. And then I met this lady who said I was going to save everyone. Then some people attacked me and then the building exploded. Now I'm here." Kurt was a little off balance by my ramblings and tried to put together everything I had said. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

    "Wait! You mean you were in that explosion?! Does that mean you're the stolen property that my mom was talking about?! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! I accidentally stole you! You must be a synthetic from the Titan laboratory that exploded! Oh my god I'm in so much trouble!" Kurt was frantically pacing around the room yelling at himself. "I shouldn't have taken you home! I just wanted to help you! Oh my god my mom will be so mad if she finds out!"

    Kurt looked so worried that I thought I should try and comfort him like he did to me. So I rose up and placed my hand against his arm. He stopped in place immediately and turned to me. "You shouldn't worry so much. When I worry it hurts my insides. So maybe I should leave. I don't want you to get in trouble because of me." He put his warm hand against mine and smiled at me for the first time. "No it's okay. I'll be responsible for my actions. I chose to help you and I'll stick to it. Speaking of which aren't you still hurting?"

    I shook my head and smiled back at him. "Nope! I think I've completely healed. I feel completely new!" Kurt still seemed confused though. "I don't understand how you're healing. There's no way a synthetic could heal like that. And there's no way a person could either. Just what are you?" I merely shrugged at him. I had no clue either. He thought for a moment and I noticed he came up with an idea. Though as soon as he came up with the idea his face started to turn a slight pink. I had no idea why he would do that. I didn't know people could turn pink. Maybe he was sick.

    So I reached out and touched his pink face. Kurt looked startled and pushed my hand away. "Why are you touching my face? That's weird." His face only seemed to get pinker. He avoided eye contact which only made me more curious. "Look...I have an idea. Just please don't get mad or offended, okay?" I felt suspicious but that notion quickly vanished as soon as it came. There was no reason to be suspicious of him. He had been nothing but nice to me. "Could you um...open up your suit? Synthetics look um...different than people."

    The task seemed easy enough so I complied. I just unzipped the suit and pulled it off. Kurt covered his eyes when I pulled off my suit. I thought he wanted to look at my body but he was averting his eyes. Maybe it was something people did. People were pretty weird. When Kurt spoke up his voice was more shaky than normal. "U-Um...you didn't need to take off your clothes. You just needed to unzip the front." I felt confused by Kurt's strange reaction to my bare body. He seemed like he was afraid of it. Maybe it was some sort of people thing that I didn't get yet.

    "What’s wrong with looking at my body? It's just a body. Is something wrong with seeing it?" He slowly peeked out from behind his fingers. His eyes widened and he quickly dropped his hands. He stared at me in disbelief. "W-What are you...?" I didn't understand what was so unusual about me. I'm still the same as I was when I woke up. "You have a... And you don't have..." Kurt trailed off and failed to form a complete thought. I looked down at my body and examined it again. It was smooth and pale. It was all blank with only this strange thing in the middle of my stomach. It looked like a small lump of skin.

    "You have a belly button but nothing else. No genitalia or anything. Just a belly button. How is that possible?" I was confused by his words again. What was a belly button? "What do you mean? Isn't that normal? And what's a belly button? That sounds made up." He looked at me incredulously yet again. I guess I still didn't understand a lot of things. "What do you mean is that normal? You look like a synthetic with nothing in between your legs yet you have a belly button like a person. Only people can have those. Synthetics aren't born and then don't have one. So what is the hell are you?"

    I was starting to feel uncomfortable under his scrutinizing gaze so I redressed myself. "I'm sorry I don't have any answers Kurt. I'll be on my way." Before I slipped my hand back into my suit he grabbed my wrist to stop me. "Wait! I think I saw something on your wrist." We both looked at each other then slowly down to my wrist. Kurt opened his fingers so we could see what was underneath. To me it looked like a strange looking horseshoe symbol. Wait, what was a horseshoe?

    "It's...Omega. The symbol for Omega. Didn't you say that's your name?" I nodded at his not knowing where this was going. "Don't you understand what that means? Omega means 'the end'." I didn't quite understand the significance of it. It must be something else I was yet to understand. Kurt trailed his fingers to my hand and unraveled it. He pointed to my finger tip and beckoned me forward. On my finger tip my skin was in the shape of a capital T. What was that supposed to mean?

    "It's the Titan Corp. symbol. They put it on all their products. You must be one of them. You need to go back to them. You were what was missing from that laboratory." I quickly pulled my hand away and put it in my suit. There was no way I would be going back there. That LL person told me to run away from them. And that red haired lady told me they only wanted to hurt me. I had no reason to trust that place.

    "No. I will never go back there. They tried to kill me. I don't know why they created me and for what purpose. And I personally don't want to know why. I just..." Kurt turned me back to facing him and looked me directly in the eyes. "I think you should know why. I think you have the right to know. You're not like anything I've ever seen before." I gently pushed his hand away and turned to the window. There was a whole world out there to explore. All of it ready just for me. Though as exciting as that sounded I knew I couldn't truly live if I didn't even know why I was alive.

    "So how do I find my creator?" Kurt smiled with joy and didn't miss a beat. He hopped onto his blue cube and his fingers whirled around its surface. He was finished before I could even blink. "Okay! So you're not on file anywhere so I don't know who directly made you. The next best thing would be to talk to the big cheese himself. He's having a party tonight at the Fiery Minxx club in Hightown." The Fiery Minxx! That's definitely where LL wanted me to go. This couldn't be a coincidence.

    "Okay I'll go! I don't know anything about large cheese but I'll see if I can talk to one!" I was practically jumping for joy. Everything seemed to be falling in place nicely. I just hope my creator would be as happy to see me as I am to see them. Kurt shook his head and laughed. "I'm not talking about actual cheese! I'm talking about Victor Titan. He's the owner of Titan Corp. and he's a celebrity. You'll definitely need an invite if you want to get in."

    As soon as hope came it was dashed away in a moment. How was I supposed to get an invite on the day of the party? Things were definitely not looking good for me yet again. "Which is why I got you one. Consider it a gift." Kurt smiled and laughed at my shocked expression. Soon I joined him and began laughing too. I really lucky that he found me. If he had I might have been forever lost. As if on cue his mother's voice rang up again.

    "Why are you laughing? If it's something funny I wanna know!" Kurt popped open the door and peered his head out. "It's nothing Mom! Just some stupid people outside." He quickly shut the door as quickly as he opened it. "My god she's nosey. I guess being nosey is her job so I guess it's to be expected." I didn't understand what he was insinuating so I asked him to elaborate.

    "She's a cop. She works for the NWPD. I guess they've been investigating that explosion. Which is why my mom can't know about you. We could both be in some serious trouble in anyone finds out. I don't want to upset her more than necessary. I thinks she's extra stressed out from that psycho guy they caught. I heard he's not even conscience yet. And that they’ve been tracking him for years. Sorry, I keep babbling."

    We smiled at each other and gave a little laugh. I turned and looked outside once more. Tonight I'm going to meet Mr. Titan, and hopefully my creator. "Hey honey! I've got to go! I heard they have a lead on the LKK case! Dinner is in the cabinet! Just hydrate it okay! Bye!" Kurt groaned and yelled goodbye through his door. When he turned back around his window was wide open. Omega was nowhere to be seen. Kurt hurried over to the window and poked his head out. Omega was gone. Somehow it had made it all the way down. He felt his heart sink in his chest. He never even got a chance to say goodbye.

4: Chapter 4: Night on the Town

        Chapter 4: Night on the Town

        "Darling will you fetch my nail polish?" Victor's delicate hand waved to Jack behind a flowery curtain. Jack was sitting in a pink puffy chair with his arms and legs crossed. Jack huffed and blew his hair away from his eyes. "Why don't you get one of your servants to do it?" Victor paused for a minute and spoke up again in his sing-song tone. "Because you're my date tonight darling! We have to look good together of course!" Jack rolled his eyes and decided not to argue. You could never win an argument with him. "Okay, which one?" Victor paused again and hummed to himself. "Probably...all of them." Jack begrudgingly got up and opened Victor's closet.

        The inside was the equivalent of a small house. Endless amounts of clothes, jewelry, shoes, wigs, and accessories. There were enough clothes inside to dress an entire city. The interior was fully decorated with a fountain in the middle of the room. It even had fish in it. "Okay, so what in the hell do you mean by all of them? Because I'm pretty sure have every color ever invented in here." Victor giggled at him as if Jack was actually joking. "Well I can't decide so I need to try them all on. Everything needs to look splendid for tonight darling." Jack shot Victor a glare through the curtain, hoping it would burn its way into the back of his skull.

        "I hurt people for a living. I don't hunt down nail polish." Victor laughed at Jack again still thinking he was joking. "Hurry, hurry now! We can't keep our guests waiting darling." Several hours later Jack had finally acquired everything Victor asked for. He was exhausted and decided to pass out in his puffy pink chair. "Oh, I can't decide! Jack you must help me decide!" As Jack's eyes were finally about to close they shot open at the sound of the curtain quickly being pulled open. Victor stood there with his hand of his hip and a stern look on his face. "Falling asleep on the job? I can't have you doing that now can I? Now hurry up and help me decide."

         Jack lazily looked over as he pushed his hair away from his eyes. He felt his heart shoot into his throat and his face heat up. He notice Victor wasn't wearing much. He was just in his silky purple boxers and fuzzy pink slippers. Jack covered his eyes and turned away. "C-Could you just go put something on? I'll...I'll tell you if I like it or whatever." Victor cocked his head as he tried to figure out Jack's strange behavior. "What's your problem darling? It's not like I'm naked. And it's not like you haven't seen me naked before anyway." This time Jake covered his face with both of his metal hands. "How about we not talk about that. Please just go get dressed." Victor scowled and wrenched the curtain shut.

        "You never want to talk about it. So as punishment I'm having a fashion montage." Jacked huffed and turned into jelly in the chair. Hours of finding clothes to try on and now hours of trying them on. "When I signed up to be a body guard I didn't think it would be this hard. Hell, I'd willingly take on 80 armed assassins at this point. It would be far less exhausting." Victor didn't seem to notice Jack's ranting, and he continued to hum and sing as he threw all sorts of things on himself. A moment later he dramatically threw open the curtain to reveal his new outfit.

        It was a red and gold dress like overcoat outfit with dress pants and a tall ornate golden collar. Jack was visibly shocked by his sudden wardrobe change. "Good god! You look like the Queen of England!" Victor's face contorted into a frown and he shut the curtain once again. Several moments later he opened the curtain again to reveal his new outfit. He looked just like a greaser. Complete with the leather jacket, slicked back hair and sunglasses. Jack burst out in laughter. He laughed so hard his face turned red. Victor wasn't amused and glared behind his sunglasses. "Oh my god! You look so stupid! Oh please god change it!" Jack clutched his stomach in pain as he continued to laugh. Victor angrily closed the curtain, nearly tearing it off.

        After several minutes as Jack settled down Victor revealed his next outfit. He wore typical dress pants and vest, but his shirt collar was large and wavy and stuck up around his neck. Jack was trying hard not to laugh but a snicker couldn't help but escape his lips. "You look like a vagina. If you weren't aware." This time Victor put his hands on his hips and shot a glare at him. "Excuse me? I designed this! Why do you keep making fun of everything?" Jack leaned back in his chair and his body language changed to very serious. "Look, I think all these outfit changes are stupid. None of these fit your personality. It all just looks contrived. Why don't you just wear something you're comfortable in? You always look more handsome in the nice suits you always wear."

        Victor felt himself get slightly flustered at Jack's words. He thought he looked handsome. "O-Oh...well then I'll put something more suiting on darling." Jack was felt confused as Victor closed the curtain yet again. For once he agreed with him. He didn't through a hissy fit, nor did he argue. After several minutes of anticipation Victor revealed himself once again. Instead of laughing at him Jack smiled and pointed at him. "Yes! That's the one!" Victor was wearing a pure white tailed suit jacket, white dress pants and dress shoes. What was special about his suit was that it had flowing flowery designs etched into the entire suit. They were subtle but noticeable which really made it stand out. He also had a black cane with a golden eagle head for the handle tucked underneath his arm. Victor smiled and winked at his bodyguard.

        "Do I look handsome enough for ya?" Jack's heart skipped a beat and he immediately turned away. "Yeah...it looks great. How about we get to that party now?" Victor laughed heartily and held out his hand. "Come on darling we shant be late." He reluctantly took his hand and escorted Victor to his limo. A set of double doors slid open to the stretch limousine outside. This limo was, however, one of the new state of the art flying ones. The electromagnetic propulsion systems worked with the magnetic sky road to keep it afloat above the city. Victor carefully lowered himself inside, while Jack threw himself inside. Before he closed the door he smacked the roof of the car to signal the driver. "Take it nice and easy my friend. I don't want my friend here to spill his fancy champagne."

        When he was fully inside he notice Victor had his arms crossed and his eyes staring him down. He couldn't help but notice how nicely he had put on his make-up. No wonder he never wants anyone to help him. He's just fine on his own. "What? You complained about the last driver being too rough. So I took care of it this time." Victor puffed out his lips in his own snooty way and turned away in a huff. "I wasn't even going to drink champagne." He continued to pout on his side of the car and Jack lounged on his side. He had his dirty boots on the fine red velvet seats, and his arms placed behind his head. This was his favorite part of Victor's parties: not having to do anything while getting there.

        After about a half an hour later the limousine came to a sudden halt. "Damn. It looks like we've arrived. Have fun walking on your red carpet princess." Victor stuck his tongue out at Jack and whipped open the door. Lights from the paparazzi cameras immediately flashed as soon as he opened the door. Victor put on his "celebrity face" and smiled and blew kisses at everyone. "It's so nice to see you all! This will surely be a fantastic evening." Victor strutted his stuff like a full blown peacock. The paparazzi ate it up and started to get closer and closer. Eventually a man had the audacity to reach out to get his attention.

        Before they could even reach him his wrist was caught by Jack's metal hand. The man yelped in pain as his wrist was contorted and crushed. No one had notice he had even left the car. "Next time you try and touch him I'll tear your entire arm off. Got it?" The man nodded quickly and held his wrist as soon as it was let go. When everyone noticed Jack had arrived they moved back several feet from Victor. All the paparazzi knew who Jack was. He had been his bodyguard for the last four years. Every time anyone got within two feet of Victor he was ready to cave in their skull. There was a reason he only needed one bodyguard. Because Jack was all he'd ever need.

        When they arrived inside the Fiery Minxx everyone inside cheered at his arrival.  Victor waved back to them all and gave them his best perfect toothy grin. "Oh, it's so nice to see you all! I'm glad you all came tonight. It's been awhile since I've thrown a party in my hometown. So do enjoy yourselves to your heart's content my darlings." On the inside it was a dance club with flashing lights and booze as far as the eye could see. On multiple platforms woman danced and whirled around on poles. The entire place had been decorated to Victor's own style. Each table had numerous political figures and celebrities conversing. Anyone who was anyone attended his lavish parties. If you didn't get invited you didn't matter.

        A man at the door took Victor's coat and cane. He offered to take Jack's but he refused with a hand to the face. Victor excitedly held onto Jack's coat sleeve and whispered to him. "This is going to be so fun! I'm going to mingle so you can go do whatever it is you do." Jack just shook his head at him. "No, I'm sticking with you. Who knows who might come after you here? You're just so assassinatable." Victor scrunched his face and narrowed his eyes at him. "That's not even a word! Plus when's the last time someone has even tried to kill me, huh?" Jack just laughed and gave him an incredulous look. "Don't you remember Beijing? Twenty people died." Victor just scoffed and waved him off. "Oh, but that's just Beijing! This is different. It's my hometown. They're my people. They positively love me!"

        Jack rolled his eyes and pried himself away. "Whatever you say. Just don't take drinks from anyone. I don't want someone to try and roofie you again." Victor laughed at him and soon Jack was laughing too. For a moment they forgot about the world around them. A woman in a red dress and long curly black hair approached them. "Oh, hello! I'm sorry if I'm interrupting. I was wondering if I could get a word with Mr. Titan. I'm doing a story on him." Victor took her hand in his and kissed it delicately, leaving a light blue lipstick mark. "Whatever you want darling. I could never deny someone as lovely as you." The woman blushed and giggled at his gesture. She was about to touch his shoulder affectionately when Jack smacked her hand away. "Don't you touch him!"

        The woman gasped and took a step away. Victor glared at him and pulled him close to whisper in his ear. "You're being overprotective! Just go stand in a corner somewhere and leave me alone!" Jack wrenched himself away and walked off in a huff. Victor turned back to his guest and put on his happy face again. "I'm so sorry darling. He's a bit overprotective. But we'll be fine to talk now." She smiled back and took him over to a table to sit down. He met several people, most of which were political figures in the city. All were a bit shady. The woman he had met was Shannon Tig. She was a reporter for the local news.

        The story was about the explosion at the laboratory. So he gave her the same old story he told everyone else. After the interview they decided to have a few drinks to celebrate, and after a few drinks Miss Shannon got a little friendlier. "You know I was wondering why such a dashing man such as you doesn't have a beautiful woman around your arm all day." Victor chuckled and ran his finger down her arm. "I'll admit it has been a few years. I'd say about four or so." She bit her red lip and inched a little closer. "It's such a shame. You're consider the most beautiful person in this city. So how are you still single? You were such a playboy a few years ago. Where did all that go?"

        Victor took a long drink of his colorful mixed cocktail. His face faltered slightly to show a bit of sadness but his mask popped back on before anyone could really notice. "Oh, well I guess I already have someone in mind. Sure all those lovely women were nice to have around, but I want something more serious. So I'm willing to wait. As long as it takes to get what I really want." Shannon seemed a bit confused by his words. Maybe it was all the alcohol or maybe she wasn't paying attention. Either way she'd get to the bottom of it. "But who wouldn't want to be with you? You're one of the richest men in the world. You own practically everything! You're a celebrity for Christ's sake! Not to mention how fashionable you are. You're like the perfect man on a silver platter." Victor failed to smile and his eyes wandered over to his bodyguard. Jack was surveying the room like a hawk. Probably to check for anything or anyone suspicious.

        "Not everyone is impressed by fancy things. No amount of money could buy what I want." When he turned back to his news reporter friend he noticed she had fallen asleep on the table. He couldn't help but chuckle at her. She still had a glass in her hand and was drooling on her arm. He decided to get up and go talk to his someone else. As he wandered around he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look at it and noticed someone sitting at the bar. What he saw amazed him. It was a strikingly beautiful person sitting there staring at the lights projecting out of the counter. They had silvery grey hair that had long pieces hanging down in front of their ears. The rest of their hair was cut short and neatly. Their skin was pale and looked fragile like porcelain. Their appearance was so androgynous that he couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, and that notion made him excited. He'd never seen anyone so beautiful before. He had to meet them.

        So he quickly diverted his path to his mysterious guest rather than the rest of his guests. When he got closer he noticed what they were wearing. It was a shiny light blue half shirt with a strip of fabric trailing down their chest connecting it to their same colored short shorts. The boots they wore were thigh length and looked to be made of the same material. They also had fingered gloves that stopped at the shoulder with the same color scheme as the rest of the outfit. All in all they looked amazing. So Victor decided to introduce himself. He propped himself against the bar counter and slid over to greet his guest. They seemed too entranced by the flashing lights of the table to notice him. “Why hello dear. Are you enjoying the party?”

        The mysterious guest immediately turned to look at him like a dear caught in the headlights. That’s when he noticed their beautiful blue and green eyes. This mysterious person was so entrancing he caught himself staring back into their eyes. It took him a moment to process what they had just said to him. “We have the same eyes.” Once their message sunk in he regained himself and was in fully control once again. “Oh! I hadn’t noticed. That’s very interesting I have to say.” The mysterious guest smiled at him sincerely. Victor felt his heart skip a beat. Why was this person so entrancing? There was something very familiar about them.

        “So um…this is Mr. Titan’s party right? I’m a little worried I went to the wrong place.” Without hesitation Victor burst out in laughter. His guest was thoroughly confused by his behavior. So they sat there uncomfortably and waited for him to finish. After his bout of laughter he noticed their sincere confusion. “You were serious weren’t you?” They nodded earnestly and awaited a reply. Victor mused to himself before deciding to respond. “So you don’t know who he is or what he looks like then?” They shook their head honestly and continued to wait for an answer.

        A great smile was painted onto Victor’s face as he grabbed ahold of his guest’s hands. “Well if you promise to dance with me then maybe I’ll reveal Mr. Titan’s location. That is if you can persuade me darling.” Victor gave his guest a flirtatious wink furthering their confusion. “The name is Victor by the way darling. And whom might I be addressing?” His guest mulled around in their head until they remembered and snapped their fingers in triumph. “Oh! My name is Omega. I almost forgot.” A small giggle escaped Omega’s lips after the answer.

        Victor and Omega smiled at each other until Victor held Omega’s hands in his. “I do love this song. Would you be a darling and dance with me?” Omega cocked its head in confusion as Victor started to drag them towards the dance floor. “What’s dancing?” Victor stopped in his tracks and gawked at Omega incredulously. “How do you not know what dancing is? Have you been living under a rock all this time darling?” Omega let out a confused “huh” in response. “People can live under rocks? Isn’t that painful?”

        At this point Victor couldn’t tell if they were really that unexperienced or they were just really that stupid. Though either way Omega was the epitome of beauty and he couldn’t pass that up. If you were beautiful no one would ever bat an eyelash at how smart you really were. “Just let the music flow through you. Soon it’ll make you dance like its very own marionette.” As victor easily melded in with the crowd, Omega stood there like statue. “Don’t be so tense darling. Just relax and flow with the music.” Omega closed its eyes and focused all its attention to the sound pouring into its ears.

        Soon they body began to sway and move in conjunction with the sound all around. Omega began to move in ways Victor had never seen. The dance was slow and sensual. Almost primal like. They melded together perfectly. They’re movements matched each other like they had practiced it together for years. “My word! Where did you learn to dance like that?” Omega merely shrugged and smiled. “No clue!” They laughed with each other and continued to dance.

        Victor was enjoying himself more than he had in years. Jack on the on the other hand was seething with rage. He didn’t do much as blink as he watched their illustrious tango. “Who do they think they are?” He continued to grit his teeth even as their dancing stopped. He was very close to running over there and tearing that person apart limb from limb. He held back only because there were too many witnesses. That and the fact he didn’t want to ruin Victor’s party.

        “Oh that was so much fun darling! Well I guess I’d better hold up my end of the bargain shouldn’t I?” They both sat down at the bar in exhaustion to take a moment to catch their breath. “So where is this Mr. Titan guy? I would really like to see him.” At this Victor smiled and leaned in close to Omega’s ear to whisper. “You’ve already met him dear.” Omega looked at him incredulously and then all around the room.

        “Who is he? Where is he? What does he looks like? I’ve met him? Are you sure? I can’t remember who I’ve met!” Omega pointed to some sweaty half-naked bald guy dancing up a storm on the dance floor. “Is it that guy?” Victor chuckled and shook his head in response. Omega then pointed to a short haired blonde woman in a red dress looking at them from across the bar. “Is that him?” This time Victor put his head in his hand and laughed.

        Omega kept frantically looking around until Victor put his hand on their shoulder to calm them down. “It’s me darling. Sorry to play head games but you made it so easy. It’s very nice to meet you.” Victor took Omega’s hand and kissed it softly. “So you’re the one that made me right?” Victor froze and stared at them in confusion. “What do you mean? I haven’t created anything.”

        Omega pulled off its sleeve and showed him its Omega symbol. “I woke up yesterday. I was in one of your labs. It kind of exploded. But I didn’t do it! I swear!” Victor started to back away but Omega grabbed ahold of his arm. “Please just let go. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just let me go!” Omega held on for dear life with tears forming in their eyes. “Please! Just tell me why I’m alive! Please! Why am I here?”

        Hot tears streamed down Omega’s face like steaming rivers. Omega then let go and collapsed to the ground. People around them began to stop and stare at the commotion. Jack had his hand on his gun ready to act. Unexpectedly Victor kneeled down to Omega and gently touched their head. It looked back at him with tear stained eyes filled with an inexplicable longing.

        As he helped them up Omega swung its arm around his neck and held him in a choke hold. It pulled out a cloaked gun holstered on their leg and held it directly against his head. Obviously people around them screamed and clambered to get away. “I’m so sorry! I don’t want to have to do this. But I need to know.” Victor tried to pry Omega away but their grip was inhumanly strong. “I already told you I have no clue where you came from! Now get the fuck off me!”

        In the midst of the screaming and chaotic mass of people both Omega and Victor lost sight of Jack. People were pushing each other down and out of the way trying to run to safety. There was so much commotion Omega’s eyes couldn’t keep up. It didn’t take long for Omega to feel the barrel of a gun pressed firmly against the back of its head. “Put him down. Now.” The firm voice belonged to Jack who had his gun pointed directly behind Omega’s head.

        “I don’t mean him any harm. I just need him to help me find my creator. Please, I don’t know where else to go.” Jack glared and started to slowly compress his finger against the trigger. “Put him down. Then we’ll talk.” There was tension in the air as both of them waited for the other to act, but both were waiting for the other to make the first move. Meanwhile, Victor was sweating up a storm trying to remain as calm as he could.

        Soon Jack grew tired of waiting and finally pulled the trigger. In a flash let go of Victor and spun around to smack Jack’s arm away. At the same time Omega fired its gun at Jack only to have its arm smack away as well. Both of them fired their guns at the same time having both bullets go off in random directions. Jack’s stray bullet shattered an alcohol bottle at the bar. While Omega’s bullet tore a hole into a table.

        Seconds after the guns went off something Omega hadn’t anticipated happened. A third metal arm, identical to Jack’s other arms, snaked its way out of its hiding spot underneath of his jacket. This hand also had a gun that was promptly pressed against Omega’s stomach. Before they could react the gun went off several times with each bang sounding louder than the last. Red blood splattered the gun barrel and the floor around them.

        Omega fell to the floor next to Victor who was balled up on the floor covering his ears. Victor screamed and tried to crawl away. His heart felt as if it was about to tear through his chest as easily as those bullets tore through Omega. Victor’s gaze and Omega’s gaze met each other and the world seemed to slow down. They stared into each other’s eyes as if they had known each other for years.

        As Victor looked into Omega’s tear stained eye it felt like he was watching himself die. As Omega looked in Victor’s fearful eyes it felt like see a long forgotten memory. They both sat there in a dream like state watching each other. Jack didn’t hesitate to kick the gun away from Omega’s hand. The gun spun across the glitter covered dance floor out of reach. Jack pointed both guns at Omega and tried questioning them.

        “Who in the hell sent you? Tell me!” Omega slowly turned its head to look back at him. He noticed blood was dripping from the corner of its mouth. It looked at him like a dying animal. It was afraid and sad all at the same time. With such pain Jack couldn’t bring himself to finish it off. So he lowed both guns and stared back into its pained eyes.

        “I’m sorry sweetheart. Mama was a bit late.” Jack’s eyes visibly widened as a gun was pressed into the arc of his back. Behind him stood the short haired blonde woman that sat across the bar from Omega and Victor. Jack turned around to glare at her through his long hair. “Who in the fuck are you?” The woman pursed her lips in superiority and smiled. “Of course you don’t recognize me. I’m Lady. Lady Lavender.”

        The words slipped out of her mouth like a warm silk blanket. He continued to glare at her as his arm slithered back into his coat. “What are you doing here bitch? Shouldn’t you be sucking Blacklist’s dick right about now?” Lady Lavender giggled and bit on the tip of her nail like a giddy teenager. “What a warm welcome sweetheart. But I’m afraid I need that person whom you just assaulted.” He scoffed at her and turned his gaze back at the blood covered Omega. “What for? They’re about to die anyway.”

        She giggled again and forcefully shoved the gun barrel deeper into his back. “Does it matter? Or should I call your Patriarch and tell him someone’s been awfully naughty?” Jack growled at her and shot through his jacket in retaliation. Lady flattened herself against the side of the bar just enough to let the bullets pass by. The back of his jacket was filled with numerous bullet holes as each bullet passed through.

        Before he could turn around and take her head on the side of his skull was met the butt of her gun. It was enough to knock him off balance and send him crashing into the bar. His head hit the edge of the counter causing it to shatter upon impact. Victor screamed out his name as he fell to the ground unconscious. He scrambled over to his felled bodyguard and took ahold of him. Lady however, stood over him in triumph. “Now that was quite the trick Jack. You’re going to have to teach it to me sometime.”

        She then turned her attention to her blood splattered friend. She kneeled down next to Omega and held their hand in hers. She smiled at them gently and squeezed their hand lightly. “I told you to meet me here. Not to shoot the Titan Corp. CEO in the head sweetheart.” Omega smiled meekly back at her. She scooped them up in her arms and helped them stand upright.

        The outfit Omega was wearing started to glitch and eventually reverted back to the original suit. “Good thing I lent you that suit honey. I knew it would come in handy.” As they were shuffling away bright lights shot through the windows. They all shielded their eyes from the intense direct light. Soon following the lights were shadows of figures in front of all the windows.

        The glass shattered as several police androids jumped through the windows. They were all armed and ready to fire. Each one of them yelled out the same thing in unison. “Identify yourself citizen!” Without hesitation Lady, with Omega holding on, jettisoned them onto the counter to slide on their backs to the ground behind it. They both hit the ground with a thud and arched their back in pain.

        “That…wasn’t one of my better ideas.” They smirked at each other for a moment until the police androids loudly ordered them once more. “You have fifteen seconds to reply citizen!” Lady pulled out a black and blue cylindrical object and showed it to Omega. “In fifteen seconds I’m going to throw this grenade and distract them. You are going to run to that exit as fast as you can. Don’t look back or hesitate. Just keep running. You got that?”

        Omega nodded slowly as she helped them upright. They both listened intently as the androids counted down. With each decreasing number the tension grew thicker and thicker. On cue Lady threw the grenade into the air as they counted to one. As soon as they started to fire the grenade went off causing an intense flash of light. The machines became disoriented and were blindly shooting without hitting their target.

        Lady shot at them causing them to bring their attention to her rather than Omega. Even though her bullets did very little she continued to fire at them from behind the counter. The gunfire was enough to jolt Jack awake. He and Victor were hiding underneath a table away from all the action. “Jack! You’re alive! Oh thank Jesus!” Without a word Jack tore through the table he was under, splitting it in half. Victor of course yelped at his sudden violence against the inanimate object.

        He scanned the room for Omega but only saw the machines tearing up the bar counter with their gunfire. Jack balled up his fists and screamed at the top of his lungs. “Where the fuck is that thing?” The machines stopped and turned to Jack. They uttered their same question they had asked earlier. “Identify yourself citizen!” Jack flipped them the bird before finally uttering a respond.

        “It’s Jack you dipshits! Who in the fuck sent you? ‘Cause I sure as hell didn’t!” The machines only thanked him for his compliance and turned their attention back at the bar. Jack begrudgingly looked over the counter to see nothing more than shattered glass and plastic on the ground. “There’s nothing here you assholes!”  That’s when he noticed the open emergency exit. He angrily slammed his fist against the counter, causing it to shatter further.

        “There’s no way I’m letting you little shits get out of this city alive!” So Jack bolted towards the exit without another word. Leaving both Victor and the police androids in a haze. As he opened the door the cool night air blasted over his body. It was refreshing and helped calm his nerves. He quickly put that notion into the back of his head. There was no time to mess around.

        The building they were in was incredibly high up in the sky, and the only thing accessible to them were the rooftops of the other buildings that were closely crammed together. In the corner of his eye he spotted a blood smear across pipes on the building’s rooftop. He dipped his fingers into the blood and let the sensors in his hands scan the blood. Much to his shock the blood was not on file. Even more shocking was the fact there were no nanomachines present.

        Whatever that thing was, it was something he hadn’t seen before. Everyone had mandatory nanomachine installments when they were born. In fact, it was federal law to have them. To think someone out there had none seemed impossible. Whoever they were they were somehow able to exist outside of society. If they weren’t even on the grid who knows what untold damage they could do.

        Jack took a deep breath and clenched his fist. As much as this predicament intrigued him he need to find that silver haired person. He could never forgive anyone who would attack his Victor that way. On that note he bolted off across the rooftops in search. There was no way he’d let them get away.

5: Chapter 5: Metallic Horizon

Chapter 5: Metallic Horizon

            The florescent lights of the city glimmered as far the eye could see. Omega however, was not enjoying the view. It held itself up against a rusted out pipe on the rooftop. Blood dripped from between its fingers as it held its wound shut. “Where am I? What am I supposed to do?” As Omega stood there trying to catch its breath police air ships flew around the buildings. It didn’t take them long to spot Omega.

            They all shinned their spotlights at Omega blinding it. Its silver hair danced in the wind created by the ship’s turbines as it looked up at the sky. “Put your hands in the air!” In a quick split second decision Omega bolted off. The police continually followed them with their spotlights. One of the police officers yelled out orders to open fire on Omega. “Take ‘em out!”

            The back half of the vehicles opened up to reveal an android connected to a large Gatling gun like weapon. They all simultaneously opened up fire at Omega, instantly tearing up the building. Pieces of shrapnel flew past Omega as they ran. The gun fire followed not far behind. Pipes, conditioning units, and satellites blew apart. There was a trail of destruction following Omega’s path.

            Omega ran faster than they had ever ran before. The pain of the bullet wounds seemed to fade away. The police were having a hard time navigating around the close proximity of the buildings and keeping pace with Omega. As it jumped from building to building without a hitch, the police started to fall behind. “Turn around! We’ll go the other way!” Several of the vehicles turned heel and flew off in another direction.

            Omega took the opportunity to stop and take a breath. Its silver hair clung to its face from the sweat dripping down. It leaned against a large luminescent sign of a talking woman’s head. “Try Lucretia Von Blut’s new Küssen Liebe scent. Give into your heart’s desires.” The woman continued to say the same thing over and over again. Omega had no idea why people enjoyed seeing themselves so much.

            As Omega leaned against the sign it suddenly remembered its wound. As it pulled its hand back to see the damage all they saw was blood and several bullets in the palm of their hand. It dropped the crunched bullets to the ground and listened to the clanking the metal made. Omega’s stomach had already fully healed, leaving behind stale blood and smooth skin. It felt its stomach to find any imperfections but it felt the same as it had before.

            As Omega examined itself a bright light flashed at them again. One of the police ships had found them and had them in its spotlight. “Surrender! We have you cornered!” Omega glared at them but made no sudden movements. Just as the police ship was about to open fire Omega saw a small object fly at the ship. It latched onto the bottom of the ship’s turbine and flashed red several times before detonating. When it exploded the ship was instantly torn in half.

            Both halves fell to the world below with the back half smashing through the front of another building. Omega turned to see where the small missile had come from. What it saw was a cloaked figure with its arm pointed to where the ship was at. The figure turned to look at Omega as it lowered its arm. A few moments later it was joined by two other cloaked figures.

            They both dropped down several stories from the building above and landed effortlessly. One of the two figures that jumped down was more slender and effeminate than the other two. The other figure that came down was much larger and bulkier. The first figure Omega had seen greeted the other two joyfully. The larger one crossed its arms and the slender one smacked the greeter in the back of the head. It seemed to be scolding the other one but they were too far away to hear what was going on.

            Omega gave a little snicker at their shenanigans. As soon as it did though, all three of them turned to look at it. Omega felt a jump in its chest at the suddenness of it. All three of them simultaneously jumped from one building to the next. They soon landed directly in front of Omega with the slender one in front of the other two. That one seemed to be the leader.

            Both Omega and the cloaked figures observed each other in silence. They wore dark purple cloaks. The edges of the sleeves and hoods were adorned with silver metal and designed to look like veins. Their mysterious presence together felt highly intimating. As Omega observed their attire it started to remember that woman it had met in that laboratory. Soon the slender figure spoke up in a familiar voice. “It’s so nice to see you again. What is it you call yourself again? Oh yes! You call yourself Omega. It’s a fitting name for a being such as yourself. You will indeed herald the end.”

            The slender figure stepped into the florescent light to give Omega a better look. It was the same redheaded woman Omega had seen before. She wore her usual warm and inviting smile. Though anyone could tell that it was only a skin-deep facade. “I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I am Mother Patrice. And this large brute of a man to my right is Iron Beetle.” The large man scoffed at her and turned away from them.

“And this man to my left is Hot Shot.” Hot Shot waved to Omega excitedly and jumped up and down. His arms were metal and biomechanical just like Patrice’s. However, they were more of copper tone and looked more like pipes and tubes rather than skeletal like hers. “Hi Omega! I blew up that ship! Wasn’t it spectacular?!” Before Omega could even respond to his barrage of words Hot Shot was promptly backhanded by Patrice.

“Shut your face hole! No one wants to hear you speak!” Hot Shot pouted at her as he rubbed his cheek. “That wasn’t nice…” She shot him a glare before turning her attention back to a confused Omega. She gave her best princess smile and gave a nervous laugh to go with it. “I’m so sorry about him. Drugs have rotted his brain. Sadly we don’t yet have the technology to piece together what’s left of his sanity. If he ever had one that is.”

Hot Shot yelled a “hey” before throwing himself towards Omega to object. Omega could now see his face much more clearly in the light. He had bright pink hair that hung on the right side of his face covering his right eye. The rest of his head was completely shaved down. His eyes were bloodshot but also that strange white color just like Patrice’s and Jack’s. Down the middle of his face crossing his eyes, nose and mouth were blue tattoos. They were also present on the bald side of his head. The tattoos looked like ancient text etched upon his skin. It looked quite similar to Patrice and Jack’s tattoos.

Finally Omega could tell his throat was also biomechanical similar to his arms. “Don’t listen to her! I quit the stuff years ago! I’m not crazy!” This time Iron Beetle grabbed him and pulled him back. He growled at Hot Shot before turning his attention back to Omega. His face was completely metal unlike his associates. It looked like a biomechanical exoskeleton from another creature. It was very sharp and angular, and seemed to be made from long separate pieces of metal that converged towards the back of his head.

His eyes were white just like the others but felt much more intense. He had no visible nose and his mouth was filled with rows of visibly sharp metal teeth. He looked much more like an animal than a person. “Enough wasting time! We’re taking you back to the church with us whether you like it or not!” Omega’s heart skipped a beat as it leaned firmly against the bright florescent sign. It was definitely trapped between a rock and a hard place.

All three of them reached out toward Omega and slithered forward. Omega’s fingers scrapped at the sign as it looked for a way out. Before they were close enough to grab it another familiar voiced sounded to their left. All four of them turned to look at who was making the commotion. Omega instantly recognized Jack as he landed on the ground. “I finally found you, you fucker!”

Jack soon realized who else was with Omega. He gritted his teeth shot them an intense glare. “What the fuck are you three doing here? You have no business here.” Patrice gave him a sly smile and chuckled softly. “That’s where you’re wrong. We’re taking Omega with us. You’re the one with no business here.” Jack flipped her the bird and promptly pointed his gun directly at Omega. “I don’t care who the hell you are or what you have to do with the Church of Machines. No one hurts Victor and gets away with it!”

Patrice laughed heartily much to his confusion. “Are you really still working for that idiot? You were only assigned that job to make sure to keep him out of our hair. And right now you’re getting in our way. You wouldn’t want Him to get mad at you again do you?” He scowled at her yet again. “I’m not part of the church anymore. I don’t take orders from the Patriarch now! I kill whoever I want and I do whatever I want!”

Patrice laughed at him again and tapped her fingers together. “Do you really think you can ever leave the church? You were only given the illusion of freedom just like the humans in their frail society. Everyone belongs to the church, they just don’t know it yet.” Omega looked back and forth between the two parties. It was trying to determine the lesser of the two evils.

“I didn’t come here to debate philosophy with you idiots. I came here to kill that thing. So stand aside!” This time she glared at him uncharacteristically. “Hold your tongue child! That thing right there is your savior! You should address it as such! Furthermore, we only let you live because you were His favorite. We are only respecting his wishes. Do not think you can command us!” Jack pulled out a second gun and aimed it at her.

“Then I’ll go through you if I have to! Do not think waving the Patriarch’s name around can sway me! You do not command me either!” Hot Shot giggled joyfully and clapped his hands. “Oh how fun! It’s a good old fashioned Mexican stand-off!” This time Iron Beetle reprimanded him with a smack to the back of the head. “This is no time for jokes!” Iron Beetle turned his attention to Jack and narrowed his eyes. “You are no warrior Jack! You do not deserve the mantle of Enforcer! You pledged your allegiance to the All Father and now you betray him! I see no reason to not kill you!”

Omega had absolutely no idea what was going on right now. What was all this about churches, patriarchs, and Mexicans? None of this made any sense. Before anything could actually go down a large police vehicle appeared behind them. They all shielded themselves from the large gusts of wind coming from the machine’s turbines. All of them were illuminated by the light from the ship’s spotlight.

“Put your hands were we can see them and come quietly!” Patrice looked to Hot Shot and gave him a silent nod. He grinned in excitement and aimed his arm towards the airship. The arm split and folded in half to reveal hidden missiles. He didn’t hesitate to fire a several of them off. The ship was unable to veer away quick enough and was struck underneath. It caused a massive explosion sending parts of the ship and its occupants flying.

The front half of the ship fell towards them at an alarming rate. Patrice and her fellow associates jumped off the building to dodge the incoming fireball. Jack promptly jumped behind a large conditioning unit behind him. Omega was the only one left nowhere to run and merely shielded its face with its arms. As the flaming hunk a metal hit the building it crumbed under the sheer force of its weight. The impact was enough to send Omega flying back through the billboard.

Omega tore through the woman’s face as it was blasted backwards towards the next building. Luckily the buildings were so crammed together that there was little chance of plummeting to the city below. Omega shot through the window of the building and flew across the room. It landed on the floor after rolling across a desk and slamming into several chairs. After several minutes Omega was able to recover enough to look around. It was in some sort of office building.

Omega lied there on the broken glass and stared out through the shattered window. The fire from the ship danced across the multicolored sky. Omega looked around at the sparks of electricity coming from the shattered pieces of the billboard. The part with the woman’s lips was still attached and moving without any sound. The lights of the city danced across the sky like a lightshow parade. The whole world was filled with vibrant life all around. Omega felt at peace in that moment. This beautiful world it had seen was covered by an ugly mask.

One that hid the wonder and excitement it had once seen. Omega smiled as the darkness set in. It felt its vision begin to fade and its consciousness slip away. Moments before it closed its eyes it saw the woman in the red dress kneel down close to it. “You can’t seem to stay out of trouble can you sweetheart?” Her delicate hand caressed Omega’s face as it closed its eyes. She took in a deep breath and stood up. “What have I gotten myself into?”

Forty minutes earlier

“U-Uh hello? Can you help me?” Omega wandered the garbage covered streets of Lowtown. The streets were filled with dirty looking people all trying to get somewhere in a hurry. Omega kept asking the rushing people around it for help but was met with nothing more than sneers and silence. Omega stopped and stood in place. Everyone moved around it like a school of fish unaware of what they were doing.

Omega groaned and pushed its way off to the side. It leaned against a glass elevator as it looked at the holographic message coming from the palm of its hand. It read: ‘Welcome valued guest! This E-Invite is good for one free entrance to Victor Titan’s homecoming party at the Fiery Minxx. Please enjoy yourself! This message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this message in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this message. Please notify the sender immediately by message if you have received this E-Invite by mistake and delete this message from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.’

            Omega continued to read the message over and over hoping it would tell it where to go. It had all but given up when an unfamiliar voice sounded up. Omega turned to see a black haired man in a green pin-stripe suit. His hair was fairly long and was slicked back with the ends giving a slight curl at the ends. His button up shirt had several buttons undone showing off his thin golden chain necklace. The most unusual thing about him was the burn scar on the left half of his face.

            It covered his eye, cheek, part of his lips, and his neck. He stood there with his hands in his pockets and an irritated look on his face. “Ya got gunk in yer ears or what kid?” It took Omega a moment to realize he had said something earlier. Of course it hadn’t heard a thing he said. “O-Oh…I didn’t hear you…” The man rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I said you’re in my damn way! I need in that elevator there and yer ass is blockin’ the entrance.”

            Omega blushed slightly and backed up off the glass doors. Everything in this city was being used. Omega couldn’t tell what was nothing and what was something. The man chuckled and crossed his arms. “You ain’t from around here are ya?” Omega slowly shook its head while the man nodded his in response. “So what brings you here to this shithole?” Omega only shrugged which got another laugh out of the man.

            “The name’s Karl by the way. What’s yours?” Omega shifted slightly under Karl’s gaze. It finally responded after several moments of silence. “It’s…Omega. I’m Omega.” Karl smiled back in response making Omega more relaxed. “Well that’s a weird-ass name. But cool.” This time they both laughed a little. “So that’s uh…a funky look you’ve got goin’ there.” Omega looked down at its biomechanical suit and then back up at Karl.

            “What’s wrong with it? Am I not supposed to wear it?” Karl laughed again and put his head in his hands. Omega was really confused and searched its mind for an answer. It had only been alive for a day so it didn’t have enough exposure to the world to understand what others call normal. “You can always get something at that store.” He motioned over to the store next to them with people standing in the windows.

            They were all standing there with blank faces moving every once in a while to change their pose. Omega pointed to the one wearing the light blue half shirt, short shorts, boots and gloves. “Oh! I like that one!” As soon as the words left Omega’s lips its suit became invisible for a moment before reappearing as a duplicate of the one in the window.

            It looked down in surprise at its sudden wardrobe change. Karl was even surprised too. “Damn! That’s some fancy-ass shit right there!” They both shared a laugh again as Omega reopened the hologram invitation. “Hey, I’ve been trying to find this place. Do you have any idea where it’s at? No one will help me.” Karl leaned over Omega’s shoulder and read the message. He scratched it chin and thought to himself.

            He soon pointed over to a large building rising high above the smog. At the front entrance in bright pink fluorescent letters it spelled out ‘Fiery Minxx’. Omega mentally slapped itself at the obvious nature of the sign. “Wow, I feel really stupid now.” Karl laughed and patted Omega on the back. “Don’t about it! It’s a big fuckin’ city.” Omega smiled feeling a little better. “You going to be alright by yourself? ‘Cause you don’t seem like you’re all too keen on what’s going on.”

            Omega stood up straight and looked him straight in the eyes. “I can take care of myself, thank you.” Karl raised an eyebrow and laughed to himself. “Can you now? You know you remind me of someone I know.” Omega looked back at him confused and asked for him to elaborate. “It’s this guy I know. He’s really cool. Awesome really. Though he’s headstrong as fuck. He never listens to what other people say. He just does his own thing. But I love that about him.”

            Omega thought to itself about the people it had met. It couldn’t help but wonder what Kurt and his police officer mother were doing. They were probably still shouting at each other to communicate. People were definitely weird creatures. “So where is he now? You seem to really enjoy this person.” Karl looked down to the ground with sadness prominent in his eyes. “He’s uh…I’m not…going to see him again.” Omega put its hand on Karl’s shoulder like how Kurt had done to it before.

            “Don’t worry. I’m sure you will.” Karl gave a half smile and gently pushed Omega’s hand away. “You’re right. I probably will.” They both waved their goodbyes as Omega ran across the street. At the front of the building a bald man in a suit stood there still as a statue. “Invitation please.” Omega opened up the hologram from its hand and presented it to him. He touched it and the hologram reappeared in his hand.

            “Invitation approved. Please step inside.” The front doors opened to reveal an elevator with fancy red and gold interior. Monotonous music played softly in the background. Omega hesitantly stepped on aboard. The doors immediately shut as soon as it was inside. The seemed to be going up forever. After a minute or so Omega was bored and leaned against the wall. The bump from hitting the wall was enough to de-cloak something strapped to its leg. It was gun in a holster it didn’t even know was there.

            Omega was obviously shocked and quickly tried to cloak it again not knowing how. The elevator soon made a ping and opened its golden doors. Omega squealed as it tried to conceal the weapon. Luckily it re-cloaked itself just as people turned to look at Omega. The party guests looked at it weird and turned back to their conversations. Omega sighed deeply and wiped the sweat from its forehead. The last thing it needed was to make a bad impression on its creator.

            Omega found its way through the crowd not noticing the cloaked figures it passed. They were hiding behind a corner observing the guests. The slender one leaned around the corner to get a better look causing its red hair to fall from the hood. It was Patrice with a triumphant grin plastered across her face. “We finally found you.”

6: Chapter 6: WearingYour Knife on Your Sleeve

Chapter 6: Wearing Your Knife on Your Sleeve

            “Victor! Where in the hell are you at?” Jack’s cries fell on deaf ears as they rang out in the large empty corridor. He wandered around Victor’s deluxe suite in search of his employer. Pillows and couch cushions bounced off the walls as he searched the living room. Jack continued to tear through the entire house like a living tornado. He searched the pool. He searched the thirteen bedrooms. He searched all twenty closets. He even searched the closets within the closets. There was hide nor hair of Victor anywhere.

            Jack was about ready to give up when he heard a faint noise behind a wall. Any normal person wouldn’t have heard such a small noise. Of course Jack wasn’t really a normal person by any means. He pressed his ear against the velvet red wall and listened closely. A big grin crawled upon his face in triumph. He broke a nearby emergency case and took the fire axe inside. Jack didn’t hesitate to plunge the axe deep into the wall. He hacked at it for several minutes revealing a hidden room. The remaining boards were torn away as he squeezed through the opening.

            Inside was another fancy bedroom with Victor lying on his excessively large silky bed. He slowly rolled over to face Jack with a scowl. “Did you really think you could hide from the hide-an-seek champion Victor?” Victor rolled his eyes and rolled back over. “You know you could have just used the door.” Jack quickly noticed the untouched door a few feet from the gaping hole he made. He merely shrugged and plunged his axe into a nearby coffee table.

            “Victor, why are you hiding from me?” Victor took in a deep breath and stayed silent. Jack scrunched his face out of irritation and raised his voice. “Hey! I’m not the one who tried to kill you! I’m guessing you forgot who saved your sorry ass!” Victor threw off his covers and glared at him. His blonde hair was disheveled and strewn all about. “I’m thinking Jack! Can’t you just give me some privacy for once?”

            Jack lowered his eyes and crossed his arms. “There is no such thing as privacy for someone like you. So get used to it buttercup!” A tinge of sadness flared in Victor’s eyes as he turned away. “I just…I’m scared…” Jack started to calm down and lowered his defensive posture. “That’s why I’m here. I’ll protect you Victor.” Victor continued to stare at the blankets around his legs without a word.

            Jack took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. He wasn’t the best at these types of situations. “Look…if it helps at all I’ve got some information you’ll want to hear.” Victor looked at him from the corner of his eyes but refrained from moving his body. “Then tell me.” Jack took another deep breath and clasped his hands together before speaking. “I looked into that incident with the Lowtown laboratory. It’s an undocumented research facility owned by Clark Titan.”

            This time Victor turned to look at him with surprise. “Say what? It was built by father in secret?” Jack held his hands out motioning there was more to the story. “It’s also owned by someone named Sebastian. There was no last name on record. Whoever they were they also had a hand in what was going on there. It was still in use.” Jack sat down on a large cushiony chair and interlaced his fingers.

            “From what was left I found something peculiar. Something called Project Alpha and Omega. Ever heard of it?” Victor shook his head and continued to listen. “I didn’t think so. No one seems to. From what you told me about that person who attacked you then it’s safe to assume that they were involved with that experiment.” Victor’s eyes widened at this information. His mind whirled with thoughts. “Are you saying that person was some lab experiment?” Jack shrugged his shoulders in response.

            “It may or may not be. Either way it’s dangerous. That’s why I need you to stick close to me. Who knows what that thing can do?” Victor fell back onto his pillows with a huff. All of this was way too confusing. “Whatever, fine.” Jack rolled his eyes at Victor’s pouty behavior. Even when his life was at risk he still hated sitting around doing nothing. “And by the way. The press is freaking the fuck out over this. And the fact that you just up and disappeared afterwards.”

            Victor placed a pillow over his face and groaned. This situation got worse by the minute. Beijing was starting to look like a minor accident compared to this. “Don’t worry Victor. I’ll hunt that thing down. It won’t be a problem for much longer.” Victor didn’t say anything and turned over to his side. “So while I’ll go deal with an errant I’m leaving you with a platoon of armed synthetic soldiers. I’ll be back shortly.”

            Victor quickly rose up out of bed with a small gasp leaving his lips. “You’re leaving me here alone? Aren’t you going to stay here and protect me?” Jack chuckled to himself and started to walk away. Victor threw one of his red velvet pillows at him only to have it caught in mid-air and tossed to the side. “Now, now Victor. Don’t throw a hissy fit. Didn’t you just tell me you wanted some privacy?” Jack smiled at him sarcastically much to his annoyance.

            “But I thought we were going to have…alone time?” Jack’s grin quickly flew off his face at Victor’s embarrassed expression. Victor looked at him longingly making him highly uncomfortable under his gaze. “I um…I gotta go.” Without hesitation he tore through the hole in the wall causing it to break further. As he ran down the hall he heard Victor yell at him. “You’re paying for that!” Jack chuckled to himself as he made his way out of the suite.

            Half an hour later he arrived at his destination. It was the heavily guard New Way City Police Department. It was a large militant looking building smack dab in the middle of Lowtown. With an electric fence to complete the image. The NWPD wasn’t a public service like it was in its heyday. The city lost funds to run it and private investors coined in on the place. They ended up having to cater to the investor’s interests and ended up becoming more of a private police force.

            If you had the money the police looked the other way. However, if you didn’t don’t expect any sort of help from them. Crime in Lowtown was so numerous they stopped doing anything about it. Now they only take person calls so to speak. Jack couldn’t help but scoff at them. They police were no different than the thugs and crime lords that ruled the streets. That’s why he had no problem breaking out an old friend.

            Jack knew he couldn’t keep Victor out of sight for too long. He knew him well enough to know he’d grow restless hiding out, and that he’d be the only one who could keep him put. So he needed an extra pair of hands to hunt down this Omega person and eliminate the problem. And he knew just the man to do it. Jack hid behind a post next to the electrified fence. Several synthetic officers patrolled the gate. The systematically patrolled the boarder in a predetermined routine. It didn’t take Jack long to figure out the pattern.

            He quickly jumped the fence and hid behind the guard post. Inside was another synthetic monitoring the many cameras around the facility. Oddly enough there were no cameras next to the guard post at the front gate. The NWPD apparently didn’t know how to guard their backs. Jack slithered in through a small window quietly. The synthetic failed to notice the cyborg creeping up on it from behind.

            He lightly placed his finger against the synthetic’s neck. A light blue spark shot from his finger tip into the machine. It immediately shut down and went limp in the chair. Jack pushed the machine to the floor and sat in its place. He quickly realized there was a rooftop ventilation entrance located above the prisoner holding cells. A sly smile grew on his face as he remotely deactivated the cameras.

            Before long he had made it to the rooftops completely unnoticed. Jack had been at this sort of thing for so long it was practically second nature. He effortlessly tore away the vent covering and jumped on in. As he shuffled along the dust ridden ventilation shaft he heard someone talking. He turned to see a brunette woman talking to another police officer. “Officer Barbra, are you alright? I think you need to go to the infirmary.”

            The woman was holding her blood covered hand and biting her lip out of pain. “I don’t need shit! Just take that trash to the holding cells! That’s an order!” The man nodded without another word and ran off. The woman groaned and leaned against the wall. Jack was about to leave when he heard another voice. “Mom! Are you all right?” A young brunette man ran up to her with a panicked look on his face.

            His mop-top hair was all over the place and his glasses were all crooked. “Kurt? What are you doing here? You were supposed to be home right now.” Kurt looked down at the ground nervously and scratched the back of his head. “There’s something really important we need to talk about. It…involves that attack at the Fiery Minxx.” Her eyes immediately grew bigger. She grabbed him and dragged him off somewhere without a word.

            Jack almost didn’t want to admit it but he was definitely curious. Though there was much more pressing matters at hand. The drama that was life would have to wait. So Jack continued down towards the holding cells. As he started to come across the cells he noticed the police using their eyes for the scanners. He was definitely going to need an eyeball or two to break him out. And to do that he’d need the element of surprise.

            So he opened up the palm of his hand and created a hologram interface. He typed in a code and with that the lights immediately went out. Jack had planted a remote controlled hacking device on the security system earlier. It wasn’t hard to get past their security. People typically don’t break into police departments. Soon he heard the police officers monitoring the area starting to check the prisoner’s cells. Jack chuckled to himself imagining freeing the prisoners. He’d pay to see the look on those police officer’s faces.

            Sadly as fun as that sounded all that chaos would only cause him problems. He needed to get the officer whose eyes were for his cell. Unfortunately he couldn’t do that from a vent. He’d need to use a more hands on approach. One of the officers in question was located directly beneath Jack checking a prisoner. Jack licked his lips in excitement and relished in his opportunity. It had been a long time since someone got caught in one of his webs.

            A short metal blade slowly slid from the bottom of his wrist. Jack waited for the right moment to make his move. As the man backed away from the cell Jack’s arm effortlessly ripped through the vent. The blade was instantly plunged through his helmet and into the man’s skull. He dug his claws into the helmet and yanked the man’s into the vent. Jack tore off the visor and began scanning his eyes.

            His own eyes projected a scanner that surveyed the entire surface of the man's eyes. It was another helpful gift provided by the Church of Machines. Though Jack would never admit that out load or even to himself. The test came back negative and the man was promptly dislodged from his blade. He continued to test each individual he came across. Each bloody scream of pain got him one step closer to his prize.

            After what felt like forever he found the man. The officer was trembling like a leaf standing next to an active cell. Even from inside a vent he could smell the fear. So much so he could almost taste it. As the man slowly walked forward he made his move. He quickly grabbed him by the head and yanked him backwards into the vent. Jack immediately removed the helmet and scanned the eyes of the still screaming man.

            He gave the man a menacing toothy grin when the test came back positive. Without hesitation he sliced through his throat. Jack hacked away at flesh, ligament, and bone. He pulled with all his might and tore his head away from the remaining attachments. He heard a loud thud when the headless corpse hit the floor. The blood pooled around his stump of a neck and flowed across the floor. Jack promptly sliced through what was left of the vent and dropped down to the floor below.

            As soon as he was out in the open he caught a scent he hadn’t smelled in years. He slowly looked up to see a familiar emotionally distant face behind the glowing blue bars. Franz Kaiser the infamous Last Kiss Killer. It had been about four years since they saw each other last. Franz was always mysterious and aloof. Truthfully he didn’t know anything personal about him. All he knew was that he was good at his job.

            Jack couldn’t help but smile seeing Franz behind bars. He was so arrogant about never being caught and here he was. He held the disembodied head up to the scanner and deactivated the electric bars. As they disappeared into the floor he nonchalantly tossed the head aside. “Long time no see buttercup. Never thought I’d see the day you were caught.” Franz merely glared at him like usual and didn’t say a word. “Look, the reason I’m here is because I need your help. Remember that favor you owe me?” Franz huffed and turned his gaze away.

            “Not happening creep. I’m pretty cozy in here.” Jack felt his eye twitch at Franz’s continual arrogance. He folded his arms and began tapping his foot like a scolding mother would. “Okay, I’ll strike you up a deal. I’ll get the police off your back for good and I’ll even wipe your record of this ever happening. That way you can disappear like you always do.” He could tell Franz was mulling over the idea in his mind. Before long he finally made his decision.

            “So what’s the catch? I don’t suppose it’s something like picking up your groceries.” Jack chuckled at Franz’s whack at a jest. “Nice choice, and a smart one at that. See I want you to kill someone for me. And I’d like for you to be discreet about it. You’re the only one who I know could pull it off.” Franz chuckled softly to himself and ran his fingers through his hair. “Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal. Now get me the hell out of here.”

            Jack grabbed his hand and lifted him up out of his cell. Franz dusted himself off and took in a much need deep breath. “Where’s my shit? I want it back.” Jack opened up a holographic map of the facility in his hand. He quickly found the room and pressed his finger against it and unlocked the door down the hall. As they walked down the dark hallway they both turned to look at a prisoner yelling at them.

            It was a woman in a cell with an actual door instead of electrified bars. She was peering through a small bared window. She had fair skin with heavily smudged black eye makeup. Her lips had a dark red, almost black, lipstick that was also smeared. She had black and pink striped hair held in low hanging pony tails draped on her chest. “Hey! Jack! Where are you going? Aren’t you going to let me out too?”
 

            Jack groaned and held his head in hands. The woman continued to yell at him even though he clearly was ignoring her. “Bitch, you better get your ass over here and free me! I know you can hear me!” Jack flipped her the bird and began to walk away. The woman continued to yell profanities at them. “Get me the fuck out! Those fuck-holes put me in here Jack! You know you owe me so let me out now!”

            Jack stopped much to Franz’s confusion and turned to walk over to her holding cell. When he was close enough he slammed his fist against the door denting the reinforced metal. “I don’t owe you shit Astrid!” She stuck her tongue out at him and he did the same. “You left me there to die! You so totally owe me big time!”

            Jack rolled his eyes and groaned. He pinched the skin between his eyes and let out a sigh of defeat. “If I let you out then you leave me the fuck alone. Got it?” The woman giggled and jumped with joy. “Yeah, yeah whatever! Just hurry up!” Begrudgingly he typed in the code and the door released its locks. The door was suddenly swung open and smacked Jack directly in the face. He immediately flew back onto the floor in pain.

            Astrid popped out with her hands in the air smiling in triumph. When she looked behind the door she held her hand to her mouth and giggled at Jack’s pain. He glared at her through watery eyes. “Aww did I squish the spider?” She giggled again and stuck out her tongue. “You fall for that shit every time. You’re a total riot!” She broke out in a fit of laughter that stopped as soon as she spotted Franz glaring at her.

            “Who’s your little friend here? He’s a hottie pototie with a naughty body.” She winked at him and lowered the zipper on her orange prison jumpsuit. “That’s the Last Kiss Killer dipshit. So don’t piss him off. Unless you like your insides on the outside.” Astrid gave Jack the stink-eye and held her hands on her hips. “Don’t be a beaver dam Jack! Can’t you see I’m making with the sexy right now?”

            She gestured to her very obvious cleavage as if it were a product being sold on television. Franz rolled his eyes and scoffed at her gesture. “Whatever lady. Let’s just get the fuck out before they catch up.” Astrid pursed out her lips and pouted. “Fine! We’ll do it your way sugar tits.” Her childish grin was quickly wiped from her face when Jack swatted the back of her head. “Quit fooling around! Let’s go!” He was still holding his aching nose as he glared at her.

            All three of them quickly made their way to the evidence holding room. Inside there was a trembling man behind a desk holding a gun. As soon as Franz walked through the doorway a bullet hit the doorframe narrowly missing his head. He didn’t even flinch and merely stared at the officer in his usual calm demeanor. “Why don’t you do us a favor, and put that gun away before you shoot your eye out kid.” Astrid pranced into the room behind him without a worry in the world.

            “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Then it’s a party!” She bit her lip playfully and leaned on her elbows on top the counter. The sweaty officer continued to tremble as he pointed his gun at her at point blank range. “What? You ain’t ever seen a woman before or what?” The man mumbled unintelligibly as he pointed between Franz, Astrid, and Jack. Astrid giggled and swiftly swatted the gun out of his hands. The gun went flying out of his hands and onto the floor next to Jack.

            He merely grunted and kicked the gun aside. The man continued to sweat profusely and flattened out against the wall. His eyes quickly darted back and forth between the three of them. It didn’t take long for Franz to grow impatient so he reached across the counter and grabbed the man. He gripped him by the collar and aggressively yanked him forward onto the counter. “Look buddy, I came here for my gear. So where is the LKK’s evidence being held?”

            He followed his eyes as her looked over to the electrified energy-field doorway. They’re eyes met again as he looked back at him. “Alrighty then. Thanks for the help.” Franz grabbed the man by his hair and slammed his face against the counter. It was enough force to smash his head through the counter and break it. He slowly slid backwards onto the floor leaving a blood trail. Franz reached behind the counter and pressed a big red button just asking to be pressed. The electrified doorway made a loud beeping sound and the energy-field dissipated.

            Astrid clapped her in hands in excitement and skipped on through. Franz walked in at his own pace with Jack not far behind. The evidence locker room was expansive and was several floors high. Thankfully it was all alphabetized and it didn’t take them long to find what they came for. Franz walked out with his neatly organized black duffle bag in hand. Astrid on the other hand had a wide array things shoved into an oversized evidence bag.

            One of the contents was long metal bullwhip that coiled itself up as soon she pulled it out. She bit lip in excitement and holstered it on her hip. Once they were all ready to go they heard multiple people running down the hall towards the evidence room. Franz felt a tinge of panic jolt through his heart. He was not looking forward to being shot by those taser disks again. Astrid giggled again as she pulled out a red and silver disk from her bag-of-tricks and pressed it against the wall.

            A small rod popped out of the center flashed red. After a few seconds it shot out a red laser that proceeded to slice the wall around it. It took it only seconds to cut a perfect circle out around itself. Astrid pulled the disk off and shoved it back into her bag. Franz narrowed his eyes and glared at her. “That didn’t do shit.” She wiggled her finger at him playfully and gently pressed it against the wall. The circle it had cut slid out of place and fell to the ground outside. The cool breeze washed over them like a gentle wave.

            Astrid stuck out her tongue and held up her arms in triumph. “Yay! I win!” Her celebration was short lived as Jack grabbed them both and shoved them through the hole. Once all three were outside Jack effortlessly lifted the two feet thick slab of wall and put it back in place. “God! You two are like children! Seriously!” Both Franz and Astrid glared at him in response. He pinched the skin between his eyes and shook his head in frustration. He didn’t even try and respond and pressed a button on his wrist. The electrified fence was immediately turned off.

            He used his wrist blades and quickly slice through the wires. They all could hear the police trying to move the piece of wall to get to them. Without hesitation they went on through and didn’t bother to look behind. Once they were outside the compound Jack pressed yet another button to reveal the small cloaked airship parked outside. It was a personal aircraft used for Victor’s security force. Since Jack was really the only security he had then he had full twenty-four hour access. “Come on, hop in.” A circular door slid down to reveal its small interior.

            Jack immediately jumped into the driver’s seat and beckoned them inside. Franz hesitantly went inside. The aircraft was so small he had to duck through the doorway and cram himself inside. Just before Astrid could climb inside the large piece of wall was pushed over. The synthetics didn’t hesitate to open fire. Astrid leaped inside as round after round hit the ship. The ship soon began to rise up off the ground to take off. Though before they could Astrid decided to take this opportunity to have one last whack at the police.

            She pulled a submachine gun from her bag and began to wildly fire it off at them. She laughed manically as round after round struck the machines and the ground around them. The ship’s door began to close so she decided to shout one last thing. “Fuck the police!” She gave them the finger just as the door closed shut. She plopped down onto her chair and the ship took off. Franz glared at her disappointedly and huffed. “Was all that really necessary?” She blew raspberries at him childishly yet again.

            “Is your face really that necessary?” He merely rolled his eyes and silently turned away. He wasn’t going to feed the troll what it wanted. A half an hour later they arrived at their destination. It was another one of Victor’s deluxe suites he didn’t even know he had. The building was completely spherical with entire front made of glass. Jack knew it was the perfect hiding place for two escaped convicts on the run. He parked ship outside on the large extensive sky porch. The building overlooked much of the dirty and polluted city below them. Surprisingly it was a highly sought after location because its view wasn’t that of another building.

            When they got out Franz took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The air up here was much cleaner than it was below. It was highly refreshing to someone who grew up in squalor and pollution. “Well we’ve arrived! So first off I’m setting some ground rules, got it?” Franz made no response and Astrid only shrugged her shoulders. Jack closed his eyes and took in a much deep breath. These two were enough to break any man. And he was nearing his limit.

            “Alright then. First rule: Don’t contact anyone from any device from here. Rule two: Don’t destroy anything. Last rule: Don’t bring anyone else here. You both got that?” Franz continued to blankly stare and still gave no response. Astrid yet again shrugged her shoulders. Jack threw his head back and groaned. He didn’t even both to scold them and instead unlocked the front door. The inside smelt like a new plastic toy. So much so it was almost nauseating. “This is where you’ll be staying Franz.”

            He took a look around the room and noticed everything looked clean but unused. “I can’t say it’s what I would have picked but alright.” Astrid pressed her face against the glass wall and watched the world below. Franz grabbed Jack shoulder and pulled him closer to whisper in his ear. “So who is this woman and why is she still with us?” Jack looked over to her to make sure she wasn’t listening. She was obviously having fun pointing at random things in the sky. “That’s Slaughter Girl. Hard to believe right?”

            Franz looked back at him incredulously. “Seriously? I guess that makes a little sense because something clearly is off about her brain.” Jack laughed at his remark but stopped when he saw her intense gaze directed at him. Her eye twitched slightly as she stared at him. “What’s so funny? Was it a joke? I wanna hear.” Jack and Franz looked back at each other and then back to her. “Um…it was nothing…why don’t I show you to your room?” She instantly snapped out of her creepy stare and giggled.

            Jack inwardly sighed. He didn’t need her to go berserk again. The bedrooms were all identical. Each had a shiny silver circular bed smack dab in the middle of the room. The drawers, the side table, and even the laps were all varying shades of grey and silver. Victor has a particular taste that all of his suites have. In fact he designed them all. Though he wasn’t even aware half of the things he made up even existed in the first place.

            Franz plopped his large duffle bag onto his bed. The weight cased a ripple a crossed the blanket. It made it look like a wave of oil on the surface of the bed. It was enough to get a small smile out of the statue of a man. He decided it was time to discard his filthy prison clothes in exchange for some new ones. As he unzipped his jumpsuit and pulled it down to his waist he noticed something peculiar. Several of his many scars were missing from his body. Only the deeper ones were still there. Including in his cleft palate surgical scar.

            As he caressed his facial scar reminiscing he heard the door behind his creek open. Jack popped his head in but immediately turned an interesting shade of red. “Oh shit! Sorry!” Franz gave him a half laugh and beckoned him on in. Jack hesitantly walked inside and kept his eyes lowered to the ground. He scratched the back of his head and spoke in an uncharacteristically nervous tone. “S-So um…just meet us out there when you’re uh…done.” With that he promptly ran out of the room without another word.

            Franz laughed to himself and shook his head. Jack was a weird man. A very weird man. He proceeded to browse the closet in search for something suitable. There wasn’t much inside except generic t-shirts and pants. So he threw on a pair of jeans, and plain white shirt, and purple hoodie. Of course he couldn’t help but put on his favorite red boots. He wouldn’t be Franz without his boots. Once he was finished he opened to door and peered outside.

            Jack was lounging on the crescent shaped couch and Astrid was still staring out the window. Surprisingly she was able to pull herself away long enough to make a change in clothes. She wore a pink and black oversized long sleeved t-shirt that hung belong her shoulders. Her black lacey bra straps were clearly visible. He typical jean pants were torn up and looked heavily used. Finally she had brown ankle boots that looked fairly old and were missing the laces. She looked like she belonged in Lowtown and he was willing to bet he was right.

            Astrid excitedly looked over and waved. Jack lazily looked over and beckoned him to sit down next to him. He quickly took his place and awaited for his mission to begin. Jack took in a deep breath and got up off the couch. They both turned to him to hear what he had to say. He opened his mouth and was about to speak when was interrupted by a mysterious voice in the room. They all immediately turned around to see a hooded cloaked figure in the dark. Without hesitation Jack drew his gun, Franz held his blades, and Astrid pulled out her whip.

            The voice was calm and almost monotone. “Hello Jack. So nice to see you again.” Jack slowly lowered his gun and responded with a question. “William? Is that you?” The figure slowly walked out of the shadows to reveal themselves. It was a bald man wearing a blue cloak typically worn by members of the Church of Machines. His appearance was highly unusual like his fellow members. The most notable was the fact that he was blind. His eyes were a light murky blue that stared blankly into the distance.

            Around his eyes were black tattoos. Above and below each eye were half crescents that faced each other. On his bottom lip a black strip went down his chin towards his neck. Beyond that there wasn’t much else. His face was blank and emotionless. He merely stared at them awaiting a response. Jack narrowed his eyes in suspicion and raised his gun back up at him. “What are you doing here?” William cocked his head slightly in confusion as if he had already stated the answer. “To propose an alliance of course.”