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3 Years Ago
Tibet:  The Tiger Shrine Sword Training Hall

     The large Sword Training Hall was a crude yet very advanced room within the Shrine.  It’s only purpose was to help young
fighters sharpen their skills with a sword.  In the center of the ceiling and floor, was a large, open slot.  Hanging down from the
ceiling slot was a lever; at the end of the lever was a human dummy.  The feet of the dummy were attached to another lever,
which went into the slot on the floor.  There were many dummies lined up one after another, and they started from about ten feet
into the room, until ten feet away from the back wall.  There were also dummies scattered about on both sides of the room.
Some were only connected to the ceiling; others were only connected to the floor.  At the back wall was a small table, where a
long, white candle sat.  As it was newly lit, only one drop of wax ran down the side.  Attached to the left wall was a small,
wooden crank.  A monk, covered in a brown cloak, stood near the crank.
     Jago stood at the front of the room, almost in the doorway.  He was holding a thin and simple sword.  Only ninjas were
given swords, and since he wasn’t yet one, the sword he held was one of the training ones.  Even though it was for training
purposes, it was as sharp as any other sword.  He seemed to be concentrating on the candle at the end of the room.
     “Hey Jago!”  Julie called out suddenly, from behind him.  Most anyone else would have at least jumped.  Jago, however,
stood perfectly still, as if he hadn’t heard her.  He took a few steps more into the room, then turned around to face Julie.
     “Yes, what it is?”
     “You still owe me a tour of the Shrine, remember?”  Julie winked at him.  “I’m here to collect.”
     “I’m very sorry, but I’m going to have to take a raincheck on that.  You see I-”
     “Ninja tests?”
     “Yes.”
     “Is that what you’re doing now?”
     “Um.....no.  My last test isn’t until later on today, but I’ve got to practice my sword skills.”
     “And that’s what you’re doing now?”
     “Yes.”
     “Can I watch?”
     “Yes.
     “So.....does your vocabulary include anything other than.....’yes’?”
     “No.”  Jago smiled at Julie.  Julie returned the grin.  Jago turned around and signaled the monk by the crank.  The monk
began to spin the crank the best he could.  As a result, the human dummies in the center of the room began to bob up and
down, not in sync.  Jago turned back to Julie.
     “I thought you were practicing?”  Julie asked.
     “I am.  I’m not allowed to look.”
     “Okay.  What are you supposed to do?”
     “You’ll see.”
     Julie shot Jago a look.  “So, when are you supposed to have that fight anyhow?”
     “Day after tomorrow.  Say Julie, would you like to come watch?”
     Julie blinked.  “Can I?  Sure, that’s not something I’d want to miss!  When and where?”
     “The Training Area, ‘bout two o’clock.”
     “That’s another thing; I’ve haven’t seen a clock around here.  How do you monks keep time around here?  Sundials?”
     “No.  Who needs a dial?”
     “You’re kidding, right?”
     “No.  We can judge time by the position of the sun in the sky.”
     “Let me guess; it’s a ninja thing.”
     “Something like that.”
     Suddenly, Jago spun around, back towards the bobbing dummies.  With a fierce cry, he flung the sword from his hands, with
a fierce twist.  The sword spun so rapidly that, as it flew, it appeared to be nothing more than a silver disk.  After a wobbly
flight, the sword finally buried itself into the back wall.
     Julie watched Jago, wide eyed for a moment, then looked ahead.  Slowly, one by one, the dummies separated by the neck;
the bodies slumping over onto the ground while the heads remained attached to the ceiling levers.  After the last dummy fell,
Julie could see that the sword had buried itself into the wall directly above the candle.  The wick had been split in half, and each
half, one on either side of the sword, remained lit.
     Jago smiled.  He turned around back to Julie.  “For the longest time, I couldn’t keep the flame lit.”
     “That’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen!”  Julie remarked, her jaw hanging open.
     “So, I’ll see you at the fight?”
     Julie only nodded her head, unable to form an actual word.  She turned around and started to leave, but did manage to get a
“good luck” out before she left.

Present Day

Ultratech Brazil:  Control Room

     The layout of Ultratech Brazil’s Control Room was identical to that of Ultratech’s.  However, there were some differences.
The overall lighting was extremely poor, like most of Ultratech Brazil’s.  Only a handful of the video monitors were actually
working.  They displayed the Ultratech Brazil logo, which was somewhat similar to Ultratech’s.  In the center of the screen was
a large, red “U”, with “Ultratech” written in sharp, silver letters across the “U”.  “Brazil” was written in stylish, red letters,
underneath to slightly to the right of the silver “Ultratech”.  Probably the biggest different between the two Control Room’s was
that Jeremiah sat in the main chair of this one, his feet up against the console.  He studied the main video monitor, which
displayed a list;

     Suddenly, the doors to the Control Room slid open; slowly, and pathetically.  Jeremiah didn’t bother to look; he already
knew who it was.
     “Ah, my velociraptor friend.  Come on in, Riptor.”
     Riptor entered the Control Room.  He was a hybrid of a human and a velociraptor dinosaur, but his appearance wasn’t
human at all. When erect, he stood at seven feet tall.  However, most of the time, he stood with his knees bent and his back
hunched over, putting him at about five feet tall.  On his long, scaled face, Riptor had yellow eyes and long fangs.  His belly was
green, and his arms were longer than they should have been for a velociraptor; his only physical characteristic that was remotely
human.  His human traits were all mental; Riptor was very intelligent.
     Jeremiah spoke, still facing the screen.  “You know, out of one hundred and three of our brethren, you are the only one I
didn’t catch.”
     “I heard you were doing genetic reprogramming; something I’m not in favor of.”  Riptor’s voice had a slight British accent to
it.
     “It’s not as bad as you think.  A.....refinement, if you will.”
     Riptor narrowed his eyes.  “You wanted to see me?”
     “Ah yes, that’s correct.”  Jeremiah spun around in his chair, to face Riptor.  “There are two things I wanted to talk to you
about.  You’re one of our newer mutants, are you not?  That last shipment from Ultratech?”
     Riptor nodded.
     “Yes, that makes sense.  You see, I was looking at this roll for the last Killer Instinct, and I couldn’t help but see your name.
It even says here that you made it to the second round.”
     “That’s right.”
     “Now, for some reason, I can’t access anything else about KI8, so I was hoping you would fill me in about what happened.”
    “Nothing to tell.  I fought Jago and lost.”
     “Jago?  I see, one of the final round combatants.  So, how did he beat you?”
     Riptor rolled his eyes.  “He cut off my tail, then hit me with his best move.”
     “Really?”  Jeremiah craned his neck, to look past Riptor’s legs, at the long tail that protruded from his rear.  “It grew back
nicely.”
     “If you say so.”
     “Well, what’s wrong with it?”
     “It’s shorter than it was before.”
     “Oh come on.  Size doesn’t matter.  It’s what you do with it.”  Jeremiah finally let a laugh out he had been holding in.
     Riptor was beginning to lose patience.  “What is this all about?”
     Jeremiah smiled.  “Ah, the second thing I wanted to talk to you about.  Have you heard about....my combat test?”
     “Rumor has it that you’ve captured two Ultratech employees or something to that effect, and you plan to have them fight
against us.”
     “Only one of them is an employee; the other is a Fulgore cyborg.”
     “A Fulgore cyborg!?”  Riptor exclaimed.  “But.....the only Fulgore cyborg that could possibly be alive is.....”
     “Fulgore-X?”  Jeremiah finished the sentence.  “Yes, I think that was his name.”
     Riptor looked around nervously.  “Fulgore-X.....is here?”
     “Yes.  I also noticed that he’s on this competitor roll too; it says he won.  How about that?”
     “I wouldn’t know.  I was in stasis after the second round.”
     “Perhaps.  But I was hoping you would know something, anything about him.”
     “I know he’s a powerful, deadly foe, and we would all benefit by putting as much distance between him and this building as
possible.”
     “Oh!  It can’t be that bad.”
     “You’re right.  It’s probably worse.”
     “Really?”  Jeremiah took a small computer pad off the main terminal.  He handed it to Riptor.  “I took these scans of
Fulgore-X while he was unconscious......this doesn’t seem all that deadly to me.”
     Riptor studied the pad for a few moments.  “He’s damaged.....badly, by what this says.”
     “Oh, so that’s a good thing?”
     “If you really are planning to have him fight us, yes.”
     Jeremiah eyed the velociraptor.  “You don’t seem too keen on this idea.”
     “I’m not.”
     “And why not?”
     Riptor sighed.  “I had an.....encounter or two with Fulgore-X.”
     “Really?  Tell me about it.”

    “Some day, you will all regret what you have done here today........but this is not that day.”

    “Nothing to tell.  He made a threat; it seemed idle at the time, but two of those he threatened are dead, and-”
     “You are one of those he threatened?”  Jeremiah smiled.  “I’m willing to bet he wasn’t as weak then as he is now.  So, who
died?”
     “To my knowledge, Sabrewulf and Gargos, although I can’t be totally sure it was Fulgore-X who caused their deaths.”
     “Gargos?”
     “Long story.”
     “Aren’t they all?  Anyhow, I was concerned you wouldn’t want to participate in my contest.  After all, this is an unofficial
combat test, and you are probably the only one of us who actually got one.”
     Actually, he got two, but Riptor didn’t think that was a point worth mentioning at the moment.
     “I don’t quite understand what your contest is.”
     “It’s simple, really.  Find Fulgore-X and kill him.  That’s why I wanted to do the genetic reprogramming.  To better help you
locate your prey.”
     Riptor turned away from Jeremiah, and started to think.  “Fulgore-X may not even know I’m still alive.  It would be best to
stay out of this whole vindication quest.  However, he has been weakened, and perhaps I shouldn’t be running from him.  If he
could be killed.....”
     Riptor turned back to Jeremiah.  “Kill Fulgore-X, that’s all you want me to do?”
     “Actually, I was hoping for a little more.  You’re the most intelligent out of all our friends.  I was thinking that you
could.....command this operation.  That goes for the overall mission as well.”
     “The mission?  You want me to be commander?”
     “Yes.  Unless, you have a problem with that.....you are still with us on the mission, aren’t you?”
     “Of course.  I want to be normal just as much as all of you do.”
     “Good!”  Jeremiah turned around, back to the terminal.  He opened a compartment and pulled out a small wristband, with a
circular device on it.  He tossed it to Riptor.
     “What’s this?”  Riptor asked.
     “A communications device.”  Jeremiah said.  “I’ll be able to talk to you from anywhere inside Ultratech Brazil.”
     Riptor put the device on.  It looked awkward on him.  He turned around and started to leave.
     “Oh, and one more thing,” Jeremiah called out, “happy hunting.”
     Riptor acknowledged the statement by nodding, and left the room.

West Wing Hallway

     It was strange, in more ways than one.
     Orchid had been walking side by side with Fulgore-X for almost five minutes now.  Neither one had said anything; mainly
because they had nothing to say to each other.  Plus, talking would have been awkward, whereas the silence was perfectly
acceptable.  At the same time, the lack of words made a powerful statement.  Orchid could sense Fulgore-X’s power, his
pride, and his arrogance.  However, she could also pick up a weakness; a certain vulnerability foreign to the cyborg.  He was
weak, and he had to depend on someone else for survival, and he hated it.  Orchid could have spent hours learning more by
walking next to Fulgore-X, but she still hated him, and wanted to kill him as soon as possible.
     Finally, Orchid broke the long silence.  “If these Ultratech’s really are identical, then we should be coming up on the Reactor
Room.”
     “It is here.”  Fulgore-X said abruptly, going through a door on the right.  Orchid followed quickly.
     The Reactor Room was a very large, two-story room.  In the center of the room was the plasma reactor.  Basically, it was
an enormous cylinder with two domes at the end.  The bottom dome had it’s base planted on the ground.  It encompassed the
cylinder, and was about four feet high.  It was made of black metal, and was covered with computer interfaces.  Coming from
the base of the dome were four gray tubes.  There was a thin, horizontal window that ran down the center of the tube, which
displayed the glowing blue plasma running through it.  The tubes ran straight out; one into the center of the back wall, one into
the center of the right wall, one into the center of the left wall, one into the center of the front wall, directly under the door, which
sat elevated.  There was a small platform at the door, with steps leading down the right and left of the platform.  Similarly, there
were raised platforms over the plasma tubes, or conduits, allowing someone to walk over them.  Coming from the center of the
computer terminal dome was the cylinder, which was at least ten meters in diameter.  It was clear; it also glowed blue with
plasma.  In the center of the cylinder was a bulky, square shaped piece of machinery.  When the cylinder emerged from the
object, the plasma turned dark blue.  Around the cylinder and object was a metal grate floor, which was the second floor.  The
second floor consisted mostly of computer workstations.  A steel rail protected the hole in the center of the floor, which allowed
the reactor to pass through.  At the ceiling of the entire room was the other dome; it’s base on the ceiling.  Like the one on the
bottom, the cylinder went into it’s center, and while there were no computer terminals on it, four conduits protruded from the
dome, going into the center of each wall.  The plasma inside these were also dark blue.
     “This is different.”  Orchid remarked.  “The reactor at Ultratech didn’t have the top portion.  And why is the plasma dark
blue up there?”
     “That’s because it’s anti-plasma.”  Fulgore-X explained, simply.
     “What!?”  Orchid grabbed Fulgore-X by his arm.  He glared at her as if the look alone could kill her.  It almost could.
Orchid didn’t let it affect her.  “Anti-plasma!?  I thought your X-Type reactor was the only thing on Earth that could generate
anti-plasma!”
     “It is.”
     “Well then, what the hell is that up there!?”
     “It is anti-plasma, but it wasn’t generated by this reactor.”
     Orchid blinked.  “Explain.”
     Fulgore-X plucked her hand off his arm.  “Less than a year ago, a group of Ultratech scientists were working with plasma,
trying to improve their reactor’s conversion rate.  There was an accident, and approximately twenty-five gallons of plasma were
affected.  The scientists were at first convinced that the plasma had become contaminated, and were ready to throw it out.
They soon found out that it wasn’t contaminated; just changed, into anti-plasma.  They began working with it, but at the cost of
thirty-two scientists, they discovered how volatile it was when mixed with normal plasma.  Since they could not figure out how
they created the anti-plasma anyhow, they decided to get rid of it, and send it here.  The Ultratech Brazil engineers, who had
been bored out of their minds, were so happy to get something new, they didn’t care about the risk.  They modified their
reactor to create a controlled reaction between plasma and anti-plasma.  That is what powers Ultratech Brazil.”
     Orchid looked up.  “And up there, that’s the twenty five original gallons of anti-plasma?”
     “You got it.”
     “That is so dangerous.”
     “From danger, comes progress.”  Fulgore-X went over to the terminal dome, and began to access it.  “It looks like someone
tried to shut the reactor down.....almost did, but couldn’t quite finish.  I think they were trying to make repairs.”
     “Repair what?”  Orchid asked.
     “I don’t know.  I can barely access the computer system as is.  Let’s make a visual scan.”  Fulgore-X walked around the
left side of the dome; Orchid to the right.  Fulgore-X was thoroughly examining every inch of the room, while Orchid was
quickly moving her eyes around.  Although Fulgore-X’s method was more precise, Orchid found something first.
     “Here.....it looks like there’s a little plasma leaking from the main unit.”  she said, looking down at part of the dome that had
no computer interfaces on it whatsoever.  The back half of the dome was clear; there was an outer casing, about an inch of
space inside, then an inner casing.  Inside of the inner casing was normal plasma.  Both casings were about half an inch thick,
and made of Plexiglas.
     “Leaking from.....or onto?”  Fulgore-X questioned.
     Orchid looked inside the unit.  There was no plasma inside of the space between the casings.  She then looked up, nothing at
first, but then she saw a small drop of dark blue plasma fall from the unit above, onto the unit below.  Upon closer examination,
she could see that the outer casing on the lower unit had already been eaten through, and there was a small pool of the dark
blue liquid resting on the inner casing.
     “Onto, from above.”  Orchid answered, not realizing the magnitude of what she said.
     “What!?”  Fulgore-X raced around to where Orchid was standing, and made a quick visual scan of what Orchid described.
After doing so, his eyes widened and his expression was blank, similar to when he realized something was wrong with the
reactor outside of Experiment Storage, only worse.
     “What, what?”  Orchid pestered.  “What’s with that look, I don’t like that look.”
     Fulgore-X’s expression didn’t change.  “Orchid, I’m sure you’ve read up on my abilities.  Tell me how I would go about
making a plasma bomb.”
     “What?”
     “Just do it.”
     “Well, you would have to form an anti-plasma energy ball, and then a plasma energy ball outside of that one, and when you
wanted to detonate it, you would combine the two energies.”
     “Very good.  Now, what kind of plasma are we looking at right here?”
     “Normal plasma.”
     “And what’s up there?”
     “Anti-plasma.”  Orchid’s face soured.  “Waitaminute.....anti-plasma is leaking onto a plasma tank?  That’s awfully
dangerous.....”
     Fulgore-X looked at her in amazement.  “It’s more than just dangerous.  Look closer.  Do you see how the outer casing has
already been eaten through?  Well, that small little puddle of anti-plasma is doing the same thing to the inner casing.  When the
anti-plasma completely dissolves the casing, and comes into contact with the plasma, it will cause an explosion.  Not just any
explosion, a plasma bomb explosion.”
     “Good God.”  Orchid whispered.  “How strong will the explosion be?”
     Fulgore-X went back to the computer terminal part of the unit.  He brought a map of Brazil up on the video monitor.
“Considering the amount of plasma in the tank, and assuming that only a few drops of anti-plasma would actually come into
contact with it, the devastation would be......”
     A large red circle appeared in the center of the map of Brazil.  It covered a great deal of the center of the continent, and on
the scale of the map, the circle’s radius was at least fifty miles.
     “Oh my God.”  Orchid gasped.  “If what you say is true, then we have got to stop this!”
     “We?”  Fulgore-X’s blank expression turned back into his standard one.  “This does not concern me.”
     Orchid shot him a look of pure ice.  “Even you can’t be that damn evil.”
     “Whenever that explosion goes off, I figure I’ll be well out of this area.  So it really isn’t my problem.”
     “And you wouldn’t care about all the people that would die?”
     “What, a bunch of humans?  Humans just like you, who’d sacrifice life and limb to see me dead?  Pardon me if I don’t shed
a tear.”
     Orchid nearly exploded.  However, she managed to keep it in.  Fireworks couldn’t win this war.  More.....resourceful
tactics would have to be employed.  “You know, that little village of yours would be the first to go.  You don’t care about them
either?”
     Fulgore-X glazed over for a moment.  He shook it off quickly though.  “No, I don’t.  Those villagers didn’t know
Fulgore-X.  And I didn’t know them.  They mean nothing to me.”

    “I don’t know what I was, but it scares me.”

     Fulgore-X blanked out again, but abruptly brought himself back to the situation.
     Orchid snorted, with extreme disgust.  “Do whatever you like, but if this explosion isn’t stopped, this continent will be
devastated, and that’s not something I can sleep with.  I’m going to try to figure out how to stop this explosion, and if you don’t
want to do so, then you can go ahead and try to leave the building, if you can.  This alliance is over.”
     Fulgore-X narrowed his eyes.  “I didn’t want this ‘alliance’ anyhow.”  He started for the door.

    “All I can tell you is to follow your heart.”

    Fulgore-X stopped again.  He turned around, back towards Orchid.  Orchid gave him a nasty, “why haven’t you left yet”
look.
     “It has occurred to me that, in my current state, I may not be able to leave this area before the explosion occurs.  I will help
you in this matter.”
     Orchid’s look of disgust changed to one of confusion.
     “Do you want my help or not?”  Fulgore-X snarled.
     Technically, she didn’t.  However, Orchid knew that refusing his offer because of her personal hatred for him would
probably be putting millions of lives on a shaky line.
     “Fine.  So, what first.”  Orchid said, her voice soaked in bitterness.
     “First, we need to determine how long we have until the explosion actually occurs.”
     “Can we do that?”
     “I can.”  He walked up to the computer terminal, with Orchid quickly moving out of the way.  “First, I’m going to divert a
little power to the delivery system, so that more computer terminals throughout Ultratech have power.”  Fulgore-X played with
the computer keys, and although nothing appeared to have happened, he seemed to have succeeded in his task.  He looked
up.  “How long has it been, two weeks?”
     “Since what?”  Orchid asked.
     “Since the rejects were released.  It was two weeks, right?  Assuming the leak started two weeks ago, considering the
corrosive power of anti-plasma, factoring in the thickness of the inner and outer casings, and the resistance of the Plexiglas......”
Fulgore-X brought something up on the video monitor.  He stepped aside, so that Orchid could see.  A countdown was
displayed over the Ultratech Brazil logo;

     “This will be displayed on monitors throughout Ultratech Brazil.”  Fulgore-X explained.
     “A little over three hours?”  Orchid said.  “That’s not much time.”
     “It’s only an estimate; the actual explosion could happen anytime before or after.”
     Fulgore-X went around the unit, to study the leak.  Orchid continued to stare at the screen.  “So, how do we stop this
explosion?”
     “We don’t.”  Fulgore-X said.  “It can’t be stopped.”
     “What do you mean ‘it can’t be stopped’?”  Orchid went around and joined Fulgore-X.  “Why not?”
     “Look.”  Fulgore-X pointed at the small pool of anti-plasma resting on the inner casing.  “A small amount of anti-plasma has
already eaten through the outer casing, and is currently eating through the inner casing.  In about three hours, it will eat through
the casing, and make contact with the plasma.  There’s nothing we can do about that.”
     “That can’t be true!”  Orchid exclaimed.  “Why don’t we stop the leak?”
     “Doesn’t matter.  The leak is the least of our problems.  The amount that’s already inside the casing is what’s going to cause
the explosion.”
     “Well then, let’s get it out of there!”
     “And how do you propose we do that?”  Fulgore-X shot back, a little annoyed.
     “Teleporters?”  Orchid asked.
     “Ultratech Brazil doesn’t have a teleporter.  And mine are off-line.”
     “Well then, there’s got to be a way to scoop it out, or suck it out.”
     “Nope.  Anti-plasma doesn’t need plasma to be volatile.  It already is.  Plasma is just it’s biggest aggressor.  To try and
scoop it out might cause the explosion we’re trying to prevent.  Also, we don’t have the proper tools for that, and you’d have to
get past the outer casing first.  We can’t do that without first deactivating and draining the reactor, and we can do neither.”
     Orchid frowned deeply.  “So then, what do you suggest we do?”
 Fulgore-X raised his left eye.  “We cannot stop the explosion.  So the only possible option.....would be to contain it.”
     “Contain it?  A plasma shield?”
     “Yes.”
     “Generated by you?”
     “No.  My systems aren’t strong enough.”
     “Then how?”
     Fulgore-X looked up, at the anti-plasma reactor.  “Around the perimeter of the building are about ten plasma shield
generators.  We can use those to erect an inverted shield around the building.  That should contain the explosion, and destroy
the building in the process.”
     “An inverted shield?”  Orchid said.  “Then, how would we get past it?”
     “Don’t worry about that; I’ve got that part covered.”  Fulgore-X responded.  “Unless, you have a better idea.....”
     Orchid narrowed her eyes at the cyborg.  “An inverted shield sounds fine.  How do we activate it?”
     “First things first.  We’ve overstayed our welcome here; we should leave immediately before we receive.....unannounced
guests.”
     “And go where?”
     “To the Armory, like I said before, to get you a weapon.  Then we can come back here after the rejects have come and
gone.”
     Orchid raised an eyebrow at him.  “Need I remind you that three hours is not much time?”
     “Three hours is an eternity if you’re dead.”  Fulgore-X said sharply.  “Besides, how much work do you think we’d
accomplish while fighting off one hundred mutants?”
     “Good point.”  Orchid reluctantly admitted.
     Fulgore-X turned around, and quickly headed for the door.  Orchid had to jog her first few steps just to keep up.  “And I
thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse.”
 
 

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