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Killer
Instinct Revelations:13
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Ultratech Brazil: Experiment Storage
“Urgh.”
Orchid slowly regained consciousness, her
head pulsating intensely. She sat upright on her rear on the ground.
Her blurry
vision revealed a dark gray environment. She blinked hard and
squinted until her eyesight began to return. Her location soon
became painfully clear; she could be nowhere else except within the
confines of the Ultratech Corporation. The dark, stainless
steel gray walls, ceiling, and floor beneath her were the main giveaway.
The light fixtures overhead were also just too familiar
for Orchid to have never seen them before. Orchid still felt
groggy, so she hadn’t questioned how she could have ended up in
Ultratech yet. However, Orchid’s sense of touch slowly came back,
and she came to realize that there was something, or
someone, behind her. Her neck was stiff and hard to move, but
she bore the pain and turned her head to see what it was that
was behind her.
Fulgore-X.
The cyborg sat directly behind her, with his
back up against hers. His eyes glowed their normal red, indicating
that he was
awake at least. Fulgore-X’s arms were bound to Orchid’s by what
looked like thick, metal, white colored handcuffs. They
were connected by the wrists; his left to her right, and her right
to his left.
Looking beyond Fulgore-X, Orchid could see
three rows of stasis pods, extending all the way to the back of the room.
She
knew it was the Experiment Storage room, the same room she fought Sabrewulf
in back in the Killer Instinct 8 competition.
There was something definitely different about the room, but Orchid
couldn’t figure it out at the present time. More important
than the pods though, was Orchid’s companion behind her.
“Fulgore-X.....I should have known.”
Orchid mumbled softly.
“Oh great, she’s awake.” Fulgore-X said
to himself.
Orchid began squirming, trying to get away
from the cyborg, but the wrist handcuffs held them both tightly.
“Is this your idea
of a joke?”
Fulgore-X shot her a look. “I want you
to think about that question. Really think about it. And if
it still makes sense, feel
free to ask me again.”
Orchid snorted. She squirmed even harder,
trying to get away from Fulgore-X.
“Will you stop that?” Fulgore-X said,
annoyed. “Do you really think that’s going to accomplish anything?
That the maker
of these restraining devices was so careless, that by merely moving
around, you could break out of these things?”
Orchid was beginning to get really upset.
“What are these things anyway?”
“What do you think? Handcuffs.
Ultratech produced these, and a small plasma engine powers the locking
mechanism. The
only way to escape these things is to either find the key, or chew
your arm off.”
Orchid snorted again. She started to
look around the room again. “Experiment Storage. Ultratech.
How did I end up
here?”
“This isn’t Ultratech. At least, not
the one you’re thinking about.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“This is Ultratech Brazil, a secret base and
parts factory hidden within the Brazilian Rainforest.”
“Ultratech Brazil? I’ve never heard
of Ultratech Brazil.”
“And that’s why it’s called a secret base.
Being a ‘secret agent’ yourself, you should appreciate that.”
Orchid growled. The “chew your arm off”
option was beginning to look appealing. “Well, how did we end up
here?” she
asked.
“I’ve spent the past forty five minutes trying
to figure that out myself.” Fulgore-X responded.
“That’s right! I remember now.
We were fighting, then all of a sudden you collapsed, then the next thing
I knew, I woke up
here. How long have we been here?”
“When my systems went back online, my internal
clock indicated a twenty minute down time. Forty five minutes later,
you
woke up.”
“I guess that’s your way of saying a little
over an hour.”
“If that’s the way you want to look at it.”
Orchid sighed. “So, how do we get out
of this.”
“We don’t.” Fulgore-X shook his head.
“Unless, of course, I activate a plasma flare, in which case we both get
freed.
However, you’d probably lose both your arms in the process.”
“So why haven’t you already done so?”
Orchid shot back sarcastically.
“Oh, I wanted you to be awake for that.”
Fulgore-X said, almost laughing.
“I’m touched by your consideration for me.”
Orchid’s response was drenched in sarcasm. “I guess all we can do
now is
wait for our captor.”
No sooner than the words were out of Orchid’s
mouth, the doors to the Experiment Storage room slid open. A shadowed
figure stood inside of the doorway. He was large; at least 6’1,
and very muscular. Any specific features were hidden by the
darkness that encompassed him. He started to slowly walk into
the room. His footsteps made a loud, familiar “ka-klunk” as he
crossed the room. He finally came to stand under one of the ceiling
lights, and he was illuminated dimly.
“Oh my God.” Orchid gasped. The
man’s golden colored head was almost bald; except for a thick ponytail
jutting out from
the back. The ponytail consisted of large, wiry hairs; each strand
about as thick as an electrical cable. The man had no
eyebrows, and his normal eyes were gone; replaced by long, bright red
triangles, just like Fulgore-X’s. His nose and lips were
extremely thin, but his neck was large enough to compensate.
He seemed to be wearing a brown body suit. He also wore
black armor plates on his shoulders and chest, forearms, crotch, thighs,
and shins. He was wearing metallic, black boots. On
both forearm armor plates were raised openings; similar to Fulgore-X’s
claw openings, except much bigger.
“Jeremiah.....” Fulgore-X whispered.
“He looks just like a Fulgore!” Orchid
exclaimed, in between heavy breaths. She turned her head towards
the cyborg,
while keeping her eyes fixed on the man. “What is he, some kind
of cousin of yours?”
“Something like that.” Fulgore-X replied.
It wasn’t quite the answer Orchid had been expecting.
“I’m glad you know who I am!” The man
addressed Fulgore-X. “It’s not often that the replacement knows the
identity of
the predecessor.”
“Predecessor?” Orchid questioned.
The man turned to her. “Ah. You
must not be familiar with me then. Please, allow me to introduce
myself.” He took a
mock bow. “My name is Jeremiah. Does that ring any bells
for you?”
“Sorry pal.” Orchid replied.
Jeremiah half smiled. “Figures.
Oh well, one for two isn’t bad, eh? Anyhow, now that I’ve introduced
myself, I expect no
less from you.” He bent over, looking Orchid in the eyes.
“I really don’t care about you.” He straightened himself, and walked
over next to Fulgore-X. “You, on the other hand, interest me
greatly. You are obviously a Fulgore cyborg, but the question at
hand is, which one? The first maybe? Second? Third?
The hundredth, perhaps?”
Fulgore-X only shot him a vicious look.
Jeremiah laughed. “I see they failed
to give you any personality. That’s okay. Perhaps I can persuade
you to talk.” He
walked back over towards Orchid. With a sudden motion, he grabbed
her neck and squeezed it tightly. With her arms
restrained to Fulgore-X’s, all she could do was gasp for air.
“It would be a shame if, because of your unfriendliness,
your friend here met with an.....unfortunate accident.”
Fulgore-X laughed. “My friend?
My friend? Ha ha ha, go right ahead and kill her. You’d be
doing me a favor.”
Orchid scoffed in between gasps. “Oh
for the love of......his......name......is Fulgore-X.”
Jeremiah’s eyes widened. He let go of
Orchid’s neck. “Go on.”
“He is Fulgore-X, the third prototype and
last of the Fulgore cyborgs.”
Jeremiah grinned. “The third and last,
eh?”
“Look, what is going on?” Orchid demanded.
“Why don’t you ask your companion?”
Jeremiah suggested.
“What, him?” Orchid nodded towards Fulgore-X.
Jeremiah laughed. “I see your point.
Well then, allow me to, at least, inform you of your current situation.
Take a good
look around. What do you see?”
“Stasis pods. So what?”
“This used to be my home. No no no;
not home, prison. I was sent down here, and all but forgotten.
This, after I had been
promised the world.”
“What? .....Oh I see......Sheridan I’ll bet.”
Orchid said.
“So you’re not as ignorant as I thought.
Well you’re right, it was Sheridan. I was a simple man, serving time
for an
accidental shooting that wasn’t even my fault. Before long, I
had been shipped down to that damn Ultratech dungeon, and
within a few days of that, I became the oddity you see before you now.
President Sheridan said that great changes were about
to happen to the world, and that I would be in on the ground floor,
at the cost of my soul of course. It seemed like a decent
deal. That is, until Fulgore came along, and everything changed.”
Jeremiah began pacing back and forth in front of Orchid. “I
didn’t even get a combat test. The Fulgore project came along,
and I was put on hold. They hadn’t even finished working on
me yet. Before I knew it, I was thrown into one of those damn
pods, put on ice, and forgotten. To seal the deal, they shipped
me down here, to the home of the rejects. Well, I’m free now,
and still quite bitter.”
“Great.” Orchid said, unenthusiastically.
“What does that have to do with us?”
“A lot.” Jeremiah replied. “I
was sitting in the Control Room, thinking about how great vindication would
feel, when the
computer picked up a plasma energy reading within the Rainforest.
I went to investigate, and what should I find but a Fulgore
cyborg. Lucky me. So I subdued you both and brought you
here. My first impulse was to kill you both, and let off a little
steam that had been building ever since I had been put on hold.
However, that wouldn’t be very fair to all of my new friends
now, would it? You see, I wasn’t the only one horribly wronged
by Sheridan. There was at least a hundred tortured souls,
most of whom were in a worse condition than I, who had also been promised
the world and given banishment instead. I’m sure
they would appreciate a chance for redemption as much as I do.
Like myself, none of these poor outcasts ever got the chance
to prove themselves in a combat test. Something better came along,
and they were bottled up and sent here. So I have
decided to give us all our combat test.”
“What are you talking about?” Orchid
asked.
“If you would let me finish......” Jeremiah
snapped. “Ultratech considers the Fulgore cyborg to be it’s best
accomplishment, eh? Let’s see about that.
Soon after I managed to escape my prison, I freed all of my compatriots.
The
Ultratech Brazil staff was fun for a while, but they need another challenge.
It wasn’t easy, but I managed to catch all of them
and do a little genetic reprogramming of my own. Nothing major,
really. I just programmed them to recognize both of you as
their natural enemy.”
“Why would you do that?” Orchid asked.
“For the combat test, silly!” Jeremiah
exclaimed. “Your mission is, simply enough, to survive. I’ve
sealed off the building;
and I’ll personally be manning the controls. If you defeat all
of my friends, come see me. And if you manage to defeat me, then
you may leave my haven, secure in the knowledge that Ultratech was
right in choosing the Fulgore cyborg as it’s greatest
creation.” Jeremiah leaned in closer to Orchid. “But if
you fail.....I get to send both your dead bodies back to Ultratech.
Their
greatest creation, defeated by those who were rejected for him.
It will be vindication for us all.”
“Y’know what?” Orchid said. “Fine.
That sounds great. You and your rejects can rip Fulgore-X into as
many little pieces
as you want. Hell, I’ll help you. Just let me go; I really
don’t have anything to do with this little feud.”
“Don’t you?” Jeremiah asked. “You
are an Ultratech employee. You’re one of the ones who did this to
me. Maybe
you’re just a receptionist, or maybe you were a computer programmer.
Heh, maybe I got lucky again, and you were one of the
genetic engineers. Either way, you’re one of them, and I think
it’s an added bonus that I should have you here to take place in
my test.”
“One of them?” Orchid looked down, and
realized that she was still wearing the Ultratech jumpsuit. “Oh no.
No no. I’m
not an Ultratech employee; I’m just wearing this! I hate them
as much as you do!”
Jeremiah smiled. “At this point, you
would say anything, to save your life.” He began to walk towards
the doors, and as he
walked, he opened up a control panel on his left forearm armor plate,
identical to the control panel on Fulgore-X’s left arm. As
he stood in the doorway, he pressed a button, and the handcuffs that
bound Fulgore-X and Orchid together expanded,
releasing them both. “The test has begun.” he declared.
“May the best creation win.” He turned and left quickly, the doors
sliding shut behind him.
Fulgore-X stood immediately. He straightened
his jumpsuit, and began to survey the room. Orchid was a little slower
in
getting up. She slowly reached her feet, and as she did, she
turned to face Fulgore-X and assumed a fighting stance.
Fulgore-X caught her out of the corner of his eye, and turned towards
her.
“Oh please.” The cyborg said.
“On my list of priorities, you rank pretty low right now.” He turned
around and started to
wander over to the stasis pods.
Orchid grunted. “Fulgore-X?”
“Hmm?” he responded, innocently.
“What the hell is going on? Exactly
who was that anyway?”
“Just the question I was hoping you wouldn’t
ask.” Fulgore-X turned around, to face Orchid. “As he said,
his name is
Jeremiah. Are you familiar with Sheridan’s master plan?”
“Thoroughly.”
“Good.” Fulgore-X continued. “Then
you remember that Sheridan’s plans of world conquest called for him to
make an
army of super soldiers to defend it. The Jeremiah Project was
the last one before The Fulgore Project. Jeremiah was to be half
human, half cyborg. He was only 92% complete when the Ultratech
engineers discovered that they could build a cyborg
without the human aspect. Since a robot could be manipulated far easier
than a human could, The Jeremiah Project was
immediately put on hold so that work could begin on The Fulgore Project.
I suppose they never got around to finishing
Jeremiah, and resorted to putting him in cryogenic stasis and sending
him here.”
“That’s why he’s so bitter towards you.”
Orchid observed. “That’s just great. I’m caught in the middle
of a family feud.
Why did they send him here anyway? What’s wrong with the Experiment
Storage room back in New York?”
“Only the more disappointing rejects were
sent here. Experiments that still had promise were kept in the Ultratech
New
York. However, I think every New York specimen was shipped down
here to Brazil shortly before I fought Gargos with your
brother.”
“Who would do that? And why?”
“Gargos would. He was afraid that you
might free the genetic experiments and send them to fight against him.
A pretty
unlikely situation, but still a threat nonetheless.”
“Not a bad idea.” Orchid confessed.
“I wish I had thought of it. So, is there any truth to what Jeremiah
was saying, about
his little combat test?”
Fulgore-X turned back to the stasis pods.
“Probably. One thing’s for sure; there are one hundred ten pods in
the room,
and one hundred nine of them are empty.”
“What?” Orchid followed Fulgore-X into
the rows of pods.
Fulgore-X was accessing a computer terminal
on one of the pods. “This one was deactivated about two weeks ago;
I figure
it’s the same story for all the rest.”
Orchid ventured off, deeper into the rows.
She stopped at the one occupied pod, near the back of the room. “Here’s
the
one that isn’t empty.....I wonder why Jeremiah didn’t free this one?”
She began to play with the access terminal. “This says
that the inhabitant was put into stasis over three years ago.”
“The one full pod is not our concern.”
Fulgore-X said, sharply. “The one hundred nine empty ones are.
Taking into
account the one Jeremiah was in, and maybe a few rejects who became
food for other rejects, that means that there are at least
one hundred mutants out there.”
_NOTICE: YOUR TOTAL LIQUID PLASMA LEVEL HAS DROPPED 50 MILLILITERS
SINCE YOUR LAST
PERIOD OF ACTIVATION. IN ADDITION, THERE IS AN ACCESS VIOLATION
IN YOUR RIGHT ARM.
TAMPERING WITHOUT CONSENT IS SUSPECTED.
Fulgore-X read the prompt in his eyes, then
rolled up the right sleeve on his jumpsuit. Surely enough, there
was a small
blade of armor slightly out of place. It looked as if it had
been pried open and forced back.
“Orchid, check your arms for any puncture
wounds.” Fulgore-X instructed.
“What? Why?”
“Just do it.”
Orchid rolled up both her sleeves. She
felt her left arm; nothing out of the ordinary. She then felt her
right; there was a
tender spot right in the elbow joint, which happened to be a great
place for drawing blood. To confirm the suspicion, there was
a small amount of crusted blood in the tender area.
“Yeah.....” she said, rubbing the spot,
“I think someone drew blood while I was out.”
“Damn, it’s just as I feared.”
“What?”
“Jeremiah took my plasma and your blood while
we were out. Remember when he said he reprogrammed the rejects to
recognize us as their natural enemy? Well, I don’t think that
was a meaningless statement. He has used our.....samples.....to
make those rejects believe that we are their prey. In the process,
they will be able to track us down no matter where we are,
like hunting dogs after a scent.”
Orchid threw up her hands. “This just
gets better every minute, doesn’t it? So now what?”
Fulgore-X spun around sharply. “It’s
not safe here. It’s not safe anywhere in here. I’m leaving.”
He began to walk
towards the doors.
“Wait a minute!” Orchid started to pursue
him. “You just can’t march out there like that! You’ll tip
off all those rejects as
to where we are!”
“They already know where we are, and I’ll
bet they’re on their way this very minute. I refuse to take place
in this silly game,
and I am leaving.”
“What, right out the front door? Are
you insane? Do you think Jeremiah went through all this trouble just
to leave the doors
unlocked?”
“I’ll find a way to unlock them then.”
“Ooh!” Orchid exclaimed. “I really
hate that guy!”
Fulgore-X walked out of the doors and stopped
suddenly. Orchid failed to notice this; she marched right past him,
and to
one of the computer terminals embedded in the wall. The hallway
looked exactly like the hallway in front of Experiment Storage
in the New York Ultratech. Wide, gray steel walls, with computer
terminals embedded in the wall every ten feet or so. The
only difference between the two halls was that the Brazil one looked
to be in worse shape; the ceiling light flickered on and off
overhead. The overall lighting was extremely dim; only a few
watts away from total darkness. The computer terminal in the
wall also flickered on and off rapidly. Nevertheless, Orchid
tried to access it.
“Damn thing....” she mumbled, “it’s not working.”
“What isn’t working?” Fulgore-X asked
weakly.
“It doesn’t seem to be getting power.”
Fulgore-X’s eyes widened. He took a
nervous look around. Orchid caught this out of the corner of her
eye.
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
Fulgore-X emitted a vacant stare. “The
ceiling lights. No power to the computer terminals. Something
is wrong.
Something is very, very wrong. The plasma reactor.....something
is wrong with the reactor.”
Orchid looked around. “What, this?
You can’t be serious! Ultratech looked ten times worse than this
when we were stuck
in the past.”
“Yes, and you were about one day away from
a complete meltdown!” Fulgore-X snapped. Orchid was taken aback.
“Ceiling lights, computer terminals, everything in Ultratech is powered
by one large plasma reactor. If these things aren’t
working, then that can only mean that something is wrong with the reactor.”
His vacant stare faded, and he glared Orchid in the
eyes. “If you hadn’t resolved KI7.5 when you did, all of you
would have been killed. Ultratech’s reactor was about to
overload, because no one bothered to check it. I’m sure you all
assumed that the lack of a steady power source was only a
trivial concern. When Ultratech returned to this time, before
Sheridan died, he ordered a repair team to come to Ultratech
immediately. They found the reactor in its critical state, and
managed to repair it before it exploded.”
Orchid now assumed a vacant stare of her own,
processing what Fulgore-X just told her. “If what you say is true,
then I
have got to get down to the Reactor Room.”
Fulgore-X narrowed his eyes. “Do whatever
you like. I’m leaving.”
“Fine then, go!” Orchid yelled.
“I’m surprised you haven’t left already!” Suddenly, the realization
of what she said hit her.
“You....haven’t gone yet. The only reason why you wouldn’t leave
is because.....you couldn’t.” Orchid snapped her fingers.
“That’s it! That’s why you came to Brazil, isn’t it! You
said Ultratech Brazil was a parts factory.....you may have survived your
plasma bomb explosion, but it left you the worse for wear, didn’t it!
You needed repairs.....so you came here. But you didn’t
make it.....you must have died or something before you got here.....and
those idiot villagers found you. Now it all makes sense.
You’re not at full strength, are you?” Orchid began to laugh.
Fulgore-X glared at her. “Very good,
Inspector Gadget. Now, are you done?”
Orchid held up a hand. She continued
to laugh. At least, on the outside she was laughing. Within,
she began to think.
“He’s been weakened! This couldn’t get any better! Now
I can destroy him once and for all! Wait, no....I have a better
idea.....if he fights against all these Ultratech rejects, they may
even destroy him! At the very least, it will drain him even further!
The only thing is, I still have to get out of here.” Orchid stopped
laughing.
“Hold on a minute.” Orchid said to Fulgore-X,
then turned away from him. She began to think again. “I have
to get out of
here by any means possible. Unfortunately, I can only think of
one strategy. I hate even thinking about it, but whatever it takes
to survive, right? Besides, if I help him here, I can destroy
him later, and save my own life in the process. It’s the only option.
I
hate it, but it’s the only option.”
Orchid turned back to Fulgore-X, who was eyeballing
her, at least the best one could with red, triangular eyes.
“Fulgore-X.....how weak are you?”
“That is none of your concern.” Fulgore-X
shot back.
Orchid rolled her eyes. “Look, I know
you can’t be at even half power, or else you would have either teleported
out of
here, or you would have blown this place to bits and then some.”
“I still don’t see why this is of any significance
to you.”
“Just tell me!”
Fulgore-X looked up and sighed, out of frustration.
“I’m at 38% of full power. My teleport, cloak, eye lasers, and heat
sensors are off line. I had to deactivate my X-Type reactor because
it was losing power, and if it shut down on it’s own, I
might never be able to reactivate it. My Y-Type is only at 33%.
I still have limited plasma weapons, shields, and foot
boosters. Now, why did you want to know?”
“It’s better than I thought.” Orchid
thought.
“Well,” Orchid said, grinding her teeth, “and
it really pains me to say this, but perhaps we should consider.....teaming
up.”
“What!?” Fulgore-X exclaimed.
“Is that your idea of a joke?”
Orchid sighed. “I don’t like it any
more than you do. But it’s our best option, considering. Look,
those rejects out there
are hunting us both down. There are one hundred of them and two
of us. We can try to see how far we get on our own, but
the odds would be better if we teamed up and worked together.”
Fulgore-X rolled his eyes. Orchid continued. “I know
you’re not totally against this option; you did team up with my brother
Jago.”
“Jago wasn’t bent on killing me.” Fulgore-X
responded. “And unlike you, I didn’t really hate him.”
Orchid glared at the cyborg. “For whatever
reasons, you teamed up with Jago because it was the better option.
A common
enemy, the greater goal, or whatever.”
“I teamed up with Jago because I had something
to gain out of that. You have nothing to offer me.”
“I can be a partner, and that’s more than
enough. A second set of eyes, hands, and feet. I don’t like
you as much as you
don’t like me, but I’m willing to put that aside for the moment in
order to get out of here. The minute we escape, I would like to
settle the score with you. However, we have to escape first.”
Fulgore-X growled. He began to leave,
walking past Orchid. He was only five steps away when he turned back
to
Orchid. “I’m getting out of here. If you wish to tag along.....I
will not object too strongly.”
“So glad to be part of the team.” Orchid
responded sarcastically.
Fulgore-X turned around and started to walk
away again. Orchid caught up to him, walking alongside him.
“If you expect
me to help you,” Fulgore-X said, “then I expect no less from
you. Currently, you have little to offer. We will need to head
to
the Armory to get a weapon or two for you. First, and more importantly,
we need to go to the Reactor Room and figure out
what is wrong with the reactor.”
“Fine by me.” Orchid said. The
unlikely pair walked off together, further into the shadows of the broken
hallway of
Ultratech Brazil.
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