Chapter 7: Data Core
(Sorry if this chapter has more mistakes than usual and it isn't up to snuff. My computer battery is screwed so I wrote this on my phone)
"Thud, thud, thud, thud"
"HA....ha...ha...haa!"
If you carefully look down the bloodstained hallway, ignoring the bodies that were blown to pieces, decapitated, or with holes in their faces, you would see what appeared to be a young man running through the corridor. He looked around the age of 18-20. His blond hair waved through the air while his green was filled with fear as he continued to run away as fast as his legs could take him from the opposite direction. As if he was running away from something…
Or someone.
As the boy kept running, his legs stumped into something as he accidentally fell onto the floor face first. He grunted out in pain as his whole body ached from the impact.
"AHH!" When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a pair of eyes directly looking right at him. Blood spewed out of the mouth as the bodiless head continued to look at the poor boy with its lifeless eyes.
The boy crawled backed away in terror as he tried to avert his gaze from the bodiless head looking at him, only for him to realize that no matter where he looked, there was a body right in front of him. Some had the upper part of their body entirely blown off, some were missing limbs, and if he had looked carefully he would have noticed that there were little pieces of flesh lying around.
"H--h-how is this even p-possible!? H-how c-can one man do this!?" The kid said in shock and terror as he continued to look around the bloody hallway. The shock only continued to grow as he gazed into the deeper parts of the hallway. Noticing more lifeless individuals in sight!
One person did all of this!? How? It was logically impossible for one man to cause this much bloodshed! There was no way a single man could survive multiple squadrons of highly trained soldiers that were equipped with state-of-the-art technology weaponry and not only survive but also turn the tides!
He couldn't be human…No possible human would be in their right mind to accomplish all of this on their own. Not even a Korgan would be able to manage this!
"He's not human….."
"He's a Demon!"
"Thud, thud, thud, thud"
That's when he heard something coming from the other side of the hallway. He instantly recognized the sounds of multiple footsteps making their way. Each step only got increasingly louder as they made their way.
"Agh!" The kid yelled out as suddenly, a bright flash of light was aimed directly right at his eyes. He used his right hand to cover himself as it shielded him from the blindness.
"Who's that in the middle of the hallway?"
"Hey is that…"
"Oh my god, it's the recruit!"
That's when he recognized a voice. He looked up to see more than 30 Cerberus guards standing there looking at him. All of them were equipped with heavy equipment. Some had riot shields with shotguns, some had sniper rifles, and were equipped with cloaking devices. And there were some that were even equipped with ML-77 missile launchers and M-100 Grenade Launchers. The rest were equipped with reinforced armor sets. Making them tanker and all the more deadly on the front lines. They were all heavily equipped to make sure someone is truly dead.
"Sir…I-i-i" The kid tried to get the words out of his mouth but to no avail. He tried ignoring the fear of what he just witnessed and experienced but he couldn't shake the feeling off him. Seeing all the dead bodies he worked with and even became friends with being slaughtered and even turned into pieces was something unbearable to deal with.
That's when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. The leading commander looked at the kid with a reassuring smile "It's alright kid. You're safe now. You don't have to be scared anymore"
He quickly looked around the area noticing the bodies that surrounded him and the group. He grimaced at the sight before shifting his gaze back at his junior "I know it's hard but I need you to tell me what the hell happened here? If you can tell me everything you know then we can stop everything before it even begins"
He looked at his commander still with shock in his eyes. He opened his eyes but before he could say anything, he remembered what the man in bloody ajax armor said to him.
"Listen, kid, this is something way bigger than you understand. I highly advise next time you find a job, make sure it doesn't cost you your life"
The words flowed through his mind as he tried to wrap his mind around what he said. What did he mean by "something way bigger than you understand"? Was there something that Cerberus wasn't telling him? He had no reason to not lie to him. But why should he believe the words of a killer? He witnessed all his coworkers and friends die lying dead in front of his eyes.
He felt his body shaken as he looked back at his commander who had a look of concern
"Kid you there? Please tell us what happened here. Where's Subject 1183?"
He looked at his commander as he questioned himself in his mind. Should he tell him what happened to him? Or would it be better for him to keep his mouth shut? He had worked for Cerberus for a while now and he could tell something was going behind the scenes. But they trusted him. They gave him the credits to eat actually good food and an actual bed to sleep on. He had comfortable clothes to wear and he even made new friends. They saved him from the streets.
They gave him his life back.
But can the words that came out of 1183's be true? Could there be something dark lingering around Cerberus and how they work? He could have killed him in a second but yet he let him go.
But he killed so many people. There was no way he should believe what he was saying. But what if he was right? Maybe he knew something about Cerberus that he didn't. Could Cerberus be hiding something shady?
He locked eyes with his commander with a look of determination and soon he made his decision. Confident he was doing the right thing.
"Subject 1183…"
"he's ….he's…"
"Subject 1183 is currently deep inside the Medical wing!" The recruit yelled as he looked at his superior officer straight on. Selling out 1183's current location.
"We were holding up at the inside of the Medical Bay. Trying to keep him out from getting inside of the bay. We managed to hold out for at least 30 minutes. Using everything that could be used as cover, we managed to set up a defensive perimeter. But even that wasn't enough. 20 men strong within a span of a few minutes he killed everybody. I saw Duncan…..Emma…everybody die."
"Then how are you alive to live the tell?" The Commander questioned as he tried to probe a little more information.
"I-i honestly don't know. He knocked me out before earlier. When I awoke I saw a gun pointed at my face. He asked me to take off my helmet and once I did, he decided to spare me"
"I see….I guess he does have a guilty conscience" The commander quietly said as thought about the words of his subordinate. If everything that he said was true, which he doubted a bit, then 1183 could be described as Hyper-lethal. Capable of destroying
If he's allowed to grow and mature. Then he could even surpass that category.
He turned around to his group with a commanding tone "We have knowledge of 1183's location! We will now make our way towards the medical wing! Make sure your arms are reloaded'
He looked at one of the Cerberus guards "Lead them to the medical wing"
"Yes Sir! Everybody follow me!" Yelled the guard as he led the rest of the heavily armed group towards the Medical Wing. All of them having the intent to kill the person hiding within it.
The commander watched on as his group left without him before turning his gaze back to the kid " You did good Samson. Get topside and make sure you get some rest. By the time you woken up, we'll have everything resolved and that bastard dead"
"Yes sir!" The kid yelled as he saluted his commander who departed him to get back with his group
The Kid stood up and watched on as his commander vanished into the darkness.
He was confident that he made the right choice.
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(Medical Wing)
"Thud, thud, thud, thud"
If you look down the empty hallway, You could see the rogue clone, Subject 1183 making his way down. To the side, you would notice multiple empty offices that belonged to numerous Scientists. It seemed all of them ran away to a safer location within the facility when everything went all lockdown.
Subject 1183 paid no attention to them as he continued to walk past them. They were no worth to him and if his hunch was right, Dr.Everstean's office would be in the deeper parts of the Medical Wing.
After a few more minutes of walking, he noticed a door that looked old and unused. As if it was completely abandoned and forgotten.
He looked at the side and looked at the name of who used to own the room "Dr. D. Everstean. Head of facility"
"There it is. Finally took me long enough" 1183 Commented to himself as he looked at the door in front of him. It was tightly locked as it was secured with high-level security credentials. Looking through the side window, the room looked completely barren. As if somebody took everything inside of the room and threw it away. The only thing that was inside was an old-looking terminal and some dusty-looking desks.
After looking a bit through the window, he walked back up to the door and lifted his right arm as he went through his Omni-Tool. He then proceeded to swipe his right arm in front of the door.
(ACCESS GRANTED!)
Soon the door that was previously looked for him was now available as he walked right into the office. All the while making sure to close the door behind him and locking it.
Not wasting any more time, he began looking around the room searching for the Data Core that was supposed to be hidden somewhere. He looked everywhere, searching mainly the old desks and the terminal, and yet there was nothing to be found
"Where the hell could he have put it?" 1183 said as he began getting a little frustrated about not finding the core. He searched everywhere and yet he had nothing to show for it.
If Cerberus searched everything inside of this room then how come they supposedly didn't find the data core? Surely they made sure nothing was left behind so if they didn't have the core then it must have been placed somewhere hidden. Somewhere so obvious that somebody wouldn't even need to think twice about.
That's when it finally hit him. If it was hidden in plain sight, then there was only one place for it to be placed at. He turned his head back to the desk and pulled out all the drawers. That's when he felt something hollow from the third drawer from the bottom. It was a secret compartment!
He looked inside of it and there it was. It was so small and tiny that one would question why someone would hide such a small thing.
It was the Data Core that Dr. Everstean was talking about!
Quickly looking outside of the window making sure nobody made his way, he walked towards the unused terminal and plugged in the data core. The faster he gets out of this situation the better.
Suddenly the terminal that was once unused, came back to life as the dark screen completely brightened up the room. The screen soon was filled up with random numbers and letters until it formed a sentence
[Iniatting Download Process]
[Downloading:0%]
[Downloading:10%]
[Downloading:50%]
[Downloading:100%]
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
[MALICIOUS DATA HAS BEEN DETECTED!]
[INITIATING HARDWARE ERASURE!]
[HARDWARE ERASURE FAILED!]
[@#!45%^*!#M5$&!#@#%&#*!5GH%!]
[...]
Subject 1183 just stood back and watched as the malicious data inside of the Data Core speared and completely took over the terminal. All the while the virus began to spread into the security network. Breaking down all the network defenses that Cerberus put up. Until the screen went completely dark.
"Snap, Snap, Snap, Snap"
That's when he suddenly heard the sound of something turning off. As if somebody flicked the switch to a room. Turning off the lights to a room. He walked towards the window and looked out, only to see the lights that lit up the hallway suddenly started to turn off. In sequence, every single light within the hallway went completely dark. Until the nearest light that illuminated the room went completely off as well. Leaving Subject 1183 all alone in the dark.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[POWER REBOOTING!]
That's when 1183 heard a robotic voice filled the silent room. Soon, the lifeless hallway came back to life, and the dark hallway was washed away by the light. Illuminating the facility once more.
"SSSSSSSSS"
Subject 1183 tilted his head back to the terminal as he witnessed the previously bright dark screen suddenly filled with static. But all of that was gone in a blink of an eye as 1183 was met by a figure looking right at him. His whole old, bearded face covered the terminal screen.
The old-looking man looked at 1183 with a small smile on his face"Ahhh Subject 1183. It's a pleasure meeting you once more. I do believe a proper introduction is an order. After all, our previous interaction was quite scabrous"
"You may the fortunate pleasure of calling me, Darwin"
Subject 1183 crossed his arms and didn't say anything as he took a good look at the face in front of him. His long but clean white/black hair combined with his white-bearded completed his aging face" So you're Darwin. You're more ugly than I expected"
Darwin was quite surprised with 1183's response "Well what did you expect from me to look like?"
1183 just shrugged" I don't know maybe somebody who graduated from Harvard at the top of their class? At least not some guy who lives in their parent's garage and smokes weed every single day. But hey if you can get me out of here then you could look the ugliest man in the Milky Way and I wouldn't judge"
He then proceeded to clear his throat before he went to the main topic on hand "So do you mind telling me what you just did? From cause the looks of it, the virus contained inside of that data core just caused the entire facility to go down for a few moments"
Darwin just sighed before elaborating. It appeared 1183 was more brutish than he thought "What was contained inside of that virus was designed to counteract UDI Intelligence system. But it appeared to have developed a side effect. The virus spread throughout the network that connected the facility. Completely shutting down everything. just for a moment. Giving me enough time to hack into the system"
"So does that mean you have control over the facility?" 1183 asked as he raised his eyebrow
Darwin shook his head "Not necessarily. Even though the virus was meant to target the UDI system. It's still a state-of-the-art piece of technology that is meant to observe, learn, and adapt that comes to contact with it. No simple virus would be able to defeat it. The virus was more of a distraction. Only to inhibit, not overcome. It gave me just enough time to gain control of some of the facility functions.
"So you're telling me that I risked my life to get here only for you to gain little control over the facility!?" 1183 said as he yelled at Darwin.
Darwin raised his hands in response" Calm down 1183. I don't need much control to help you escape your imprisonment. With this, I can now help you navigate through the facility while monitoring you. I can even give you access to areas that you wouldn't have been able to access. Among other things "
1183 just looked at him before sighing in defeat. There was nothing else he could do at the current moment. Getting angry would make the situation worse "So what now? As you probably noticed by now, the whole facility is going out of its way to make sure we don't escape"
"Do not worry. We already have everything we need to help our escape. All you need to do is reach the external communication towers that is atop the facility. Through that, we can contact the Systems alliance. Only through them will we be able to end this nightmare once and for all"
1183 just stood there and listened to what Darwin was saying "Isn't there a plan B? Because everything you just listed revolves around me fighting my way through an entire facility all on my own. Essentially it's me vs a goddamn army!"
Darwin gave him a reassuring smile. As if there was nothing wrong with the plan he just listed "What are you so worried about? You already killed many people getting here. So what's the harm of eradicating the life of a few hundred more?"
1183 looked at him with complete shock "You talk about me as if I'm some type of ruthless killer! Is that what you think I am!?"
"Well of course! After all, that is the whole basis of your creation" Darwin said as he looked at 1183 as if he was some type of idiot.
"Project Evolution was founded on the fundamentals of creating an army of super soldiers.Each individual clones were designed to represent the peak of human potential. Stronger and faster than any race we have come to know"
"You and your fellow brethren were supposed to be the vanguards of humanity. Guarding the gates to mankind's doorstep. Stopping any conflict before it could begin. You would have anything to ensure peace. That would have included killing"
"If you were ordered to kill. Then you would have killed. If you were ordered to slaughter, then you would slaughter. In the end you are nothing but a tool. A weapon of peace and war.
"But sadly that plan would not come into fruition. There were many setbacks along the way that would prevent it from happening. In the end, you were the result of Project Evolution. A singular defective first-class clone"
1183 stood there saying nothing. He looked like he was in deep thought "I'm not a tool. I kill not because I want to, but in order to survive. I might be skilled in the ways of combat but that's because I was given these skills. So don't sit there acting you know me"
Darwin didn't say anything but just chuckled at the responses"It seems you reject the reality of your situation. But it doesn't matter. One day, you'll come to understand who you are"
"But I believe we must cut this conversation short. Your still wanted man so i advise you to prepare for the challenges that lay ahead of you"
"I'll keep in contact via radio through the ear piece inside of your helmet. Make your way to the top of the facility. I'll guid once you make your to the security checkpoint near the other entrance of Medical Wing"
"Darwin out" than the feed was cut and the entire screen turned lifeless once more
1183 didn't say as he stood there looking at blood stained hands. "Screw that bastard and everything he just said. Does he think I kill because I enjoy it?"
"I'm not a killer"
He ignored the feelings inside of his stomach and started walking towards the door. Darwin was just trying to get a rise out of him. It was no use getting mad over it.
"Thid, thud, thud, thud"
Suddenly, he heard massive amounts of footsteps coming from the hallway. In an instant, he hid below the glass window. Giving him enough cover to hide himself.
Carefully, he peeked his head out a bit. Barely enough to see what was coming. What he saw was multiple heavily armed troops running down the hallway
"Crap"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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