The Mindless is how it starts.

Mother Nature came up with a great idea for the sake of

mankind, but mankind didn't think so. You see The average human tends to enjoy his "self
awerness". Though it starts wars and is one of the deepest evils, it is thought to be the next step
in the act of survival. Mother Nature finally fed up with its own destruction decided it was time to
strike back. The minor details are not important, what is important is the fact that it happened. A
slow process not noticed by the masses. Children born in comas, humans loosing there mind and
attacking others. No completed Mindless had been created yet, but be sure to know that the
information was stored in the very core of the human population. The body itself had become a
weapon to the mind. The one historic date that makes the holocaust look like childs play,
December 16, 2945. A completed Mindless emerges from the DNA. His weapon is the DNA
altering abilites created in his blood. The target noted on later files as Francis Venspeld. A
frenchman hospitalized with the characteristics of Rabies. His family made sure to attest that he
had not been bitten by any animals or been in the proximity, in fact he had been bedridden for the
past few days with a fever. Well the know it all docotor didn't want to hear this, He had all the
signs of rabies and was still a treatable case with todays cutting edge technologies.
Francis's surgery begain at 9:00 a.m. that demonic day, nanomachines were released
into the blood stream to the brain. The brain in term was supposed to release formulated anti-
bodies specefied by the eletrical blueprints created by the nanobuddies. At 9:15 a.m. Francis's
body began to do something never seen before. The nanomachines formulated to adapt to the
human immune system were destroyed. By 9:21 a.m. Francis was awake and tearing away at
one of the surgeons left arm. A new term for the Mindless attributes was discovered. "self
awarness by survivalism" was the technical term. In words that even the gutter folk understood,
The mindless are driven by only the need to survive, the core of the human persona is survival.
They will devour all humans drivin by a mind that is still intact and aware. This DNA attack plan
ensures that the mindless will not destroy their owned kind yet in turn reproduce and destroy the
enemy. Quite a wonderful trade-off for them.
Camera 0002a capturing the video marked at 9:32 a.m. marked the first transformation of
Human to Mindless, as docotor Vince Stratacomb happily devoured his co-workers right arm.
[Note: mindless tend to infect through body parts that do not hinder mobility, arms,neck,stomach
ect. Camera 1523b then continued were his good pall camera "a" left off and followed as
Mindless continued to be created and the new "D-day" began.
Following the vents held on January 2, 2946. The Mindless had procceded to create
"infection zones" in the entirety of Earth. Now don't be afraid the goverment didn't take actions
like you would see in movies, they simply collaberated to create the construction of "Exodus". A
towering Settlement about half the size of New England. Located In the middle of America around
Missouri. This was no poorly constructed barricade, The outer walls of Exodus consisted of 5ft
thick Coneticus [a modern concrete minus the flaws] that ensured no Mindless could ever claw
their way through. Ahhh yes, but
"what if they climb on eachother?" you say, well well my friend Every 10ft. spaced out evenly are
Americas pride and joy the Aroulus. A new type of kinetic weapon that Concetred a packed ball of
air. Firing off this ball of fury ensured on a soldier equiped with the latest force cancelling gear at
least a cracked rib. The effect of this weapon was celebrated when used on a Mindless. It's safe
to say that It rained limbs that testing period. Anyways, the Aroulus cannons with a infinite
amount of ammo, as long as air remains, will blast away at any pesky Mindless towers siegieng
its way towards Exodus.
"Hah!, you proclaim, I have you now. Surely those cannons require enormous amounts of
energy. If enough of the Mindless gathered they could simply Power down Exodus."
Well don't we have alot to learn then. Exodus has one central generator and thats all it
will need. You see the Swiss were onto something when they started messing around with Black
Hole Technology. By Creating a Black Hole for enough time for that sucker to suck down some
gas in the air, Heat is given off that is 10,000 times hotter than the sun through friction. Now by
cancelling out the black hole with an equal and yet opposite one they cease to exist. With the
finest supercomputers and constantly monitored mechanics repeating this process, enough
energy is created to simply power the world. The worlds first Black Hole mechanics plant created
in Switzerland was Simply disassembled and Recreated inside of the walls of Exodus during its
construction period.
 Ahh, yes i forgot to cover why Exodus such a high tech institution of survival was created
in Missouri of all the places. Simply put, the greedy politicians fall out shelter is located
conveniatly smack dab right under Exodus. Why not have a safe place to stay while your
constructing the worlds ultimate mindless repellent right on top of your head.
Another Aspect that turned out to be more luck than planning, Missouri is a place were
not a numerous amount of natural disasters occur. Nothing a few gigatons of energy and modern
mechanics can't counteract. Later on the dispatch of "rescure" noticed that Missouri provided
them with a decent eveness between the major cities and survival hubs. So it came to be that
Missouri was the state to shoot for. If you want to live Exodus is your life.
when it comes to the population controlling methods of Exodus their quite simple. The
phrase, "the more the merrier comes to mind". With the Exodus Goverment constantly drilling and
creating more and more underground sanctuaries population really is not much hassle. All those
able bodies being created can help in the field of crop production and manual labor. The more
able minds created the better! If all else fails the Exodus Goverment can just build another
Coneticus wall farther out, but finding a working Coneticus factory is impossible and securing and
repairing one is much less cost efficent than just drilling away into Earth.
Its good to know that there isn't much class distiction inside of Exodus. Your either a
labor worker, a scientist, or the rare few train as Vindicators, but that will be told later. All are
treated fairly even throught Exodus, with the exception of some of the specially privlage
goverment workers. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner are delivered straight to ones door each day
from the central processing plant. The plant consists of carefully grown genetic masterpieces and
artificial rays of sun. With only 1/4 of Exodus's surface covered by this plant it can supply ample
amounts of food for all of the population and even start to build up reserve levels for emergency
purpose.
Well, it sounds like Exodus is just a Heaven on Earth, but don't get it wrong. When
working you must keep a high level of efficency, for the productivity needed to sustain Exodus is
quite high. Future plans will change this, but for now everything is geared towards completeing all
the necessary facilities and structures to cure the world of the Mindless. As you recall the
infections started in the genetics of the human race. All born infants are being "edited" so that this
will never happen again. The technology is new and is not a widespread technique so the fear of
another outbreak is still their. That is why Exodus is developed into different blocks with walls
seperating them. Each block has a food storage created by the excess from the processing plant
and a central group of goverment workers created to instruct the people in case another block
fell. The first priority is to cleanse any infection that may have made it to the processing plant and
then begin routine cleansing within Exodus. Everything and Everyone are currently in the process
to rid the world of the Mindless plauge. Living isn't going to be a heaven on earth, its not going to
be a walk in the park, but the new mentallity is to suck it up because I don't wanna die from your
mistakes. You don't slack when it comes to living. No person just decides there gong to half ass
their core survival, its all or nothing, that is Exodus all or nothing.
The worst punishment available is being Banished from Exodus. The death penalty is not
a necessary thing, being mindless is considered to be worse than death. Scientist, theologists,
poloticians or anyone, has any clue what happens to you when you become a Mindless. Many
believe that it must be one of the worst and most painful things in the world. Not in the sense of
physical pain. Although there may be some physical pain in the process the worst must come
from knowing your body has rejected your mind like some sort of virus plauging your very soul.
The Goverment of Exodus believes firmly in a sense of democracy. Not the type of
democracy controlled by the people, no there are far to many inferior and broken minds to leave
important desicions too. It was seen that if the masses are just going to be lead by one idea
created by a man to manipulate the mob to his power, we may as well cut out the middle man.
Therefore the concept of a new goverment much labeled towards a type of Communism was
created. One central goverment holds all of the power. Although they are the biggest fan of
democracy because of all its checks and balances. Although the goverment itself is not modeled
after democracy, Exodus is. Exodus holds many checks and balances toward the mindless. The
walls, cannons, block system, arms depo's, food storages, branched goverments, underground
systems, AI controlled generators and systems, but the final system that holds the most power
are the Vindicators. One may view a Vindicator just as the definition of the word. to clear, as from
an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like, to afford justification for; justify, to assert,
maintain, or defend (a right, cause, etc.) against opposition, and even one interpretation of to get
revenge for; avenge. The Vindicator is the goverments main threat against the Mindless threat.
They are the one thing "immune" to the plauge of the Mindless. Don't get it wrong they still can be
infected just like the rest of us, but the very thing that drives the Mindless to prey on that of the
aware, stops them from harming a Vindicator. The Vindicators aura gives out such a menacing
threat of death into the air that the Mindless's bodies physically prevent them from approaching a
circular area around the Vindicator. With focus and mental training the most powerful of
Vindicators and Push every Mindless out of a city block. Now such a menacing aura towards the
Mindless can't come on as a bluff. Theres no lie of power that will trick them from not approaching
their prey. Look at it this way, the Mindless will still occationally mob together and perfom a en
mass siege against Exodus. If a Mindless isn't afraid to charge straight into a cannon that will rip
the limbs straight off of their body, the Vindicator must be quite the intimidating being.
Labled One, Two, Three, Four, and Five the Vindicators Decend in that order from Most
powerful to least powerful. The measure of rank comes from a system of the aura they expel and
actual combat data. Combata data and footage of the Vindicators is held strictly secure and is
only reviewed by the Vindicators department, "Honor." Honor located in the core goverment
building in the center of underground Exodus. The building consists of a Twin spire, one going
above ground and one going below. The underground facility is only accesed by those with great
privilage and rank as a scientist, or taticion. The Manipulators and public figures such as the
president of Exodus can't even glance at it without being questened by a higher power in the
underground. Honor not only reviews and gives the rank of power levels, it also trains up the
Vindicator wanna be's, the program known as Lance. From Lance a Vindicator will chose a
apprentice from only the select few who have been conditioned and trained as replacements. The
vindicator will take on that apprentice until, that Vindicator is viewed as Obsolete. This system is
up to date is in its 3rd cycle with no originals remaining.
Its not to say the Vindicators are a hidden force or unknown. Almost all those that have
been rescued since the creation of Exodus have been by the Vindicators or a more powerful
member of Lance. These are the most privaleged in the world. The most precious possesion is
not diamonds or gold in these days. It is power, such great power that they are able to travel
freely without total fear of attack and conversion. By now the question has to have hit your brain
like a bullet train speeding away,
"If their so powerful were does it come from, some fairy tale magic or a gift from God?
Hah! thats just out right ridiculous"
Well, you could call it a gift from God, but as scientist we like to view this as genetic
anomilies. A similar comparison that would help you get the picture in your head would be like an
ancient documentry created before the information meltdown of 2300, the documentry called X-
Men. It was quite a ridiculous idea at the time "mutants", would develop strange powers and use
them to fight on the side of good or evil. The anomolies here develop differently than those
described in X-Men. Here at we believe that these powers come from the leftovers of
expirimentation of mother nature in creating the Mindless. As you know the Mindless masses
bodies when in the "activated" state have superhuman qualities. Speed of comparable to the
ancient machine a Car. They can run, if their appendages are not damaged up to 55mph.
Although none do this unless the guarentee of food is their, but we will cover that much later.
The Vindicators contain a high metabolism and unique "power" which is kept hidden from
all but their mentor and their direct supervising director. This is done in the case that one would
rebel the other can destroy him. If he indeed goes Rogue the Goverment will give his
weaknesses and strenghts to all other members of the Vindicator branch, from their with the
advantage of knowledge a routine destruction of them would commence. Simply put another
balance and check in place in the final system of the Vindicators.
"And Thus your monthly review on the history of Exodus is completed" a pale looking
man in a white lab coat says, his voice is hoarse from a long while of talking and the rough
whiskers. and bags under his eyes shows he hasn't had a restful night in a couple of days. He
shows the age of a man around the age of late 40's ready to head over the hill. His posture is
huddled forward and thick glasses lay on his face. The definiate look of a man that likes to stare
at a computer screen all day. His eyes tilt slighty upward and his skin has a bit of wrinkle and
tanner tint to it. A man of Asian decent.
"Ransom are you asleep?" He asks
A mild snoring sound can be heard throught the room, Four faces stare at the man with
his head down on his desk, a small puddle of drooling starting to form near his lower lip.
"RANSOM WAKE UP", the little man now ferverent with life screams at the top of his
lungs, a few cieling tiles shake in fear of the voice.
Still a mild snoring can be heard through out the room and the puddle of drool under the
young mans lips begins to get deeper and deeper.
SLAM!, A book flys across the room to were the poor young man is sleeping and hits him
with a force that leaves the book bouncing off the unfortunate face and falling to sprawl open on
the floor. a sleepy head pops into the air, with one eye slowling starting to open from its time of
rest a voice escapes tired lips
"aw, common Hiro we rarely get to have a full nights sleep and your speeches are sooo
boring." Ransom replied sleepily.
"RANSOM, do you know how important this is, don't you understand the seriousness of
this monthly meeting. You think i wanna be here? Huh!, you really think i wanna waste my time
telling the most significant piece of literature to you, a stupid man who can't even spare the
decensy to listen. I am granted this wonderful task to re-educate you in the history of our grand
colony, our life, our love, and all you do is sleep. When taskmaster Olric hears of this you won't
be sleeping, no no you will be in a world of pain and suffering!" Hiro replied almost maniacly as
his tightened eyes widen. " You can't even comprehend the amount of pain you will be in. Your
work load will be doubled no, no tripled ah ahah I can't WAIT"
A mild snoring fills the room as Ransom without a care in the world had already drifted
back into the wonderful dream he had just been having.
"GAAAAAAAH! I can't take this, Number 3 you get up right NOOOOW!" Hiro screamed.
A sleepy head pops up once again with the last muster of energy his half concious mind
can provide. Ransom lets out a deep sigh.
"Aren't you late for a meeting or something?"
"GAAAH!", Hiro screams, within the blink of an eye he looks at his watch and sprints out
of the room screaming.
"Heh, works everytime", Ransom mutters as he falls back to sleep. Neslting his tired
head into his arms.
"aaaAAAH," the fading scream from Hiro comes back as he makes a mad dash to return
to the conference hall. A sweaty out of breath Hiro returns into the room screaming once again
"Ransom! how dare you take advantage of my OCD like that! You know I need to be prompt.
Gaaah I couldn't help but check my shedule. Your a terrible terrible man!"
"Hey, uhhh Hiro are you absolutly sure that your not late for a meeting?" still with his
head down Ransom replies.
"AAAAAhhhhh" Screams echo back down the hallway as the tired Hiro compelled by his
OCD and rage++ drive him to make as much haste as the skinny little Asian man with small legs
can.
The room is silent for the time being. Then after a agonizongly short five minuetes a tall
slender man in a black suite with slick backed hair and sunglasses enters.
"Numbers Four and Three, come with me to trainging hall alpha X." He states in a calm
and collected manner. Then briskly exits the conference hall ignoring the rampaging Asian man
sprinting down the hallway.
Ransom and Four walk straight past the sweaty teacher as if he doesn't even exist.
"RAAANSOM! I'll have you strictly punished do you hear me!!!" Echos scream down the
hallway as Ransom smirks and continues onward towards the testing hall.
Its odd that they be called to the testing hall. The last time he remembers going there
were the treacherous days in Lance. Daily fights against other peers created much distrust
between all. Only the winner of the daily fighting tournament gained the next day to recover his
wounds, all the others had to fight once again. This mean't that two people would rotate a day of
rest and not fight. Those two were always him and Leo, more commonly known as Number 4.
The two of them never fought were kept seperate and even to this day managed to avoid fighting.
Ransom had hoped that he would be able to keep it that way after entering the Vindicators. They
rarely schedule time to do sparring training for the Vindicators, actually since Ransom can
remember they haven't.
"Hey, Leo, you know what the deal with this is?"
"Yes, its actually quite simple"
"What?" Ransom replies
"I've decide your unworthy of the position of Number 3 and have decided to remove you
from it with my power. For to long a slacker like you has managed to stay ahead of me, but this is
all from the pure luck that you never had to fight me. I don't understand why they gave you the
position of Number 3 and I intend to find out myself."
"Oh." Ransom replied, "Seriously man you suck, today was supposed to be my day off.
You know how rare days off are with our schedules."
"Shut up and stop complaining for once in your life you slacker idiot." Leo replied then
gives a powerful glare into Ransom's eyes, " Don't take me lightly if you do I won't be afraid to kill
you."
"Seriously though! My only day off I mean are you just trying to be a Jerk, and here I
thought you might be cool."
"Slacker Idiot" Leo replies as he walks menacingly into the training room.
"Training hall Alpha X, a place the one place I hate most." Ransom mumbles to himself
as he enters behind Leo.
The hall is a Larger room created purely of coneticus. There is an observation window at
one end of the hall were many men in white lab coats view in with clipboards and scribble away at
the productivity of a fight. Training hall fights are actually quite simple, The first one to render the
opponent unable to fight back is the victor. With modern medics standing by, Losing a limb or two
is no big deal, and broken bones can heal within days. During the Lance training sessions if you
are not able to fight by the Training hall fight the next day you are disqualified and kicked out of
the program. Thats why a victory was so important to the students. There is a point system
worked out for the sparring fights, but points don't matter in real life when your being attacked by
god knows what on the outside. What matters is that you can render your opponent helpless. So
the only time those are used, is in a tie match, but there has never been a tie so the point system
goes back to a useless waste of time. The points are more of an excuse for the Lab coats to get a
front row seat to the best entertainment around. Call it UFC, to the next level.
Ransom walks into the room and heads to the far end. Turning around he cracks his neck
and says,
"Hey Leo I haven't gotten in a good fight for a long time. Those Damn Mindless are to
scared to come and play with me. This is getting my adrenaline pumping so if I mangle you to
beyond recognition will we still be cool?"
"Heh, that'll be hard to do that when I rip your arms off." Replied Leo
"Oh, Leo you always know just the right thing to say to make me happy, you must be
wonderful with the ladies." smirks back Ransom as he heads over to the armament locker.
Ransom pulls out a large custom made broadsword, he lifts it out of the locker, but has some
difficulty in moving it.
Leo starts laughing histerically
"Your going to fight me with a sword you can barely swing. Common man, I was joking
around before the fight but this is just plain funny".
Ransom smirks and heads to the designated area marked for him to stand. He drags the
broadsword behind him with it making a loud metal on metal clang. Finally resting in the box
drawn in yellow he pulls the broadsword around and rests it blade down on the ground. Holding
the handle he lays both hands on the Hilt. Balancing he lays his head down on his arms while still
looking out towards Leo.
"Hey, Leo you gonna get a weapon for me to break?"
The small talk of Ransoms cockyness finally agitates Leo. He quickly and powerfully
walks over to the locker and pulls out a long Iron bar. It is made of plain Iron with no blades or
special equipment.
Ransom chuckles, "What are you gonna do with that ram it up the back end? I wouldn't
be suprised if you went that way, but just leave me out of that ok buddy?" Ransom winks toward
Leo and laughs some more.
 This infuriates Leo who stares straight into the judges eyes in a fashion that just screams
"start this so I can kill him." The judge looks at both opponents sizing them up. The one named
Ransom has a cocky look on his face. His hair is long and Brown and is cut just below his eyes.
Through the parts in the hair you can see brilliant blue eyes that resemble a glacier, they freeze
your very being to stare into them. He is about 5'10 and has an average muscle build, nothing
bigger than the football jock taking the steroids and lifting all his life, but hes not fat, his muscles
have a nice tone to them. His skin is from a caucasion decent, but it has a slightly tanned look,
must be from the walking around in all the cities. Hes wearing nothing more than a plan white t-
shirt and some Windpants. In his entirity he is a handsome man probably in his Late teens. On
the otherhand the man known as Leo is quite opposite. He has a military stature to him, dressed
in the full vindicator apparel with nothing out of place. He has a caucasion skin and his eyes have
a red glow to them. He has about the same muscle build as Ransom although he appears a bit
more tone. His eyes show a fierce look of dedication and desire. Unlike Ransoms slacked over
posture, Leo has a very fine and perfected upright military stance.
Suddenly the Judge remembers his duty and hits a red button that elevates him on a
platform far above the ground about 25yd's or so keeping him relatively safe from danger. An
alarm sounds and a light flashes revealing that the battle has begun. He looks over to were Leo
was supposed to be standing. He's not there, His body is moving at a lighting fast past towards
Ransom. So fast that in fact his figure blurs from the momentum. Ransom replies to this
movement by standing up straight and holds the Hilt of the sword with his right arm. Leo charges
in blind rage and once in the right strinking range grips the pole with each strong arm on opposite
ends of the pole like a bench press. Forcing all the momentum of his strong arms and his speed
he aims to connect the pole with Ransoms blade.
"I'll break that Damn Sword in Half!" he screams and connects with the blow.
A thundering booming sound is let out as the metal pole connects with Ransoms blade.
The judge jerks his head to the left waiting for the momentum to shift to Ransom and for him to fly
back into the wall that is about 40yd's behind him. The judge quickly looks back towards Ransom
to see him standing in the exact same position he was before. Except some sort of black gauntlet
has formed around his right arm. It has a sort of black trim around it and has and eerie bluish
green glow around it. The glow swirls around the gauntlet then forms a spectral looking claw that
is is the same position as Ransoms gripping the Hilt. Ransom swings the sword to his side
effortlessly with the gauntlet arm, the ghostly green energy aura copies exactly what the gauntlet
does.
"You see Leo, this is my genetic gift." He glances down towards the gauntlet and says,
"you see the aura around it, my right arm can concentrate excited particles in the air and
transform them into the usable energy you see here. It allows me a godly strength. The glow you
see is simply just the illusion of the particles around the gauntlet. The devils arm, thats what you
will come to refer to it as." Ransom raises the massive broadswoard over his head and swings it
down instantanously on the stunned Leo. the blade drops right next to Leo Making a thundering
crash and Cracking the Coneticus. Leo dash steps back and puts some distance between him
and Ransom.
"Oh, sorry I missed. Then again this would be boring if i killed you so quickly" Ransom
says mockingly.
Leo raises the pole above his head and a red colored electricity shoots through it. The
pole then goes limp as all structrue is taken away from it. The metal pole melts like a liquid
around his arm and forms a blade.
"Seeings how you were such a good boy and let me know how your power works I might
as well fill you in on mine. I can deconstruct any metal and reform it using the strange energy
waves my body can produce. Reforming this metal pole to my specifications have made it 100x
stronger than the coneticus we now stand on. Combine that with the natural propultion my
energy can create and I can hit you and break the sound barrier all in one fluid motion. Although
that force tends to rip my arm apart, so i'll only use that if you really piss me off." Leo regains his
stance and stands with the newly formed metal arm blade at his side ready to fight.
Ransom smirks "Create all the energy you want, you see I'm a lazy guy and i was afraid I
was gonna have to generate the energy for the devils arm all on my lonesome, aren't you just the
nicest guy. Your so nice you must swing the other way." Ransom laughs hard amused with the
little joke he played and then stands straight up feet toghether with the large broadsword at his
side.
Without warning a copy of Ransom appears and charges at Leo, while the original
Ransom stands in his same pose. The copy bursts forward with amazing speed and aims to
impale Leo straight through the heart with his sword. Unimpressed Leo side steps letting the
blade graze by his ear. He then thrusts his metal arm forward and tries to impale the copy
through the heart, but before the blade can connect the energy that created the clone disperses
and shoots straight upward. The energy gathers around Ransom who in the air above leo is now
piledriving his sword and himself to the ground . The energy forms back around the gauntlet in its
claw shape, and Ransom connects his blow hitting Leo in the shoulder. A large clanking sound is
heard and Leo just shrugs letting the blade fall to the side. There is no cut were the blade
connected. Ransom leaps back to regain composure then lets the energy around his claw form
another copy. The energy leaps and dances until it is in the form of Ransom, Both Ransoms
disappear in opposite directions racing around in a arc to connect with Leo. Leo just stands there
with his arms folded. Both attackes connect with their mark, Leo's neck. Leo glances over, a faint
glow can still be seen around Ransom and his clones gauntlet. Ransoms pull their swords away
and dash back to the original starting position marked in yellow. Still no mark appears on Leo
after that little barrage. Leo lifts his arm into the air. Red sparks fly out and he changes the metal
on his arm into about 100 tiny bebes. The pellets all fall to the ground bounce and then start to fly
around Leo in a whirlwind. They begin spinning to the point were only a shadowed figure can be
seen through the spining death trap. The air in the room around Leo starts to be sucked in to the
spinning mass. A tornado like object forms over Leo and his spinning death trap. Ransoms feet
start to slide around the ground hypnotised by the wind. Ransom starts laughing and slams his
sword into the coneticus making an insicion in which the sword will rest. Ransom kicks off of the
side of the sword and leaving it behind flys at an incredible speed propelled by both the jump start
and the suction of the whirlwind. Ransom flys into the whirlwind and nothing can be seen.
Moments later the wind dies down and the many pellets fall onto the ground. Leo stands in the
middle of the pile of the pellets. His face trickles a small amount of blood from the scrape of a
claw mark just under his left eye. Ransom lay face down on the floor motionless.
"I should have known thats all the power you had" Leo says
Suddenly a Broadsword propells itself from across the room and impales Leo in the right
shoulder driving him back and pinning him against the coneticus wall. He gasps out a scream of
agony and looks over to see Ransom standing a ways across the room. The Ransom on the floor
turns into a dancing light that returns to the glowing gauntlet.
"Your Whirlwind decreases your visibility to almost zero, all i had to do was create a clone
and stay hidden behind my sword and your overconfidence did the rest for me"
Leo screaming in pain takes his right hand and pulls out the broadsword. No blood
comes out from the wound and a metal leaks into the gaping hole left right were Leo's Right
Chest muscle should lie.
"I figured as much" Ransoms says, "you control metal so its only obvious that my attack
wouldn't hurt you. You would melt the blade to look like it hit you, but it really just conformed
around you. Then in extreme measures you can use a metal around you or in your blood to seal
up your wounds and keep your body moving when it shouldn't."
Ransom charges up right next to Leo who is now standing holding the broadsword no
longer pinned to the wall.
Ransom whispers in his ear, "My blood is boiling from this fight and I don't think I can
hold back from using my true power any longer, and I don't want the board seeing what I'm truly
capable of so if you don't want to die I would suggest forfiting."
"Like hell I will you bastard" Leo replies
Whipping around Leo's body becomes completely metalisiced as he swings the
broadsword in a cleaving blow towards Ransom. Ransom is cut in half and disapates once again
to an energy cloud that just hangs in the air and then reforms next to Leo.
"I'll warn you once again if you attack me one more time your last breath will be drawn.
You see once my blood boils up like this its very hard to deny its hungering thirst. I do not wish to
harm you regardless of my speech earlier, and your level of strenght is much to weak to survive
my touch."
 Leo swings the broadsword once again this time cleaving Ransome across from shoulder
to groin. Ransom turns back into the cloud of energy which this time returns to its master. Over in
the other corner of the room the weapons closet opens and out steps the true Ransom.
"Sneaky bastard", Leo scoffs
Ransom raises his gauntlet and then forms it into a fist then pounds the ground releasing
excess energy he had collected from the fighting between him and his gauntlet clones. A giant
explosion of dust scatters all around the room. Ransom then Jumps up to were the judge is
standing and hits him in the neck. The judge falls unconcious. The panel outside the glass sees
none of this as the giant wave of coneticus dust is dispersed throught the room. A visibility of zero
remains throught the room.
Leo Crystalizes the metal in its body to the maximum extent feeling massive pangs of
fear coming from his body. Is this the aura being generated from that cocky kid? He questions
himself hardening his blood to its maximum extent. He has become the living fortress, a
technique that not even the megaton of force from an Aroulous bombardment could phase, but
the cold feeling of fear is released. He shoots of a piece of his shoulder in the direction he last
saw Ransom, it makes a small Visibility tunnel through the swirling cloud of dust. It stops just
before it would hit its target and disentigrates, a red glowing eye can be seen for a split second.
Just the sight of the eye makes Leo want to cease to exist. Just then he feels the sensation of a
small metal shard hitting his outer body. This metal is unlike any he has encountered before. The
feeling of coldness were the metal shard hit starts to spread through his entire body chilling him.
The cold spreads until it feels his entire body has been frozen in the coldest depths of space.
Then an agonizing pain rips through every molecule of his body. His nerves scream in agony as
they fell like their being ripped from there comfy home in Leo's body. He tries to let out a cry, but
all his frozen lips can do is stay silent. He noticed after the shard hit that air became impossible to
find and that he had been slowly suffocating all this time. The fear of dieing due to lack of air is
nothing compared to the ripping in his nerves. He hears a voice whisper in his ear
"I tried to hold back, but it wouldn't let me leave you alive. Nothing survives the touch,
and now thanks to you I can slowly feel my sanity fading."
After the wispering Leo prescieved the dreamlike image of a sythe flying through him. It
made created no wound and went straight through his torse, but the sythe found its target as Leo
no longer felt pain. He glance over to see his Metallic frame of a body standing there in the
stance it was before. One tear of blood roling down under his frozen eye. Leo looked next to him
to see death before him. Leo felt concousness fading as him mind left him.
An eye opened as Leo felt blood rushing back into his face. He glance around to see that
he was in the infirmary. His right shoulder bandaged he lay there feeling oddly alive. Hadn't his
life been taken? He opened his other eye as a nurse came over to greet him.
" Thank goodness your awake." She smiled a warm smile that made his entire body feel
oddly warm compared to the frozen abyss he had come from. "Do you remember anything that
happened?" she remarked
"Y..yes", Leo managed to spit out. "Deaths grasp clasped my arm and I went away with
him".
"Oh dear," she frowned, "You must have been hallucinating, after Ransom impailed you
throught the shoulder you started loosing blood. You just hung there and bled until the situation
became life threating. Ransom was declared the winner and you were taken here to were we
treated you with heavy Nero-Stimulation." She said
Leo's eyelids grew heavy and of there own power closed, he drifted off to sleep.
Ransom disposed of his white t-shirt and windpants and dug out his vindicator uniform,
he decided on the rest of his day off he would go through town and the sensation of looks you get
from the uniform is great. He wouldn't want to have to pay for anything now would he? After
sliding on the red uniform he shoved his hands into his pockets and proceeded to walk out of his
room. On entering the hallway he looked left and right deciding which way would be quicker. With
destination in mind Ransom starts his slow walk towards the elevator. Apon nearing the elevator
he is checked up and down and Id'd by a retinal scan twice. With conformation by both password,
scan and card, he is cleared to board the elevator that will bring the sweet rays of sun back on his
face. The underground facilities, although heated, never give him the natural warmth of the sweet
sun rays that he so much enjoys. A few dings later and the doors open that takes him into the
white abyss of a hallway that leads him to freedom. After a security checkpoint much like the last
one, he continues onward on his way to the main lobby. He continues walking until and repeating
the process of getting prodded by things that don't really respect his personal space, he is ok'd to
continue into the lobby area.
"Sometimes I think it'd be easier if i just blew my own way to the top", he mutters to
himself as he walks into the lobby.
Tapping a button on his uniform his clothes transform into a more civilian looking attire.
No need attracting the waves of masses until he gets to where he wants to be is there now?
Ransom walks out of the Goverment HQ building past the uniformed half-dead workers and
catches the first few rays of warmth from the sun. Walking out of the building he sits on a bench
next to the building with his head back and eyes closed just taking in what the sun has to offer.
Although Exodus may be a bit crazy on all work and no play, the block he is in known as the
"upper block" enjoys the luxeries of gardens and parks. Strolling along he heads toward the
center tramway that will take him to the main gate. Ransom walks camly and follows the flow of
the crowd until he finds a seat on the public tramways that serve as the main transportation
through Exodus. Tramways haven't changed much from the history lessons Hiro had blabbed on
about to him. Crammed with a aisle down the center and plastic seats along the edges. The seats
seem like their almost always full, but Ransom spots a rare find, an open one. He plops down
next to a young teenager about his age with long blonde hair. Another rare coincidence.
Ransoms pulls out a coin from his pocket flips it and then looks at his catch.
"Huh, Heads, really is my lucky day" he mutters
Ransom turns his head so he is looking at the young lady, he takes in a eyeful of her true
features. She has a pale golden color to her eyes that invite a certian warmth to them, but also
give a strange feeling of isolation to them. She has longer blonde hair that goes down to her
shoulders were it lazily draps along them. Her face has a gentle look to it, but still gives him the
odd feeling of isolation from her. Her face has a very gentle feel to it and is pretty much blemish
free besides a small mole located under her eyes along her cheekbone that add a nice accent.
Normally a girl like this would have a warm inviting glow about her, but this one feels different.
Ransom closes his eyes and puts his head back taking in this new sensation. Although this girl is
right next to him she somehow feels very distant, hes felt this before, but the memory of what its
from can't quite be recalled only the similar emotion is present in his heart and brain. He glances
at her again to take a look at the rest of her. She has a skinny teenage girls body with average
"womanly features" in Ransoms mind shes a real good find. Shes wearing a scholar uniform
which means with all the school and study she probably wouldn't have had the time to find a
boyfriend. Ransom digs back down into his pocket and pulls out the coin again.
The coin tumbles through the air after and elegant flip and lands on his hand heads up.
Once more Ransom mutters.
"lucky day indeed"
With an incredible overconfidence guideing him he cocks his head and looks at the young
lady straight on.
"Hello their miss, I just happened to notice you have yourself quite a pretty scholar
uniform. I was wondering what schooling house you attended."
Two shy eyes glance over at the curious boy and then become filled with embaressment.
With a flush of the checks and the movement of the legs, the girl darts out of the tram just as the
doors open at the next stop. Ransom sighs as he realizes what stop there at then lazily steps out
of the tram just as the doors close. The young women has already gotten a considerable distance
on him, but Ransoms eyes still have a good fix on her. She continues on without noticing her
grave mistake and heads down and out of the terminal.
Only a few other people got off with Ransom and his new friend, and this being with a
good reason. Most folks know not to get off at that station. Most folks realize if they do get off, it
may be a one way trip. "End Zone" as the locals call it, the ghetto of Exodus. Common, theres
lowlifes everywere, you have to logic out that there would be at least one slum in Exodus, well an
innocent cute young girl had just wandered into it. Ransom shrugged and continued onward
following the young girl with no imediate haste. The young girl has a clueless look on her face as
she continues onward making a turn right into the wrong alleyway. A group of about 5 steriod
enfused thugs close off the entrance to the alleyway trapping her inside. For a scholar student
she must not be too bright, Ransom thought to himself as he watched the events unfold on top of
the building that created one wall of the alley. The girl turned around a startled by the five men
with
matted down hair and devilish smirks on ther faces. They slowly approached her trying to get a
groap in when possible until they had her cornerd into the fence at the back of the alley. What
apperead to be the leader of the group stepped forward and put his hand on her cheek. She tried
made the motion to slap it away but a strong greasy hand grabbed hers first.
"Well, hey der lady, whats a preedy dame like yourself doin round these places" Ransom
almost had a hard time making out what he said. Don't get him wrong, with boosted hearing
Ransom could hear him clear as day, the problem came with his thick uneducated accent.
The Winced at the smell of the mans rancid breath as he grabbed both her arms and
continued to pin her back against the fence. She let out a whine and wince as he got even closer
to her face.
Well I guess somehow this is my fault, Ransom thought to himself I might as well play
hero. Ransom shifted his weight and prepared to jump from the building, but stopped just before
launching and blinked in awe. His jaw hung open as he saw all five of the thugs lying on the
ground. The appearance of a Man who looked to be about his age stood standing above the
thugs. He was wearing some sort of blue colored uniform, the uniform had the crest of a white
lions head over his heart. His hair was black and hung at eye level about like Ransoms. The kid
glanced up quick at Ransom with a confident look for just a second, then his body blurred and he
took off up and off deeper into the ghetto with an incredible speed. All of these events took place
in mere seconds leaving Ransom still dazed and confused. Ransom shifted his weight forward
and took off leaping tattered buildings as fast as he could. The image of the boy on the horizon
got smaller and smaller until it disappeared into smog and haze of the ghetto. Ransom stopped
on the top of a taller concrete building and regrouped himself in awe.
"In-credile," Ransom studdered to himself, "He took out all of those guys before I could
even blink. Who is that kid. I couldn't even keep up."
Ransom wheeled around and decided to return to the Girl that was still trembling in the
alleyway. he jumped down into the alley recovered and then looked up. He was standing right
next to her. Her eyes were still closed and she had her arms up guarding her face.f
"Yo, Yo," Ransom spoke confidentaly, "You look almost as confused as I am, Don't worry
though you have the worlds best escort with ya now."
Ransom held his hand out towards her.
"Common know you must be late for class or something lets get you back"
"Um... o- ok", a quiet voice studdered.
A worried hand took out and grabbed Ransom and he escorted her back to the terminal.
Just after exiting the alleyway Ransom tapped his clothes in the spot over his heart. The color
transformed and material composition changed into the gleaming Vindicator uniform. The girl
showed no emotion change as she saw this happen. Ransom gazed into her eyes looking for
some sort of reaction, but was confused by the blank stare.
"You must be new here right?" Ransom asked
"Ye-yeah you could say that" the quiet voice of the girl stumbled back
"Well if you ever get into any troubled just shout out my name and I'll have your back"
The over confident Ransom stopped and smiled asuringly
"O-ok thank you" She almost wispered back while looking down at the ground.
This confused Ransom even more, Hell anyone that even saw his Vindicator uniform
usually freaks out and runs up to him screaming praise. To have a Vindicator personally
announce that he'll offer his protection to a young lady was like having the pope combined with
the worlds most famous celebrity at the time coming up to you and hugging you. The image of the
boy with the blue uniform popped back into Ransoms mind.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to have known that boy who killed those thugs would you?
Well if you saw him that is." Ransom asked questionative.
The girl gasped quick then looked away.
"Um.. No, no I've never met him" The girl said in a sort of shy, shocked tone.
Ransom had his suspicions from her answer, but disregarded them as they approached
the train terminal.
 "Do you know how to get where your going from here or do i need to escort ya home?"
Ransom asked.
"Oh, I'll be fine" The girl muttered as she sprinted away, blood rushing into her cheeks.
She bolted into the next terminal that was that. Ransom turned around and looked at the ghetto.
"So much for my day off." He muttered and pulled a coin out from his pocket. He flipped it
gracefully into the air and caught it quickly. Then quickly he took off at full speed jumping from
buildings and cars through the ghetto.
"Heads it is."
Leo awoke once again in his hospital bed. The events of the fight and his ill fate all
rushed back into his head at once. He lifted his arm up and covered his left eye with his hand.
Brushing his hand back through his hair he felt a great pang of anger run through him.
"I will get stronger, I will defeat him" he whispered to himself.
The injury to his left shoulder was just a scar now he glanced over at it.
"Theres no way just that one attack would take me out, he's hiding something"
Leo struggled a bit and then got up from the hospital bed. A nurse came in through the
door just as he was getting up. She rushed over and put her hands on his shoulder and advised
him not to get up. He brushed her hands off and started walking room.
"I will get stronger, I will defeat him."
Feeling empowered by anger, fear, and curiosity Leo went to his quarters and started to
pack supplies. He suddenly felt as if the goverment and all those around him were his enemies.
Why else would they try to kill him and cover up for Ransom. He angerly shoved clothes into a
knapsack then slung it over his shoulder. One step after the other Leo started toward the elevator
to the surface. Getting to the door a guard advised him that he didn't have the proper permissions
to enter to the surface. Leo didn't care he just kept walking forward. A hand shot out to stop him
from walking into the elevator grabbing his shoulder. He turned sideways and tilted his head
glaring into the soldiers eyes. Taking a breath he let out his aura. A small wave of air shot out in a
circle from him like the drop of water into a pond. The soldiers eyes widened and he suddenly felt
weak with fear. Dropping his rifle the soldier fell to his knees. Leo turned around and continued to
walk into the elevator. The worst punishment he could get from going to the surface without
permission would be suspension and confinment for a week or so. After he leaves Exodus
without permission thats a month. Depending on how long hes gone he may go through
"reconditioning," but whatever they do to him doesn't matter, he felt a strong dedication to find out
the truth of all these events. He laughed to himself silently, going through all this trouble just on a
hunch, because of one lost battle. Leo looked at the interior of the elevator and made up his
mind, no turning back now. Without a doubt in his mind he entered onto the elevator. Only one
Vindicator had disobyed orders and that was for killing a high ranking goverment official. That
Vindicator was terminated by the rest shortly after.
"Hopefully I won't have to go that far" a silent whisper escaped his lips as the elevator
doors closed and he was heading toward the surface.
An alarm sounded and the elevator was shut down. Leo clicked a button on the elevator
and slid his card through the slot that now appeared. Power returned to the elevator and it
continued on its way. Leo assumed correctly when he figured the goverment would be trying to
stop him, but he didn't think that they would react this fast. The elevator reached the proper floor
just under the surface and its doors opened to reveal the hanger were the Vindicators
Customized vechicles were. Leo stopped at his locker and opened it taking out another card key.
He walked over to the vehicle labled "Purity" He slided the card through it and the door lifted up
inviting him in. Purity is prided on being the fastest of the Vindicators vehicles, designed
specifically for Leo who can handle high levels of g-force by hardening the iron flowing through is
body. Leo gazed at the vehicle for a bit. It had a sleek design, when driving it cuts through the air
like nothing. It can travel over rough terrain at high speeds thanks to the new designs in low hover
technology. Leo entered the beautiful machine. He closed the door and stared forward. Entering
clearance codes the machine lined up for exit out of the hanger doors that were slowly opening. A
voice cracked open on the channel sent to the goverment communications center.
"Leo Voltro, you are to return to HQ, immediatly or face severe punishment for disobye-"
Leo hit a few switches and the the crackled radio turned into golden silence. An overide
code was input by the goverment and the hangers doors began to creep down slowly. To late
though, Leo initiated the particle flow engines and shot out of the building just under the speed of
sound. He flew along and shot along the underground ramp that led outside of Exodus. Aroulous
cannons just on the surface surrounding the hanger door tried to get a bead, but couldn't track
fast enough to fire on the speeding object. Now in the clearing outside of Exodus Leo let Purity
loose and took it up to incredible speeds. He was dedicated to find out about Ransom and the
goverment and he knew just were to start. He pulled out the keyboard and programed the
keyboard for auto-pilot, the destination a town called Requiems hold. Located in the mountains of
washington, it is a town no one has been except one Vindicator by the name of Troy. The ex: #1
Vindicator, until he was terminated by his own teamates. A second generation Vindicator. He
must have gone to that town for some reason. It was labeled as "hazerdous" for having strong
nuclear emissions due to a reactor breakdown in the town, but Leo had the feeling that wasn't
true. He felt determined to find out the truth behind everything.
Ransom chased on tracking through the ghetto looking for the kid in blue. That uniform
couldn't have been what he thought it was. It must have been a trick of the eyes or something like
that. Ransom raced on going through alley to alley splitting off energy clones to aid him in his
search. The ghetto is only so big with so many places to hide he has to be around here
somewhere. Ransom pressed on, he had to find this kid. The reality of the situation started to kick
in as Ransom reached the other end of the ghetto. That guy could have easily slipped into a
building or even had friends to hide him. Even if the coin flilp said heads, Ransom knew that he
wouldn't even find him. Shifting his weight Ransom kicked off his back foot and started a dead
sprint heading back towards the terminal. Running off of dumpsters, cars, and roofs, he managed
to find his way back and avoid most of the croud phsyco enough to pick fight with him, he wasn't
in the mood for games. Ransom cleared the ghetto shoved his hands in his pockets and walked
lazily up to the tram. He pulled out his cellphone and to his suprise had a message from base. He
must have missed the call while he was racing through the ghetto, all the car alarms and gutter
noises can tend to get a bit loud. He flipped open the phone and watched the video message.
"Vindicator #3, your are as of now ended of your vacated leave. A new mission has been
assigned to you and details will follow now. Vindicator #4, Leo Voltro, has violated the conduct of
Vindicator law, including article-3 subscript a,b, and f. You are hereby assigned to retrieve
Vindicator #4, Leo Voltro and return him to Exodus, dead or alive. Upon return he will be dealt
with according to new Exodus law chapter 13, model 5. You have three weeks to complete your
assignment before you are to return to Exodus and retreive backup or be terminated from this
mission depending on situational factors. That is all, thank you, Overmaster Olric"
The message took a bit until it hit in, why the Hell would Leo of all people betray the
goverment and run. Out of all the Vindicators he had always been the one with the most discipline
and military-like conduct. Him just running off to the middle of nowhere Washington didn't make
sense. Ransom got on the tram and sat in his seat. He glanced over to the right, no cute girl there
this time he smirked to himself. The tram set off and after a few minuetes it was stopping at the
central station. Ransom got off and went to the main goverment twin spire building. After getting
though the checkpoints, he started down the elevator to the hanger. Sure enough the vehicle
Purity was gone without a trace. Ransom went over to his locker swiped his card and pulled out
the key card for his vehicle, "Velocity." Velocity was built so that when needed Ransom could
transfer the special particles from his arm to act as a boost mechanic for the particle flow hover
system. With this boost Velocity was even capable of short term flight like travel. No other
Vindicator vehicle or any vehicle he knew of was capable of long term flights around Exodus. All
they would do is bring risk of airborne suprise mindless invasions so they were deemed and
unessecary risk. Guess they trusted him not to get bit by the Mindless. Ransom got into Velocity
and opened up the hanger door, then set it up on the runway. There was no need for him to exert
himself so he turned off the boost system and let the machine run of its own accord. He set the
machine to track Purity, but the tracking chip in Purity had already been disabled, so he set his
computer to the last known location of Purity. The computer then made a predicted trajectory.
The path that the computer spat out said that Leo was heading somewhere to the northwest
continent. I guess thats a good as place as any to start out, Ransom thought to himself. A few
button clicks later and Velocity was crusing over the open plain at maximum speed. Ransom
kicked back in his seat and let it recline, there was no chance that he would be able to catch
Purity so he decided he would let the computer drive and catch a bit of shut eye. One eye after
another sleep caught up and Ransom was snoring away while Velocity drove him on Purity's trail.
A blue uniformed boy thought to himself, It seems that the Vindicator tailing him had
given up. Luckily Good eyes spotted him before he could capture me. Being captured could pose
to be a major problem. Why worry about that though, even after that Vindicator's eyes found him,
he had gotten away without any problem. Heh, Exodus's elite couldn't even keep up with him.
The only problem was he was now seperated from her. Finally the chance to see her again, to
take her back to were she would really have a home, but fate decided to play a cruel trick and
sick a Vindicator on him. Did they find out of the orginazation? Did they know he was planning to
rendevous in the ghetto. So many questions flowed through his mind it was annoying. The first
thing he knew he had to do was contact her once again. Although no 100% secure
communication lines had been placed in the underground ghetto bunker, it turned out to be a
great idea to have it put in. Its incredible how bad at monitoring the ghetto the goverment officials
are. As long as his orginazation would keep paying the local gang lord there is nothing to worry
about the goverment finding out. Foolish people still holding money as their reighning god. She
was different though, it must have been fate that brought them together. Recalling the distant
memory like it only happened yesterday is an easy accomplishment for his brain. Not only is it
advanced, her memory's stuck in his head like no other. A Vindicator had "rescued," him and
brought him back to "salvation." Hah, salvation what a joke that was, He was much more
comfortable facing hordes of mindless that even glancing at the corruption and blind following of
this city. Can't they all see the truth, is the human race so scared to die they will willingly do
whatever someone asks them? She was differen't though. A pure heart pumped the blood of her
veins and all she cared was that those in need were being helped. She worked the the ERTF
(Excavation Rehabilitation Task Force) the group of people who would show those new to
Exodus around, get them a job, a home, food and security. A woman of good heart and still so
young and beautiful. She took him into her own home just to save him from the corruption he
would have had to face. It was a situation much like the one today, its almost ironic the situation
they met again in. She was showing him the ghetto, just from the outskirst, giving him a warning
never to enter here. The braver of the thugs rushed out and grabbed her while his back was
turned. She screamed and he chased after her. Not at a normal speed though. Faster than any
human should go, he spun around and in an instant had cut every thug down to the ground. Thats
when she found out he was special. She took him into her own home regardless of regulation and
risk. She fed him and talked to him daily. She told him he would never have to fight if he didn't
want too, that he could live happily with her. She said that if the goverment knew of the power he
possesed that they would take him away and he would become their puppet on a string. She had
seen through the lies of the goverment, but she viewed it as a necessary evil because it provided
for those who still clung to hope. He told her what he was told never to tell a soul. He told her
about the orginazation in which he was following. He won't ever forget the spark in her eyes as a
new hope was restored within her. The hope that not only could the people be free from the
mindless, but the goverment. She caught him in a long warm embrace. No words were let to
escape his lips as she held him. A feeling of happiness overtook him as her warm body was next
to his. She was the first person he could truly say he loved and they lived in happiness. He told
he that he was leaving, but would return and when he did he would be able to take her back with
him. She trusted him with all her heart and waited for his return. Finally In an alleyway just like the
first one, they met again, but only for the beat of a heart before he had to leave. It was almost
worth risking the entire organization and his chance of taking her back just to talk one more time
with her. He had missed her so much and made as much haste as possible on his return. He had
to find a new way to contact her now, he knew she was as scholar now studying to become the
next level of ERTF, so she must be somewhere around the school district of Exodus. He needed
a new outfit though the one he was wearing now definitaly attracted the eyes of that Vindicator,
but it also let him into the ghetto hideout. He glanced over to the other room of the hideout and
looked towards his becan of freedom. Vehicles were a rare thing to have in this day and age, and
the ghetto bunker had the one that he was instructed to bring back. The timing was just to perfect
when he heard about it. The vehicle "Revolution", one of the most advanced vehicles, that might
even surpase the Vindicators custom models in technology. Created by the members of the
orginazation using the resources of Exodus, the vehicle was very beautiful and the sooner he
could pilot it back with her, the better. Taking the elevator upward he reached the surface of the
ghetto, he had more determination than ever now and set off toward the scholar district. Strolling
along in his blue uniform he though would have posed a problem, but i guess everyone just took
him as a glorified scholar and he was able to stroll his way right in with no problem. The scholar
campus was huge though with so many sections and research bulidings. How was he ever
supposed to find her in this huge maze. The determination fueling his very being felt discouraged.
Oh well he thought to himself gotta keep on treckin as master always said. He wandered around
aimlessly for about an hour before hunger kicked. He had forgotton to take some money that was
left for him at the ghetto base, and didn't wanna have to walk all that way, because taking the
tramway brought curious eyes to his clothes. He figured he would just have to find something to
eat in the area. He walked around in random buildings until he found a cafeteria. He walked into
the cafeteria and went in. There he spotted his savior, an all you can eat buffet. Grabbing the
plate her marched right into the line and started to stack up. He got a few weird looks due to his
uniform, but everything seemed to be going smoothly. Until he made one of the biggest mistakes
he could ever make. He took the last of the steak strips. At the time he thought nothing of it, but
after sitting down the entire cafeteria seemed to wanna keep as far away from him as possible. A
few moments later a tall hulking man studded over to the steak stips pot. Inside there was nothing
left. The large man infuriated looked around until he found his target. The man switched into kill
mode as he charged at full speed toward the unsuspecting boy in the blue uniform chowing away
on delicious buffet steak. Getting hit he was thrown onto the ground and tumbled with the big
biker man across the floor. Steak flew from his open mouth and hit the biker man right on the
cheek. This infuriated him to no end. The biker raised back his fists screaming
"No one take Deadend's steak. I'll teach you!"
the man began pounding away into the poor unsuspecting boys face, but he managed to
evade all the damage moving his face left to right with perfect reaction time in synch with the
mans punches. In one fluid motion the boy flung the man off of him and stood up with amazing
grace. The boy looked over at the biker, finished chewing and swallowed what was left of the
steak.
"Ahh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to." The boy said earnestly The biker got up and whistled,
suddenly the biker multiplied from one to 30, apparently in his wanderings the boy forgot to notice
that he had stepped once again out of the scholar distract, went back to the ghetto and walked in
on a gang hideouts all inclusive buffet of death. Now with 30 bikers chasing him the boy ran out
the door as fast as "Humanly" possible. He didn't want to arouse suspicions of himself so he
limited himself to near human capabillites. Now getting his bearings with a bit more food in his
stomach to fuel him, he realized he was in the ghetto distract once again. He jumped up now
feeling safe onto a rooftop and dashed full speed back to the ghetto district hideout. 30 bikers sat
mouths open. Saftely returning to the ghetto the boy went down the lift and returned to the safety
to the hideout. Feeling worn out and tired of the world the boy decided he could wait one more
night for her.
"Man, This place really is great. It makes me hate the goverment for ruining it all the
more."
The boy took off his military uniform and laid it next to the bed in the room prepared for
him. Stitched under the emblem was the name Ryker "Ryu" Stone. Ryker laid in his bed and
calmed his mind. He stared at the ceiling fan and fell into a lull with its rythem. Before drifting off
to sleep the words "Lilith." Rolled off his tongue as the memory of a girl came into is head before
he drifted off to sleep.
The GPS tracker on the Purity whirred Leo from his sleep. A quiet Night had taken the
place of the blazing sun. The full moon cast its light down onto the opening eyes. Leo glanced
down at the computer and began typing on the keyboard at incredible speeds. His eyes darting
left to right on the screen, going over the calculations he had made. Accourding to the data he
had been able to bring up from the Purity's computer system he was 6 miles out from the
pinpointed location of Requiems Hold. Leo slowed Purity down to a cautious speed and then
activated its radiation shudders and particle dispersion shield. The effects of radiation had never
been directly tested on a Vindicator. Leo guessed that his advanced Genes would be able to
withstand the decay caused by radiation, but didn't want to take the risk. The Electronic
Windshield video feed showed the area claimed to be requiem hold. Leo pulled pulled up images
of what the town used to look like. Cross referencing land features from the photograph and to
the visual now on the screen he determined 100% that he was in the right spot, but before him
there was nothing more than an empty plain. Leo brought up the computer readings on the local
radiaton levels. The computer revealed that nothing more than usual was in the area.
"Dammit!" Leo screamed as he pounded his fist onto the keyboard panel.
"What the hell is going on."
Leo pushed a button and the cockpit of Purity opened allowing him his exit. Leo climbed
out and then stood next to the vehichle. He put his hand palm down on the outside paneling of
Purity and a red electricity shot through it. The metal on the outsides coloring began to change
until it perfectly resembled the terrain around it making in very hard to spot especially in the dark.
The Iris in Leo's eyes shifted and quickly adjusted to the night. Although Vindicators have
exceptional night time vision, it was still fairly difficult to see far out distances. Leo walked along
the dirt and observed his surroundings. There was nothing. No animals, trees, or even mindless
in this area. All he had with im was the grass growing under his feet and the cool wind that blew
his though the locks of his hair. Leo screamed in anger and pounded his fist into the ground in
anger. Grass and dirt shot into the air and a metal clang could be heard.
"What!?" Leo gasped as his body attuned itself to the metal. The glint from Iron metal
could be seen under the glow of the moon. The metal began about 5ft or so from the surface of
the soil. Leo put his hand palm down on the metal and closed his eyes. A red electricity shot from
his hand into the metal and his eyes opened quickly shocked at its finding. The Iron continued for
miles around without end. He couldn't tell how far it went, but the Iron in thickness was 5ft again.
"I-impossible, what is this."
Leo sent the red electricity into the metal once again. From what he could tell the Iron
created a large box in a massive radius.
"No, could it be?" A shocked voice muttered to itself. Leo suddenly with a start shifted
into a battle position. The wind, It had been blowing from the southeast for the duration of the
night. The breeze that just went past him came from the north. Leo focused his eyes and sure
enough made out the figure of a man walking towards him. The figure came closer and closer
until he could almost make out the features of the man. He appeared to be older than Leo, maybe
in his mid-thirties to forties. Long blonde hair blew from the wind coming from the north. His face
had a gruff unshaved look to it and the man walked with a grace. He walked in such a way that it
looked as if he wasn't even fighting gravity or the air resistance. Leo's mind processed all this
data quickly and came to a conclusion.
"Hello there young man, I'm sorry to say that I can't allow you to return from which you
came." The man said camly
"Y-your,"
"Yes, Yes, your a smart one to have figured it out so quickly. I am Troy Angelace."
"Your" Leo stuttered
"Dead, yes I know I know, please don't remind me." Troy mumbled with a confidant smirk.
The image of Ransom came into Leo's head, this guy had the same cocky attitude.
"Well, I supose that Exodus was slyer than we imagined. I told them that the place were I
was killed was to Ironic a hiding spot for a base and making the city disappear altogether was a
stupid move also, but what can I say, I think it bought us enough time. They must have sent you
here to destory this place. It really is a pleasent suprise to meet a 3rd generation Vindicator, I
wanted to test your power out myself, but sadly I'll have to kill you while i'm at it" Troy shrugged
"I-I didn't come-" Leo mumbled still a bit shocked
"Sure you did, now shut up and fight me."
Suddenly images of Ransom flushed back into his mind. The day of the fight he was just
like that. So cocky and conceited. Leo felt anger rush through his blood and was powered by it. A
red electricity shot into the ground. Metal spikes jumped from the ground and made an attempt to
impale the man. A strong gust of wind blew. Leo lifted his arm and shielded his face from the
wind. When the gust died down, Troy was no longer standing where he was supposed to be in
the field of metallic spikes. Leo's eyes desparetly danced around the plain looking for him, but no
figure could be made out. "Look up." he heard a voice say carried along by a wind that was
projected straight downward. Reacting quickly Leo Shot a metal box around him. A moment
passed and nothing happened. No shock to the metal Leo had layed as defense around him. Leo
dashed out as fast as he could from the metal and shot the rest of it in small shrapnel shards into
the sky. He glanced back, and made out the shadow of a man standing arms crossed in the air.
The shards of metal empowered by the red lighting shot towards the man, but none hit their mark.
The ones en route to Troys face all curved around his body narrowly missing him.
"Aw, common you didn't get accepted into the Vindicators just on that did you?" Troy
laughed, "I bet you can't even summon the blueprints for your genome weapon yet, what a joke."
The man slowly hovered down to the ground and let his guard down. "Its obvious Exodus didn't
send you to kill me or to destory this place, they would have sent someone qualified to do it."
Empowered by anger Leo summoned up hundreds of tiny metal pellets from the ground
below and began swiriling them around them in a circle. Leo didn't care if this was Troy, the man
he was seeking or not, he was pissed. The pellets swirled around him and the loud bang of the
sound barrier breaking could be heared. Leo raised one hand into the air palm up and the pellats
began to concentrate into a ball over his face up palm. Red electrcity from Leo's palm danced
through his palm as the pellets began to spin even faster.
"I'll kill you!" Leo screamed as he lowered his arm aiming the death ball right at Troy
whos arms were still crossed. Leo grasped his right arm at the elbow joint for stabillity and then
shot the whirling ball of pellets at the man. The man uncrossed his arms casually just before Leo
fired and then held them out. A whirlwind formed around his outstretched arms and he clenched
his fists as if grabbing something. He whispered to himself
"Gale Blade, Aries."
An explosion of smoke and dirt flew through the air. Hundreds of tiny pellets of metal lay
on the ground motionless. Leo looked over in shock to see Troy standing right next to him with
the same cocky look on his face.
"Impressive attack, Exploding the Beebes at the last second to throw me off, would have
worked on a normal human. Your fighting a Vindicator, get real, that attack wouldn't have even
scratched me. Leo glanced over at the pellets and saw that every single one of them had been
cut in half. He looked back and Troy and saw him holding the hilt of a blade. The handle was
made of a beautiful silver, but it was wrapped tightly with a black binding. It looked like a samuri
style sword he had seen in the movies when he was in Lance. At the end of the hilt no blade
appeared.
"Gale Blade, Aries. At least thats what they called it back home boy. This is my Genome
weapon, the weapon given to me at birth programmed into my very being at birth."
"That was- Your genetic gift from god?" Leo asked stunned.
"Hahah, Gift? You still believe what they tell you. That you evolved on your own. That
your a "chosen one" destined by god to destroy the evil of this world. Get real kid, miracles don't
happen unless you make them and thats exactly what they did. Children taken from birth,
Nanotechnology implemented into their cells. During fetus development they are altered through
genetics in many ways. Stronger, faster, smarter, they make you far superior to the average
human in every way. They impliment bio-technology into you, make you their living weapon and
then pump the lies they've created into your head."
"I have, a mother and a- a father though, how dare you say they weren't real, this is my
gift from god, this is my Destiny."
"Yes, carefully selected goverment officials. To get away from the lies and the political
stress they are granted a child and a realitivaly peacful home. I'm sure that the love they gave you
must have been genuine, but a dark truth lies behind it all. The Mindless, your beginings, and all
the other lies are just fabricated to make you think how they want to. You won't have any problem
killing a mindless for the cause, If anyone gets in the way you can justify the blood on your hands.
You are engineered in every way to kill. You are a Vindicator, the tool of the goverment."
Leo dropped to his knees taking everything in. Somehow he knew all of this was true,
even trusting the word of a stranger. The wind blew camly and the night moon hung over the plain
shimmering. A Glint could be seen falling from Leo's eyes.
"Dammit!," He screamed, "What is wrong with the goverment. Who cares if our lives were
just designed for their purpose, isn't what they are doing right. They are cleansing this world of its
plague." Leo screamed
"Kid, if they can create bio-genetic weapons like us, how hard do you think it would be ...
to create a mindless."
Leo's eyes widened as the entirity of the situation dawned on him.
 "No, No, thats I-impossible. What you said about the Vindicators made sense, but why
would anyone in their right mind create such a monster, a plauge that spreads and destroys
mankind. Thats just."
Leo's eyes began to fill to the brim and he collapsed even further toward the ground all
the strenght in him began to fade. Images of labs started to fill his mind. A mental block placed on
his mind shattered, unlocked by the key of information he had just recieved. Many children were
lined up in tanks and men in white coats stared at him as they scribbled on clipboards.
"This one might be a survivor." on man muttered.
"Hahaha, don't be silly I placed my bet on subject X-01, you know he looks like a fighter.
Although can't say I have that great of chances seeings how only about 1 in 50 of these monsters
lives."
"Yea, yeah I guess, but we should get back to work no use talking about the
unpredictable."
Leo Felt darkness closing in front of his eyes and his conciousness fading away. He
could still hear the voices talking.
Weapon, Subject Yn-3, The next phase. The voices began to fade and Leo drifted further
into his blackness. The image of a girl appeared. He knew her name, he knew everything about
her. She had beautiful long red hair and a kind smile. He felt deep feelings of love for her. She
looked at him and smiled warmily. When had he met her? She opened her mouth and began to
sing a beautiful song. A lullaby that he remembered so well. Her mother had taught her that song.
She told him the only memory she had of her mother was the beautiful song that escaped her
lips. She had no family, no one to take care of her and she lived alone in Exodus. He
remembered during his childhood escaping off into the woods near his home to play with her. She
didn't have a name so he gave her one, "Alester." They used to play together for hours and then
lay in the grass and stare at the stars of the night. He never told his parents about the girl,
because he was afraid that they would report her and she would be taken away. He remembered
only eating parts of his meal at night and sneaking the rest out to her. His parents always
wondered why his blankets and clothes would go missing, but its because he would always give
them to her. They would talk and play everyday and she would tell him stories about fantastic
adventures and they would play pretend running about. When Leo turned 14 he rememberd
finding out that the fantasy's they had played in came true and he had the power to change the
metal things that he touched. Quite a frightening experience at first, his fork melted into a pile of
ooze right onto the dinner table. He rememberd his mother cried all that night and daddy too even
shed a tear. He was scared so he ran outside to look for the girl. He found Alester sleeping in a
bundle of blankets he had given her next to a tree. He ran up to her and woke her up explaing
everything that had just happened. She smiled wamly and gave him a warm hug, then bent down
towards the ground and held her hand on it. A small flower sprouted up from the ground and she
handed it to him.
"See, I'm special too, Its ok we can live in this forest together."
He remembered The men in the black uniforms come bursting into the forest. He was
Screaming when they grabbed him chattering into their radios,
"Subject Yn-3 has shown signs of emergance. Target has been aquired and will be taken
back to lab 304 for conditioning. Subject Lo-2, also found."
"Lo-2?, the one that ran away after the accident in the ghetto." the radio whirred back
"Yes, Facial recognition software determined a 89.6% match figuring in age."
"Ok, bring her back to Lab 4 for conditioning and testing of emergance growth."
Both leo and Alester screamed and kicked in fear of speration. They were both loaded
into heavey military trucks. Leo remembered being hit handcuffed and thrown into the truck
struggling to get to Ally. She looked over smiled and mouthed the words, "Everything will be fine,
I'll see you again someday I promise." She camly entered the truck and sat. That was the last
time he had ever seen her. Leo remembered being driven to a lab were they stripped off is
clothes. They beat him and pushed him to his very limit shaping and changing the metals. He
remembered even after he was very tired from shooting the electricity from his hand they made
him continue until would collapse from the pain. Finally after he had been broken he became very
dispondant and just did as they told him without question. He remembered them saying,
"No good, this ones cells are begining to deteriorate too. We may have broken him, but
its impossible he lost the will to live and his body is trying to destroy itself."
He remebered them taking him to a table and injecting him with a fluid. His eyes got
heavy and closed and he slept a deep sleep. When he awakened he was in the bed at his home
and he woke up. His mother was staring at him with red eyes like she had been crying.
"Its okay hunny, you were just having a bad dream."
That dream slowly started to fade from memory and eventually everything about his past
was forgotton. All he could remember was entering the Lance academy and how proud his
parents said they were. Those painful memories stayed alone in his brain sleeping, until now.
An alarm sounded on Ransoms computer and awoke him. The radar on the righthand
panel indicated that two heatsources had been detected in the plains area. Exactly where
Ransom thought he'd be. Ransom shifted Velocity into manual pilot and Accelerated. The last
Few miles he bolted and then slowed down as he punched a few buttons. One heat source
identity matching that of Leo Voltros, 97.6% match with interferance. The other heat source was
tested on all saved body heat regulators in the library. An affermative match came up as Troy
Angelace.
"Damn." Ransom said under his breath, "Didn't expect that one."
Ransom started typing at incredible speed with his eyes darting from left to right, It was
time to get serious if he wanted to get Leo and himself back alive.
Troy's Wind stasis barrier was shattered alerting him that an object was approaching at
high speeds. In the distance a Vehicle traveling and fast speeds bolted towards him, He jumped
upward holding Leo's Unconcious body as the Vehicle tried to impale him on its areodinamic
front. Just before the attack hit the cockpit opened and a Teen jumped out with a devilish look in
his eye. Before Troy could react a palm struck his face and clenched onto it piledriving his head
into the ground. The vehicle speed onward out of sight.
Troy got up from the impact sight his body had left. He never expected that, not only did
they boy suprisingly get a hit on him, he also managed to steal that other Vindicator from his
grasp. This was the true assassin that Exodus sent to kill him. It was time for him to get serious.
"Leo, Leo, Wake up. I'm here to take you back, don't worry I won't let this guy kill you trust
me." Ransom said to the unconcious Leo on the ground. A vehicle swung back around and
Ransom leaped up with the unconcious Leo and landed into the cockpit. Ransom mashed a
button to close the cockpit back up, but just before it closed a large gust of wind blew the vehicle
sideways, The left wing dug into the ground and movement ceased. Ransom held Leo as he was
flung from the cockpit, He caught his footing and slid on the ground until he had stopped. The
glow of devilish eyes brightined as an erie red color came from them. Ransom smirked and then
jumped up into the air once again. The vehicle That had crashed into the ground disolved back
into particles and they returned to the gauntlet that Ransom was wearing. Velocity dashed across
the plain and Ransom once again jumped alongside the moving vehicle except this time he only
set Leo into the cockpit and hit the button for it to close then escaped out. A strong gust of wind
came to knock the vechicle over, but a large broadsword shot up from Velocity, Ransom caught it
in mid air and came down on the ground creating an explosion of earth. The explosion
counteracted the incoming air wave enough that Velocity could adjust and continue on its
predestined path. Velocity shot away and Troy watched as he could do nothing, the kid had won
this round.
"Well, kid what can I say, your a bit tougher than your friend. Not only did you manage to
counter act my wind gust. You also managed to plan five moves ahead and put me in
checkmate." Troy spoke in a calm and collected manner, "I'm afraid that if I let you live much
longer I myself would be in danger of loosing. You must be their new number #1 Vindicator
congratulations."
The boy smirked and spoke back with the same attitude of cockiness that Troy himself
seemed to give, "Your talking to the #3 Vindicator right here, It'd be a real shame if I was #1 ya
know. That guy has so much more work I here. No wonder you quit the job, you must have just
gotten lazy I hope."
"I wish it was the case that I was just being lazy. God wouldn't that make life so much
simpler." Troy held his arms out and closed his yes whispering the words "Gale Blade, Aries." A
whirlwind formed around his arms and his fists clenched as if they were grasping something,
suddenly a katana hilt formed in his hands. There was no blade at the end of the hilt, but Troy
stood in a ready fighting stance, much like one of the ancient samuri. His eyes glowed a brilliant
blue illuminating the night. The wind around him was calm, It was almost as if the air around him
itself had been frozen. "I don't want to have to fight you. Your a smart kid, We could use someone
like you."
"I know you could, but I can't see myself siding with you guys. Your quite the smart man
yourself. Guessing that I already knew about my past and the Resistance, Yes, I know
everything, but I will still choose to fight for Exodus."
"If you know the past then why do you still fight for their future!?"
"Your a smart man Troy can't you figure it out yourself. I am nothing, but a Vindicator, I
am a puppet of the goverment, I will destory what they tell me too. I have trust in him. He
promised mankind a better future. If you can't see past the first few steps that is the exact reason
I must destroy you."
"No one, but yourself can give you the better future you seek."
"Its a good thing I'm not fighting for myself now isn't it?" The smirk returned to Ransoms
face. He took in a large breath and held his arms out straight in front of his face. Ransom opened
his eyes revealing a glowing red light. Ransom let out his breath once again, and then focused at
the end of his outsretched arms. A red light began gathering in his hands in the shape of a pole.
At the end the pole curved around to a blade point. Ransom whispered the words "Demon Sythe,
Death." A black sythe formed in his arms and the devils arm gauntlet began to glow with excited
red particles.
"You still choose to fight?" Ransom warned, "Your at the disadvantage, I know everything
that your capable of, you know nothing of me."
For an answer leo shifted the blade into the air and struck down hitting nothing but the
air. Nothing happened for a moment then the ground next to Ransom split in two cleanly cut in
half.
"So thats how it is." Ransom said sadly, "May your soul be saved."
Ransom Punched his hand into the air palm up and the red particles from his gauntled
exploded into the sky. "Bloody Reighn." Ransom whispered as as the particles expanded into the
sky. The moon glowed red in the night sky and created an eerie red glow upon the battleground.
A barrier of blue light and wind swhirled around Troy creating a barrier. They both stared into
eachothers eyes fully feeling the aura released by the other. Their brilliant eyes glowed brightly
into the night sky. The battle had begun.
Ryker awoke in the bed a bit later. The time had come. He got dressed and cleaned up
the room a bit and then walked to the elevator that led to the command center of the base. The
elevator whirred upward and he met a man sitting at a central computer in the room.
"Is it ready yet?" Ryker asked
"Almost, Were at 98%, That sound good enough?" the man at the computer spoke
"No, we need 100% including goverment facilities."
"Alright it'll be about 10-20min. then"
"Sounds good I have something to take care of before we start."
"Be back within 20min. or It'll start without you."
"I'll be back and I won't be alone." Ryker walked out of the room and rode the elevator to
the surface floor. He walked outside the rag tag building acting as camoflauge and walked
straight for the goverment HQ block. A beep came from his pocket and he opened his phone. The
voice of the man that was in the computer room spoke,
"I know were your going and your never gonna get back in time without this."
Data flowed into the phone and the picture of a woman came up on the screen.
"Your a crazy love sick fool and I won't stop you, but its not a smart idea to bring her."
"She may get hurt otherwise I'm sorry I can't risk that."
"Well, if anyone asks I wasn't involved in any of this ok." The voice on the other end
laughed.
"Yeah, Thank you, I owe you lunch sometime." Ryker followed the GPS blip on his phone
until she was in sight. He camly walked up to her until he was close, then whispered into her ear.
"Hey, there pretty lady."
The Girl spun around and sprayed a heavy dosage of pepper spray into the boys eyes.
Ryker screamed in pain as the chilli peper spray did its job and made him run around is circles,
sobbing he screamed.
"I finally find you again after all this time and this is how you treat me!"
"Your the one that ditched me that night in the ghetto, and next to a vindicator agent of all
things. Shows how much you care!" She screamed back.
Then both stood silent for a second stared into eachothers eyes and then instantly held
the other in a passonate embrace. They both cried into the others shoulder speaking softly the
same words.
"I missed you more than you know."
They backed out of the embrace still holding eachother by the hands staring into the
others eyes, then laughed.
"Common, we can't be seen here like this, I'll take you to a cafe I know in the area." The
girl smiled.
"Theres, no time fore that Lil. Its going to start soon."
The girl looked down and frowned,
"Is it really necessary, is this really the best action? People will be hurt."
"We need to Lil, You know the truth about the goverment, Troy gave the final order. Its
time."
"Come with me, I'll need your help to keep the peace, people know you now, more than
half of Exodus trusts you, your what we need."
"Ok, If you think its best then I'll stand by your side." She smiled and they both held
hands as they calmly walked to the tramway. The tram whirred and they arrived at their
destination in the ghetto. They both held hands and walked with smiles.
"Hey, Ryker, Do you think peace will ever come to this world?"
"I believe that we can bring peace, were going to have to fight for it. If no one challenges
the corruption in the world it would just swallow us too in the end. I hope what were doing is the
right course. It's to late for me to turn back. If you want though, you can stay out of everything."
"I'll stay right here with you."
The two casually walked through the ghetto. It was oddly quiet in the ghetto, maybe the
news had leaked and the information had left them alone to think about what was going to
happen next. Many of them planned to join the organization and fight with them. The reason the
ghetto exists in the first place was for people that didn't want to aid Exodus, but wanted to live.
Eventually It attracted the lowlife of the world and became corrupt. Those that still fight against
though live. They essentially control the ghetto from the shadows. So a peace never before seen
in the area was created. A peace that would be thrown into chaos soon.
Ryker and Lilith held hands as they walked into the ghetto base. Entering the command
room the man that was typing away before turned around in his swivel chair. He whistled than
said
"Wow, Ryker no wonder you wanted to find her. Shes a real babe." He laughed and
turned his chair back around, "Well, you made it back right in time. Head to Entity. Be ready to
take off and offer support to the ground troops. Ready transport hangers 1, 2, 3, and 4. We don't
know how many converts we'll get, but hopefully we have enough room. Prepare everyone for
surface emergance and ready the broadcast. Oh, Mrs. Lilith, If you would please take a seat over
there. Re-emergence in theory should go smoothly, but simulations aren't always accurate." The
man punched a few buttons and began to speak through the bases speaker system. "Attention all
hands this is commander Wenstfelt prepare for re-emergance. Ground surge stand by for launch.
Medical teams on standby at hangers 4 and 6. All crew be advised Operation: Savior is begining.
Alright, Lets show Exodus what were made of. Flagship: Titan, Launch!"
Troops rushed into the command cockpit were the commander, Ryker, and Lilith were.
They took perspective seats around the area and many colorful displays apperead. Everyone
typed away as fast as they could. The chanting of status updates was heard by all.
"Particle lift stabalization green."
"Thrust output Optimal."
"Weight to lift porportions within theoretical parameteres."
"All, right boys take this bird into the air!" The man smiled.
The ground in and around the ghetto began to shake and buildings crumbled. Goverment
Seizmographs began to pick up large tremors from under the surface of the ghetto.
 "Overmaster Orin sir!, large tremors detected underneath the ghetto. Heat sources and
particle distribution devices detected from under them. Sir its them, the organization, White Lion.
"What!? You fools how could you not have detected this before. Launch all military forces
inside of Exodus to points Indigo-3 and Green-7. Don't let whatever is coming from there spread.
Damn them do they realize what their doing. Send out all Lance squadrens to points yellow-6.
Give all available Vindicators to act freely under judgemnet to destory heat source labled bogey-
1. Activate censorship of citizens and seal off all coneticus barrirors in the area. We want to keep
public panic to minimum."
Alarms whirred and every military structure in Exodus released troops into transports
pooring towards the ghetto.
"Tell the public that this a cleansing operation to destory the ghetto and make Exodus
safe again."
Lance members suited up and sortied in their perspective transports. Vindicators number
2 and 5 were informed the cituation and sprinted towards there Vehicles. The ground around the
ghetto began to crumble as a large ship began to rise into the sky. It released a trail of bluish
green particles behind it and some cracked around it like lighting. It had an amazingly sleek
design, but was the size of two football fields but toghether. It was all black and had an array of
cannons on the upper deck. On the side of the ship the words "Titan" were painted. Inside of the
ships command center more voices shouted out.
"Sir, all systems green re-emergance and airborne lift sucessful."
"Alright boys hows the broadcast coming along. Sir it is playing right now to all available
electronic devices including govermental buidlings."
"Good, Take us to point neon-3 and secure the area for evacuation of all those that see
the truth."
Overmaster Orin watched on the screen in front of him in pure outrage. The television
was playing video footage showing the cruelties of the govermant. Citizens being killed for no
reason. Cruilty of the military and explained of the goverments corruption. Not a word was
mentioned on the creation of the Vindicators or the engineering of the mindless, but the footage
was effective enough. A voice spoke along with its playing.
"Attention Citizens of Exodus. Are you really safe? Do you finally believe true peace has
been created. I'm sure you've seen it but chose to turn a blind eye. These acts are the corruption
of your perfect goverment. It may be hard to believe, but all you are here is a work force. They
force you to create new weapons and create more ways of restraining you. Why has there been
no furher attempt to contact other parts of the world? Why are no aircraft vehicles allowed? They
give you only excuses. The truth is the rest of the world is surviving. Do you only belive your the
ones left? Do not fear, for you are no longer alone and do not have to be held back by fear itself.
We are the organization White Lion. Our goal is to bring peace to this world and destroy its
corruption."
"Fools! screamed Overmaster Orin. Shut this broadcast down!"
"Sir, White Lion has hacked all of our networks, we have no control."
Military doors began to close and all barriers inside of Exodus between colonies began to
re-open. Arolous cannons were powered down and all military hangers were shut down.
The voice on the broadcast continued, "People of Exodus, we are not your enemy only a
friend. Look even now in the sky our flagship: Titan, has come to save all those who want to be
saved. On the screen no I am relaying a points in Exodus now were you can come to be safely
evacuated. We have secured these area's and garentee that no military intervention will put you
in danger. Come now and let us finally build a world of peace together. Let us end this corruption
in which you live deprived of your rights, deprived of your very humanity. We humans were not
born to live as slaves, but to prosper and obtain maximum peace. Now I beg of you to come I will
provide you a sanctuary. I will give you hope in this desolate land. I will give you freedom. White
Lion summons all who wish for the new world."
A voice whirred into the intercom of Entity. "Ryker its time take off and head for the
goverment facility marked on your map. This is the location of their only available troops. The
Vindicators and ground troops won't be a problem thanks to our network bug, but that facility is
above ground. Be careful, its the location of their Lance program."
"Roger I'll be just fine don't worry about me. This is Ryker Stone in Entity. I'm taking off
open the hanger doors."
A large shuttle door opened on the bottem end of Titan and the personal fighter ship
Entity took off.
"Attention All evacuation transports, Launch now!."
Out of the same hanger doors 7 large transport shuttles flew out of Titan preparing to pick
up all converted citizens at extraction points.
"All ground and air support vehicles, Launch!"
About a dozen or so fighters launched from the bottom of Titan, and flew up preparing to
protect the transports. About 4 more transports launched from Titan, These transports were
carrying grounds support vehicles and were stuffed full of soilders to help with the evacuation and
to provide support for any suprise military interventions.
"Operation: Savior, has begun." Commander Wenstfelt spoke camly.
Ransom and Troy stared at eachother with their beautiful eyes. The moon Glowed a
Blood red created from the particles which began to multiply into clouds overhead. The Clouds
rumbled and red particle rain droppedd to the earth below. All the plants in the area that touched
the particle rain withered and died instantly and the cold night wind blew the remains away,
revealing the hard steel below.
"Interesting you shot off nano-macines from your blood that are multiplying in the air.
From the looks of it, the nanoids release a deadly nerotoxin once they come in contact with living
cells. Your body must be immune to the toxin. This explains the sycthe and your
codename:Death. You are indeed a powerful vindicator well worthy of being number one" Troy
Smirked as he the look on Ransoms face showed a second of worry.
He was able to figure out my technique in seconds after only that!? Ransom thought to
himself, Heh I'm in for a real fight.
"And you my friend are keeping a thin layer of wind around your body creating a stasis
that my nanoids can't touch. I wonder what will happen when I distract you from focusing that
barrier eh? All it takes is one of my nanoids to chill your body." Ransom returned to his usual
smirk. Both of the combatants smiled, the bloodlust in there vains gave them chills as a fight
between them was about to begin.
Titan hovered above Exodus untouched. Its hulking metal body reflected the brilliant
blue-green particles it dispelled and created a peaceful ambiance. Bellow many gathered to the
appointed spots for evacuation. Some young, some old they all gathered together and stared at
their ticket out of Exodus. Those who walked to these places showed now fear, whether
possesed by the will to escape from the hardships of Exodus or possesed by a sense of
adventure and hope in the world, they all gathered none the less and stared.
A faint radio crackle jumped through the air into the radio aboard Entity, "This is Wenstfelt
Remember the boost system of Entity isn't exactly compelete yet. Your only rated to sustain flight
for about 30min and thats pushing the limit. Try to keep your flying easy like we practiced in the
simulator. I want you back in Hanger 6 in 15min you hear me?" The radio crackled a bit.
"Copy this is Ryker, I just programmed a visual for the sustained flight calculations. It
should alert me when I'm out of particle charge so its ok. You worry to much"
Ryker hit a few switches and scanned the virtual projection of the ground below. Citizens
were continually flowing to the spots marked by the evacuation video. An incredible number were
heading there and he was worried that they all wouldn't fit on Titan, but knew that Wenstfelt would
give up his own seat to make sure every last person that wanted to go would. So far enemy
activity was compeletly quiet on the radar due to the bug that had completely shut down the
underside of Exodus. Ryker continued his flight towards the Lance training building. He pushed a
few more buttons on the keyboard of Entity and programmed it to automatically swoop down low
and then fly high back up around a sky orbit of the Lance building. The fighter shot down to the
road next to the Lance building just a few feet off of the ground. Ryker opened the cockpit and did
a dazzling backflip out of the cockpit. Entity swooped up and he landed with a small crater on the
ground next to the Lance HQ building. He put his arm straight up in the air and caught a black
steel Katana that dropped out of Entity's storage. He dashed forward at a startling speed and
jumped up on top of the HQ. Continuing faster than many of the Vindicators can run he jumped
and landed with a skid next to the front doors of the Lance HQ. There about 30 or 40 Lance
trainee's greeted him with an assortment of weapons and hatred in their eyes.
 "May salvation find your souls." Ryker whispered and turned the katana around so he
used the blunt end.
a Lance trainee with the name Vex stitched on his uniform charged forward and swung a
large battle mace down upon the ground Ryker was standing on. The mace slammed into the
ground and flung many rocks into the air. A debre cloud scattered and visibility went to zero. The
flash of a body appeared before Vex's eyes for an instant and he felt the cracking sound of his
ribs shattering. Each trainee witnessed a similar event as the flash of a body would appear before
their eyes and before they could react the cracking of bones could be heard.
Ryker jumped back to asses the damage he had inflicted with his supersonic assult. He
managed to get about fifteen of the recruits, but a good portion still remained. He looked at his
armwatch interface and saw that he only had about ten minuets left and still alot to do.
"I didn't wanna have to use this, this early but..." Ryker started to glow a pitch black aura
of condesed particles around his body and katana. The particles started to concentrate on the
blade of his katana and he swung it at a mach speed breaking the sound barrier. The wave from
the sound barrier break was followed by a wave of black energy. In the same instant Ryker used
High speed movment to launch two more smiliar swings making a triangle cage of energy. He
then jumped back and sheathed his katana. All the Lance trainee's saw was Ryker sheathing his
katana about five yards away. Suddenly an explosion of sonic boom and black energy erupted in
the epicenter of the trainee group. Cries of pain were heard and every window and a large part of
the Lance headquarters were swept away by heavy wind and energy particles. The buildling
touched by the black particles instantly decayed to decrepit rock.
"May salvation find your soulds." Ryker whispered once more and jumped up into the air.
He hit a switch on his arm PDA and Entity swooped down. It picked him up and with 9min
57seconds left on the timer he decided Wentsfelt would be mad at him if he didn't return. He
Activated the Fighters boost and rocketed towards Titan's hanger. All of the transport ships were
sucessfully docking and refugees were being given food and instructed to head towards the
common area in the belly of Titan. Back in the command center many eyes of experts in the white
lion uniform darted back and forth waiting in suspense for a reading. The bug designed was
supposed to buy them a full half hour of time, but predictions never go the way you want them.
Suddenly one of the eyes of an expert widened,
"Commander, Large energy readings being picked up from the core of Exodus, their
black hole generator is back online."
From the underground, dim emergency lights turned off and suddenly full power was
restored. The emergency elevator carrying the two vindicators to the hanger shot upward with its
full speed, and on the surface Aroulous cannon's slowly came back to life.
"I'm estimating we have about 30 more seconds until were unter Aroulous cannon fire."
The expert spoke in a distressed voice, "Commander!"
"I understand the situation, what is the status of the evacuation?" Wentsfelt spoke.
"All civilians have been loaded but are yet to been moved outside of the transport
helicopters." Another uniformed man spoke.
"Any chance of injury if we begin sustained flight?" Wentsfelt spoke camly.
"Besides a few bumps and bruises, maybe a broken bone I don't suspect any serious
harm."
"I see." The commander pushed a button on the digital console, "Attention all hands, we
will now be entering sustained flight, please brace yourself for the emergency increase in
altitude." The commander looked towards the pilot after lifitng his finger off the intercom button,
"Begin the acceleration, I want you to take this bird as high as she can fly."
"Roger sir!" The pilot exlaimed, "activating sustained flight transformation. All hands be
prepared. Recovery teams stand by."
Titan groaned, and the creaking of metal could be heard. Large metal wings unfolded
from the side of titan. Each wing carried the proud white lion on top of it. After about fifteen
seconds the wings were in place, streamlines of air were drifitng off of their aerodynamic points. A
strong particle glow of blue and green started to grow stronger as the back thrusters of the ship
powered up. The wing engines began glowing in a similar fashion.
"Commander, everything is ready." The pilot said.
"LAUNCH!" the commander said in a commanding tone.
 Aroulous cannon's were programmed with their mark and began to fire, but were
counteracted by a large explosion of blue green particle's. Titan surged forward and began to
move forward and climb higher. The commander clutched the side of his chair as titan creaked
and groaned, the actually high altituted sustained flight had not been tested and he was uncertain
the bird was going to fly. Ryker sprinted down the hallways of Titan getting tossed around into
walls as the bird rumbled and shook, he was determined to get to the command room where Lilith
was.
"Up Aroulous firepower to critical levels, I don't care if the cannons are destroyed I want
that abomination destroyed!" Overmaster Olric screamed at the top of his lungs.
The Aroulous cannon's base and power lines going up the side started to give out a red
glowing hot glare. Suddenly an extreme gust of concentrated air was exploded out of the cannon.
Nine sound barriers were broken at the same time and it sounded as if a large bomb had gone off
outside of Exodus. The cannon's exploded and an extremely powerful burst of air shot its way to
Exodus.
"Si-" was all the pilot exlclaimed before the wave had made its way to Titan.
The wings groaned and surged upward at the impact of the gust. They bent up facing the
blow and all of Titan rumbled. People in the transport hangers that were unable to strap down due
to lack of room, were thrown into the air and smashed into the ceiling. Alarms wailed inside of the
cockpit and commander Wentsfelt bit his lip in frusteration.
"Damage Report Now!" He exclaimed!
"Our particle flow has been disrupted at this rate, there is no way were going to stay in
the sky." A uniformed man spoke in a slightly panicked voice.
The commander bit his lip harder and it began to bleed.
"There is no way after all this planning we are going to let Troy down on this." He sighed
heavily and then in the silence, after Titan had stopped shaking from the impact he quietly said,
"Blow our triumph card."
"Sir, are you sure!?" the pilot exclaimed.
"Yes, its the only way, we created it for a moment like this did we not?"
"But, sir the passangers are not fully strapped in, I'm not sure how much they could take!"
"Its either we do it or they all die in the crash of titan and our dreams! I will not let us burn
until we have played every last card in our hands!" The commander shouted.
"Yes, sir. Activate Black lift."
Titan began shifting with its nose downward, the particle flow from the engine disrupted
was to much for it to sustain its lift. Suddenly the engines stopped shooting out the blue green
flow. A black glow started to develop at the tail of the engine.
"Black thrust activate!" The pilot said in his proffessional voice and pressed a red button
button on the holopanel next to the Yaw he was using to fly.
At the thrusters on wings and the back engine of Titan, a black glow strengthened itself.
Suddenly the sunlight around the area grew dim and a black propulsion burst forth from the
engine. The ship accelerated forward slowly, but with an overwhelming strength. Altittude was
gained and Titan had succesfully transfered into high atmosphere sustained flight mode.
"Sir, their flagship has gone out of Aroulous range. The current damage report is as
follows, over 30 Lance trainee's are missing, and half of the building has been destroyed. An
estimated population of 200 has defected, also nine of the Aroulous cannons on the outer
perrimeter of Exodus have melted." An Exodus officer reported.
Olric let out a deep sigh, "My, my did they throw us for a loop. To have Damn technology
we haven't even thought up yet. I wanna know who the Hell they are getting this from. I wanna
know where the Hell they got the rescource for it and I want it now! I want everyone we got,
working on cleaning up this damn mess. I want that presidential puppet on the air now explaining
the terrorist attack and how they are tryingn to kill us all now. I want this clean NOW!" Olric's
explosive temper burst forth and slammed his coffee cup off of a table. It shattered against a wall
at the other end of the room.
"Right away sir!" About 20 or so officers chanted at once and began to work on "cleaning
up this mess."
Ryker grabbed the back of his head and felt blood trickling down it.
"What the hell were they doing up in command." He spoke with a grimmace. Ryker got up
from the corrider wall he was smashed into multiple times. Standing up he began to run towards
the command center remembering to go check on Lilith. After a few minutes he walked into a
chaotic hustle and bustle.
"I want our course set for main base immediatly, and care to the wounded in the hanger
Immediatly, they are the biggest concern. Woman and children first." Wentsfeldt continued
barking out orders to various people Ryker hurried to the seat Lilith was supposed to be in. She
had already moved and was no where in site. Ryker glanced over to the commander and figured
he was to busy to help him out on this on. Ryker wheeled around and briskly walked out of the
command room until he was in a hallway he could run in. If he knew Lilith at all she was already
treating the wounded and assurisng them that the Resistance was on their side. Ryker dashed to
the hanger with as much haste as he could make. Eventually he made his way there to see
another fairly chaotic scene. The doctors aboard Titan were working with extreme gusto. They
were making sure that everyone that needed help got it, no questions asked. Many people were
bleeding from being tossed around and a few broken bones were present, but most of the
woman, elderly, and children were strapped into a seat in the transports and took minimal
damage. It was better than Ryker expected and he let out a slight sigh of relief. After a solid ten
minutes of panicked looking he finally found Lilith attending to a man who had broken his arm on
the door of a transport helicopter. Ryker ran forward and got her attention,
"Lilith! I'm so glad your safe!" he exclaimed with a grin on his face.
She glance over to him and smiled, then saw he was bloody and gasped.
"Ryker you injured! What were you doing!? Your going to be the death of me if you keep
coming to be beat up. It always turns out like this!" she got an angry look on her face. Ryker
walked up closer and laughed a little.
"Don't worry it will take more than a few scratches to kill me remember." Ryker smiled
and then looked at her again. She had gone back to bandaging and splinting the man's arm.
"I just need to make sure you were safe, I was a bit worried when you left your chair in
the command room. I trust you will be able to handle the situation here. I have to go help out the
commander, if I don't hurry all of his hair will be gone." Ryker laughed a bit again and then slowly
began to walk away from Lilith.
"Ryker!" she exclaimed, and immediatly Ryker turned around, "I'll miss you, lets catch up
later." she said with a slight blush on her face. Ryker too blushed and started to scratch the back
of his head out of nervous habit and winced.
"You had better get that treated first or I'll get mad at you." Liltih spoke in an angry tone
and glared at Ryker.
"Hehe" Ryker laughed nervously, "Of course I will." He spoke then turned and ran out of
the hanger. He immediatly started heading towards the command center to aid in the organization
and reports. As he was walking towards the command center, the commander gave a small
speech to all on Titan through the loudspeaker.
"Citizens of the newly formed White Lion colony, I apologize for the pain you may have
suffered. I hope none of your hope is injured, we did not expect the goverment to fire on us
carrying innocent lives. We tried our best to keep you as safe as we can. To keep you informed
we are now heading toward the Colony base of Eden. It is the sanctuary we have created to
house you. Until we make peaceful negotiations with the goverment, it must remain underground,
but someday it is our wish to raise it above ground and live as normal humans, after we
exterminate the mindless threat. Many await your coming, that were saved just as you were,
except them by us, not the corrupted goverment. Please feel free to seek out anyone in a White
Lion uniform to serve and help you with whatever you may need. We are currently flying a decoy
and in five hours we will be departing all of you on a seperate shuttle to keep the base location a
seceret. Again I give you my sincerest apologys and hope you will not hold any injury against us
for we will try our best to make you a happy people."
Ryker pushed a button on a Holo-panel and the door to the command center opened. He
walked in slowly and approached the commander.
"What mission do you need me to go on now?"
Ransom felt the sharp wind graze his shoulder and a small amount of blood dripped out
of his shoulder as a searing pain shot up his arm.
"Damn" He cursed under his breath, I can't keep up with this. Ransom looked towards
Troy while holding the cut in his shoulder. Troy was standing in the same place he had been
since Ransom started the rain.
"Damn, Damn, Damn, I haven't even got him to move and here I am for this whole time
on the defensive. I can't believe this." Ransom thought to himself. Sweat started to form on
Ransom's face and a slight fatigue was starting.
"Can I win?" He thought again. Ransom held his Scythe in his left. He shifted his right
arm so it was making a ninty degree angle bend at the elbow and the claw of his gauntlet pointing
straight up. The aura around the gauntlet began to glow a deep red and Two clones of Ransom
appeared in the same body formation he was in. Each holding a scythe, each one stood
motionless. Ransom let out a slight grunt of effor and the rain increased, making visibilty a thing
of the past. Ransom thought to himself,
"I'll have to get him with this blow here, The blood Reign is taking up to much energy and
I'm not sure how long I can hold out. I've already been at this for an hour."
Troy watched as the rain increased, and the Three Ransom's dissapeared into the thick
of it. Troy closed his eyes and let his wind swirl, but with the interference from the downpour it
was hard to get a fix on anything.
"Looks like its all gonna come down to one attack by him. Interesting hes an all or nothing
kinda guy."
Troy focused and pushed his wind stasis barrier out a little further, he then put both
hands holding the hilt of his sword.
Suddenly Troy's eyes shot open and looked toward the left, He shouted,
"There." and swing his blade. A few moments passed and the rain ceased. Standing on
the metal platform that was Eden, Troy glanced down to see Ransom with a deep bloody cut
going across his side. He heard through a bloody gargle the words,
"H-..How" barely formed by Ransom.
"Its simple, to maintain those clones of yours you can't hold the scythe in that hand. I
guessed on this of course and it looks like I'm correct. This means that you were going to be
attacking from the left where you would have the best swing angle to cut me with that scythe of
yours. I know that your clones also attack from the other angles, but I was obviously faster than
them. Had I guessed wrong on this I suppose you or the other clone would have decapated me
on the spot. Ransom was your name as I recall from the file I had. You remind me alot of
someone, It's a shame I have to let you die here."
Troy dropped the hilt and it dispearsed into wind. The night moon glowed and glistened
off of the blood leaking out of Ransom.
Ransom tried to move, or do something to get out of this situation. Fear gripped him and
he thought to himself
"Really Ransom, your going to let yourself die like this?" There was nothing he could do.
His arms legs joints, they wouldn't move. He saw darkness creeping in from the sides of his
eyelids and felt dizzy. He had lost this one.
Ransom felt his eyelids lift up and blur slowly swirl into focus. Orange... all that was
around him was orange. He make the motion to breathe in and felt orange liquid flow in and out of
his lungs, his natural reaction was to gagg, but he supressed it and breathed in the orange liquid.
"Never thought hell was so ...orange." he thought to himself as his eyes fought to adjust
to the liquidy surroundings. Eventually he was able to make out darker blobs moving about on the
outside of the liquid. After hours our days, he wasn't quite sure, the liquid seemed to distort his
sense of time, the orange finally drained. After hacking and coughing up liquid orange he took his
first breath of air in awhile, suprisingly clean.
"Where the hell am, I?" Ransom gurgled feeling extremely weak.
“Oh, so the sleeping princess decided to wake up?” A familiar cocky voice rang out.
“W-w-” Ransom vommited up some more of the liquid, “Where the hell am I. I asked you
a question smartass.”
“Your home I guess you can call it. Well for about a month.” Troy said.
“Home? Stop dodging my question I feel like I just woke up from a night out.” Ransom
said.
“A night out? Yeah like you would know, what are you fifteen now” Troy laughed.
“I’m leaving.” Ransom coughed.
 Ransom attempted to take a few steps forward out of the odd holding tank he was
apparently floating in. The glass panel, holding him in, had swished to the side, with a fluid motion
before and he was free to move towards the mocking Troy. After two steps though Ransom’s
body felt extrodinarly weak.
“The hell is goin-” Ransom began to speak then blacked out once more.
This time Ransom awoke in a much more pleasant setting. It was on some kind of soft
bed. His eyes opened a bit easier this time. He glanced next to his bed and saw a wheel chair.
Ransom moved his arm weakly up to his chest where the fatal wound Troy had inflicited was just
a patch of darker skin that had scarred and healed over.
“That should have killed me.” he muttered, “I have the feeling yet another group wants to
use me.”
Ransom rolled himself into the wheelchair after a few minutes of weak attempts. After he
was in the chair he used his arms to wheel himself forward. The wheelchair moved suprisingly
easy and drifted with little friction. It suprised Ransom, that it glided so easily across the metal like
surface he was on. He knew he had to find out where he was, and how to get out. The only
problem with the plan is that he still felt extremely weak. They must have done something to him
to control his strength level. Although his wounds were gone, there was something wrong.
Ransom wheeled up to the door of the complex, across a room that was no larger than the
average hotel room. As soon as he got close to the door it slid open and disspeared inside the
wall. Troy was standing there with his arms folded, leaning up against the wall across from the
doorway.
“Still feeling weak?” Troy said.
“Yeah, I feel like shit thank you. I have the feeling this was your doing?” Ransom spoke
grudgingly.
“That orange liquid, we put a kind of chemical in it that will sit in your blood for about a
month. Thats as long as your going to live here. Eventually your gonna get used to it and be
about as strong as a normal human, but anything of your vindicator power, its gone for that
month.” Troy said.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” Ransom glared at Troy, “I’m your enemy, what good do you
have taking me in here, you know I’m not going to convert.” Ransom said.
“I don’t know anything, never was a smart man. I just want you to live here for awhile.”
Troy said.
“Where is here exactly?”
“Just a paradise I’ve been working on since the dawn of Exodus, Unlike that hell, we treat
humans like humans here. Welcome to Melzionshin. Call it Melody for short.” Troy laughed, “Your
free to wander wherever you want, well except girls bathrooms, and obvious stuff. If you need
anythign just ask. I’ll do what I can, but I may be busy.”
“Fine, I’ll play along with your game for now, but I”m gonna be out of here soon enough,
by human power or not. How soon can I walk?” Ransom asked.
“Oh I’d say a few days and you’ll be energetic, that reminds me I have someone coming
to guide you around, shes a nice girl so bite your tongue and have some manners, I hope even
you could do that?” Troy had a serious tone for the first time.
“Don’t worry pops, I have nothing to gain by yelling at a helpless girl.” Ransom scoffed.
“Alright, well I’m off, big move today you know.” Troy smiled and began to walk away.
“Next time, I’ll kill you.” Ransom said as loud as he could in his weakend state as Troy
didn’t even turn around or react to the response. Ransom wheeled the glide chair as he was
gonna call it, because of the little momentum he needed to move it, and started down the hall,
opposite of the direction Troy had gone in. It dawned on him that he had sent Leo sailing home,
and unless that big brute had woken up, he would be arriving back at Exodus soon. It was a futile
thing to send Leo back to Exodus, he would either just break right back out or take Velocity and
turn it right back around. “I never had time to lock Velocity, typing on the fly, programming that
vehicle was never my strong point.” Ransom thought to himself”. Either way Ransom knew that
Leo wasn’t stubborn enough to die that easy without getting revenge. Revenge on me for beating
him, and revenge on Exodus, he seemed to have learned the truth of the matter. “Truth be told he
probably knows as much as they told me now, guess were even again.” Ransom thought to
himself.
 Off in a flury of thought and mental activity, Ransom proceeded to glid unrestricted by
friction down the hallway until he stopped with a sudden bump. He looked up and saw a girl
sitting on the ground rubbing her stomache making a slight grunt in pain. Ransom took a moment
to analyze her. She was pretty cute, but had a greenish tint to her hair, definitally not a natural
beauty. She wasn’t Ransoms style, her eyes were also a deep green, and her face was perky. It
had a scar across the cheek. Overall Ransom thought she was pretty cute, but wasn’t in the
mood to flirt. He just wanted to get his bearings and find his home.
“Sorry.” Ransom mumbled, then pushed the glide chair and floated around and past her.
Ransom continued slowly down the hall enthraled by thought again.
“Damn, what am I to do. I don’t want to be used by Exodus again, it seems I’m just a
disposable pawn to them. They needed me to buy them some time and if I lived they see that as
a plus? Thats not going to fly with me. Although this entire place, the air, its sickly sweet. I don’t
want to be here, not in the presence of my first loss. I was invincible before today, and they
stripped me down to less than an immortal being. Down to regular humanity. I will be dead before
I let that man win. I’m going to walk my own path. Screw the goverment, and this rebellion. I’m
prepared to do whatever it takes to keep myself alive this time. Survival of the fittest eh? I’d be
just like a mindless then. Maybe its the fate of someone like me. I’ve been tampered with. Why
take pointless revenge though? Theres no point in killing those scientists, thats would just leave
me more empty than before. Thats what I am, empty.” Ransom was lost in thought, his glide chair
bumped into the wall at the end of the hall, he just sat there with an empty gaze in his eye.
Demoralized and fallen, all he could do was sit and stare. He couldn’t cry, they had taken that
away from him. He didn’t want to cry, he just wanted to find a purpose.
“Hey, are you ok.” A quiet and gentle voice rang out from behind Ransom. Ransom just
continued to stare silently, why should he answer or respond, of course he wasn’t ok, everything
has been stripped from him. Honor, humility its gone. Exodus has abandond him, he was alone,
solitude, survival of the fittest.
“Ransom, right?” The quiet voice creeped into his ears like a siclky sweet honey, sickly
sweet air, this place was to much for him.
“Get away from me, I’m busy.” Ransom spoke bitterly, he wanted to poor the bitterness
out and counteract some of the happiness, the sweetness.
“You don’t exactly look busy moping around with your head bashed against the wall, at
least you could mope outside with me?” She asked calmly, not affected by Ransoms attack.
“Do what you want with me, what the hell do I care?” Ransom snapped back.
“I’m Ally, Common, I’m taking you outside, fresh air and nature is great for the body.” Ally
smiled and grabbed the handles on the back of the glide chair. Ransom sat motionless as he was
pushed around, glided into an elevator and heading out of the complex, up five floors he counted.
What could he do to stop her from pushing him around anyways, he was weak. So this is the
feeling to be powerless. What a terrible feeling, never again....never again.
“you know Troy dragged you back into our base, you were bleeding everywhere, he was
the one that decided for the doctors to cure you, do you hate him?” Ally asked.
“Hate? No, I simply have a debt to repay him. When am about to kill him, we will be
even.” Ransom muttered, still wrapped in his disarray.