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Killer
Instinct Revelations:10
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New York: Ultratech Corporation
Chief Thunder stood in front of the door to the Control Room, talking to
a young blonde girl. Both were wearing the white and black Ultratech
jumpsuits.
“Now, make sure you close things up especially well tonight.” Thunder
said to the girl. “Remember, there’s going to be a two hour gap in
between our shift and the next.”
The girl smiled, nodded, and walked away quickly. Thunder sighed
and looked around. Since a window was a rarity in Ultratech, in order
to simulate night and day, the intensity of the lights were raised and
lowered throughout the day. The lights were controlled automatically,
by a computer system. As it was late at night, the lights were currently
at a very dim setting. The atmosphere made Thunder feel sleepy and
sluggish. Unfortunately, his workday wasn’t quite over yet.
He slowly entered the Control Room, where the only light in the room was
the light being given off by the video monitors. He eventually made
it to the chair at the main console at the front of the room. There
was a lukewarm cup of coffee waiting for him near the chair; Thunder picked
it up and took a small sip. He sat down heavily, and began to slowly
tap the buttons on the console. His button tapping put him into a
deep trance; he became unaware of anything that was going on around him,
until he was snapped out of it by the sound of the door to the room opening.
He looked behind him to see Orchid entering the room. She wore an
Ultratech jumpsuit, and she also looked tired and sluggish.
“Thunder!” Orchid exclaimed when she saw him.
“Orchid!” Thunder said. “What are you still doing here?”
Orchid crossed the room and leaned up against one of the computer consoles
on the left side of the room, to the right of Thunder. “Well, our
department was supposed to hand in our weekly report this afternoon, but
we hadn’t finished repairs on the network in that section, so, needless
to say, we all had to put in double time.”
“Well,” Thunder scratched his head, “I actually meant the question to be
‘why are you still here at all?’”
“Oh!” Orchid said, a little surprised. “I was officially supposed
to ‘retire’ from The Organization a few days ago, but as you know, Ultratech
is still horribly understaffed. After President Summers begged me
to stay, my superior at The Organization asked me to stay, and even offered
me pay for the job, so I caved in and agreed. But they are supposed
to be training new employees this weekend, and they should be ready by
Monday, so I can leave then.”
“Free at last, eh?” Thunder asked.
Orchid laughed. “Yeah, I guess.”
Thunder spun back around to face the computer console, but didn’t actually
start working on anything. “Say, has Jago returned yet?”
“No, and I haven’t heard from him either. He’s a big boy; he can
take care of himself. But still, for some reason, I can’t help worrying.”
Thunder grinned. “Aha! Now you know what it’s like to be an
older sibling.”
“Great.” Orchid said dryly.
“So....have you given any thought to what you want to do after all this?”
“Huh?” The question caught Orchid off guard. “Uh....I have,
but I haven’t come up with anything. We never got paid to be an agent;
everything we needed was taken care of for us. I keep forgetting
to ask if retirees get paid of if I can still be taken care of.”
Thunder shot her a look. “If I know you, you wouldn’t be happy being
‘taken care of.’”
“Yeah, you’re right.” she said. “But I just don’t know where
to go from here.”
“You’re only 23; you have your whole life ahead of you!” Thunder
said. “You don’t have to make a decision in the next week.”
“But I would feel a whole lot better if I did.”
“True.” Thunder replied. “Hey, have you considered staying
here, at Ultratech?”
“What! Are you kidding!” Orchid exclaimed. “I can barely
stand this place.”
“That’s just because of bad memories. But you could get over them
with time.”
“I suppose.” Orchid yawned. “But I’m not sure that’s what I’d
want to do for the rest of my life.”
“It doesn’t have to be forever. You can think of it like a summer
job. You can do this until you figure out what you really want to
do. Besides, the pay is great. Did you hear how much they’re
going to pay those trainees?”
“That’s insane! What are those kids going to do with all that money?”
Thunder smiled. “You’re one to talk. You’re still a kid.”
“I’m 23.” Orchid scoffed.
“Bah! You’re just a young’n.”
“Hmph!” Orchid looked away, at one of the video monitors to her right.
Thunder grinned. However, after a few moments, Orchid’s facial expression
turned serious. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Thunder asked.
“Something.....something on the TV.....” Orchid stammered.
“It just didn’t look......right......”
“Well, let’s take a look.” Thunder wheeled his chair around to the
video monitor Orchid was looking at. On the screen, a man was standing
in front of a dense forest. He was talking about the importance of
conservation and recycling, and after a few moments, he revealed that he
was standing in the Brazilian Rainforest.
“Looks normal enough to me.” Thunder said.
“What I saw.....it passed....I was just a fleeting glance, but I definitely
saw something.”
“Guess it doesn’t hurt to look.” Thunder said. He began to
work at the console. “Let’s see.....if I access the video log.....and
go back twenty seconds.....there.” A new, still image appeared on
the screen. It was of the same man in the Rainforest, but he was
standing in a different position, at a different camera angle.
“Right there!” Orchid said. “In the right corner of the screen.”
Thunder leaned in closer. “Yeah, I see something too.” He went
back to working the console. “If we zoom in on the right corner,
enlarge to full screen width and height, and increase the pixel resolution......”
Thunder pressed a button, making the modified image appear on screen.
“Oh my God.” Thunder said weakly. “If I.....if I.......if I
didn’t know better, I’d say that was Fulgore-X. But it can’t be!
It just can’t be! Orchid, what do you think?” Thunder spun
around to ask Orchid, but she was no longer standing there. In her
place, was a fading blue light, which Thunder recognized to be the remnants
of a teleportation beam.
“Oh Orchid.....” Thunder sighed.
Brazil: The Village
It was Saturday. So, naturally, all of the village men had gathered
in the main road for their martial arts competition. It was late
in the day, and the sun was going down rapidly, so there was only enough
time for one or two more fights.
Kain was in the center of the circle, fighting another man. Behind
the crowd, Anna leaned up against one of the houses. Although she
was pretty far away from the action, she could still partially see what
was going on. She watched the fight with a certain.....interest.
“Hey Anna!” A woman called, running up to her.
Anna smiled. “Oh, Salina!” She exclaimed.
Salina stopped next to Anna. “You almost never watch these things.”
“Oh! Well, I never found them interesting before.”
“And now you do?”
Anna blushed. “Not really. I just wanted to see if Kain would
be okay.”
“I see.” Salina said. “You know, looking at them all out there,
you wouldn’t be able to tell that there was a murder attempt on Kain a
few days ago.”
“Eh. Life goes on.” Anna said. “I’m glad things were
resolved as peacefully as they were.”
Salina batted an eye towards Anna. “So, how’s he doing?”
“Who?” Anna asked, innocently.
“Who do you think?”
Anna smiled. “Oh yeah. Well, he’s won every match today, and
since the day is almost over, it looks like he’ll be champion for this
week.”
Salina watched a few seconds of the fight. “I wonder where he learned
how to fight like that.”
“Just another part of the mystery that is Kain.”
Inside of the circle, Kain seemed to be wrapping up the fight. He
retreated towards the edge of the circle, and put up his hands in front
of him. The man he was fighting against was on the ground, but he
picked himself up slowly. Feeling desperation, he charged at Kain,
but as soon as he arrived, Kain flipped over him. The man turned
around, but the second he did, Kain hit him with a snap kick. The
crowd had to catch the man as he fell limply.
“Man, that’ll get ‘em every time.” One man said.
“You’d think we’d know better by now, but that move is just so fast!”
Another commented.
Kain dropped his guard and walked back to the center of the circle.
He seemed to be straightening himself up; he adjusted his jumpsuit, put
a metal plate or two back in place, and pushed down on the base of his
neck, realigning some springs inside. After he cleaned himself up,
he looked up; just enough sunlight for one more fight. However, a
thick cloud cover was quickly moving in, and it looked as if it might rain.
“Is there anyone else who would like to challenge me?” Kain asked.
The crowd was almost silent. A low murmur spread across the crowd,
although no one seemed to be talking. The men looked around, searching
for a volunteer, but not finding one in themselves. Suddenly, the
crowd began to part; quickly, from the rear, as something was working it’s
way up to the center. Kain watched the parting of the crowd, highly
confused. The disturbance finally found it’s way up to the front,
and as the men moved out of the way, the source of the disturbance finally
appeared; Orchid.
Orchid
burst through the crowd, and lunged at Kain. The cyborg was so confused,
he couldn’t even bring himself to move. Orchid tackled him, and with
a fierce cry, she began to pound his head with her fists. After a
few good shots, Orchid grabbed the base of his head and desperately tried
to wrench it free from his neck.
“You bastard! Murderer!” Orchid screamed. “I don’t know
how you survived, but I’m going to kill you once and for all! Murderer!”
The men had also been shocked, and they watched Orchid wail away on Kain
in complete disbelief. Finally, some of them came to their senses.
Ricki and another man rushed inside of the circle, and with everything
they had, they managed to pull the enraged Orchid off of Kain.
“Let me go! Let me go!” She screamed at them.
“Who are you, lady?” Ricki asked, struggling to keep Orchid contained.
Dominic and another man also entered the circle. They went over to
Kain, and helped him up. As soon as he stood, Orchid tried even harder
to free herself and attack him again. Another man entered the circle
to help contain Orchid.
“Look at her outfit!” someone exclaimed. “It’s just like Kain’s!”
“You’re right, it is!” another man said.
“Kain.....” Ricki said, still trying his best to hold on to Orchid,
“do you know this woman?”
Kain took a good, long look. “No I don’t. I’ve never seen her
before.”
Orchid grew even madder, if that was possible. “Liar! You bastard!
What are you talking about?!”
Anna had worked her way up to the center of the crowd. She stood
directly in front of Orchid. “I don’t know who you are,” Anna
said, “but this is Kain. We found him badly damaged near the edge
of the Rainforest. During repairs, he lost his memories. No
one here knows anything about him. Do you?”
Orchid growled. “Lies, I swear!” She began to yell at Kain.
“What are you doing here!? What are you doing with these people!?”
Kain began to cautiously approach Orchid. “Anna told you the truth.
I really don’t remember anything.”
“How dare you!” Orchid seemed offended. “Don’t tell me that
story! You remember everything! Gargos, Ultratech, Killer Instinct,
you remember it all!”
Kain shook his head.
“You bastard!” Orchid broke free for a second. Anna jumped
out of the way, but Kain held his ground. Ricki got to Orchid very
quickly, and the other two men grabbed her soon afterwards.
“We’ll get nowhere like this.” Ricki said, trying to be as calm as
possible. “First, Anna, you take Kain back home. We’ll take
her to see The Elder. Someone go get Allan and Drew, too.”
One Hour Later
The Elder’s House
Orchid sat in a large, brown recliner at the back of the room. She
was hunched over forwards, with her head in her hands, and her elbows resting
on her knees. In front of Orchid was a long, wooden table, with nothing
on it. On the other side of the table, Drew and Anna were sitting
on a short, blue couch, with The Elder sitting in another recliner on the
side.
For a while, no one wanted to speak. An uncomfortable silence blanketed
the room like an unwanted disease. Everyone avoided direct eye contact
with each other. Finally, Drew broke the silence.
“Ms......Orchid was it? I take from your uniform that you work for
Ultratech?”
Orchid’s eyes widened. She looked down at her jumpsuit. “No.
I mean yes. I mean.....yes, I came here from Ultratech.”
“Can I assume, then, that the cyborg is also from Ultratech?”
Orchid nodded.
Drew took a look around, then he took a deep breath. “Okay, and this
is something I’ve been wondering since day one, but for what purpose was
Kain built?”
Orchid laughed. “Kain? Is that what you’re calling him?”
“Yes.” Anna said, defensively. “We couldn’t keep calling him
‘it’ and ‘the robot’ once we found out.....that he was so.....human.”
Orchid snorted.
“Ms. Orchid?” Drew attempted to prompt Orchid into answering his
question.
Orchid’s eyes rolled. “Your.....Kain.....is a cybernetic soldier.
He was built by Ultratech to be the next generation of advanced warfare.”
Anna gasped. Orchid stood up, continuing with her speech. “That
cyborg is probably the greatest danger to humankind, even more than nuclear
missiles! He’s a murderer, a villain....he’s pure evil! I have
to destroy him now!”
Anna stood as well. “Maybe he was all those things, but he’s not
anymore! He lost his memories, and now he’s a different person!
You can’t kill him because of something he no longer is!”
“That’s another thing!” Orchid said. “He didn’t lose his memories!
He’s just selling you all some story! I don’t know what he’s doing,
but I promise you, it’s not good at all!”
“I’m afraid that he really did lose his memory.” Drew said, calmly.
“That’s impossible!” Orchid insisted.
“No, it isn’t.” Drew said. “While we were repairing him, his
memory core crashed. We were hoping that the backups would automatically
kick in, but they never did. When we activated him, he didn’t know
anything about his past, or who he was.”
Orchid twisted her mouth. “Why did you repair him anyway?”
“Curiosity I suppose.” Drew admitted. “Also, we had no idea
what to do with him; we thought that in repairing him, we might find out
where he came from, and where to return him. We didn’t count on him
being more than some robot.”
Orchid sat back down. “And you say he really does not know anything
about himself?”
Anna shook her head. “No. But since he was activated, he has
developed a personality of his own. Whatever he was before, Kain
is not.”
Orchid looked up. “So he doesn’t know who he is.” She laughed.
“Perfect! Absolutely perfect!”
“So.....” Anna said, trying to get more out of Orchid.
“This is the best chance! I can destroy him now, while he’s ignorant
of his true capabilities.”
“No!” Anna screamed. “You can’t hurt him!”
Orchid stood up again. “You don’t understand! That cyborg can’t
be allowed to live another day! Just the fact that the technology
exists puts mankind in the greatest danger it’s ever seen!”
“I don’t know anything about technology,” Anna shot back, “but I
know that Kain is a person! You can’t just kill him! He’s a
person!”
“Irrelevant!” Orchid screamed.
“Enough!” The Elder cut in. Anna and Orchid stopped arguing
abruptly. The Elder went on. “It seems to me that Ms. Orchid
has nothing against Kain, but what he used to be.”
“And what he still is.” Orchid said. “If he gets his memories
back, even if he doesn’t, he’s still a great danger. This is my best
chance to destroy him and you must let me! If I don’t, the whole
world could suffer!”
The Elder sighed. “I understand your point. But I can’t let
you just kill him. As Anna said, Kain is another person. He
has done none of the things you claim he has. He is not what you
say he is.”
“But he could be!” Orchid insisted.
“But he’s not.” The Elder repeated. “It would be very unfair
to Kain to kill him because of the crimes of another. But, perhaps
we can resolve this issue. Ms. Orchid, you’re worried about his memories
coming back. Drew, can you make sure that that never happens?”
Drew scratched his head. “Uh.....I don’t know. I guess with
Allan, and if Ms. Orchid helped, it’s possible.....”
“His memories aren’t the only thing.” Orchid pouted. “Drew
was it? If you really did repair him, I’m sure you found his weapons
systems.”
“Not immediately.” Drew rolled his eyes. “But we’ve become
aware of his capabilities.”
“Then you know about what he can do, even if he doesn’t know who he is!
What if he accidentally set off a plasma bomb without even knowing it?”
“Plasma bomb?” Drew asked.
“That’s a good point.” The Elder said. “But perhaps that can
be solved as well.” He turned to Drew. “Can you disable Kain’s
weapons systems, given the chance?”
Drew shrugged. “I guess it’s possible.”
The Elder smiled. “Well then, now we have more than one option.”
Orchid frowned. The Elder tried to reassure her. “I know you
came here bent on destroying the cyborg. But, he isn’t what you expected
him to be. I suppose you could still destroy him if you wanted to,
because ultimately, he is yours and not ours. However, you could
work with Drew and Allan, and you could get rid of everything you wanted
to, and we would get to keep Kain.”
“It makes sense.” Drew commented.
Orchid crossed her arms, and looked away, resentfully.
The Elder stood. “You don’t have to make a decision right now.
You’re still upset; why don’t you give yourself time to calm down, then
make a decision. All I ask is to take into account that fact that
we are dealing with a life here.”
Orchid gave him a look, then started for the door. It was raining
outside, cold and dark, but that didn’t seem to matter to her. Orchid
exited the house, into the rain.
Anna watched Orchid leave, then turned to The Elder. “Will you really
let her kill Kain if she so chooses?”
The Elder sat back down. “No, of course not. But I do want
to give her the chance to make the right decision first.”
“Well, I’m going to go see Kain.” Anna said. She grabbed an umbrella
and left the room quickly.
Drew and The Elder exchanged looks. “Well, life gets more interesting
by the day here, doesn’t it?” Drew said. He smiled, bowed,
and left the house.
The Elder sighed. “I miss the days where nothing really went on in
this village.”
Kain’s House
“Hold still, will ya?” Allan asked Kain.
Kain, Allan, and Ricki were inside of Kain’s house. They were in
the same room from when The Elder visited Kain, and made the decision to
let him stay in the village after Ricki’s attack. Kain was once again
leaning up against the table, the only object in the room. Allan
was making minor repairs to Kain.
“Well, there you go!” Allan said. “Just a circuit or two out
of place. Man, can you ever get through a week without having someone
trying to kill you?”
Both Kain and Ricki shot him a look.
“Sorry.” Allan said simply. “Geez, just a joke.” He muttered
under his breath.
Just then, Anna entered the room. She was holding a rain soaked umbrella,
and she was partially wet herself.
“Kain, are you okay?” Anna asked.
“Oh, I’m fine.” Kain replied. “Just a little bruised up I guess.”
“Did you talk to that woman?” Allan asked, eagerly. “What did
she say?”
Anna sighed. “She claimed that Kain is a cybernetic soldier, and
she came here to kill him.”
“What?” Allan exclaimed.
“A cybernetic soldier.....” Kain repeated.
“What did The Elder say?” Ricki inquired.
“He asked if there was a way to get rid of all of his old memories, and
disengage his weapons systems.” Anna said. “He asked Ms. Orchid
to think about doing that instead of killing him.”
“Are you sure you don’t remember her?” Ricki asked Kain.
“No, I really don’t.” Kain said. “I’ve never seen her before
today.”
“She’s obviously a part of your past.” Allan pointed out. “If
you wanted answers to your questions, she’s got them.”
“True.” Kain looked down. “But now, I’m not sure I want them.
Anna, you said that she said that I’m a cybernetic soldier. I don’t
want to be a soldier. And today, she was pretty upset with me.
She called me a murderer. I’m not sure that’s a life I want to live.”
Anna went over next to Kain, and put her hand on his shoulder. “I
suppose....if you really don’t want to know, you don’t have to. Whatever
you were then, you’re different now. Allan and Drew, they can get
rid of your old memories, and you can go on living here.”
“Whatever happens, I’m going back to Drew’s.” Allan said. “It’s
been a long enough day for me, and I need to relax with a beer.”
He turned around and slowly left the room. Ricki followed him.
“I’m still sore from my fight.” he said. “I’ll see you later,
Anna.....Kain.” He left the room.
Anna stared after him. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say he felt
a little sorry for you?”
Kain laughed. “Ricki? After all that’s happened?”
“Now, he might be stubborn, but when he needs to, he can really grow as
a person.”
“If you say so.”
Anna gave Kain a strange look, like half pity, half empathy. “You’re
scared, aren’t you? Scared of your past.....and your future.”
Kain’s head dropped. “Yes. I had a feeling my past.....wasn’t
good.....but I just didn’t know how bad. This seems really bad.”
“All I can tell you is to follow your heart.” Anna suggested.
“But....I don’t have a heart.”
Anna smiled. “You know what I mean.” She looked away for a
moment. “Do you need anything?”
Kain shook his head. “Actually, I’d really like to be alone right
now......to rest, and think.”
“I understand.” Anna turned and started to walk out of the room.
“Anna.” Kain called out.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
Kain gave her a look. “You know what I mean.”
Anna smiled, then left the room.
Kain watched her leave, then he ran his hands across his face. He
stared off into the distance and thought; perhaps harder than he ever had
before. Finally reaching some sort of decision, he rolled up the
left sleeve on his jumpsuit, and opened the panel on his forearm, exposing
the computer interface.
“I’ll never get used to this thing being here.” Kain said to himself.
He still didn’t really know how to operate it, so he pressed the button
that activated the vocal input/output interface.
“Computer?” Kain asked uneasily. There was no response, but
Kain assumed he had activated the system anyway. “Initiate a file
search.”
“PLEASE ENTER SEARCH PARAMETERS” a female computer voice responded.
“Err.....” Kain thought for a moment, “any and all files containing
the following parameters: Gargos, Ultratech, Killer Instinct.”
“SEARCHING.........”
The Rainforest
Orchid sat near the end of a long branch at the top of a particularly tall
tree. It was raining hard, and Orchid was getting showered,
but she didn’t seem to care. She sat with her thighs pressed up against
her chest, her arms folded across her knees, and her chin resting on her
arms.
“Fulgore-X is now an entity named Kain,” she thought, “is it possible?
That doctor was an American, and I don’t think he had any reason to lie
to me. But still, there are so many questions? How did Fulgore-X
survive the plasma bomb explosion? And how did he end up here?”
A flash of lightening shot across the sky. Being completely dark
from night and the clouds overhead, the sky lit up momentarily from the
flash. Orchid entertained the notion that being up in a high tree
wasn’t the safest place to be during a storm, but she didn’t seem to care
either way.
“What if that Elder guy is right?” Orchid continued to think.
“What do I have against Kain, if such a person really does exist?
If it’s possible to separate Fulgore-X from Kain, and then destroy Fulgore-X
but keep Kain alive, why don’t I? In a lot of ways, Fulgore-X has
what I always wanted; a clean slate, a chance for a new life.
“But still, this is my best chance to destroy the Fulgore series once and
for all. Fulgore-X is the last, and with his death, there will be
no more Fulgores. If he really does have no memories, I can surprise
him easily, destroy him. Who cares about Kain? Fulgore-X can’t
be allowed to live, in any form. He’s a murderer, and he has to pay
for his crimes. Besides, as long as the technology exists, someone
can manipulate it. The next Robert Sheridan could come down here,
steal the cyborg, copy it, and make more. As long as the technology
exists, mankind will never be safe. Then again, as long as there
are nuclear missiles and power hungry dictators, mankind will always be
in danger. But Fulgore-X is still a threat, in any form. I
just can’t let him.....can’t let him......live.”
There was another tremendous flash of lightening, accompanied by a deafening
thunder crash. Aside from bringing light to an otherwise dark sky,
it helped Orchid to realize that there was something....someone.....behind
her. She took a casual look, but then when she saw what was behind
her, she jumped up and stood on the branch.
Orchid faced the cyborg. He stood with his arms at his sides, eyes
narrowed, rain streaking down his body. The glow of blue plasma from
his joints faintly illuminated the area around him. He said nothing;
and neither did Orchid, as she wasn’t quite sure who or what she was facing.
Orchid could feel her heartbeat racing and her breath quickening.
She was getting nervous. She wanted to put up a fighting stance,
but she didn’t want to assume anything. Maybe she was facing Kain.
Maybe he just wanted to talk. Besides, she didn’t like the idea of
fighting on a tree branch, some 200 meters above the ground. There
was another flash of lightening and crash of thunder, but it didn’t affect
either Orchid or the cyborg. Orchid was fully prepared to stand on
that tree branch all night, if necessary, because she was dedicated to
not make the first move, or speak the first words. Thankfully, after
a small eternity, the cyborg finally spoke.
“I remember.” Fulgore-X said.
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